yeah, I know the feeling. I'm addicted to learning this stuff. I happen to run across something like this and before I know it I've spent 5 hours completely absorbing it.london-boy said:My brain has opened up, the creativity i kept behind closed doors for years is opened up, and it's an amazing feeling... Like when you've been holding pee for hours then u finally and painfully get to go to the loo... Same thing
Career in CGI Animation/Modelling
- Thread starter London Geezer
- Start date
Right, now i need some other help.
What do u people think of this system? Remember i need to run Maya and co on it.
It does sounds a hell of a lot for a PC... but hey, i dont intend to upgrade or change it for quite a long time so it will have to last me enough...
(speakers are not included, i have them already)...
This is the only dealer i could find that sells Athlons 64 with GeforceFX cards. So i guess i'll have to keep shopping with them...
Matrix A64 BTO (Apr04)
(Base Price: £ 499 ex VAT)
Case: MESH ATX MidiTower +360W PSU with tool free access
Operating System: Microsoft® Windows® XP Home Edition
Motherboard Features: ASUS K8V Deluxe Athlon 64 Mainboard - 800FSB, Dual LAN, IEEE 1394, SATA
Processor: Upgrade to AMD Athlon 64 3400+ at £150
Memory: Upgrade to 1024Mb PC3200 DDR (400MHz) at £100
Hard Drives: 160GB Serial ATA (150Mb/s) Ultra Fast Hard Drive
Video Card: Upgrade to 256MB nVIDIA GeForce FX 5950 Ultra - TV Out + DVI at £245
Monitor 1: 19'' Iiyama Flat Panel Monitor - DVI & Analogue (DVI cable sold seperatly) at £435
DVI Monitor Cable: DVI Connector Cable (for DVI Monitors + DVI Video Cards ONLY) at £10
Optical Drives: Upgrade to 52x CD-RW + SONY DVD-RW Multi Burner (2 Drives) at £80
Sound: Onboard Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound
Modem: 56kbps V92 Modem, featuring data and fax.
Keyboard & Mouse: Logitech Internet Keyboard & Optical Mouse (Black)
Video Editing: Pinnacle Studio 8 Full Version (OEM) at £20
Software: Microsoft® WorksSuite® 2004 at £29
Anti Virus Software: Symantec Norton Antivirus 2004 (oem) at £30
Power Protection: 6-Outlet SurgeMaster, with Telephone and AV Protection at £29
Warranty: 3 Years - Parts & Labour - Back-to-Base Warranty (Mainland UK only - Terms Apply)
Delivery: Insured Saturday Delivery within Mainland UK at £54
Price Excluding VAT: £ 1681
Price Including VAT + DEL: £ 1975.17
What do u people think of this system? Remember i need to run Maya and co on it.
It does sounds a hell of a lot for a PC... but hey, i dont intend to upgrade or change it for quite a long time so it will have to last me enough...
(speakers are not included, i have them already)...
This is the only dealer i could find that sells Athlons 64 with GeforceFX cards. So i guess i'll have to keep shopping with them...
Matrix A64 BTO (Apr04)
(Base Price: £ 499 ex VAT)
Case: MESH ATX MidiTower +360W PSU with tool free access
Operating System: Microsoft® Windows® XP Home Edition
Motherboard Features: ASUS K8V Deluxe Athlon 64 Mainboard - 800FSB, Dual LAN, IEEE 1394, SATA
Processor: Upgrade to AMD Athlon 64 3400+ at £150
Memory: Upgrade to 1024Mb PC3200 DDR (400MHz) at £100
Hard Drives: 160GB Serial ATA (150Mb/s) Ultra Fast Hard Drive
Video Card: Upgrade to 256MB nVIDIA GeForce FX 5950 Ultra - TV Out + DVI at £245
Monitor 1: 19'' Iiyama Flat Panel Monitor - DVI & Analogue (DVI cable sold seperatly) at £435
DVI Monitor Cable: DVI Connector Cable (for DVI Monitors + DVI Video Cards ONLY) at £10
Optical Drives: Upgrade to 52x CD-RW + SONY DVD-RW Multi Burner (2 Drives) at £80
Sound: Onboard Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound
Modem: 56kbps V92 Modem, featuring data and fax.
