getting new PC

# 1 22-11-2011 , 12:49 PM

Registered User
Join Date: May 2011

Posts: 15

Hey guys, didn't really know in which section to put this, soooo...

I'm gonna make me a little present this christmas: a new PC! user added image

Just wanted to ask what's most important when assembling a PC that's good for Maya, rendering, compositing.

Thanks in advance. user added image

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# 2 22-11-2011 , 01:20 PM

Lead Modeler - Framestore
Join Date: Feb 2003

Location: UK

Posts: 6,287

Plenty of ram, Good Card ( A good games card is usually better than a workstation card), Plenty of Hard drive space, good processor and monitor with a good color range- basically everything you'd look for in an off the shelf model.

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# 3 22-11-2011 , 03:51 PM

SM Tea Boy
Join Date: Apr 2002

Location: Prague

Posts: 3,228

Not the cheapest system but defiantly one of the fastest

Processor
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/produc...d=6&subid=1672

Motherboard
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...=5&subcat=2174

Ram
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...=8&subcat=1392 (x2)

Add any GFX card you like. It's an expencive system but it will go like **** of a stick user added image

BTW if your in the USA you'll get it at least 20% cheaper than we pay over here for it

Dave

From a readers' Q and A column in TV GUIDE: "If we get involved in a nuclear war, would the electromagnetic pulses from exploding bombs damage my videotapes?"

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# 4 22-11-2011 , 04:53 PM

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Location: Michigan, USA

Posts: 2,998

Be warned Maya 2012 does not like consumer graphics cards. I am having all kinds of issues and I am pretty sure they are mostly related to the nvidia geforce drivers.

"If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." Sir Isaac Newton, 1675

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# 5 22-11-2011 , 10:29 PM

Lifetime Member
Join Date: Feb 2010

Location: Australia

Posts: 4,255

Im on 2009 ct and my GC suddenly after 12 months stopped functioning with Maya...especially in the render areas and High Quality preview

cheers bullet

bullet1968

"A Darkness at Sethanon", a book I aspire to model some of the charcters and scenes

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# 6 22-11-2011 , 11:42 PM

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Join Date: May 2011

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thanks for all the answers! user added image

@Jay: so it's basically...the higher the numbers the better, right?

I'm planning on getting a minimum of 8 gig RAM (but most likely 16 gig). I hope that's enough for a student^^.

and what's up with Maya not liking consumer cards and nvidia (never had problems myself, so far)?
because I also planned on getting an nvidia card because of the DMM plug-in for Maya :S. and I don't really have the money right now to buy a graphics card for a couple thousand €. Are there also problems with ATI graphics cards?

@Dave: thanks for the suggestions user added image

. gonna take a look at those. and oh, I'm from Germany...no discount for me lol

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# 7 23-11-2011 , 01:11 AM

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I cant see parting with the cash for a quadro either and I believe they are stupidly over priced. Hardware wise they are not much different then the geforces anyway it's relly the drivers you are paying 1000's of dollars for.

But I have used geforce for a long time with maya and starting with maya 2011 and especially maya 2012 it's just been a nightmare of bad experiences to the point where its hard to get any serious work done. Hard to get in the grove when you keep crashing and corrupting your prefs and scene file by trying to delete history, or all of a sudden maya stop refreshing your display, or the outliner and channel box just go blank, or you open a scene file and it comes up in wireframe, has errors parsing the file and then you have to wonder if your scene file is corrupted. 2012 is a real peace of work!

As for memory most new i7 motherboards have triple interleaved memory and 6 memory slots that are filled in groups of three. The common memory sizes 1, 2, and 4gb dimms. Memory is pretty cheap here in the states and you can 12gb cl9 (3x4gb set) for around $100 and 6GB cl8 for around $60. I would shoot for at least 12GB or 2 sets of 3x2GB cl8 as a minimum for a x64 system.

I have seen them for much less but with the holidays approaching they have jacked the prices up a tad.

"If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." Sir Isaac Newton, 1675

Last edited by ctbram; 23-11-2011 at 01:20 AM.

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# 8 23-11-2011 , 02:38 AM

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Location: Australia

Posts: 4,255

This is my next computer..........3 more months and its MINE!....gggggrrrrrrrrrrrrrr...slash...tear..grunt ....ggggggggrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr baby

cheers bullet

will add up to about 5k AUS with extra's.

bullet1968

"A Darkness at Sethanon", a book I aspire to model some of the charcters and scenes

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# 9 23-11-2011 , 10:47 PM

Registered User
Join Date: May 2011

Posts: 15

I'm gonna do some research on these problems with nvidia cards and the new Maya.
But either way, I don't really have a choice but to buy a consumer GC. maybe the gtx580 or (if the money is there) gtx590. Wish I could have the Quadro 6000 though...woooow^^

yeah, memory is pretty cheap here too. I think I'll go for 12 gig in the beginning and will upgrade to 24 gig in time, when more money comes in my pocket user added image

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# 10 23-11-2011 , 11:00 PM

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I have had lots of trouble with Nvidia cards...mainly the drivers etc...pain in the butt. Get what you can afford mate but yeh think of the upgrading too. I agree with ctbram, the holidays are coming so everything will be priced up...try and wait for the New Year when they slash everything to get the public to buy.

LOL I dont know what happened to my link on my new notebook....again...gggggrrrrrrrrrrrrrrruuuuuuuuun nnnnnnnnttttttttttttttttt

https://affordablelaptops.com.au/cont...-notebook.html

cheers bullet

bullet1968

"A Darkness at Sethanon", a book I aspire to model some of the charcters and scenes

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# 11 25-11-2011 , 12:43 AM

Registered User
Join Date: May 2011

Posts: 15

Alright, got 1 thing sure for now. Gonna get the i7-3930K Hexa-Core Processor.
Link, if you're interested in the exact specs: Intel® Core™ i7-3930K Processor (12M Cache, 3.20 GHz)

@bullet: that's a notebook?!?! wooooww!! I bet you're already counting down the second user added image

...well, I actually am with my new PC. *thinking*"2.678.400, 2.678.399, 2.678.398, 2.678.397,..." ^^

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# 12 25-11-2011 , 01:29 AM

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Oh yeh baby...oh yeh...as I travel a lot and all my Survey work is laptop related..well with the game dev I need zee grunt. It will cost me between 4-5k in the end...going for the 16G RAM I think.

Wow your PC looks good spec wise

bullet1968

"A Darkness at Sethanon", a book I aspire to model some of the charcters and scenes

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# 13 25-11-2011 , 04:57 AM

Head of 3d Admedia
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Location: nairobi , ken-ya

Posts: 1,340

The processors got good reviews it absolutely blows past the competition. STAY AWAY from the radeon graphics cards. they are absolutely fantastic as gaming cards but are terrible in programs like maya and 3ds max. I think the best version of Maya for me is 2011. It's solid I rarely get crashes and the most important part....It uses all my processors when it renders. 2012 just kept dropping my threads and using one processor to render very annoying.

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# 14 25-11-2011 , 04:21 PM

Noober than noob
Join Date: Sep 2011

Posts: 520

The processors got good reviews it absolutely blows past the competition. STAY AWAY from the radeon graphics cards. they are absolutely fantastic as gaming cards but are terrible in programs like maya and 3ds max. I think the best version of Maya for me is 2011. It's solid I rarely get crashes and the most important part....It uses all my processors when it renders. 2012 just kept dropping my threads and using one processor to render very annoying.

Originally Posted by murambi

Even with the checkbox "Use all available processors" ? I might have a problem then, as I am using 2012 too. But how can I be sure that Maya uses both CPUs?