Hardware recommendations
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If your looking for a beefy render machine you'll want to go for a quad core or more. You'll also want to get as much RAM as you can afford, id suggest about 16 GB. You'll also need a 64 bit operating system to go with this.
The really tricky bit is graphics cards as these are the things that can mess around with SU if you dont go for the right one. I can noyl vouch for the nvidia 7800 as thats what ive got. Its worth checking out this survey to see what everyone else has got and what seems to work for everyone.
Apart form that everything else is pretty much down to how much you want to spend.
this is probably a good starting point: http://www1.euro.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx?c=uk&cs=ukbsdt1&id=precn_t7400&l=en&s=bsd
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C'mon, Remus, don't tease me! I quickly put together a not even top machine for the price of 6,223 GBP (VAT not included)
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A positive bargain! i put together one for 12, 600 GBP
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Well, I tried to be realistic (to my budget)
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Yeah, I recently upgraded to a quad core with 8gb memmory, running Vista 64 bit (which is working great for me). I have an nVidia 8600 w/512mb memmory. My system is great. Even though SU doesn't take advantage of quad cores exactly, it still comes in handy. For example, the other night I had some videos to render. I was rendering 2 videos (2048x1536 resolution) out to .png files. And also running a batch operation in photoshop to automatically resize images from other videos I had rendered down to 1024x768. So that was 3 intense operations working just fine together. So I started browsing the web and didnt even notice a hitch in my performace. So I went and played Battlefield 1942 (video game), at highest graphic settings. Not a single hiccup. While rendering 2 videos, and processing a batch of images. I am soooo happy with my new system
I used to not be able to do anything else while rendering a video in SU. If i tried to browse the internet, it was sluggish and twitchy. I don't miss old my computer
Chris
PS I love knowing that if I were to go back and read this a few years, I'll be laughing at how outdated my quad core is compared to whatever will be available then. So future self, if you're reading this, please don't laugh too hard. Right now, I promise this really is a great computer
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Chris, did you get your new computer from a website? If so, could you let me have the address of it please? Sounds like you've got yourself a good one there and is just the kind of thing I'm after.
(This is where Chris says he had to take out a second mortgage to buy it and I start to cry)
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Has anyone come across the Alienware computers?
http://www.alienware.co.uk/product_pages/desktop_all_default.aspx
They are certainly.. distinctive to look at but appear to be made especially for the gaming and graphics market.
As I don't really know what makes a good computer I can't tell if these are any good or not
I ought to buy "PC's for Dummies"
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Hey, I bought mine as parts and built it to try to save some money. Though from what I understand Dell sells a very similar machine for a little less. I'll look into later today and see if I can find the price. I think it is in the US$1,000 price range.
And yes Alienware does make great machines. They are a little more pricey than necessary because you are paying for the cool brand, computer box design, and bragging rights. Lots of people buy them for games for sure. But they have great hardware. They are definitely legitimate.
Chris
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I'm guessing that if a computer is specifically designed for gamers then it will be more than capable of dealing with 3D modelling and rendering. Or are they handled in different ways?
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They mostly have the same requirements. The biggest difference is that some of the upper end game ones have 2 video cards in them that sync together to give you twice the video processing speed. This is handy for games that are super high end grapghics. I am not sure if this is helpful in 3d modelling. It is expensive.
I like that Alienware page. Those are some great computers. I think for me I'd go for the green one (Area-51). Maybe someoneelse has some more thoughts on this though. Don't just go off my opinion alone, I don't keep up with computer specs like I used to
You might be able to find a better price somewhere else though
Chris
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IIRC Alienware have some other tweaks they make to the system (the BIOS methinks) you wouldn't normally find on the exact same hardware.
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Hmm.. I've just read some very negative reviews online about Alienware computers. I guess though that every company out there will have its share of negative reviews to some extent.
Whats the most reliable computer company? Dell? HP? Mesh?
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I think its quite hard to say one manufacturer is more reliable than another, as its mostly down to the components used, and id guess that most manufacturers use very similar components.
Just out of interest, what were the problems mentioned in the alienware reviews?
