proces2

Anyone have any reccomendations for getting a workstation that could be, say, around the price of $1200 (no monitor, of course)?

The box needs to be able to function smoothly in Acad and VIZ 4, but obviously won't be a rendering workhorse. Just something that can render out simple radiosity and lo-res renderings without too much difficulty.

This might all be a dream, but just wanted to see what others thought.

sean

bigcahunak

Hi Sean,
Are you interested in a, already built box, or recomendation for parts to put together?

Greg Hess

You can build a similar system to Doron's at around 2.66 gigahertz for a good deal less money if you order online.

(Fry's has a 25-50% markup..your paying for the convinence)

www.newegg.com is my primary US retailer for system components.

I'm not going to comment more until you respond to some of the other posts. Technically for a bit more money, you could build a dual athlon system.

proces2

Thanks for all the great responses!

I am not quite technically proficient with assembling the hardware stuff. I can maintain a box that's been built for me (upgrades, peripherals, etc.) But, i wouldn't really consider building my own box an option (nor do i currently have the time to do so).

I have checked out boxxtech, based on great reccomendations of performance on this forum, but once you add the amount of RAM that i would need (at least 1GB) to run radiosity with VIZ, the price quickly approaches 2k. Then it gets close to a dual AMD and then its out of my price range (unfortunately).

I am hiring a full time employee so i have all the overhead tied to that. This machine is for that person, so with all the other costs involved, i have to be very thrifty with this computer purchase.

I'll check out DELL again. Last time i looked, i kept ending up with a machine that used RDRAM - going to 1GB with that sends the price way over the top. If there is a recomendation for a local shop that can do a reliable system, send the info.

As for SF - definitely a small world. I have bumped into a few other bay area-s here as well. To the arch. student in SF, are you at CCAC? Academy of Art College?

sean

Greg Hess

Boxxtech will normally negotiate prices, as their not a giant hulking corporation of doom.

I'd push for a boxxtech purchase if possible, and possibly email the quote to them and start discussing the purchase.

schmoron13

WOW, I can't believe there's another Norcal up here!!! Hi from Oakland

That's not a problem. About 6 months ago, I built a very powerfull machine to handle my 3d stuff (when I bring it home from work) and pro audio recording, and I got a top end system(at the time) for $1300 at Fry's. I built it myself, but it has the following specs:

Soyo P4s-645dx Motherboard
P4 2.2ghz 333mhz cache (I think)
512mb pc2700ddr
80gb Western Digital 7200rpm drive
ATI Radeon 8500 128mb Dvi Card
QUE Fire 24x10x40 burner
56x CD drive

This past weekend, I upgraded to two 80gb hd's (using the onboard RAID) and added 512mb ram...to put this system in perspective, I spent 300 on the ram in may, and 88 last weekend (www.kingston.com)

Now the expensive part for me was the pro sound card (aardvark Direct Pro q10) which ran a cool 800, but the soyo board has a very nice built in surround sound system, as well as raid, 6 USB 2 slots, and an onboard NIC card.

Also, since you're up here, I can recommend you to someone I know (a software engineer) who sells computers and parts on the side. He gets systems at .COM auctions, and chop shops them. So I've bought 3 systems from him, along with about 7 monitors (the nice 17" sony trinitron crt-but with the dell logo on front) for get this: $75 each.

So if you want, a chop shop can be had for your purposes for WELL under 1000, especially if you don't need to render high res.

Now if you want to put something together, go to Dell. They have outrageous deals right now... A comparable system to the above mentioned specs that I bought for $2300 on June 6th for work (but with monitors, rambus ram, and the Nvidia gforce 128mb card)-Dimension 8500, can now be had for I believe $1100 or so.

Let me know if you have any questions, and I hope this helps

Doron Serban
Graphic Design
CUREE

schmoron13@aol.com
serban@curee.org

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Doron Serban

schmoron13

what a coincidence.... [img]eek2.gif[/img]

bigcahunak,

shalom, ani mi ha-aretz....I was born there, then moved to Switzerland when I was 5, and have lived in the US (San Francisco, Walnut Creek, and now Oakland) since I was 8


In one post....what a small world?

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Doron Serban

yogene

Hi everyone
I go to school and study architectual interior design in San Francisco too. By the way, Sean I really admire your work. Proces2 has been my mentor through out my school years. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw your name and Proces2 here.
I think you can get 3DBOXX system for under $1300... not sure though. Iheard it handles CAD and VIZ very well. Check out here http://www.boxxtech.com
I need a laptop for myself too. Does anyone have a recomendation?
thanks

yogene

Hi Sean
I go to Academy of Art College and it's my third year here. I have posted my images here. It's a house of Quentin Tarantino who acts tough but inside, he is a really sensitive writer. http://www.cgarchitect.com/gallery/g...earchChecked=1
I own a Dell P4 1.8 system for myself too and it runs great with CAD and Viz.
thanks

Eugene

bigcahunak

Sean,
Hi again. I second Greg about the dual AMD and about the Newegg price as well. However, if the sistem is not for yourself and its not gonna be multitasking a lot, I'd go with a n intel P4 on an intel chipset. Stability is your number one concern and thats what you'd get with the above combination. I'm saying it inspite the fact I'm an AMD guy myself.

Hi Doron,
There are a few from Ha'Aretz around here (at least one more). but there are lots of NorCals thats for sure.
BTW: I graduated from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo (3.5 hours southern to you).