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3Danimation Rig: Need Approval plz!

N

namaste4life

n00b
Joined
Jul 28, 2004
Messages
5
Hi, i'm about to start majoring in 3D animation and I'm looking for approval and advice on what I've got my eye on. I've got a lot of money saved up for this, and decided to not risk screwing it up by building it myself. I've customized a rig from www.monarchcomputer.com and it goes as follows:

Case: Thermaltake Modern Life Style XaserV Series-Damier w/Window
Power Supply: SPI Sparkle FSP460-PFN-EPS 460 Watt
Motherboard: Tyan Thunder K8W S2885ANRF AGP 8X AGP PRO IEEE AMD 940-pin
Processors: Dual Opteron 250 (2.4ghz)
Heatsinks/fans: Thermaltake AMD K8 Venus 7+ Highest Performance Cooler
Memory: 4GB (4pieces of 1GB) pc3200 REG ECC Corsair (TWINX2048RE-3200)

Drive 1(system): Western Digital 36 GB 8MB 360GD Raptor SATA 10K RPM
Drive 2(storage): Western Digital 250GB SATA 8 MB Cache 7200 RPM
Drive 3(storage): Western Digital 200GB SATA 8 MB Cache 7200 RPM
CDROM: Lite-On 16x DVD 48x CD-ROM
CD/DVD-RW: Plextor PX-712SA-BPS DVD±RW 12x4x16x-DVD±RW/48X24X48-CD-RW

Sound Card: Creative Audigy 2 ZS 24BIT
Video Card: PNY Quadro FX 1100 128 MB DDR/8XAGP/DVI
Add On: USB 2.0 5 Port add on PCI card

OS: WinXP


Again, I'm looking for recommendations, criticism, and any other related information.
Thank you
Alex
 
I don't really have knowledge in this, but I heard that the 72gb Raptors are much improved than the 36gb version.. although if it's just for system, may not matter.

Oh, and *drool* looks like a deadly setup.
 
"although if it's just for system, may not matter."

I was going to use it as the system drive because I figured it might be best there. Should I just use one of the other drives?

plz keep the comments comin, anything at all.
thanks
 
running out of time *bump* i have to order it soon (i leave soon) and I don't even know if there are configuration problems! advice on the specific components is needed. if nothing else, just say hi :)
thank you
alex
 
y do u have to buy it so soon? just relaxe and read some reviews. I would get the 74gig raptor2 instead too. Why do u need the xtra usb ports?
 
thanks for the reply, sorry to seem rushed, but i leave for college very soon and don't want to be stuck without a computer at college. I'm near the ends of my funds with this config, but the 74GB looks very appealing. I've been reading reviews constantly for the last 3 weeks and value some feedback immensely.

I think i'll dump the usb add on. the reason it was there was because the mobo doesn't come with any 2.0 ports and I have an old drive that i made external and it runs with usb2.0. the case however fixes that i believe.
thanks again
alex
 
Your setup is fine but I would go with a better vid card for what you are going to use it
 
As an animator myself, there are a few minor changes that I would make to the system. Give me a few minutes (right in the middle of a project ;) ) and I'll help you to reconfigure a system better suited to your needs. :)
 
" I would go with a better vid card "
I read reviews that showed the 1100's performance was very close to the 2000's, and my budget was reaching its peak. Exactly what I was hoping to get called on, hoping for suggestions.

"As an animator myself, there are a few minor changes that I would make to the system."
I love you ;)

thanks guys.
alex
 
Is your animation major a 4 year program? If it is, you wont even be getting into any animating until possibly 2 years down the road. 1 year at the earliest. Buy your rig then so you can take advantage of newer technology when you really need it. You will just be taking gen-eds your first two years, so just get a "beater" system until you will need the upgrade.
 
Hi Alex. First off, you have configured the makings of a great animation workstation here (very similar to mine :D ), good job. However, there are a few things that I would think about changing (I will list my workstations specs at the bottom for reference). Here is what I would recommend going with ( red denotes changes to current layout and * denotes reasons for the change):

Tyan Thunder K8W
(2) AMD Opteron 250
4GB Corsair TwinX2048RE-3200 (EEC)
(2) WD 74GB "Raptor" 10,000rpm SATA HDD (RAID 0)
(2) WD 200GB "Caviar SE" SATA HDD (WD2000JD)
PNY QuadroFX 1100
(2) Vantec VORTEX HDD Cooler (for Raptors)
Plextor 12x DVD+/-RW
Samsung 52x CD-ROM
PC Power & Cooling Turbo-Cool 510 AG
Audigy2 ZS
Broadcom RAIDCore BC4452
SUSE Linux Professional 9.1 (64-bit OS)


* 1. Animation, Rendering, and Editing are some of the very few apps that actually DO see a noticeable performance gain with a RAID 0 setup. The 74GB Raptor drives are about the fastest available and when configured in RAID 0 the difference (in these fields) is huge.

2. By going with (2) identical 200GB storage drives (or 160GB or 120GB) you cut the cost (of your original 200GB + 250GB setup) while leaving yourself open to mirror the drives for data backup (if you should choose).

3. If you should choose to go with the dual Raptor drives you will want to make sure that they stay cool; trust me on this ($60 is a small price to pay for reliability and data integrity).

4. More of a personal preference, but I like the reliability (not that sparkle is any less reliable) and the added power provided by these PSUs (I usually put these in the systems I build for clients).

5. The RAIDCore BC4452 (PCI-X RAID Controller) will allow your RAID 0 arrays to see a marked improvement in performance (vs Tyan's onboard RAID).

6. Suse Linux Pro 9.1 is a 64-bit OS, which will make us of your Opterons capabilities. Running the current WinXP would render your dual Opterons virtually useless. (On the flip side, you could run dual OS and have both ;) )


Also, (since you're looking for a pre-built system) a friend of mine is selling his brand-new workstation; virtually identical to mine and comes with Maya Unlimited 6.0, SoftImage XSI Advanced v4, 3DS Max 6, Renderman, Premier Pro, After Effects Pro, Photoshop CS, etc. I don't know how much he wants for it (I know its alot less than he paid) but I could ask him; if you're interested PM me. Just a thought :)


My current specs:
Tyan Thunder K8W
(2) AMD Opteron 250
8GB Corsair TwinX2048RE-3200 (EEC)
(2) WD 74GB "Raptor" 10,000rpm SATA HDD (RAID 0)
(4) WD 250GB "Caviar SE" SATA HDD (WD2000JD)
PNY QuadroFX 4000
(2) Vantec VORTEX HDD Cooler (for Raptors)
Plextor 12x DVD+/-RW
Samsung 52x CD-ROM
I-Star (TC-500R8P) 500W x 500W PSU
Broadcom RAIDCore BC4852
etc, etc, etc....

Good Luck with school and I hope this helps :)
 
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