Need Advice on a Computer

david_h

So. .. I am having my son-in-law build me a new Desktop Computer to replace my 1963 Univac that I have now filling up my garage. . .(JK)

Here's the deal . .. I don't know what to ask him to put in it. .. Here's what I need tho. . .

I want this baby to be so AWESOME in its awesome-nicity that even the WORD "Awesome" isn't awesome enough to describe it's awesomeness.

What this thing needs to do:

SketchUP? Of Course
Thea Render. . .Yes, so I can finally get around to learning it.
Storage. . .Oh. . I dunno 400 Terrabytes (Excessive? I dunno)
Windows 7, Autocad, Office Bundle, Laser guns. . . Hyperdrive. . .Holodeck. .. You know. .
All the other usual Computer stuff. etc etc.

Think of it as a Lamborghini. . . being pulled by a plow horse.

So can you guys help me put this bad boy together?? Video card?, How much ram? all that stuff.
What would you guys want in a really cool 'puter?

After I get this guy built--since I will then be so awesome, I will be moving on to flying fighter aircraft and Base-jumping off of sky-scrapers.

And I want all of this for $49.95

Talk amongst yourselves.

Thanks!

solo

David,

where do you live? (USA)? as I'd order hardware from Newegg (good prices)

First, tell how much you can afford to spend, then we can shop.

david_h

USA. .. yes.

Price Range? Anywhere from say, Oh. . I dunno. . .$15 to . .. What's reasonable for awesomeness?

Danny, my son-in-law has access to all the cool stuff, he just needs to know what I want.

Tobobo

You want a 64bit machine, lots of RAM and a graphics card that is so powerful that it could out play skynet at chess.

solo

I'd suggest:

CPU: Intel Core i7-990X Extreme Edition 3.46 GHz 12M Intel Smart Cache LGA1366

HDD1: * 128 GB ADATA S501 V2 SATA III 6.0G/s Gaming MLC Solid State Disk
HDD2: 2Tb Fujitsu 720rpm

RAM: 24GB (4GBx6) DDR3/1600MHz Triple Channel Memory Module (Corsair)

MOBO: Asus Rampage III Formula Intel X58 SLI/CrossFireX Triple-Channel DDR3 ATX w/ 7.1 SupremeFX X-Fi Xtreme Fidelity/THX TruStudio Pro Audio, Intel GbLAN, IEEE 1394a, eSATA, USB 3.0, 2x SATA3, 3 Gen2 PCIe, 2 PCIe X1 & 1 PCI

GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 550 Ti 2GB 16X PCIe Video Card

Windows 7 64 bit.

This will be a top end machine, capable of doing everything.

solo

Do NOT be tempted to get a Quadro GPU, most render engines are moving to GPU and Quadro is not suitable, stick to Geforce.

david_h

@unknownuser said:

You want a 64bit machine, lots of RAM and a graphics card that is so powerful that it could out play skynet at chess?
Oh yeah baby! Cuz I suck at chess.

@unknownuser said:

Do NOT be tempted to get a Quadro GPU, most render engines are moving to GPU and Quadro is not suitable, stick to Geforce.
I wouldn't dream of it. (i have no idea what that is)

Thanks for the list Pete. In your mind. . .how much is this Rocket going to run me?

solo

About $2500

That's with power suplly, case, etc.

david_h

okay. . .thanks Pete!

Anybody else got their ideas? feel free to chime in.

jeff hammond

@unknownuser said:

Anybody else got their ideas? feel free to chime in.

http://www.apple.com/imac/

27" with the quad i7 3.4
$2200

Mike Lucey

Be sure to post pics as the beast is coming together

solo

@unknownuser said:

27" with the quad i7 3.4
$2200

AMD Radeon HD 6970M

And then you get the Apple ram issue, they charge an arm and leg for 'Apple' approved ram, and this Mac cannot support 24G ram anyway.

ledisnomad

I second everything Solo listed. Those are THE best components right now.

jeff hammond

@solo said:

@unknownuser said:

27" with the quad i7 3.4
$2200

AMD Radeon HD 6970M

And then you get the Apple ram issue, they charge an arm and leg for 'Apple' approved ram, and this Mac cannot support 24G ram anyway.

yeah, not sure why they put an M card in there.. probably way more powerful than most people need but still..

and i figure suggesting a maxed out 12core macpro w/64GB ram would be a bit of a turnoff pricewise

[fwiw, you don't have to buy ram via apple in order to obtain 'apple approved ram']

but hey, this isn't my money i'm spending here and i highly doubt david would consider switching OS's anyway..

solo

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1141424

Maybe I need to be on a Mac.

david_h

I was just about to say . ..

