First time custom build for architectural work station for around 2000$

BenBFD,

You've made very good choices overall. There are some good enhancements that will add something to the cost, but in my view also add to the capabilities and future upgrading:

1. Consider an LGA2011-3 CPU / motherboard, which has double the memory bandwidth, 40 instead of 28 PCIe lanes and the ability to have up to 18-core CPU's as compared to the 4-core of LGA1150.

2. Consider starting with a 4 or 6-core Xeon E5. The i7-4790K is a very good CPU, but you're paying for both Intel Integrated Graphics 4600- which is surprising good but which won't be used as you're having a dedicated graphics card, plus the "K" allows overclocking, which is not desirable fro workstation use. Have a look at the Xeon E5-1630 v3"

http://ark.intel.com/products/82764/Intel-Xeon-Processor-E5-1630-v3-10M-Cache-3_70-GHz?q=E5-1630%20V3

http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?p=E5-1630V3&c=fr&pid=a5f38030f313b9bd2f7fb042734a7e788168bb1b0dcf6a687a64b23cdd938ae7&gclid=CjwKEAjwsZyqBRCT1aq6qcD53DQSJACcen4Cn7P1IpMNJMmO2oxKdMdTjk5qM1iGKPmIZZJzQHgLlxoCxxXw_wcB

> Which is a 4-core @ 3.7 / 3.8GHz

Or for $200 more:

http://ark.intel.com/products/82765/Intel-Xeon-Processor-E5-1650-v3-15M-Cache-3_50-GHz?q=e5-1650%20v3
http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?name=E51650V3BX

> so, you'd have a 6-core @ 3.5 / 3.8GHz for faster rendering.

This can go on an ASRock X99 Extreme4 motherboard, or better, a Supermicro X10:

http://www.supermicro.com/products/motherboard/Xeon/C600/X10SRA.cfm

> in which case I'd use ECC RAM also- and using 8GB modules eventually add to 32GB.

3. The Quadro K2000 has been replaced with a much better performs for about the same price, the Quadro K2200 (4GB instead of 2GB) which outperforms the K4000. I was gong to buy a used Quadro K5000 for my HP Z420 costing then $900, but the K2200 has been perfectly adequate. I do have a large project on the horizon that might prompt a change to a K4200 but so far,.. Yhere is a very new Quadro- released in the last two weeks (4.15), the Quadro K1200 which is also 4GB, but with 512 CUDA cores instead of the 640 of the K220 and the K1200 is DisplayPort only- and $100 less than the K2200. If you want to look far into the future though You might consider a K4200 (about $730 or used K4200- about $600 now)- and these outperform K5000's which started out as $2,000 cards.

I'm a believer in building ahead of need and is it can be a used a couple of years longer, it actually becomes cheaper by delaying replacement and work is not interrupted by fussing with upgrades.

Cheers,

BambiBoom

HP z420 (2015) > Xeon E5-1660 v2 six-core @ 3.7 / 4.0GHz > 16GB DDR3 ECC 1866 RAM > Quadro K2200 (4GB) > Intel 730 480GB > Western Digital Black WD1003FZEX 1TB> M-Audio 192 sound card > Logitech z2300 > Linksys AE3000 USB WiFi > 2X Dell Ultrasharp U2715H (2560 X 1440) > Windows 7 Professional 64 >
[ Passmark Rating = 4918 > CPU= 13941 / 2D= 823 / 3D=3464 / Mem= 2669 / Disk= 4764]

Dell Precision T5500 (2011) > Xeon X5680 six -core @ 3.33 / 3.6GHz, 24GB DDR3 ECC 1333 > Quadro 4000 (2GB ) > Samsung 840 250GB /WD RE4 Enterprise 1TB > M-Audio 192 sound card> Linksys WMP600N PCI WiFi > Windows 7 Professional 64> HP 2711x (1920 X 1440)
[ Passmark system rating = 3339 / CPU = 9347 / 2D= 684 / 3D= 2030 / Mem= 1871 / Disk= 2234]