how often do you buy a new computer/how much do you spend?

[mister3d]

It makes sense to upgrade at least doubling the power by the same amount of expense.

[eddc86]

Hmm good idea for a poll, I spent about $2000 on my custom machine. I'm curious to know kind machines people are running and what helps the most with render times?

[mister3d]

what helps the most with render times?

CPU, and the knowledge of the renderer, both are equally important. Then lots of ram.

[ZacD]

It makes sense to upgrade at least doubling the power by the same amount of expense.

well upgrading is harder to create a poll for, but if you buy a decent processor to start with, you can't really double your power with just an upgrade.

[ZacD]

CPU, and the knowledge of the renderer, both are equally important. Then lota of ram.

and also the renderer, but new methods of fg and raytracing will take advantage of the graphics card in the near future.

[mister3d]

well upgrading is harder to create a poll for, but if you buy a decent processor to start with, you can't really double your power with just an upgrade.

By upgrading I meant changing the system completely or selectively. To me it doesn't make much of a difference. If you leave monitor and hard drive, is it an upgrade or a new computer?

[ZacD]

By upgrading I meant changing the system completely or selectively. To me it doesn't make much of a difference. If you leave monitor and hard drive, is it an upgrade or a new computer?

I'd say getting a new mobo and processor would be getting a new computer.
Of course people like to bring over HDD and monitors since they aren't improving as drastically as the processors and videos every 3 years.

[aesir]

I only upgrade. My sound card is a decade old. Other parts, 6 months, 2 years.

[eddc86]

CPU, and the knowledge of the renderer, both are equally important. Then lots of ram.

Figured as much, but I just had to ask thank you. Yeah I'm running 3.0GHz Core 2 Duo and 4Gb of RAM...now I just have to get a better grasp of the render mechanics and I'll be set.

[ZacD]

Figured as much, but I just had to ask thank you. Yeah I'm running 3.0GHz Core 2 Duo and 4Gb of RAM...now I just have to get a better grasp of the render mechanics and I'll be set.

Can always pm me for help on rendering

I got a 3.4ghz quad, 8 gigs ram, 9800gt, that's over a year old, and I see myself buying an i7 within the year. I spent $2200 this time around (for everything keyboard to monitor) but I plan on only spending around $1200 next time on the build.

[mister3d]

Figured as much, but I just had to ask thank you. Yeah I'm running 3.0GHz Core 2 Duo and 4Gb of RAM...now I just have to get a better grasp of the render mechanics and I'll be set.

Such renderers as vray (and I think, mental ray) double their speed with doubling the amount of cores (1 hour vs half an hour - duo vs quad). The amount of ram can help optimizing bsp tree (memory consumption optimization) and speed-up the rendering time also. And in general tha amount of ram is very important, I would say something like 8 gb of ram is not bad for today. 2 is the critical minimum. And the system must be preferrably 64-bit to use such more than 2 gb of ram.

[soulburn3d]

While never a conscious decision, I noticed after I bought my last computer that I have bought a brand new computer exactly every 3 years for the last 15 years. So going ahead, I think I'll stick to my pattern and buy a fresh computer the summer of every 3rd year.

- Neil

[eddc86]

Can always pm me for help on rendering

I got a 3.4ghz quad, 8 gigs ram, 9800gt, that's over a year old, and I see myself buying an i7 within the year. I spent $2200 this time around (for everything keyboard to monitor) but I plan on only spending around $1200 next time on the build.


=/ ....welp time to upgrade my machine, haha! Yes, I will most definitely be asking for help soon, thank you. I'm trying to finish my reel right before heading out to Cali, so I'm going to need all the help I can get.

[nix21]

Just recently built a new i7 system. Lots of good deals going on, great time to buy. i7's are rockin fast for rendering, most rendering is up to 40% faster than last generation. The 920 you can overclock like crazy.

Paid $1730 to start, but after my rebates it ended up being $1550.

