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2012-11-12 12:59 29002839 Anonymous /r/ sent me here (cpu.jpg 468x378 30kB)
I need some info. My younger brother has an old PC and he's into 3D modelling (he's actually a pretty good artist) and into video and audio editing. I'm pretty sure he wants to work in the film industry some day. Anyway, he has been using his girlfriend's laptop because his PC apparently can't handle the software he uses. He usually mentions how most of the things he does on his girlfriend's laptop in an hour would take all night on his PC. So I decided to give him a PC for Christmas. A brutal one, with emphasis on video and processing power... and here's where I admit my ignorance. I know NOTHING about the latest cards and whatnot. I used to know about processors and cards, but not any more. So here's the question: what should I buy? I mean, what should I look for when it comes to components? I'll go to the store where they sell the components and assemble them for an extra fee with a list, I'll give the list to the clerk and I'll say "pal, you build this now!" Basically I need you guys to give me that list, if it's not too much trouble. I'd really hate to see a good artist not being able to work because his tools are old and obsolete. And I wanna keep being the best brother in the world (he actually used to say that about me when he was little). My parents are gonna buy him an awesome camera to go with the PC, so the kid is probably gonna explode with joy next month.

3 min later 29002890 Anonymous
What is your budget

3 min later 29002903 Anonymous
Get him a Mac you idiot. Everyone who works in those fields uses a Mac. Source: I live in Los Angeles, and everyone I know does this shit for a living.

4 min later 29002917 Anonymous
>>29002903 >implying you can't build a PC and install mac OS on it for free at half the price of buying a mac

5 min later 29002931 Anonymous
>>29002903 Yeah no. Macs are still overpriced as fuck. Just get him a computer with similar specs as a mac and save yourself about 40% over what you would have paid for a mac.

6 min later 29002945 Anonymous
Order the parts from Newegg and esemble it yourself. It will be cheaper! Processor: Intel i5 GPU: I would suggest a Nvidia GTX 560ti or AMD Radeon 6870 Ram: 8GB The rest you just choose what you like, and what your budget allows.

6 min later 29002952 Anonymous
>>29002839 you are a good person, op

6 min later 29002955 Anonymous
>>29002903 you know nothing about 3d modelling

7 min later 29002977 Anonymous
Make sure you buy him a developer GPU

7 min later 29002983 Anonymous
OP I would recommend an AMD FX series CPU, they have up to 8 cores and are extremely good at doing things like video conversion, rendering, and other CPU-intensive tasks. Your GPU (graphics card) doesn't actually need to be super powerful for these tasks, so I recommend an AMD Radeon 7850. Try to get at least 8Gb of RAM, but ideally 16Gb, the brand doesn't really matter, just make sure it's compatible with your motherboard. (All boards have a QVL or Quality vendor List which will tell you if the RAM you choose is compatible).

8 min later 29003003 Anonymous (j.jpg 100x100 13kB)
>>29002917 >using hackintosh in a working environment

9 min later 29003005 Anonymous
AMD FX CPU If you're really generous, get him a Firepro, otherwise, just a Radeon 7800+ for GPU Oh, and a good load of RAM. Like, 16GB

9 min later 29003012 Anonymous
>>29002890 In American dollars, I'm thinking between 1,017 and 2,083. Weird numbers but I'm converting them from the currency of my nation. By the way, he already has a pretty good monitor and some sort of USB tablet he always uses and some other things he needs, including the software, so basically I'll need to buy nothing extra. Just the machine.

9 min later 29003026 Anonymous
>>29002983 This guy knows what he's talking about.

13 min later 29003090 Anonymous
Get 2 x SSD in raid0 for fast io.

13 min later 29003102 Anonymous
>>29003012 that money might get you a double xeon. i'd look into it if you're serious about needing lots of power. a double xeon board, i'm guessing it's around 500. 600 for two xeons. 100 for 32gb of ram. that leaves 800 for a 7850 and a few drives. yeah, it's doable, easy. the only thing i'm not really sure is the double xeon boards. might cost a bit more.

