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Need help choosing parts for Workstation PC

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March 2, 2014 9:18:00 AM

Hi I'm planning to build a new home workstation and there are some parts I need help choosing.
Programs I'm working with: 3Ds max with Vray and Vray RT, Maya, Mudbox, Photoshop, After Effects. I often use real time rendering in 3D programs.
Here are my options on main components:

CPU: Single i7 4960X, i7 4930k or Dual Xeon 2620 v2, or 2630 v2
Cooler: 1 or 2 CM Hyper 212 EVO
Mobo: ASUS P9X79 WS for Single i7, Supermicro X9DAE-O for Dual Xeon
RAM: 16Gbs and do I need ECC Regstered or not?
GPU: Quadro k4000 or Firepro w7000 (I need to handle complex scenes and particles)
PSU: EVGA SuperNOVA 1000w
Case: Cooler master CM 690 II
Or other parts you would recommend

My budget is around $3500
Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for your time guys

More about : choosing parts workstation

a b à CPUs
March 2, 2014 8:05:05 PM

Big Zero,

Here's a thought > This is based on the the Zeon six core E5-1650 V2 on a C602 motherboard. For your use I would only have an LGA2011 system- greater bandwidth, more PCIe lanes, more memory, and the ability to expand to 8 and 10 core CPU's in the future.. The 1650 V2 at 3.5 / 3.9GHz is one of the fastest Xeons, plus at $600 is one the best in terms of cost / performance. I do recommend ECC RAM for accurate and artifact-free modeling /animation of particles, gas, reflections, and clean rendering. In my view, the very best card for all the applications listed is the Quadro K5000, and the upper level W-series (9000, 8000, 7000) are very good also. I am planning on snapping up a K5000 up as soon as they drop below $900 used,..

BambiBoom PixelCannon Modarendergrapharific iWork TurboSignature Extreme ModelBlast 6000 ®©$$™®£™©™_ 3.2.14

Processor> Processor: Intel Xeon Six-Core Processor E5-1650 v2 3.5 / 3.9GHz 0GT/s 12MB LGA 2011 CPU, OEM > $630 (Superbiiz)

____http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?p=E5-1650&c=fr&pid=...

____http://ark.intel.com/products/75780/Intel-Xeon-Processo...

Cooling> Noctua NH-U12S 120x120x25 ( NF-F12 PWM) SSO2-Bearing ( Self-stabilizing oil-pressure bearing ) CPU Cooler $70

____http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

Motherboard> ASUS Z9PA-U8 ATX Server Motherboard, C602 chipset, LGA 2011 > $278

____http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

RAM> 32GB ( 2 X 16GB) SAMSUNG 16GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM ECC Registered DDR3 1600 Server Memory Model M393B2G70BH0-CK008 $380 > ($190 ea.)

____ http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

GPU> NVIDIA / HP Quadro K4000 3GB GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 Workstation Video Card > $754

____ http://www.amazon.com/HP-Quadro-K4000-Graphic-Card/dp/B...

Hard Drive 1> SAMSUNG 840 Pro Series MZ-7PD512BW 2.5" 512GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) > $470. (OS , Applications, Working Files)

____ http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

Hard Drive 2> Western Digital 2 TB SATA III 7200 RPM 64 MB Cache Bulk/OEM Desktop Hard Drive, Black, WD2003FZEX(RAID 1) > $168 (Files, Backup, System Image)

Hard Drive 3 > Western Digital 2 TB SATA III 7200 RPM 64 MB Cache Bulk/OEM Desktop Hard Drive, Black, WD2003FZEX (RAID 1) > $168 (Files, Backup, System Image)

____http://www.amazon.com/Western-Digital-Cache-Desktop-WD2....

Case> Corsair Obsidian Series 900D CC-9011022-WW Black Aluminum ATX Super Tower Computer Case $349.99

____http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168.....

Power Supply > SeaSonic G-750 SSR-750RM 750W ATX12V / EPS12V 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply $110.

____http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

DVD Burner> ASUS Black 16X BD-R 2X BD-RE 16X DVD+R 5X DVD-RAM 12X BD-ROM SATA Blu-ray Burner BW-16D1HT > $109.99

____ http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

_________________________________________________________________

TOTAL = $3,489.

Cheers,

BambiBoom

HP z420 (2014) > Xeon E5-1620 quad core @ 3.6 / 3.8GHz > 24GB ECC 1600 RAM > Quadro 4000 (2GB)> Samsung 840 SSD 250GB /Western Digital WD1003FZEX 1TB> M-Audio 192 sound card > AE3000 USB WiFi > HP 2711X, 27" 1920 X 1080 > Windows 7 Ultimate 64 > Autodesk Building Design Suite, 3DS Max. Inventor Pro, Solidworks, Adobe CS MC, Corel Technical Design, Sketchup Pro/Vray, WordP Office, MS Office Pro [Passmark system rating = 3815, 2D= 767 / 3D=2044]

