Spec me PC for 3D modelling?

saitrix · 30 Dec 2008 at 17:47

Hi,

A friend needs a new PC where they do just 3D modelling for uni work in Maya and Studiotools. He has about £500-600 to spend on the pc, doesn't need keyboard, mouse or monitor as he already has them.

He is looking at workstation GPU's even for it. Plus how used is the cpu? Ie, is it worth going for a Q6600?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Kennysevenfold · 30 Dec 2008 at 18:18

Hi will he aslo need and OS.? and what size of monitor is he using.?

saitrix · 30 Dec 2008 at 19:40

Nope he won't need an OS. Using a dual screen setup with two 17" screens.

Lakeland · 30 Dec 2008 at 19:45

i dont do anything pro, but when im workin on drawings i find having a big screen, 24" is much easier to work with than dual 17" or 19". if he would sell and upgrade it'd be worth it imo

i am looking forward to see what graphics cards are suggested because mine is lagging somewhat

Kennysevenfold · 30 Dec 2008 at 21:52

Just over..worth it though

Intel Core 2 Quad Pro Q6600 "Energy Efficient SLACR 95W Edition" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - Retail £139.99
(£160.99) £139.99
(£160.99)

HIS ATI Radeon HD 4850 512MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI/HDMI (PCI-Express) - Retail £106.99
(£123.04) £106.99
(£123.04)

Gigabyte GA-EP45-DS3 Intel P45 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £81.99
(£94.29) £81.99
(£94.29)

Coolermaster Real Power 620w Modular Power Supply £64.99
(£74.74) £64.99
(£74.74)

Antec 300 Three Hundred Ultimate Gaming Case - Black (No PSU) £43.99
(£50.59) £43.99
(£50.59)

Western Digital Caviar Blue 640GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (WD6400AAKS) £42.99
(£49.44) £42.99
(£49.44)

Corsair 4GB DDR2 XMS2 PC2-6400C5 TwinX (2x2GB) £36.99
(£42.54) £36.99
(£42.54)

Samsung SH-S223F/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM £13.99
(£16.09) £13.99
(£16.09) Sub Total : £531.92 Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DHL Select Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £10.99 VAT is being charged at 15% VAT : £79.79 Total : £611.71

coupe69 · 30 Dec 2008 at 22:34

Wouldn't he be better off with a Nvidia Quadro or an ATi fire GL card if it's purely for 3D work?

Kennysevenfold · 30 Dec 2008 at 22:50

he could go that option...
but i didnt want to limit his usage of the computer, with a 4850 he gets the best of both worlds...

Darg · 31 Dec 2008 at 00:21

No real need for a pro level graphics card. They're for pushing professional movie level scenes going on 100s of millions of vertices around the 3D view at a usable frame rate.

He won't be working on anything like that unless he enters a professional studio at which point he'll have their workstations anyway.

The most important thing is a decent quad core. OC that Q6600 and he'll be grand. The 4850 is fine for pushing around what he'll be working with on the screen. It takes a large scene to cause any sort of slowdown even on older cards.

rjk · 31 Dec 2008 at 00:24

the fire gl and quadro cards are essentially just standard graphics cards with locked bioses so that you can only use the specialist drivers on them

[basically stops you using a 8600gt as its much more expensive quaddro card counterpart]

the quaddro drivers are very good as they have to meet the demands of businesses

but a normal card would be fine too

Xandos · 31 Dec 2008 at 03:06

I'm a 3d modeler, and I've just finished figuring out a new system for myself.

Q6600 is definately the best option if you're not going for i7, and on that budget you are not.

4gb RAM is a must.

I wouldn't worry about making it that overclockable, as you don't really want a heavily overclocked system operating at 100% CPU for four days as you're rendering (btw, RAM and CPU are most important!)

Workstation GFX card is overkill for this situation, but I'd go for a 8800 or a 9800 (I don't really like ATI). And remember the only thing his GFX card will be doing is drawing his realtime working windows. Here's my exact system I'm about to order:

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 G0 Stepping £149.95
ASUS P5QL SE iP43 Socket 775 £64.73
Antec 300 Three Hundred Case - No PSU £44.99
2*Hiper 120mm Case Fan - £13.48
Crucial 4GB (2X2GB) DDR2 800MHz/PC2-6400 Ballistix Memory £35.42
Corsair 450W VX Series PSU £57.64
Samsung HD502IJ SpinPoint F1 500GB £41.26
EVGA 9800GT 512MB DDR3 Dual DVI £104.99

total: £512 or therabouts.

As for doing 3D work on 2*17" monitors? That's going to suck. IMO he should have at least a 21". It would be worth him investing in a 24" to be honest, depending on how serious he intends to take his 3D.