Sorry.. . I think MAC is cool, but I would have to admire its aesthetically pleasing strong points from afar. .. that would be a bit like changing religions at this point.

Seriously tho' As far as the $$$ goes. .. sure budget is an issue, but only insofar as it is me over-spending on a machine that is way beyond my abilities. .. but I don't want it to be obsolete next month either.

Its like. . .remember that scene in American Graffitti?

KID: Toad! is that you behind the wheel of that beautiful car?
TOAD: yeah. ..
KID: What a waste of machinery. . .

jeff hammond

@solo said:

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1141424

Maybe I need to be on a Mac.

lol
26 pages long.
that forum is nuts - especially when 'it feels like the right time' for a new product to be released.
i have the site bookmarked but generally only read the front page.

david_h

I knew I was throwing a firebomb by using the religion analogy. . .I don't think all Atheists are exclusively on macs. although that has a certain cache' . . .but I am sure there are folks like myself who just happen to be on a different OS platform . .. . Maybe there's a whole website dedicated to "Mormons on Macs" or whatever. . I dunno.

But back to the issue at hand. can we keep this about ME please. .. .???

jeff hammond

@unknownuser said:

But back to the issue at hand. can we keep this about ME please. .. .???

i thought pete already solved it?

http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?p=331557#p331557

anything else is just going to lead to confusion/indecision
buy!now!buy!

lapx

See this from Fletch....
I too am in the market for a new machine.
Hope this enlightens.

This is what I meant to link to...
EDIT:

Hi Lap!
A dual core is the equivalent of today's netbook... not a render machine.

Short answer: buy this! http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883227325&cm_re=core_i7-2600k--83-227-325--ProductA laptop is not a render beast - it's ok, but not a render machine. Still, corei7 laptop, while half the speed of a corei7 desktop, will still kick the stuffing out of your current machine.

Long answer...
You want as many cores and threads as possible and they need to be as fast and running as COOL as possible. So you need to start with a good motherboard and good processor.

The "best value" - that is - a great render machine for under $1000USD would include the 2600k Currently i7-2600k retails at around $314USD (at NewEgg as of end of May 2011) and runs at 3.4Ghz out of the box.

The i7 has 4 cores, but each core runs 2 threads (this is called hyperthreading) - so you are running now 8 threads on your rendering at 3.4Ghz out of the box - no clock tweaking required for under $300!

This is approx. twice as fast as the laptop version of the currently available i7 CPU.
This is also approximately 1.27x faster than the i7 920 stock speed of 2.66Ghz from 2-3 years ago. (which sold for about the same price at the time it was released)
This is also faster than the Core i7-980X Extreme 3.33GHz which is still retailing for over $1000.

Next - make sure it stays cool, and it will last years. So invest in a good - not cheap - cooling system. The NoctuaD14 is the best air cooler on the market at least it was 10 mths ago... and it's nice and quiet. Liquid cooling is not necessary, but is silent.

The 2600k can be overclocked very easily, and can be rendering at something like 4.2Ghz without much effort.

Make sure you get Good and Fast RAM - at least 6Gb in sticks of 2Gb each. (this will be ddr3 and 1600 min.)

A good and silent power supply like the Corsair 650w will be plenty for most any computer, and is over the required power so that it will run cool and quiet.

After that, everything else is gravy. A nice graphics card will be important - get a good one!

If budget is not a concern, and you're a mac person I saw this setup recently:
Quote:
Mac Pro. The spec is dual 6 core 2.93 Westmere Intel Xeon, 32 Gig RAM , 2 x 2Tbyte HD, 1 ATI Radeon HD 5870 1GB GPU + 1 NVIDIA Quadro 4000.
I did not go for any SSD HD as they are way too expensive at moment. For rendering I will have 24 threads @ 2.93<Hz . It should be fast. Also CS5 will be accelerated with CUDA and any other software like Octane could use NVIDIA. Oh forgot to say I will have dual boot.

My computer is 2 years old, and is a corei7920. I paid $980 fully assembled with operating system, everything. (no monitor). I overclocked it easily to 3.62Ghz. So my computer is less than $1000, over 2 years old, and is still equal to half the speed of the Mac the guy lists above. It's also still faster than the out-of-the-box Sandy Bridge - so yes, I'd say it's a good value machine for the price.

My advice is NOT to go for the most expensive machine - because in 2-3 years you could buy a better machine that your "expensive" beast for less than half the price. For $1000 or $1500(top end) you can get a great value render machine that will keep up with most of the "pack" for the next 2 years. expecially if you overclock)