Dell Precision T5400 (2008) > 2X Xeon X5460 quad core @3.16GHz > 16GB ECC 667> Quadro FX 4800 (1.5GB) > WD RE4 500GB / Seagate Barracuda 500GB > M-Audio 2496 Sound Card / Linksys 600N WiFi > Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit > (earlier versions) AutoCad, Revit, Solidworks, Sketchup Pro, Corel Technical Designer, Adobe CS MC, WordP Office, MS Office Pro [Passmark system rating = 1859, 2D= 512 / 3D=1097]



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March 4, 2014 9:52:22 AM

Thanks for ur reply, that is a nice build but I still have some questions if u dont mind.
Would an i7 4930k be a better choice compared to the E5 1650 v2? If going with Single CPU
Also I forgot to mention that HDD and SSD are not needed cuz I will be using my old ones.
Should I allocate more budget on CPU (possibly dual Xeon) or GPU (Quadro k5000)?
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a b à CPUs
March 4, 2014 10:30:13 AM

BigZero said:
Thanks for ur reply, that is a nice build but I still have some questions if u dont mind.
Would an i7 4930k be a better choice compared to the E5 1650 v2? If going with Single CPU
Also I forgot to mention that HDD and SSD are not needed cuz I will be using my old ones.
Should I allocate more budget on CPU (possibly dual Xeon) or GPU (Quadro k5000)?


BigZero,

The applications you use > 3D modeling, animation, and rendering, are in the most demanding classification and would benefit from as many CPU and CUDA cores, as possible. As a system has to work in the most demanding application, I strongly recommend a Xeon, ECC RAM for those applications and a Quadro card to run the viewports in Maya and 3Ds Max- the demanding ones. In my view the Quadro K5000 is the ideal Maya card, and in fact is good at about everything.

The step up to a dual Xeon with an appropriate clock speed and Quadro K5000 is quite a jump in cost, but not inappropriately expensive given that you're running $20,000+ in software. Here is an idea of a good system of that kind that should have quite high performance >

BambiBoom PixelCannon Cadamodirendacompilarific ExtremeTurboSignature IWork 9000 ®©$$™®£™©™ _3.4.14

CPU > (2) Xeon E5-2643 V2 Six Core 3.5 / 3.8 GHz LGA2011 25MB > $3146 ($1578 ea)

____ http://www.provantage.com/intel-cm8063501287403~7ITEP3W...

CPU OPT'L > (2) Intel Xeon Processor E5-2637 v2 Four core 3.5 / 3.8 GHz 15M Cache >$1992 ($996 each)

http://ark.intel.com/products/75792/Intel-Xeon-Processo...

Motherboard > ASUS Z9PE-D8 WS Dual LGA 2011 Intel C602 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 SSI EEB > $534

____ http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

CPU Cooler > CORSAIR Hydro Series H60 (CW-9060007-WW) High Performance Water / Liquid CPU Cooler. 120mm > $130 ($65 ea)

____ http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

RAM > 64GB (4) Kingston 1X16GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM ECC Registered DDR3 1866 (PC3 14900) Server Memory Model KVR18R13D4/16 $745 ($185 ea) > VERIFY

___ http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

GPU > NVIDIA Quadro K5000 4GB GDDR5 Graphics card > $1689.

____www.amazon.com/NVIDIA-Quadro-K5000-Graphics-PNY/dp/B009...

HD 1 > SAMSUNG 840 Pro Series MZ-7PD512BW 2.5" 512GB SATA III TLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) > $400 (OS and Applications)

___ http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

HD 2 and 3 > (2) Seagate Constellation ES.3 ST2000NM0033 2TB 7200 RPM 128MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Enterprise Internal Hard Drive Bare Drive > $ 294 ($197 ea) (RAID 1) (Files, system Image)

___ http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

Power Supply > CORSAIR HX Series HX850 850W ATX12V 2.3 / EPS12V 2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply > $160.

____http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

Optical Drive > SAMSUNG DVD Burner 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 24X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 24X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM SATA Model SH-224DB/BEBE - OEM > $20

Case > Case Labs > Mercury S8 > with options $400

___ http://www.caselabs-store.com/mercury-s8/

OS > Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 64-bit- OEM > $190

____ http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
__________________________________________________________

TOTAL = $7,708 or $7,014 without SSD and HD's. With Xeon E5-2627 V2 and no drives = $5,860

With 12 cores / 24 threads at high clock speeds, I believe this kind of system would be a far better performing and might extend the useful life up to three years longer than the single CPU concept. The only improvement to this system would be to have 2X 8-core Xeon 2768W V2 @ 3.5 /4GHz ($2,200 each).

If the budget is not as flexible, I believe the Quadro K5000 to be the best all round workstation card going and I for one would make an effort to have that one. When those are available used at under $800 (there have been a few sales close to that already), that will be my next GPU.

On the subject of used Quadros,, I might mention that I have had a used> FX550, FX570, FX580, FX1700, and FX4800 ($1,200 new, $150 to me when 18 months old) and I have never had one failure or problem that wasn't in reality a driver version problem. If you are good at judging used stuff and have patience, you might consider springing on a used Quadro K5000 deal. Here's one I missed by a day. > >

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Nvidia-Quadro-k5000-Brand-New-T...

No guarantees of course, but my I can't believe that my luck with 5 used Quadros over 10 years is unique.


Cheers,

BambiBoom
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