Building a Dedicated Maya Computer

# 1 27-02-2012 , 09:39 PM

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I have decided to build a dedicated Maya Computer for my work in Maya.

I am interested in anyone else's experiences too.

The computer I am building will have the capacity to run other programs but will only run programs that are designed to be used for Maya specific issues. Any programs I use not centered around Maya will be run on another desktop or laptop. I get great advice from my brother who is an engineer.

My brother recommends that I should choose a graphics card and then study existing prebuilt computers and their reviews on magazines such as PCWORLD and plan my computer build on those reviews. I am currently researching the graphics card NVIDIA GTX 560 ti.

If anyone wants to share their graphics cards and the experieces they have had, whether good or bad,that would be most appreciated.

Thank You
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Last edited by animaguy; 27-02-2012 at 09:43 PM.

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# 2 27-02-2012 , 10:53 PM

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Don't know your budget, but I would reccommend going for a 580 or 590 instead of what you choose, another thing i would consider, is buying a prebuild one , a DELL/HP since these computers are thought out by engineers who studied the subject a lot longer than you and I user added image

.
I myself have a HP XW 6600 workstation and it works just fine never any hick ups for about 2/3 years now

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# 3 27-02-2012 , 10:59 PM

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I would stay away from GeForce cards when using Maya. While many people on this site have had no problems, in my experience at studios, Radeon's were much more reliable, as they have better OpenGL support. If you can afford it, go for one of the professional cards, like the FirePro's or Quadro's. Always check the qual charts if you want a nuisance-free setup. Others here will tell you that their cards work, but the truth is, it's not just the card, but also the driver version, and other little nit-picking details that cause annoying caveats. Low-end FirePro's and Quadro's are quite inexpensive now. (~$150)

Imagination is more important than knowledge.

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# 4 27-02-2012 , 11:31 PM

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That is odd ND I have found just the opposite. Geforce has always been very stable for me. I am zero for 2 when it comes to radeons and Maya. After the last attempt to use one failed I vowed never to touch a ATI card again. Actually I had a third horrific experience back in my video editing days with a ATI "All in Wonder" card (yes it's ancient). I just had one driver problem after another and after nearly a year hair pulling I renamed the card the "All in BLUNDER" and tossed in onto a street near my house and gleefully watched as cars ran it over!

You are absolutely correct about drivers being critical and once again I have found nvidia to be far more stable then ATI in the driver development department. I would argue to the death that 10 years ago the ATI drivers were the biggest piece a crap on earth. However, I have heard that there latest stuff is more stable.

If I owned a goose that laid golden eggs I would of course buy a Quadro, although to be honest I would still feel foolish dumping $6000 on a graphics card that I know would be obsolete just about the time I got it out of it's wrapper. I bought a FX 2000 and barely had it 6 months before I had a Geforce card that was out performing it at 1/10th the price.

If I could afford to upgrade my graphics cards right now I would go for a 580. They are fastest of the single GPU consumer cards. The 590 is really just a pair of 560's in a single dual width package. Since Maya make no use of the SLI'd cores and since the slave card only runs at a fraction of the primary cards speed (because of power and thermal constraints) you'd see no benefit, generate more heat, and burn more electricity for no real gain.

I was thinking of going hydro but the thought of all the things that can fail in a water cooled system scare me.

The bottom line though is this. As of Maya 2012 there is ZERO support for consumer cards. Autodesk and Alias used to qualify a couple all the way up to 2010. They list a couple Geforce and Radeon cards in the qual tables but they are all listed as untested or unqualifed. I can attest that I had nearly zero problems with my aging 285's until Maya 2012. Since switching to 2012 I have had and still have some very serious and frustrating problems.

"If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." Sir Isaac Newton, 1675

Last edited by ctbram; 27-02-2012 at 11:46 PM.

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# 5 27-02-2012 , 11:44 PM

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Haha. It's useless to fight over which card is better. I, and the studios I've worked with have found ATI's to be better. Rick and mastone have had good luck with Nvidia's, as with others here. The decision is up to you. Again, read the qual charts if you really want to be sure nothing weird will happen.

Imagination is more important than knowledge.

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# 6 27-02-2012 , 11:50 PM

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I did not mean to spark a debate. It's all subjective and in the end Autodesk does not support or qualify any consumer card so you take a chance either way. I have seen both ati and nvidia used in production environments as well and it seems nvidia drivers have been more stable and like you said in some cases it just seems to depend on the phase of the moon or contents of the refresh register. haha

"If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." Sir Isaac Newton, 1675

Last edited by ctbram; 28-02-2012 at 12:07 AM.

