New systems recomendations

[Francisco Carreon]

Hi,

We are looking to upgrade our computers at school, Im anticipating go ahead with this upgrade in June-July, I hear rummors that XSI 7 will come out anytime soon, I will like to know your opinion regarding a system capable to run XSI 7, use Crytek engine, ZBrush and similar applications.
Please post your opinions and ideal systems, the budget per system may dont go over $2000 so please move around this range.

[Zac-Donald]

Build it yourself or yourself+help off of sites like newegg.com
64bit is the way to go if you want more than 3 gigs of ram
I heard vista runs some apps better so it might be worth it to check it out (its underrated IMO)
definitely get a quad-core, and do you need everything or just the computer?

[Francisco Carreon]

Can you please add some more detail examples, like Quad core intel @ X speed, 4GB of RAM, a VideoCard that will run XSI and Crytek without problems, is vista the way to go? etc. I would like to hear more opinions regarding this.

[Zac-Donald]

8800 if you want maximum crysis fun...
From what I've heard quantity > quality as long as the RAM is decent (stick to DRR2 is cheep now but better than DDR3 still)

I'm getting a computer right now that I built, and the budget was 2,000$
Processor
http://www.amazon.com/CORE2QUAD-2-66GHZ-12MB-CACHE-1333MHZ/dp/B00116VIEE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1208291344&sr=8-1

Case
http://www.buy.com/prod/antec-nine-hundred-steel-atx-mid-tower-computer-case/q/loc/101/202997579.html

Heatsink
http://www.buy.com/prod/thermalright-ultra-120-extreme/q/loc/101/205121074.html

everything else
http://secure.newegg.com/NewVersion/wishlist/PublicWishDetail.asp?WishListNumber=8850708

[Francisco Carreon]

How is the 8800 working under vista with XSI? any feedback on this? in the softimage site the only recommened card are Quatro type.

[Zac-Donald]

I google'd it and it appears you have to adjust the settings on the 8800 before it works well with XSI, a quick fix.

[pie]

Hi,
I have the 8800Gt in the box i am using now, its rubbish. I had been blaming Vista, but I think it is the card. I have a scene with just 50,000 polys and I can hardly move/rotate. I opened the scene on my laptop, 7600Go, it was fine, no problem at all.
Hopefully they will get some decent drivers out, but I hear this is an ongoing problem with these cards. poo.

[giant551]

Hi,
I have the 8800Gt in the box i am using now, its rubbish. I had been blaming Vista, but I think it is the card. I have a scene with just 50,000 polys and I can hardly move/rotate. I opened the scene on my laptop, 7600Go, it was fine, no problem at all.
Hopefully they will get some decent drivers out, but I hear this is an ongoing problem with these cards. poo.


well i don't think its the 8800 card you have is the problem unless its faulty. Ive been using a 8800gt in my home machine for about a year now with no problems even with some of my projects being very large.

I am currently using the latest Omega driver you might want to check it out. I know vista has some viewport problems maybe that is the cause? I don't know as i don't run vista and will be sticking to my xp 64 until its unsupported (which will be a while i think!):yes: they have already extended it another year, i suspect due to the fact that vista has not taken off in industry in general

[pie]

Thanks, I'll try the Omega drivers. When I first got it I had all kinds of issues, mainly in the animation editor, not updating. I found a thread with some settings and that fixed it all there. I thought all was well untill I was working on this slightly heavy scene.
I wanted to install XP and as I have Vista Ultimate (pah!) I can "downgrade", but I havnt had the time lately to do it. I would like to stick with Vista if I can, not through any liking, but partly as it aint going away and I am extremely lazy when it comes to the thought of reinstalling everything.
Cheers

[Zac-Donald]

Have you tried http://www.xsibase.com/forum/index.php?board=15;action=display;threadid=34185 ?

[treed]

Hi

I would get a fast dual core 3.16 or up then an old 2.6 quad the real time feedback is faster also render is almost as fast and price is the same or lower

only if you have heavy rendering then a quad or a dual quad is recommended

im just about upgrading mine at home and i will be going for dual also about cards 8800 gts with silent cooling system and only 256ram should do the job (unless its a game machine on board card memory dosent really matter above 256)

tom's hardware web site have tests that show this

happy pass over

[pie]

Blimey,
I installed the Omega drivers last night before going home, all seemed fine and the general sharpness of the desktop was much better. But this morning my computers hard drives were grinding away constantly, all programs massively sluggish, then XSi stopped being able to render and locked. I did a system restore and all is back to normal. Phew.
Well worth a go.
I blame Vista, why not gotta blame someone.

[Francisco Carreon]

Seems like the 8800 has a lot of problems under Vista, I hear miss messages some people love the card other people have problems with the drivers, After FX etc. I would like to hear your opinions regarding if this is a card to have and dont have headaches with the drivers.

[Helli]

Hi

I would get a fast dual core 3.16 or up then an old 2.6 quad the real time feedback is faster also render is almost as fast and price is the same or lower

only if you have heavy rendering then a quad or a dual quad is recommended



I definitly disagree here. XSI 7 will be multithreaded. At the moment I am not sure if it will be completley multithreaded or only the operators wich are "written" trough ICE. But I definitly hope to get an answer on this at the FMX.
Nontheless I would buy a Quadcore instead of Dualcores.

