configuration for a computer

depends on what programs you are going to run on it. I would opt for something that is easily upgradable... some computers only let you upgrade some things and not others. make sure you can change the computer as your software (whichever you use) gets bigger and more complex.

So, which software are you going to put on it?

I haven't tried the AMD 64 although I've heard it's good. Just get the fastest processer you can afford, The best graphics card you can, that is important, and at least a 1 gig of ram. I use a P4 3.4 with 1 gig ram, and an ATI PCI card with 128 ram, and it handles Maya and our huge broadcast Flash files from work. You can always get a bigger hard drive latter on, so you don't need to get a huge one just yet.

Aloha,
the Ape

for those with money to burn
here is a beast

http://www.boxxtech.com/products/configurator.asp

Definitely you need Lots of RAM. Mine has just half a Gig, and I realize I need to get it to a full G at least. And a good video card. I have a 64 Mb ATI, and it seemed OK until I changed my 15'' monitor for a 19''.
By the way, I've been around computers for a long time, and believe we're at a standstill of sorts. We've gone a long way from the old models (I remember that, when we were still using 286's, we had a discarded hard drive from an earlier model which we used to keep the door open) but for the last few years the changes have been minimal. I still have my ol' Pentium II, 400 Mhz,64Mb RAM, and when I got a P 4 ,2800Mhz, 500Mb Ram, I thought I would evolve from the lizard to the T-Rex, but it wasn't so. It's a lot better, but not as monstruously better as one would expect comparing the figures. :eek:

A good graphic's card is your main concern and ram, lot's of ram. Try not to go big box, call your local computer shops and get them to build one to suit your needs, then you have someone local to call if there's a problem, and your unit is probably going to be more upgradeable then a Gateway, Dell, Compaq or Hp type thing, they use proprietary configurations that can't be easily upgraded. Even if you spend more to have one custom made, in the long run it will pay off.

I used to live down the street from a guy with his own computer business. Since he bought everything in parts and assembled them as needed to do "custom jobs" and never thought ahead to buy bulk, his prices were absurd vs. the bigger companies with more buying power, just to keep him in business. The computer we got back then was 1200 dollars at the store. After we got it, since it was a big decision, I ran numbers of the configuration against what it would cost to have him build it from the ground up. Two thousand dollars more, and without any support whatsoever. He said he wasn't "up to snuff" on every part under the sun so he didn't want to misrepresent what he didn't know much about, since every piece came from a different company. Unfortunately someone wound up buying the clone model that he went ahead and built. What's worse, -because- it was such a grab-bag integration, they had nothing but constant troubles because none of the little pieces would "talk" to each other correctly.

I'm not going against phacker, I am saying it's not entirely clear to me that you can generalize. Do your research if that's a decision you're going to make, and treat it on a case-by-base basis because not everyone's as honest or knowledgeable.

I did my research before I had mine built, I read magazines like you wouldn't believe, since I didn't have a computer I couldn't do my research online. And I got bids from three different companies. My unit was built in 1999. I am still putting it through it's paces, and I've added to it and changed a couple of boards in it. Sure it's not the fastest unit on the block anymore but it still has guts and gusto.

Most of my friends that bought Compaqs, Dells, and back then PackardBells are on their second and third computers. They use proprietary powerunits and worse they modify their towers so you can't drop a new motherboard into them.

If money is the big factor go big box, but be aware a couple years down the road when the capacitors blow, you'll be buying a new one, like my friend with the Gateway had to, even though Gateway knew there was a problem they didn't let their customer base know until warranties were up. But I am using her ram from her dead Gateway so some good comes from all things.

And just for the record, I paid 1800.00 for mine in 1999. She paid 1675.00 for her's in 2001 and replaced it with a 600.00 tower in 2003 who got the better deal?

Sorry about all the edits, but I need to say those prices include 21 inch monitors for both units. I'll never regret getting a big monitor that's something you need to consider.

Oh and included in my price was Windows Office Pro and a clean OE version of Windows 98, she got Works and Gateways half assed version of Windows Me with a "recovery" disk.

I am the one that family and friends call when their big boxes go down. And you wouldn't believe how many times my clean OE Windows 98 was used to reformat their proprietary machines to get them up and running clean and lean.

Someday I'll be able to afford to upgrade to XP pro, but maybe I'll wait for LongHorn.

Most of my friends with their new big box towers are now running XP Home, that wouldn't be the route I would go...I'd go Pro. But they opted for cheap once again.

I am also never without a copy of Norton's System Works in my tool box.

Does "big box" include going to Best Buy? Ours there lasted for six years without a mod or need to reformat.

softwares tht i'm to use include popular 3d s/w's like 3ds Max,Maya n others like aftereffects,combustion etc.Also can u suggest the best graphics card(economical) tht can serve the purpose...

Most midrange gaming cards handle 3d fine. I use a Geforce 4 with 128 megs of RAM. I'd recommend something in the $150 range as a good balance of economy and power.

Of the software you mention, I'd probably build my specs around Maya, since that's probably going to push your system around the most. Definitely the fastest processor you can afford. As much RAM as you can get. And I'm going to disagree with Ape just a bit and go ahead and recommend getting a big harddrive, preferably external firewire.

Does "big box" include going to Best Buy? Ours there lasted for six years without a mod or need to reformat.

I have no way of knowing what you bought there they sell lots of different models. What sort of computer did you buy there?

I know that this isn't for everyone, but i have to say, i LOVE my mac. I've upgraded almost everything in it in the past five years. On the other hand, sometimes I have problems with getting software for it. But for my two-d animation it has been fantastic. i don't know how I'm going to switch over to three-d. It seems like I have a limited number of options for programs on that front... other than that, no problems.