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# 7 28-02-2012 , 04:40 AM

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Well all I can say is this.....I have Nvidia 9600M GT...which SUDDENLY stopped being sompatible with Maya 2009 High Quality viewport. I upgraded drivers etc etc uninstall re install ad nauseum. Now I had it working with 2011...until just then..no joke...now AGAIN Maya will not recognise my card...Im over it...I will just have to bloody live with it again. I would do some serious research first mate.

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# 8 28-02-2012 , 04:48 AM

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I don't know anything about radeon cards. I've used Nvidia since 2007 and don't recall having any issues. I currently use nVidia 580 GTX with Maya 2009.

Don't be satisfied with what you can do but rather strive to do the things you can't do!
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# 9 28-02-2012 , 06:55 AM

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I have had more success on GeForce cards than opposing ATI, although must say a lot of the problems i encountered were solved with updated driver issues and Maya service packs.

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# 10 28-02-2012 , 12:54 PM

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The thing is ATI cards are better when it comes to the hardware part, but when it comes to drivers they suck, I once had a Radeon where Maya crashed all the time, turned out that de catalyst driver had a thing called triple buffering which made Maya crash.
I then had a Quadro FX 4600 which worked fine and now I have a Geforce 580 which works great.
I believe in all honesty that the differences aren't that great anymore between Quadro's and GEForce cards, in some cases the GeForce outperforms a Quadro.

But as others said it is something you need to look into for yourself

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# 11 28-02-2012 , 01:46 PM

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It's true that the Radeon drivers did suck a while ago, but they're much better now. (Past 4 years or so now)

Imagination is more important than knowledge.

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# 12 28-02-2012 , 03:40 PM

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NVIDIA Quadro FX 1800, seems to work with Maya no problems, and the other 3D and graphic apps I use. I don't think it was hugely expensive but it was about a year or so since I bought it. They must be cheaper and better now.

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# 13 28-02-2012 , 03:53 PM

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I have continued my research on graphics cards for a dedicated Maya computer and I have found the following to be issues...

These are the
quadros-nVidia
gtx-nVidia
firepro-ATI/AMD
radeon-ATI/AMD

quadros and firepros are certified and recommended by maya
while gtx and radeon are consumer and are for gaming which requires speed

I also have been reading the concept of purpose built computers.

Because I am a newbie, it may not be necessary for me to purchase a high end workstation to learn and develop modelling, animating and Lighting & Rendering, Dynamics & Effects, Texturing skills.

So in designing my first Maya dedicated computer I have no problems with experiencing first hand the issues I may face with a particular graphics cards...

I am not yet worried about batch rendering or animating but I am interested in covering modelling, Lighting & Rendering, Dynamics & Effects and Texturing...

I haven't decided but I have narrowed the choice of my first graphics card to the quadro fx 580 or the ati firepro v4800. Both are certified by Maya 2012 and both are inexpensive. I just want to use the computer to learn and when I feel the need to a more powerful workstation, I plan to pull the hard drive and sell the computer with the graphics card.

If anyone disputes these findings I would love to know your thoughts and why your reasoning behind your conclusions....

And if anyone agrees and wants to further elaborate that would be appreciated as well...

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# 14 28-02-2012 , 04:39 PM

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The only issue with going with the professional cards, either Nvidia or ATI, if you intend to do any gaming or run any apps that are based on gaming engines your performance will be pretty bad.

I had a Quadro FX 1000 some time ago and ran the one of the graphics somethingMark benchmarks and the performance was just horrible. I tried to play Wow and I thought my system was having an epileptic fit (lol).

It was so bad that I would be running along and then start seeing my life drop and hearing my char going ouch, ugh, oof, ouch...and then I would be instantly dead, and then after I was dead the screen would update to show the guys that killed me squatting on my face and making rude gestures. That was kinda frustrating especially considering at the time that FX 1000 was like a $1900 graphics card. lol

If you want to be sure there will be no issues with the current version of Maya then the only secure way is to go with a qualified card but to be honest the problems with the high-end consumers cards are pretty minimal and give you the most flexibility.

But the decision has to be your own.

"If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." Sir Isaac Newton, 1675

Last edited by ctbram; 28-02-2012 at 04:44 PM.

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# 15 28-02-2012 , 06:15 PM

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The only issue with going with the professional cards, either Nvidia or ATI, if you intend to do any gaming or run any apps that are based on gaming engines your performance will be pretty bad.

I had a Quadro FX 1000 some time ago and ran the one of the graphics somethingMark benchmarks and the performance was just horrible. I tried to play Wow and I thought my system was having an epileptic fit (lol).

Originally Posted by ctbram

I'm not sure if this is true any more, as the new Quadro's have CUDA cores in them. Even the Quadro 600 has them, as well as support for DX 11.