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I want to build a computer and i'm doing tons of research as to what parts i want. i know i'll need lots ram and a decent processor but this is a bit overwhelming. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

High end graphics cards and a very good processor.Lots of ram would probably help too so you might look into a 64 bit Windows if that's the OS you want. I think 7 supports a max of 8 gigs of ram.

And a good big hard drive. 3d models take up a lot of memory.

EDIT: Macs tend to be very popular for graphics work and a lot of the best graphics programs are only on Mac, but I'm not very familiar with the Mac cause I'm a windows man.

LordofHats wrote:High end graphics cards and a very good processor.Lots of ram would probably help too so you might look into a 64 bit Windows if that's the OS you want. I think 7 supports a max of 8 gigs of ram.

No. The limit for Windows 7 x64 is actually 192gb of ram, so it's very unlikely that you will run into a software based problem with ram capacity. The real cap will be how much ram your motherboard supports as a max.

To answer this question, we need more specifics. What exact programs are you planning on running: maya, autocad, solidworks? The support for hardware acceleration varies by the product. There is no point in suggesting a high-end ATI video card if you're going to be using software that supports CUDA, which CS4 does.

Also, what is your budget, total, software included?

Who on earth needs 192 gb of ram...

So far i'm primarily going to run blender and cs5 but i'm obviosly going to upgrade from blendar asap. I'm think my budget is going to be at $1100

Ok, I've got an Intel bias, but here is where I'd go with it. I'm assuming you already have a monitor, keyboard, mouse, etc. I'm also going to assume you already have a copy of CS5, since budgeting an $1100 build that must include a $550 DVD is difficult (but not impossible). So, with those assumptions:


EVGA Z68 Motherboard $193

16gb of ram $140

Core i7 $296

Corsair 750 watt PSU $130

Antec 900 $100

1TB HDD $150 (man, the HDD market sucks right now)

Optical drive $18

That brings you to $847. You need some sort of hardware accelerated video, and you have a lot of choices. If your CAD software support only the Quadro line, then you could get a

Quadro FX 580 for $179, bringing your total to $1026.

Alternately, if they support some of the more popular gaming cards, as some of them now do, you would do a lot better by getting something like a GTX 560, also $179. If you wanted to spend a bit more, they do have some video cards with lifetime warranties (this one is 3 years).

I just woke up, but pretty sure I hit all the bases with that. You can do it for less, but this is the build I would buy myself.

LordofHats wrote:Who on earth needs 192 gb of ram...

Knowing that i can have that much.. I now do!

If you are on a budget then an Intel i5 would be fine; that is what I use. Your max RAM will be determined by your motherboard, standard maximum is about 8GB but with a high performance board you could go up to 16 GB.
As for the graphics card I found a NIVIDA Geforce GT-320 great. Its got, I think, a 3GB chip-set on it and if your motherboard can take it, you can run two in an SLI configuration which would give you a combined 6GBs of graphics card running at once. Lots of HDD will be needed if you are a tech- type you could get two 1TB HDD's and RAID the together to give you a 2 TB C: drive but with two physical ones in your tower, depending on how its done has a lot of advantages.

Hope this helps.

I'm new to all this so EVERYTHING helps. I'm still going to do some homework on the matter but this all helped sooo much. Thank you all so much.

You may also want a keyboard, mouse, and a monitor.

yeah i'm aware of all that. i want a 23'' 1080 hd monitor and im getting a drawing tablet.

Looks like hardware is covered so I'll leave it at this, realsoft 3d and the latest Maya!

OOOooooOOOO i want maya really bad but i'm to scared to have to have to torrent it.