perfect hardware config for max

[Astral]

BrandonD might chime in, curious

[thedman]

Well, I don't know who BrandonD is, but I sure hope he can officially answer my question LOL

[Astral]

http://www.d-a-a.com/clients/brandondavis/clientframe.html?http&&&www.d-a-a.com/clients/brandondavis/resume.html

[thedman]

Hey, he should know as much as anyone!!! I hope he does chime in :)

[makkbru]

i think the graphics card play an important part. high-end cards has got hardware acceleration for max (like low-end cards got acceleration for directx)...

Discreets been cooperating with intel so I guess a pentium is a ok processor, but i dont think thats very important....

check out the specs on nvidias quadro fx or 3dlabs wildcat (who wouldnt want one of those)...:love:

[gaggle]

I hope you'll forgive this somewhat off-topic remark, I just wanted to mention that MAX without too many scripts and plugins is pretty damned stable. In my experience anyway.

I'd also be curious to hear if there's any sort of "official" hardware for MAX that "makes it run good", though I suspect mostly any solid computer will do (ie. one built from decent highend parts, not money-saving parts).

[thedman]

Well, I don't know about that.. I do agree to that scripts and plugins can cause problemos :) Funny though...if you have to strip plugins and leave scripts out, whats the point? Plugins are a great time saver and make max extendable and scripts are of incredible value.
You don't seem to have to do that with any other 3d app. Heck, leave out all plugins and scripts and you will still have problems anyhow, from what I have experienced and heard from many others. I have read in 3d magazine and other similar popular artist outlets that one of the number one things most studios and individual artists have requested for MAX 6 is more stability. If guess when artists are creating simple scenes when required, it's probably fine. But what would happen if they used max for jurrasic park or the new star wars movies? Ouch Hehe.. Why do you think the government primarily uses Unix and other OS's to run their systems on war ships instead of XP? Stability with no accidental firings :)
Stability is very important, for me anyways. I know when max crashes, it causes a ton of stress and pain for me :)hehe, not physical pain, unless you are banging your head on the monitor :P
Incredible interface and many wonderful tools are included in Max which in my opinion, makes it heads above others in usability. But from what I've have seen, Max simply has a difficult time handling intensity "unless" (and this is what I want to know) you have a "perfectly optimized pc station" for Max.
That's why I am looking for the "official" supported hardware that would give you the best stability for 3d studio max version 5 not any other 3d app. I can't seem to find out anywhere on the web this info. Not even on Discreets site.
And I'm noticing from the lack of responses that most people reading this post are not quite sure of that either, so I'm positive most of us would find it enlightening and help us with our next computer purchase if we all finally know :)

[Astral]

Look, I do not have much of a problem. I have had two crashes since Max 5 and not 5.1. I used layers, wireframe, smart planning in a very extensive manner.

I don't know a program other then XSI wher eyou can throw massive amount's of data at and expect it to not crash or at least slow down to where working in it is near impossible. That is why we have layers to begin with.

A lot of people start out with Max and expect it to keep on chugging using massive amounts of data. They never learn how to manage a scene. There is a reason mesh smooth has the option of using it in render only.

Anyway, that's my take

[sam]

for maximum stability I would go with

high quality ram, like mushkin, crucial, or corsair (get DDR if you can, otherwise get the kind your motherboard supports)

a totally intel-based workstation or server class motherboard, even a dual Xeon board, the motherboard you go with is an important decision, MSI and ASUS are quality vendors, you should also check what motherboards companies like Boxx are using in their high-end offerings

Pentium-based cpu (Pentium or Xeon) (AMD is also good, but they run hotter, and I wouldn't recommend these unless you know what you are doing as far as cooling the box)

a true Quadro video card

Windows 2000

high quality power supply like Antec

high quality cooling (if you don't know how to do this it would be better to get a professional level vendor like Boxx or Xi systems to build your box for you, both of these vendors do great jobs with cooling)

high quality ram, power supply, and cooling are very important. In my experience, max hogs more resources and does things like increase the temperature of the motherboard and videocard more than most other applications, including other 3d programs, so if your system has an issue with power supply, ram, or cooling, Max will definitely help you find it :)

one way to go about doing what you want if you are competent with building your own system would be to pick a Boxx system and then assemble your own exactly according to their specification. That way you benefit from their component testing and the decision-making that went into choosing the components that they did for their systems , but save some serious cash. Just make sure you are good with implementing cooling.

seriously, this is probably the handiest tip I have to offer, build your box exactly according to the specification determined by a high-quality vendor like Boxx. That way they have done the QA testing for you. Otherwise you do the QA testing yourself. Just assembling the best quality components that you can determine together doesnt guarantee stability. They all need to interoperate, and its those problems of interoperability that are trickiest in the end unless you are in the business of making a lot of boxes (like Boxx) ;)

also, as a general rule, be cautious of plug-ins and scripts, especially free ones. I usually keep my plug-ins and scripts in offline folders and pull only the ones I need in for a particular job.

