Hardware

[andrewjohn81]

Well, it may not be fair because this system was built to do alot more than just Rhino, but here it is anyway.

OS: XP pro
CPU: dual Xeon 3.6
RAM: 3 gig
Graphics card: NVIDIA quadro FX3400 (pci express)
Monitor: dual hp2035
(sometimes single. I share it with my other computer which also runs rhino, but it's alot crappier. I only use it when I'm rendering or doing audio or video since it's the only one with the license for it.)
One monitor is DVI, the other is vga. I did that because one monitor is shared between two computers and only has one DVI. Too bad.
Hard Disk: Fujitsu SCSI disk - 36GB (I think. It's not by choice. I would have much rather just had more space with a "slower" hard drive)

[Azeiku]

I don't have the best system but it works for the eval version. ;-) I'm at work so I can't look it up right now. I use Rhino at home.

OS: Win2000
CPU: 1.6+ gig AMD t-bird
RAM: 512 MB Ram (I think)
Graphics1: Asus 6800 Deluxe GForce (it's old and starting to wear out I get horizontal grey lines with it) (AGP)
Graphics2: Matrox something or another. Don't know, pretty old though. Took it out of one of my older systems. (PCI)
Monitor1: Viewsonic 19in
Monitor2: Can't remember 19in.
Input: Logitech optical mouse and Spaceball 2003

Azeiku

[kirisute]

this is what im running and it spins along just fine!
athlon64 2.8
1200 meg ddr 400 ram
80 gig primary drive
40 gig secondary drive
Ati Radeon9800 pro 128
win xp sr2

[OamadeusO]

So any suggestions on a good card for me then?

I'am not very tech savvy so when I see the specs for cards I dont know if it means rhino will be good on it. Dont need it for games just 3D work. DVI socket plus a VGA socket would be good because I read my tuts on a small monitor to save printing.

On and a TV out.:D

[andrewjohn81]

2 DVI's isn't bad to have. You may find that more than one and the other. Most cards come with 1 or 2 converters to vga anyhow. They are only like 5 bucks anyway. That way if you get a nicer monitor to replace your current nice one then you can just move your current nice monitor over and use it as your "crappy" monitor. I love it when that happens.

Anyway, depending on what you want to do, other than rhino, is going to determine your card. My suggestion is always an Nvidia card, but that's just me. We've had horrible luck here with the 3d labs cards as well as ati cards. We've had no serious problems with our nvidia cards, and some of them cost less as well.

If you are looking for something more affordable then do your research at Tom's Hardware or some place like that. The gamers cards work off the same chips as the Quadros for Nvidia so it will be able to handle similar data. Their software isn't as teaked, so certain things will have some screen redraw errors, but other than that they are fine. At home I use an older gaming card. I think it's geforce4 4600. It runs all the programs fine, rhino, maya, max, ect. Pretty much all the demos I could find tested out ok. I did pay 400 dollars when I bought it though.

Don't waste your money on the cheapest Quadro cards, but the others are worth it. If you are on a budget, don't get a cheap Quadro card. Get a mid range gaming card. The high end gaming cards are also a waste of money. If you get that high in price then move up to a Quadro. Most of it is marketing. It's just like printers. The cheapest unit of any line is crap, and the most expensive is always overpriced.

[Radiant]

AMD Athlon XP 64bit 3400+ (2.0GhZ) BOX
motherboard Asus A8V
Sapphire ATI Radeon 9800pro 128MB
Kingston 1024MB DDR Dualchannel
TV tuner Pinnacle MediaCenter 100i - S-Video, coax, cinch
Maxtor DiamondMax9 120GB ; 7200rpm
19" Nokia 920C CRT
KME Keyboard
Microsoft Optical Mouse USB

350W Power Suply
ASUS H600A Beige Case
Creative Cambridge Soundworks SW310
external DVD-Writer LG GSA-5160S
DVD reader Toshiba 48x internal

