That time of the year - upgrade my machine!!

# 1 04-07-2005 , 03:10 PM

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That time of the year - upgrade my machine!!

Hello all,

The time has come yet again to whack another upgrade onto the lumbering beast churning away under my desk. I was looking for some advice as to new parts. Currently I have:

ATI 9800,
512 PC400 RAM (used to be 1 gig until one stick got damaged)
ATI NF7-S mobo with a broken RAM clip
AMD running at 2.8

Motherboard
The mobo needs to be decent but not that special (LAN, Audio, etc)

RAM
I would like the ram to be at least a gig if not more, as high a speed as possible really.

Graphics
For the graphics, I would need a dual output card that is also Maya suitable, but I'm also a constant gamer so I would need somthing of a hybrid. If I'm honest I'm not bothered about an extra 10 mins spent rendering if it means I can actually play games at a high level. I've always been an ATI guy, is that something I should stick with to get the best Maya and Game performance, or is an NVIDEA the way to go?

Overall, what attribute of a PC does Maya need the most - RAM, HDD, CPU, GPU or something else?

At the moment I have a decent AMD CPU running at 2.8, not something I was planning to upgrade, unless there is a very good argument for it (anyone think 64bit is the way to go?)

Price is always an issue, so if anyone can find some good deals for any of these bits (delivered to the UK) stick em down and let me know.

Cheers for any help guys and galls, Happy 4th to all the americans!

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# 2 04-07-2005 , 07:52 PM

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Re: That time of the year - upgrade my machine!!

Remember that a AMD's model numbers refer to an Pentium equivilent Ghz rating.

So an Athlon 3000+ which runs at 2.2GHz is about the same as a Pentium at 3GHz.

Just pointing that out before you buy.

Yeah, but no but yeah but no....

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# 3 05-07-2005 , 01:47 PM

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Re: Re: That time of the year - upgrade my machine!!

Originally posted by doodle
Remember that a AMD's model numbers refer to an Pentium equivilent Ghz rating.

So an Athlon 3000+ which runs at 2.2GHz is about the same as a Pentium at 3GHz.

Just pointing that out before you buy.

Originally Posted by

Yeah i know what you mean, but as i mentioned I dont think a CPU upgrade will happen this time. Its running at 2.8 so I think thats quick enough.

Has anyone had any good or bad experiances with Motherboards and Graphic cards in relation to Maya and Games?

Seeing my specs posted above what upgrade would people think make the most difference to maya and games in general

Discuss.... :p

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# 4 14-07-2005 , 12:03 PM

Tubby

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Sadly at this moment in time, I think your upgrade options are going to be a little limited or at least sort lived.

We are on the edge of moving to 64bit multi core processing, agp video cards are no more (or at least get rarer) having being replaced with the PCIe/SLI cards. IDE drives are moving to SATA/SATAII etc.

Your best bet is to wait till the new year, by then the AMD64 X2 cpu`s will have come down in price. Motherboards will correctly support the X2`s etc.

When buying just remember go for quality:

Motherboad - Asus, Abit, Gigabyte always spend a little more on the motherboard, after all you have to plug your other bits in it, also allows for better upgrades in the future. Remember to check for LAN, Sound, Number USB ports etc.

Video Card - Named brand again, however unless your a die hardgamer, just go for a mid-range card.

CPU - A fast as you can afford. AMD64 or AMD64 X2 = bigger bang for the buck. Remember most AMD64 (939) boards will support AMD64X2's with a simply bios update.

RAM - Spend some money on this, you don`t need to be top end. Branded again, mid-range price, size and speed up to you. AVOID CHEAP RAM it will come back to haunt you.

PSU - The biggest failure for most systems. Often the cause of system crashs, lockups etc. Only buy a quaility PSU, check for dual 12v out put rails, number of connectors for SATA and SLI power. Start at 400w and work up.

HDD - Whatever interface you want. Named brands again, size and speed are up to you.

HEATSINK - After market CPU cooler is a must, shock coolers barely manage to do the job. Spend a few bucks on this. Overspec the heatsink, if you have XP@2.4 ghz try to get one thats good for a XP@3.4ghz, allows for CPU upgrades. Size and noise are then the things to worry about.

If you go for a motherbaord with an Nvidia Nforce chipset it should be noted that Nvidia videocards work better. ATI will work with Nforce thou. VIA chipsets work with any video card.

Last edited by Tubby; 14-07-2005 at 12:22 PM.

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# 5 14-07-2005 , 06:48 PM

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Dual core processors are already avaliable - at pretty good prices.

Yeah, but no but yeah but no....

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# 6 17-07-2005 , 09:49 PM

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im not a big fan of duel processors, they dont do much, one processor runs one program and the other runs the other.. i duno if maya has the capability of using both at once. id just get the best processor instead of 2 okish ones.

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# 7 18-07-2005 , 05:29 PM

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Originally posted by matt4068
im not a big fan of duel processors, they dont do much, one processor runs one program and the other runs the other.. i duno if maya has the capability of using both at once. id just get the best processor instead of 2 okish ones.

Originally Posted by

"Dual core processors" are NOT "dual processors"

With "dual core processors" you only have one silicon chip but inside that is two independent processors and their respective caches and cache controllers. So it is like having two seperate processors, but you only buy one.

So you can be burning a DVD while working in Maya or play a a video game, or you can watch a DVD while rendering a long sequence of images within Maya. All with ease.

I assume that when doing single tasks, both "cores" with be working together.

