Need a new computer fast...help me please (Maya Animator)

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OK here's the 2 systems I configured...

System 1
Dual AMD Athlon 2200+MP on a Asus Mobo.
1 Gig DDR Ram
20GB HD (For the OS)
80GB HD (For work)
ATI Fire GL 8800
DVD/CD-Rom
Plextor Burner
Enermax Case with 430W PS
(and some fans and extra heatsinks and fans for procs)

System 2
Intel P4 2.4-B 533 FSB on Intel Board D850EMV2L Intel 850E LAN RDR
1 Gig RDRam
20GB HD
80GB HD
ATI FireGL 8800
DVDCD-Rom
Plextor Burner
Enermax case with 430W PS
and fans and all the same as before

Both are roughly the same price. Whadda ya think? This is just a quick shot in the dark, I'm not even sure if everything is compatible, or optimized.

[giedi]

Hi

The 2 systems that you have configured are kinda different. The dual mp would be about 60 percent faster for batch rendering whereas the P4 would be about 20 to 35 percent faster in maya itself.
The reason why I said that dual is slower in maya is because you can't find a dual board that uses rimm 4200 for a decent price.
Basically, it's wether ram or cpu. Since you're an animator, it might be wise to go for the pentium which by the way is easilly "overclockable".
You can reach a fsb of 150 Mhz with the retail heatsink and have a rock stable machine (If you know what you're doing).
A dual cpu machine is a lot better for an everyday use. I've had a few and you can burn a cd, browse the net, watch a dvd, etc.. without slowing down the processes.
Something you can't do with a single cpu no matter how fast it is.
By the way, if I were you, I'd install win 2k sp3 on such systems and not XP.

I hope it helps

Dave

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I was planning on going Win2k! Hmm....well I'm stuck then. I want both!!! hehe. So maya is really processor and ram dependent while using it....where does the video card come into play? Does that just help out? Or is that just to take some heat off the processor? Thanks for the help, it's very interesting. How much faster is the RdRam over the DDR ram. I was told that RDRam was fast for short bursts of memory but once you need a lot of memory for longer periods of time that's when it slows down. And that DDR Ram is just constant? Maybe this is false info though? I'd like maya to be pretty quick all around but yeah...it's nice to be able to surf the web, and maybe burn something or whatever in the background. But I don't think that I will do that too often so I'm stuck. But I know that sometime soon I will be doing a lot of rendering so I'm wondering if I should just go dual? It's a toss up.

[giedi]

I never said that the choice was easy.
Usually, hardware is optimised for p4 fisrt . The fire gl sucks on an Amd config but rocks on a P4 with Higher ram bandwith.
Wait a little and get a dual p4.
The 2.4 b is about 184 bucks and with 2 of those, you'll get the best of both worlds.
Rdram is getting cheap too.

you can build a dual p4 2.4 b overclocked at 2.7 with 1 gig of rambus, Fire gl8800 etc.. for about 1800 USD.
Believe me, that's quite a config you got there.

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yeah but how long do I have to wait for that. I need a new puter soon. As the HD just failed on the computer I have now and I'm planning on shipping this one back to my parents so they can use it with a new HD. In the meantime I have no computer. So that's why I was hoping to get one within the next few days. Are there any dual P4 motherboards out yet?

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"The fire gl sucks on an Amd config but rocks on a P4 with Higher ram bandwith" --how do you know this? Why would it suck with an AMD? How much higher is the bandwith of RDRam compaired to the new DDR Ram?

[giedi]

Cause I've used it on both systems.
If you pay attention, when they test a workstation videocard, they almost always use a p4 with rambus so they can get the best out of it.
Right now, dual p4 systems are too expensive cause you'd have to go for a Xeon board like the Iwill (420 bucks) plus 2 p4 2.4 Xeon 240*2 bucks.
I think you'd be close to 2000 dollars, if not a little more depending on what you're getting.

If you don't want to wait, you should stick to the 2 configs that you chose.
The dual MP being the best compromise and the p4 the fastest in the viewport.