14 min later 29003114 Anonymous
>>29003012 A lower-end Xeon, a decent board, a lower-end Quadro or FirePro, 32GB of RAM, an SSD, and a Dell U2412. Hook him up, /g/.

16 min later 29003150 Anonymous
>>29003114 >A lower-end Xeon >lower-end Xeons are not more expensive than i5/i7s for the same power, that's why I suggested he might get two of them. If he's getting a single CPU then he might as well get an i5/i7, which is easier to overclock.

16 min later 29003152 Anonymous
CPU - AMD FX processor GPU - HD 78XX RAM - Corsair Vengeance 16Gb Drive - 256Gb Crucial SSD

19 min later 29003200 Anonymous
>>29003150 His friend is a 3d modeller, video, and audio editor. I think a Xeon would be a good investment, and I don't think he's the type to overclock. We're just trying to get the best bang for his buck here, with an emphasis on Autodesk render speed.

20 min later 29003219 Anonymous
>>29003102 You've got to consider that unless he's doing some dickery and importing, it's likely the price will be substantially higher than american costs. Though running exactly >>29003152 for 3D work myself, I might be a little biased.

20 min later 29003237 Anonymous
>>29003102 On the subject of double Xeons >>29002983 here If you have the money for a double-Xeon board, you won't find anything more powerful, however if you can't afford one, the FX is the best bet. /g/ complains about the AMD cores because they're gamers, and the multi-threading supported by intel's cores will always wreck the AMD cores, however for video rendering and conversion, AMD's "moar cores" approach is ideal.

23 min later 29003307 Anonymous
>>29002839 Also don't forget to buy a good power supply. Seeing is that the video-card will be hogging for Watts. The more the better.

23 min later 29003308 Anonymous
>>29003200 Ok, but a Xeon only makes sense if you either need ECC or you need more than one CPU. Otherwise it's pretty much exactly the same as an i5/i7. And overclocking is a good idea in terms of bang for buck (obviously you need to know what you're doing, if not it's a bad idea).

25 min later 29003344 Anonymous
32gb of ram?! They have 32gb of ram now? Man, I knew I was out of touch, but I'm actually feeling old over here! Anyway, all this info is pretty useful. Please do keep it coming.

25 min later 29003348 Anonymous
>>29003307 non-gayman gpus typically aren't very power hungry he should still get a decent psu, but no need for lots of watts

26 min later 29003358 Anonymous (workstation build.png 1523x864 148kB)
>>29003308 Overclocking is fantastic, especially with K-series processors, but chances are if the OP's friend was of the temperament to overclock, he'd be the same kind of guy to put his money towards a beastly rig. Anyway, /g/, this is what I put together for the OP. Thoughts?

28 min later 29003397 Anonymous
>>29003152 You forgot >Mother on a 990FX >Coolermaster 212 Hyper evo and arctic silver 5 I also would go with Raptor RAID 0 [can get it for less than $100) instead of SSD. [its cheaper and going to get similar effects, may be not on boot time, but with dealing with large files]. Lower GPU. Its not nessesary for this appication. You need specialized software to rander on that. AMD's piledriver will do great work by itself. HD6850 is all you ever need. Plus if your bro gets to that point, of needing a better GPU, you can get Nvidia's walking claster cards. P.S> Shamless plug. I can sell you a PC almost built for this. I just bough it and planed on selling it thru ebay, but can sell it to you. $850. If you interested I can give you an email. Not a sam, really trying to start my own gig, and hate ebay for taking 5% from me.

29 min later 29003425 Anonymous
>>29003358 Seriously, i'm not being a brand whore here, but a single Xeon is no good. They're weaker than an i7 unless you overclock like crazy, or have two of them on a specilized board. I can't imagine a task a single Xeon at stock speeds would be useful for. For OP's specific purpose he needs either an FX, as many people have recommended, because they're designed for this kind of work, or dual-Xeons if he can afford it. If he was going to play Crysis I'd recommend intel CPUs, but FX cores are perfectly suited to what OP wants.