Basically dual core is the future and will make your life better (and in my case, save me a few quid on buying new keyboards).

EDIT: Just mention that Maya does allow you to use multiple processors (i.e. render farms) . The option is somewhere within the "Rendering" options. Also, i hear it will be possible to "hook up" to the new PS3 and make use of its uber fast "cell" processor for rendering.

Yeah, but no but yeah but no....

Last edited by doodle; 18-07-2005 at 05:36 PM.

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# 8 19-07-2005 , 11:33 AM

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meh, there good for multi tasking, but id personally just get the better 'single core' processor, unless u can afford to spend loads then feel free. just checked out the prices of stuff online (ebuyer)

duel core

Athlon 64 X2 4600+/socket 939 2.4ghz 512kb + 512kb Cache
£562.63 inc VAT

(the only duel core processor they do) i take it that theres 2x2.4ghz there.

normal

AMD (Clawhammer) Athlon 64 3700+ 1mb L2 Cache 754pin Retail Boxed Processor With 3 Year Warranty and Fan Included
£165.26 inc VAT

is it realy worth the extra £397.37???

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# 9 19-07-2005 , 01:58 PM

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Single core is the way to go at the moment mainly due to current pricing of the X2's. So if your in the market for a new system check to see if the motherboard will take X2's at a future date, when they are nice and cheap user added image

Duel Core Vs Duel Processors

Q) Which is better ?

A) Duel Core. Why ? Simple duel processors have to commuicate via the motherboard, which puts a lag on the system. AMD have gone one better than Intel by reducing the lag between processor and memory controller, by adding that to the processor cores too.

Q) Will my software run faster ?

A) Yes & No. In order to use duel core/processor the OS and software must be written to use multi-tread multi processor environments.

XP and Win2k both support duel core/processors by default. But only in 32bit mode.

XP64 supports duel core/processors by default. 32bit and 64bit modes.

Most software will see some improvement as one core deals with the thing hand and the other runs the OS, virus checker, messager etc.

Q) Should I upgrade XP/2K to XP64 ?

A) At this moment in time there is very little advantage in doing so and lots of disadvantages.

The advantages are very small, yes you`ll have drivers that run in 64bit mode, so things will run a bit better. Its a new platform so software writers will adding 64bit to next gen of software.

The disadvantages, lots. No 64bit drivers for older hardware. Older software may or may not run, crash etc. If it runs it will only be run in 32bit mode.

In time XP64 will be the way to go, just not yet.

The AMD X2 will not see significant advantages in most programs due to the lack of multi-threading and more importantly multi-cpu support.

In fact according to AMD the key applications that will gain a dual core scaling advantage are:

* 3DS Max 6 ~80% performance gain
* LightWave 8 ~70% to 85% performance gain
* Canopus ProCoder, Procoder Express ~68% faster MPG to DVD
* Windows Media Encoder ~76% faster DV to WMV
* Mandelbrot generator C/C++ runs ~99% faster
* Adobe Premiere Pro ~17% - 60% faster depending on the project
* Cyberlink Power Director ~85% MPEG2, ~90% WMV, ~99% DivX
* Windows MovieMaker ~42%
* Photo Shop depends on the filters used (not all filters are multithreaded)

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# 10 19-07-2005 , 02:10 PM

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yeh, if i were u id get a 939 cip mobo and just get a singlecore amd64 (the mobo's for a single core and duel core are about the same price, just get the best for your money, read reviews and stuff.) good luck.

btw i dont see maya on that list :p hehe, anyway personally everything runs perfect on my pc anyway so i dont care bout duel cores. untill a few years time yeah maybe.. when programs have adapted to make better use of them.

Last edited by matt4068; 19-07-2005 at 02:13 PM.

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# 11 19-07-2005 , 02:14 PM

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Most 939 motherboards only require a simply bios update to make them duel core compatible user added image

I believe Maya is a multi threaded app so it too should benefit from the X2.

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# 12 19-07-2005 , 02:33 PM

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yup thats why i said 939 user added image

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# 13 19-07-2005 , 03:53 PM

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ok guys, this is all good stuff.

Is a 939 motherboard compatible with an athlonXP CPU (this maybe a very silly question, but in my head everything is still 'socket A' etc)? If it is I will probably get one but keep my current cpu, spending the extra cash on Ram of Gpu

I will be going for a nice mid range crosair RAM. Definatly going to be at least a gig - does 2 gig make much difference?

The graphic card is still causing me headaches. I wish i had kept up with technology, these days I cant figure out which is best of the mid price range cards - any suggestions from you kind fellows?

Cheers

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# 14 19-07-2005 , 04:31 PM

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Socket A is not compatible with 939. 939`s are for the XP64 family of cpu`s.

Personally 2gb of ram is over kill.

Nvidia 6600 series cards are very good, not the fastest card in production, thats the 7800.

Unless you really need to upgrade, don`t ! least for a while anyway. Save your pennies, upgrade in the new year.

That way you could do a complete upgrade and take benefit of the new tech.

Nothing worse spending £150 on a videocard just to find when you come to upgrade the processor and mobo that cards no good !

AGP is dying out, being replaced with PCIe.

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# 15 19-07-2005 , 04:32 PM

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i have a gig ram everything runs fine, go for 2 gig if u want user added image

, whats ur current cpu? ull have to make sure its compatable with a 939.

holy ****!

check this out

insanely expensive gcard!

as for which g card u want it all depends on how much u wana spend user added image

Last edited by matt4068; 19-07-2005 at 04:36 PM.

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