I am a freelance graphic designer and motion graphic artist, recently freelance anyway. So I have always worked on macs, but I want to go PC because of cost and I also want to use the PC for gaming. So here is the qeustion, should I get a laptop, I was looking at the mecer gaming laptop option for about 15 000, that is my budget, what kind of good desktop rig can be put together for that with processing power to handle rendering with a good screen with faithful color reproduction included? Or is this a pipe dream? Any help will be appreciated, I am a PC novice. ..worked on macbooks and gamed on xbox so I don't know where to start.
Laptop or pc rig?
- Thread starter Doncal84
- Start date
PsychoFish
New member
I would say that a desktop will provide you with the flexibility to get your rig better calibrated for graphic design type work as most laptops will not always match up to the color matching requirements you require. This can be fixed by attaching an external monitor though, but then you might have to get a cheaper laptop to get a decent monitor.
The other bad news is that I would recommend an nVidia Quadro graphics card and not a GeForce based card as these are designed to work better with things like most Adobe products, AutoScale products, etc.
Alternatively you can look at the AMD FirePro cards which is the AMD equivalent of the Quadro. The big NB here is that these cards are not geared for gaming.
However at the end of the day it will depend on what you need and how you want to spend your money.
The other bad news is that I would recommend an nVidia Quadro graphics card and not a GeForce based card as these are designed to work better with things like most Adobe products, AutoScale products, etc.
Alternatively you can look at the AMD FirePro cards which is the AMD equivalent of the Quadro. The big NB here is that these cards are not geared for gaming.
However at the end of the day it will depend on what you need and how you want to spend your money.
Crableg
New member
For R15k you would be able to build a killer rig compared to what you would get for the same price on a Laptop, especially if you can buy the separate parts and build the machine yourself.
Unless you are required to move around alot for work, if you are based at home and dont have to do work on site for clients etc then a Desktop is the way to go.
Unless you are required to move around alot for work, if you are based at home and dont have to do work on site for clients etc then a Desktop is the way to go.
That is some bad news, as I wanted to use the PC for both work and play, is there no compromise I can make?
What kind of rig would you suggest?
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Would you have a part list or build suggestions for me? Nice thing about the laptop is the pre built nature of it, that way I don't have to tinker to much
What kind of rig would you suggest?
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Would you have a part list or build suggestions for me? Nice thing about the laptop is the pre built nature of it, that way I don't have to tinker to much
The Joker
Thread Killer MKII
I'll put a PC part list together for you and I'll gladly build it for you as well.
You are def able to use a gaming gpu for designing work. It just won't be as fast for the rendering but then again your cpu and ram will also make a big difference.
Will drop you a pm later today.
PsychoFish
New member
Yeah, as Joker said, you can use a standard GPU for design work. It comes down to your split though. Keep in mind that there is little if any hardware difference between a nVidia Quadro and a nVidia GeForce. The performance difference comes in the firmware & drivers controlling the card. Given the importance of speed in a game, a system used for gaming can shut down textures, shading, or rendering after only approximating a final output—in order to keep the overall frame rate high. The algorithms on a CAD-oriented card tend rather to complete all rendering operations, even if that introduces delays or variations in the timing, prioritizing accuracy and rendering quality over speed.
Have a look at http://www.nvidia.com/object/quadro_geforce.html for a technical brief on the features and benefits. Again, if you want a rig that does gaming well and DCC adequately a standard GPU is fine. If you're more interested in DCC and gaming as an afterthought then I would push for a FirePro or Quadro.
Alternatively, you can run one of each and have a monitor connected to each card. It's an expensive exercise though.
Thanks Psychofish for all the info, I think a standard gpu will do just fine for me at the start, later I can add a Qaudro as you suggested as at the moment my clients don't really need perfect rendering as it's mostly print design, websites and motion graphics for sociol media. Later on I can get the Qaodro as the need arises.