Asus P6t Deluxe V2
i7 920 (eventually overclock)
Noctua U12P Cooler
BFG Nvidia 285 GTX OC2 - 1GB
CORSAIR CMPSU-850TX 850 watt PSU
COOLER MASTER RC-690 case
12GB OCZ XMP PC3-12800
1TB 7200rpm WD Black
Samsung SH-S223Q DVD burner
TRENDnet TK-204UK Monitor Switcher (already have an lcd)

Think a raptor drive or a SSD would be next on my list.

[mister3d]

and also the renderer, but new methods of fg and raytracing will take advantage of the graphics card in the near future.

You are right, :blush: the renderer is critically important as maxwell is 10 times slower than vray or mental ray.
I'm not sure we can talk about gpu rendering for now, as we don't have anything by today as effective as cpu renderers, so I wouldn't hold your breath, and not invested in expensive videocard. Videocard is the last thing I think about, frankly speaking. I spend on videocard around 100$, no way I will spend something like 500$ for it to become 200 after a year or so. They evolve too fast.

[eddc86]

I spend on videocard around 100$, no way I will spend something like 500$ for it to become 200 after a year or so. They evolve too fast.

I'm assuming you don't play PC games do you or may be you like crappy graphics? Haha, just giving you a hard time.

Back to the topic on hand-Let me get this straight, you must be running a 64bit OS to get the full use of your RAM? I have 4Gb and I just noticed XP only recognizes 2.75Gb...

[ambient-whisper]

Can always pm me for help on rendering

I got a 3.4ghz quad, 8 gigs ram, 9800gt, that's over a year old, and I see myself buying an i7 within the year. I spent $2200 this time around (for everything keyboard to monitor) but I plan on only spending around $1200 next time on the build.

while you can use the older machine as a network node. if you just use it for general work, why would you need to upgrade it to an i7? i mean its nice that its faster but from a 3.4quad the performance gain will be pretty darn small compared to what youll get in 2 years or so.


personally, im using a quad core 9550 proc, 8gb ram, and a 8800 gts512 card. i cant see myself upgrading until atleast an 8 core minimum, or even 16 core pc. until then, this pc will be way more than adequate. its already worked on some heavy projects, so no complaints here. I usually upgrade to technology that has been refined a bit, that also goes for fairly cheap. i skipped the core2 duos, the first 2 quad core runs, and i ended up getting the refined version of the quad core ( 45nm version ). i did the same with the videocard. i generally try to get hardware that can run a tiny bit cooler, and more efficiently than the first run stuff.

as for how much i like to spend. on my current machine ( and a 27" dell monitor ) i spent about 2,000 bucks ( canadian ) ( the dell had a half price discount :D )

[DuttyFoot]

I have 4Gb and I just noticed XP only recognizes 2.75Gb...

got 4 gigs in my lappy running xp also and i did the 3 gig switch which allows me to use up 3 instead of 2.75. just built a quad core myself, it cost me under a thousand. next up for me would be the i7. worse thing about my current machine is that i am running 2 gigs when i bought 4. the darn mobo from asus that i bought said it accepts 8 gigs total, however it wouldn't even allow 4 gigs to work at the same time.

[ambient-whisper]

I'm assuming you don't play PC games do you or may be you like crappy graphics? Haha, just giving you a hard time.

Back to the topic on hand-Let me get this straight, you must be running a 64bit OS to get the full use of your RAM? I have 4Gb and I just noticed XP only recognizes 2.75Gb...

actually, most current games play on older hardware just fine. nice thing about most new pc games is that they are xbox 360 ports, so as long as you have something comparable to an xbox360, you will be fine.

http://www.pccanada.com/viewitem.asp?id=7836

http://www.pccanada.com/viewitem.asp?id=9881

http://www.pccanada.com/viewitem.asp?id=8572

any of these three will play most games just fine. this includes crysis. maybe not at the fullest possible resolution, but if you lower the resolution a bit, you can still probably play full quality :D you just gotta tweak the game a tiny bit, and be smart about your settings.

[mister3d]

I'm assuming you don't play PC games do you or may be you like crappy graphics? Haha, just giving you a hard time.


