Proxio :
Guys I need your help making a smart decision on buying one of these two boards either the X99-E Workstation or Z10PE-D8 WS. The difference is obviously that the Z10PE-D8 supports two processors and is a server motherboard. I've been doing research but it seems to be a tough decision.
My use of these systems is mainly media work and I needed to upgrade my current board which is 3 years old and outdated for the work I handle as my previous board was a P9X79 which works fine right now. I obviously need faster renders maybe by 20% or more. I consider myself a power user so a workstation has always been up my alley but this server board is something that I need to consider.
If you guys have any suggestions on ram as I need 128gb at least for th ework I do. I have 64gb currently and that doesn't seem to be enough and I need a suggestion on a processor as well. I am very open to different brands for the motherboards if there's better ones out there but I've been using ASUS since I built my first computer so I'm comfortable with that brand but am willing to try something different.
My financial budget is not a problem here I just need a great quality board that will handle my media work very well for the next 2-3 years hopefully.
Proxio,
There a are of course, many options for workstation boards. My attitude towards workstations is to plan for the expected performance producing the largest foreseeable project in the most demanding program and then adding a bit given that programs continue to ask more of the system. Besides cost / performance, another aspect is the "foreseeable" part and in my experience (architecture, industrial design, graphic design), it's less expensive over time to have a system that has the residual capability to benefit from both periodic and more fundamental upgrades, but without changing the whole system.
Much depends on budget. From your description, you may be able to cross over to a dual CPU system. If you are principally designing and rendering 2D graphics using a multi-threaded application then I would say use a high clock speed six-core Xeon E5-1650 v3 (3.5 /3.8 Ghz)(about $570) on the ASUS X99-E WS.
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
The E5-1650 v3 has among the best cost /performance ratios of any Xeon ever made and is really an amazingly good value in the scheme of things. On the the Passmark test, the E5-1650 v3 on the ASUS ASUS X99-E WS is a superb combination, producing the highest performance posted for the E5-1650 v3:
System Rating = 5663 CPU=
16454 2D=986 3D= 3802 (GTX 750ti) MEM=3003 (64GB 2133) Disk= 5125 (Samsung 850 Pro 1TB)
The system suggested for your use:
BambiBoom PixelCannon Cadamodelrendergrapharific iWork TurboBlast ExtremeSignature SuperModel 9700 ®©$$™®£™©™_ 5.27.15
1. Intel Xeon E5-1650 v3 Six-Core Haswell Processor 3.5GHz 0GT/s 15MB LGA 2011-v3 CPU, Retail > $566
____
http://ark.intel.com/products/82765/Intel-Xeon-Processor-E5-1650-v3-15M-Cache-3_50-GHz?q=E5-165%200V3
____
http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?name=E51650V3BX
2. CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO CPU Fan > $32.
3. ASUS X99-E WS LGA2011-v3/ Intel X99/ DDR4/ 4-Way CrossFireX & 4-Way SLI/ SATA3&USB3.0/ M.2&SATA Express/ A&2GbE/ CEB Workstation Motherboard > $491
____
http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?name=MB-X99E-WS
4. RAM: 128GB (8 xX16GB) SAMSUNG 16GB 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM ECC Registered DDR4 2133 (PC4-17000) Server Memory Model M393A2G40DB0-CPB > $1520 ($190 ea.)
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http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?name=D4218G4S1
5. GPU: PNY NVIDIA Quadro K4200 4GB GDDR5 PCIe Graphics Card (VCQK4200-PB) > $789.
____
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Order=BESTMATCH&Description=k4200&N=-1&isNodeId=1
6. Disk 1: Intel 750 Series SSDPEDMW400G4R5 HHHL (CEM2.0) 400GB PCIe NVMe 3.0 x4 MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) > $409.
____
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820167300&cm_re=intel_750_ssd-_-20-167-300-_-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. Pioneer BDR-209DBK 16X SATA Blu-ray Internal Writer Drive, BulkB $63
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 = $ 4,475
Up to a point the 1650 is a better idea than the 1660 or 1680 given the clock speed, but if you are doing 3D animation, producing, extremely large files, or doing effects processing in video, my recommendation would be to have a dual Xeon E5-2600-series. By using the dual CPU's you increase the memory bandwidth, have double the PCIe lanes for peripherals such as dual GPUs, PCIe SSD's- which I feel are going to become much more prominent in high performance systems, and PCIe RAID controller.
