3D Rendering Computer Help!!!!!

[bstown2]

Hello, I'm a grad student (i.e. broke $$$) studying architecture. I've grown tired of people messing with my renders our computer lab here at my college. So my question is what do I need to buy to have a good 3D rendering computer. I currently am doing projects in Rhino, Maya, and Revit with Maxwell v2.0 and revit render as my main rendering programs. Any help and information would be greatly appreciated. It doesn't necessarily have to be a homebuilt system, by the way. Thanks in advance!

 

[Shadow703793]

1. Budget?

2. How complex are the renderings?

3. Follow this guide for posting about new builds: http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/261222-31-build-advice

Basic set up for your needs:
AMD Phenom II X6
ASUS AM3 EVO 790X
4*2GB DDR3 1600 GSkill Ripjaws (Total of 8GB)
Samsung F3 500GB or 1TB
HAF 922
Hyper 212+ heatsink
Corsair 650TX
nVidia GTS240 or if you have the budget, get a workstation card OR softmod an old 8800GTX (~$50 now).
Windows 7 x64.

Or an Intel build:
i7 930
ASUS P6T SE
6*2GB DDR3 1600 GSkill Ripjaws (Total of 12GB)
<Everything else the same as the AMD build>

 

[sk1939]

I would definately get a workstation card, a Fire or a Quadro if your going to be rendering and doing alot of work in Revit and Maya. You will notice the difference, especially when it comes to accuracy and speed.

Note: Just don't expect to game with Crysis or Battlefield Bad Company 2 on this computer, workstation cards are good at what they do, but gaming is not one of them.