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I researched Alienware as a possibility for my laptop. Apparently their customer service is a joke. Technical enquiries to their support team often end with 'why don't you just type it in Google
' Also I've heard of serious overheating problems.Check these guys out. I got a lappy from them. Very good Cumstom PC makers with nice interface.
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@unknownuser said:
Just out of interest, what were the problems mentioned in the alienware reviews?
It's probably easier to read some of them than it is for me to describe the main problems they had. http://www.ciao.co.uk/alienware_co_uk__5329936
And this was a particularly damning one. http://www.musicface.co.uk/alienware.htm
But for all these negative reviews there will be a lot more positive ones I'm sure. I've just not found them yet.
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@unknownuser said:
Check these guys out. I got a lappy from them. Very good Cumstom PC makers with nice interface.
I have looked at that site in the past but as I know very little about graphics cards, CPUs, motherboards etc I don't know what the best spec for my money would be.
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I have found Sharkyextreme ( http://www.sharkyextreme.com/guides/MVGSBG/article.php/3747766 ) to be a good source for what to buy if you plan on building the machine yourself -- always a good way to go.
A few times a year they update three different levels of computers [$1000, $2500 and $5000, if I remember correctly) and try to come up with the fastest computer available at that price. That includes keyboard, mouse, monitor, etc... so if you already have those it'd be a little less.
These guides are geared for building a 'gaming' computer, but that would coincide pretty well how sketchup works.It's worth a look, at least.
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I've been looking at the pcspecialist website and I've come up with the following spec for £1300. Is this good value for money? Will it give me a really fast computer capable of dealing with several intense programmes and the internet all running at the same time without any noticeable slowdown?
Processor (CPU) - Intel
Core
2 Quad Q9550 (4 X 2.83GHz) 1333MHz/12MB (Special Offer)Memory (RAM) - 8GB CORSAIR DOMINATOR 1066MHz - LIFETIME WARRANTY (4x2GB)
Motherboard - ASUS
P5K SE: DDR2, SATAII, PCI-e x16, 2 PCI, 3 x PCI-e x1Operating System - Genuine Windows Vista
Home Premium 64-bit Edition + SP1, CD (£59)USB Options - 8 x USB 2.0 PORTS (6 REAR + 2 FRONT) AS STANDARD
Memory - 1st Hard Disk - 1000GB SERIAL ATA II HARD DRIVE WITH 32MB CACHE (7,200rpm)
1st CD/DVD Drive - 20x Dual Layer LightScribe DVD Writer ±R/±RW/RAM
2nd CD/DVD Drive - 16x DVD-ROM & 52x CD-ROM Drive
Graphics Card - 1024MB GEFORCE 9800GX2 PCI Express + DVI (Special Offer)
Sound Card - ONBOARD 8 CHANNEL (7.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Facilities - ONBOARD 10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT
Memory Card Reader - INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (READS XD, MS, CF, SD, etc)
Case - Stylish Black Aluminium Trigon Case + 2 Front/Side USB
Power Supply & Case Cooling - 700W Quiet Quad Rail PSU + 120mm Case Fan (£79)
Processor Cooling - ASUS SILENT KNIGHT II PURE COPPER ULTRA COOLER (£36)
I'm just so clueless about all this stuff.
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I can't say that I'm overly knowledgeable, but from what I do know, that looks to be an awesome system. Where I had problems when I upgraded from win xp 32 bit to Vista 64 bit was in my peripheral hardware. Well, specifically my wireless card. It just wouldn't work with vista 64, and it was really new. I had to buy another one. Otherwise, I've had no problems with vista 64bit.
I think its a great system and the price (based on some real loose calculations done in my very flawed brain) looks to be about right, though I might have thought that at that price a monitor would be included. But heck, that is a great system. If you willing put the cash in to it, that one will be good!
Chris
EDIT: Thats good advice from remus about shopping around.
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Hard to say wether its good value for money as i havent been keeping up with developments as of late, but it will certainly give you very good performance, especially for multi tasking.
If you want to get a better idea of value, try and spec a similar machine form a few other manufacturers and see how the price compares.
edit: i tried getting a similar spec machine form dell and thers came out about 100 quid more, so id say youve got yourself a pretty good deal there
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