3D Animation Workstation

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Adamation

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Hello, I'm having trouble deciding which hardware is the best choice for me for building a workstation that caters to heavy use of 3D Animation/Particle Effects in Maya, 3D Modeling, and the use of vray for rendering. I would love to have someone who is experienced in this field or building workstations to help create a list of parts with a budget of $2500-3000 (Can be pushed further if it is really necessary).

I am open to all suggestions! I hear Quadro cards are the top choice for using Maya and doing heavy rendering. Thanks in advance!

 
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bambiboom
Adamation,

I've not used Maya, but tend to pay attention to Autodesk certification of hardware for their products:

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/syscert?siteID=123112&id=18844534&results=1&stype=graphic&product_group=19&release=2015&os=131072&manuf=all&opt=2

> and animation, as it involves high polygon 3D modeling, heavy / detailed textures, and rendering / processing, requires that everything in the system is fast and accurate. Rendering can be multi-threaded, so the more cores the merrier. Animation files are among the largest, so 32GB of RAM is suggested.

Here is a kind of generic system idea for a good performance level for this kind of visualization. The basis is the Xeon E5-1600 series which have about the...
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MundoDragon

MundoDragon

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Yeah, I would suggest some kind of workstation card if you are serious about it. Also, get as much RAM as your board will support. This will help drastically with rendering time with large file sizes. I'm by no means a workstation expert, so I'll leave the actual part list to someone more knowledgeable. These are just a few suggestions to help steer you in the right path. Good luck.
 
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Adamation

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This is a list I have come up with:

PCPartPicker part list: http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/p/gyRzGX
Price breakdown by merchant: http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/p/gyRzGX/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i7-4770K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($365.89 @ DirectCanada)
CPU Cooler: be quiet! Shadow Rock 2 87.0 CFM Rifle Bearing CPU Cooler ($54.99 @ NCIX)
Motherboard: Asus Sabertooth Z87 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($219.98 @ Newegg Canada)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($357.00 @ DirectCanada)
Storage: Intel 530 Series 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($142.98 @ DirectCanada)
Storage: Western Digital BLACK SERIES 3TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($169.98 @ DirectCanada)
Video Card: PNY Quadro 4000 2GB Video Card ($894.66 @ TigerDirect Canada)
Case: Fractal Design Define R4 w/Window (Black Pearl) ATX Mid Tower Case ($104.98 @ Newegg Canada)
Power Supply: SeaSonic G 550W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($109.98 @ Newegg Canada)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer ($17.75 @ Vuugo)
Total: $2438.19


I really need someones opinion on whether it would be smarter to go with a GeForce GTX780ti or with a Quadro card, keeping in mind I use a lot of maya but I'm not a freelancer. I might do some occasional gaming as well.
 
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bambiboom

bambiboom

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Adamation,

I've not used Maya, but tend to pay attention to Autodesk certification of hardware for their products:

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/syscert?siteID=123112&id=18844534&results=1&stype=graphic&product_group=19&release=2015&os=131072&manuf=all&opt=2

> and animation, as it involves high polygon 3D modeling, heavy / detailed textures, and rendering / processing, requires that everything in the system is fast and accurate. Rendering can be multi-threaded, so the more cores the merrier. Animation files are among the largest, so 32GB of RAM is suggested.

Here is a kind of generic system idea for a good performance level for this kind of visualization. The basis is the Xeon E5-1600 series which have about the best cost / performance for workstation CPU's and the recent (9.14) Quadro X200 series cards are also very good- a K4200 will outperform the previous series K5000.

BambiBoom PixelCannon Cadamodelrendergrapharific iWork TurboBlast Extreme SuperModel 9000 ®©$$™®£™©™_ 9.24.14

1. CPU: Intel Xeon E5-1650 v3 Six-Core Processor 3.5 / 3.8GHz 0GT/s 15MB LGA 2011-v3 CPU> $575

____ http://ark.intel.com/products/82765/Intel-Xeon-Processor-E5-1650-v3-15M-Cache-3_50-GHz
http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?name=E51650V3BX
____ http://www.amazon.com/XEON-E5-1650V3-6C-3-5G-15MB/dp/B00MU045JU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1411580728&sr=8-1&keywords=E5-1650+v3

2. CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO CPU Fan > $32.

3. Motherboard: ASRock X99 Extreme4 LGA 2011-v3 Intel X99 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard > $240
____ http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157543&cm_re=asrock_x99_extreme_4-_-13-157-543-_-Product

4. RAM: 32GB (4) Samsung DDR4-2133 8GB/1Gx72 ECC/REG CL15 Server Memory > $460 ($115 ea.)

____ http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?name=D4218G4S1

5. GPU: PNY NVIDIA Quadro K4200 4GB GDDR5 PCIe Graphics Card (VCQK4200-PB) > $822.
____ http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA24G28N5480&cm_re=quadro_k4200-_-14-133-558-_-Product

6. Drive 1: Crucial MX100 CT512MX100SSD1 2.5" 512GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) > $210
____ http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148821&cm_re=crucial_mx110-_-20-148-821-_-Product

7. Drive 2: Western Digital Black 2 TB SATA III 7200 RPM 64 MB Cache Bulk/OEM Desktop Hard Drive, Black, WD2003FZEX> $140 (Files, Backup, System Image)

8. PSU: SeaSonic X-850 ; SS-850KM3 ACTIVE PFC F3 850W 80 Plus Gold ATX12V/EPS12V Power Supply > $146

9. Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE 24X SATA DVD±RW Internal Drive w/o Software (Black) SH-224DB $17.99

10. Case: LIAN LI PC-A75X No Power Supply ATX Full Tower Case (Black) CA-A75$179.99

11. Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Professional 64-bit w/ SP1 (1-Pack, DVD), OEM MSFQC04649 $138.99

________________________________________________________

TOTAL = $ 2,962

This could be improved by considering some other choices, there are particular ASUS and Supermicro motherboards, depending on certain features: chipset, slots RAM slots, M.w and etc., and the Crucial MX 100 could be a Samsung 850 or Intel 630 or 730- that kind of thing.


Cheers,

BambiBoom

HP z420 (2014) > Xeon E5-1620 quad core @ 3.6 / 3.8GHz > 24GB DDR3 ECC 1600 RAM > Quadro K2200 (4GB)> Samsung 840 SSD 250GB /Western Digital Black WD1003FZEX 1TB> M-Audio 192 sound card > AE3000 USB WiFi > 2X Dell Ultrasharp U2715H 2560 X 1440 > Windows 7 Ultimate 64 >
[ Passmark Rating = 4032 > CPU= 9247 / 2D= 821 / 3D=3263 / Mem= 2584 / Disk= 2470]

Dell Precision T5400 (2008) > 2X Xeon X5460 quad core @3.16GHz > 16GB DDR2 667 ECC> Quadro FX 4800 (1.5GB) > WD RE4 500GB / Seagate Barracuda 500GB > M-Audio 2496 Sound Card / Linksys WMP600N WiFi > HP 2711X, 27" 1920 X 1080 and and Dell 19" LCD > Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit >
[ Passmark system Rating = 1859, CPU = 8528 / 2D= 512 / 3D=1097]

Dell Precision 390 (2006): Xeon X3230 quad-core @ 2.67GHz > 8 GB DDR2 667 ECC > Firepro V4900 (1GB) > 2X WD 320GB >Linksys WMP600N WiFi Dell 24" > 1920 X 1200 > Windows 7 Professional 64-bit [ Passmark system rating = 1458, CPU = 3699 / 2D= 431 / 3D=1350 / Mem= 885 / Disk=552]

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

 
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Solution
bambiboom

bambiboom

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Apr 7, 2012
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Adamation,

Pleased to help if I can.

Yes, I think the Quadro K4200 is among the best workstation choices going. This review of the new Quadro series will be of interest:

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

> and you can see a comparison of various cards' performance in Maya:

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/graphics/display/nvidia-quadro-k5200-k4200-k2200_8.html#sect1

> Note that the performance betters the K5000 (when current that was an $1,800 card) and is on par with the Firepro W9100, which costs $3,100. Quadros definitely have the edge for Autodesk, Adobe, and Dessault (Solidworks) . I'm using a K2200 (4GB) which for $450 performs above the previous series K4000 (3GB) and was $850 new.

Cheers,

BambiBoom

 
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