Help Me Blow Money On A New Pc Build!

[SS8_Gohan]

ok, PC is 6+ years old now, i think, and it's just not quite coping anymore unfortunately time for upgrade!

Been out of the parts/pc game for a while, so have not much clue what's going on these days.

Don't have a budget at this stage, but i'm imagining a trip to MSY and either build it myself, or pay them the $50 to build it.

Requirements:

-I'm not a gamer

-3D (maya, etc)

-Motion graphics (After effects, etc)

-Capable of video editing

-Flash (meh)

-Photoshop

-Maybe some Objective C type work, but can't imagine object o programming has gotten resource hungry these days?

-Windows 7

I have a Dell 24" monitor, but not sure whether to go 2 x 24" Dell or 1 x 30" something... or a 1 x 30", 1 x 20" Portrait

PC is in my room, so quietness is important.

Some thoughts i had..

- quad core (and maybe overclock? never done this, but i like making my car go faster )

- 6gb ram or maybe 12?

- perhaps a small SSD? like a 30gb one?? for video editing?

and that's probably the extent of my knowledge. What's the cheapest i could get away with all this and what do y'all recommend?? Happy to buy 2nd hand stuff too

arigato!!

[Kujotk]

www.digitalstar.com.au

got my pc made there, i just chose the parts, been a month and no probs..... as good as any other place i supose

[SS8_Gohan]

yeah, but i don't know which parts to choose

as i said, most likely get everything from MSY or second hand

[DivHunter]

Budget is a much better guide to a system build than 'I want it to do this stuff'. The only part of your list of uses that will change the hardware is if you want hardware acceleration for Maya (what version?) and etc, listing what the etc is is probably a good idea as different programs can use different hardware acceleration.

FYI you are then looking at workstation cards which, for a recent one, will be $1-2k by itself.

Edited December 1, 2009 by DivHunter

[R31Nismoid]

^ Agreed.

Set the budget and go from there. You could build ANY system to do the above and spend $1500 or $2500 - the $2500 will obviously do it a lot better

[DivHunter]

^ Agreed.

Set the budget and go from there. You could build ANY system to do the above and spend $1500 or $2500 - the $2500 will obviously do it a lot better

I reckon I could spec a $5-10k one that would be pretty sweet high end ram drives, multiple workstation GPUs, 7 pci-e slot mobo, i7 extreme, 12+ GB DDR3 2200 MHz RAM

I need some alone time.

[SS8_Gohan]

hahahahah - well i am behind the times, never heard of a workstation card.

i dunno, say... $1500? Want to get it through my dad's work whilst the tax/rebate thingy is still kicking around

actually, that maybe bump the budget up... it's 30% isn't it?

[DivHunter]

So probably not that keen on a FireGL or Quadro

[SS8_Gohan]

^ never heard of either

well if you say a workstation cards is $1k+ on it's own... it's probably going to be outside my budget (unless all the other components can be had for around the same price)

i did multimedia at uni, but have been out of it for a few years and looking to get back in. Maya was the preferred 3d program, and i liked after effects for motion graphics.

I'm sure there are a lot more programs out there now, but these would be where i would start to get back in.

As for version? whatever the latest is i suppose.

well.. put it this way, what sort of $$ are we looking for a very good graphics card (non-workstation) and is the price difference between that and a workstation card justifiable?

[DivHunter]

^ never heard of either

well if you say a workstation cards is $1k+ on it's own... it's probably going to be outside my budget (unless all the other components can be had for around the same price)

i did multimedia at uni, but have been out of it for a few years and looking to get back in. Maya was the preferred 3d program, and i liked after effects for motion graphics.

I'm sure there are a lot more programs out there now, but these would be where i would start to get back in.

As for version? whatever the latest is i suppose.

well.. put it this way, what sort of $$ are we looking for a very good graphics card (non-workstation) and is the price difference between that and a workstation card justifiable?

