Bunch of hardware questions (palamino, raid, ddr2400)

[Storm27]

I want to build a screaming fast PC for my 3D modelling/Animation and don't mind spending quite a bit of dosh if it'll really speed up my rendering times. I'm not that fussed on games performance cause my current spec is easily fast enough already.

Current : T/bird 900 (o/c 1030), Abit KT7, 768mb PC133 Cas 3,
Elsa Geforce 2 GTS, IBM 75GXP 45GB hard drive, etc, etc.

So my questions are :

a) 2 multiprocessor Althon (1.2ghz) or 1 Palamino Athlon (1.5 or 1.7ghz - when they come out) ?

b) DDR2100 or the new DDR2400 Cosair stuff ? I suppose the DDR2400 if I intend on overclocking the processor.

c) Would I notice a difference in performance between 1gig of ram
against 768mb of ram, or even 512mb of ram ?

d) Is raid really worth it ? Or would I be forking out another £100
on a hard drive for not much payback ?

e) The motherboard I'm gonna be getting will be the Abit KG7.
Good choice ? I'm extremely happy with my Abit KT7 and wifes
KT7A so want to stick with Abit.

f) The processor and motherboard ain't out at the moment but
the ram is, with ram some cheap is it a good idea to get it now ?
Anyone know if the price is set to stay low for a couple of months ?

Thanks for any help,

 

[Athlon4all]

a) For 3D modelling, go 2 1.4GHz T-birds, they're cheaper than the MP's and there's no difference between 1.4GHz tbird and 1.2GHz MP
b) PC2400 is memory that is certified for 150MHz (300MHz DDR) operation so if you're gonna be ocing the fsb to 150MHz than it might be a worthwhile investement, otherwise no
c) 512mb should be good for 3D modelling, my point is you should get 512MB (Or less) and make sure you get at LEAST a GeForce3, you might even want to compromise and buy a cheap Nvidia Quadro
d) I dunno, in hard drive intense applications (Office, database servers) yes, but in 3D modelling it depends mostly on the vid card. I'd skip it for 3D modelling
e) For dual Athlon's, there's only 1 choice Tyan's K7 Thunder, but is like $350. I'd personally wait for some of the cheaper 760MP boards to come out. A few are Asus A7M266-D and MSI's K7D Master. Note: some of these boards have been delayed due to problems with using the AMD 762 Northbride and VIA's 686b Southbridge.
f) It's up to you, I personally don't see prices going up anytime soon. I just thought I'd note, the Tyan K7 Thunder REQUIRES Registered DDR RAM, even if you're using only 1 stick. I don't know if K7D Master and A7M266-D are gonna have this requirement.

Just a few more notes on AMD 760MP. You will require a very good Power Supply because 2 Athlons will eat up a ton of power, and so would a Nvidia Quadro. For more info on 760MP, read Anand's article on it here. Anyone want to verify what I've said about the RAID, I think I'm right but i might be wrong.

P.S. btw, the Quadro's are very expensive, like $1000. Dunno what the performance increase would be between it and A GF3.

 

[Storm27]

Thanks for the help, you've certainly opened my eyes a bit, especially about the DDR2400.

Why would getting a Geforce 3 be any better for 3D modelling than a Geforce 2 GTS ? Sorry if this
is a stupid question, but I thought all a graphics card would be good for in stuff like 3D Studio
Max would be nice smooth viewports for panning, zooming, etc. You reckon I'd notice a big difference ?

 

[Athlon4all]

Well, GF3 has a lot of power, the truth is that a vid card upgrade would probably give you the best performance increase, at least that's what I've always heard. With the Dual tbirds a close 2nd. If you don't want to shell out $300 for GF3, then GF2 Ultra would be good, and it's about $100 cheaper.

 

[Oda]

Well with graphics cards take a look here. As is clear from the benches raw power isn't everything, optimizations for specific software can really make a huge difference. I know the Quadro 2 will more likely than not be slower than a GF3, so comparing a $300 GF3 with $XXXX Wildcat II is still a question mark.

Oda

 

[HansHurt]

Edit - Nevermind




LOL @ "dosh"....gotta love those Brits

 

[Storm27]

Hey HansHurt,

I didn't really want to spend DOSH on a GF3, I'd rather keep my DOSH
and stick with my GF2. Though I'll definately have a look into it.
If it looks like a good idea though, I could spend the DOSH and get one.

By the way, you guys couldn't tell me the difference between Non-Parity and
ECC Registered DDR Ram, apart from £10 per stick.