Latest configuration updates
Short version:
Click here for the up-to-date configurations!
Long version:
Well, as some of you have noticed, this site has not had an update in recent months. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank the readers, and to let you know that I've moved to another system for keeping the configurations up to date. I've moved to Amazon.com because they've upped their game on computer parts lately, the configurations came out costing less than on Newegg and a lot of the parts I wanted to use that were out of stock on Newegg were in stock on Amazon. It's also easier for me to use their list system and their affiliates system. Those who know Amazon will know that Amazon sells from their own inventory and also has listings for 3rd party sellers. I've tried to only select parts that are available from Amazon inventory, and recommend using the Buy buttons that indicate Sold By Amazon.com unless one of the thrid party sellers has a better deal and looks reliable. Caveat emptor.
Those of you who know me in real life know that I've gone back to school, and I do this writing and recommendations on the side. I don't get paid for it or get any money from ads, so if you find these recommendations helpful, you can reciprocate by helping me get what every student wants: credits on Amazon.com. It's easy and it doesn't cost you anything. Just use the link below if you buy any of these parts, or bookmark this: http://www.amazon.com/?tag=andylynnnet-20 and use it to access Amazon. If you don't like Amazon, find a better price or want to use a different vendor for any reason, just use the link below for reference.
Click here for the up-to-date configurations!
I won't be publishing monthly. Instead I'll be updating the lists on Amazon as the market changes or new products come out.
Click here for the up-to-date configurations!
Long version:
Well, as some of you have noticed, this site has not had an update in recent months. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank the readers, and to let you know that I've moved to another system for keeping the configurations up to date. I've moved to Amazon.com because they've upped their game on computer parts lately, the configurations came out costing less than on Newegg and a lot of the parts I wanted to use that were out of stock on Newegg were in stock on Amazon. It's also easier for me to use their list system and their affiliates system. Those who know Amazon will know that Amazon sells from their own inventory and also has listings for 3rd party sellers. I've tried to only select parts that are available from Amazon inventory, and recommend using the Buy buttons that indicate Sold By Amazon.com unless one of the thrid party sellers has a better deal and looks reliable. Caveat emptor.
Those of you who know me in real life know that I've gone back to school, and I do this writing and recommendations on the side. I don't get paid for it or get any money from ads, so if you find these recommendations helpful, you can reciprocate by helping me get what every student wants: credits on Amazon.com. It's easy and it doesn't cost you anything. Just use the link below if you buy any of these parts, or bookmark this: http://www.amazon.com/?tag=andylynnnet-20 and use it to access Amazon. If you don't like Amazon, find a better price or want to use a different vendor for any reason, just use the link below for reference.
Click here for the up-to-date configurations!
I won't be publishing monthly. Instead I'll be updating the lists on Amazon as the market changes or new products come out.
posted by Andy Lynn at 1:37 PM
14 Comments:
Hi Andy,
Many thanks for the graphics/cad/3d specific tech advice you've been giving us, particularly with your in depth system recommendations.
I've followed the general 'gist' of your configurations in your medium/high end systems and creatively mixed and matched here and there with my newly built system (for 3dsmax visualization work and large Photoshop files) which includes an ASRock Fatality z68 board, intel 2600k & VenomousX heat sink, Sapphire 2GB 6950 GPU, 16GIG G.Skill Ripjaw X RAM, 750W Antec True Power supply, Crucial 128GB M4 SSD for O/S and programs, with a 1TB Western Digital Caviar Black for storage. All of this is housed in a Corsair Obsidian 650D case. It's quiet, runs very cool and stable on a 24/7 4.4GHz overclock, and is ridiculously fast in all facets of my work. It also looks great and is a conversation point with many of my clients :)
I'm about to update my monitor right now and am seriously considering your recommendation for the HP ZR22w. It's been a few months since you recommended this monitor and wanted to know if there were any brilliant new arrivals on the scene that I could also look at.
Thanks
Peter
Hi Peter, thanks for the feedback. Actually now that you bring it to my attention, there's a newer alternative to the HP display: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004SBCG72/?tag=andylynnnet-20 - bit cheaper, LED backlight, similar panel. This one: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003ULZ1C8/?tag=andylynnnet-20 is slightly older but has a USB port built in. The LG has HDMI in and audio out in case you want to hook up some AV device, which the Dell lacks.
