Please help, my brain hurts!~

[vlad]

Budget?
Problem is you wont find any dual socket server setup in the entry/mid level range.
A self built dual with 2.5ghz Xeons, 12gb of ram and a decent gaming card will set you back around 3000-3300$. If you do some searching on other threads in this forum, you'll find that Quadros are generally not worth the cost and that SLI/Crossfire is useless for anything related to 3D applications.

Cheers

[Jettatore]

Like a thousand similar posts here. If your needs are different, post what your using it for and a desired budget.

[Ramzus]

Hmm, ok, lets say $1200.00 for now, if my budget needs to be higher that wont be an issue, I will save for it.

I am still in the learning stages and practicing with the following applications
- Maya 2010
- Photoshop

I have Cinema 4D as well but my friend warned me to stay clear of it, he told me I need to know my stuff before I test the waters on that application.

I did find a Lenovo Workstation w/ one Xeon processor and a Quadro 1800 for $900.00 <Referb>

I noticed all Server boards run a good $400.00 so I have a feeling that is going to be way out of my budget.

I would have to agree with Quadros being quite expansive. Firepro cards are a nice price range but off of all the research I have done, they get low ratings and sometimes not recommended, then again, that information is about 2 years old and can't find any up to date info with benchmark data rounding off around this year / last year.

[Jettatore]

Your needs are quite modest, your budget is very reasonable. Don't go too batty at the cash register and you should be fine. Normal HDD, Normal Intel Mobo from Asus with good reviews on newegg, regular Intel processor of your choice that matches the mobo (i7 920 sounds like a good candidate here), look for the best bang for your buck. 8GB RAM, you want something rated to be fast. A normal SATA 3.0 HDD. A good PSU, nothing too cheapo, I like Corsair. And something like a GTX 260. This together should all be in your price range and perfect for your needs. If you want detailed discussions and suggestions about pricing, shopping and performance to cost ratios I would suggest a dedicated system builders hardware forum.

Stick with NVidia cards and Intel chips for the time being. Make sure user reviews on Newegg are favorable for each part you buy, even if your not buying it from them.

http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?f=23&t=843621

[Srek]

I have Cinema 4D as well but my friend warned me to stay clear of it, he told me I need to know my stuff before I test the waters on that application.
Ehm, you are starting to learn Maya but shy away from CINEMA 4D because it's to daunting?
The other way around it would make more sense.

I can't add anything worthwhile to Jettatores proposed components, i would recommend the same, except maybe that with a 920 CPU you usualy get a tripple channel RAM board which would give you the choice of 6 GB, 9 or 12 GB of RAM instead of 8.

Cheers
Björn
.

[meleseDESIGN]

I can't add anything worthwhile to Jettatores proposed components, i would recommend the same, except maybe that with a 920 CPU you usualy get a tripple channel RAM board which would give you the choice of 6 GB, 9 or 12 GB of RAM instead of 8.

Cheers
Björn
.


That´s not the case, you can make use of triple channel also with 8GB installed.
Only thing you need at least 3 RAM Module.

Take a look in the mainboard manual how to set up triple channel with 4 or 5 RAM Module. ;)


EDIT: As for the specs Jettatore has linked to, they are fine. The GTX260 is a good price/performance choice. A 500Watt PSU will be OK.

[Jettatore]

6GB or 9GB of RAM would be fine too depending on the board's requirements. 6GB with extra space open to upgrade later and more cash left in your wallet works perfectly for your intended requirements. I actually wasn't thinking of mixing a 3GB and a 5GB chip, I'm just used to working with 1GB and 2GB DIMMS so I typed it up wonky.

[Ramzus]

out of curiosity, why a geforce gts 250? I thought it was best to avoid gamer cards when it comes to rendering/animation.

[meleseDESIGN]

out of curiosity, why a geforce gts 250? I thought it was best to avoid gamer cards when it comes to rendering/animation.

Actually the GTS250 isn´t a gamer card, it´s a graphic card. ;)

[biliousfrog]

out of curiosity, why a geforce gts 250? I thought it was best to avoid gamer cards when it comes to rendering/animation.

The card won't affect rendering at all only viewport performance and it will be more than adequate for your needs.

[Jettatore]

I'd actually go with the GTX 260. You don't need a Quadro, and even if you did need a Quadro you still don't need a Quadro.

[imashination]

You seem to have virtually everything backwards. If this is a cheap first 3d machine, forget xeons and opteron cpus, forget quadros and firegl gfx cards, forget about £3000 software, thats all a huge waste of money if youre just getting started. Its like saying youve never taken a picture before and then going off to buy a £2000 SLR camera.

Buying old and low end server parts is a massive waste of your money. Get an intel i7 920 cpu, 6 gigs of ram and a geforce 260 gfx card. There is *nothing* you cant do with this setup.

And yes, Cinema 4d is one of the easiest 3d apps you can start with, whoever told you its difficult and needs experience was talking from ignorance.

[imashination]

That´s not the case, you can make use of triple channel also with 8GB installed. Only thing you need at least 3 RAM Module.

