Calling all Maya/graphics experts

[suklee]

Have been out of the hardware loop for a good few months now...

I am building my friend's rig, primarily for Maya use. Will also be for photoshop / graphics. Lastly would like to game in the spare time (of course!)

Monitor - Want to include a nice 20" (or above) LCD monitor in the budget.

RAM - 2GB minimum. no questions here really.

Video - SLI? is a 7800GTX right /necessary for maya? was thinking of one 7800gtx (256mb) *NOW* on a SLI mobo, then throw in another later on if needed.

Mobo - SLI (if it helps Maya/photoshop at all). considering a top of the line Asus board, loaded with the works.

CPU - unsure what to get here (see first statement!). do I need dual core? Intel or AMD for the apps? Traditionally Intel were 'better' for graphics, but not sure what has changed lately (if at all) in the past 6 months.

Storage - What's good out there these days, Seagate? Should I go with one big SATA drive, or a 74GB Raptor + 250+GB storage drive?

Power supply - a good name brand one.

I think that's pretty much it. Thanks guys...

 

[ProviaFan]

Monitor - I use a Samsung 213T which is great, but Dell 20" LCDs (widescreen or otherwise) are probably cheaper, especially after rebates and coupons, and will be just as good.

RAM - you're right on the mark with 2GB. Don't settle for less.

Video - a single 7800GTX is fine; SLI might help, but is not worth the money IMHO.

CPU - AMD Athlon 64 X2: dual core is a tremendous help in the rendering of 3D animations, as well as processing things in Photoshop. AMD's current CPUs are very good, and worthy of your consideration.

Storage - I'm a Raptor fan myself, due to the lower access times and thus "snappier" application startup, so I would get a Raptor plus a large storage drive or two. Some others will certainly disagree vehemently.

Power supply - I like Seasonic; they're quiet and reliable. There are other good brands as well, none of which I have used.

 

[Skott]

CPU and RAM will give you better Maya performance than video card. A single 7800GTX will do you fine. Wether you want SLI later or not is a personal choice. You'll get more out of SLI for gaming than you will Maya. RAM will be your cheapest way to get better performance for Maya so if you can look for a mobo that will support 4Gb RAM. Get 2Gb RAM now and then later on if you can get more if you want. Use 1Gb sticks though. Dont go with 4x512Mb. As far as CPU goes I would say go ahead and get dual core and just buy the fastest chip you can afford. A Raptor drive may not be ideal in your situation.

If it was gaming rig only then I'd whole heartedly say, yes get a Raptor but you are going to want storage I'm thinking with Maya. If you got a Raptor I'd put it as my main drive, load the O/S on it and use it to play games and programs but for storage you'll want a seperate larger drive or possibly more than one larger drive for storage. Wether you RAID those drives or not is a decision left up to you. If the stored Maya work is important to you, and it probably will be, using RAID might be best advised. That is if you use more than one drive for storage.

 

[Blain]

Originally posted by: Kai920
I am building my friend's rig, primarily for Maya use. Will also be for photoshop / graphics.

CPU - unsure what to get here (see first statement!). do I need dual core? Intel or AMD for the apps? Traditionally Intel were 'better' for graphics, but not sure what has changed lately (if at all) in the past 6 months.

For that you want a 175 Opteron.
Dual cores at 2.2GHz with 1MB L2 cache each core... What's not to love?

Ok, an X2 4400 would work also.

 

[Czar]

For that you want none of that, fast cpu (render times suck, dont go for opterons or xeons), medicore graphics card, lots of ram. Save on all the others and get the 24" dell monitor.

show us something he has done

 

[Chosonman]

Go dual core for it's multitasking ablility and you don't need SLI for photoshop or Maya. If you're play FPS games then SLI would help.

 

[DaFinn]

Graphics card is not such a great issue. Processing power is where its at. Athlon X2 are geat. 2Gb Ram = OK. Large monitor (but preferably 2 to get all the toolbars and stuff out of the way!!!) I would recommend 2x 20" > 1x 24" Dell. You wont notice big difference by going to Raptor, save your money there. Space will soon be an issue, rather get 2x 250Gb drives and put the page file on separate disk than the OS. Also for Photoshop its great to have another disk as work disk, it speeds things up!

