This should be in the hardware section
Hmm, I too started learning 3D Max about 3 months back, but I have been working on Maya from version 6 release, which institute u r learning from
I suggest U also visit this thread
*www.thinkdigit.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=21274 some nice contribution from me, siriusb & other fellows
Now the answer to your questions
Your CPU is good enough for 3D Max, especially since u r learning, in reality no system is fast enough for rendering, and even a render farm will be slow for big animation projects, stick to your CPU & motherboard, although make sure Hyperthreading is enabled in BIOS
Get 2X512 MB DDR400 memory for 1 GB dual channel memory, u will immediately feel a performance boost in view port
Rendering depends on CPU, not the graphics card, also if u r not using Final gather or radiosity, more RAM is not required
However, view port depends completely on system RAM & gfx card RAM, U don't need buy an ultra high end graphics card, but FX5200 is now slow for 3D Max & will be even slower for Max 8, I suggest that U buy at least a FX 5700 non ultra or GeForce 6200 non ultra gfx card, with 128 MB RAM, that will be enough
Go in for a SATA HD, with 8 MB buffer, it will help although only 4 to 8% performance increase will be visible , SATA NCQ will not work in 865 GBF
Since the card is a gaming card, stick to the directX interface, DirectX9 based, OpenGL will be 20% faster in view port, but will give u a lot of material & map corruption, as the gfx card drivers are not meant to be used for workstation grade openGL stuff
For rendering speed, u must learn how to optimize the models,
1) Don't just enable GI or FG in Mental ray, learn how to use it, it is advised to use the cache of FG & GI instead of re-calculating it each time
2) Radiosity will depend on your scene, FG & GI are better then this
3) Raytracing uses a lot of rendering time, with default scan line renderer, so set the raytrace ray depth to 3 or 4, 9 is not required unless u r making reflecting glass in front of each other. Enable the "Show raytrace dialog" option
4) When making complex objects, group them & give the group an optimize modifier, this will lower the RAM usage for that model in view port, when rendering uncheck the optimize. In the other thread take a look at my room scene, the sofa is grouped & optimized when I m not rendering it
5) And many other methods, depending on your requirment
For draft quality rendering, use default scan line renderer, with Area Antiallising & no super sampling, if using mental ray then use 1/4 to 4 Mitchel super sampling, that is enough
@ kato
More RAM = fast rendering, it's true only if U R using cache & radisity, FG
My system is
Pentium 4 3.06 GHz northwood, with Hyperthreading
2X512 MB DDR333, dual channel
86FGBF motherboard
Gigabyte GeForce FX 5900XT
as for a comparison, that room soon takes 6 minutes to render, as the GI & FG are already saved in cache, if re-calculating them, it takes 30 mins
