New build for production work / X99 System

zweiDee · Oct 11, 2014

Hello, I would like to build a PC for my professional work as 3d and 2d artist. I would like to ask the TH community for good advice which parts would be the best for my budget.

Approximate Purchase Date: I need it at the beginning of December.

Budget Range: Around $3000

System Usage from Most to Least Important: most for 3D and 2D work, gaming,

Do you need to buy OS: Yes

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: caseking.de, digitec.ch, techmania.ch, amazon.de

Location: Zurich, Switzerland

Parts Preferences: Intel CPU, Nvidia

Overclocking: When I have the experience, yes

SLI or Crossfire: Maybe, when I need it.

Additional Comments: PC have to work well for production work (rendering, 3d modeling, 2d painting (big files).
So, how much Memory I need, which CPU, which Video Card and so on? I would like to have a good System for the next 4-5 years without to replace the parts. But to have the option to upgrade (sli, more memory etc.)
It should look also cool, so I want to go for a white theme build (white Phanteks case, white Asus MoBo and so on).

Why Are You Upgrading: I want to build a new PC, my first PC (I was a Mac user for years). I need it for my professional freelance work. And sometimes for gaming.

Parts I have already:

Case: Phanteks Enthoo Pro (white)
PSU: Corsair HX750i
SSD: Corsair LX 512 GB
Motherboard: Asus X99-S
Monitor: ASUS PB278Q 27" (2560x1440 px)
Mouse, Keyboard and Network Power Adapter

Thank you!

bambiboom · Oct 11, 2014

zweiDee,

Hallo, schoene Schweiz ou eventuellement Bonjour la belle Suisse! Sorry, I don't know it in Romansh.

You choices so far are quite good. Corsair and Seasonic are in my opinion the best power supply makers and 750w is perfect. The new X99 chipset has some excellent new features- enhanced disk comtroling in type and number for example and I would expect the ASUS X99 board to be very good. The ASUS PB278Q monitor is on my list to have a look at- excellent choice. I've wanted to change from 1920 X 1080 to 2560 X 1440 for awhile.

I would recommend to consider:

CPU: Intel i7-5930K Processor 6-core @ 3.5 / 3.7GHz, 15M Cache, EUR 602 (DE). Having 6 cores / 12 threads is useful for rendering and the clock speed is very good. I think this CPU has about the best performance per Eur of any CPU.

http://ark.intel.com/products/82931
https://www.digitec.ch/de/s1/product/intel-core-i7-5930k-lga-2011-v3-350ghz-unlocked-prozessor-2753937

The i7-5960x is not necessary in my opinion, but if you have the budget, it does have 8 cores- again very good for rendering / processing, and film editing. The clock speed though is 3.0/3.5GHz and the cost is Eur 1048:

http://ark.intel.com/products/82930/Intel-Core-i7-5960X-Processor-Extreme-Edition-20M-Cache-up-to-3_50-GHz?q=i7-5960x

https://www.digitec.ch/de/s1/product/intel-core-i7-5960x-lga-2011-v3-3ghz-unlocked-prozessor-2753936

GPU: Quadro K2200 (4GB) > EUR 799. his will run the excellent Quadro workstation drivers, has CUDA acceleration for Autodesk and Adobe programmes, viewport and 12-bit color support, and the performance exceeds that of the previous generation Quadro K4000. If your budget is enough, the recent Quadro K4200 (8GB) is fantastic- faster than the K5000- and would not need upgrading for a long time. Probably tres cher and /or zuviel teuer in CH though.

https://www.digitec.ch/de/s1/product/hp-j0g89a-nvidia-quadro-k2200-graphics-accelerator-modellspezifische-grafikkarte-2762298

Drives: The ASUS X99-S has an M.2 Ultra socket which will run at fantastic rates but the Corsair 512GB should be very good: My suggestion is to use the SSD for the operating system and active files and add a larger mechanical hard drives for storage, possibly a RAID 1 to protect the data. One tactic that has been very useful for me is to have a partition on the storage drive- and a remote copy somewhere else containing a system image that can restore the OS and all the programs very quickly. In my case, this gets me back to work about three days sooner. I like Western Digital Black or, better, a Seagate Constellation ES.3 that have 128MB cache instead of 64MB":

https://www.digitec.ch/de/s1/product/seagate-constellation-es3-2000gb-35-desktop-festplatte-2444046