My rig (3D Max/Photoshop/videoediting)

2x2,4Ghz Xeons
2Gb RAM
Ati FireGL X1-256p 256Mb
ICP-Vortex U160 SCSI RAID CARD w. 128Mb cache.
2x 10Krpm scsi disks raid-0 (for OS)
2x 200Gb Maxtor DM10+ raid-1 (work disks)
1x 200Gb External Maxtor (for data/backup)

...old, but still does the job.

 

[Czar]

Originally posted by: DaFinn
Graphics card is not such a great issue. Processing power is where its at. Athlon X2 are geat. 2Gb Ram = OK. Large monitor (but preferably 2 to get all the toolbars and stuff out of the way!!!) I would recommend 2x 20" > 1x 24" Dell. You wont notice big difference by going to Raptor, save your money there. Space will soon be an issue, rather get 2x 250Gb drives and put the page file on separate disk than the OS. Also for Photoshop its great to have another disk as work disk, it speeds things up!

good recomendations, I would go with the 24" dell instead, so later on you can get another 24" dell

 

[suklee]

Thanks guys, very very valuable input here!! I will go on what you guys have suggested and come up with a sample config soon.

As for his work, well, I'm not sure how "good" he is, but maybe samples will come soon too

 

[Danly]

A friend of mine that does animation in 3DSmax has a 6800U and he says it works great for displaying active shade viewports and the like. As for the processor I would definitely go dual core, pcstats.com has some great benchmarks for 3D apps.

 

[suklee]

Here's a sample configuration I came up with. Prices are from a local store in HK, and have been converted to USD... so it may not compare to newegg.com, etc. The monitor is really expensive - I actually bought the same monitor from Dell USA for US$400~ with coupons.

AMD Athlon 64 X2 ADA3800-BV/939 CPU (BOX) $332
ASUS A8N-SLI Premium/939 nForce4 SLI M/B $192
Kingston DDR400 1G Ram $91
Kingston DDR400 1G Ram $91
WinFast PX7800GTX-TDH PCI-E 256MB VIVO $474
Seagate 250.0GB ST3250824AS SATA II/NCQ HDD $106
Seagate 250.0GB ST3250824AS SATA II/NCQ HDD $106
Pioneer DVR-A10XLB 16X DVD+/-RW (black) $61
Viewsonic 20" VP201B/S(800:1,DVI,SPK) $746
ANTEC TP-II 550 550W 24Pin P.S. (2xPCI-E) $102


Total : $2301 - still missing a case

 

[bamacre]

I would call maya, or ask on some appropriate forums, and ask what they recommend in your price range for a video card. A gaming video card MAY not be best. 2GB of ram, and of course a dual core cpu as I imagine Maya would be able to make use of both cores simultaneously, unlike other types of software for consumers. Putting money into SCSI hard drives MAY be a better value than video card, depending on what/if it makes a difference, and you should ask in a more experienced forum.

Edit:A quick search says you need to look into the Nvidia Quadro line of workstation video cards.

This system comes with a $2000 512MB Quadro FX 4400, a TB of drive space, a dual core cpu, and 2GB of ram. Standard 3 year warranty as well. find here, use filters

 

[HO]

First of all, $2300 doesn't buy much of a graphics workstation, especially for 3D rendering work, and doubly especially if you are including a monitor and storage in that budget. I do Photoshop professionally, so trust me on this. I used to do 3d Studio but I started farming that sort of work out to those who can do if faster and better than I can. At any rate...

Dual, single core Opterons (250s, for example) perform measurably better than X2s in Photoshop, can't say about Maya, but if I had to guess I would expect better performance in that app as well. Another thing to remember is that with the Athlons, you are capped at 4G of RAM. Photoshop CS2 will let the OS start caching to RAM instead of the scratch disk on systems with 6G+, and that's with a 32 bit OS. When 64 bit becomes the norm, 4G of RAM is going to be a minimum configuration for a graphics/3d rendering workstation.

