best cpu

[_GP_]

so this was our rookie year and we ran into problems when using our schools computers (performance/access)

so our team has decided to build a computer for next year

my question is: which is a better processor for working with inventor and 3dsmax? the Intel P4? or the Athlon 64?

Obviously I don't want a flame thread. i'm simply curious which processor will perform the best for what we need it to do. So if you don't have anything better than "Intel sucks/AMD sucks" don't respond

Oh and we're on a budget so obviously we don't want to buy an FX or EE version of either chip.... most likely the 3.0ghz/3000+ version

[Max Lobovsky]

I'd say if it comes between a 3000+ or a 3.0ghz, the 3.0 ghz because the 3000+ is a pretty badly nerfed chip. Anything above that (3200 or 3400) get AMD. You also have to understand that the Athlon 64's are 64 bit. This doesnt mean anything performace wise now, but in a few years, it may mean very significant things, especially for high performance 3d programs. Regardless, i dont think you will 64 bit versions of software before these processors become obsolete for being a 3d workstation. Essentially, im saying dont worry about 64 bit capability. If you are going to build it from parts, in case you dont know already, www.pricewatch.com is awesome.

[Alavinus]

The newest Intel processors with hyper threading tend to do better with video encoding, however
AMD processors are much more economical. I recommend this site http://www.tomshardware.com for more details. However, in my experience, especially with inventor, ram is more critical then processor speed. I would personally use an AMD processor and use the extra money to invest in more ram. 512 should be a minimum- shoot for at least a gig, preferably two.

[Nick Fury]

Doesn't matter which one you use when you are talking those speeds. The real thing that is going to give you a fit with Inventor and 3dsm is both RAM and the video card. I reccomend a video card with 128megs of RAM atleast and atleast another 512megs of system memory. It honestly won't matter which CPU you pick when you are talking about 3ghz+ CPUs (both clockspeed and rating). Now, if you really want to see an increase in "speed" then I reccomend using a different operating system other than windows.

[_GP_]

Yea, I've built my own systems before, and frequent Tom's HardOCP Anandtech and the like.... I just wanst sure if any of the programs would use any of the benefits of the 64bit chip

with luck, I'll get a grant specifically for this and will be building a system something like this:

3.0 Intel 800fsb (or amd equiv)
2 gigs ram
Ati 9800XT w/ 256mb ram
2x 80gb HD's in raid setup

priced it for around $1500

[Max Lobovsky]

Originally Posted by _GP_

Yea, I've built my own systems before, and frequent Tom's HardOCP Anandtech and the like.... I just wanst sure if any of the programs would use any of the benefits of the 64bit chip

with luck, I'll get a grant specifically for this and will be building a system something like this:

3.0 Intel 800fsb (or amd equiv)
2 gigs ram
Ati 9800XT w/ 256mb ram
2x 80gb HD's in raid setup

priced it for around $1500

thats purdy, what about dual CPU systems? they make a lot of sense when you are doing rendering. You can get two older processors for really little money. But if its not rendering your concerned about, like if its just manipulating models and such, then i dont think either program really takes advantage of dual processors for that part of processing.

[Joe Ross]

Originally Posted by _GP_

Yea, I've built my own systems before, and frequent Tom's HardOCP Anandtech and the like.... I just wanst sure if any of the programs would use any of the benefits of the 64bit chip

Remember, Anandtech uses 3D studio max as one of thier benchmarks.
http://anandtech.com/cpu/showdoc.html?i=2002&p=9

The P4 3ghz easily beats the Athlon 64 3000+

[_GP_]

speaking of tom's and multiple processors... i saw this pic in an article the other day... not one, not two, but 4 processors with ram for each.. i assume like 16gb max

*edit* for some reason the picture disappeared.... I'll see if i can hunt it down elsewhere

[Max Lobovsky]

I dont know if you have the money, but professional graphics workstations usually use server processors (preferably two) like the opteron or xeon and a graphics card designed for OpenGL (most gaming graphics cards focus more on DirectX). Personally, i think id rather have two of the computer you spec'd than one of these.

[Robohawk-master]

Ahummm...

