Building my own quad core

serenerain98

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Jan 17, 2010
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Hi everyone, im a a motion graphics artist, i work a lot with Maya and After Effects and some other video editing sofware such as vega and final cut. I currently am running a lot of application on my Mac Book Pro, its a dual core processor. Its still a llittle slow with all the rendering i have to do with it as far as after effects goes. I dont know a lot of details about building my own computer and the things i would need to run a smooth machine that can handle the things i want to do. I want a quad core processor just because it would run faster. Does anyone have any suggestions as to what specs i should have with the machine so i can fun After Effects faster and smoother along with other applications such as maya. I eventually just want to dump all my applications on a desktop apple computer and leave my laptop for touch ups and stuff. This mac book pro can only handle so much. thanks for any help!

melissa
 

grossemesser

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May 7, 2009
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I sincerely don't like self-proclaimed artists... cause they aren't... and most of the times they don't even know the true meaning of the word ARTIST... but well then...
As djg9205 said... you want to build a PC... so you run Windows?? Cause you can't build a Mac yourself...
Maybe this build will help:
Asus Sabertooth Motherboard
Intel Corei5 750
Nvidia GTX 285
Then throw in some RAM... your choice of case, HDDs or SSD, and a 750-watt PSU
if you need more power just ask someone to overclockit for you if you can't do the job...
but i think that will do
 

boonality

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You won't be building a computer, you'll be purchasing an iMac or Mac Pro.
 

mortonww

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What's the budget?

Apparently, you can't have too much RAM for Photoshop, and video rendering and editing makes good use of hyper-threading. I think this puts you in the realm of a core i7 920 with 12 GBs of DDR3 (or 6 depending on budget). Or even a core i7 860 with 8 GBs of RAM.

Also, no gaming graphics but workstation??? I don't know much about workstation graphics cards, but here's the rest of the build:

Intel Core i7 920 Bloomfield - $288 or $229 if you're near a microcenter

RAM: G.SKILL 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231247
-$165

MOBO: ASUS P6T SE LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131386
-$185 after rebate

HDD for OS and most-accessed programs: OCZ Agility Series OCZSSD2-1AGT120G 2.5" 120GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227462
-$339 after rebate

HDD for storage: Samsung Spinpoint F3 1 TB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152185
-$85

Case: Cooler Master 690
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119137
-$80

CPU Cooler: Corsair H50
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835181010
-$78

If you run into budget problems, there are sufficient third-party coolers that can be had for around $30 like the Cooler Master Hyper 212. I'm imagining that you'll be doing some moderate overclocking. I think you'll definitely see the benefit in your rendering.

GPU: HD Radeon 4870
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161292&cm_re=4870-_-14-161-292-_-Product
-$170

I figure you don't care much about Directx11 and games (lol, you own a mac currently), so this card should be fine at your resolution (what is it, by the way) and will actually handle some of the recent games fine.

PSU: Corsair 850 TX. May be a bit overkill for your system, but is only $110 after rebate and will still be more than 80% efficient at the load you put on it.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139009

Finally, operating system: Windows 7 Professional
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116758
-$139

You may be able to downgrade this to Home Premium if you don't think you'll be needing XP Mode or automatic back-up or other professional-specific features. That'd save you $30

That brings you to $1639 unless you get the microcenter deal, then it's more like $1589.

Hopefully I haven't misunderstood this thread. Are you planning to buy a Mac and "build" it off of their site? Building it yourself would be the more cost-effective way to go unless you desperately need some Mac-specific programs or something.

Good luck!
 

grossemesser

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Core i5 750 is chaper than core i7 and has great performance in the tasks she requires, i'm sure she'll do fine with it... and as i said if it's not enough you can always OC it a lil bit so you juice it up... i also recommended sabertooth motherboard because it is a cheap one... with just the things she needs and not more
 

mortonww

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The i7 will definitely perform better than the i5 with video rendering and picture editing with Adobe software. There's no arguing that. If the OP has the money and values their time, the i7 is the way to go.