Need to make huge upgrades!! Need HELLLP!!

Hello world!


I am a computer artist by trade: I like making 3D characters. For the past 2 1/2 years or so, my Dell Precision M6300 has been a good little plugger for this sort of work, but it is starting to get old and slow and I think is now outclassed.

I want to be able to run Zbrush 4, Autodesk Maya 2011, Photoshop CS 3, After Effects CS3 on the machine (don't need anything with huge firepower in the latter two. ) I already have things like Sorenson decoder, VLC, and a few extras on the machine.


I have, however:

Intel Core 2 Duo CPI

T9300 @ 2.5 GHz

Windows XP Service Pack 2

and I imagine RAM is going to be needed too.


I would like to upgrade the hardware. How much will it cost me and what do I need? (I am an expert with the SOFTWARE, not the hardware so much....damn my noobiness.) I would rather not buy a new machine as I am poor and can't afford to spend $4,000 like last time.

 

C'mon folks: I know somebody out there can help me!!

 

Go with 2 x 4GB of DDR2, buy a T9900, and try Windows 7. Maybe also a new hard drive.

But either way you slice it, you are going to be paying a lot of money for not much benefit. You can get a lot more performance out of selling your laptop on Ebay and spending the money you get from that plus the money you would waste on upgrades on something a whole lot more powerful.

 

I don't think you can put a T9900 in an M6300. Afaik, it's got a 965 chipset which only supports 800MHz FSB processors. The best you can get is the T9500... which is probably not worth whatever it costs, given that OP already has T9300.

Memory is "officially" limited at 4GB, but I'd be surprised if 6GB if not 8GB didn't work.

Ultimately I don't think there's too much you can upgrade on this probably already high-spec (for the time) machine... I too would consider just going up to the M6400 or M6500?

 

Upgrades that are not too expensive but will give you a good boost of speed.

1. Ram - get 4gb minimum. You could get 8gb but only if you have money left for points 2 and 3 bellow.
2. Windows 7 64bit.
3. SSD to replace your hard disk.

How much money do you want to spend? For SSD recommendations search this forum a bit. It depends on your budget and space requirements.

You can upgrade to a high end CPU but then you can pretty much buy a new computer for the same price as all your upgrades.

 

You could always do a backup, then clean install your OS. It should bring you back to "like new" speeds. From there, you can determine if you need hardware upgrades.

 

Want to spend about $1200 (like I said, I am not a wealthy woman.) I know that I could get something like a netbook for the same price, but I really do need the firepower and I look at the stuff that IBM churns out and I think, "ARE YOU KIDDING?" (with a few hacks I could get the same power out of an Xbox.)

I don't think I will get much for my M6300-how much should it go for? I have strong doubts it will go for anything more than 1500 at best.

 

I'd wait for Sandy bridge and get a new system rather than upgrade your current system

 

I really don't think an SSD is a good idea. It will not improve performance in those programs, just make the computer feel more snappy.

 

^^Agree. A CPU or SSD upgrade will not show any significant improvement in performance. A bit more ram may help, especially with Maya.

 

Okey dokey. Let me get this straight:

I shouldn't upgrade the chip because there is going to be a big chip upgrade by Intel in a few weeks anyway, but if I do decide to upgrade anything it should be the ram, and upgrade to about 8GB

If I want to upgrade to another MACHINE, however, would it be worth it to upgrade to a BOXX laptop in a few weeks since they have a whole slew of goodies that somebody like me would need (not to mention I can get it on a lease payment system?) Would that work out? Could I run all those heavy duty programs on the BOXX? (I want the one in the middle which is a little under $3,000.)

 

For roughly $1200 you can get an inspiron XPS 15 with quad core i7 and nvidia GT435M, 640GB HDD and 6GB of ram ($1300 if you want 8GB)

 

Yeah, but I also want to invest in the future-I would like to have a nimble machine that will last at least 3 years and can work fast enough for me to render out turntables (I make cg models.) Obviously that is going to cost me dough.

 

Wait for sandybridge, but remember you can always do a lot with over $1000 nowadays.

 

If you're willing to go used or refurbished, you can get a M6500 Precision for between $1500-$2000. This one on eBay is pretty nice, or, if you're willing to spend a little more, this one has a RGB 1920x1200 screen. You can also haunt the Dell outlet, naturally. The M6600 is supposed to be announced soon, hopefully in the next few months, but probably at least in the next half year or so, and prices on the M6500 will probably plummet then as well, if you're willing to wait. This assumes that you wish to stick with Dell. HP and Lenovo also have comparable workstations.

