Hello Folks,

I was just wondering which of the following combinations would be better for attempting animation with Houdini (Apprentice).

I've tried to load some example files (the one where a rock hits another rock and breaks up) and my computer was struggling to play the simulation in real-time. I know its time to upgrade my computer and I want to know what types of hardware combinations are working for people who are using their hardware for animation?


Lets say that my computer RAM will be the same in both cases.

1. A super CPU (i7) and a low end video card

OR

2. a low end CPU and a super quadroFX video card?

Is the CPU being used for “tumbling” 'round an object or is it the video card? Is the video card used more for rendering or the cpu? help! and thanks in advance for the input.

I'd say go for a mid range card and a mid range comp.

and make sure it's 64bit with at *least* 4 gb ram.

In my opinion Quadro cards are quite overestimated for personal use. I don't question their performance or shader compatibility. But as I've understood it you could get pretty close to the same performance witch a decent Geforce or Radeon for a fraction the cost.

Regarding CPU and memory that is what I personally would put my money on. Especially if your into doing heavy simulations and stuff like that. A 64bit CPU and at least 4GB RAM is what I would recommend. But its all about what your budget is.

As someone who actually spends the money on quadro cards for work, I agree with these guys, you don't need it.

*Never* get ‘low end’ - mid range is good.

Cheers,

J.C.

There was a time when Quadro cards would really help with displaying point numbers and things like that. But since Houdini 9 and the later GeForce cards I haven't really noticed a difference between the two.

the gforce 8 series is very good performance/$$$
http://www.nvidia.com/page/geforce8.html [nvidia.com]

What about the Geforce 8000 series VS the Geforce GTX 200 series? Has one used them and found a marked difference?

Fai:
I would recommend the Ci7 core but not the extreme. Just the 2.6 or 2.9 Ghz, and then spend your cash on Ram. Simming and rendering chews ram like candy.

I just built a home system with an i7 920, with a Geforce 260 GTX and the system runs amazing, right now I'm running with 6GB of ram from Corsair, and the total cost of the system was dirt cheap for what the specs are. I'm running XP 64 bit and I haven't had any issue with it.

I'd highly recommend getting an i7 with a mid range card, the system can easily handle anything a dual proc quad core with a quadro card, and I'd even say it's faster than that system on various levels.

I'd go with the faster CPU, the fastest that you can afford. GPU won't help when you're cooking simulations or rendering and unless your throwing around several million polygons per frame a lower end graphics card should hold up.

A faster CPU can also improve display performance significantly. Example: I upgraded my cpu's recently and my opengl performance increased by 25% over using the same FireGL v3600 card and motherboard with the old cpu's.

I'd go for a better CPU as well, and a mid range video card. In the end you want to speed up those renders while for display issues (if you're really going nuts with your models) there are other way around it.

cheers

Thanks for all of your help folks! I was planning on getting the i7 but then to get super fast RAM it would have costed me way too much. Also, i figured that i shouldn't go too over the edge with gear now. But i should get sufficient computing power to get a bunch of models done, and make some environments, figure out how to use houdini in all its glory, and then see how i can use it to make a “super innovative animation!” And then 2-3 years later, when i'm ready to undertake “super simulations,” then i'll get a quad core or fully go i7 extreme.

I ended up spending $1110 (incl. taxes) on the following:

CPU: e8500 - 3.16GHz - 1333 fsb
RAM: 8gb DDR3 - 1333mHz
Video Card - 9800GT - 512 of video RAM
Hard drives: four 80 gig hard drives which i'll put in a RAID 0.
PSU: Antec 650 watts
Mobo: Gigabyte GA-EP45T-UD3LR supports fsb of 1333MHz

I only got this mobo because it supports DDR3 ram and i wanted the RAM i was using to match the speed of the CPU's FSB. and since only DDR3 ram can go at that speed i got it. so this will hopefully keep any bottlenecks to a minimum.

Once again, thanks a lot for everyone's help. I used to think that i would need to big bucks to get a super system (which is still true), but at my stage all i need is a shoe that's a couple of sizes bigger so i can grow into it, so to speak!