Suggest 2 configs @ 15k & 20k for learning 3d software

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kidrow

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Questions

1.Q: What is your budget?
a.15K to 20K for Processor, Mobo, RAM (& possibly PSU)

2.Q: What is your existing hardware configuration (component name - component brand and model)
a.CPU - Intel P4 3Ghz
b.Motherboard - Intel D102ggc2
c.GPU - Nvidia 8600gt
d.RAM - Kingston 1gb DDR2
e.Monitor - Viewsonic VA712
f.SMPS - [Generic] Xtech 400W

3.Q: Which hardware will you be keeping (component name - component brand and model)
c.GPU - Nvidia 8600gt
e.Monitor - Viewsonic VA712
f.SMPS - [Generic] Xtech 400W

4.Q: Which hardware component are you looking to buy (component name). If you have already decided on a configuration then please mention the (component brand and model) as well, this will help us in fine tuning your requirement.
a.CPU - Intel i5 2400/2500/2500k Or AMD Athlon 2 X4 635
b.Motherboard - Intel h61 based Or AMD 780g/880g based
c.RAM - 2x4gb DDR3

5.Q: Is this going to be your final configuration or you would be adding/upgrading a component in near future. If yes then please mention when and which component
a.No upgrade in the near future

6.Q: Where will you buy this hardware? (Online/City/TE Dealer)
a.Mumbai
b.Open to online purchase

7.Q: Would you consider buying a second hand hardware from the TE market
a.Open to it

8.Q: What is your intended use for this PC/hardware
a.3d animation, mainly. Am currently learning 3ds Max. Would probably dabble with Zbrush, Vue, UDK, After Effects as well

9.Q: Do you have any brand preference or dislike? Please name them and the reason for your preference/dislike.
a.None

10.Q: If you will be playing games then which type of games will you be playing?
a.FPS - Bioshock, CoD franchise
b.Racing - Grid, rFactor, LFS11, GPL

Q: What is your preferred monitor resolution for gaming and normal usage
1.Gaming -
2.Desktop - 1280x1024

12.Q: Are you looking to overclock?
a.Unsure

13.Q: Which operating system do you intend to use with this configuration?
a.Windows 7 64 bit

Dear all,

I'm wanting to upgrade because I'm interested in learning 3d software. In fact, I'm planning to pursue it as a career.

So far, I've used my 4 year old rig for modeling & texturing & my one year old core i3 laptop for a bit of lighting. But now I feel there's a serious need to upgrade for the advanced lighting, particle effects, animation etc. which I hope will soon follow.

A] I'm actually on a tight budget, since I can't justify spending too much on an investment which may or may not bear fruit. I therefore was looking at the Athlon 2 x4 config initially. But there is a part of me that is mulling about whether it's better to go for the best within the budget. Hence the i5 config. Hence the budget range of 15k to 20k. Everything in between just doesn't seem to give as much of a performance boost as compared to the relative cost, while the i5 2500 seems to be almost double the performance of the x4 635 (based on the Anandtech CPU benchmark chart). So I'd like suggestions on the rig at the 15k mark as well as the 20k mark.

Also, if i5 is the way to go, is it true that the 2500k only makes sense if you can spend on a p67 board? If that's the case, then I think it won't fit the budget. In which case, how much of a difference does the h61 exhibit compared to the h67?

If I go by the logic that I'll buy a p67 mobo later, (if budget permits or prices come down etc.) does it still make sense to go for a 2500k in light of the fact that the rig will be used mainly for 3d rendering? i.e. is it advisable to use an overclocked processor for the same?

So to sum up, should I save money by buying a 2400 & h61 (there's an MSI board for 3.5k listed on the Itwares site) instead?

B] Also, the budget mobos for the i core CPUs only have 2 RAM slots. Is 8gb RAM enough for 3d, generally speaking?

C] If I upgrade the PSU, is the CX430 Builder series a good choice?

Looking forward to your replies. Many thanks.
 
Intel Core i5 2400 - 9.3k

Gigabyte GA-H61M-D2-B3 ~ 3.5k (If you dont need SATA 6Gbps and USB 3.0, This is also better than the MSI H61) or MSI H67MA-E35 ~ 4.7k

2*4GB Corsair 1333MHz DDR3 RAM ~ 4k

Gigabyte Superb 460 ~ 2k or Corsair CX400 ~ 2.5k (Better choice than builder series as it has better efficiency(80%+ certified vs no certi) and longer warranty (3 vs 2)).

*A 4 year old generic PSU is so not recommend for a new rig! Dont risk your shiny new rig for saving 2k!

*Most Intel H61/H67 mobos lack IDE ports. So keep that in mind if you have a IDE HDD or DVD R/W


For other queries wait for people who use that s/w to comment!
 
Thanks for your quick reply.

I don't even know fully what benefit the usb 3 or sata 6gbps will bring to the table, but I assume that the devices which connect to these ports will need to be the latest to take full advantage. Since I won't be upgrading my HDDs, I'd say it's safe to give these features a miss[?]

I believe I currently have 2 HDDs which are both SATA 2. & even my DVD drive has a SATA interface. So I really won't be requiring IDE ports.

If the Gigabyte PSU is good enough, then I'll go for it. I realise I've been lucky to have not encountered any mishaps w.r.t. my generic PSU. & you're right about not risking a new rig for ~2k. Btw, isn't the v2 Corsair builder series PSU that has an 80+ certification available here?
 
kidrow said:
I don't even know fully what benefit the usb 3 or sata 6gbps will bring to the table, but I assume that the devices which connect to these ports will need to be the latest to take full advantage. Since I won't be upgrading my HDDs, I'd say it's safe to give these features a miss[?]