WinXP SP2 and original school licence of Rhino 3.0 :buttrock:

Wanna more info? :D

[Glyptic]

Athlon 64 3800+, 1 Gig Samsung Ram, GeForce FX 5700 256 MB (not expensive) here.
Works great with Rhino and C4D.
If I understand posts on the Rhino NG (which is debateable, like my spelling), the video card mostly affects moving shaded renders ( or the other options) when modeling. Less effective cards result in jerky rotations or other quirks. There seem to be fewer posts with problems from Nvidia cards, although I'll probably get torched for suggesting such a thing.
When I export an obj mesh from Rhino and open in C4D and get 10-20,000 quads/tri's they move like silk.
In Rhino the renders are CPU intensive, the general modeling is memory intensive. The card moves the model. Atleast that is what both my brain cells can grasp.

[erlik]

Pentium 4 1.7
1 GB RAM PC 133
GeForce 2 Ti 64 MB

I only have "problems" when I have huge models in rendered view. And with "problems" I mean that moving in viewport gets very slow and jerky. But it doesn't stop or crash. Rhino solves it by not showing parts of the model when rotating or panning the view.

Also, huge is up there about million polygons or more.

The situation is almost the same in Bryce and Cinema. Although Bryce is best in that regard, very stable and well-behaved. I've had tens of millions of polygons in it without any noticeable problems.

I guess that 1 gigabyte was my best investment. :D

And if you want a terrific, not really expensive, card, I'd recommend Nvidia 6600. With 256 MB, it starts at $130.

[Lord Banshee]

Computer (Work)
Pentium 4 2.8Ghz @ 3.3 Ghz
Intel i875 motherboard
1024MB RAM DDR400
480GB HD Space (3 HDs)
GeforceFX 5900XT as a QuadroFX 3000

Computer(Home)
A64 2800+ @ 2.3Ghz
Chaintech VNF3-250
1024MB RAM DDR400
ATI 9800 Pro 128MB as a FireGL X2
240GB HS Space (2 HD)

both computer are great at running Rhino3 but i think my home computer is faster of the two. It will be even faster once i get the AthlonX2 :)

[OamadeusO]

Ok first off, thanks for all the help.

Looks like the biggest improvement I can make is the CPU
Problem is I have no idea how to change one.

I know I will have to change the Motherboard for the new chip, not sure if I can use my same memory.
A little googling got me these.
AMD Athlon 64 3000Processor 939 Pin
KN1 Extreme Socket 939 Motherboard
I can get both together for about £250

Which is better for Rhino though 64 bit or duel?

What I need to know though is can I just plug my hardrive straight bac into the new board?
Or will I have to re-install windows xp? The reason why I am asking is the company I bought the PC off never included the XP disks. Apparently this is standard practise. It's licenced tough there the is a sticker on the back of my case with the serial number.

[kirisute]

where are you based dude?
i work for a pc hardware company...maybe we can help sort you out!.i also build/reapir pc systems for a living

[OamadeusO]

I live in london uk m8, any help would be great!

[OamadeusO]

Well i've now chosen the most important part of the system...

The case!
http://www.maplin.co.uk/module.aspx?ModuleNo=-10894&doy=15m6D

[kirisute]

quick check at our prices gives me this:
athlon64 3000
asus motherboard

about £180 inc VAT

as for the winxp disc....90% of the time if you upgrade motherboard and cpu you WILL need to repair your XP install to pick up the new hardware...its one of the major Pains with XP.....

[DarkSaturn]

Machine A
Socket 775 P4 @ 3.0 GHz
1 GB Dual Channel Hyper-X DDR
Sapphire Radeon X600 Pro (256mb) on PCI 16x
Asus P5GD1
2 180GB 7200 rpm SATA's

Machine B
Athlon 1600+
512 MB DDR
Sapphire Radeon 9600 (256mb) on AGP 8x
80GB and a 120 GB

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