Memory : My tendency is to use ECC error correcting for workstations, but it's not essential/ The DDR4 memory has potential and on LGA2011-3 is running at a native speed of 2133. There seems to be few choices of makes and models and it's expensive now- most has been ECC made for servers until recently. If you can, install 32GB or start with 16GB using 2x 8GB, so that another 16GB may be added later.

A very good project!

Cheers,

BambiBoom

HP z420 (2014) > Xeon E5-1620 quad core @ 3.6 / 3.8GHz > 24GB DDR3 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, CPU= 9223/ 2D= 839 / 3D=2048]

Dell Precision T5400 (2008) > 2X Xeon X5460 quad core @3.16GHz > 16GB DDR2 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]

Dell Precision 390 (2005) Xeon x3230 quad core @ 2.67GHz > 6 GB DDR2 ECC 667 > Firepro V4900 (1GB)> 2X WD 320GB > Windows 7 Profession 64-bit [Passmark system rating = 1431, CPU = 3642 / 2D= 433 / 3D=1346]

2D, 3D CAD, Image Processing, Rendering, Text > Architecture, industrial design, graphic design, written projects

zweiDee · Oct 12, 2014

bambiboom,

Thank you very much for your great and detailed post!

Yes I heard also many good things about the Corsair PSU, also Seasonic and the Super Flower was on my list. But the Corsair HXi was on sale, like all the other parts I bought so far.

I have still some questions:

The Quadro K4200 is 4GB and not 8GB, but I think that's also good enought?!.

And I think for CPU cooling I can buy a H105i or something, I think soon the Kraken X61 is available, but that one cost little bit more.

And the Memory something like this G.Skill? The Dominator have more MHz but it's super expensive.

Thank you!

bambiboom · Oct 12, 2014

zweiDee,

You're very welcome.

Quadro K4200: Yes, sorry, the Quadro K4200 is indeed 4GB. I believe that unless you are working with extremely large file projects such as animation, very large assemblies in Solidworks or Catia, and/or video effects processing, it should be excellent. The new K4200 is reported to have better performance than the K5000 and in my use, I believe a K4200 could be useful for perhaps ten years. That's another good feature of Quadros- they're made to run at full speed for years at a time. I have had eight Quadros since 2003 all of which I bought used and never a failure after ten years use, sometimes running non-stop for days.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nvidia_Quadro

Keep in mind that Quadros will not be as fast as GeForce for gaming.

CPU Cooling: I'm not an expert on CPU cooling, but look at both the cooling effectiveness and amount of noise. As the number of cores has increased, the power ratings for LGA2011-3 CPU's seem to be slightly higher (+5 >+10W). If I were building a system with a 6 or 8-core CPU or was doing a lot of rendering, I'd have a liquid cooler too, and something from the Corsair H-series that you mention would be among my top choices.

These liquid coolers can be quite loud:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=as9p5cXntLY

Also check the sound insulation properties of the system case.

RAM: There was a question floating in the air as to whether the memory speed or a lower latency was more important. I assumed that latency was critical but a couple of reports suggested that speed is more important than popularly thought. I suppose it's best to have both! At the moment, all DDR4 seems expensive to me, but I think this is a matter of supply.

Cheers,

BambiBoom

zweiDee · Oct 12, 2014

Ok, awesome! Thank you again bambiboom!

It's sounds like the K4200 is a really good GPU for professional applications. Little bit expensive and sad they looks not so cool.

But I need the System more for work and it's my tool to make money. So I think it's ok...

Another question. How well would work a GTX980 or a GTX970 for editing? I use mostly Photoshop and 3D applications are tools I use and learn since February this year. So would be a K4200 not an overkill? Maybe it would be an option to have a GTX for this and the next year, and when I see the GTX is on the limit with the rendering, I buy a Quadro and sell the GTX.

