New computer

Edson

Edson I agree the mac is a very good alternative and something I personally have been wanting to move across to for quite a while. The thing that always puts me off is that I use Autocad which is not available on Mac. I realise you can run in Bootcamp but I often have Autocad open while using things like PS and SU at the same time.

dylan,

i agree with you about bootcamp but there are other apps (parallels, for one) that allow you to run both OS without having to reboot to move from mac to windows.

boofredlay

Thank you all for the advice so far. Keep it comin'

gata

Boofredlay,
Balance your RAM, CPU, Videocard for your needs.

The 'CAD expert' at work - who wants mainly AutoCAD, some games (if at home), and other little stuff - and myself - who want SU, Photoshop, maybe some future rendering, and other little stuff - settle on some similar specs.

Keep all the primary hardware manufactured by the same company so it plays together nicely into the future: motherboard, CPU by the same company, like Intel.

2.13 - 3 GHz Dual core Intel Processor
2 GB RAM
8600 GTS (or GT) 512 MB videocard, EVGA is a good brand (note the 8000 series nVidia cards are ready for DirectX 10, but DirectX 10 drivers for things like SU are not. Make sure you direct the videocard software to let the application control the graphics acceleration and/or install DirectX 9 for the time being to make SU happy).
XP Pro (Dell and Nobilis still sell rigs with XP)

The guy at work price out a nice Dell machine with those specs and a 20.1 Dell Ultrasharp LCD monitor for less than 1500 USD recently.

I got a refurbished 20.1 Dell Ultrasharp widescreen LCD monitor for 300 USD from the Dell outlet store. That's 100 dollars less than new, but with the same 3 year warranty. Buying a Dell computer creeps me out because I don't like proprietary hardware - I like to control my hardware destiny. But the Dell Ultrasharp monitors are reeallly nice and pretty too.

boofredlay

So speaking of computer upgrades
My wife's schedule for classes is closer than she or I thought. She registers next week and is off and running...

There is a place in Huntsville where my father had a computer built for him.
Here is their pricing guides:
http://www.northalabamacomputers.com/download.ivnu

And here is the custom system price sheet:
http://bellsouthpwp.net/n/a/nacahsv/System.pdf

I will probably talk with them this week so any additional help would be great, thanks.

P.S. to quote myself from above..."PC with XP.
I want a simple machine with great speed and graphics for SketchUp, SU Podium, Photoshop, Autocad and maybe Revit (which I use at work) also some cool games. And all the basics as well... email, Office..."

boofredlay

Ok, here are the specs on the computer I just ordered. It should be done Monday. I am having it locally built.

Cheers and thanks for all the help, especially you Pete.

tbd

I am ordering a similar setup (but with 4gb RAM, 500GB Hdd, Geforce 8600GT).
what was the price on your setup ? also if it is ready Monday, can you post some tests/experience ?

boofredlay

Just under $2300. A hair more than I originally wanted to spend but I have the cash.
I would be happy to do some tests, that is if I have the time. It is about to get hectic at work and I have my Form Fonts obligations as well.
But I will do what I can.

Mike Lucey

Seriously, go for a Mac for two simple reasons! It is extremely
reliable and secondly, in 24 months time when you want to upgrade
the Dealer (if you pick the right one) will offer you a decent
trade-in price against a newer shiny Mac! It will be difficult
to get the price of a drink for a 24 month old Dell etc

Dylan, as regards running ACad on the Mac. There are other options
available, Parallels etc. I have not tried ACad on Parallels but
imagine it should work okay. Check this out, http://forum.parallels.com/showthread.php?t=2867

Mike

juju

Good specs on that machine Boo, let us know how it performs. BTW, make sure the RAM is running in dual channel mode when the machine is up and running. If you got 3x 1GB modules then I don't think it will run in dual channel mode, maybe some other memory config gives yo 3GB and have it run in dual channel mode.

Having the RAM run in dual channel mode speeds things up a little. Use an app like CPU-Z to check this.

tbd

so, how is the new computer ?

boofredlay

I set it up the other night but have not had much time to work with it. Also, as soon as I hooked it up either my router or modem died. I am waiting for the cable company to come out today to fix my internet connection... I am at work now.

boofredlay

Ok TBD you wanted an update... the computer is lightning fast, that is until you apply a transparency to a material or go to xray mode. I have tried turning off fast feedback and even turning off hardware acceleration with no success. It appears to be slower than my old machine when in xray mode, however I have not done a side by side yet (my wife is working too).

Any ideas?

notareal

@unknownuser said:

Ok TBD you wanted an update... the computer is lightning fast, that is until you apply a transparency to a material or go to xray mode. I have tried turning off fast feedback and even turning off hardware acceleration with no success. It appears to be slower than my old machine when in xray mode, however I have not done a side by side yet (my wife is working too).

Any ideas?

Perhaps some nvidia driver issue? 8800GT is fairly fast, but I think whole 8x00 series OpenGL support is ...what to say... a bit lacking. I wonder if the reason is to support Quadro FX sales.

solo

I did some trials and tests to see if that phenomenon would happen to me, even in the most minimal way.
I just could not get that result.
In fact I accelerated on x-ray (at least it felt faster, maybe if I used an enormous model I would be able to get a more definite result) and stayed the same on transparency (again with bigger model a clearer result would be possible)
I used an AMD dual core for this test with one 8800 GTX on single display mode. I am not sure if the fact that this rig has force-ware drivers and direct X 10 helps, I cannot mimic your rig as all my machines including my Intel Quads use the new force-ware drivers and DX 10.

gata

I have a new Duo-Core Intel mobo, DirectX 9, 2 GB paging file, XP Pro, 2 GB RAM, EVGA nVidia 8600 GTS and no issues in SU other than occasionally some weird selection box outlines.

Maybe there could be some more optimal BIOS settings for your card.

boofredlay

Pete & gata, thanks for the replies. Sorry I have not been able to check this agian for a while.

It seems the slowdown I experienced occoured in one file alone. There must have been something off with that file, a glitch or something. I have modified it and it works just fine now. I also did a "side by side" with my work machine, old home machine and this new one... the new one definately smokes the other two even in xray mode.

For now, at least, everything is hunky dory

boofredlay

I did a test with a much higher poly model too... new machine is laughing at me and saying;
"Is that all you got man!?"