Need Advice for Anmiation Rig under 40-45k

vidar

vidar

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My Friend is doing Animation from MAAC, he is looking to build a new rig for his animation work, he will be using softwares such as Maaya, Fusion, Mudbox, Nuke, After affect etc. his budget is 40-45k the lower the better.

Q: What is your budget?
A: 40-45k

Q: What is your existing hardware configuration (component name - component brand and model)
A: None, He gave his PC to his brother, so currently no PC.

Q: Which hardware will you be keeping (component name - component brand and model)
A: WD HDD 500 GB, Mx518 mouse ,Altec lansing 2.1 speakers, Samsung keyboard

Q: Which hardware component are you looking to buy (component name). If you have already decided on a configuration then please mention the (component brand and model) as well, this will help us in fine tuning your requirement.

CPU - i7 based CPUs Preferred, if there are any other good CPUs for animation please advice.
Motherboard - Should he invest in a Crossfire or SLI mobo?
GPU - Please suggest
Monitor - Full HD
RAM - 1333 or 1667Mhz ??
PSU - Suggest a future proof PSU, he will be adding few HDDs Later.
Cabinet - Mid size
Q: Is this going to be your final configuration or you would be adding/upgrading a component in near future. If yes then please mention when and which component
A: No

Q: Where will you buy this hardware? (Online/City/TE Dealer)
A: Delhi, Nehru place

Q: Would you consider buying a second hand hardware from the TE market
A: Yes

Q: What is your intended use for this PC/hardware
A: Animation - 1st priority
Gaming
Browsing
Desktop Processing
Watching HD movies

Q: Do you have any brand preference or dislike? Please name them and the reason for your preference/dislike.
A: No

Q: If you will be playing games then which type of games will you be playing?
A: GTA 4, Crysis 2, SF4 etc

Q: What is your preferred monitor resolution for gaming and normal usage
A: Animation - Full HD or at-least HD
Gaming - any
Desktop - any

Q: Are you looking to overclock?
A: No

Q: Which operating system do you intend to use with this configuration?
A: Windows 7 64 bit
Macintosh - Snow leopard X
If there are AMD CPUs which performs almost equal to i7 at lesser price then he is open to that, also if his work can be done with good efficiency on lower side CPUs then no need to invest in i7 or similar CPUs.
Also he specifically told me to get suggestion whether 1667 mhz rams would make a performance difference to him as compared to 1333mhz rams during his works [rendering and stuff] and i think someone mentioned that some Nvidea cards are made specifically for Animators should he select them or normal Gamings GPUs.
 
Wait for the Bulldozer processors to come out as he'd never be able to afford a proper i7 configuration. With AMD he can get an excellent 8 core processor and cheap AM3+ board which will be good for rendering and still have money left to get a decent graphic card.

By the way why is he doing this. MAAC and other good animation institutions have X6 and i7 render stations for rendering work. So why would your friend want to waste electricity and money of his own when his institution can do it better, faster and for free anyways?
 
Well actually he is not fixated on the i7 or 8 core processors if his rendering can be done with smaller CPUs he would be fine with it, but again i don't know any better about animation and rendering stuff, so you guys please suggest. What would be good and future proof system for him for his animation work?

-Would it be good idea to get Smaller CPU if 8 core processors doesn't fit in this budget, i mean is i7 or X6 really needed for him?
-If he should wait, and for how long?

RD274 said:
By the way why is he doing this. MAAC and other good animation institutions have X6 and i7 render stations for rendering work. So why would your friend want to waste electricity and money of his own when his institution can do it better, faster and for free anyways?
Click to expand...
He is almost over with his course, now he need to make certain projects for his internship and also for adding something to his Resume, and its difficult to do all your work in the college i guess and it would also be used when he begins to work. And besides its never a waste to build a good rig he can do a lot of other stuff specially games[he is a casual gamer], when not using for animation work.
 
For Rendering stuff an 8core processor is really not required you can also do that stuff on a Quadcore processor... i7 processors are also quadcore its just that they come with hyper threading technology so they perform better than pure quad core's... Being a true quad core this generation i5 2500 outperforms previous generation i7 860... See it all boils down to your budget... Its obvious that your friend would be able to do rendering work a bit faster on an i7 rig but that doesn't mean that i5 2500 can't handle rendering work/ animation work...

Here is what i would advice you to buy:

Processor Intel Core i5 2500 10200

Motherboard Intel DH67BL (B3) 5200

RAM G.Skill Ripjaws X 1600MHz CL9 2x4GB 3350

GPU MSI GTX560 Twin Frozr II/OC 13750

Cabinet NZXT Gamma 2100

Monitor BenQ G2220HD 7400

PSU Corsair VX550 4600

Total 46600


Checkout this benchmark to see how i5 2500 performs against previous generation i7 processors : http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1604/5/
 
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