If you buy a modern pc game, it usually requires the top videocard. Half a year passes and your 600$ videocard "needs upgrading" to play in your favourite crisis. Consoles are the way to go - no upgrades, top-notch games. Anyway, videogames is fun, 3d is work.

[RobW720]

man.... its been too long. spent 2500ish on my machine back in 2002.... havnt gotten a new one since. freelance projects, upgrades and general upkeep but nope, havnt gotten a new one. was thinking about doing it this year. might build one, might get a boxx, might get a mac not sure. but this thing is startin to dragass.

[SheepFactory]

Man I want a mac pro but its insane how stupidly expensive apple priced them. :(

Gonna have to pull the trigger on one of those i7 pc's from newegg soon if they dont drop the price.

[angel]

I've had this computer for around 5-6 years... I have upgraded RAM and video card. right now it is bottomed out, no more room for improvements. So I need a new machine but I see my credit card debt shrinking and I say "a new computer can wait a little longer" ;)

[ZacD]

while you can use the older machine as a network node. if you just use it for general work, why would you need to upgrade it to an i7? i mean its nice that its faster but from a 3.4quad the performance gain will be pretty darn small compared to what youll get in 2 years or so.


personally, im using a quad core 9550 proc, 8gb ram, and a 8800 gts512 card. i cant see myself upgrading until atleast an 8 core minimum, or even 16 core pc. until then, this pc will be way more than adequate. its already worked on some heavy projects, so no complaints here. I usually upgrade to technology that has been refined a bit, that also goes for fairly cheap. i skipped the core2 duos, the first 2 quad core runs, and i ended up getting the refined version of the quad core ( 45nm version ). i did the same with the videocard. i generally try to get hardware that can run a tiny bit cooler, and more efficiently than the first run stuff.

as for how much i like to spend. on my current machine ( and a 27" dell monitor ) i spent about 2,000 bucks ( canadian ) ( the dell had a half price discount :D )

i7's are about 50% faster and they have "virtual cores" so you see eight
and I could pretty easily get it up to 4ghz, I planned on setting up a small render farm as well so I can work and render at the same time at home.

http://blog.whitesites.com/blogs/medium/Task-Manager-at-100-percent-on-core-i7_633650776937566110.jpg

or you can get 16 processors... http://gizmodo.com/198190/mad-hatters-quad-core-2-duo-server-goes-sixteen-ways

[splitpoint]

I'm in year number three with my current machine.

It started out as a dual opteron 2210he and I figured that I'd have to get a new machine this year but I caught a deal on a pair of opteron 2376's as drop-in replacements and I figure I can at least get another year or two out of it now. While the new I7's are a bit faster it's not enough to warrant several thousand bucks to upgrade at this time.

[leigh]

Please don't post threads like this in General Discussions. The Technical and Hardware forum is for this e-peen stuff.

[biliousfrog]

I'm in year number three with my current machine.

It started out as a dual opteron 2210he and I figured that I'd have to get a new machine this year but I caught a deal on a pair of opteron 2376's as drop-in replacements and I figure I can at least get another year or two out of it now. While the new I7's are a bit faster it's not enough to warrant several thousand bucks to upgrade at this time.

Several thousand bucks?...where do you shop?

I'm currently contemplating a new i7 PC or upgrading my Boxx with some faster CPU's...if I can fit faster CPU's in my i5000XT?

[splitpoint]

Several thousand bucks?...where do you shop?


Boxx 4850 starts north of $3k according to their site. The base I7-920 version cinebench score is slower than my current 3 year old rig with the newer opteron processors. For me to see any appreciable benefit for rendering over my current system I'd need to go for the 4850 Extreme which costs significantly more or move into the 8500 series. :)

[ZacD]

how often you buy a computer doesn't seem that technically related, but oh well.

[BOXXlabs]

Several thousand bucks?...where do you shop?

I'm currently contemplating a new i7 PC or upgrading my Boxx with some faster CPU's...if I can fit faster CPU's in my i5000XT?

