Okay, so I'm replacing my current (outdated) workstation and am getting alot of feedback from friends at work but thought I'd try to sort out some of the opinions here if possible.
My two main concerns...
Many say Athlon over Pentium. ya or nay? Many say Athlon works harder for your money. I'm currently on a Pentium.
Graphics card. Looks like I'll be doing the Geforce 2 ti 64MB. Some say go for MX, some say no...some say go for a 3 or 4. I'll be running either Maya and XSI. Any suggestions with this information?
An Athalon MP dual system definitely works harder for your money than dual Xeons.
A Geforce2 might be a little antique for putting in a new system; I'd say go with a Geforce4 now if you're going to use a "gamer" card for creative work, it's still a bargain.
Don't forget I/O. It seems like this is more of an issue today than before. I considered it. A 500mhz system may have been configured with a disk that did 10mb/sec. These days you might buy a 2.2ghz screamer with an ATA drive peaking at 30mb/sec. So the transfer rate historically, which wasn't that fast to begin with, has merely tripled (best case) while the cpu speed has quadrupled in the same period of time. Of course this is an unscientific observation but I think it would hold up under further examination.
For bargain hunters I reccomend a controversial favorite, IDE RAID. Depending upon how much compositing you do, I'd almost reccomend fast I/O over the best graphics card as a priority.
On the video card; I'd go with the ti4400 or a ti200 GF3.. the 4400 only if you plan to have dual heads.
IO is definately important for good compositing work. you don't need to spend money onna IDE RAID controller. you can actually use any standard IDE controller; unless you intend to boot offa your RAID. I find a couple of 30 gigger 7200 RPM ATA100 disks onna promise ATA100 controller has plenty of read performance. I'd just boot off a 3rd disk and keep all my important files there. Using RAID as a video workbench.
I personally prefer AMD; though if you do alotta lightwave (which you probably don't ) the p4 will be faster.
Well I dont have any big fancy names or computer lingo terms...but I know what I like. AMD's seem to outbenchmark Pentiums (and they're cheaper too). I know a couple animators that swear by the Geforce3. Havent heard anything about Geforce 4 compatibility yet. Geforce2 is way too old.
I usually just upgrade via ebay......a while back I got a 32mb E&S card ($1200@the time) for like 60 bucks. Hell, I still use it.
GF3 Ti 200 SoftQuadro-ed to DCC would be my choice, but a 64MB GF2 SoftQuadro-ed to Quadro2 Pro would also be good if $$ is an issue. Avoid the MX for sure. Without SoftQuadro I'd say no to a GF2 but since it's free and easy.......
I haven't yet seen any results for a GF4 with OpenGL apps. Quadro4s seem to be VERY fast but you can't SoftQuadro a GF4.
Has anyone directly compared a regular GF4 to a DCC or Quadro2?