Help me build a computer animation/graphics computer

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DerekMecca

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jul 2, 2007
Messages
178
I'm about to enroll in school soon for a computer animation degree. I know it's not required to have a computer that can do the things required in the class, but it's something that I want. I want to be able to practice what I have learned at home so that I'll stay ahead of my teachings, and I also want to be able to create my own animation for my webpages and music videos for my band.

So I'm looking to build a computer that has the capability of being upgraded... something that will last fairly long. So I think I'm looking for mostly brand new hardware. I built my first computer about 3 years ago and right now it is used as my band's recording studio computer, while I also game on it. I haven't been keeping up with the latest tech news and such so I really have no idea what's out there right now. I don't know where to begin.

I'm looking to spend around $1000 total, possibly more... on everything needed. Motherboard, processor, ram, graphics card(s), and a nice case.

Anything anyone can say to help me in this would be greatly appreciated!

I've been researching alot on motherboards and the question seems to be SLI or no SLI. Is it true that it's pointless to pay the extra for SLI when you can't provide two top of the line graphics cards? Would it be better for me to get one 8800, or two lower end cards? I doubt I will ever be able to spend like $1000+ on graphics cards alone. So should I not worry about SLI? But then again... what if the day comes where I do have the extra money to buy another one. By that time, better graphics cards will be out and it will be better to buy one of the new ones than have two of the old ones. Blah. Advice?

I am thiking of going with a dual core processor... but I've been informed that quads are going down in price at the end of this month so who knows. I definatly want a board that supports quad.
 
For 1k total, and you can't afford very top-of-the line for both cards, I'd skip SLI.
 
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 should come to roughly $266 in 3 weeks. The Core 2 Duo and the Core 2 Quads are simply unbeatable by anything AMD has at any price. The Q6600 with 4 cores at that price is the king of the hill for 3D animation work, by any standard.

Some Intel P35 chipset based board, maybe something from Gigabyte or Asus. Personally, I buy Intel hardware and that means CPUs and mobos. I can't stand third-party mobos anymore and I'm sick of dealing with the mishmash of components. I learned a long time ago if you're building heavy iron, Intel is the only game in town, period.

4GB of RAM, period. Anything less and you're wasting your time, especially for serious 3D modeling work and projects. Get low latency (meaning the lower CAS numbers like 4-4-4 instead of 5-5-5 timings). Corsair or Crucial make great stuff, but if you want the best memory on the planet, that's Mushkin Black.

XP x64 - why? Because it's fast, it's ridiculously fast and because if you're doing serious 3D animation work, it'll be done with video cards and 3D accelerators that use OpenGL, not Direct3D, and Vista sucks for OpenGL. Microsoft intentionally crippled the OpenGL support in Vista in several ways, and it's been an uproar in the professional graphics community ever since, so XP x64 is the OS of choice for serious pros, even now.

ATI FireGL or Nvidia Quadro FX video card of some kind, whatever you can afford. If you're not willing to cough up megabucks for one of those, do some research and find out what chipset those cards are based on and buy the equivalent base hardware and softmod the drivers to get the higher performance for running OpenGL professional 3D graphics applications (3DStudio, Maya, SoftImage, etc).

The rest is just butter and jelly on the top, but the basic core components of a serious 3D animation workstation are the CPU and mobo, great RAM, and the video card. Everything is up to your own personal tastes, but those are the real parts that make all the difference. A Raptor might be nice for the system partition to keep the OS snappy and responsive, and then add something like a high capacity Seagate 7200.10 series drive to store data on.

Just my $.02...
 
Ghost is right, no questions asked... but you're going to need more like 2-3k to build this thing. Good graphics workstations cost. Period.
 
It looks like, from many different sources, the Core 2 Quad q6600 is the processor to go with at the end of this month. I've made my mind up on that.

I'd like a P35 motherboard that supports DDR3 AND DDR2. I'll probably go with DDR2 to start due to money constraints. Any suggestions on a board or boards, anyone?

