AutoCadGenius Posted March 7, 2012 Share Posted March 7, 2012 Hello experienced 3D Max and AutoCad artists, my friend is looking for a system for 3D Max and AutoCad 2D and 3D work. She will use this for her freelance station at home or on the road if a laptop is powerful enough. Can anyone please tell us what they would recommend? Please give us options: Great System Pretty damn good System Good System Budget System Also, a laptop option as well. Thank you very much. We appreciate your help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReMark Posted March 7, 2012 Share Posted March 7, 2012 What will you and your friend be doing while we gather all this information for you? First. What is your friend's budget? Second. Will your friend be buying a 32-bit or 64-bit system? 64-bit is highly recommended. Third. If it is going to be a desktop then will your friend need a monitor as well or does she already have one? Fourth. If it is going to be a laptop what size screen would she be comfortable with? Fifth. What other programs will your friend be running on this computer? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiger Posted March 7, 2012 Share Posted March 7, 2012 1. Look at the specs for each of the program. 2. double those. 3. Compare computers on the manufacturers sites. extra credit: look in the Hardware section on this site for loads of discussions on the matter. Side note: I am getting more and more curious why your friend doesn't ask these questions herself... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cad64 Posted March 7, 2012 Share Posted March 7, 2012 I don't think any of us have time to give you specs for 5 different systems. Contact a local computer company and ask them to give you a quote for a desktop and a laptop, (be sure to tell them what programs you will be using and what your budget is). Once you have the specs you can come back and post them here for us to evaluate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AutoCadGenius Posted March 7, 2012 Author Share Posted March 7, 2012 Wow. I must of come across as rude or someone who asks for help without helping. Sorry for that. As we are both new to 3D, we thought it would be a good idea to ask people that had the experience. I am a 2D graphic artist and give people specs on good systems for photoshop all the time. I just thought I'd ask here for a 3D system. As for the moderator, my friend is from another country and english is her second language, its easier for me to ask. I hope you understand. There are so many video cards, so many speeds of ram...etc. I am not a hardware person. I figured someone here would of been able to answer without it taking too much of their time. Didn't mean to ask too much of you all. P.S. we don't even know what a reliable or quality PC manufacturer would be. Im guessing Dell. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AutoCadGenius Posted March 7, 2012 Author Share Posted March 7, 2012 Ok so i don't even know if dell is good but here it goes: Trying to find a good AutoCad and 3D Max System The system would be used for Autocad 2D and 3D, as well as 3D Max fly throughs of a house for instance. Laptop: Latitude E5520 Processor Intel® Core™ i7-2640M Dual Core (2.80GHz,4M cache,with Turbo BoostTechnology 2.0) Operating System Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium, No Media, 64-bit, English (GENUINE WINDOWS?) Display 15.6" HD (1366x768) Anti-Glare LED-backlit Memory2 8GB3 DDR3 SDRAM at 1333MHz (PROBABLY FINE BUT IM NOT SURE ABOUT THE SPEED) Hard Drive 750GB2 hard drive Optical Drive 8X DVD with Cyberlink Power DVD™, no media Video Card Express Card (THIS SEEMS WEEK) Laptop: XPS 17 $1234 Processor 2nd generation Intel® Core™ i7-2670QM processor (2.20 GHz, with Turbo Boost 2.0 up to 3.10 GHz) Operating System Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium, 64-Bit, English Display 17.3" HD+ (900p) LED Display with 2.0MP HD Webcam Memory2 8GB3 Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM at 1333MHz Hard Drive 750GB2 SATA hard drive Optical Drive 8X Tray Load CD/DVD Burner (Dual Layer DVD+/-R Drive) Video Card NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 550M 1GB graphics with Optimus Desktop: Im still looking for a reliable desktop system. i'll post specs when i find one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReMark Posted March 7, 2012 Share Posted March 7, 2012 Budget, budget, budget. Without an amount we're just wasting our time and effort. There can be big differences between a budget computer and a top end workstation. OS: Get Win7 Pro 64-bit. RAM: 6-8GB of the fastest RAM you can afford. Graphics: Get a dedicated graphics card NOT an onboard graphics chip. OpenGL support is recommended and/or DirectX 11. Hard drives: Main drive should be a SSD if you can afford it. Use this for your programs and OS. The secondary drive can be a platter drive (7200 rpm). Desktop monitor: A 21"-23" widescreen LCD. Dell makes some very nice ones but you have to do the research. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bill_borec Posted March 7, 2012 Share Posted March 7, 2012 Another good question is how soon will she be able/willing to upgrade? As you are both new to 3D, you won't be doing heavy rendering for a little while, so you can get away with slightly lower components and upgrade as your models get more advanced...However, if you have to answer to the bean counters (We love you, accounting dept! - in case you are reading this) you may need to get a 'beefier' system now expecting to use it for a while. I am a RAM hog....the more the merrier! It is one of the cheaper elements. Video card = as big as you can afford - and NOT onboard! (as ReMark stated, already) OS = 64 bit is recommended HDD = SSD is great, but expensive and new...one could save $$ going with 7200 RPM 500G or 1T SATAII. Processor = I like the Intels (i7-2Gen), but AMD makes a decent chip Monitor(s) = I can't live without 2 monitors, now...got spoiled a few years ago...once you've used 2 and used to them, it's very tough to go back to a single. Don't overlook the power supply...as you put the bigger processor and video cards, you want a good power supply. Laptops are a little tough to spec, because they are not as customizable down the road as a tower. BUT they are great for the portability. AGAIN, stay away from on-board video cards. Hope this helps. I use a DELL, it's okay for a complete tower system...I prefer to build custom (we had 2 NIB DELLs that had motherboard/CPU breakdowns...which DELL was VERY responsive and replaced.