Best Machine for 3D modeling & animation, and visual effects?

Shayashkar ProjectRock · Aug 4, 2014

I know im asking a silly question when i say Mac or a Pc, but im confused. i dont know which machine to buy. Im a student and is doing side projects and i work with Maya, zbrush, 3dx, Adobe affter effects, photoshop and premiere pro. i mostly do modeling and animation and adding VFX to it and need a machine that has a good render time. i want to know which machine is better Pc or Mac...and my budget is 200-250k

TechyInAZ · Aug 4, 2014

PC is a whole lot better in my opinion, first off windows offers a lot more flexibility in that it has a lot more software support than mac has, 2nd you can build a ultra ultra powerful system with 2500 where as a mac pro of that price wouldn't have the same performance as a PC.

USAFRet · Aug 4, 2014

Which OS are you more comfortable with, Mac or Windows?

popatim · Aug 4, 2014

Why did you put this in laptops & notebooks? Are you looking to do this high end work on a portable?

JackNaylorPE · Aug 4, 2014

One of the most embarrasing things that ever happened to Intel was their CGI heavy TV commercial that introduced the Pentium had to be rendered on Macs. What you use is heavily dependent on what programs you use. Most automatically think workstation GFX card automatically whenever CAD or Tendering is mentioned but the truth is CAD actually runs best on GeForce Gaming cards. I'd try and talk to your college about what they recommend based upon what apps you will be using.

Adobe loves CUDA and since they also now support Open CL, it still runs best on CUDA.

The best Maya card is and AMD card but it's $2500 ....a AMD V7900 or nVidia K4000 will run ya about $750 .... on the other hand a 780 Ti kicks tail on Maya ....3ds also works better on nVidia cards and again surprisingly the Geforce cards take toip honors over their workstation bretheren .... not however that nVidia ruled the 'computer" arena back with the 580 but starting with 6xx, comopute performance went downhill. This is the most notable difference between the Titan and the rest of the current nVidia cards as the Titan kicks tail in3ds but the 680 didn't do as well as the 580

Solidworks does better on AMD cards

In the media workplace, Macs are more popular, engineering, Intel is more prevalent........ya can get many of the cards for mac or Intel platforms

Now if we talking a laptop given the section you posted in .... that's a whole 'nother ballgame .... and as to budget .... 200-250k what ?

Shayashkar ProjectRock · Aug 4, 2014

TechyInAZ: i agree with you pc is a great if you're on a budget and want a more powerful system. even my teachers say work on a mac its more smother, but i don't agree with them most of the time. i just want to know the best option if i am to spend that kind of money. and whether macs are the solution to go.

USAFRet: i am already comfortable with both OS's i have a HP laptop and my bigger brother uses a Macbook pro so im can work in any environment. i just want a solution for this question which machine is better for the budget of 200-250k

popatim: im looking for a desktop solution as i mostly work at home and have a laptop for portable use.

USAFRet · Aug 4, 2014

Shayashkar ProjectRock :

You can probably build a desktop solution on either platform that will work. Mac may be a little more expensive.
But you will end up with pretty much equivalent parts.

JackNaylorPE · Aug 4, 2014

My son took a Intel desktop and a Macbook Pro to "kolludge" .... over the 4 years, he did all his school work on the Mac .... used the desktop for gaming.

USAFRet · Aug 4, 2014

JackNaylorPE :

Was that because the Mac laptop was portable, or because of the MacOS?

Shayashkar ProjectRock · Aug 4, 2014

JackNaylorPE: graphics cards are important and i really like the GTX series. i have a friends who has a gtx 690 and his benchmarks are rather good, i have never seen an AMD card in action excepts for laptops but i think hey are ok. the CUDA technology is better and most of the software are taking advantage of it and i think if im to buy a system i'll go for a nvidia card as it provides me with extra options. but if you disagree with me please let me know.

JackNaylorPE · Aug 4, 2014

Son No. 2 chose the Mac for OS and HW reliability, Son No. 1 chose a high end Intel lappie.....Son No.3 leaves in September and hasn't made up his mind yet. Windows got reinstalled 3-4 times to reduce registry bloat / slowness and the lappie lasted him little over 3 years before going south. Luckily the college set him up with a job at Acer Tech Support so he sson learned enough that I wasn't involved in system maintenance. The mac is still going 5 years later w/ original battery.

