$1500-2000 Build for Animation, please

Approximate Purchase Date: within a few weeks? There is a few sales ending today (lol), though.. Like $60 difference.

Budget Range: 1500-2000 USD

System Usage: mainly for animation, 2D and 3D. Programs considered to be using include:
- Adobe Photoshop
- Adobe Illustrator
- Adobe After Effects
- Autodesk Maya
- Audacity
- Mudbox & Zbrush
- Wacom Bamboo Create tablet
- may try 3D Studio Max, too.
- a bit of computer programming too

I may play a few low-end games, but total focus is towards animation.

Overclocking: prefer not to. I’ve also read that Maya doesn’t do well with overcloking, anyways. I may, but would think twice as a last resort for upped performance.. Once I know how it works.

SLI/Crossfire: don’t plan to. I read that it’s best to get the best single GPU I can afford than to link several ones, for my purposes.

I’ve been using a 2007 laptop (Dell XPS M1330, stock?) with low specs. I experience lag using Maya and sometimes the arrow(heads) of, say, the Move tool doesn’t show; only lines show. I’ve been told that it could be due to an outdated graphics card, etc. With all things considered, I figured I best upgrade to a new pc and hope that all these issues will be taken care of.

I’ve done a lot of research for days but there‘s always more to learn, and to be confused/overwhelmed about. So I’d like to know if the components I’ve grouped together, from CPU and GPU to monitor and case, are compatible with one another and for my work intentions. Is there any bottlenecking and the sort?

I’ve come up with two partial builds. I don’t know if the second one is overkill and if I am better off going for the former and than upgrade to the latter if need be. Since this is my very first time building a pc.


Well, after second thoughts.. I think I’ll go for the second build. But, my first build revolved around an Intel Core i7-3770 Ivy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.9GHz Turbo) LGA 1155 Quad-Core Processor.



Second build

CPU: Intel Core i7 4930k Ivy Bridge-E 3.4GHz LGA 2011 Six-Core
Mobo: ASUS Sabertooth X79 LGA 2011 Intel X79 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX
GPU: Quadro 2000 or FirePro V5900
PSU: help?
RAM: Corsair Vengeance 16GB or G.Skill Trident X 16GB DDR3 2400 (combo w/ mobo and cpu)
SSD: Samsung 840 EVO 120GB SATAIII (for OS and programs)
HDD: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 7200RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s
Case: Corsair Carbide Series 500R ATX Mid Tower
OS: Windows 8.1 Pro (student version)

Monitor: Samsung SyncMaster P2370HD


If the six-core (and motherboard?) makes the difference, I’m willing to pay a bit more for it. Is the set-up considered to be mid-high?

I think the i7-4930k has turbo boost and hyper-threading.. right? Just making sure..



In order of importance, I have additional questions:

1. On the Sabertooth x79 mobo, it says “2nd Generation Intel Core i7 processor family for the LGA 2011 Socket”. But it’s compatible with the 4930k CPU (3rd gen?), right?

2. So for RAM, is the Corsair Vengeance or G.Skill Trident X better for creative purposes?

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3. I really like the color quality of the Apple computers that school has (vidid and bright). Can I achieve somewhere close to that quality with this set-up? If not, how?

4. This is a silly question, but via what cable will my monitor and the motherboard connect to each other? The monitor has a VGA, HDMI and DGI… which aren’t listed for the motherboard.

5. For GPU, Quadro 2000 or FirePro v5900? (not sure if those two are on the same level for comparison) I think FirePro is better for Maya, but there’s things like OpenGL/OpenCL, CUDA, CPU accelerator… (confused). Can both do everything the other can, in respect to the programs (just slow/faster)?? Which do you think I should go for? Which is more well-rounded? Are they too outdated?

6. I have no clue on the Power Supply, even after attempting to use a PSU calculator. It’s better to have a bit more wattage in case I use additional devices/upgrades, right? Is there a drawback for having a PSU of excessive power? And then there’s the voltage, etc.. (how it it calculated?)

7. About the case of choice, it was a debate between Corsair 500R or 600T. 600T offers a bit more space, but I fancy the two front USB 3.0 ports that the 500R offers. Does the 500R offer a decent airflow with all these things fit in?

8. It is ok to use 2 sticks of 8GB memory on a Quad-Channel, right? It’s just behave as a dual-channel?

9. Does the motherboard allow me to go online without buying any wireless component?

10. Should I be getting 32 or 64bit for Windows 8.1?



So are all these parts compatible/balanced with each other and not bottlenecked? I’m open to suggestions and advises for better/value parts. This will be a very long term investment, at least 5yrs I hope. I’m excited and paranoid at the same time, haha. I’m sorry I’ve packed so many questions into one single topic board instead of creating several topics. I’d have like to spend more time researching more, but there are sales ending today (Jan 5) and Jan 8. So all help - any help - is very MUCH appreciated. Thank you, thank you!

Ok, time for some shut eye. I’ll be back in 9hrs’ time x_x