[thedman]

Astral... I didn't ask for a lecture on layers and efficiency. Wasn't my question. And that is not the reason why layers exist in max, or any other app. But I think most on here understand the basics of matting and compositing and why it exists so I won't address it. But thank you for your other comments...appreciated.
Moving on..
Hey, thanks Sam, some great comments and advice! I do build my own systems and that was why I started this thread, so I and others could build one geared towards max.
I went to www.boxxtech.com and read their specs. Great company :)
So, does max operate on windows 2000 better than XP pro?

[Astral]

thedman

are you kidding me?

Perhaps you should e-mail Blur with that attitude since you seem to elite for most of us. Why can you hide a layer exactly? It is one of many reasons why layer's exist and is used every single day in that way where I work. I hide one layer, open another and work in full speed. I think even the Max help files refer to layer usage in this way to keep the viewport moving.

So give me a break. I render layer's but to say they are not used with Max to help keep stability makes me question if you have even used Max. :applause:

Here let me copy this from the Maya forum since I seem to be the only idiot who uses layer's to cut down on stressing a program

"When your dealing with huge data sets in any software you should look into separating your scenes into separate pieces for render layers." :shame:

for you're specific question, buy hardware as elite as you try to sound, know how to use the program, people do it everyday and don't have a problem

Good Day and tata

[thedman]

- You said = " I render layer's but to say they are not used with Max to help keep stability makes me question if you have even used Max."

Good grief. Where did I correlate layers with stability? Anyone who can read can clearly see I did not say that. You should endeavor to quote properly.
Layers exist for many reasons, not just one, as you yourself just said, and that is what I was alluding to. Nothing more, nothing less.

- You said, "Perhaps you should e-mail Blur with that attitude."

I have a better idea. Why don't you copy and paste this post and email it to Blur or anyone else and watch them wonder what's your problem in life to make you so rude to others.

- You said - "with that attitude since you seem to elite for most of us" and "buy hardware as elite as you try to sound".

I think most reading this would think you sure as heck are trying to sound "elite". You know, even after you were preachy and rude, I still thanked you. Apparently not enough to appease you.
I believe most people understand that people who go around accusing others of things usually reflect the kind of person they really are themselves.
You might have good 3d knowledge and like to demonstrate that in a patronizing manner, but you obviously do not have good people skills, or any for that matter.
You are accusing me of thinking I am elite, yet I have never claimed to be and you will never find me trying to put someone down and make someone feel stupid on here, or any other forum, such as you have done to me several times now, and probably several others.
I am apparently more polite and mature than you, as anyone reading this now ridiculous thread can see. Thanks for ruining a good topic.
Next time you feel you need to prove yourself, try something more productive instead of being deprecating.
No one needs to read this kind of crap on here so lets stop it now.

[Aearon]

hey tehdman, i'll just ignore the 'discussion' above, which is probably what you want the rest of us to do

as for the hardware, i pretty much agree to the others: buy high quality components, especially the mobo, ram, video card and psu are extremely important for stability (you can't do much wrong with the cpu itself)

amd and intel should work equally well these days as athlon chipsets have become _very_ mature (even boxx is offering dual athlon systems, so really no worries there), performance is also pretty similar - but i'd still go with intel because of cooling and because i've been using a p4 1.6GHz @ 2.4GHz since may last year, and it's rock stable in max

what i don't know is if a 'real' quadro is more stable than a softquadro'd geforce4, seems logical but i didn't experience any problems with softquadro'd gf4's over here

also, i've been running xp for months/years now and i might say it's just as stable as 2k for me, plus it doesn't eat as much ram as people say (64MB on a clean install, if you disable some useless services and the bling bling) still, you might only want to use it if you need any of it's new features...

