is this a good setup for doing some animation work?
 

I am looking to build a new computer, and wanted to get some feedback.
Im not much of a videogame player, but want to be able to if i want to. I want to build a machine that can handle doing a animation like maya and doing really, really large photoshop stuff (im talking files that are several gigs in size). I would like to stay under $2000. here is what im looking at right now

AMD anthlon 64 socket 939, either 3200+ or 3500+ (plan on overclocking a little)
which kind is best? winchester?

DFI lanparty ut NF4 Ultra-D nvidia nforce4 ultra motherboard w/ pci express

OCZ performance series dual channel kit 184 pin 1 GB(maybe 2GB but its expensive)
DDR PC-3500

NEC 16x double layer DVD+-RW drive

some case, maybe the Antec lifestyle series Sonata with 380W powersupply
dont know it this is enought watts, if not then
an Antec p160 or lian- li pc-65, which are more expensive and need a powersupply
if i get one of these, either antec 430W or aspire 520W or fortron blue 500W

BFG Geforce 6800 GT OC (which i plan on overclocking or changing drivers to make into a quadro, ot sure which one the 6800 card is comparable to)

dell 2005fpw 20" widescreen LCD

I already have 2 HDs, one 80 gig, the other 160. so what do you all think? is it worth it for amd 3500 or just over clock 3200, the the sonata good enough, with enough watts? what about the other stuff? should i go with a diff motherboard? a friend told me about dfi.

Definately will need a bigger power supply. The 6800's are power hungry.

The setup looks good overall and I love AMD, however, benchmark after benchmark shows that Intel runs multimedia apps better than AMD. But in all reality, its not that huge of a difference if you go with the 3500 or a comparable Intel proc.

I would suggest something like http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduc...153-007&depa=0 for a powersupply, other than that, it's a good setup. :thumbsup:

Agreed. You may do better with an Intel proc, but thats gonna knock your price up a good bit.

Also agreed. Its probably not worth the price increase.

In the future, you may want to upgrade your RAM if you intend on working with stuff that big. Its gonna take forever to do anything with Photoshop if it cant fit the image into RAM--having to pull the data off the hard drive to apply filters and such to it is gonna take a while.

i have a question here. what is the benefit of pc3500 over say, pc3200 if you are not going to overclock. I am not familiar with AMD processors in action, but are they able to mroe effectively use the faster ram than say a 200fsb p4?

i just ask bc ram prices right now for pc3200 are almost half of what pc3500 cost if you shop around.

also, i think the 6800 almost requires 480 watts or better, or maybe that is the recommendation.

and photoshop really loves ram, but even 1GB does not solve all my problems when working with largish still picture files, so i am almost certain you'dwant more.

goodluck

For Maya, you should compare what you're building w/ the official list of supported systems:

http://www.alias.com/eng/support/may...re/index.jhtml

Most importantly: Maya *really* wants to have a Quadro FX card. If you plan on using Maya for anything other than just occasional dabbling, I would strongly recommend following Alias's guidelines. I use Maya every single day and I've used it on many different types of machines and cards, and I can say for sure that not using a supported card is treading on thin ground.

(That said, if you can find user reports of people using lesser cards and having no problems, then I suppose you might be ok. But you'd be out on your own as far as Alias is concerned.)

thanks everyone, i was unclear on what kind of power supply i should get. not sure about the Thermaltake ps though, ive read some bad reviews on them, what is everyone elses opinions/favs? also, is there that much of a diff between the pc3500 and the pc3200 if, like paq says, i could go with the 3200 for half the price.

I personally would just go with the pc3200. As far as power supplies go... you can never go wrong with Antec.

I agree with BurtToast, quantity over speed in this case. You want as much RAM as you can get.

Winchester is better for over clocking, it runs off a smaller die and it has a lover voltage to. The Winchester runs off 1.4 volts, I have mine down to 1.350 it runs 5F cooler at a full load then stock.

Make sure you check the voltage of the cpu when you install it, mine was set to 1.65 be default, .25 volts above spec, just a warning.

And it was already stated but a bigger power supply, 450 at the min.

If you plan on over clocking any system used for production work or rendering be sure to burn it in for at least three or four days running something as demanding.
I make my living as an architectural Illustrator. This is very similar in both system demands and software used to animation. In my field I am often called upon to render extremely large scenes in many passes at a resolution high enough to produce everything from trade show translights to billboards. These renders can often take 36-48 hours per pass to produce. I have had non over clocked dell boxes overheat under these conditions.
If you aren't planning on using the box to render than just make sure your (maya approved) graphics card can cope with your over clocking.
Not much of an over clocking enthusiast. I'll take bomb proof reliability anytime a deadline looms.

You do not necessarily need a higher rated power supply. Not all power supplies are created equal. One manufacturer's 400 W is not the same as another manufacturer's 400 W, and even between individual models there can be large variations. The computer itself is never going to use that much power; you get one rated higher so that it has more stability while providing the lower power the computer actually needs. But if you get a quality power supply, you don't need as much headroom because it will be more stable closer to the maximum rated power than a POS power supply will ever be.

My system is very similar to the one you're planning, except I have a Radeon X850 XT PE which definitely uses more power than a single Nvidia anything under load and my power supply is "only" rated for 370 W. But I did my research and made sure it was a good 370. I seem to recall all of the power supplies you mentioned also being at least decent, so you don't need to go crazy especially if you don't plan on doing SLI. If you do plan that, then you might need to get into the 400s but even then I doubt you'd need over 500 with a good one. And you do want a good one not only so that you have more stable power but also so it's less likely to outright fail.