New Machine!!

[James Taylor]

Hi,

IÂ’m about to purchase a new system which IÂ’m wanting to build myself. Just wanted to get some feedback as to what people think, check everything is compatible and see if anyone had any other suggestions before i take the plunge!

I will be using the machine for Architectual Visualisation – hi res stills + animations (AutoCAD, Studio MAX / VIZ) video compilation (After Effects) and 2D graphics (Photoshop).


My spec is as follows:

AMD Athlon 64 3200+ Winchester 90nm (Socket 939) - Retail (CP-097-AM)

Asus A8N-SLi Deluxe nForce4 SLi (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-087-AS)

Corsair 512MB DDR XMS3200C2PT Platinum CAS2 (MY-007-CS) x 2

Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 Plus NCQ 120GB ST3120827AS SATA 8MB Cache - OEM (HD-004-SE)

Hiper Triple Fan 525W ATX2.2 PSU (CA-001-HP)

Above conponents come at £496 from overclockers


I will also purchase:

a PCI – Express graphics card (not sure which one yet, any suggestions welcome roundabout the £100 mark)

 

[Mr.Orb]

Asus A8N-SLi Deluxe nForce4 SLi (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-087-AS)

a PCI – Express graphics card (not sure which one yet, any suggestions welcome roundabout the £100 mark)

Why are you getting a SLI Mobo for just one graphics card which is about £100?

 

[James Taylor]

This is my first PC build and i'm no techie by any means. Picked the board on the premise that PCI-E is the new technology (by my limited understanding), i'm wanting to get the best performance from the components as i'll be hammering the system at times and hate waiting for test renders so the AI NOS feature on the board looks useful, as i don'y know the first thing about overclocking - yet!! (learning may be disasterous to my system!)

Always try to get things i can build upon and the board is compatible with the fx64 chips means which means upgrading in the feature is easier.

Like i say i'm after some feed back and suggestions from tho's that know more than myself. any suggestions as to more appropriate specifications woiuld be greatly recieved especially if there's a small explaination of the issue at hand.

Thanks
James

 

[turtile]

SLI is for dual graphic cards. You really need 1gig of ram if your going to that type of editing. I would go with Corsair Value select PC 3200 for $130. Don't buy the low latency, its not worth the money.
A good card would be the 6600GT. It has the best price per performance.

 

[James Taylor]

Do you think the geforce cards are better than the ATI cards for CAD work and Visualisation, have always thought the geforce cards were more for gaming.

what difference will having 128mb card against a 256mb card make, i'm aware that the graphics card plays no part in the rendering of images or animations only updating the screen.

 

[phosho510]

if you dont know what video card to get, get the 6600gt

 

[DJ-CHRIS]

If your using CAD and stuff, you will have an advantage with a workstation card.

I highly doubt the "fx-64" would be compatable, it would most likely be a new socket, and fx-64 doesnt even follow AMD's numbering scheme. An fx-64 would also probolly be a 3.6 ghz CPU

 

[xcoreyx]

If your using CAD and stuff, you will have an advantage with a workstation card.

I highly doubt the "fx-64" would be compatable, it would most likely be a new socket, and fx-64 doesnt even follow AMD's numbering scheme. An fx-64 would also probolly be a 3.6 ghz CPU

when he says fx-64...he means the amd fx series 64-bit cpus.don't read so into it...you might hurt yourself.

 

[4W4K3]

Always try to get things i can build upon and the board is compatible with the fx64 chips means which means upgrading in the feature is easier.

theres alot of board that support the FX series chips that don't support SLi. Really i think you can save ~$100 going with a non-SLi board, for CAD you aren't going to need SLi, and really if you don't do some extreme gaming or showing off you won't need SLi.

Like someone else suggested i think 1GB of PC3200 or better will give you a nice boost in performance nad cut down on waiting for rendering and all that nice stuff.

The 6600GT is best bang for your buck as fas as PCI-E cards go. You might look into an actual workstation gfx card though designed specifically for what you are working with. Most people want the 6600GT for gaming and what not. If you do go with a workstation type card its most likely AGP, so you will need a mobo that supprots AGP (or better yet find one that has PCI-E AND AGP...they make them).

It's a tough decision. Research the top workstation cards (in your price range) and decide on one...then come back and see if anyone here knows if you will see the difference between that and another PCI-E card liek the 6600GT. I don't thik there will be a huge difference...but you never know.

 

[Sonikbaby]

Also I might suggest doing a raid configuration...
Exspecially with file rendering and stuff.. I know that stuff can TAKE FOREVER!!! at least on old crappy comps!

I would suggest getting TWO 36GB western digital Raptor 10,000 RPM Drives and seting them up RAID 0

they are a little bit more expensive but the preformance boost you will get from it will be WORTH It! Especially when ur dealing with huge files and such..

Plus if u need more room.. you can always get a cheep ata drive and set it up slave just for storage.

And getting a GIg a memory too... will help in your department...

those two things are probally most important...


As for video cards.. Im no expert.. but I would thnk any mid range Nvidia or ati should be good...