Keyboard & Mouse: Logitech Internet Keyboard & Optical Mouse (Black)
Video Editing: Pinnacle Studio 8 Full Version (OEM) at £20
Software: Microsoft® WorksSuite® 2004 at £29
Anti Virus Software: Symantec Norton Antivirus 2004 (oem) at £30
Power Protection: 6-Outlet SurgeMaster, with Telephone and AV Protection at £29
Warranty: 3 Years - Parts & Labour - Back-to-Base Warranty (Mainland UK only - Terms Apply)
Delivery: Insured Saturday Delivery within Mainland UK at £54
Price Excluding VAT: £ 1681
Price Including VAT + DEL: £ 1975.17
Sage said:yeah, I know the feeling. I'm addicted to learning this stuff. I happen to run across something like this and before I know it I've spent 5 hours completely absorbing it.london-boy said:My brain has opened up, the creativity i kept behind closed doors for years is opened up, and it's an amazing feeling... Like when you've been holding pee for hours then u finally and painfully get to go to the loo... Same thing
Hah i used to play around with Terragen, it's a really pretty little program... And it's FREE...
Very easy to get gorgeous images out of it, i wonder how it's like now, havent checked their website for years...
bad idea. if you look at nVidia's website the latest Alias certified drivers for Maya are 43.51 and, unless I'm mistaken, the 5950 is not supported by that version. And, to be honest, a 5900 NU will work just fine. Actually, a Quadro4 900XGL (GF4 4600) is still a damned fast card. Have a look here for a good comparrison. And as for companies that sell whole computers... although they are very espensive, the level of support has convinced me and I usually despise prebuilt computers... http://www.boxxtech.comlondon-boy said:
Sage said:
Yeah, but finding Quadro cards on non-prebuilt computers is close to none. Here in the UK I mean... Apart from being awfully expensive.
There just aren't many sellers out there, and what they have is either good graphics cards with shit processors or the opposite...
See what i mean, that's only in the US...
are you sure they are only a US company? I know Stahlburg has one and he lives in Kuala Lumpur. I'm pretty sure they are an international company seeing as how they are pretty much the biggest PC workstation vendor next to the evil Dell. (and, actually, you might consider getting a Dell workstation... just consider, not actually do it )
)Sage said:are you sure they are only a US company? I know Stahlburg has one and he lives in Kuala Lumpur. I'm pretty sure they are an international company seeing as how they are pretty much the biggest PC workstation vendor next to the evil Dell. (and, actually, you might consider getting a Dell workstation... just consider, not actually do it
Looked into it, the only pieces with Quadro cards have Pentium processors in the range of 1.4Ghz.... now THAT's crap...
All i need is an Athlon 64 and a Quadro. Thats it. But no one would do it, unless i buy the pieces separately which will cost me a fortune...
Looks like a very nice system.london-boy said:
I'm not sure about the WinXP Home Edition though, as some higher end software might not be totally supported but on Pro edition.
If I were to built my system, I might consider a bigger PSU. I don't know whose PSU is in the Mesh case, but I've read from my mainboard manufacturer's (MSI) forums that A64 systems need quite a lot of power, and some menufacturer's power ratings are way over what they are in reality, thus the system is running unstable even with manuf. specced 400W PSU's. My A64 3000+ system is running stable on Antec True Power 380W PSU, and AMD's recommendations is somewhere below that.
Though, as your system is pre-built, the components should be well matched
Separate CD RW and DVD burners isn't really necessary imo, and one puts less stress on PSU just in case.
Are you on dialup? If not, then the modem is unnecessary. If you are on broadband, and even if the MB has onboard LAN, I would buy a separate LAN card, as at least in my MB the onboard LAN had some issues with CPU utilisation and IRQ sharing.
I just built myself a system of A64 3000+, Antec Sonata case, MSI K8T Neo mainboard, 512MB ram, Radeon 9600XT 128MB, SATA 120GB, WinXP Home, Plextor DVD multi burner for around 1300 euros. I had bougt a Hyundai L17T monitor earlier for 500 euros, and had my old kb and mouse and some cables.
I've tried some 3D Studio and ProE on it and they are certainly fast enough for my uses.
Building a new system to replace my old PII 300MHz refueled my PC and 3D graphics hobby from 5 year hibernation.
The total cost of my system would be around 2000 euros. Your system doesn't seem overpriced.