Another bonus is that if and when the time comes, those Optys can be yanked and dual core models inserted for a Quad setup. Sweet.

Edit: if you're building this for a hobbyist, then you can disregard all of the above. It's still all true but a non-pro doesn't need this level of equipment unless he is a) considering going pro in the next 12 months, or b) someone else is paying for it.

 

[Viditor]

Actually, for Maya the video card will be very important...at least it is at the professional level. What you are describing you need is not a PC but a graphics workstation.
You don't want a game card, you want a Quadro FX for your video card. Prices on these vary between $250 - $7100, so you will have to determine what type of material your friend will be working on (HD, Film, SDTV, etc...) and how quickly he must turn projects around. The need for the Quadro is that a professional must see and control all aspects of the vision, while reducing rendering time.

Then, the more memory the better (this is even more important than processor speed).
Finally, as most packages are either already SMP or about to become so (including Maya and Photoshop), Dual core is mandatory...

Edit: For the HDDs, either the new 150GB Raptors or a good scsi solution. The key factor there is having a good sustained transfer rate
You don't need SLI at all (but it won't hurt anything...)

 

[suklee]

Quick update - we decided on the Quadro FX1400... and slashed the Mobo budget a bit.

AMD Athlon 64 X2 ADA3800-BV/939 CPU (BOX) $332
ASUS A8N-SLI 939 nForce4 SLI M/B $108
Kingston DDR400 1G Ram $91
Kingston DDR400 1G Ram $91
WinFast Quadro FX1400 PCI-E 128MB $542
Seagate 250.0GB ST3250824AS SATA II/NCQ HDD $106
Seagate 250.0GB ST3250824AS SATA II/NCQ HDD $106
Pioneer DVR-A10XLB 16X DVD+/-RW (black) $61
Samsung 20" 204Ts LCD(700:1,DVI,16ms) $759
ANTEC TP-II 550 550W 24Pin P.S. (2xPCI-E) $102

TOTAL: US$2298
(Still need a nice case, and mouse/keyboard combo)

 

[pkme2]

I suggest a ATI FireGl 128MB video card and spend the rest on the CPU and RAM.
If he hasn't gotten his Maya and his Adobe CS, here are some suggestions.
To do graphics, all you need is a decent card. You could go with a dual core and at least 2GB RAM. Buy a good case and get a Fortron or Seasonic, if you can afford one. It really makes a difference to research your psu first and then go with a decent mobo, etc. You can get that info on the New PCs link below.

 

[suklee]

Is it wise to use RAID-0 in the above config?

 

[Matthias99]

Originally posted by: Kai920
Is it wise to use RAID-0 in the above config?

You will likely not be disk-bound very often; rendering and complex Photoshop operations need *lots* of CPU time, and a fair amount of RAM, but generally faster drives won't help much. So I would say no; just stick with the two separate drives.

Also, with the video card, you might want to see how a latest-generation 'gaming' card would compare relative to an older 'workstation' card for your particular application(s). A $400 7800GTX (or even a $300 7800GT) might work better overall than an FX1400 Quadro (which is, IIRC, a GF5).

And keep in mind that with Maya (and most rendering programs), the video card is used pretty much just for previews; the actual (time-consuming) rendering is done with your CPU. It also won't do anything for Photoshop. So you can probably skimp a bit on the GPU if it means you can get a faster CPU and more RAM instead.

 

[MrX8503]

Some of the suggestions above are not ideal for what he needs.

My suggestion...

CPU: Anything dual core from AMD. Opteron 165 and overclock it.
Motherboard: DFI Lanparty the non sli version.
Ram: 2 gb ram. (ocz, cosair, kingston, patriot, gskill, etc.)
Vid Card: sapphire X800 gto2 (unlock pipes)
PSU: FSP 450WATT

I would try to get two lcd's in the 17", 19", 20" range. When making graphic art there is so many menus that it could take up an entire lcd screen, this is why dual screens is helpful. Also this could be cheaper than a 24" dell lcd.

