Based off what he said and wanting to work in Maya, on the cheap I would go with the above setup. I like the things anandthech does but when looking at X series CPU's why spend the $1000 price tag when in a workstation with the right GPU for animation and modeling a Xeon works better. But in reality for the budget he has even a baseline workstation is out of his reach.
This is a starter full workstation (no gaming)
PCPartPicker part list:
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/4BjLjX
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/4BjLjX/by_merchant/
CPU: Intel Xeon E5-2650 V2 2.6GHz 8-Core Processor ($999.95 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-U12S 55.0 CFM CPU Cooler ($61.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Asus Z9PE-D8 WS SSI EEB Dual-CPU LGA2011 Motherboard ($499.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 64GB (8 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($777.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Samsung 850 Pro Series 128GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($99.99 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Samsung 850 Pro Series 256GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($166.99 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Western Digital VelociRaptor 1TB 3.5" 10000RPM Internal Hard Drive ($209.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: PNY Quadro 6000 6GB Video Card ($1102.95 @ Amazon)
Case: Phanteks Enthoo Pro ATX Full Tower Case ($99.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: SeaSonic Platinum 1000W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($219.99 @ Amazon)
Optical Drive: LG WH14NS40 Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Writer ($54.95 @ Amazon)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 Professional (32/64-bit) ($170.99 @ Adorama)
Total: $4465.76
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-12-02 11:32 EST-0500
This setup is double what he can afford so the first setup is drawing on the same lines as a base workstation. With that being said if he ever wanted to move into the more friendly FirePro's or Quadro's he has the setup configured so that the transition is easy. As long as there is no OC the Xeon E5-1650 V3 will give the power desired to push 3d modeling with the Asus Radeon R9 290X, but I will not say it will be completely fluid in all aspects. There are some areas where only dedicated rendering cards will accelerate over the 290X. Hence there is always the option to upgrade with a workstation GPU.
The RAM is needed is vast quantity due to 90% of people who work in modeling want to have more than 1 program running so they can switch back and forth. I have 5-7 running at any given time. I switch between Adobe, AutoDesk and others while I work. It makes the working conditions far more efficient.
Running 3 separate drives to me is essential as to keep the system running at optimum performance. Keeping all 3 levels separate OS, programs and DATA gives a fluid movement and less lag between programs and data saves. Preference with workstations is running with 10K or SCSI 15K drives due to the reliability, rewrite and DATA movement.
Just to put 3d modeling into perspective when it comes to animation, I got to use a machine at ILM that was a used for skin, hair and water effects and that machine was around $30,000. You can do the same work with a $2000 machine it just takes WAY longer to render.
Again I base all of this off of Maya, 3DMax, SoftImage, AutoDesk and Adobe and how I have used the programs over the years. If there is a better way then awesome, I only know the systems that I have used over the years that have worked for me and other designers I know.
I think i7Baby has a big point in not knowing the requirements of a system needs all are just shots in the wind till one hits. But I can assume (which makes an ass out of me and u) that in working with 3d modeling with Maya, you might be doing animation and the use of AutoDesk at times. In doing so does require more than the typical system. I spent around $5800 for my workstation to work in Adobe, AutoDesk, Maya, SoftImage, 3dMax and a few other programs. Even with the money I dumped into my system, it still slows down with the rendering at times.
That's my $.02
Peace
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