Steve,

Unless you can get a crazy good deal on a pair of some fast 5400 Xeon CPUs, your money is almost certainly more wisely spent on a new system...

Just for perspective, a new i7 system running at 4Ghz is about the same speed as a pair of (comparatively old) Xeon 5420s (@ 2.5gHZ).

cheers -

Adam
BOXXlabs

[olson]

well upgrading is harder to create a poll for, but if you buy a decent processor to start with, you can't really double your power with just an upgrade.

I continually upgrade, never really buying all new components at once. And sure you can double the power with simple upgrades. I've had the same dual socket Opteron board in my workstation at home for the last three years (Asus KFN32D-SLI). I started with Opteron 2210 HE dual core processors at 1.8 GHz which was a lot of bang for the time when there were no quad core processors around. Then I upgraded to Opteron 2352 quad core processors at 2.1 GHz, and now I'm looking at upgrading to Opteron 2431 six core processors at 2.4 GHz. The only thing needed is a BIOS flash for each upgrade, even the old heatsink and power supply works because they don't conume anymore power than the previous generation.

From 4 cores to 12 cores without having to upgrade anything except for the processors. In that same time I've upgraded the video from a Radeon X700, to Radeon X1900, to Radeon HD 3870. When I'm done with the parts they get sold off to friends or used as backup parts or render nodes.

Even most consumer gear can be upgraded easily. If the socket on the motherboard won't accept new CPU then get a new motherboard, memory, and processor. No need to dump more money into the case, power supply, drives, and video card again if they still meet the needs. Not saying upgrading and building from compnents is good for everyone but certainly for freelance artists and students its ideal. If there's an IT staff taking care of your needs then so be it, but there's no excuse to not know hardware if you're a freelancer or student.

Okay, putting the soap box away. Cool idea for a poll. I'm a little surprised to see the results so spread out. Cheers!

[ZacD]

Even most consumer gear can be upgraded easily. If the socket on the motherboard won't accept new CPU then get a new motherboard, memory, and processor. No need to dump more money into the case, power supply, drives, and video card again if they still meet the needs.

I consider getting a new mobo and processor is basically getting a new pc and savaging the rest, just my opinion though

[Szos]

Just recently built a new i7 system. Lots of good deals going on, great time to buy. i7's are rockin fast for rendering, most rendering is up to 40% faster than last generation. The 920 you can overclock like crazy.

Paid $1730 to start, but after my rebates it ended up being $1550.

Asus P6t Deluxe V2
i7 920 (eventually overclock)
Noctua U12P Cooler
BFG Nvidia 285 GTX OC2 - 1GB
CORSAIR CMPSU-850TX 850 watt PSU
COOLER MASTER RC-690 case
12GB OCZ XMP PC3-12800
1TB 7200rpm WD Black
Samsung SH-S223Q DVD burner
TRENDnet TK-204UK Monitor Switcher (already have an lcd)

Think a raptor drive or a SSD would be next on my list.

I think this post right here proves that there is absolutely zero reason to ever drop more than roughly $1500 on a new PC.. the amount of power available for this amount of money is mind boggling. Anything above that threshold is almost always a waste of money in my opinion... for the (potential) of maybe 5% faster speed, you are paying a 20+% premium. That kind of math doesn't work in the end if you are trying to justify your PC purchase. Especially true when those same components that today are sold at a huge premium, in a month or so will be sold at reasonable discounts.

(now don't get me wrong, if you are talking about a multi-node render farm, then sure I could see spending more money, but not on a single workstation)

[ambient-whisper]

Steve,

Unless you can get a crazy good deal on a pair of some fast 5400 Xeon CPUs, your money is almost certainly more wisely spent on a new system...

Just for perspective, a new i7 system running at 4Ghz is about the same speed as a pair of (comparatively old) Xeon 5420s (@ 2.5gHZ).

cheers -

Adam
BOXXlabs

but thats only true for multi threaded applications.

[imashination]

but thats only true for multi threaded applications.

...and on the apps which arent well threaded, its even faster still