Hi guys, I've been out of the PC loop for far too long and a career change has put me back in the need to know. With the vast improvements in hardware over the years I'm having trouble understanding what everything is, how it works and what exactly it does but I am getting there. Bearing that in mind I always feel that if you have a specific need then the the answer is custom built. I am looking at building a home studio for running applications such as 3DS Max and similar and I'm not sure what the best approach would be. I'd also be looking for a setup that is reasonably future-proof. I say that as a reflection of budget more than anything as I would need to either spend £3000 pounds every 3 or 4 years or say £10,000 to £12,000 for a decade, starry eyed as that may be... I found this to be interesting but don't know enough to criticise it in depth http://www.workstationspecialist.com/product_range/ws_4024/specification/ I thought a cheaper option might be one high spec pc, a small server and another lesser pc just for rendering... My aim here is to look for info about what to put into a high spec pc for running 3ds max and why, for around £3000. Any comments about anything I've mentioned here or any other advice would be appreciated. I have copied the sticky template below for the high spec PC but could also do with advice on: - a rendering machine for under £800, - home server/mass storage under £700, - sound cards under £600 * Budget: Max £4000, pref £2500 - 3000GBP. Actual computer only, monitors and inputs are another budget. * What the main uses of the PC will be: 3ds max and associated software, possibly audio software such as cubase but not essential. No gaming as such but high end graphics and speed essential. * The spec of your current PC and whether you are re-using any parts from it: I have a Toshiba Satellite A300 (PSAGCA-09Y01N) and a Sony Vaio Vgn-tx1xp if they are of any use I'm happy to butcher them... * The native resolution of your monitor. Monitors are a bit of a question, I'm looking at possibly a large touch screen and a large second monitor but whatever I decide they will have to be high end. * Whether you will be overclocking or not.: I'll be aiming for reliability with the possibility of overclocking once warranty is void anyway. So at this point no, but will be rounding up in terms of cooling and psu... * How much storage space you require.: I'm thinking a Solid state 1st drive with a terabyte or two on a second drive. It would then be networked to larger storage. * Do you have any special requirements? Power and noise are nice to keep low but not essential. I'd prefer to over cool if possible. Multi monitors if possible. Maximum processor and graphics output with as little lag as possible. Also high speed access to other machines on the network and data loss prevention are priorities. Many thanks.
if you are thinking about multiple machines, you'd probably be better served buying 2-3 identical mid range machines with nvidia gpu's and setting up a mini render farm.
Thanks for the comments guys, Drobo looks good, I hadn't heard of it. Ok so let's say I go for 3 lesser computers to last me 3yrs. I'm not sure about the new stuff like the Sandy Bridge chips or AMD's forthcoming Bulldozer. I usually prefer to wait 6 months after release to ensure someone more competent than me can test it properly. From what I understand the i7 is what I want to go for, with an ASUS or Gigabyte motherboard. I also understand that 3ds Max will only use 2 cores - can anyone confirm or deny? I'd still want the option of running plugins and or multiple programs, so would I need more than a dual core? Is this where the GPU steps up? I was looking at the radeon 6990 but only based on the review and the 4GB, I also hear nVidia make very decent cards. I am open to buying a decent stock package but I'm not sure exactly what I'm looking for in terms of specs - Most packages seem to suit video/image editing or hardcore gaming, I think what I need is somewhere in between, is that correct? From the little research I've done and imagine I understand, I'm looking at: (In no real order) - Asus Rampage 3 - Asus P6T - Asus P6X58D Premium - ASUS X58 Sabertooth - Gigabyte SKT-1366 GA-X58A-UD3R - Intel i7 950 or higher Graphics cards I'm still lost with really, and I understand that beyond that I need to add in as much ram as possible... So yes perhaps building them alone is not the best idea but there are plenty of companies that would build one for a fee, they just don't like to explain how and why they build what they build and that is really why I am asking. Aside from 3D design and animation software such as 3dsmax I would also like to run cubase on one system (hence the soundcard). Nothing too heavy duty but it has to be clean. So can anyone comment so far, or perhaps explain to me how 3ds Max uses the hardware such as GPU's and multiple cores, so that I can best understand what to look for in a package/online build site? Again, many thanks for your time; it's much appreciated.
I also see the Xeon and Opteron chipsets marketed with the higher end animation stuff. Could someone explain to me the difference one of these systems would make, compared to 3 or 4 high end i7 chips (or even a Sandy Bridge) in seperate machines? Cheers