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AutoCadGenius Posted March 8, 2012 Author Share Posted March 8, 2012 THANK YO SO MUCH. and yes, i understand its hard to spec a system with knowing the budget. I think i now know the following: 1. Dell is a good brand 2. Laptop is possible but i will pay a premium without expandability 3. 6-8 Gigs of Ram (thank you ReMark!) 4. Intel i7 2 Gen for the processor (probably 2.5 gig or higher in speed) I heard Xeon is a better choice for 3D, maybe I can look for a Dell with a Xeon chip. 5. Graphics Card - someone suggested nVidia in the 3000 to 4000 series 6. 64 Bit (this is a little confusing because Windows has "Genuine Windows Professional, home, and about 1000 other variants ) Thank you all so much. I will go forward with these specs. Sorry for being such a noob, but I do appreciate all of your help. Best, AutoCadGenius Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReMark Posted March 8, 2012 Share Posted March 8, 2012 You're confusing the issue re: 64-bit and the different varieties of Windows. From Microsoft: "The terms 32-bit and 64-bit refer to the way a computer's processor (also called a CPU), handles information. The 64-bit version of Windows handles large amounts of random access memory (RAM) more effectively than a 32-bit system." The five main versions of Windows 7 are: Starter, Home Premium, Professional, Ultimate and Enterprise. The two most commonly used on CAD computers are Home Premium and Professional. I always recommend nothing less than the Professional version as I feel it is more stable. I use Pro at work and Ultimate at home. There really is no need for you to be looking at the Enterprise version. You can find a feature matrix for all versions on the Microsoft website if you want to see what each OS brings to the table. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leachim15 Posted March 31, 2012 Share Posted March 31, 2012 Guys im new here and im planning to buy laptop..i want to put 3dmax 2012 and autocad 2012...just asking for this system i found in Pc store..my budget is around 800$ to 837$ Toshiba Satellite L740-1174U Quad Core A6-3400 ATI 6520 WIndow 7 Professional Laptop AMD A6-3400 Quad Core Processor, (2.3GHz, 4MB L2 cache), AMD APU Express Chipset, 4GB DDR3 Memory, 640GB Hard Drive, ATI Radeon 6520 HD Video Graphics, 14.1" HD Picture Widescreen LCD, so anyone..is this ok for 3dmax rendering?...it is fast or slow..(sorry for my bad english ^^) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cad64 Posted April 1, 2012 Share Posted April 1, 2012 From what I've read, that is a Notebook, not a Laptop. I wouldn't recommend using a Notebook for CAD or 3D work. You could probably run Max and Autocad on that machine, but I can't say how well they will run, and rendering could be a problem. Go back and read through the previous posts in this thread to get an idea of the type of specs you need. I think you're going to have to bump up your budget into the $1,200 range in order to get something reasonably useful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leachim15 Posted April 2, 2012 Share Posted April 2, 2012 ive searched for i7 processor but its too expensive... ...what about 3dmax 2009..it is ok if my processor is i3 or i5 for max 2009?..and what is the best AMD processor for 3dmax 2009..thanks for advise.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leachim15 Posted April 2, 2012 Share Posted April 2, 2012 @CAD64.... actually ive searched for that specs in any store but i cant find the specs they recommend on page 1..i have new option here...hope you can help me which is better...its same price but not in specs..hope you can recommend me.. MSi LAPTOP CX640 2nd Generation Intel Core i7 Processor- Visibility Smart Performance at its best Intel Core i7-2630QM Quadcore 2.00GHz Intel HM65 Express Chipset MSI Wireless 802.11b/g/n nVIDIA Ge Force GT520 1gb DDR3 15.6" HD (1366x768 ) LCD Display 4GB DDrill Memry 500GB Hard Disk Drive Super- Multi DVD RW,1.3 MP Webcam HDMI, Card Reader, VGA Port 2x USB 3.0 Battery 6 Cell, Free DOS 40,995 MSi LAPTOP GE620 2nd Generation Intel Core i5 Processor Visibly Smart performance with a boost Intel core i5-2410M 2.30 GHz Intel HM55 Express Chipset MSI Wireless 802.11 b/g/n nVIDIA GeForce GT555M 2gb DDR3 16" FulHD (1920x1080) LED Display 8GB DDrill Memory 500GB Hard Disk Drive Super Multi DVD RW Drive HD Webcam HDMI, Bluetooth, Card Reader, USB 3.0 THX Trustudio Pro Technology Battery 6 cell, Free DOS 40,995 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rkent Posted April 2, 2012 Share Posted April 2, 2012 Go here as a place to start, since this is all for Dell Precision all the choices will be either Great or Pretty damn good, and the laptop, for the other choices you list just about any computer with minimum Autodesk specs will work. http://advisors.dell.com/advisorweb/Advisor.aspx?advisor=6eb02850-6fea-4d68-b859-bd5fbc70d44a-00d004&c=us&l=en&cs=g_5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cad64 Posted April 2, 2012 Share Posted April 2, 2012 @CAD64.... hope you can help me which is better....hope you can recommend me.. Sorry, but I don't give recommendations on hardware purchases anymore, so I can't tell you which computer you should purchase. That's a decision that you need to make, based on your budget. All I can tell you is that you should get the fastest processor, (with the most cores), you can afford. Also get as much RAM as you can afford and get the best video card that you can afford. You really should contact a company that builds computers and talk to them. Tell them you are looking for a laptop, tell them what software you will be running and ask them what they recommend. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.