Motion Graphics (3D + After Effects) Workstation First Time Build

mlody_ · Dec 27, 2013

Hi guys.
This is my first workstation for maximum efficiency and productivity, which I am planning to buy in a few weeks time.
It will be used for motion graphics - 2D and 3D animation, modelling, rendering (Cinema 4D and Adobe Suite). It won’t be used for any gaming.

Here's the setup I thought might work:

CPU: Intel i7-4930K LGA 2011 Six-Core
Motherboard: ASUS P9X79 WS LGA 2011
Memory: G.SKILL Ripjaws Z Series 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 680 Classified 4 GB DDR5
Primary HDD: Samsung 840 Pro Series 512GB 2.5" Solid State Disk
HDD for After Effects Cache: Samsung 840 Pro Series 128GB 2.5" Solid State Disk
Media HDD: Western Digital Caviar Black 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive
Power Supply: OCZ ZX Series 850W Fully-Modular 80PLUS Gold
CPU Cooling: Not really sure about this one... Should I get CORSAIR Hydro Series H110 or Noctua NH-D14 SE2011?
Case: Fractal Design Define R4
Monitor: Dell 27" LED U2713HM
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 (OEM) (64-bit)

I would greatly appreciate any suggestions or tips as I am not experienced in building pcs.

Thanks, I look forward to your comments.

EDIT

After hearing all the feedback and seeing various tests results and benchmarks here is the complete setup:

CPU: Intel i7-4930K LGA 2011 Six-Core
Motherboard: ASUS P9X79
Memory: G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 32GB (4 x 8GB) 240-Pin SDRAM DDR3 1866
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 780 Ti 3GB
Primary HDD: Samsung 840 Pro Series 512GB 2.5" Solid State Disk
HDD for After Effects Cache: Samsung 840 Pro Series 128GB 2.5" Solid State Disk
Media HDD: Western Digital Caviar Black 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive
Power Supply: Corsair 1000W FULLY Modular 80+ GOLD
CPU Cooling: Noctua NH-D14 SE2011
Case: Fractal Design Define R4
Monitor: Dell 27" LED U2713HM
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 (OEM) (64-bit)

austenwhd · Dec 27, 2013

You've got an A+ PC there my friend. Every component is very top notch in it's class. Hope it serves you good.

EVO 212 should work fine, if you have a well ventilated PC. Don't know much about water cooling, never needed it.

mlody_ · Dec 28, 2013

austenwhd :

Thanks for answering!

It would still be great to get more feedback.

manofchalk · Dec 28, 2013

The rig looks fine to me, only thing I see that's strange is the GTX680. On a rig like this your better off with a workstation card, all that graphics card offers you is a display output and CUDA cores, that card is meant for gaming.
I am not sure which workstation card would be best for your work, you will want to look into it.

The motherboards form factor (SSI CEB) isnt supported by the Fractal Design R4, it can only go up to ATX. Cases that support that size are typically a lot larger and expensive, the two I know of are the Phanteks Enthoo Primo and Corsair 900D.

You will want more HDD's than just the one, the more you can distribute disk load, the less of a bottleneck your storage will be. Though looking at the size of that SSD, im guessing thats where your going to be storing project files and rendering too?

Cooling, go for either really. Wont make that much of a difference in the scheme of things.

austenwhd · Dec 28, 2013

mlody_ :

Actually, i would like to add a few suggestions, just so that you asked. I am myself a 3D and After Effects user. Look at my signature, notice my configuration, i am more than happy with what I have. Now, when i look at your config, i can only say that for a PC assembled for home use, although even if for high-end professional needs, it is, as i said before A+.

My suggestion for you, only if you want to go the last mile and have the budget:

Don't overclock your CPU, it minimizes lifespan of chip, especially in a machine that is strained with continued use in heavy applications as After Effects or 3D Max or Maya. (I have even turned off Turbo Boost in mine)
Go for 1866Mhz RAMs, they are faster, not much price difference.
GTX 780Ti is awesome, workstation GPU sounds good, but they don't really add much until you are doing 10Bit rendering.
3TB HDD (even Green will work) for Backup and Storage, just in case... and no amount of disk is ever enough.
With above suggestions in mind get a higher voltage PSU, just to be safe.
Yes, go with liquid cooling, read a lot of review, that really helps.
On the side note, if you really are serious about quality, buy a 10 Bit monitor (possibly flicker free ones), with that addition also Quadro 5000 or above, or be even smarter and buy Titan. Don't do SLi setup, After Effects doesn't recognize it.