You have used your last system for a really long time, I am guessing you will use this for a long time too. Soon all the Pen drives and other accessories will support USB3. At this time, you should surely go for USB3. As for 6GBPS Hard disk, you can never tell when you might need to buy a new one. It won't be wise to go for an older generation tech.
 
kidrow said:
If the Gigabyte PSU is good enough, then I'll go for it. I realise I've been lucky to have not encountered any mishaps w.r.t. my generic PSU. & you're right about not risking a new rig for ~2k. Btw, isn't the v2 Corsair builder series PSU that has an 80+ certification available here?

Yes CX430 V2 is 80+ certified and better than earlier CX430. But i dont think its available here. Even if its here the CX400 is better since you get 1 year extra warranty.

The Gigabyte Superb 460 is a FSP 400 watter(OEM). Even though its not officially 80%+ certified it does give ~80% efficiency in 20%+ loads and has 3 years warranty.

--- Updated Post - Automerged ---

baccilus said:
You have used your last system for a really long time, I am guessing you will use this for a long time too. Soon all the Pen drives and other accessories will support USB3. At this time, you should surely go for USB3. As for 6GBPS Hard disk, you can never tell when you might need to buy a new one. It won't be wise to go for an older generation tech.
Pendrives hardly use USB 2.0 potential let alone USB 3.0!

But if you are one who uses external HDDs or might buy an SSD say after 2-3 years. (By then you could buy a ~120GB for may be ~6k and 60GB for ~3.5k!) then it makes sensse to go with H67.

But upto you to decide whether you might need them or not. For HDDs SATAII would suffice.

To add to that H61 mobos has only 4 SATA ports and H67 has 6 SATA ports (generally)
 
Thanks for your replies, guys. So I'll probably go in for either-

Intel Core i5 2400 ~ 9.3k
Gigabyte GA-H61M-D2-B3 ~ 3.5k
2*4GB Corsair 1333MHz DDR3 RAM ~ 4k
Gigabyte Superb 460 ~ 2k
@~19k

OR

AMD Athlon 2 X4 635 ~ 4.5k
Gigabyte GA-MA78LMT-S2 ~ 2.5k
2*4GB Corsair 1333MHz DDR3 RAM ~ 4k
Gigabyte Superb 460 ~ 2k
@13k

A] I might go in for the Intel rig because it seems to offer almost twice the performance of the AMD. If that really is the case, then the price difference is justified. I'm basing my assumption on the Anandtech CPU bench - AnandTech - Bench - CPU - especially the 3ds max render times. So how accurate is the bench?

B] Also, would appreciate your inputs about how accurate are the following assumptions-

"Also, if i5 is the way to go, is it true that the 2500k only makes sense if you can spend on a p67 board? If that's the case, then I think it won't fit the budget...."

"If I go by the logic that I'll buy a p67 mobo later, (if budget permits or prices come down etc.) does it still make sense to go for a 2500k in light of the fact that the rig will be used mainly for 3d rendering? i.e. is it advisable to use an overclocked processor for the same?"

"....Is 8gb RAM enough for 3d, generally speaking?"
C] With the Intel Core i5 2400 & Gigabyte GA-H61M-D2-B3, or
the AMD Athlon 2 X4 635 & the Gigabyte GA-MA78LMT-S2,
can there be any overclocking at all?

Thanks for your patience. Much appreciated.
 
^^ The Anandtech benches are very reliable, go for a Intel COre i5 2400 + H67 based board, the chipset is a lot better, H-61 doesn't officially support IDE, RAID so its a dicey option as you keep piling on the hard disks.

8GB RAM is enough until you start working with Z-Brush OR an insane amount of particles / photons in a single frame you should do fine. Plus an nVidia GPU is a better bet too as several Adobe and Autodesk softwares are biased towards the same with better plug-in support and immense tessellation prowess of the Fermi architecture. Hope this helps.
 
Thanks for your reply, though I still haven't figured out what you guys mean when you say that x chipset is better than y. Does it matter when it comes to performance, or are you talking about longevity? How is the h67 chipset better than the h61? TY.

PS- If it's just the IDE, RAID, 6gbps, USB3 etc., then I don't think it's really essential to me at this point in time.
 
^^ Here you go -- H61 and H67 Performance Difference? - AnandTech Forums. RAID will be an important factor as you'll continually expand storage in my view, I'm an animation student too you see.

I think as an investment the H67 chipset is a better field, plus gives you more leverage -- more RAM slots, RAID, USB 3.0 and SATA III + plus as a solid power user chipset, I think as long as you're not over-clocking the H67 is a must have.

P.S. -- I've yet to see a H61 board here in Bangalore.
 
Sorry for the delayed reply. Been a bit busy with other stuff.

@Alpha17, you've mentioned that the h67 would be having more RAM slots besides the RAID, USB 3.0, SATA3 etc. But I couldn't find any h67 mobo within the budget range which has more than 2 RAM slots. So I'm still not convinced about buying the h67 over the h61. I have yet to check the availability ofc. Wrt the RAID, USB 3.0, etc., I'm not sure whether I'll be needing those features as I don't even know what they really imply.

Btw since you are into animation, would you say that OCing the processor for 3d renders is OK?

@All those who have replied, many thanks. Much appreciated.
 
Final question (hopefully!) - Between the MSI & Gigabyte mobos, which is better in terms of build quality & after sales/warranty etc. I'll let that aspect guide this decision rather than the specific features. & yet again, many thanks.
 
^^ In service both the motherboard companies MSI/ Gigabyte have a better track record compared to ASUS. In terms of build quality Gigabyte and ASUS lead the pack.
 
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