Advice for 3D Modeling rig upgrades

[TheITM]

Hello,

I'm an amateur working on developing his 3D animation/modeling skills. My computer is rather old--the last hardware upgrades were back in 2004. I'm looking to get my computer upgraded so that it can handle my current projects.

I do tend to do a lot of multitasking with multiple CPU-intensive programs--Image editors like the GIMP, working on multiple texture bitmaps, for example.

Admittedly I'm also a gamer (and some of my projects deal with assisting fellow amateur developers with in-game models as well as FMV/production art), but as I understand it, a strong rig built for 3D modeling will also work just as well for gaming.

My main worry, however, is architect changes. I want to try and time my upgrade so that my computer will be able to take advantage of a new architect change, allowing me to upgrade my system in the coming years without having to buy a whole new set of parts just because of a new video card slot type.

Trying to find out this information on my own, much less choose the right parts for my rig, has been frustrating. If you can give me advice on what parts to look into--motherboard, CPU, video card, RAM and any other helpful equipment--I'd be most grateful.

This is what I currently have:

AMD Athlon XP (1.29 ghz)
1 GB RAM
ATI Radeon 9800 PRO

These are on an MSI K7N2 Delta2 motherboard.

---

So, these are my main questions:

[*:2d5c9b9d75]What major architectural changes have been announced? When should I wait to upgrade, what should I look for? Or should I start right now?
[*:2d5c9b9d75]What parts would you suggest for this 3D modeling rig?
[*:2d5c9b9d75]While I'm not currently worried about price (I'm more worried about finding what my options even are), if a suggested part has a less expensive alternative or more, what would they be?

I thank everyone who responds in advance for their help.

 

[99vw]

How much of a spending budget do you have in mind?

 

[warezme]

You will get advice from two camps. The purist who will recommend nothing short of Quadro or FireGL graphics and server class hardware with SCSI drives and guys like me who think a nice fast 680i class motherboard and 8800GTX (one or two) will give you lots of bang for the buck.

I run 3Dstudio Max9 on my computer and I can promise you the program likes my setup. Hardware accelerated DirectX preview and design panels fly along no problem.

I am sure I don't model as much as you but since you mention doing modeling for game developers I can tell you DX modeling in Max and with a similar setup as mine, works.

The platform I have is also upgradeable, meaning it should handle quad 45nm Penryn cpus when they are released sometime next year. I am not recommending my exact setup but something similar with parts of your choosing will work for what you are doing without breaking the bank.

 

[TheITM]

How much of a spending budget do you have in mind?

Well, I'm really unexperienced in PC homebuilding, that's why I wanted to know what parts would be ultimately ideal first, then work within that envelope.

I know that nearly any upgrades I do for this will wind up costing a lot of cash due to all the architect changes since so I'm prepared for high costs.

However, as a ballpark estimate ... I suppose anywhere around $700 to $900, though if there's a setup that's really worth it yet costs more, I'd be willing to consider it.

I'm comfortable with my current hard drives and DVD drives, so I'm not looking to replace them.

 

[warezme]

Well, I'm really unexperienced in PC homebuilding, that's why I wanted to know what parts would be ultimately ideal first, then work within that envelope.

I know that nearly any upgrades I do for this will wind up costing a lot of cash due to all the architect changes since so I'm prepared for high costs.

However, as a ballpark estimate ... I suppose anywhere around $700 to $900, though if there's a setup that's really worth it yet costs more, I'd be willing to consider it.

I'm comfortable with my current hard drives and DVD drives, so I'm not looking to replace them.

sorry to butt in, but maybe it has been awhile since you shopped around. That kind of budget will get you like one video card and maybe an inexpensive case...
for example:
680i SLI motherboard - $250.00
E6600 CPU - $225
8800GTX Video Card - $650.00 (double for two)
2GB 4-4-4-12 class RAM - $150 (cheaper with specials)
750w - 1000w Power Supply - $350 - $500
Good Case - $150 - $250

You can save money by going with:
680iLT motherboard
E6400 - E4300 CPU
8800GTX 320 Video card
500w - 750w Power supply
Good case deal

That will cost your cost about in half.

 

[emp]

wow.... overpriced lol....

shop in newegg.com, check out this list.... will work just as good as the guy above.

Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 Conroe 2.4GHz 4M shared L2 Cache LGA 775 Processor - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115003

ASUS P5N-E SLI LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 650i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131142

EVGA 768-P2-N831-AR GeForce 8800GTX 768MB 384-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Video Card - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130072

OR

EVGA 320-P2-N811-AR GeForce 8800GTS 320MB 320-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Video Card - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130082

OCZ Vista Upgrade 4GB(2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Chennel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227195

SeaSonic S12 Energy Plus SS-550HT ATX12V / EPS12V 550W Power Supply 100 - 240 V UL, CE, CB, TUV, FCC - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151027


building with the GTX is $1275 + tax and shipping and using the GTS instead is $1005 + tax and shipping. and you have the provision for quad cores and using SLI on that mobo. (assuming you have 64-bit OS already, I put 4Gigs of ram because you mentioned that you do a lot of professional work that is very demanding when it comes to RAM)