Edit: In Switzerland a K2200 is also more expensive than a GTX980, but not that much.

Just wondering about that.

Thank you!

bambiboom · Oct 12, 2014

zweiDee,

Quadros are often talked about as GTX cards made artificially expensive, but there are definite advantages in the drivers and support. I've heard of NVIDIA even modifying drivers especially for companies that use their top end cards. I think of Quadros and Firepro are image quality -and stability-oriented while GTX as image speed cards. As mentioned earlier, there are some applications that really almost demand a Quadro ro Firepro- and Firepro seem to be better at calculation-intensive applications. Zuviel Kompleziert! As much as I'm convinced of the value of workstation cards, I suggest that you visit the site for any application that you use or may use and see what is suggested / approved / certified for that use. For example with Autodesk:

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/syscert?siteID=123112&id=18844534&results=1&stype=graphic&product_group=6&release=2014&os=8192&manuf=all&opt=0

> it's possible to check each program and see that 3ds Max will work on GTX, but they are not certified, meaning that Autodesk will have reduced technical support if you use GTX as the problems may be related to the graphics card choice. Adobe and Dessault have similar sites and Dessault will even give you a special driver for Solidworks. I imagine that there quite a few offices using GTX for editing and there was even a GTX that was considered an excellent editing card- the GTX 580 3GB. A lager bandwidth- 256 or 384-bit seems to help editing. there was an older Quadro- the FX5800 (4GB) that was 512-bit and that was the workstation editing oreiented card until the Quadro 6000 (6GB) was made.

To me, the K4200 is a good bargain- but here in the US, about $860 (about Eur 681) becuase the performance is as good or better than the K5000 that cost $1,700. Actually, from reviews, a K2220 performs about as well as a Quadro K4000:

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/graphics/display/nvidia-quadro-k5200-k4200-k2200.html

> and like the K4200 a K2200 is a good deal relative to the K4000 which cost about $760.

I haven't been to Switzerland (Lausanne, Pully and Zermatt) since 2003, and then it seemed not overly expensive compared to Los Angeles, but it does seem to be very expensive now. But so does Los Angeles!

Cheers,

BambiBoom

zweiDee · Oct 13, 2014

Allright, thank you very much bambiboom! Your'e a big help!

Ok, so I think a new 4GB GTX (256bit) would be my choice. So I can upgrade later to a Quadro when I using more GPU based Render, CAD and 3D Applications. When I check the websites for Modo and Zbrush they need more a good CPU and Memory.

So that brings me to another, and hopefully last question. You say you would buy the 5930K. But Wouldn't be the 5820K the better choice than the 5930K? It has also 6 cores and 12 threads like the 5930K, but it cost $200 less.

And for Memory, I found DDR4-2400MHz 32GB Kits, I think that's fine as well for my use. And more MHz Memory are also so much more expensive.

Thank you again and I'll let you know how the build will work when it's finished.

bambiboom · Oct 13, 2014

zweiDee,

As applications become more OpenCL and GL, you can have very good results with a GTX having the wider bandwidth and 4GB of memory. My only comment is to check the good performing and recommended cards for any application you have or plan to use in the near future as changing the GPU is expensive.

The recommendation for the i7-5930K in preference to the i7-5820K is partly related to the slightly higher base clock speed (+200MHz), but more to having 40 PCIe lanes as compared to the 28 Lanes of the i7-5820K. If you do not intend to use the M.2 Ultra connection - which require either 2 or 4 lanes, add peripherals that together use a lot of lanes such as a second GPU, PCIe SSD's, RAID controller, WiFi, elaborate or multiple sound cards, then the 28 lanes may well be sufficient. To decide on having 28 lanes instead of 40 lanes means that you must know how many lanes are being used to run the basic system then add the current and future peripherals and I'm not sure how to count those exactly. The GPU itself can use 16 lanes.

Let us know how you progress and best of luck. I for one would appreciate especially your thoughts about the ASUS PB278Q monitor.

Cheers,

BambiBoom

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