? Computer recommendation ?

[Stephen]

There has been a lot of discussions on specific hardware (video cards, etc.) for computers. I'm in the market for a new computer. Can you folks recommend a new box that works well with MC? I would like to spend $750 or less. I don't need a monitor. Should I look at brands other than Dell or Gateway?

 

Thanks for the input,

Steve

[Harryman]

Good morning Stephen.

 

Keep searching on this subject. There are many recipies for good computers in the past threads.

 

Someone mentioned Tigerdirect.com as a good parts source. They have a good website.

 

You can get a 3000+ AMD and a motherboard for around $450.

 

Maybe Buckethead can share the recipe for his new burner.

[Mick from CNC Software Inc.]

I would recommend you pick up a copy of computer shopper magazine as a nice research tool.

[Stephen]

Unless I missed an old post somewhere I was looking for more of a turnkey system. I haven't built a system before and didn't think it would be a good idea to start from stratch.

 

Steve

[crazy^millman]

Wel lSteve I dotn know the type of work you are doing but is basic stuff I woudl think any of the Dell's I see for $399 a complete systems would do. I have seen them at Wally World(Wal-Mart) and it was an E-Machine system with a P4 and 512 of Memeory complete system with a monitor. With that said and please don't take this the wrong way I have a computer at home I paid $3200 for it has all the bells and whistles. DVD writter, I gig of Memeory, P4 2.4, 120 gig harddrive Video editing software and 19 in LCD flat screen. It has got to the poitn with work I do here that it bogs done tryign to do soem of the 120 mb files and 5 axis over 60,000 point calucation. I think we are getting a new one that will be a Xeon 3.2 1mb front cache. It will have 2 gig of memory, 80 gig hard drive, and that is about it expect for the standard stuff. I will rob my vidoe card out of this one for it. The point being that computer cost $3000 and it will imporve calucation by hopefull 1/2 the time. Seem like a lot to spend to only gain half the time huh. Well I have been spending 4 to 6 hours on some of my calucations. I think I might gain as much as 10 hours a week in lost time just crunching numbers. That is $1000 of time but I have gained double that becuase now I can put that time on something else. Take the average year if I am losing just 10 hours week in one year I have possible lost $100,000 of profit for a $3000 computer. This is what I explained to my bosses and that got their attention real quick.

 

Now if this is for your house I still say look at spending a little more I think you will be sorry later if you don't.

[gcode]

Steve,

It depends on the kind of work you plan to do.

If you are running 2D, simple 3D, lathe work and

small solid models you will get by with a $750 box.

 

If you are running complex 3D, 5X or large solid models you are going to be wishing you'de spent more money.

 

Get the fastest proccessor and the most memory you can for the money you spend.

Any new box is that price range will come with

XP Home which is OK as far as I know.

There is one issue you must stick to if your new

box is to run Mastercam successfully.

 

NO ONBOARD VIDEO CARDS!!!!!

NO ATI VIDEO CARDS

NO NVIDIA CARDS WITH "MX" IN THIER NAME

These three rules are not optional!!!!!

If you can't obey these three rules for $750 spend more money!

Find a box with an NVIDIA GeForce FX card in it and you should be OK.

[Racer X]

Real time pricing for components can be found here. I would recommend putting a wish list together on paper and then having a local store put you one together.

 

Dell and Gateway charge too much for the same stuff. At least if you check out the price list you will be able to know how badly Dell and Gateway are overcharging.

 

I buy all my systems and parts from here. You can customize their complete systems or have them build a custom one from the ground up. Hope this helps.

[Racer X]

Actually, I should be a little more clear.

 

For a nice entry level machine. One that you would use around the house for surfing the web, doing your bookkeeping, writing letters, and light multimedia. The lower end Dell and eMachines are pretty darn nice. (Personally, I lean toward the eMachines and have put 3 in service for people I know recently.)

 

If you want a machine that you can run Mastercam on then you get into a little bit of a problem. Whether you know it or not you have stepped into the power user bracket simply due to the way the program runs. Which means you really should have higher end hardware.

 

Operating system is another thing to seriously consider. XP pro is only another $30.00 and makes a big difference over XP home

 

Lower end Dell and eMachines, etc. keep the costs down by using lower end hardware. Usually video and sound are integrated in the motherboard. All of the other components (except floppy, cd, ram, and hard drives) are designed specifically designed to fit into that proprietary computer case. This makes upgrading later much more of an ordeal. Usually, you are not able to upgrade hardware components other than drives. Even the power supply is not interchangeable unless you get it from the manufacturer that you bought the machine. (power supplies are another area that they really skimp. Just spending an extra $12.00 to go from a 300w to a 400w power supply makes todays processors run faster and much more stable.)

 

If you want to get something that is lower end now but still have the option of upgrading a few components at a time later then start with an ATX form factor case and get all the components that you can afford that will go into it. Later you can buy a new board and processor and ram, slide it in and have a considerably faster machine for a fraction of the cost.

 

There should be several smaller computer stores that you can quiz about this. I would recommend staying away from the Best Buy, Circuit City, etc places when purchasing. Although the prices may be a bit better, usually the smaller shops do far better on service.

 

Just a rant on my part. I hope this helps.

[Finecut]

For the hard core users who dont live in the big city anymore. I've been building mine since 1983

 

 

look at : www.jncs.com

 

Finecut

[Stephen]

The most we get into at school is 2D & 3D plus some solids using MC. I also run AutoCAD and Rhino. I'll start looking around and compare some of my local dealers with the big names. I wish I had more of a budget, but will make sure I can expand the system for video, etc. Thanks for all the good info.

[crazy^millman]

Hey finecut you need to put a liquid nitrogen line through them bad boys duals they got up there. I seen some crazy showtime thing where they did that and thought it was a crazy TV thing but I did read soemwhere that the Nasa computer so have cooling Jacket systems in soe mof their computers suppose to boost power by 25% or soemthing like that.

[Rick Damiani]

quote:

---

The most we get into at school is 2D & 3D plus some solids using MC. I also run AutoCAD and Rhino. I'll start looking around and compare some of my local dealers with the big names. I wish I had more of a budget, but will make sure I can expand the system for video, etc. Thanks for all the good info.

---

If this is for a school program, get your MasterCAM educaiton reseller invovled. My company could put together MasterCAM-ready computers at that price point. Your local educaiton reseller likely can do the same.

[TheePres]

I got Boss to buy me new system:

AMD 3000+ (barton)

512 megs Ram

SATA Hard drives

GeForce Fx-5200

This thing is a dog at running MasterCam, seems always waiting while it writes to disk. My old P4 ran much nicer, with onboard ATI even.