[thedman]

Fist - hehe, yes, please ignore it for you own sanity :)
I am currently using an intel 2.0 cpu with an Asus p4b and my video is a geforce4. Seems like many are using a dual cpu, so maybe it's time I give that go. Athlon's are more cost effective but you are right about intel....better cooling. Via has a fast 1 gig chip that runs cool as well, but I don't know how that would work for 3d. Any experience with that chip?
Maybe I could do a dual athlon like you mention and just buy a big ass fan to cool 'em LOL!
Have you seen the Xpc? Really tiny computer that packs a punch. Probably good for a rendering farm!
Well, from what you are saying, looks like xp may be the way to go. Thanks Fist :)

[Aearon]

no problem

athlon cooling is not _that_ bad though, the hsf's bundled with boxed cpu's should work just fine, so if you have the money go for dual athlon mp's BY ALL MEANS, that is one killer setup for 3dsmax - the athlon is able to keep up with xeons really well here

but really put some research into your mobo choice

one great website to take a look would be www.anandtech.com, also take a look at the forums over there, you'll find a lot of qualified people and loads of info on any dual amd board ever released

i also remember anandtech articles on dual amd systems, as they are using some of those for their web-server-farm as well

[thedman]

hey, thanks again :) Yah, I am definitely putting alot of time into the research. I checked out www.anandtech.com, another very cool site! I sent various companies who use max in heavy production and email asking them if they would be kind enough to detail what hardware they are using...hehe, haven't heard back yet. Still waiting... :)

[Astral]

Well my apoligies thedman. I can say when I was wrong and for that I apoligize. I (in a state of sleep deprivation) misunderstand you're word's and acted like a teenager.


Be well

[thedman]

Thank you Astral, I appreciate the apology and no hard feelings. Might be time for a well deserved holiday for ya so you can get some shut-eye :)
There's a ton I do not know or am not sure about and I really only have a desire to share and learn from others with more experience/ideas. I highly value what you and others have to say so I look forward to sharing/receiving more info on future posts :)

[Hard&Heavy]

well i dont know if its a perfect hard config for 3dmax but iam sure its have to got good materials, not the crappy "all in one board" is a waste of money and time.
Because i live in a pooor country is normal to get one of those machines (in my case it cost lots $$), but i can tune one of those in a good system capable to run 3dmax very well for half price, besides the long amount of ram of course, 1gig, a pretty good video card and a large hard disk its all you need, i got something like this and iam going very good.
But if you got the money buy some of the workstations for sale, got an incredible graphic power but also are expensive too.

i have several crashes on max but is not for the hardware, most of it are because plugins or some missing files of them, i never crashed because the hardware.

bye.

[S_3D_A]

Thedman I think it would help if you stated what spec you are running max on currently. I can tell you right now you can never have enough ram to run max. The more polys that are in your scene the more chunk of mem max likes to take.

Vid card will also play a major role in productivity. I from my own experience would recommend the nvidia quadro pro. If your are building your cpu I would recommend if going the pentium route go for a board that is also intel. I have an intel board and I have yet to have any problems with it.

I would also recommend while running 3dmax have a MINIUM of 1 ghz of ram. This will help out alot if you have other background programs as we all do using up that extra memory. And you will find that the more ram you have the more stable and productive max will be.

Here is the system I had before I upgraded. Max crashed but not constantly but I was alwayz in fear of it either crashing or hanging on me.

3d max 5.0

dual pentium 3 800 mhz
512 ram
nvidia quadro pro 4 XGL
Intel board
OS - win 2000 professional

Now I upped the ram to over a gig hz and changed to OS to Win Xp which I was totally afraid of doing so I partitioned my drives to hold both XP and Professional until I felt safe with Xp and I have yet to have a lock up or freeze here are the specs of the system.

3d max 5.1

dual pentium 3 800 mhz
1.3 ghz ram
nvidia quadro pro 4 XGL
Intel board
OS - win XP

As you can see my specs on my cpu aren't godly but they serve its purpose.

[thedman]

Hard&Heavy, S_3D_A - thanks guys!
I am running a the p4 2.0ghz cpu, Asus p4b motherboard and you know what? I upgraded from 512 to 1gig of RAM and it is making a big difference in speed and time will tell concerning stability.
It's funny, most people have crashes during modelling objects, whereas I seem to get corrupted files and crashes when using bones in long animation sequences. And it's strictly related to the bones. Strange stuff, but when you think about it, the programming for 3d apps are so complex it's amazing they work at all :)

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