Seeking suggestions: Bang for Buck 3d Modeling & Rendering Computer

facelessenemy

Honorable
Oct 13, 2013
8
0
10,510
Sorry if this is a common and thus, repetitive question, but seeing as how technology is always updated and cost always changes... I'd like suggestions that are relevant to today's tech capabilities and pricing.

The Use: Need this as my main work computer as a self-employed Industrial Designer. I'll be running Solidworks 2013 for modeling and Keyshot 3 (likely will upgrade to 4 asap). This won't be a dedicated rendering machine, but a 'do-it-all' system, so I'd like it to be a well-rounded machine. Speed is important to me.

The budget (around) $4000.00 USD.

Also, any reason not to go to the Dell website to their commercial machines and build one of those up?

Thanks for any help!
 
as you wish

no need to spend that amount of money

under $2000 will do

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i7-4770K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($327.98 @ Outlet PC)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.98 @ Outlet PC)
Motherboard: ASRock Z87 Extreme4 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($144.98 @ Outlet PC)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($126.92 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Samsung 840 Pro Series 256GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($209.99 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($84.98 @ Outlet PC)
Video Card: PNY Quadro 4000 2GB Video Card ($711.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Corsair 300R ATX Mid Tower Case ($59.99 @ Microcenter)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($49.99 @ NCIX US)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($17.98 @ Outlet PC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($88.98 @ Outlet PC)
Total: $1853.75
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-10-13 23:06 EDT-0400)
 
Solution
Another build with monitor:

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1Owmc
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1Owmc/by_merchant/
Benchmarks: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1Owmc/benchmarks/

CPU: Intel Core i7-4770 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($292.99 @ NCIX US)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-U12P SE2 54.4 CFM CPU Cooler ($39.99 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: Asus Z87-A ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($135.99 @ NCIX US)
Memory: G.Skill Sniper Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($139.08 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 500GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($339.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Black 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($146.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: ATI FirePro V4900 1GB Video Card ($150.98 @ Amazon)
Case: Corsair 500R White ATX Mid Tower Case ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: SeaSonic 450W 80 PLUS Gold Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($74.99 @ Amazon)
Optical Drive: Pioneer BDR-207MBK Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Writer ($69.94 @ Outlet PC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Professional SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($134.98 @ Outlet PC)
Monitor: Asus PB278Q 27.0" Monitor ($553.93 @ Amazon)
Total: $2159.84
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-10-13 23:18 EDT-0400)


Ref: https://forum.solidworks.com/message/340783#340783
 

facelessenemy

Honorable
Oct 13, 2013
8
0
10,510


Thanks for the suggestions. I also appreciate the lower price point. However, if I'm hoping to squeeze 4 years out of this machine, does building a more robust system in order to distribute workload increase the life expectancy of machine? Also, because rendering is a multithread operation, won't more cores result in faster render time? I won't be using this for gaming, so if I'm not mistaken, while rendering, the program should be able to take advantage of each core. (why not bump up to six?)

Again, thanks!
 

facelessenemy

Honorable
Oct 13, 2013
8
0
10,510


Thanks for such a timely response! I already have a monitor, so that's not necessary! I have the cash to spend, so similar to my response to AMD Radeon, can I get a machine that lasts longer by distributing the workload across more hardware i.e. more cores? Also, can I build something that can give me faster renderings if I spend more to 'upgrade' components? I essentially want the fastest, most capable machine I can build for $4,000 or less.

Again, thanks for your time!
 
i think it is better if you build 2 machine and distribute the workload between the two. i will sure speed up your work faster than 6 cores. but you still insist getting 6 cores build, here it is

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i7-4930K 3.4GHz 6-Core Processor ($559.99 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.98 @ Outlet PC)
Motherboard: ASRock X79 Extreme6 ATX LGA2011 Motherboard ($224.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($126.92 @ NCIX US)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($126.92 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Samsung 840 Pro Series 256GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($209.99 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($84.98 @ Outlet PC)
Video Card: PNY Quadro 4000 2GB Video Card ($711.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Corsair 300R ATX Mid Tower Case ($59.99 @ Microcenter)
Power Supply: XFX 650W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($64.99 @ NCIX US)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($17.98 @ Outlet PC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($88.98 @ Outlet PC)
Total: $2307.68
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-10-14 00:05 EDT-0400)
 
Another build:

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1OxWR
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1OxWR/by_merchant/
Benchmarks: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1OxWR/benchmarks/

CPU: Intel Core i7-4930K 3.4GHz 6-Core Processor ($559.99 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: NZXT Kraken X60 98.3 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($109.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Asus Sabertooth X79 ATX LGA2011 Motherboard ($309.98 @ Amazon)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($250.14 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 500GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($339.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Black 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($146.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: ATI FirePro V4900 1GB Video Card ($150.98 @ Amazon)
Case: Corsair 500R White ATX Mid Tower Case ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: SeaSonic 450W 80 PLUS Gold Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($74.99 @ Amazon)
Optical Drive: Pioneer BDR-207MBK Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Writer ($69.94 @ Outlet PC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Professional SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($134.98 @ Outlet PC)
Total: $2227.96
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-10-14 00:24 EDT-0400)
 

facelessenemy

Honorable
Oct 13, 2013
8
0
10,510


Again, I thank you for your response. As you said first, building two of the machines you first suggested is an option. Are there any additional costs or hardware I would have to purchase? I've never worked with network. I know that when I render, I can specify to use both machines, but does that also help me when I wish to create my 3d models in Solidworks? My thoughts are that the 'higher' spec'd machine you suggested second would be more beneficial when it came to modeling. Am I right there, or is the two machines networked going to be better all around?

Thanks.
 

facelessenemy

Honorable
Oct 13, 2013
8
0
10,510


Thanks for your input again! Do you have an opinion when it comes to number of available cores in my situation?
 

facelessenemy

Honorable
Oct 13, 2013
8
0
10,510
I also just stubmbled upon the Tom's Hardware post on 'building your own render farm'... maybe a decent main machine with one or two headless render nodes makes sense in the $4,000 budget range?

Thanks again to anyone who has thoughts on this.
 

facelessenemy

Honorable
Oct 13, 2013
8
0
10,510
I just came across this company that seems to sell pre-built solutions for freelance artists with similar needs to mine... anyone have opinions on this company? : http://www.boxxtech.com/
 

apower101

Honorable
Dec 25, 2012
396
0
10,860
Yeah. Don't trust it. They sell for a very small segment of the market and only to freeelance artists, meaning that they could scam you. If they were a gaming pc site, it might be ok, but since so few buy that type of pc, it is likely that they scam those who do. Also, why would anyone suggest such an old firepro card (the v4900)? Go for a quadro 4/5000 or a titan. The cuda cores help a lot. You could also consider getting a xeon with 8 cores if it is really important to you.