I am on my 7th personal lappie....all Intel (AutoCAD gives me no other option) .... 3 IBMs, 1 Toshiba, 3 Clevos.... I do get a bit jealous of the "Laissez-faire" approach of the mac sometimes..... from a systems administrator standpoint, it sure is a whole lot easier on the budget....I get about 2 - 2.5 years outta the batteries.

Shayashkar ProjectRock · Aug 4, 2014

JackNaylorPE :

i guess you are talking about laptops. i've come to know macbook pro are better at giving battery life then other system but which system do you prefer for a 3D animation software

JackNaylorPE · Aug 4, 2014

Shayashkar ProjectRock :

Well that was the point i was trying to make .... in the gaming world, I can make a lot or arguments for both and have built gaming boxes with both.... generally leading nVidia on the high end and AMD on the "biudget is an issue" end .... but in the "working" world, not so much.

However, I have also built many workstation boxes for offices or peeps who wanna work from home ..... none of those ever had an AMD card.

i guess you are talking about laptops. i've come to know macbook pro are better at giving battery life then other system but which system do you prefer for a 3D animation software

I think I have answered that question on the desktop. And while I find gaming on a powerful laptop more than acceptable and running AutoCAD on a laptop perfectly fine, animation and 3D rendering is something I think is best left for the desktop.

Shayashkar ProjectRock · Aug 4, 2014

JackNaylorPE :

yes pc's are better if you're on a budget and looking for a kickass system.....but i have friends and teachers who use mac on daily basis both for office and home use and they say that mac gives you a better hardware and is more efficient workflow but i think they are overpriced bunch of tech. i could get my mind fix as my line of work most people prefer macs over pcs. why is it so?

JackNaylorPE · Aug 4, 2014

I don't think mac laptops are overpriced at all.... you simply get what you pay for. The mac construction is simply hardier and requires less system maintenance.....the latter being one of the reasons it's preferred by creative types who would rather spend time creating art than maintaining their system. Engineering geeks like me relish that stuff

The media industry is heavily mac oriented but I don't live in that world. I own and engineering firm; we do engineering .... my world is Intel oriented and I hesitate to give you advice outside of my area of expertise. If someone made a laptop that could do some kick arse CGI like movie animation and 3D modeling without you sitting and staring at the screen waiting for things to happen, it's battery would last < and hour and / or you would need a cart to wheel it around in. Yes 3D modeling is a "thang" for architects who care what buildings look like so they can do do walk thrus and such.... but as engineers, we just want the buildings not to fall down and have all their subsystems work .... we don't need to run shaders am=nd lighting effects to see that that happens.

Shayashkar ProjectRock · Aug 6, 2014

JackNaylorPE :

yes you are right macs are more comfortable to work on and are portable easily........i've made my decision and im going for a PC. i need more graphic power for my softwares...and i will probably purchase a macboook pro in future ....i thank you for your opinion and the suggestions you have...i look forward for your suggestions in the future also.........Thank you and greetings from NEPAL

JackNaylorPE · Aug 6, 2014

Yes, there is that but there best features I think are:

1. Keeping it up to date is effortless.
2. No regular "maintenance"
3. It's simply sturdier built....from both a hardware and OS standpoint.

On the down side, to get the above, it's not as flexible. Sometimes you just want your puter to do something for no other reason than that's how ya wanna do it.

I never personally used one on a day to day basis simply cause the Intel platform is a better match for the software I use. But I manage all the puters at the home and the office and peeps use whatever they feel they can be most productive with. I never have a Mac user come to the "Help Desk" with a problem.....they just work.....no hardware conflicts, no battling drivers, no registry issues, no my "program or piece of hardware stopped working".

If you are going to get a laptop, given your apps, I'd suggest that you find a local Clevo distributor and have one custom made for you. A, Optimus nVidia GFX subsystem will help battery life and give you all the juice you need when you need it for those hi end apps and a SSHD will keep it snappy.

Best Machine for 3D modeling & animation, and visual effects?

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