Building a comp for 3D/Vfx/Film

October 9th, 2009, 03:05 PM

I need help trying to figure out what kind of computer rig I need to build for work. I work heavily in 3D Vfx and Film.

What I know so far.

Desktop vs Laptop
Why? SO I could change a customize parts if I need to. Plus it can hold more ram and other components. I could buy more ram and better components for much cheaper.

Also I already have a laptop. I have to disable the graphic card just so maya would work. It's daul booted with mac but I can't get programs like Final Cut to Work because the graphics card on it isn't compatitble with the Mac OS X Operating system.

Mac Vs PC
First of all I want to be able to daul boot between both mac and windows operating systems.

Mac's I hear have no problems having a windows os installed on it but I haven't tested it out myself yet, but I don't anything about Mac Hardware and if it's even customizable. I read in 3D world a few months ago most 3D Artists choose Pc's because Mac's are very limited in graphics cards.

Pc's I could daul boot, but I may be very limited with the hardware I could have on my computer. It doesn't look like Nvidia Quadro Fx's and FireGl's graphic cards are compatible with Mac Os X.

Linux os I may want because I hear helps render times. But it would probably work either way. I'm not even really gonna look into that right now.



Processor
I need the fastest processor possible
why? sounds like most people say that. And I know it must help with render times because batch renders usaully ask for multiple processors.

Questions:
Does it basically help to work in realtime when working in heavy scenes in 3D apps like Maya?

Can multiple processors be installed into one computer?



Graphic Cards:
For graphics cards it looks like Nvidia Quadro Fx's and FireGl's work the best with 3D.

Question:
Is it basically for better hardware renders in 3D apps, Or is there other reasons?

Is it hard to switch between graphics cards?

Can multiple graphic card be installed into one computer?

Does it effects maya software render and mental ray renders at all?

Does it help with render times?

Does it help working in real time and working on Heavy scenes and renders?


Memory and Motherboards
I'll probably start of with 8gb of ram. I think the ram helps with working on heavy scenes, and allows users to work in multiple apps at one time without there comp slowly down. As well as having more processes running. Is that right?

Questions:
How many ram slots can one motherboard have?

Is there a way to add more ram after the slots are full?

Does it help with render time


HardDrive
I'd get a hard draive with alot of storage but I don't find it really necessary because I'm constantly buying external drives.

Question:
How important is the speed of the hard drive?