AMD Athalon 64 FX (Cheaper so spend more on RAM)
http://www.amd.com/us-en/Processors/...5_9488,00.html

+1GB RAM
http://www.crucial.com/

Graphics card: ATI 9800 128MB ALL-IN-WONDER (its my personal fav)
http://www.ati.com/products/radeon9800/aiw9800pro/

Though Xeon are nice (expensive) get 1 GB ethernet and a 1GB etherent storage device (server, harddrive...) and you'll have the speeds.

may I reccomend a case:
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...&Sku=A451-3005

[Greg]

Personally, I would not buy a 64-bit chip at this time. Another year will pass by the time these chips are finally mainstream, and right now they will not offer a huge increase in performance. Go with an Athlon XP chip - you can get a lot more power for your money.

[pryoplasm]

Originally Posted by _GP_

speaking of tom's and multiple processors... i saw this pic in an article the other day... not one, not two, but 4 processors with ram for each.. i assume like 16gb max

*edit* for some reason the picture disappeared.... I'll see if i can hunt it down elsewhere

um, limits on ram is set by the motherboard and chipset, not the processor. i think PII chips could have something ridiculous like a lot of GB, off the top of my head i think it clears 20GB, not too sure.,...covered it in my A+ class at school....


as for what kind of cpu and rig you want. i would suggest that you dont worry too much about just upgrading the RAM, or vid card, or processor. spread it around if you want to. as for the cpu itself, if you are on a budget, you can often get a cheaper celeron processor, then add some L3 cache to make up for the difference. not sure what cards are best for rendering since i havent done the animation team for quite some time, but just spread things around for this new PC, and you should be fine....

[Grommit]

I'll avoid repeating things that have already been said, but I'll offer you a comparison between two computers that I have running inventor which serves a useful purpose.

One of them is a (roughly) 1.5 gHz P4, nice Ti-4200 GeForce grfx card, along with 512 mb ram. Another is a (roughly) 2.0 gHz P4, some 128meg (I think)ATI card, 768MB ram, but the hard drive was completely full. The 1.5gig ran inventor much much smoother, and I'm not certain, but I'm quite sure that Inventor uses a paging file of some size on your hard disk and benefits from an uncluttered drive. Although this is not the main concern, it might help you to consider clearing your hard disk as well as these other things... defragging each week won't hurt. Aside from that, I do recommend a good graphics card, but I can't honestly say I know that it will make a difference. As far as AMD versus Pentium, I've gone Pentium in the past, but don't ask me.

[Heretic121]

2 gb of ram is OVERKILL!!! espically if its ONLY running 3dsmax or mya... 1gb-1.5gb is all you need... a jump from 1gb-2gb will go un-noticed... save the money!! (and look at the benchmarks if you dont belive me =D)


also shouldn't he go with a Quadro card instead of a regular gfx???

[Venkatesh]

Awright,

It looks like you intend to work with Inventor and 3dsmax on this system you hope to build. Am I correct?

Autodesk Inventor does not require very much technological firepower to run. Pretty much any computer that boots will be able to use it. I run Inventor 5 on a Pentium 166mmx with 64mb of ram and a PCI Radeon 7500 (32mb sdram). In wireframe mode, it is very very usable.

To run Inventor well, that is a different story. I would recommend a P4 of at least 2.8ghz, preferrably on the Northwood process (.13 micron) or an Athlon XP of at least a 2500+ rating (Barton core preferrable, the extra 256k is good for inventor). I have never used an Athlon 64 myself, but I have heard only good things about their performance. I believe than an Athlon 64 2800+ or a 3000+ will be very good for Inventor-ing. To support either the P4 or Athlon XP/64 system, I would recommend a lot of good, fast ram. Nothing unnecessary here (CL2 ram is unnecessary IMHO), but PC2700 or PC3200 DDR would be excellent. 512MB of RAM should be enough for about anything today.

I would recommend sticking with a good, reliable graphics card. I have had only good experience with the Radeon 7500 and the Radeon 8500. In my desktop right now, I have a GeForce4 ti4400, which was very unstable at 4400 speeds. I have downclocked it to ti4200 speeds, which helped with reliability.