Topic Title

Any recomendations? I have been doing a lot of 3d modeling. If any one can give me some spec's I should pay attention to (from memory to the name brand) I currently have been using 512 mb ram, should I bump to 1g? I have been looking at dell and hp, but am open to any suggestions. I have been told to stay away from centrino. But, what is the best? I would like to stay around $1,500.
Thanks to all.
James

The hp d4100y is great PC to start with. It offers duel-core processing and you can customize it to you're liking.

The Dell 9100 is also good, but it does not offer the Duel-core processor for as little money as HP. You can customize it to, but from what i've seen, you can get ALOT more PC for less money out of HP.

Just my two pennies.


-Redd

I built my system for about $1500 or so about 4 months ago, so you could probably do something very similar for alot cheaper now days. However I am partial towards custom built machines myself.

You don't talk about the operating system. I get the impression that, while not a necessity, XP really needs you to max your memory and handles it well when you do. So go for the Gig. You are really spoiling the ship for a ha'p'worth of tar if you don't. Much the same applies if you are running under W2K. It does not apply if you are running under W98, still, like me.

Hello James,

I would definitely get 1GB of RAM; if not more. As Nick mentions, WinXP (and Win2K/NT before it) need a lot of RAM, as do many programs and files.

I think that you are confusing Centrino with Celeron? A Celeron is a P4 that has only a small amount of cache memory on it, and therefore will lack in relative performance to the Pentium's. The Centrino is the name of the mobile system (which include the Pentium M CPU and the matching motherboard chipset), and is an excellent laptop system.

I would recommend the AMD Athlon 64 CPU's, over anything from Intel, for a desktop system, though. They are much cooler running, and are if anything, a little more powerful for many functions. They also tend to cost less, though certain large OEM's who have special deals with Intel can certainly sell you high value systems for low prices.

Another concern is to get a quiet system -- the byproduct of powerful computers is heat, and to cool them well, the case must be very efficient and have good air flow, so as to avoid the need for high RPM fans. Some systems are quite loud and become very annoying to work with; and need to be avoided.

Another point that you should consider, is getting a pair of hard drives in a RAID 1 (or mirror) array. This functions to make a full copy of the main hard drive, and so if it fails, then you can still boot the computer, use it, and not lose your data. You can then replace the failed HD, and the mirrored pair can be rebuilt. It's the redundancy that can save you a lot of trouble. You should also fully back up your data -- I would do this onto another computer and/or onto an external HD, that you can then remove from your office for safe keeping elsewhere.

Lastly, I would highly recommend getting a video card that has dual outputs, so that you can use dual monitors; either now or in the future. Dual monitors is a wonderful thing -- it greatly expands the ways that you can use your computer. I refer you to this thread, and also this thread on system specs, too.

All good advice so far, what programs do you use for 3d, strictly Datacad? or do you use other programs, Sketchup etc?

I know that Sketchup relies more on the CPU for speed, and that it also works better with Nvidia based video cards.

I have been using o2c only. But, would like to start using scetch up, or any others any one could recomend. And thanks for the replies. Great forum board!!
And I was confusing the two. Neil. oops