DKing863.
Here is a system idea revised to include (some of) the features you're after and suitable performance. For the CPU, the Xeon E5-2637 v2 Four core 3.5 / 3.8 I think is somewhat expensive, but fast enough to keep work happiness high and the fast 2600-series E5's will be much more sought after when offered for sale- you'll have a higher proportion of the cost back to apply towards the dual 12 cores later. There's a cheaper alternative whihc is to buy slower 6-core CPU's. with animations and rendering though, a high clock speed is important however. I've seen a number of references to SLI becoming ineffective after 2 cards and actually detrimental - slower- after 3 cards, so I would suggest two really good cards. You don;t mention the exact programs to be used, but check carefully in the event you must have a worskstation- Quadro / Firerpo for any of the applications. My understanning is that Maya is not always happy on GTX for example:
http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/syscert?siteID=123112&id=18844534&results=1&stype=graphic&product_group=19&release=2015&os=32768&manuf=all&opt=2
> where all the Autodesk certified cards for Maya are Quadro / Firepro. If you have or even plan to use one application that must have a workstation card, that will be he governing factor.
BambiBoom PixelCannon Cadamodarendacompilarific ExtremeTurboSignature IWork 9000 ®©$$™®£™©™ _6.9.14
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-Processor-E5-2637-v2-15M-Cache-3_50-GHz
Motherboard > ASUS Z9PE-D8 WS Dual LGA 2011 Intel C602 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 SSI EEB > $498 (Has 7X PCIe x16 slots)
____ http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?name=MB-Z9PED8W#
CPU Cooler > (2) 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=N82E16835181030
RAM > 1 >. 64GB (4 X 16GB, 1866 ECC Reg ) Samsung MEM-DR316L-SL02-ER18 M393B2G70QH0-CMA K4B4G0446Q-HCMA 2 RoHS Low Profile > $584 ($146 ea) >
___
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820239756
GPU > 2X) EVGA 06G-P4-3787-KR GeForce GTX 780 6GB 384-Bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 SLI Support SC w/ EVGA ACX Cooler Video Card $1150 ($550 each)(=12GB, 6,604 CUDA cores!)
____http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814487040&cm_re=gtx_780_6GB-_-14-487-040-_-Product
HD 1 > SAMSUNG 850 Pro Series MZ-7KE512BW 2.5" 512GB SATA III Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) > $400 (OS and Applications)
___http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147361&cm_re=samsung_ssd-_-20-147-361-_-Product
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 > $ 394 ($197 ea) (RAID 1) (Files, system Image)
___
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822178296
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=N82E16817139011
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 > LIAN LI PC-D600 No Power Supply EATX Full Tower Case (Black/Silver) > $330
___
http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?name=CA-D600
OS > Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 64-bit- OEM > $190
____
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832416808
TOTAL = $5848
A bit over budget.
If the budget is fixed or if the priority is core / thread count rather than clock speed, then the Xeon E5-2637 v2 CPU's can become a slower but 6-core CPU (= 12 cores / 24 threads to 8 cores / 16 threads = adds 50% to number of threads):
(2X) Intel Xeon E5-2630 v2 Ivy Bridge-EP 2.6 / 3.1GHz, 15MB L3 Cache LGA 2011 80W Server Processor BX80635E52630V2 $1220 ($610 each) ( = - $772)(= 12 cores/ 24 threads)
TOTAL= $5076.
The Xeon E5-2600 series has a few gaps when it comes to clock speeds and prices, but the trade-off of clock speed to core count may suit the use and saves costs. However, 3D animation, especially with a lot of textures or particles, and effects processing seems to takes a lot of computing speed. More cores usually mean slower clock speeds. The faster 12-core E5-2676 is a 2.7 / 3.5GHz, not bad, but also $2,700. T
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 Black WD1003FZEX 1TB> M-Audio 192 sound card > AE3000 USB WiFi > HP 2711X, 27" 1920 X 1080 > Windows 7 Ultimate 64 >[Passmark system rating = 3923, 2D= 839 / 3D=2048]
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 >[Passmark system rating = 1859, CPU = 8528 / 2D= 512 / 3D=1097]
2D, 3D CAD, Image Processing, Rendering, Text > Architecture, industrial design, graphic design, written projects