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3ds MAX

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  • Graphics Cards
Last response: in General UK & Ireland Discussions
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April 13, 2012 1:59:48 PM

I would like to get a budget PC to use 3ds MAX. I have around £750 budget (pounds sterling). I realise people spend thousands on these things but I am still learning. Ideally I'd like to know what the best processor, ram and graphics card I can get for the money. Not interested in bells and whistles like blu-ray players etc. I would be interested in PC and Monitor bundles too if they proved good value. Not too keen on building it myself either...

More about : 3ds max

April 15, 2012 6:19:13 PM

£750? Wicked budget. I'd also recommend trading 3DSMax for Maya. Maya is much more powerful (Though it has a smaller consumer base and fewer plugins).

Hint of advice, Novatech has been very good to me, and their prices are very, VERY hard to beat (usually) and they have nice customer support, so I'll be using most of the parts from them.
Anyway! Budget build time!

1Tb HDD Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM SataIII - £77 - http://www.novatech.co.uk/products/components/harddrive...

MSI AMD HD 6870 1GB GDDR5 - £137 - http://www.novatech.co.uk/products/components/atiradeon...

i5 2500K - £163 - http://www.novatech.co.uk/products/components/processor...

Total so far - £377

AsRock Z68 Extreme3 Gen3 - £120 (Inc shipping) - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Z68-Extreme3-Motherboard-PCI-Ex...

G.Skill Sniper 8GB (2X4GB) DDR3 1600MHz 1.25V - £47 - http://www.novatech.co.uk/products/components/memory-pc...

Novatech PowerStation 600W PSU - £53 - http://www.novatech.co.uk/products/components/powersupp...

Total so far - £597

Novatech Satum Tower Case - £25 - http://www.novatech.co.uk/products/components/cases/cas...

iiyama Prolite 20" Widerscreen 1600X900 2ms - £133 - http://www.novatech.co.uk/products/monitors/20inchmonit...

Sub total - £755

That should be all you need. You can also find good deals for monitors at sub £100 prices on Gumtree and Craigslist if you frequent those sites. Could shave off some ££s.

Would be good if you waited for a second opinion. I may have left some stuff out by accident and someone might have better deals.
April 17, 2012 9:33:12 AM

Thanks Majincry. Presumably you mean wicked in its original sense - as in bad. And not "bad" in the Michael Jackson sense - as in good. You just mean - your budget isn't enough to get a decent PC to use for MAX or any 3d software, right? Would it be worth waiting until I can afford a higher spec? Are you just humoring me? (in the nicest possible way)
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April 17, 2012 11:01:53 AM

@MajinCry
That's a Gaming PC ...

A workstation supposed to be used with 3DS MAX, Maya, CAD and the like shouldn't use a Radeon 6870, but something like an ATI FirePro series graphics card. They are meant to be used for exactly that purpose and superior to normal desktop graphics. Entry level would be the v3xxx series.

You also want to work with a screen resolution as high as possible (more workspace = better workflow). That means you want at least one Monitor with 1920x1080 resolution, better two of them.

A CPU with a lot of cores matters for 3D Rendering, which means an i5 isn't the best option, get at least an i7 (Hyper Threading).

You want more RAM than 8GB for a workstation, too. At least 16GB. Especially Photoshop, but also 3D Rendering, etc. profit from more RAM.

Since your budget is limited, you will have to prioritize at first.

i7 2600k - £227.99
*** ASRock H77M Intel H77 (mATX) - £69.98
2x Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800 C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit - 2 x £39.98 (cheapest 8gb kit on novatech) > 16GB
= £377.93

Corsair CX 430W V2 ATX2.2 80 PLUS® Power Supply - £35.99
ATI FirePro v3800 - £82 (amazon.co.uk)
Philips 236V3LSB LED LCD 23" DVI Monitor (1920x1080) - £119.99
= £237.98

Fractal Design Core 1000 MicroATX Mini Tower Case - £28.98
Western Digital Caviar Green Power 2TB 64MB Cache Hard Disk Drive 6Gb/s - £92.99

= £737.88

Even under your budget and way better for a workstation. I suggest getting another monitor, next.


All items and prices taken from novatech.co.uk, except for the FirePro card, since it's not available there. You can take any site you want, ofc.

You definitely have to built that PC yourself, otherwise you wouldn't end up with the perfect match regarding components at least not within your budget.

*** Note that the H77 chipset won't allow for a CPU overclock. Since there is budget left, you might look into a mATX Z77 (chipset) board like an ASRock Z77 Pro3 or Z77 Pro4-M, which should be available around £80 - £100. Just make sure it is a Micro ATX (mATX) board, since the Fractal Design Core 1000 is a mATX case. Also note that the z77's overclocking feature allows for more future proof. You shouldn't overclock right away, but later when you have some more money (~£30-50) left to buy a good aftermarket CPU heatsink. It's not advisable to OC with the intel stock cooler.
April 17, 2012 12:35:35 PM

Whatsthatnoise - What sort of PSU would I need for that?
April 17, 2012 12:55:25 PM

It's in the list ... the Corsair one ^^
April 17, 2012 1:17:30 PM

Sorry - more haste less speed with the messages...
April 17, 2012 8:35:26 PM

Just correcting one thing posted earlier, Maya is not "much more powerful" than 3ds max, that is a absoultly ridiculous statement. The problem you'll get it that Maya users always think their software is sooo much better and Max users will tell you the same. The truth is that Maya and Max have a huge overlap, alot of what you can do in one you can do in the other.

Where they do differ is in their interfaces and approcah, but thats really down to personal taste, the best recommendation is to try both and see what you personally prefer. Max seems to be more popular amongst game desginers and Maya towards animation, but even thats only a very general rule and is often not true.

They are both extremely powerful programs and it seems to me that whether a person uses one or the other depends more upon which they were introduced to first than anything else. But dont believe what was suggested earlier that if you use Max your going to be using an "inferior" version because its rubbish.

k@rt
April 17, 2012 9:24:14 PM

i use 3d a little for 3d programs and like it.


3ds max can be gotten at a discounted price - free


for example they have a hidden student part on there website where you can get the software for free if you are a student.

April 17, 2012 9:29:33 PM

You can also use Blender, which is OpenSource and can basically do all the same. However, it's interface is a nightmare to me while using 3DS MAX was pretty intuitive right from the start.

After all it comes down to learning one of them and how good the UI is, which would in turn speed up the learning and workflow.

As for 3DS MAX for free ... well you have to have some prove that you are a student, don't you? ;) 
April 17, 2012 10:56:28 PM

Once again, just to clarify:

Autodesk have a student program. It is not hidden on their website, it is easy to find and sign up. You need to provide your real name, adddress and email. No other "proof" is required, you do not need to provide a student card or number or anything else. It is easy to sign up and afterwards a whole selection of Autudesk software is available for use, including Max, Maya, Mudbox and numerous others.

The biggest concern is that you are using the software for learning purposes, and are not getting any commercial renumeration for the work you produce using their software. If you start to make money using Autodesk products then you should pay for a full licence.

I think that Autodesk realize that for many people learning CGI their products are prohibitively expensive. Most amaturs would never get a chance to use this software without a student licence and most professionals are not going to try to illegally use free or cracked versions of software when their livelyhood depends. They lose nothing by giving away student licences and for them hopefully more young and upcoming CGI artists will end up using their software.

It easy to sign up for, there is no proof required and there is no big secret behind it. I encourage anyone who is genuinely trying to learn CGI and wants to use these programs to looking into signing up for this.
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