Hi all.
I know there are lots of similar threads on here but all the information and sorting through which are relevant and which are out of date is getting a little confusing.
Basically I am just getting into creating Architectural Renderings and Visualizations using Sketchup and Shaderlight at the moment, with a view to learning 3DS Max in the near future and am looking to have a purpose made machine built on a small budget of around $800 US not including a screen.
I would like to make sure I will also be able to upgrade it in the future.
Thanks in advance for any help.
mattci12,
Workstations need to be oriented towards reasonable performance in the largest project in the most demanding program that is probable. I would say that a large 3ds project would be the basis for that calculation. But, rendering, if CPU oriented can use all the threads availabe, and Sketchup is in general a clunky program that as far a as I can tell, doesn't run well on any system once the file is over about 50MB.
In a budget of $800 I would suggest:
1. Buy a Dell Precision T3500 in good condition with 6-core CPU and Windows 7 Professional 64-bit COA. Here's an example (I don't know anything about this seller):
Dell Precision T3500 3.46GHz Hex Core W3690 3x 1GB 500GB HDD Win7 > $325 or offer
2. Add
6X 4GB DDR3-1333 ECC RAM > About $100
3. Add a 250GB SSD, for example:
SAMSUNG 850 EVO 2.5" 250GB SATA III 3-D Vertical Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) MZ-75E250B/AM > $80
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147372&cm_re=SSD_internal-_-20-147-372-_-Product
4. Add a mech'l storage drive, for example:
WD Blue 1TB Desktop Hard Disk Drive - 7200 RPM SATA 6 Gb/s 64MB Cache 3.5 Inch - WD10EZEX - OEM > $52
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822236339&cm_re=wd_blue_1tb-_-22-236-339-_-Product
5. Add a good workstation GPU
Quadro K620 (2GB) > $160 or better a used
Quadro K2200 (4GB) $250-350 To use 3ds you must have a Quadro or Firepro to run certain features. The K620 is a recent model with very good performance for the price. However, there have been a few sales of used K2200 (4GB) below $250 and that would be a purchase to stretch a bit to do. Other candidates would be Firepro W5000 but Quadros are better for Autodesk programs.
____________________________________
TOTAL = about $717
Dell Precisions are beautifully made and ultra-reliable, designed like servers to run at full performance a long time. I current;y have three Precision I bough used (390 ,T5400, T5500) and over 5 years none of these has had any kind of failure- problems yes, but no loss of data.
The W3690 is a fantastic LGA1366 CPU- 6-core .12 threads @ 3.47 /3.73GHz that cost $1,650 new. Good for 3D modeling and great for rendering.
Cheers
BambiBoom
1. HP z420 (2015) > Xeon E5-1660 v2 six-core @ 3.7 / 4.0GHz > 32GB DDR3 ECC 1866 RAM > Quadro K4200 (4GB) > Intel 730 480GB (9SSDSC2BP480G4R5) > Western Digital Black WD1003FZEX 1TB> M-Audio 192 sound card > 600W PSU> Logitech z2300 > Linksys AE3000 USB WiFi > 2X Dell Ultrasharp U2715H (2560 X 1440) > Windows 7 Professional 64 >
[ Passmark Rating = 5064 > CPU= 13989 / 2D= 819 / 3D= 4596 / Mem= 2772 / Disk= 4555] [Cinebench R15 > CPU = 1014 OpenGL= 126.59 FPS] 7.8.15
Pending upgrade: HP /LSI 9212-4i PCIe SAS /SATA HBA RAID controller, 2X Seagate Constellation ES.3 1TB (RAID 1)
With Quadro K2200:
[ Passmark Rating = 4918 > CPU= 13941 / 2D= 823 / 3D= 3463 / Mem= 2668 / Disk= 4764
2. Dell Precision T5500 (2011) > 2X Xeon X5680 six -core @ 3.33 / 3.6GHz, 24GB DDR3 ECC 1333 > Quadro K2200 (4GB ) > Samsung 840 250GB / WD RE4 Enterprise 1TB > M-Audio 192 sound card > Linksys WMP600N PCI WiFi > 875W PSU > Windows 7 Professional 64> HP 2711x (1920 X 1080)
[ Passmark system rating = 3671 / CPU = 14361 / 2D= 653 / 3D= 3561 / Mem= 1741 / Disk= 2249]
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