need help choosing workstation

J

jkzen

New Member
hi there. i am in the market for a new computer/workstation and need help. i will be using this for architecture and design applications. i typically run a 3d modeling program (rhino), rendering program (maxwell), 1-5 photoshop documents, autocad, illustrator, web simultaneously. my current computer cannot keep up. i have a budget of $4000 with at least one monitor. i do not want to buy something that i will not the potential of.

should i go for dual core or quad and what speed? xeon or opteron? 4 gb of RAM? video cards?

any help will be much much appreciated

thanks jkzen
 
I'd go for a quad core, but not sure what would be best for what you do, 4gb RAM... Definitively a video, but here again, I don't think regular video cards work best for what you do, so I'll let someone else answer this.

I assume you live in the US, you will need lots of storage...
What about the operating system you will use ? Vista ? Do you mind if its a 64bit os. In your budget, is the tower the only thing included or does it include the monitor ?

I would generally say that you can surely get something great for less than 4000, but since I do not know your segment very well, I will just come to see and learn more.

Edit: What are you using now ? When was it bought ?
 
With most people that want a workstation, they will also need some good tech support. So your best bet might be to go to www.hp.com and customize a workstation to your specs.

That way you get their tech support and a good system.

About the only time I recommend a pre built system is when someone wants a workstation. Because workstations are usually money makers for someone, and they can not afford to have their system down while they try to figure out a problem by them selfs.

HP is still one of the best workstations around.
 
thanks for the quick replies. i was actually looking at hp's. i will need xp for the programs i run. the problem with self configuring on their web site is that i don't know what i need vs. the most powerful/expensive. do i need a 1.6ghz or a 2.3 dual/quad core xenon? thanks again
 
Well, I would get the Quad-Xeon. Or get the Core 2 Duo Extreme Series, or Q6600. Also, SLI and CrossFire would be good, because that runs 2 Graphics card at once. And you should probably look at the 8800GTX(nVidia) or the FireGL(ATI) series because of the high quality. Also, 4Gb or 8Gb of RAM, definetly at or over DDR2800.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top