[jrm1]

I'm thinking of moving over to PC from Mac, partly because I now have 3DS Max. So I'm looking for advice about which PC. I can spend from £2500 - £4000 approx before tax. If there is no need to go as far as £4000, I'd rather not.

The Dell precision T5600 caught my attention. I don't know if Maxwell and 3DS Max each have similar kinds of demand on a computer (RAM, Processor type and speed, core numbers). I hope so, as this might help making a choice.

If there are any hot faves re PCs I'd love to know.

Many thanks

[eric nixon]

Maybe buy a cheap pc, and study 3d max only.. just rigging etc. a few months later you will understand more, and then decide what to do. < I may have just saved you a fortune, but I bet that in the longrun, if you stick at it, youll prob change to another 3D package, which may well run on Mac OS also.

Do you realise you can install Windows xp,7, and prob 8 on the mac you have right now?

[jrm1]

Thanks Eric. I am running 3DS on Boot Camp. Just started learning , so can't say if my Mac setup needs boosting (8 core 3.2Hz, 24 Gb RAM 2008 machine) yet. Reason I was thinking about PC is partly because Mac are very mysterious to say the least about the Pro end of their lineup. Are they pulling back? - who knows??

I've already gone right off Dell, by the way. Boxx look impressive, but they're in the US and I might get stung for Customs import duty (I've had that with OWC drives).

What do you model on Eric?

[numerobis]

have you checked the benchwell result of your current machine?
Should be a Dual Xeon X5482 3,2GHz if i got it right - around 17m40s for OSX or 17m48s for Windows...
http://www.maxwellrender.com/index.php/benchwell

so it should be easy to improve your performance to 11min - 4min buying an new i7 3930K 6-core or Dual Xeon E5 6- or 8-core system.

[feynman]

"so it should be easy to improve your performance to 11min - 4min buying an new i7 3930K 6-core or Dual Xeon E5 6- or 8-core system."

I'd second that. An i7 3930K system sets you back only around ~1100,00€. I've built many of them by now. Easily done, very little investment, top speed versus price ratio.