Thanks for bringing my attention to the LG Andy.
In Australia the LG IPS226V-PN is over $200 cheaper than the HP ZR22w which makes it very good value.
LG also has a larger 23inch IPS monitor - LG IPS231P-BN: http://www.amazon.com/LG-IPS231P-BN-23-Inch-Widescreen-Pivoting/dp/B004KM4AQY/ref=pd_sim_pc_4 - which looks good considering the extra screen real estate. Would it be safe to assume this version has the same quality panel as the 21.5 inch IPS226V-PN?
Peter
You're reading my mind, Peter. I looked at the LG line yesterday, concluded that that 23" model was similar to the 22" and included both in the list of recommended displays - which has been updated.
I didn't know the HP ones were expensive in AU. In the US they've been the least expensive IPS displays from a decent brand for a while, though it looks like the 22" has been discontinued, so what you're probably seeing is the discounted sellers running out of stock. The larger HPs are still in distribution and I left them up.
That's good to hear as I can buy the 23" LG for $219, which is a bargain for a monitor of this quality.
The situation with HP baffles me. Even though the 22" is on the way out, the best price I can find (in Aus) for the 24" HP is $495, which is a huge difference to Amazon's $356 for the same model.
Cheers
Peter
Yeah, the price differences between countries are pretty confusing. I've given up on keeping track.
If you are a big 3d studio max user and had a small budget for a computer what would you look for first? Is it a faster processor, more RAM, a nice video card or what? What gets you the most bang for the buck when it comes to 3d?
You really need all of the above, in moderation. The CPU for rendering and running the software, video card for running the display, RAM to handle large files. I'd recommend the Budget model, minus the SSD, as the minimum configuration for 3D artists.
lookinh at your high end station for 3ds max and revit. I was thinking about a quadro 4000. You recommend both a video card (ATI) as well as CUDA cards. I had not thougt of that. Is that very important to overall system use. Thanks for you help and input.
Ray
Ray, I think you're looking at the "CUDA Edition" version of the High End. This configuration uses multiple video cards to better support specific programs that use CUDA for rendering (such as iray, Vray RT-GPU, Arion and Octane). If you rely one of those, then the multiple video card configuration is a good idea - but if not, it's just extra expense because the extra video cards won't do anything.
Thanks for the feedback. My typical use for this box is for REVIT and various Office suite programs. I use 3dsmax probably once a month or so. With this usage my thought was to just have a single CUDA video card and not have a dediciated card for everyday video screen use.
I have seen a lot of discussions of Quadro versus gtx( price versus Heat/memory)Would appreciate your thoughts/input on all of this.
Just keep in mind that CUDA does nothing at all unless you have software that specifically uses it. I may be wrong but I do not think that anything in Revit uses CUDA, and unless you have any third party render plugins for Max the only thing you have that uses CUDA is iray (assuming you have a sufficiently recent version of Max). So unless you use that, or a newer version of Adobe Premiere (which has a CUDA enabled playback function) don't even think in terms of a "CUDA video card" - for you, a video card is for displaying Max and Revit viewports. (Office suites don't do anything video card intensive - they'll run fine on any video card.)
So, that said, a Quadro does bring some advantages to Max and Revit. The reason I don't recommend Quadros specifically is that they're based on older technology - the current models are modification to the Geforce 400 series GPUs, but the 500 series are significantly improved in terms of performance relative to power usage and have a bunch of bug fixes. The FirePro cards are ATI's products that are similar to Quadros, and the newer ones (the ones with a 9 in the second digit, like v5900) are based on their newest GPU tech and based on price/performance and performance/power consumption I think they're better values. However, if you want to use nVidia products the Quadro 4000 is a good choice.
What cooling fan do you recommend with the Intel Core i7-3930K 3.2 1 LGA 2011 Processor
If you're looking for aftermarket I'm going to assume you want to OC or for some other reason have needs beyond the normal user who would use a stock fan, so, my general advice with CPU coolers is, the worse it would feel to get in the head with it, the better the cooler. Some good ones:
Nice big air cooler: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00631QFG8/?tag=andylynnnet-20
Another popular option: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004PIRAXI/?tag=andylynnnet-20
More modestly sized air cooler: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005O65JXI/?tag=andylynnnet-20
Apparently Intel is now getting into the liquid cooling market: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006588Z7G/?tag=andylynnnet-20
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