Maya Computer
 

Hi I go into a Maya class for 12 days in April. I've some experience with 3d through Cinema 4d. Normally I'm a Avid Cutter but I'd like to go deeper into the 3d world. My question is about the Computer. I want to buy a new one, because my old Mac really sucks. And I want a PC again. Is DDR3 Memory really that better than DDR2 Memory? What kind of graphics card is the best choice? My budget is limited up to 800 EUR (I think about 1000 US$), which is not much!

Would be glad about some tips :D

Thank you very much!
kimsay

$1000, is actually a fair bit of money, especially for building a computer. Or at least for building a decent and stable machine that you can add to later.

If you don't want to build your own. You could buy a solid Maya system from places like Best Buy ;)

I saw an Accer the other day at Best buy for $900

It was an AMD 4400+ with 3GB of DDR RAM and an Nvidia Graphics card (forgot the Graphic specs)

Now that is one sweet machine! Blows mine out the water anyway ;)

Also for about $200 Dollars more, you can get the same machine, only with an Dual core Intel processor. Only problem is, that the intel system comes with an ATI graphics card...

Plus you can also get them from Gateway, and HP (stay away)

Though if you want to build your own system, you can buy a Maya ready system for about $400...

For example, My Dad Build a New machine recently, purely as a Everyday machine (for the family) He spent about $250 dollars on a Bare Bone machine. Came with an: AMD 3000+
1GB DDR Ram on a Gigabyte board. Then got himself an Nvidia 512 Graphics card online. Which rounded out the price to about $400. He was going to Install Lynx on it. But Instead installed Windows (for gaming ability) and this sucker plays all the latest game like nothing else.
Plus it runs Maya better than any of the other 2 machines ;)

Including the 6600 ;)

Anyway, sorry for ranting ;) ;)

What I'm trying to say is Maya will run on pretty much any computer, and for $1000 you could build/ Buy yourself one SWEET machine.

Hey thanks for answering!
I want to build it on my own because I think that is the best way to get real performance for my money.

Well I think after the Maya class I will buy one and then I can really speak to you ;)
I hope the start into Maya will not be too hard ;)

Best regards,
kimsay

I definitely agree on building your own machine if you can. you can get alot for 800 euros if you do.

What's your old mac? I used to you a G4 graphite (1.5gb ram) until last year not a bad computer seeing it was 7 years old. You thought about one of the new imacs? Runs both Windows and OS Leopard.

My old Mac is a G4 1.25 Ghz and 512MB Ram.
Sorry, but that is faaar to slow for Rendering and that stuff :(
and my next computer will be a PC because as a student you are not able buying Apple stuff ;) I think you know what I mean ;)

Greets,
kimsay

Yeah I know what you mean, was a student too, Good luck

Could you get a Mac for $1000 other than the mini mac??

I would go with nvida cards, Ive never had a problem using them, but you might need to have a look at one of the workarounds if you get the 8000 series cards.

If you build your own you should be able to get a nice intel core2 system for that price.

I looked around in the internet and I got the following system:

Intel Q6600 4x2.5 Ghz
2x2GB DDR2 800
Nvidia 8800GT(S?) with 768MB videomem, 364bit
250GB HD SATA

and I come up to 780 EUR ;) nice deal I think.
In April I will buy that system.

By the way the Mainboard has an Nvidia SLI chipset, so I could use 2 of the Graphic cards in it. I only hope, that Maya works fine with that graphics card...

Furthermore I want to buy a 22inches LCD display...

Greets, kimsay

tbh, u really need a good processor and I would say about 4Gb of RAM.

RAM is key with this application and many others. The more ram the faster and better Maya will run. Espcially once you start to explore dynamics and the other Maya effects like nMuscle and nCloth.

I am waiting for £600 to arrive from money I lent out last year and with that I am getting:

New Case
New PSU
New Motherboard
New Processor
2x HDD (1xInt and 1xExt both 500Gb)
2x DVD-R/RW

Total Estimate Cost is about £460 ($920 US or Canadian)


I have 4Gb DDR2 RAM and a GForce 8500GT (256) waiting for the rest.

With this setup the only one I would want to upgrade is teh VGA card in the future. Once the GForce 9 series is out the 8800's will drop hugely in price and I could probably afford one. :attn:

Good Luck with your System Build

Hmmm. you're right. Do you know when nvidia is going to drop the 9x series? And of course I really DO need the RAM because I'm also running ProTools 7.3 LE and AVID MediaComposer on it, and both of them need a plenty of RAM! I'd really love to buy a Nvidia Quadro Card but they are SO expensive... I can't imagine, that Maya runs so well with it, because the GeForce serie is so much faster. What is the different between them?

Greets,
kimsay

Theres no need to shell out on a workstation/professional card, stick with the standard cards, they do as good a job.

I have had a look around and it seems ppl are saying February, but nVidia themselves are not mentioning it on the site.

So I would say not anytime soon

Hm OK thanks. Nevertheless I'm going to build a system in near future and I'm looking forward to!!!

By the way: where do all you guys come from? I think from the US right?
I'm German, sorry, but I can't find a good Forum about Maya in german language ;) (that's the same thing with books about software)

Greets, kimsay