My friend knows how to duel boot a drive to where you can use either XP or Vista. If you're telling me XP64 is better for 3D applications, then this seems like a good solution. Is there any downside to using both OS's?

I looked up the Nvidia graphics card you mention. I notice it's not that 8800 or whatever is the best one out there. Are they two seperate types of cards? What are the advantages of each? Everyone was telling me to go with an 8800 before you mentinoed the Quadro FX.

Is this the seagate you mentioned? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148135

I looked up the raptor. I found one for 150gb for $200. That's more than the 500gb Seagate. What's the deal? You are saying I should partition it for the OS(s) right? What do I use the other partition for? The 3D applications and games and such?

Thanks for your help!
 
Just buy a Q6600 and a Gigabyte DS3 and remember to get a decent PSU like the Corsair 620.
 
I wouldn't think that you would be getting to heavily into the actual computer animation stuff in your first year, so why not save up for a year and then you'll be able to get a really nice set-up, cause $1000 isn't a whole lot.
 
looks like the DS3 only supports DDR2... I want a board that can support DDR3. I want something I can upgrade that will last for a while. Is this a P35 motherboard?
 
Vista//XP 32-bit//64-bit - 100
MSI 975X Platinum Power up (MSI has declared this to be penryn supportable with a bios flash) - 150
4 x 1Gb Crucial Ballistix (115 - 45 MIR which ends the 5th) - 230 (without MIR)
8800GTS 640Mb (330)
Q6600 (280) << price is 280 because everyone gets caught up in the 266 dollar price, but in reality, that's for manufacturers for bulk purchases...... we pay more.
2 x 500Gb Seagate hard drives (110x2 = 220)
Random cheap computer case (30)
2 x lite-on SATA cd/dvd-rw drive (40x2 = 80)

That comes out to a grand total of 1420 USD approximate.

If you want a cheaper computer, skip the 4gb and go 2 to save yourself 115 dollars, you could do this:

Same OS - 100
MSi 975X Platinum Power-up - 150
2 x 1Gb Crucial Ballistix - 115
8800GTS 320Mb - 250
Q6600 - 280
1 x 500Gb Seagate hdd - 110
cheap computer case - 30
2 x lite-on CD/DVD-RW drive - 20x2 = 80

Total is 1115 for this system

If you want to cut costs even more, remove a cd drive, take a 250 hard drive for cheaper, or get some value ram to cut the price to around 80.
 
Jaanpunjab said:
I wouldn't think that you would be getting to heavily into the actual computer animation stuff in your first year, so why not save up for a year and then you'll be able to get a really nice set-up, cause $1000 isn't a whole lot.
Click to expand...

You're probably right, but there are some games coming out this year (Quake Wars and Crysis) that I want to be able to play and my current system wouldn't play them very well, if at all. That's why I want a computer that's upgradable, that is ready for things coming out in the future. That way next year, I can add some stuff or upgrade it if needed.
 
DerekMecca said:
You're probably right, but there are some games coming out this year (Quake Wars and Crysis) that I want to be able to play and my current system wouldn't play them very well, if at all. That's why I want a computer that's upgradable, that is ready for things coming out in the future. That way next year, I can add some stuff or upgrade it if needed.
Click to expand...

Buy a 8800gtx now then for use in your current computer?
 
Well I guess you're going for more of a general purpose comp instead of straight graphics/animation. So yeah, go ahead and build at the end of July when Intel drops their prices and you can get a Q6600 for cheap.

What size monitor will you be using?

PSU = Power Supply Unit
 
RoBo said:
/Faints./
Click to expand...

/wakes up/

It supplies the power to run your computer. Usually rated in wattage and for that rig I would suggest 600w for future expandability. How about the Corsair 620?
 
RoBo said:
Buy a 8800gtx now then for use in your current computer?
Click to expand...