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Yeah, I dont' think I can wait. I have a lot of work I need to do from home within the next few months. SO I guess it's up to the Dual MP 2200+ or the 2.8 P4. I was looking at a system with the i845PE chipset in it. Mainly the Asus P4P or something like that. And then going with 2700 DDR Ram. Would that still be better than the dual MP? I am under the impression that even though I would have 2 processors that the higher powered P4 would be almost the same when it comes to rendering speeds? Just curious....which system would you choose? Which one is going to be outdated first. Proly the dual system right? If I do go with the P4 then I would have to decide on Ram.... 2700 or faster DDR Ram or RDRam. Can you give me any advice on that as well???? Thanks again so much you've been a huge help.

[giedi]

don't get a 845pe based motherboard because you loose the advantage of using rdram.
The ram bandwith of such a mobo is not bad but still not as fast as rdram. about 2300 Mb/sec for a 845 pe and over 3000 for a 850e with good rambus.

I currently own an asus P4T533 with rimm 4200 and I'm very happy with it.
I'm close to 3700 Mb/sec which is by far the highest bandwith you can get right now. If you don't want to overclock the cpu, you would still be around 3300 Mb/sec.
This is what makes a difference in Maya or any other 3d app or compositing ( Combustion loves it)

I wouldn't buy the 2.8Ghz though, it's too expensive.
Get the 2.53 and slightly overclock it. You'll have the equivalent of a 2.8 for a lot cheaper.

If you want me to tell you what to get part by part, I will.

Dave

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Dam I just ordered yesterday all the things you said not to. (highend seemed to be down all day and I needed to order asap) Heheh...$hit. Oh well I guess. Umm...this is what I got. I realize that RDRam is much faster than DDR Ram but I hate the fact that it's so dam expensive to upgrade so I wanted to stay away from that. Maybe in my next system.
This is what I got.

Asus P4PE mobo. with the 2.8Ghz chip (your shaking your head now aren't you...heheh...can I overclock that maybe?) I was gonna go 2.53 because it was $200 cheaper but I figured that this mobo can handle past 3 Ghz so if I want to upgrade I can get like a 3.2 or something higher and for now I'd have the 2.8 which should be about 10% faster than the 2.53. (for $200 more...)
1 Gig Corsair 3200 DDR Ram.
40Gb WD 7200RPM HD
80Gb WD 7200RPM 8mb Cache HD
ATI Fire GL 8800 Card
DVD-Rom
Plextor 48x24x48 CDRW
Win2k.
and some fans and a case with a 430 PS.

I appreciate all the help and advice. I wish highend wasn't all messed up the last few days or I may have reconsidered the 2.8Ghz chip. I didn't even think about that when I was trying to figure out which one to get. What are your thoughts on this???

[gmask]

I think you'll be happy with this system. Even if you ogt th emost twaeked system on the planet it woul dbe obsolete in a matter of weeks and then your investment is suddenly worth alot less.

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Yeah....computers area horrible horrible investment. I wonder if they will ever stop making them faster?

P.S. Thanks for that link Was interesting. and helpful as well.

[giedi]

You bought the best possible DDR though(Corsair 3200 )Don't worry too much, the system you just ordered is a rocket compared to your pentium 3 and probably the better bang for the bucks right now.
The only thing is that the P4PE is quite new which is not always a good thing. I usually wait for a few months until they release the first revisions.
Asus is a serious company though.
Since you got such a good ram, you should definitely overclock that thing and you'll have something really scary.

I would suggest raising the fsb without touching the vcore until the computer starts becoming unstable. Usually around 145/150 Mhz depending on the mobo.
At that speed, you'd be at 3150 Mhz. Not bad!

Last thing, don't forget to apply some thermal paste (artic silver) beetween the heatsink and the cpu and remove the tape before of course. This is not a detail believe me. Go to http://www.articsilver.comhttp://www.articsilver.com to find the instructions.

Once your computer is working fine, can you please download the 3d test from http://www.maya-testcenter.de/3doperinstr.htmlhttp://www.maya-testcenter.de/3doperinstr.html and send me the results.
I'm curious to see how well your system would perform.

My e-mail address is dave@dvl3d.com

Dave