so I want to get a new machine suited for 3-d modeling and light animation. Poser, 3d studio max, photoshop, etc..

i can physically build a machine, but I don't know much about hardware specifications. Other words, I don't know much about what is best, but I can put it together if I have the parts.

not locked into building from scratch, a bare bones machine would work as well.

I was thinking duo core, a good amount of fast ram, and obviously a good graphics card.

I have the drives I would want already, a 200gb 7200 hardrive and a 60, Wouldn't hurt if another came along with it.

price wise i don't want to go over $800 and i'd prefer it to be less.

What do you guys recommend?

11/9/2006 4:46:28 PM

core duo or athlon 64 will do fine, get 2gb of ram, 4 if you can afford it.

Graphics, either go with a Geforce fx7600 or above, or go ahead and get a low end quadro or firegl card.

With modeling and animation, the horsepower doesnt matter nearly as much as the rendering precision does. No need for SLI, or any high end gamer card as it will just be a waste of cash.

11/9/2006 5:15:19 PM

i'm with Noen, but i'd highly recommend intel over AMD in this case, while AMD holds the memory crown which is needed in 3d work, intel has made great strides and in general overall 3d performance you're better off with the core duo imho... it's really about the processor speed and memory speed, like Noen said, no hugely expensive graphics card is going to help the actual rendering time it will only make the modeling time more efficient.

with that said i'd get a minimum of core duo and geforce 7600 or above and min. of 2gb of ddr2-800 ram, it's all about memory bandwidth and speed.... unless you're doing some high end work (and need 4gb) the money is better spend on faster memory.

[Edited on November 9, 2006 at 8:22 PM. Reason : .]

11/9/2006 8:21:36 PM