I am building a desktop PC for University, mainly to use softimage XSI. I don't know if anyone has any experiences with it, and I don't know much about building computers, but I'd like some advice on my build: CPU Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 2.66GHz GPU 512MB Gainward 8600GT RAM 2046MB Ballistix DDR2 PC2-6400 HDD 320GB Western Digital WD3200AAJS mobo Gigabyte GA P35C-DS3R Alternately, a XSI guy told me to get a quad-core instead and get a less good gpu: CPU Intel Core 2 Quad-Core Q6600 GPU 256MB Gainward 8600GTS RAM 2046MB Ballistix DDR2 PC2-6400 HDD 320GB Western Digital WD3200AAJS mobo Gigabyte GA P35C-DS3R I'm also stuck on what monitor to get. I am thinking of the 20.1" Dell E207WFP, but the price and some reviews have told me otherwise. I do Photoshop and 3d work, I'd like at least 19" widescreen, and price wise preferably less than the Dell (£187.87). Does anyone have any recommendations?
Firstly, if you can, pick yourself up a dual xeon motherboard. XSI really shines when given the power. Raptors are also very useful for it as there is quite a bit of I/O. 4gig of ram also a must.
I am on a fairly tight budget. Even with the specs I got (along with the case, psu, dvd etc.) its nearly £700... I am a poor student after all. So I can only afford the essentials. I probably won't be doing anything REALLY advanced.
IMHO... Going Intel Q6600 will make everything much cheaper. Don't overclock when working with Maya, 3DStudioMax and Softimage. Do work on stock performance because overclocking tend to introduce errors that may not come up during usual gaming but will when doing number crunching. I hated spending hours rendering and come back finding the system rebooted itself or crash. Go 8GB of DDR2, it can really make a difference because these software can and will take advantage of it as well as the Quad Core. I find having CL4 RAM (4-4-4-12) do cut down rendering time a bit when compared to the standard CL5. Tight memory timing isn't very important to me personally... as i don;t mind walking off doing something else. Oh, do test and validate your system once you got everything built. so you know it's 100% stable when your system is going through hell. Let me know if you're interested to know the procedures.
The E6750 is ~£35 cheaper. It might not sound like much, but it goes a long way. Thanks for all the advice. 8GB RAM will probably be too expensive for me. I am not looking at doing anything overly intensive, so I reckon it should do.
