I'm looking for a new PC specifically for 3D work using Vue Infinite. I thought it would be an easy process as this time round I wanted to buy ready made rather than spend time I don't have on another home brew box.

Having spent the last few days phoning round UK PC suppliers, I am going quietly nuts. I can't get an intelligent response from any supplier I've contacted. As soon as I mention 3D, I get offered "games machines" with all the accompanying and, for me, unwanted flashy bells and whistles.

I'm after Quad Core, 8MB, nVidia GPU, RAID to run Vista 64. Just the unit.

Can anyone save my sanity and recommend a UK supplier for such a "Vue" box, please?

Cheers,
Mark

A few that are worth looking at imo:

www.cad2.com

www.xworksinteractive.com

www.armari.co.uk

www.scan.co.uk

Hm, well my local PC shop is doing that for me right now, just local folk I know and trust :)

Try local decent PC shops? Here near Glasgow, you could try Priceless.
http://www.pless.co.uk/home.php

Tried askign EBuyer if they assemble systems? :)
http://www.ebuyer.com/

Attached Link: http://computerworld-online.com/

Quad core Q6600, 8 Gig RAM, 8600GT graphics, 2 x 250 Gig HD's in Raid 1 array.

Link attached!

Attached Link: http://www.meshcomputers.com/

Many thanks to everyone for the responses.

andytw: I've had mixed dealings with Scan in the past. I'll definitely check out the other links on Monday although I wary of sites with no prices.

qvsrman: Mesh have attractive prices but not quite the spec I want. Call me twitchy but two clients were caught out: one with Elonex, the other with Evesham. Anyone remember Multivision? Or Dan?

silverblade33 / thefixer: Pity N. Wales and Scotland are wee bit too far from N. Glos but the suggestion of a local supplier was a good one, no idea why I didn't think of it (too close to the problem?). Just rang a client who had a CAD/CAM workstation built locally last October. Another phone call Monday...

Have a great weekend

Cheers,Mark

Coo!l hope all goes well :)

just hoping my new system works ok with all my apps, eek!

LOL. It's not apps that worry me: Vue, Cinema and CS2 are all OK, in theory. It's the drivers that bother me especially moving "up" from a stable XP Pro install to Vista 64.
Cheers,
Mark

Drivers amd such aren't as big a problem as some would have you believe, I'm running Vista Ultimate 64 and as it was hand built they made sure all was ok.
I've updated my Nvidia drivers twice since with no problems and all my apps run fine [Vue6Inf, Poser6, Poser 7 and PS CS3]
Don't believe all the negativity you hear towards Vista, it takes some getting used to that's all because it does some things a bit differently but there are tweaks you can do to make it more like what you're used to!

As a Microsoft Partner I've experienced Vista 32 from the alpha stages. Don't start me on ludicrous changes (more complex networking set up), performance issues (disc access) and missed opportunities (new file system, only signed drivers). The SP1 beta goes some way to improve things (HDD access speeds seem to be better).

On the definite plus side, I recently  a saw a non-techie friend's new Dell Vista Premium box. Really fast on all operations even after his two daughters had stuffed it full of junk, IM software, iTunes, games, etc.

Spent far too long last night researching drivers and software for Vista 64. And you're right, there's not too much to worry about so long as the box stays dedicated to 3D and possibly CS3. Looks like only my flatbed and film scanners are non-starters. Not too sure about my Spyder screen calibration widget yet.

Also calculated the trip to Colwyn Bay. It 's might be worth a day of my time to get a box that definitely works with Vue Infinite.

Cheers,
Mark

BTW who exactly avenges the injustices?

*BTW who exactly avenges the injustices?

*ME!

Only the innocent have nothing to fear! :scared:

Only the innocent have nothing to fear! 

Depends on my mood at the time!! 

well I got my new "uber" mahcine, any tips/help for working with Vista 64 and installing Vue etc? :)

Vue should install no problem, if you use desktop shortcuts be sure to right click and under properties there is a tick box to run as administartor, make sure it's ticked! The tick box is a recent addition in one of the latest updates to Vista!

make sure you have all the updates from Vista, there are some major improvements to what you might get in the box!
Turn off the UAC if you're comfortable doing that, you'll quickly get fed up of the nag screen each time you want to do even a simple task like moving a folder or something!

Vista takes some getting used to but once you're there, IMO it's a good OS!

aye been doing thta, thanks :mate ) 
Also got some tips from uber hardware freaks as well ;)
turned of UAC and another system, so it's going better

I do love the dreamscape video desktop, turn it off for renders, but oh my it's pretty :D

it is soooooo much faster oo load and do stuff on that machine!! wow

*it is soooooo much faster oo load and do stuff on that machine!!

*Ain't it just!!

A rather belated thank you to everyone for the hardware advice. In June I went for an 'off the shelf' machine from Mesh: core 2 quad (9450), 8Gb RAM, nVidia 9600GT and 1TB drive.

I installed Vista Ultimate 64 bit version, spent a few weeks finding drivers, tweaking settings and testing all the software I need to get stuff done. After a several months I can declare myself well pleased with the new toy.

Vue 6 Infinite is rock steady these days and very nippy though not as fast as Cinema 4D which flies along. I can at last have multiple apps open and operating at the same i.e. PhotoShop + Vue + Outlook + XYPlorer + others. Bliss.

Single downside, apart from the lack of drivers for my Canon flatbed and neg scanners, is that under Vista 64 Vue 6 Infinite can no longer read SketchUp's native .skp format. I might install a virtual instance of XP Pro to get around that. So much software, so little time.

Cheers,
Mark

Cool! :)

hm wonder why sketchup is borked ike that?

Quote - hm wonder why sketchup is borked ike that?

IIRC, it may be due to there not being a 64-bit version of the libraries required.
I'm sure this has been mentioned in either or both of Eon's and C3D's forums.

Quote - IIRC, it may be due to there not being a 64-bit version of the libraries required.
I'm sure this has been mentioned in either or both of Eon's and C3D's forums.

Right on both counts. This is a problem for me as I'm receiving an increasing number of SketchUp files from people wanting rendering.

In the last few days, Google announced the merging of the general user and Pro forums. This is the biggest SketchUp related thing they've done in months. Version 6 is over a year and half old but, despite requests in user forums, Google refuses to release information about the future of SketchUp let alone a new release.

Guess we have no option but to wait and see what happens. Meantime, I'm off to install Virtual PC / XP Pro on my Vista box.

Mark