Starting my own work and need a start up PC for 3d Work, plz check my spec

Hi guys, in the process of starting my own work from home including 3dsMax, SketchUp, AutoCad, Rhino and all the Adobe Suite. I was hoping anyone could have a check of this spec and see if I need to focus my money in certain areas rather than other.

My budget is $1600. I think this is costing me about $1460

This computer is not premade but all the parts have been pre-organized into a package.

[ATTACH]28893[/ATTACH]

I have highlighted my selections in Green and blacked out the things i don't need.

Should I source a quad core processor for rendering or will this handle it?

Any more info I need to provide please let me know.

I have upgraded to 16Gig RAM

I'm a big fan of Asus motherboards so I'd go with that. The i7-2600K is the second generation cpu isn't it? I think the system should be more than able to handle whatever you throw at it. I like that you have also elected to go with Win7 64-bit and the Pro version. Is all of your software 64-bit as well?

That's right it 2nd generation, I don't know much about those processors. I just always thought the more cores the better for rendering.

My software is 32bit =(

I have been using my 32bit Core2 Duo laptop for about 4 years now (was my uni savior). I am under the impression it's time for an overhaul. Unfortunately I never subscribed with Autocad software.. does that mean I'll need to repurchase a full lisence for a 64 bit version? that would be very unfortunate.

You wouldnt be able to expand on Nvidea graphics versus the ATI card I have chosen? I always see Nvidea in top end PC's, should I look at something closer to what you have? a Quadro? or maybe not as important for what I am doing?

I'm glad you like the spec , I'm going to order it tomorrow so it can be built by friday. V/excited

I was under the impression that AutoCAD 2011 shipped with both the 32-bit and 64-bit versions on the same DVD. You might have lucked out.

If you are going to be doing a lot of rendering I believe more cores is better.

I prefer Nvidia graphics cards as well and am currently running a Quadro 4000. It is my understanding that the FX series of their Quadro cards are geared more towards those who do a lot of rendering work. I'm not 100% sure. You should check.

hmm, not alot to choose from, any advice here? just from what I have read the Quadro is the only way to go for rendering, although I can't find it on this list.

I should probably just go with the package and upgrade in a year or so if I need to.

and the processor seems like it would do the trick.. is it hard to OC the processor? is it worth getting the 2600K?

Yes, I think it is worth getting the 2600K.

You want to over-clock your cpu? Be my guest. Just take small steps and try to avoid frying it. Tom's Hardware website has some good information about overclocking.

The graphics cards shown are not familiar to me.

Your computer budget is $1,600 but your software budget is $15k or more? Big spender!!

I know. I took being a student for granted! Autodesk really need to review their prices. I found cad 64 bit version so I'll load that up and then I'll probably buy max and use it with sketchup !

Is alot of money though.

I thought if ask if you guys would recommend maybe using newegg to buy? Havn't heard any horror stories from ordering

from them have you? They seem pretty cheap

Newegg used to be cheap. Now they're pretty standard on their prices but you can still get good deals. For hardware purchases that is.

If nothing else they are fair with pricing.

Newegg.com is a good company to deal with. Never had any issues with ordering from them over the past 7 years or so. They used to be the cheapest but their pricing is now on par with everyone else. You do find the occasional deal there though.

I would definitely recommend a Quadro video card for the modeling. I think rendering will be more processor/RAM based if I recall from all of my previous reading. I would also splurge on as much RAM as possible. 8GB is a nice start but I'm sure you could benefit from more.

I had a friend using the same software at work and they upgraded his computer a couple of times. Rendering seemed to be the biggest bottleneck for him. I think they stuck with one computer for modeling and one for rendering because his renders could/would take a while. This was in the past few months too.

If you are going to overclock, make sure you stress test the crap out of it before you begin to use it full time. You don't want it to be unstable in the middle of a project.

Great advice guys thanks!! I think ill go with the Intel Core i7-2600K 3.40Ghz 1155pin and hit myself up with a Quadro FX 4000 ($750.00) damn, and 16GIG RaM.

Should hopefully hold me over for a while

In regards to your friend em, I guess people will always push hardware to its limits, so you could always use and buy better and more, but at the end I suppose I have to figure out how much performance i'm willing to compromise for money

Cheers

16GB RAM? That's just overkill. You will never use that much RAM. I have 12GB and I have never come close to using it all. Even with all the graphics work that I do and 3D work and rendering, I don't think I've ever used more than half of what I've got. I would go with 8GB, or 12GB if you've got money to burn. But 16GB is just a waste. You will never use it.

Awesome thanks Cad64, i'll probably go 12gig then. Seeing as you do alot of rendering would you go for the Intel Core i7 960 3.20GHz, LGA1366, Quad Core or the Intel Core i7 2600K 3.40GHZ, Overclocking Enabled. The first one is a little cheaper but I have heard go Quad core for modeling and rendering??

The core i7 is great. I've got the i7 920, overclocked to 3.20Ghz, and it renders pretty quickly. I guess my choice would depend on the price difference and the benchmarking? Is the speed of the overclocked one fast enough to justify the increased cost? If it's only marginally faster, I would go with the 960. But rendering is all about the processor speed and how many cores you have, so more cores and faster processor means faster render times. I guess it just depends on how much money you've got to spend.

Ok, they are pretty similar in price, I think the 2600k i7 is about $10 more expensive, apparently the 2600k i7 is faster but the other one has quad cores... see what i mean, im trying to weigh that up. Doing my head in, feel like I should just close my eyes and point sometimes.

Faster processor or a slightly slower one with Quad Cores?...

When rendering, a slower processor with more cores will beat a faster processor with fewer cores all day long. Go with the quad.

You will never use it.

This made me laugh. So many times I've heard this through the years of me being involved in the computing world.....

As far as I know the i7-2600k is a quad core as well and has hyper-threading. This means 8 threads of processing.

http://ark.intel.com/products/52214/Intel-Core-i7-2600K-Processor-%288M-Cache-3_40-GHz%29

Go with the 2600k

Ok, they are pretty similar in price, I think the 2600k i7 is about $10 more expensive, apparently the 2600k i7 is faster but the other one has quad cores... see what i mean, im trying to weigh that up. Doing my head in, feel like I should just close my eyes and point sometimes.

Faster processor or a slightly slower one with Quad Cores?...

Glad to hear it's coming along!

This made me laugh. So many times I've heard this through the years of me being involved in the computing world.....

I've heard it too and I built my first computer with the same mentality. Friends laugh at me for putting together a home server running WHS with a dual core AMD fusion board with 4 GB's of RAM. I told them I didn't want to have to replace it next year because it became my bottle neck. Now to get my whole wireless network over to Wireless N...