Older pc upgrade for Autodesk Maya

[lacturn]

Hi,

I'm looking to squeeze a bit of extra performance without forking out too much money. (I don't mind sourcing used parts)

I only use this computer for character animation in maya. I would like to speed up the viewport FPS / playblast speed and if possible the moving and dragging keys / objects.

I know for sure I can get a better graphics card - what would be suitable? I'm thinking 50 -120$ for the card. Maybe some extra ram??


All advice appreciated

Current PC:
Gigabyte EP45-DS3
Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 @ 3.00GHz
4GB RAM corsair CM2X2048-6400C4DHX 2x2048 DDR2
Asus EAH3650 SILENT MAGIC 512MB (ancient I know!)
Seagate ST3500320AS ATA Device (500GB) x2
Windows 8.1

 

[patonb]

You could benefit from a quadcore like a q9650 but ebay shows them at ~170bucks.

What are you doing in Maya?

 

[PP Mguire]

What version of Maya and what suite exactly?

Unless you want to fork for a Quadro or Firepro card your cheapest solution is to find a cheap Q8200 or similar CPU and add more RAM.

 

[-RockMan-]

Hi,

I only use this computer for character animation in maya. I would like to speed up the viewport FPS / playblast speed and if possible the moving and dragging keys / objects.

I know for sure I can get a better graphics card - what would be suitable? I'm thinking 50 -120$ for the card. Maybe some extra ram??


All advice appreciated

Zotac ZT-60607-10L GeForce GT 610 Graphic Card - 810 MHz Core - 1 GB DDR3 SDRAM - PCI Express 3.0 - Newegg.com

Intel Core 2 Quad 2 33GHz Q8200 4MB Cache Socket T LGA775 SLG9S CPU Only 0890552618316 | eBay

ARCTIC MX4 Thermal Paste - 4gram - Newegg.com

All of these for under 90.00 bucks should do, I recommend you clock up the quadcore to 2.8ghz.

 

[PP Mguire]

Instead of the 610 I would try to find a Quadro like this, except a little better.

Refurbished: NVIDIA VIDEO-NVS290-16X Quadro NVS 290 256MB 64-bit DDR2 PCI Express x16 Workstation Video Card With DMS-59 Dual DVI Y-Splitter Cable - Newegg.com

That way there the program can utilize the GPU as well to get a small boost in speed.

 

[-RockMan-]

Instead of the 610 I would try to find a Quadro like this, except a little better.

Refurbished: NVIDIA VIDEO-NVS290-16X Quadro NVS 290 256MB 64-bit DDR2 PCI Express x16 Workstation Video Card With DMS-59 Dual DVI Y-Splitter Cable - Newegg.com

That way there the program can utilize the GPU as well to get a small boost in speed.

Ok then I checked this site here:
Autodesk - Certified Hardware - Find Recommended Hardware

Since maya relies on the cuda core technology provided by nvidia he would benefit better from this.

MSI N640-1GD5/LP GeForce GT 640 1GB 64-Bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready Video Card - Newegg.com

Yes I know you recommend quadro but the newer GT cards should be able to handle his needs.

He'll be fine with the gpu and cpu combination, least windows won't scream at him for lack of system resources.

 

[lacturn]

Wow! Awesome advice!!!

I use maya for character animation - My scenes never have more than 2 active rigs (90% of the time just 1 rig) In terms of size and mesh density the rigs that I use are almost exactly the same as the free ones at:

animschool AnimSchool - Online School for the 3D Animation Field
Free Animation Rig | Animation Mentor

Would it make sense to get 2 cheaper cards and run them together?
(I'm not sure if maya can do that)

I hardly ever do any rendering, so I only use the playblast feature because I don't take care of the lighting or anything like that. (this just renders the viewport)

The most important for me is viewport feedback speed when moving stuff and the general responsiveness of maya. (I don't use viewport 2.0 although I suppose it is faster - my current card doesn't support it)


EDIT: I have found a used nvidia quadro 600 (not a k600) for about 70$ so i might lump for that and then if need be get some more ram and upgrade to a quad core. What do you think??

 

[PP Mguire]

Ok then I checked this site here:
Autodesk - Certified Hardware - Find Recommended Hardware

Since maya relies on the cuda core technology provided by nvidia he would benefit better from this.

MSI N640-1GD5/LP GeForce GT 640 1GB 64-Bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready Video Card - Newegg.com

Yes I know you recommend quadro but the newer GT cards should be able to handle his needs.
I could torrent maya later on today and test it with my gt640 oc...
He'll be fine with the gpu and cpu combination, least windows won't scream at him for lack of system resources.

THey only have their professional cards listed for Nvidia or AMD as per the information from their hardware survey. That's why I said he should get a cheap Quadro.

Wow! Awesome advice!!!

I use maya for character animation - My scenes never have more than 2 active rigs (90% of the time just 1 rig) In terms of size and mesh density the rigs that I use are almost exactly the same as the free ones at:

animschool AnimSchool - Online School for the 3D Animation Field
Free Animation Rig | Animation Mentor

Would it make sense to get 2 cheaper cards and run them together?
(I'm not sure if maya can do that)

I hardly ever do any rendering, so I only use the playblast feature because I don't take care of the lighting or anything like that. (this just renders the viewport)

The most important for me is viewport feedback speed when moving stuff and the general responsiveness of maya. (I don't use viewport 2.0 although I suppose it is faster - my current card doesn't support it)


EDIT: I have found a used nvidia quadro 600 (not a k600) for about 70$ so i might lump for that and then if need be get some more ram and upgrade to a quad core. What do you think??

Even if it's only like the Q8200 listed and 2GB of DDR it would benefit you more than sticking with the dual core. If this is all you use the machine for you could also use an SSD instead of the Quadro, but since I don't personally use that software I don't know exactly what the GPGPU would be used for.

 

[-RockMan-]

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