power vs. price

[SarcasmO]

My machine:
Intel core 2 e8400 stock at 3.0ghz
msi p35 board
nvidia 8800gt 512mb
4gb ram
160gb hd
Vista 64bit operating system

I chose a core 2 over a quad because of the higher stock frequencies which give a small advantage at games. Because games generally don't support multiple cores it still handy to have higher frequency speed.
Could have overclocked a q6600 but i'm not a big fan of overclocking.
If its going to be a pure 3d system i would go for a quad core and the q6600 gives very good power for its price.
Regarding the memory i'm glad i went for 4gb from the start because vista gulps up a lot of ram and 2gb would mean i'd come up short very fast. The game i usualy play rfactor for instances uses 1.3gb of ram while i'm playing it.
Intel and nvidia have lowered there price not so long ago so it shouldn't be a problem creating a similar system on a budget.

[ragupasta]

Ok

Conroe Core2Duo E6600 @ 2.4 GHz
8800GT 320 meg
4gb Kingson 800MHz RAM
Vista-64

So let me tell you. If you are going more than dual core, go 64-bit. Anything over 3GB RAM, go 64bit. I have 4GB of RAM, and Keneter you couldnt be more wrong. My Optimus is coming up to almost 3GB whilst rendering and the model isnt barley half finished, so right there requires a 64-bit system as it wont be long beofre it spazzes out because lack of RAM.
This is taking more RAM to render than a Houdini scene with was spewing out 1 million particles per second, and that rendered fine with a count of 22 million particles with a purpose build shader created for those particles, and GI as well.

Going 32-bit at this time as technology is speeding away, would be a stupid thing to do imo, as a 32-bit system is far too limited if you are taking 3d seriously, unless you are modeling for games, where the scene's are small. But if you are going for high detail, then when the polycount getsreally high and the RAm starts to dissapear, also remember that if you created unwrapped textures as well, those hoover up RAM a lot more than you will give credit for.

Also I would go with the quad core. This machine I have is great I have to admit, I can do pretty much anything I want whilst rendering and its pretty fast too, but I would like an Octo-core though.

[rybrx7]

Not wanting to hijack this thread, but what do you guys reckon to this pc:

Ultima H²OC 9800GX2 Watercooled

I think its a good price for what your getting, i've got an alienware now, and for a similar power pc built by them as the one above would cost around £3k+, plus they are incredibly bulky and loud from my experience.

I will be using the pc, for graphics/web design, 3d and gaming, so do you reckon its a good all rounder?

And for a monitor, does anyone have or have any experience of this Samsung 26"?

Samsung SM-T260HD 26" Widescreen LCD Monitor with Freeview/Digital TV Tuner - Rose Red


Still not decided on which OS

[Flux]

Specs looks pretty good for the monitor/tv, it's a TN Panel though. Look up the differences between panel types if you haven't already.

For the PC, I think there's around £150-200 added on compared if you bought the parts separately. That would leave you having to build it and put together the Water Cooling system though.

[sbcarshops]

Again, Ragu brings up some good points about OS Bit Choices and Ram. As far as the monitor goes, that seems a bit pricy to me. I know there is good real-estate on that monitor, but I bought 2 20" Widescreen LG monitors with a fabulous response time... 2ms - that were total only $425 US. but thats only if you are looking at a small budget. I mean come on, who doesnt want the Apple 30" cinematic Display for $1800 lol.