 

Yeah to the above. Adding more RAM and processor upgrade already are kinda pointless, the limitations of the chipset is holding you back.

Selling your current machine and going with like a 1200 dollar XPS or other workhorse machine is your best bet if you can live with Windows 7. Make sure ALL your software is compatible with Windows 7, nothing like buying a whole new laptop to learn none of your software is compatible

 

I second this. Wait for January 5th and see what comes out. If you do get a new machine make sure you get Windows 7 Professional for the compatibility mode.

 

If you are using your machine for work, then many of the comments I have seen in this thread are irrelevant. My recommendation would be to wait for the next generation Dell Precision to come out. Rumor has it Dell will release their M6600 next quarter. You are familiar with the quality and dependability of these machines, so why not stick with that. You clearly do not want to buy a gaming toy, and in my book money is secondary over productivity in a case like that. A day of work lost due to hardware-forced downtime can easily cost you more than a new machine.

For specs, get 8GB of memory, conventional but big hard drive, their top-end graphics card, and the processor one notch below the top they will offer in the M6600. That should fit your bill. I am speculating that a machine of that kind will cost you of the order of $3k or so. Not cheap, but easily justifiable as a tool for work.

P.S.: I don't know much about BOXX, but they seem to be a smaller outfit. I would tend to stick with Dell as a known quantitiy over them, but like I said, I have no experience with BOXX. You'd have to do some serious research in order to figure out whether you want to trust them for your needs.

 

I have worked with BOXX in the past: they were the machines we used at school (graduated two years ago.) It would appear they all have the latest intel chip but I would want to wait until I knew what was coming down the pike in the coming month. BOXX comes now with NVIDIA GeForce GTX Mobile graphics cards and up to 8 GB of RAM (thinking of buying a little less than 8 but bear in mind that I would then look to buy it on NewEgg or something like that.

 

I would not consider BOXX - at least not for a single business based machine (if you were ordering 3 or more, then I would try them - as you'd have an in-house backup to depend on).

This is what I would do in your situation (I'm assuming 2GB RAM currently):

$ 70 - Buy Hitachi 7K500
$ 80 - Buy 2x 2GB RAM
$ 00 - Download Windows 7 x64 Ultimate (from these forums)



So, for $150 you're able to wait for the next 'perfect' upgrade to what you have - and you can wait for up to 12 months (by extending the Win7 trial, legitimately).

See:
Extend Windows 7 Trial Period Up To One Year


The reason you're buying the HDD is to not kill a working system you have now - $70 is cheap 'insurance' that allows you to have a working system again as easily as switching HDD's.

The RAM is (also) cheap and will greatly (greatly!) increase your productivity with Win7x64 - assuming you have 2GB now along with the ancient XP (considering your need for CS3/etc.).

The Trial use of Windows 7 x64 is because you don't need to keep the machine for too much longer - this will allow you to see how well your programs/utilities will work not only on Win7 but also on a x64 system (which you'll need to use greater than 4GB RAM anyways).

With the above (cheap) upgrades, you'll be more productive and able to hold off buying a new system right now (while you're saving even more to buy something better/business class, again).

Also consider that you'll easily make your money back on the RAM when you sell your M6300 and that you'll be able to use your 7K500 in your new M6600 too (to compliment the SSD I'm sure it will have) - but make sure Dell includes the cage/adaptor for the second HDD you want to install (they don't, by default, to save $0.35).


Remember to remove the power and the battery before you change the RAM or the HDD.

Hope this helps and good luck.

 

If your machine is using DDR2 and you have less than 4G, just top it up to 4G(no point beyond that for XP unless you are running 64 bit) then may be add a Momentus XT.

Getting a 64 bit Windows 7 at this stage would cost you some money so unless you would sell it when you get a new machine, I am not sure if it worths it. Unless of course you can get the benefit of 4G+ RAM (but that needs application support I assume).

 

chimpanzee, no cost for Win7x64 Ultimate in 12 month 'trial' mode.

See my previous post.

 

That is assuming one would 'revert' the OS back. Not everyone likes to do that though for those who don't mind, your recommendations is better.

 

No, no reverting, upgrading or cloning recommendations from me.

I recommend a clean Win7x64 Ultimate install on a new HDD.


Besides, you can't upgrade from XP - and definitely can't upgrade from 32bit to 64bit - afaik.

 

Unless I want to pay the price for W7 eventually, I would still need to make a disk image of the existing XP installation, then wipe out the drive and start a free installation.

By reverting, I meant put back the saved XP image when I decide I don't want to pay.

 

Revert by going back to the old drive.

 

stand corrected, i forgot a new HDD was recommended.