In the end, it all depends on your requirement and your budget. A higher/faster GPU/CPU/RAM will only speedup the process and not the quality of output, so if you can endure, proportionately, slower render and previews, your current choices are more than enough to deliver you good.

mlody_ · Dec 28, 2013

manofchalk :

Thanks a lot for your feedback. Specially for pointing out that P9X79 WS isn't supported by Fractal Define R4. I want to stay with ATX motherboards. I was leaning towards Asus Sabertooth X79. What do you think would work best for the current specs?

I wasn't 100% sure about the GPU too. GTX 680, GTX 780Ti or Quadro K4000 are my options. I know that there's no the one and only that would work best with 2D and 3D softwares.

Yes, I will storing and rendering current projects to the SSD drive.

austenwhd :

Thanks for your input!

I am not going to overclock the CPU, I don't even know much about it, so it's better not to try.
1866Mhz RAMs seems like a good idea. For backups I have an external HD for now. For the higher voltage PSU I was thinking about CORSAIR RM Series RM1000 1000W.
GTX 780Ti has great specs, I just don't know which one: GTX 680, GTX 780Ti or Quadro K4000 will work best for me.

I will leave 10 bit monitor for some time, now it's more about increasing efficiency and productivity.

Cheers

austenwhd · Dec 29, 2013

Thanks for your input!

I am not going to overclock the CPU, I don't even know much about it, so it's better not to try.
1866Mhz RAMs seems like a good idea. For backups I have an external HD for now. For the higher voltage PSU I was thinking about CORSAIR RM Series RM1000 1000W.
GTX 780Ti has great specs, I just don't know which one: GTX 680, GTX 780Ti or Quadro K4000 will work best for me.

I will leave 10 bit monitor for some time, now it's more about increasing efficiency and productivity.

Cheers

All advices i gave to you only affects speedup here and there in titbits, not any big significant improvements. Considering RAM, if you've the budget please go ahead and buy 1866 Mhz RAM, but as shown many times in various benchmark here on Tomshardware and elsewhere, those speed still doesn't add much to real world performance of PC. Remember, HDD or SDD read/write speed are still considerably slower than CPU-RAM-GPU , hence bottlenecking perfromance of rest of the PC.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/6372/...-to-ddr32400-on-ivy-bridge-igp-with-gskill/12

Corsair/XFX/Seasonic are all top tier brands, but look into the other two brands as well, as far as i know Seasonic is the most reliable brand out there, i own one, compare the specs before buying, it's good to have options.

All three graphics card you listed are officially supported by After Effects, but GTX 780Ti is fastest one of them all (it's fastest in the world), best performance/price ratio as well and as you mentioned, if the 10 Bit monitor is out of the equation, Quadro doesn't make sense, at all.

Now, the best option for you, to add any extra speed to your configuration will be to go for 64 GB RAM, instead of 32 GB. 1600 MHz won't be a bad option, at all. 64 GB, RAM will gives you lightning Previews, and considerably faster rendering in very intensive CPU renders.

Remember, all the advice i am giving you is only because you're looking for it, your current choices seems fines to me.

mlody_ · Dec 29, 2013

austenwhd :

Thanks for your input!

I am not going to overclock the CPU, I don't even know much about it, so it's better not to try.
1866Mhz RAMs seems like a good idea. For backups I have an external HD for now. For the higher voltage PSU I was thinking about CORSAIR RM Series RM1000 1000W.
GTX 780Ti has great specs, I just don't know which one: GTX 680, GTX 780Ti or Quadro K4000 will work best for me.

I will leave 10 bit monitor for some time, now it's more about increasing efficiency and productivity.

Cheers

All advices i gave to you only affects speedup here and there in titbits, not any big significant improvements. Considering RAM, if you've the budget please go ahead and buy 1866 Mhz RAM, but as shown many times in various benchmark here on Tomshardware and elsewhere, those speed still doesn't add much to real world performance of PC. Remember, HDD or SDD read/write speed are still considerably slower than CPU-RAM-GPU , hence bottlenecking perfromance of rest of the PC.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/6372/...-to-ddr32400-on-ivy-bridge-igp-with-gskill/12

Corsair/XFX/Seasonic are all top tier brands, but look into the other two brands as well, as far as i know Seasonic is the most reliable brand out there, i own one, compare the specs before buying, it's good to have options.

