Best Setup For The Latest Version Of Maya??
 

Hello all!

This is my first post on this forum so be nice! lol

I'm about to finish University and want my own 3D animation rig to play with Maya.

Whats the BEST system i can make to render and run Maya quick yet stable?

I'm actually trying more to lean towards game design in the future so a high graphics machine would be ideal.

Aswell as being able to run multiple monitors.

P.S im not afraid to go mac if its the better option.

Thanking you all in advance!

Cheers! FP

I'm setting up a system myself at the moment. The first question would be, what's your budget?

About $3000 i think.. Monitor might be extra on top of that. dont mind. :)

You cant get a 64 bit version of Maya on the mac, there overpriced and lacking in available options so I personally wouldn't bother.

All depends opn if your willing to build it yourself or you want a pre bought one.

I would aim for something like this;
64 bit windows/linux or macosx
good processor 2,5 ghz at the very least and i would recommend dual quad core for rendering
8 gb RAM
1 program disk
and a raid disk (raid 5 if possible)
and a NVidia card Quadro preferably

So.. which is better for maya?

Mac or PC?

Because i heard macs render faster... but PC's can hold more graphical power and larger graphics cards...

(I was pretty excited about the thought of a Mac though, since all i've ever used is PC)

And if its a PC im willing to go and get all the pieces and make one hell of a machine.

If anyone could suggest a list of optimal specifications with all the parts names i need to buy that would be way awesome. :)

I just want the best optimal setup so Maya doesnt crash or run slow.

Thanks for all the responses so far! I've added them all to my list of "Stuff to get" lol

If you're thinking about a mac pro, you're probably going to be spending a lot more than 3000 (not including the monitor), especially if you get a quadro... that's one reason why I decided not to get a mac pro... overpriced, though they do have a certain appeal.

Also, there's no single optimal setup for Maya, that I know of, lots of different configurations will work great.

Couple ideas to start looking, you could look at a core i7 setup, with DDR3 RAM, 6 GB or 12 GB. Then you'll need an X58 motherboard, I've heard ASUS and Gigabyte are good, but people's experiences and opinions differ.
Apparently CPU speed and RAM are important for rendering, and having multi cores helps too. i7s like the 920 have 8 virtual cores (4 physical cores), which seems to be good for the price.

Make sure you check reviews on the components you're looking at...

Hope that helps a bit.

Macs aint any better than a PC, in fact a PC/linux box would out perform a a mac pro, price wise etc for rendering.

But for the money I would go with an i7, with 12 gig and large storage accross multiple drives (with a SS for boot up) and a quadro card.

I looked at getting a mac a while ago and I wouldent bother unless you need to use a mac specific programme.

Whachutalkinbout Steve? Yes they are! You haven't computed until you do it via bubbly blue buttons and bouncing application icons. Haha, I couldn't help it I swear :blush:

I would have to say..

If your just modeling:

A quad core with 4gb of RAM, with a good VC.. such as a quadro.. <-- read into them and figure out which one u want. like.. are you a professional.. intermediate.. etc.. that deteremines ur card and price.. only u know the answer..

some folks are all uptight on hard drives.. a few miliseconds to me here and there are not that big of a deal.. But if your up to it.. set up some SAS drives in RAID 0 .

for storage get a flash drive.. simpler.. easier.. and no need for redundancy..

for rendering

the biggest fastest core you can afford a minimal of 6 gbs of ram, same with the VC.. same with HDD's

Some video card info from autodesk

http://download.autodesk.com/us/qual...aphics_lin.pdf