[KevinG_XSI]

Hi all -

The Importance of using SOFTIMAGE CERTIFIED HARDWARE

Yes, finding the best hardware to run SOFTIMAGE|XSI at maximum efficiency can be a big decision!

On our SOFTIMAGE Website - you will find that SOFTIMAGE has its own Certification Program.

WE test all types of hardware from processors to storage to graphics cards.

To see the list of SOFTIMAGE Certified Workstations & Mobile Workstations (with graphics cards) - go to: http://www.softimage.com/support/xsi/hardware_certification.aspx

Our evaluation process looks at performance and stability as well as innovative ideas incorporated in your hardware.


We are interested in certifying complete computer systems, as well as graphics cards.
We have products running on Windows XP Professional, Windows XP Professional x64 Edition, and LINUX.


After certification, your Hardware will actually be used for the development of our products and hence are continually being put through very intense testing (with feedback being given to the hardware vendor upon request).



Check it out!!
Kevin G.

[Francisco Carreon]

Thanks Kevin.

[Francisco Carreon]

Thanks Kevin.

Hi, Kevin,

I notice that Windows Vista is not consider in that list, as well most of the video cards are Quattro which I understand perform great with XSI but not as good with Crysis; Ram is an issue under XP and we really want to go beyond 3GB. I have seen in the past XSI under Vista, its posible to get some recommendations taking into consideration the above mentioned.

[Francisco Carreon]

How is this?

Category
SKU
Description
Unit
QTY
Ext.
Processor
CPU-I-Q9450
Intel Core 2 Quad Q9450 2.66GHz 12MB(2x6M) 1333MHz LGA775
369.99
1
369.99
Mainboard
MB-GA-EP35-DS3P
Gigabyte GA-EP35-DS3P P35 SATA/RAID/DDR2/LAN/Audio
169.40
1
169.40
Memory
MEM-K-KHX6400D2K2/4G
Kingston KHX6400D2K2/4G 4 GB DDR2 240-pin 800 MHz non ECC - 2 V
142.50
1
142.50
Optical Drive
DVD-LG-GH20NS10
LG GH20NS10 Black SATA 20x20 DL DVDRW w/Software
28.99
1
28.99
Hard Drive
HDD-SEA-500S32
Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 500GB 32MB SATA II
95.99
1
95.99
Video Card
VC-EVG-8800GT5
eVGA E-GEFORCE 8800GT 512M DDR3 PCI-E (512-P3-N801-AR)
218.90
1
218.90
Other
--
Integrated Sound Card
0.00
1
0.00
Other
--
Integrated Network Card
0.00
1
0.00
Casing
CASE-SOLO
Antec Solo Black Mini Tower ATX No PS
72.99
1
72.99
Cooling
FAN-ANT-92TDBB
Antec 92mm TriCool DBB Case Fan
11.99
2
23.98
Power
POW-PCP-S61EPS
PC Power & Cooling S61EPS Silencer 610W ATX Power supply (ATX)
119.00
1
119.00
Other
SER-PC-ASSEM
AP System Assembly and Testing Service (w/O.S. Pre-Configure & Assembly)
45.00
1
45.00
Other
--
Standard 1 year Parts Warranty & Labour Warranty
0.00
1
0.00
KB/Mouse
HID-MS-VALUE B
Microsoft Value Pack 2.0 Keyboard & Mouse optical Black Combo (S82-00032)
31.99
1
31.99
Monitor
LCD-S-2220WM
Samsung 22" 2220WM BLK 1680X1050 1000:1 5ms (GtG) DVI Widescreen LCD HDCP w/SPK
259.99
1
259.99
Other
EHF-MONITOR
Environmental Handling Fee - Monitor
12.00
1
12.00

[dwigfor]

Looks good. I bought a Q6600 2.4 quad processor(and mobo, but they gave me the incorrect one so I gave it to my brother) on Black Friday for $200 and am really happy with it. It's SO MUCH faster than my singlethreaded 3.0 cpu.

I went with 677 ram, cause that's what that other board supported.. 4gig=~$80

Monitor might be overpriced... I picked up a 24" ACER at Office Depot for $289. It's fantastic, especially for the price. I highly recommend 24". Perfect size for 1920x1200.

On the motherboard, if you're going Nvidia and want to play crysis, you may want to go SLI. Or at least have that option open for the future, although you won't get any extra benefit in XSI. Maybe SI will start to support SLI once they port Ageia Physx over to 8800 (and newer cards). Also, what's the maximum ram you can install on that board. I'd make sure it can take 8gig, so you can upgrade to 64bit and all 4 cores will use ~2gig each.

Dunno bout the 8800. Have read lots of posts on AE forum that many people have problem with it.. I went with an ATI 2600 and it's slow with crysis and I'll upgrade in future..

Speaking of Crysis.. You should go with Vista for DX10, very high quality setting. Stated at the last User Group meeting in LA, "Vista will be the preferred OS for the next version of XSI."

Your prices look pretty good. Little more than mine, a little better components...