Almost Killer Rigs (attemped murder?) for Autodesk Max

[MeltingPoint]

Thanks everyone for your continued suggestions. Nvidia bad, Intel good. Got that much :) Backed off the 1K psu. Still going over the cases... I'm updating my OP as I go.

[enaberif]

Do you plan to do ANY gaming on this machine? Or is it going to be strictly audio/video/rendering type rig?

If so look into a nvidia quaddro ati fire gl card.

They are designed for doing this stuff and will work better than a standard video card for a desktop.

[biff]

The cooling issues for the HDD's in the cosmos is pretty well known, however there is (AFAIK but I never looked into it) provisions to add a 120mm for the HDD's sacrificing a 5.25" bay. I'm not trying to push the Cosmos, just saying I think there is a solution to the HDD cooling issue if you really have your heart set on that case. I've never used one but what about a CM stacker if you want a BIG case?

[edit]BTW I've worked in a few Computer animation places (I'm an electrician) and I think 75% of their day is spent gaming. And games aren't their business.[/edit]

[MeltingPoint]

@biff - thanks for playing devil's advocate of sorts, I had not read a single review that mentioned the Cosmos had a hdd cooling problem. As far as cases go, most of the reviews fall short of actually doing case temperature testing, and instead make general overstatements like "plenty of fans" or "good air flow" etc., but numbers in that respect are hard to come by. I'm pretty sure you can make any case work.

@enaberif - I don't what what to say, a $2000 card based on the G80...(that was just the first card I found) I've used 3ds Max for years, and while I've encountered lots of annoying "features", never once did we have to change cards to solve our problem. I can say for sure, that the work I do, is not as demanding as a feature length film, and I'd like my costs to reflect that. I honestly don't know when the need for a card like that would exist, but I'm sure it's one of those situations where you'll know when you do.

My home computer currently has an ATI 9600 - that should put my game play into perspective :)

Back @ biff - As wrong as it is to say, playing games on other peoples dime I'm ok with, but when it's my own dime...

I'm trying to put the final pieces together now, the temptation to just copy what people have in their sigs is overwhelming:) - so forgive me if you see any similarity.

[SKYMTL]

Actually, the new ATI FireGL cards (lower end) are what you should be looking for due to the OpenGL nature of the programs you are using.

If that is too much for you I would HIGHLY suggest a 8800GT / 9800GT / 9800GTX+. Rumor has reached my ears that Autodesk may be teaming up with Nvidia to offer GPU-accelerated rendering in several of their programs. If initial impressions based on Folding are anything to go by, I can see rendering accelerated by a magnitude of 3-4 over a quad core.

[3.0charlie]

I ordered this afternoon 7 identical rigs for Autocad 9.0 / CATIA V5 / 3dsmax use:

EP35-DS3L
E7200
Mushkin EM2 2x2Gb
Evga 9800GT
Barracuda 500Gb
Antec Sonata III
XP Pro 64bit

Under 900$. I'm typing this on the 8th one and all softwares are running as expected.

[MeltingPoint]

@SKYMTL Thank-you for that, I'm aware of the rumors too, just nice to hear it outside of my circle:) As for the OpenGL - I don't use it, never have. It's an optional driver, I've just always used DirectX. I was, (and still am I guess) under the impression that OpenGL was/is going the way of the dinosaurs. Ofc, never using it; I don't really follow it's progress...

@3.0charlie Thanks for the comparison - $900... I might have to reconsider my idea of a render farm in the future... But really, it's comments like this, that make me wonder, can a $900 system really do as much as a $3K system...what am I missing... am I mistaking price for quality... falling for hype... back to the drawing board... again...

[3.0charlie]

You have to compare the processing power that the latest components can generate, to the ones a few generations ago - heck, I remember having a RISC processor with 768Mb of ram to run Catia V2 and CADAM on 32Mb video cards. Today's shear power is simply unbelievable.

The system I built (times 8, the first rig I bought 2 weeks ago as a test) is only for that software suite (no games) and was driven with a budget of 900$, taxes in. I would have loved to have chosen a Quad, but that would have meant blowing the budget...

[MeltingPoint]

This is what I have so far. I feel pretty good about it, save for the video card which I may drop to vanilla 4870.

I've got to say, I'm pretty nervous (and that's an understatement) about this build. I blame forums for this:) as every one of them contains a problem of some sort or another, for every part ever made. To compound that, I don't even understand what half the problems are, or how they may affect me.

I'm comfortable with the actual build, I know I can do that, I'm just a little freaked about having to deal with anything more then a driver update or two.

For arguments sake, can anyone see any problems with any of these parts, that will prevent me from simply putting it together and installing the OS and being on my merry way?

ASUS P5Q Deluxe
Mushkin XP PC2-8000 Redline 4GB 2X2GB DDR2-1000
Palit Radeon HD 4870X2
Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550
Corsair TX750W 750W

Thanks for your continued help.
MP

[Phobia]

what about a LianLi case? I've never owned one, but from what i've heard from EVERYONE they're amazing cases.

Out of curiosity, what made you change to the 4870x2?