Well you've found some fairly detailed reviews there. Not much I can add. The FireGL line looks like the best in that price range but I have no personal experience with this type of card.
I run multiple 8800GTX in Sli for gaming. The closest I come to any CAD app is Google SketchUp.
Thanks for all the feed back I think I may be set on the firegl 3600 its the cheapest and the only one of the 3 I'm looking at that maya specifically notes as qualified for their software. At someone point I want to get a real workstation cards but even the lower end of those would be my entire budget right now.
I am still unsure on the whole ram issue because I've heard so many things. What do you suggest?
I suggest you pick a motherboard first.
Most boards will have a QVL which although not definite still makes your choice easier.
RAM compatibility and performance is very unique to different boards.
In general I will say you want DDR2 1066 unless you choose to go to DDR3. Depends on the board you choose.
Seems like a good choice for the price, but now that I am going with the firegl I could spend up to an extra $50 on the motherboard or on another component? What do you think?
1. 4 x 1.8V DDR2 DIMM sockets supporting up to 16 GB of system memory
2. Dual channel memory architecture
3. Support for DDR2 1366+*/1066/800/667 MHz memory modules
* Refer to Memory Support List for more information.
I am suggesting DDR2 1066 as well as 2 x 2GB. I should say I suggest matching your RAM speed to the CPU which I believe we had at 1066. Also if you are not overclocking then we need to stick with 1.8V sticks.
When I plug all this into Newegg they only return one find:
New build- Case:$50 either way
I kind of likes this case better and its the same price. Do you think its any better or worse than the coolmaster I was looking at before.
Sunbeam Silent Storm IC-SS-SVBK Black/Silver Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail
Pasted from http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx…N82E16811166030
DVD:$27
ASUS Black 22X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 12X DVD+R DL 22X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache IDE 22X DVD Burner with LightScribe - Retail
Pasted from http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx…N82E16827135192
At the end of it all with rebates and the more expensive power supply my total comes to $787. I still have an extra 20-50 to spend. Should I get better ram or anything or just leave it at that?
Looks good.
I would go with the RAM I posted but that is simply my preference. It certainly does not match the deal you posted and the performance would probably be similar.
You will note your RAM is 1.9V and the motherboard default is 1.8V. This is so close that it probably does not matter but you might need a 1.8V stick to boot the board and change the BIOS to 1.9V. Again as this is so close it might not matter. If you had 2.0V or higher you would definitely need a 1.8V to boot and change the BIOS.
Contrary to the other forum you are posting to I think Seagate is better than WDD but you are simply getting personal opinions now.
That other guy probably had a bad Seagate or two whereas I have had too many bad WDD.
I don't want to get involved with cross posting forums so I won't look at that other one again.
I will just mention when you are dealing with problems it is widely discouraged in the forum world to cross post topics but as in this case you are just shopping for opinions I guess it is not a big deal.
It would be nice however for all parties involved to know that this topic is active on multiple forums.
Yea after reading through some reviews I decided on the seagate because it just seemed more reliable.
I just started using forums really, but thanks for the tip. I didn't realize that you weren't supposed to do that, but I guess it makes sense not to have 5 different people from 5 different forums all helping you on one thing.
Thanks for all your help and advice!
