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Building A PC Specifically For A:M


Eric800

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I've noticed lately that my PC is pretty slow at importing and rendering. Its a dual core Pentium 2.2GHz with GeForce 9400GT graphics cards with a 32bit Vista OS load. It works, but I'd like to build a much faster rig. I'm proficient at building my own PCs, so I'd like some advice on which processor/memory/graphics combo would yield the highest performance for A:M. Thanks.

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  • Hash Fellow

A faster CPU is generally better.

 

A:M v17 is optimized to use the SSE3 and SSE4 processor extensions in modern CPUs so one of those is preferable.

 

A:M now includes Netrender and it works on multi-core CPUS so if you had a quad core CPU you could run four nodes all on one computer.

 

At least 4GB of ram.

 

64-bit Windows, not 32

 

A:M doesn't yet use GPU computing so the video card isn't very critical but you want something with decent openGL performance. People differ on whether AMD or NVIDIA is better but generally you don't want on-board graphics, you want a real graphics card with 512 MB or so.

 

I like to have two monitors to work on so a card that can drive two monitors is good.

 

A card for under $100 would be more than adequate.

 

And of course a big hard drive to hold renders. EXR and TGa sequences can eat a lot of space.

 

 

I'm sure I've forgotten something. Hopefully some others will chime in.

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  • *A:M User*

I will 2nd that a graphics card is almost irrelevant as far as AM is concerned. A budget $100 card from AMD/ATI or Nvidia will work. Either a Radeon 6570 or Nvidia Geforce 640/650 would be good.

 

I would go with 8GB of RAM, more than that is probably a waste unless you are running virtual machines or scads of programs or plan on doing really high-res photoshop work or HD editing.

 

If you are on a super budget, you may want to consider an AMD A10 APU-based system, you get a quad-core cpu (although not as fast as Intel's lastest offerings) and discrete-level graphics performance (on the CPU die).

 

You can get a 128GB SSD for around $75 now. Kingston brand. You may want to consider that for your OS/programs, and get a cheap standard drive for media files.

 

You could probably put an AMD-based system together for around $500, OS and all.

 

I would definitely recommend Win 7 64 bit, professional copy. Don't screw around with win 8.

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Another thing in AMDs favor is the tend to stick with a given socket for a while, where Intel will switch sockets for no good reason. I think there are 2 or 3 different core iWhatever sockets.

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Most people who do 3D are also video software users. The main software right now for composting and editing HD and beyond resolutions is the Adobe products. I would recommend getting a graphics card off their list so you could take full advantage of the CS6 playback enhancements in After Effects or Premiere... ie the CUDA and Mercury Playback Engine. Adobe lists graphics cards on their site.

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  • *A:M User*
Most people who do 3D are also video software users. The main software right now for composting and editing HD and beyond resolutions is the Adobe products. I would recommend getting a graphics card off their list so you could take full advantage of the CS6 playback enhancements in After Effects or Premiere... ie the CUDA and Mercury Playback Engine. Adobe lists graphics cards on their site.

 

It certainly can't hurt to get a card with CUDA or Open CL support, it just doesn't make any sense to spend $500 on a graphics card (to me) when it isn't going to accelerate your main program. If you do a lot of Photoshop and or Premiere, by all means spend $200 or so and get a geforce 660, that looks to be the current sweet spot for the Nvidia cards.

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I have been using AM with Nvidia Quadro series card and found AM to be a little quirky with it, probably because of the way the cad cards cache.

 

Do you know any more about that?

 

Get an AMD HD7850 (for instance) it is a very solid card for about 200 bucks and I am very pleased with it.

I have a PowerColor 7850 PCS+.

 

The other stuff depends on what you want to built: Single-Core-Performance: Most Intels will outperform AMDs of the same price-range. Multi-core-performens differes, especially for the 6-core AMDs.

 

See you

*Fuchur*

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I have been using AM with Nvidia Quadro series card and found AM to be a little quirky with it, probably because of the way the cad cards cache.

 

Do you know any more about that?

 

I'm only taking a stab at that since I often have stuck images on my screen when modeling or navigating around in AM as if the screen stops refreshing. If I use a keyboard to change views, ie top front right etc. it will be fine. Oddly this only happens in AM and I have 7 other 3d programs I use and never experience it.

 

Keep in mind this is barely an issue with 17 64bit but was a huge issue on 15.

 

I am not entirely sure the major differences between the Quadro series and the desktop series of cards. Maybe Yoda knows why this happens?

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  • Hash Fellow

 

Do you know any more about that?

 

I'm only taking a stab at that since I often have stuck images on my screen when modeling or navigating around in AM as if the screen stops refreshing.

 

I don't have a quadro but I sometimes have a case where only a tiny rectangle within the view window will be updating. I've noticed this only happens if i have several windows behind it in "workbook" mode.

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I've got a Quadro 2000 and I've also noticed some funkiness with my display in AM. A lot of times what will happen is it appears to freeze on one image, doesn't update when I'm trying to tumble or zoom in and out on a model in Birdseye view. It is pretty frustrating because I have to restart the app to get it working again. I haven't tried switching to Intel integrated graphics to see if I experience the same problem with the HD 3000.

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I've got a Quadro 2000 and I've also noticed some funkiness with my display in AM. A lot of times what will happen is it appears to freeze on one image, doesn't update when I'm trying to tumble or zoom in and out on a model in Birdseye view. It is pretty frustrating because I have to restart the app to get it working again. I haven't tried switching to Intel integrated graphics to see if I experience the same problem with the HD 3000.

 

Many of those problems may be overcome if you just minize and maximize the current window (in A:M itself). You just have to force a refresh of the drawing engine.

Try that first before closing and opening A:M again. I have not experienced this with my new card, but my old did that too some times. That was my (qite easy) workaround.

 

See you

*Fuchur*

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I never had to actually quit AM to get around it, usually just a quick change of views but can be annoying when working.

 

I did notice it happened more when there are other programs in the background that are graphic intense, maybe it is the way the images are stored and low memory conditions make it happen more often.

 

Am I correct to say that gamer cards are better at playback and don't page the screen the same way as cad cards do?.

 

I wouldn't bother with the on board Intel video, that is probably worse and most likely doesn't support open gl.

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