My current computer's specs are below. Do you think it's capable, with a 8800, to run Crysis?

Athlon XP 1.9ghz Processor
Don't remember my motherboard... don't think it supports PCI E 16X
Radeon 9800
2gb Ram
300gb hard drive
 
RoBo said:
/wakes up/

It supplies the power to run your computer. Usually rated in wattage and for that rig I would suggest 600w for future expandability. How about the Corsair 620?
Click to expand...

Oh... duh. I know what a power supply is, I just forget the abbreviations sometimes.
 
Didn't think so.

Does anyone think it's that important to get a board capable of DDR3 right now?
 
Well I'm wanting the board to last as long as possible which is why I was wanting a P35 and a board that supports DDR3. But some people are saying otherwise.

And I will be doing high end 3D animation "eventualy" with the computer.
 
DerekMecca said:
Well I'm wanting the board to last as long as possible which is why I was wanting a P35 and a board that supports DDR3. But some people are saying otherwise.

And I will be doing high end 3D animation "eventualy" with the computer.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't build yet. Spend some time researching, on your own.

Not to offend, but if you don't know what a PSU is right off, you probably have a bit more to learn before building, as there tend to be snags here and there you run in to along the way, and really knowing what you're doing is often the difference between mild frustration and the end of the road.

You've got a couple of weeks before the price drops.

Forget DDR3. I don't think it will ever make /that/ much of a difference (I could be wrong, of course) and the extra cost probably isn't worthwhile now. You can get 4 GB of DDR2-800 for under $200. More like $150, in fact, if you look around.

You don't need a Quadro card -- they're insanely expensive, just read up on hacked Quadro drivers. Also read up on video cards in general, particularly workstation level cards. If you're going in to 3D animation you should know the difference between the Geforce line and Quadro line, as well as the Radeon and FireGL line.

Just take your time and everything will work out better in the end. Bioshock is still 2+ months away, so no real rush, and I don't even know when Crysis is supposed to come out.
 
Yeah I will be building the computer sometime in August hopefully. I should have more than enough time to decide what I'm going to do. I have built one computer, my current one... but a friend of mine has built 10 plus. Between the two of us, we should be able to get the new computer up and running with no problems.

Someone suggested this board in another section of this forum. I think it is pretty much exactly what I'm looking for. I know DDR3 isn't that crucial NOW but I like to think ahead.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128048
 
Ah... so it is! Looks like I have chosen my CPU and Motherboard.

Now what's the deal about chosing the right Power Supply? I have to have a good enough one to power a 8800 right? If that's the graphics card I chose. What about cooling system? Do I just get a case with enough fans possitioned right, or should I pay extra to get a special cooling system?

Speaking of cases, any suggestions anyone?

Also, I forgot to mention that eventualy I would like to have two monitors on the computer. So I need to chose a graphics card that has two outputs right?
 
Jaanpunjab said:
Any 8800 you get will be able to run dual monitors.
Click to expand...

Yes

I would reccomend the Corsair 620 but there might be some on offer that are better value.

You don't need any speical cooling like phase or water but I would reccomend the Tuniq Tower 120 as a good aftermarket heatsink.
 
Silverstone Zeus 650watt is $110 at Newegg right now.

I love my Antec P180B case. It looks a bit fridge-like, but it's quiet, a good many fan mounts, not too expensive (wait for a rebate deal and get it under $100) and keeps good temps. To me Lian Li's just cost too much, same with Silverstone, Thermaltakes are... eh, and I don't care if it's aluminum or steel anyway. Antec does only one thing well -- make cases. Also not a fan of the over-the-top look, so vaguely fridge-like is fine by me. I prefer to think of it as a big black monolithic badass...

Love my PSU as well, but it's really overkill for a single card system, and at $200 that's $100 you could spend elsewhere and be just fine.
 
That case is nice. Will the motherboard I chose fit in it? How do I know what cases my motherboard will fit in?
 
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