SLI is also something i dont reccomend IMO. Especially if this is a workstation for graphic arts. By the time u can afford a second card there will be a card out that can perform better than two of what you got. Also non sli boards are cheaper. X800 gto2 is a great choice, its more than enough if you plan on playing some PC games and pretty cheap.

An opteron 165 can overclock to FX-57 speeds and is dual core, so its a bargain. The psu is from fortron source and has dual 12v with 18amps on each for about $50.

The parts i came up with came to about $865 exluding LCD Screens.

EDIT: Oh also, if you plan to get a geforce 78xx, I do not recommend the GTX when the GT is $100 cheaper which can oc close to the GTX's performance.

 

[MrX8503]

Originally posted by: Kai920
Quick update - we decided on the Quadro FX1400... and slashed the Mobo budget a bit.

AMD Athlon 64 X2 ADA3800-BV/939 CPU (BOX) $332
ASUS A8N-SLI 939 nForce4 SLI M/B $108
Kingston DDR400 1G Ram $91
Kingston DDR400 1G Ram $91
WinFast Quadro FX1400 PCI-E 128MB $542
Seagate 250.0GB ST3250824AS SATA II/NCQ HDD $106
Seagate 250.0GB ST3250824AS SATA II/NCQ HDD $106
Pioneer DVR-A10XLB 16X DVD+/-RW (black) $61
Samsung 20" 204Ts LCD(700:1,DVI,16ms) $759
ANTEC TP-II 550 550W 24Pin P.S. (2xPCI-E) $102

TOTAL: US$2298
(Still need a nice case, and mouse/keyboard combo)

Cut the X2 get an opteron, Cut the SLI board your not even using an SLI vid card, cut the pioneer and get an NEC 3550a instead. LCD wise, i think you can get a better deal on a Dell 2005FPW.

Another note, if you want the PC to game as well, i dont see that happening if this is going to be a full fledged graphic workstation. That graphic card is used for applications not games.

 

[ribbon13]

Wow. Just wow.

~$730 Samsung 214T
I used to use this on the rig in my sig. (That means suitable for pro work) Specs

~$115 - Seasonic S12-500
Antec is not something I'd stick in any rendering rig. The plebs can have them...

~$55 - Antec SLK3000B
Though I'd stick a rendering rig inside Antec for sure.

Absolutely do not settle for anything less than an Opteron 170 or above, and quality 2x1GB DDR400 CAS2.

video card revisited:
Gaming cards will perform like ass in your work window, but most of the wait time will be on your CPUs for animating scenes. Likewise a Quadro will perform like ass in games. But it seems you've already decided on this rig not gaming, and mostly work window performance. Honestly, if he wants gaming in the future, get an X16 board like the A8N32-SLI, that way he can use an additional gaming video card with no issues. I suggest settling for VCQFX540-PCIE-PB (because it will perform just as well for your Maya work window) and spending the saved cash on better RAM, like this and a better CPU, like this or this

If you're spending over $60 on a burner get the best

 

[gsellis]

Thoughts on dual/multis.... First, I do not use Maya. I use Hash Animation:Master. A:M is pretty much single threaded during rendering. Big whoop on a dually, right? No, it is nice. When doing an animation, I launch three copies of the same project and set each to render a third of the project. I have three instances rendering and one 'CPU' free (Dual Xeon). When it is rendering, I even have just enough headroom to do something else, like read ATOT.

So, depending on what Maya can do with threading, consider a dual dual. Something like the Opteron 265/275 might even be a faster machine.

 

[rstrohkirch]

http://features.cgsociety.org/story_custom.php?story_id=3321&page=3

 

[gsellis]

Originally posted by: rstrohkirch
http://features.cgsociety.org/story_custom.php?story_id=3321&page=3

Thanks for the link. I get the newsletter all the time, but never thought of browsing there for hardware reviews.

 

[MrX8503]

http://www.tomshardware.com/2005/12/30/...est_dvd_writers_true_speeds/page9.html

Overall the NEC burner is better than the plextor, but almost all the top end burners are pretty similar. I would go with the NEC to save $20. I dont know about plextor but NEC also has alot of unofficial firmware upgrades.