What kind of computer I bought is irrelevant if "big box" is a categorization. Gateways and Dells are amalgamations and refurbs, but they're also pre-made packages. I didn't know if store-purchased computer setups, also pre-made if they're floor models in a circular, applied to the phrase, because I've never heard it before. It was an AMD K6-2 w/ 3DNow! 300MHz with 64MB RAM 6.2GB hard drive and a RIVA 128 (old-school nVidia for ya) 2xAGP graphic card.

I don't use a Mac but since I know how much they too rock I will second the Mac motion. Is there a Maya for it?

hi,
well i am in the process of ordering 9 of the following spec computer
2800 Athlon 64 bit
512mb ram hynix
160GB barracuda seagate hdd
128MB Graphic card (not sure of the make, i think a GForce II?)
15"Viewsonic LCD
most of the stuff we run is Flash, little Photoshop, Toon Boom Studio. My present (7) system runs the same specs except for 256mb ram and a 80GB Hdd.
the ram isnt needed badly but it would be nice and will speed things up. depending on what you really want to do this should work well for most things except for a 3d program or any kind of high end editing and compositing.
i am getting them sourced by somoene instead of going out to a dell or a ibm because this is costing me around about $700 + $40 a pc for a years maintainence. same thing through Dell is running me around $1100+$30 a pc for extended warranty.
also dont have to pay for Windows for all except 3 because i have a 10 user license already.

I don't use a Mac but since I know how much they too rock I will second the Mac motion. Is there a Maya for it?

Maya will run on the Mac, as will LW. Unfortunately, 3ds Max is PC only. In any case, the Mac isn't your best bet for 3D work. You can get more power on the PC side. Also, if you're going to be doing Flash animation, Flash isn't optimized all that well for OSX. My brother's 2200+ AMD trounces his dual G5 2.0 Ghz Mac in Flash.

I use my Mac for editing, and it's really great for that. But I do all of my 3D work and Flash stuff on a PC.

also, whats out is a dual core system from Dell. this is some sick computing power. its basically like having two computers in 1 add a good dollop of say 2GB RAM and u got a serious machine.

I too like the Macs but both of mine are antiques I picked up at garage and yard sales, so they can't handle the heavy duty programs, but I enjoy playing with them, and someday if I have the money I'll buy a new high end Mac. Plus, they are sexy to look at, not my old guys, but the new ones make me drool just to look at them.

Right now I am still working on my old PIII/500, I've added ram and it's up to 512 now and a cd writer (So I have dual cds now, which makes copying cds a cinch.) and external 60 gig hard drive (came with a 20gig internal but I have a tendency to fill it up. so now I save my work files to the external, freeing up a lot of space), usb2 card and a tv card. It also has a zip which I know is old technology, but I used it for backups in the beginning. My old Diamond Viper with only 16 megs on board gets bogged down from time to time, and someday I'll upgrade it. And I'd love a new Creative sound card with all the jacks and stuff on the front, but that will have to wait until later also, but I'd love the convenience of not having to contort myself to the back of the machine to plug things in.

Hey, Skinny that sounds like a great configuration, and I'd love to get my hands on the keyboard of one of those and put it through it's paces.

Hey, Skinny that sounds like a great configuration, and I'd love to get my hands on the keyboard of one of those and put it through it's paces.

yeah phacker. it would be some serious fun. you could in theory leave something to render at full computing power and at the same time be able to play a game or watch a movie without any loss of performance.
although there is no time frame or cost out yet. they (AMD&Intel) are both more or less running behind schedule with deliveries etc.
regardless they should be out soon by the end of the year. it should be cheaper than getting one of those Xeon machines.

A good ecconomical graphics card is the ATI Radeon X800 XL. It's $299 and has 256mb ram. It aslso comes in PCI express. If you can get a mother board with PCI express, do it. It'll be faster. A great high end card is the ATI Radeon X800 Platinum Edition. it's $499, and kicks butt.

Aloha,
the Ape

I dream about owning a Radeon someday. But my motherboard can't handle it, so it's in the future too.

My opinon is that you can get the same performance as a mac out of a pc for less money if you build it your self. This would be a great work station:

Athlon 64 X2 4800 dual core 2.4ghz 1mb of cache per core (dual core - like two processors on one chip - so it will rock in multithreaded apps. which it sounds like you will be useing) $999

Asus AN8 SLI Nforce4 mothoreboard $158

Corsair value select 1GB - $87 or 180 for 2gb

two maxtor SATA 200gb hd - $230

one evga 6800gt pci-e - $360

lanLi silver case - $48

Antec true Power 480w powersupply - $83

arte dvd 12x +-rw - 65

windows XP pro- 158

total with 2gb of ram - 2272

Power Mac g5
dual 2.3ghz (about the same performance, slower in some cases, slightly faster in others)
2gb of memory
6800 ultra (only option and slightly faster than the 6800gt)
400 gb of hardrive space
this would cost you - $3549

ask your self is the OSX and nice case worth the extra $1300?

if you want you can add another 6800gt (SLI) and boost your graphics performance and still be under the price of the g5.
Or you could get an acutal Professional Graphics card (which apple dosent seem to want to offer) - quadro fx 1300 ($565)or fx 1400 ($729) and still be under the cost of the g5.

hope this helps :)

Don u guys think cards like Geforce Quadros series and ATi Fire GL series will do much better justice for our animation purpose coz they are built for it. Ofcourse they are costlier but good for animation.