Part Recommendations

[pokilty]

Hey thanks for all the help guys (especially mgold thanks for the research). I went to my store and got a list of things that the technicians recommended, I'll list them here if you have any more suggestions. I made sure to get an unsophisticated-looking case =p

Video - ATI FireGL V5000 (supposedly great for OpenGL rendering)
Motherboard - MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum SLI (i want the SLI just in case, for later on)
HD - Western Digital 36 GB SATA (10000 RPM, will hold the boot programs)
HD2 - Maxtor 300GB SATA (16 MB Cache, for my models/data)
Processor - AMD Athlon 64 FX55
Memory - 2GB Corsair DDR

Then slap on a few compatible fans (Zalman), drives, monitor and case and I got myself a computer. It actually went a few $100 over, but it's not a problem for the power I'd be getting.

Hm and by the way I learned a lot, but I'd still consider myself a dummy when it comes to hardware, so still looking for advice. I'll probably end up visiting the store again tomorrow.

 

[Hacp]

The 36 GB raptor is significantly slower than the 74 GB one, cause of platter size i think. Btw, Get dual core. I would with a 3000 budget. THe firegl is also pretty good, but very expensive.

 

[mgoldb2]

Video - ATI FireGL V5000 (supposedly great for OpenGL rendering)
Motherboard - MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum SLI (i want the SLI just in case, for later on)

Excelent video card for rendering 3d models. If that what you building your comptuer for that great. Not that great for playing video games it just not what it ment to do.

I made a mistake with my recomendation. What I picked would be a PERFECT gaming machine. The problem is I never asked if this was for gaming.

Since it seemed 3d models is what you going for there a few other routes you could take. For example the best path for 3d rendering would proberly be to get a opteron system instead of a athlon fx-55. I not as familar with pricing opterons system since I more into gaming systems. I do believe optons system would be skt 940 not skt 939.

Of corce you could just keep with the athlon 64 fx-55 or 57. Am sure it will still suite your needs great. Acturally for your need if you keep with skt 939 maybe a athlon 64 x2 4800 dual core would be best.

 

[pokilty]

Well I will be playing games on this... but I don't play games that require this huge amazing graphics card. I'm sure the firegl is better than the one I have now, even if its not the absolute best gaming option there is.

The dual core is something I was kind of dodging around... I'm not sure whether or not I want to get it. I read some articles that said you're better off getting one high-end processor than a dual-core, plus I'd need software to take advantage of it. The FX is not something to laugh about though... i think it'll suit my needs well for a few years. if dual processor is that huge an advantage then let me know by tomorrow morning please, i'll probably be buying my parts then.

 

[dhw200]

id get the DFI Lanparty nForce4 SLI board instead of the MSI. Id replace the PSU with the OCZ Powerstream 520 watter

 

[pokilty]

wow the nForce board looks impressive... i'll check it out tomorrow, thanks