Take a look in the mainboard manual how to set up triple channel with 4 or 5 RAM Module. ;)

Yes and no. Yes, the manual and bios say it can do this. But no, when you enable triple channel with 4-5 sticks of ram, the bandwidth plummets back down to the same speed as single/dual channel.

ie. dont do it

[meleseDESIGN]

Yes and no. Yes, the manual and bios say it can do this. But no, when you enable triple channel with 4-5 sticks of ram, the bandwidth plummets back down to the same speed as single/dual channel.

ie. dont do it

Now I am a little bit confused.

The Board Manual and BIOS says triple channel will be supported, but now you say there is no benefit of it.

How do you know the bandwidth plummets back down and why does it that?
I couldn´t find anything about that issue.
Which tool did you used to messure the bandwidth before/after?

[Ramzus]

I would like to have the ability to upgrade in the future if need be, so I was thinking of getting an SLI board for future upgrading if need be.

In your opinion is it worth getting an SLI board and is there any worthy boards out there that are worthy that arent an arm and a leg?

[meleseDESIGN]

In your opinion is it worth getting an SLI board and is there any worthy boards out there that are worthy that arent an arm and a leg?

Do you use more then 2 Displays or planing to do so, then yes SLI will be usefull.
3d packes like C4D & Maya won´t benefit from SLI.

Beside my Workstation I have a system just for gaming and this one has a SLI board called LAN-Party. My Workstation has just one PCI-E slot, but actually I don´t need more as one for my single graphics card and Dual-Screen Setup. I don´t plan to use more then two Displays neighter, maybe bigger and better in the future.


Cheers!

[imashination]

Now I am a little bit confused.

The Board Manual and BIOS says triple channel will be supported, but now you say there is no benefit of it.

How do you know the bandwidth plummets back down and why does it that?
I couldn´t find anything about that issue.
Which tool did you used to messure the bandwidth before/after?

This is second hand info from a few message boards ive read, there are a few boards out right now which say they can do it, even though it logically makes absolutely no sense at all. The fundamental characteristic of triple channel is it works in multiples of 3.

Of the boards which let you enable this bastardised 4 stick triple channel, the memory benchmarks all show that you get the same bandwidth as dual channel... which to me sounds like its just falling back to dual channel.

Take a look at overclockers.co.uk, its a uk store, but they have reasonable data on the forums if you look past the guff.

Do take motherboard manuals with a huge grain of salt, remember theyre cheaply translated in the finest Engrish tradition. The last one I read told me to install memory in slots 0 and 2 to enable dual channel use with 2 sticks... complete rubbish, it needed them in slots 0 and 1 to work.

[imashination]

I would like to have the ability to upgrade in the future if need be, so I was thinking of getting an SLI board for future upgrading if need be.

In your opinion is it worth getting an SLI board and is there any worthy boards out there that are worthy that arent an arm and a leg?

100% waste of time and money. SLI does nothing in 3d apps, and even if it did, by the time any app or driver supports it, your machine will be so old you wont be able to find another gfx card to match your old one.

Plus, budget SLI is always a waste, its never economically a good idea to buy 2 budget cards over a single higher speed card. The more expensive single card has traditionally always been cheaper and faster.

[Srek]

Do you use more then 2 Displays or planing to do so, then yes SLI will be usefull.
For more than 2 monitors you usualy need a second graphics card, you don't need SLI since SLI does NOT increase the number of connectable monitors. With two cards in SLI mode you can still only use two monitors. Used as simply two cards in one system they support 4 monitors (two each).
Cheers
Björn

[meleseDESIGN]

Of the boards which let you enable this bastardised 4 stick triple channel, the memory benchmarks all show that you get the same bandwidth as dual channel... which to me sounds like its just falling back to dual channel.


As far as my measurements goes, there are no disadvantages using 4 or 5 module as tripple channel. Same bandwidth as with 3 or 6 module here.




For more than 2 monitors you usualy need a second graphics card, you don't need SLI since SLI does NOT increase the number of connectable monitors. With two cards in SLI mode you can still only use two monitors. Used as simply two cards in one system they support 4 monitors (two each).
Cheers
Björn


I didn´t know that.
A friend of mine using two HD 4850 gfx cards, both have 4 Dual Link DVI ports and he has 8 Displays plugged.

[imashination]

A friend of mine using two HD 4850 gfx cards, both have 4 Dual Link DVI ports and he has 8 Displays plugged.

Have you seen this in person?...

[Srek]

A friend of mine using two HD 4850 gfx cards, both have 4 Dual Link DVI ports and he has 8 Displays plugged.
A dual link DVI port can be used to connect exactly one display, the difference to a single link port is that it can control hires 30" monitors (2560 x 1600). Two of those cards and you can connect 4 monitors (not 8). If you do this you can't use crossfire (or if its Nvidia SLI) since you simply need the GPU to take care of the monitors.
8 displays would only be possible with splitters, but thats hardly comparable here.

Second option, he is using HD4850x2 cards, which are basicaly two identical graphics cards in one. In Crossfire mode you can connect two monitors to each, in non crossfire 4. That would add up to 8 monitors, but again, no crossfire.

Cheers
Björn

[meleseDESIGN]

8 displays would only be possible with splitters, but thats hardly comparable here.

Cheers
Björn

That´s not true.
Actually it´s not 2 single GPU HD 4850 cards, it´s two HD 4850 x2. And yes, I have seen it in person. I could take some pictures and load them up in a few days if you´re still sceptical.

;)

[imashination]

I am the very definition of scepticism ;-)

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