600 quid gaming and 3d modelling rig

[stuck]

Hi, I am looking to spend 600 quid on a rig for gaming and 3d modelling. Thats to include a monitor... What can I get for that kind of money? Would also like to buy it as a system so as to get a warranty etc...

Thanks v much

[AdamAnubis]

What kind of games to you play? Is it large amounts of modelling you do or just on and off? Do you also need Keyboard/Mouse?

[kalniel]

If you're doing serious modelling then you probably need to spend almost twice your entire budget on just the workstation graphics card. What software are you using for that?

[AdamAnubis]

Are there not CUDA based rendering codes/software that would help keep the cost down atleast a bit? I vaguely remember seeing something but dunno if they're any good/used. Just then a GTX460 or something might give extra umph.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

I assume you have a copy of an OS to hand and also have a keyboard and mouse already??

This is what I would look at:

AMD Athlon II X4 Quad Core 640 3.0GHz~ £80

http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Compo...ource=googleps

ASRock M3A770DE ~ £55

http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Compo...roductId=37777

OCZ Gold 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C9 1333MHz Dual Channel Kit ~ £59

http://www.aria.co.uk/SuperSpecials/...roductId=37540

VTX ATI Radeon HD 5770 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card ~ £117

http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Compo...roductId=39034

OR

XFX ATI Radeon HD 4890 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card ~ £117

http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Compo...roductId=37323

Samsung HD103SJ SpinPoint F3 1TB SATA-II 3.5" Hard Drive ~ £42

http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Compo...roductId=37726

Samsung SH-S223C 22x Internal DVD±R/RW SATA Drive ~ £13

http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Compo...roductId=38547

Corsair VX Series 550W ~ £67

http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Compo...roductId=29383

Xigmatek Asgard Pure Black Edition Gaming Case ~ £31

http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Compo...roductId=38515

LG E2240T 22" Widescreen LED Monitor ~ £115

http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Monit...roductId=41115

The total comes to around £580 excluding postage.

If you go with the HD5770 1GB you could get the following PSU instead:

http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Compo...roductId=34003

You could then get the following processor:

http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Compo...roductId=39930

For gaming it will have better peformance than the Athlon II X4 but for most rendering tasks there will not be much difference AFAIK.

[kalniel]

Are there not CUDA based rendering codes/software that would help keep the cost down atleast a bit? I vaguely remember seeing something but dunno if they're any good/used. Just then a GTX460 or something might give extra umph.

Nope, the cost is in all the error checking and driver verification for workstation cards. See how much Quadro cards cost compared to Geforce. ATI's fireGL are much better value, but not always as well supported, hence why I asked which software was being used.

[AdamAnubis]

Nope, the cost is in all the error checking and driver verification for workstation cards. See how much Quadro cards cost compared to Geforce. ATI's fireGL are much better value, but not always as well supported, hence why I asked which software was being used.

Ahh okay. Yeah I know the cards are quite a bit more expenisve. Well, you learn something new every day

[stuck]

cheers for the input, to be honest the rig is not for me its for my cousin she mentioned autodesk for the 3d modelling? i dont think she needs anything special tbh... she doesnt want to build her own tho as wants a warranty, that setup cat listed would be pretty much perfect, what sort of premium will you pay on top of that for someone to build it and provide a warranty?! not even sure where to look... i had a look at scan 3xs looked a bit pricey for what you get tbh...

[AdamAnubis]

Just a quick glance on PC world finds this to be a fairly similar system but still slightly lower spec:
http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/advent...16409-pdt.html

Problem is the premium you pay for a warranty ends up being the same as you could put to one side for replacing anything that breaks really.