In fact, today it is not necessarily true anymore that by building your system yourself you get it much cheaper, and with better extendability. Branded PC's are often selling considerably cheaper (at least where I live) and the components are much the same.
Edit: can you not buy a customized system from Matrix without a graphics card, or with some very very cheap card, and buy a better card separately and install it yourself?
Edit: london-boy, do you have any of your 3D art on the 'web? It would be interesting to see if your artistic talents are as good as your verbal talents
Sage said:
Yeah, the only reason i opted for the 5950 is because it has 256MB of Ram, whereas all the others bar the Radeon 9800XT have 128...
Rabid, i'll look into building my own PC, it's just that London is populated by Dell's and PCWorld's and all those crappy vendors... But i'll look into it...
Sage, that comparison made me even more confused than i was before by the way... One should have 2 cards, one FireGL and one Quadro... Ridiculous... oh well i'll just get a 5900 with an Athlon 64, couldn't care less about the rest...
Best of luck to you london-boy on pursuing your career!
I started out pretty much the same way, 3D was a hobby of mine during the last couple of years in school. I guess we even started around the same timeframe, just that I'm a couple years older than you. I couldn't afford any kind of expensive classes (there were very few available at the time anyway), so I decided to invest into the software instead and learn it on my own. I improved primarily through practicing and reading a lot. I was completely lost as to how to get work in the industry, things just worked out in the end. I got an internship at a design stutio (doing everything except 3D actually, which really broadened my horizons), during which I met the right people and ended up spending the past 3 years working as a 3d artist on a number of projects.
I also think that the connections you will build at such workshops will be vastly more important than any technical skills you might aquire. A piece of software can always be learned relatively quickly - your artistic abilities will need time and practice to develop. In this industry you'll never stop learning, you'll never be done with your training, you'll just have to start at one point and keep going from there on...
I started out pretty much the same way, 3D was a hobby of mine during the last couple of years in school. I guess we even started around the same timeframe, just that I'm a couple years older than you. I couldn't afford any kind of expensive classes (there were very few available at the time anyway), so I decided to invest into the software instead and learn it on my own. I improved primarily through practicing and reading a lot. I was completely lost as to how to get work in the industry, things just worked out in the end. I got an internship at a design stutio (doing everything except 3D actually, which really broadened my horizons), during which I met the right people and ended up spending the past 3 years working as a 3d artist on a number of projects.
I also think that the connections you will build at such workshops will be vastly more important than any technical skills you might aquire. A piece of software can always be learned relatively quickly - your artistic abilities will need time and practice to develop. In this industry you'll never stop learning, you'll never be done with your training, you'll just have to start at one point and keep going from there on...
I know i'm a pain....
But how about this one...
Alienware Full-Tower Case with 480 Watt PSU - Saucer Silver
Alienware Cable Management System
AlienIceâ„¢ Video Cooling System - Fusion Red (BLAH BLAH BLAH)
AMD Athlonâ„¢ 64 FX-51 Processor
ASUS SK8V - VIA K8T800 Motherboard
1GB Registered ECC DDR SDRAM PC-3200 - 2x512MB
Alienware Extreme Edition GeForceâ„¢ FX 5950 Ultra 256MB 8x AGP w/DVI & S-Video
160GB Seagate Barracuda Serial ATA 7200rpm w/ 8MB Cache - Quantity 1
Plextor PX-708A 8x DVD±R/W Drive - Black
Samsung 52x24x52x16 CD-RW/DVD Combo Drive - IDE - Black
Creative Sound Blaster® Audigy 2 ZS - 7.1
NVIDIA® Integrated 100Mb Ethernet
1.44 MB Floppy Drive - Black
Alienware® USB 2.0 256MB Flash Drive
Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional UK
Microsoft® MultiMedia Keyboard International
Microsoft IntelliMouse Explorer USB 3.0 - Saucer Silver
Pinnacle Studio v8
AlienAdrenaline: Video Performance Optimiser (What's that anyway???)
Alienware® T-Shirt - White - M (Huh? I can't even de-select it!!)
AlienAutopsy: Automated Technical Support Request System
2-Year AlienCare Toll-Free 24/7 Phone Support
Subtotal: £2,028.00
Instant Savings: £0.00
Shipping & Handling: £62.00
VAT: £365.75
Order Total: £2,455.75
PS: Alienware is SO bloody expensive.... i'm shopping around and their prices are just so over the top.... Will keep looking...