All three graphics card you listed are officially supported by After Effects, but GTX 780Ti is fastest one of them all (it's fastest in the world), best performance/price ratio as well and as you mentioned, if the 10 Bit monitor is out of the equation, Quadro doesn't make sense, at all.

Now, the best option for you, to add any extra speed to your configuration will be to go for 64 GB RAM, instead of 32 GB. 1600 MHz won't be a bad option, at all. 64 GB, RAM will gives you lightning Previews, and considerably faster rendering in very intensive CPU renders.

Remember, all the advice i am giving you is only because you're looking for it, your current choices seems fines to me.

Thanks a lot, it all make sense. I read more about GTX780 Ti and that's the GPU I will go with. I have the budget to get 32GB 1866 Mhz RAM, but 64GB RAM will have to wait for a while.

The only thing left is the ATX motherboard. I am wondering are there other good options besides Asus Sabertooth X79?

Thanks for your help.

austenwhd · Dec 29, 2013

You can never go wrong with Asus board, they are the very best, in my opinion. 780Ti is indeed the very best choice for GPU right now, either for most hardcore gamer or 3D designer, i wish i could buy one. Choosing to go with 1866 Mhz RAm is also a good call.

Now about that motherboard, the things you need to consider is:

1. That board supports and have enough slots/space for all components you're looking to buy like 4 RAM slots that support 1866 MHz RAM or not, fitting in your cabinet or has enough Sata 6 Gb or 3 Gb slots or 3.0 USB (if you need) or not. It's worth mentioning Sata 6 actually improves performance.
2. It is one of the reliable brands: Asus, Gigabyte, MSI and Asrock are all good brands. Asus is the very best.
3. It's after sales services like check if the service center is near enough to your house.
4. The same brand/chipset board are all of same build quality so just don't buy the expensive one because it sounds good, go for the one that fills all your requirements.
5. Go to website and read reviews, that really helps.

You can look into ASUS Rampage IV Gene LGA 2011 Intel X79 if you're looking for extreme boards.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...5&IsNodeId=1&bop=And&Order=RATING&PageSize=20

mlody_ · Dec 31, 2013

austenwhd :

You can never go wrong with Asus board, they are the very best, in my opinion. 780Ti is indeed the very best choice for GPU right now, either for most hardcore gamer or 3D designer, i wish i could buy one. Choosing to go with 1866 Mhz RAm is also a good call.

Now about that motherboard, the things you need to consider is:

1. That board supports and have enough slots/space for all components you're looking to buy like 4 RAM slots that support 1866 MHz RAM or not, fitting in your cabinet or has enough Sata 6 Gb or 3 Gb slots or 3.0 USB (if you need) or not. It's worth mentioning Sata 6 actually improves performance.
2. It is one of the reliable brands: Asus, Gigabyte, MSI and Asrock are all good brands. Asus is the very best.
3. It's after sales services like check if the service center is near enough to your house.
4. The same brand/chipset board are all of same build quality so just don't buy the expensive one because it sounds good, go for the one that fills all your requirements.
5. Go to website and read reviews, that really helps.

You can look into ASUS Rampage IV Gene LGA 2011 Intel X79 if you're looking for extreme boards.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...5&IsNodeId=1&bop=And&Order=RATING&PageSize=20

Thanks for all your help! Really appreciate it.

I decided to go with ASUS P9X79 motherboard. It seems to suit my needs and has a good price.
Now, I just have to complete the build.

Cheers

austenwhd · Dec 31, 2013

Good choice. I am glad i could help.

billlake01 · Mar 25, 2014

mlody_ :

I do similar work: two monitors is an important productivity booster. So much easier.
Your drive set up is questionable. I/o will be your bottleneck. Read up on rendering (Adobe site, Harm Millard's blog, ...) renderng is fastest when the rig can read and write simultaneously. That cant happen with one media disk. If you read footage, get a large fast, dedicated raid zero for your media disk. Use a separate dedicated large raid zero for renders. Try to get your source media disk and your renders disks (each their own raid-0) to be as fast as the bus. That is really the best way to make max use of your processor.

Otherwise-great rig.

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