29 min later 29003427 Anonymous
>>29003397 *not a scam *render boy am I buzzed lol

36 min later 29003584 Anonymous
If he is into 3D modeling I'm sure he likes to render stuff too. Doesn't people use GPUs to render these days? If so, it might be worthwhile to put some money there. Also, maybe an extra SSD for scratch/cache if those programs use that. And also a lot of RAM, 32GB is nice.

40 min later 29003667 Anonymous
>>29003584 I rendered in 3DMax for a bit, mainly to test my VGA... and instead of huffin-n-puffin with rendering it idled >> CPU did all the work.

41 min later 29003694 Anonymous
>>29002945 >not getting a weaker gpu and getting 32gb of ram

45 min later 29003774 Anonymous
>>29003348 His brother wants to go into 3d-modeling. He needs to have a powerful gpu if he wants to do anything good.

45 min later 29003780 Anonymous
>>29003694 If he's anything like me, then being in to 3D modelling he'll be in to gaming as well. I don't know about video editing, but for the *most* part, my PC with 8GB manages in 3D modelling/texturing.

50 min later 29003876 Anonymous
>>29003358 >overpriced case >not fast enough hard drive; let's get a 10000 RPM up in this bitch >Already said he already has a monitor, overpriced anyways >processor only a quad are you even trying?

52 min later 29003904 Anonymous
>>29003774 look at those quadros and shit, most don't even need separate/dedicated power.

52 min later 29003907 Anonymous
OP ~LISTEN TO ME processor intel, not amd i7 is bare minimum, he will need the threading for rendering. amd sucks at 3d. graphics = nvidia not amd, amd sucks at 3d 560 non ti is ok if your down on money everything else dosnt matter just stick to these pointers.... ohh and also 16 gigs of ram.

57 min later 29003998 Anonymous
>>29003907 >560 non ti is ok if your down on money he has a $1000 to $2000 budget. Plus 3d rendering is going to need a good gpu, not a mid grade 560.

58 min later 29004027 Anonymous
>>29003907 FX > i7 He's not gaming, he doesn't need multithreading, he's doing video rendering and 3D modelling, he needs actual cores, not imaginary ones. We're not talking about fancy tricks and whistles, he needs industrial-level processing power, cores and GHz. The only intel core that can compete with the FX for these purposes are the Xeons, and he would need two to make that worthwhile. Also AMD does not 'suck at 3D', you clearly don't have any clue what you're talking about, he could very well use a 560ti as this build does not require massive GPUs, but a 7850 would be more suited because it will cooperate a hell of a lot better with the GPU and it will beat the 560 in any test you care to mention. I can't say if AMD or Nvidea are better for video rendering, I don't have enough experience with Nvidea cards, but I can tell you right now that the FX is better for this task than the i7.

59 min later 29004047 Anonymous
>>29004027 *CPU derp

59 min later 29004050 Anonymous
>>29003998 rendering isnt done with a gpu unless your some sort of idiot who believes that hybrid renders are worth anything in productions. rendering is done with cpu. you need the graphics card for apps like mari that are heavy on displaying polygons and particle sims.

1 hours later 29004135 Anonymous
>>29004027 amd XD is guuud. where the fucking pshysics support , wheres the cuda for most apps? also most render's are support multi threading you idiot, and a xeon is overkill for a kid learning to model boxes. im saying this because i work on a 40 machine i7 farm, and i have a dual xeon workstation at work.

1 hours later 29004139 Anonymous
>>29004050 I dun goofed. I meant displaying it. Manipulating 3d objects is going to need a good gpu.

1 hours later 29004164 Anonymous
>>29004027 agreed.

1 hours later 29004191 Anonymous
>>29004135 What language is that? We usually speak English on this board.

1 hours later 29004339 Anonymous
ITT: Nobody even asks what programs OP's brother is using

1 hours later 29004772 Anonymous
>>29004339 I have no idea. Haven't asked. I do know he experiments with a lot of different ones and is open to change the programs he uses and knows if he finds superior ones, even if it means learning from the beginning. I've seen him do that since he learned how to turn a computer on. BTW, he's not really into games; if that's somehow relevant.

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