New Workstation Suggestions

[Randybob]

Getting something prebuilt for that price (and decent) is proving to be a challenge, I haven't been able to find something for under that yet. I did find something close though.

http://www.abs.com/app/config.asp?mono=1897#top (http://www.abs.com/app/config.asp?mono=1897#top)

Some general principles to keep in mind:

Intel Core 2 Duo for the processor. It's the best for your money, not to mention being the best overall.

2 gigs of RAM or more.

Don't get Vista yet, there are driver issues for the graphics cards and the LW dongle.

NVIDIA graphics cards for LW. The Geforce 7 series is pretty mature, I'd go for one of those with at least 256 mb of RAM. The Geforce 8 series only has the high end models out, and the drivers are not mature yet. I'd upgrade to one of those later.

That should get you started, if you'd like to know more just holler.

[lots]

I'd avoid Geforce 8 on LW for the time being..

[chrispignatelli]

Hey guys,

Thanks for the info. I'm considering either expanding my budget a little or building it myself to make sure I get what I need. Any monitor recommendations (I'm planning on getting a widescreen)? Is there any difference between the nVidia Quadro Series and the GeForce Series?

Chris

[perham3d]

stumbled up this place last week http://www.cad2.com/ and was very surprised at them. The cheapest i cud find this setup (the one below) was for bout £2500.they just quoted me £1990 for:

qx6700
4gb 800mhz ram
d975x motherboard
firgl v5200 graphics card
160gb hardrive
enermax modular psu
18x Dual Layer Dual Format +/- DVD-ReWriter (S-ATA)
36 Months Full Parts & Labour System Warranty

so im pretty sure they will give you a good system for your price.i just emailed them saying i will be using max,maya,mudbox and photoshop and have £2000ish. They sent me that back.Have look,they seem good :D

[chrispignatelli]

How's this look?

http://www.smmdirect.com/system_details.cfm?pid=248246&st=249561

[chrispignatelli]

BTW, thanks for the all the input. I think I'm going to have to revise my budget a bit in order to make sure I get a decent machine.

Chris

[Randybob]

Hey guys,

Thanks for the info. I'm considering either expanding my budget a little or building it myself to make sure I get what I need. Any monitor recommendations (I'm planning on getting a widescreen)? Is there any difference between the nVidia Quadro Series and the GeForce Series?

Chris
Quadros and Geforces are 90% similar, the main difference is that Quadros have drivers that are optimized for OpenGL performance in apps like Maya and the Geforces are mainly geared towards games. Lightwave isn't that picky when it comes to OpenGL (at least up to 8.5, which I'm using), so a good Geforce will do you just as well for hundreds of dollars less. Maya is a lot more picky though, and it pays to have a Quadro if that's what you're running.

How's this look?

http://www.smmdirect.com/system_details.cfm?pid=248246&st=249561
Looks like a decent entry level machine.

[perham3d]

seems good setup. try and upgrade it to the e6600 if ya can.that extra 2mb cache cums in handy :p

as for the geforce/quadro thing.randybob has got it right :D

as for a monitor, belinea do a nice 19" widescreen.my gf has one and no dead pixels,good contrast and brightness. £130. asus also do sum really nice 19" widescreen especially the hardglass lcd for bout £130-140.

belinea(with 104 customer reviews) : http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=114209&_LOC=UK

asus: http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/specpage.html?ASU-VW192

i no they are british sites but at least you can have a look at them.out of those two id say the asus is better :D

my 2cents

[chrispignatelli]

I've got one more question. What are the issues with Lightwave and the GeForce 8 series?

One of the places that I'm looking at to configure my computer (http://www.xicomputer.com)does not offer the GeForce 7900 anymore (they still have the 7600) and when I asked them about it they suggested I go with the 8800. I expressed to them my concerns, based on comments I got here in this thread, about LW and the GeForce 8 series and they said this:

"You will be fine with Lightwave and the 8800... there has been a couple of BIOS improvements and we see it very stable. I will be happy to configure a system with that one and if you have trouble we can refund you the card value and you can get a 7900 anywhere."

Thoughts anyone?

[lots]

Check your PMs..

EDIT: Additionally LW has grown up a bit in the OGL department. While still not being picky when it comes to Quadro or Geforce, it takes better advantage of the hardware since version 9.0. And 9.2 is in for another speed bump.

[chrispignatelli]

If I have the following power supplies to choose from, which one should I choose? Do any of these brands have a reputation for reliability?

-NZXT PF-500 500Watt
-SuperAlien 500 Watt See Through Power Supply w/ Fan Speed Control
-Apevia 600W DARK SIDE POWER ATX Power Supply
-CoolerMaster SLI Supports Power Supply Unit(600 Watts eXtreme Power)
-Enermax SLI Supports Power Supply Unit(535 Watts Enermax EG565P - SLI Ready)
-Thermaltake ToughPower 600 Watt Power Supply - Quad SLI Ready
-Xion ATX Power Supply 500 Watts Dual Silent Cooling Fan[+0]
And thank you again. You've all been incredibly helpful.

[lots]

Enermax, and to a lesser extent Thermaltake and Coolermaster are known brands, however there are better out there.

I'd aim for a Seasonic.

Go check out www.silentpcreview.com and www.xbitlabs.com and check out the reviews on PSUs. You may get a better idea of what to look for after reading a few articles.

[chrispignatelli]

lots,

The place I'm looking at to build my PC doesn't offer SeaSonic. I've been searching the forums and it looked like SeaSonic and Enermax Liberty series were the way to go, but neither is available from this place. So if end up purchasing from them (http://www.cyberpowerpc.com) I have to pick from the list above. Or I could just get the stock power supply that comes with the case and replace it myself with a SeaSonic. Would that be worth it?

[chrispignatelli]

Ignore my last post. I found a better place. My config is coming out cheaper and they have SeaSonics.

[chrispignatelli]

Here's what I ended up getting:

Case: APEX SQ-328 Mid-Tower
PSU: SeaSonic S12-500
Mobo: intel G965 Express ATX
CPU: intel Core 2 Duo E6600
Memory: Corsair 2GB (2 X 1G) XMS2 PC2-6400 DDR2 800MHz
Vid Card: ASUS GeForce 7950GT 512MB
Hard Drive: Western Digital 250GB
Monitors: 2x ViewSonic 19" LCD VX922

Thanks for all of your help everyone.

[residentcoppa]

Ignore my last post. I found a better place. My config is coming out cheaper and they have SeaSonics.

Can you tell us what better place ?

[chrispignatelli]

Yeah, here's the link:

http://www.avadirect.com

They've got decent prices, a great selection of components, and they apparently have a good track record based on some of the info I found when I googled them.

I actually added up what it would have cost me had I purchased everything from NewEgg (including OS and software) and assembled it myself and it only ended up being about $260 more to get it pre-assembled and setup from AVADirect. Note: I purchased all of my peripherals from NewEgg (e.g. Monitors, Mouse, Speakers, etc.).

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