But how about this one...
Alienware Full-Tower Case with 480 Watt PSU - Saucer Silver
Alienware Cable Management System
AlienIceâ„¢ Video Cooling System - Fusion Red (BLAH BLAH BLAH)
AMD Athlonâ„¢ 64 FX-51 Processor
ASUS SK8V - VIA K8T800 Motherboard
1GB Registered ECC DDR SDRAM PC-3200 - 2x512MB
Alienware Extreme Edition GeForceâ„¢ FX 5950 Ultra 256MB 8x AGP w/DVI & S-Video
160GB Seagate Barracuda Serial ATA 7200rpm w/ 8MB Cache - Quantity 1
Plextor PX-708A 8x DVD±R/W Drive - Black
Samsung 52x24x52x16 CD-RW/DVD Combo Drive - IDE - Black
Creative Sound Blaster® Audigy 2 ZS - 7.1
NVIDIA® Integrated 100Mb Ethernet
1.44 MB Floppy Drive - Black
Alienware® USB 2.0 256MB Flash Drive
Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional UK
Microsoft® MultiMedia Keyboard International
Microsoft IntelliMouse Explorer USB 3.0 - Saucer Silver
Pinnacle Studio v8
AlienAdrenaline: Video Performance Optimiser (What's that anyway???)
Alienware® T-Shirt - White - M (Huh? I can't even de-select it!!)
AlienAutopsy: Automated Technical Support Request System
2-Year AlienCare Toll-Free 24/7 Phone Support
Subtotal: £2,028.00
Instant Savings: £0.00
Shipping & Handling: £62.00
VAT: £365.75
Order Total: £2,455.75
PS: Alienware is SO bloody expensive.... i'm shopping around and their prices are just so over the top.... Will keep looking...
http://www4.tomshardware.com/column/200402201/index-02.html
Maybe if you ask him nicely, he can tell you his favourite vendor on the web.
hupfinsgack said:
That is total bullshit. MUST be... And even if it's true, i'm in the UK, and we know how things work here.... :|
arg did you miss what I said? the 5950 are not supported by the Alias certified drivers.london-boy said:
http://www.alias.com/eng/support/maya/qualified_hardware/QUAL/maya_50_win.html
Although the QuadroFX 1100 is certified with the 53.03 drivers... so I wonder iis maybe the 5950 would work just fine with them. Let me do some tests on my 5800 with the 53.03
hmm I am getting some minor errors. When switching to the 4-viewport view (via spacebar) and switching back to any of the views except the top left (via the spacebar) I get just grey. I can switch back to 4-iewport and still see everything. I can get back to normal by using the menuebar or the hotbar buttons, but it's still annoying for one used to using the spacebar to switch around really fast. It definitely slows your workflow. Also there were some minor PaintFX bugs but most likely you won't even be using PaintFX and even then they were nothing that would really impede your workflow.
Sage said:
I know whay u said about the 5950 but it's pretty much the only one with 256MB of RAM. I've only found one store that has 5900's with 256MB...
Oh well...
Really Sage? So if i just go for a FX5900 non ultra with 128MB it will perform pretty much like the 5900ultra with 256MB?
I must say, i've been searching around london over the weekend and i only saw 5900ultra's with 256MB...
Also, u think it's a good idea to invest on a brand spanking new Athlon 64 FX51 now? It is tempting...
Also, u know those cheaper "student" versions of Maya (and others...).. well, are they the PLE? I'm not sure they are cause PLE is free and those are not... I take it they are not watermarked... All i'm worried about is them being watermarked, i really hate that... If they aren't, then i will buy one today, it's only around 300 quid (700 dollars or so)...
I must say, i've been searching around london over the weekend and i only saw 5900ultra's with 256MB...
Also, u think it's a good idea to invest on a brand spanking new Athlon 64 FX51 now? It is tempting...
Also, u know those cheaper "student" versions of Maya (and others...).. well, are they the PLE? I'm not sure they are cause PLE is free and those are not... I take it they are not watermarked... All i'm worried about is them being watermarked, i really hate that... If they aren't, then i will buy one today, it's only around 300 quid (700 dollars or so)...