Here is a generic system idea for this use:
BambiBoom PixelCannon Cadarendergrapharific iWork TurboSignature Extreme Signature ModelBlaster 9900 ®©$$™®£™©™
5.27.15
Case /Motherboard /Power supply : Supermicro SuperWorkstation SYS-7038A-I Dual LGA2011 / Supermicro X10DA / 900W Mid-Tower Workstation Barebone System (Black) > $663
http://www.supermicro.com/products/system/tower/7038/SYS-7038A-i.cfm
http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?name=SY-7038AI
CPU: (2) Intel Xeon Processor E5-2643 v3 :20M Cache, 6-core @ 3.4 / 3.7 Ghz, 20MB, 135W > $3,040 ($1519 ea)
http://ark.intel.com/products/81900
http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?name=E5-2643V3
Memory: 128GB (16x 8GB) Samsung DDR4-2133 8GB/1Gx72 ECC/REG CL15 Server Memory > $1,600 ($100ea.)
http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?name=D4218G4S1
GPU: PNY Quadro K5200 VCQK5200-PB 8GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 Workstation Video Card> $1,900.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814133557&cm_re=Quadro_K5200-_-14-133-557-_-Product
RAID Controller : LSI MegaRAID SAS 9341-4i (LSI00419) PCI-Express 3.0 x8 Low Profile SATA / SAS High Performance Four-Port 12Gb/s RAID Controller (Single Pack)--Avago Technologies > $175
Disk 1: Intel 750 Series SSDPEDMW400G4R5 HHHL (CEM2.0) 400GB PCIe NVMe 3.0 x4 MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) > $409.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820167300&cm_re=intel_750_ssd-_-20-167-300-_-Product
Disks 2, 3, and 4: Seagate Constellation ES.2 ST33000650SS 3TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SAS 6Gb/s 3.5" Enterprise Internal Hard Drive Bare Drive> $810 ($270 ea.)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822178296
Optical Disk: 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 > $18
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827151266
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Professional SP1 64-bit English (1-Pack), OEM > $139.
http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?name=MSFQC08289
_______________________________________
TOTAL = $8754
On Passmark, dual Xeon E5-2643 v3 produce an average CPU score of 20304. This is however, from only two samples, and in my view, both had motherboards, GPU, and drives below the level of the overall system.
OPTION: another approach is to buy a high quality recent system with one or two of Xeon E5-2687w v2 (8-core @ 3.4 / 4.0GHz), which I think will be a CPU that will be sought after for years to come, given it has 8-cores and has a turbo clock speed of 4.0Ghz. On Passmark, the v2 averages 16682 and 24464 in dual systems. The E5-2687w v3 is 10-core but 3.1 / 3.5GHz. The v3 is an excellent CPU- a single averages 18507 (7th highest) on Passmark and dual CPU' systems average 24796. Notice that proportionally, in real-world systems, the dual ratings for v2 and v3 are not far different, signalling (I think) that the higher clock speeds even with four fewer cores are producing a similar calculation density. In my view Intel would have been better off keeping the E5-2687w as the high performance 8-core- made it 3.6 / 4.0 for example and made a new top end 10-core with a different designation.
Dell Precision T5610 EIGHT Core E5-2687W V2 4.0GHz K4000 1TB Samsung 850 Evo SSD >$3,849.99
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Dell-Precision-T5610-EIGHT-Core-E5-2687W-V2-4-0GHz-K4000-1TB-Samsung-850-Evo-SSD-/191578905185?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2c9afe1a61
And, this system can add a 2nd E5-2687w v2 in the future. The K4000 is not competitive today with the new Quadro KX200 series, and would need RAM added, but this system at -$900 of the E5-1650 v3 could probably be used right away as is. In my estimate, save probably 30 hours of research, ordering, assembly, configuration, and problem solving to build a new system. If your firm bills $125 /HR, the saved work time would equal $3,750 or nearly the cost of the system, plus the cost is -$900 of the suggested build configuration. I've used Dell Precision for years and used a T5400 (2X Xeon X5460, Quadro FX 4800, 16GB) for five years with good performance and perfect reliability.
Anyway, some options to consider.
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]
Pending upgrade: HP /LSI 9212-4i PCIe SAS /SATA HBA RAID controller, 2X Seagate Constellation ES.3 1TB (RAID 1)
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 1080)
[ Passmark system rating = 3339 / CPU = 9347 / 2D= 684 / 3D= 2030 / Mem= 1871 / Disk= 2234]
Pending upgrade: PERC H310 PCIe SAS /SATA RAID controller, 2X WD Black 1TB (RAID 1)(Converts disk system from 3GB/s to 6GB/s)
HP z420 (2013) > Xeon E5-1620 four core @ 3.6 /3.8GHz > 24GB DDR3 ECC 1600 RAM > AMD V4900 (1GB) > Seagate 500GB > Linksys WMP600N WiFi
[Passmark system rating = 2372 / CPU = 9001 / 2D= 712 / 3D= 1353/ Mem= 2261 / Disk= 712]
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