If you're not gaming at all a good consumer graphics card is pointless, they don't support hardware acceleration for 3D rendering apps in general. Probably a 5750 or 5770 would be the go for good price / performance at the lower end of the market but you could go pretty cheap and get more CPU grunt instead as that will be doing most of the work without a workstation type card.

[SS8_Gohan]

aaaahh... i was thinking the graphics card would be needed mostly for the 3d stuff...

so the things i'm interested in, digital imaging (photoshop), flash, 3d, motion graphics... the speed of these things are more determined by the cpu as opposed to the graphics card?

hmm... is there any sense in buying an ok cpu and workstation card? or more sense to buying a really good cpu, and an average consumer graphics card?

[DRD-00F]

Photoshop CS4 uses GPU acceleration.

As do the other programs you mentioned, but they don't don't lean as heavily on it as games do. A faster processor will see you with more gains if you're not gaming...

I also came to the realisation that I have a shitty old computer and dropped over 4k on new parts just yesterday including:

case

PSU

CPU

ram

2 HDD's

vid card

mobo

water cooling gear

It's in my room too and my current one runs hot and is bloody noisy so I went with the water cooling for peaceful sleep.

[R31Nismoid]

4k on PC gear?

WTF...

[DivHunter]

CS4 is one of those special cases where consumer and workstation cards will accelerate it.

The truth is that workstation and consumer cards are VERY similar and it's merely the software behind them (drivers) and the support from developers that lets the manufacturers charge massive amounts for cards meant for business.

Edited December 1, 2009 by DivHunter

[DRD-00F]

Oh I see Ash... it's ok to dropped tens, maybe even hundreds of thousands of dollars on cars but when someone drops a small amount on a computer, it's crazy?

[R31Nismoid]

Nothing wrong with it at all - but what gear did you put in there?

Short of crazy stuff like i7 950s in there (which are useless over a 920) - i don't get how you made it to 4k!

[DRD-00F]

case = thermaltake armor +

PSU = 1000watt corsair

CPU = i7 920

ram = 6GB Dominator 1600

2 HDD's = Falcon G Skill2 (SSD's)

vid card = EVGA GTX295 Co-Op

mobo = EVGA X58

water cooling gear = blocks for cpu, mobo and vid card... pump, radiator etc

plenty good and plenty of room for later upgrades

The only thing there that isn't basically the best of the best is the CPU (overclock ftw) and the Mobo... but I don't feel like spending $700 on 4 way SLI that I'll never use.

[R31Nismoid]

GPU - $700

i7 920 - $400

RAM - $270

mobo - $350

PSU - $330

Case - $250

SSD's (assuming 64gb?) - $550

$2800... so another $600-$700 or so depending on what blocks? should be a nice setup either way

fun times putting that together!

[DivHunter]

case = thermaltake armor +

PSU = 1000watt corsair

CPU = i7 920

ram = 6GB Dominator 1600

2 HDD's = Falcon G Skill2 (SSD's)

vid card = EVGA GTX295 Co-Op

mobo = EVGA X58

water cooling gear = blocks for cpu, mobo and vid card... pump, radiator etc

plenty good and plenty of room for later upgrades

The only thing there that isn't basically the best of the best is the CPU (overclock ftw) and the Mobo... but I don't feel like spending $700 on 4 way SLI that I'll never use.

5970 @1GHz performs about the same as GTX295 in Quad-SLi

And Thermaltake armour, seriously.

Edited December 1, 2009 by DivHunter

[DRD-00F]

no 5970 in stock, and it costs a thousand dollars... seeing as how I said I WON'T be doing quad SLI, I don't see the need for the extra money...

and yes, seriously, have a cry... sorry it's not a Lian-li filing cabinet...

GPU - $700 - close enough

i7 920 - $400 - close enough

RAM - $270 - not close at all

mobo - $350 - close

PSU - $330 - close again

Case - $250 - way off (this price includes most of the watercooling gear though, I'm just upgrading a lot of it)

128Gb SSD's - try again?