New PC Work Build

vhcosta,

To have the best cost / performance for a system, it's necessary to know more about the use- the type, size, and number of projects, plus the programs used. A total cost limit is essential for best results as well o balaance the costs- spend the correct proportion on each component . My guess is that you're doing something with video, but the system for editing and the one for animation has some differences.

In general, for workstations, I prefer LGA2011 or LGA2011-3 and Xeon E5 rather than i7. The i7-5820K is a very good processor but it has 28 PCIe lanes instead of 40 and the "K" which means the multiplier is unlocked is a wasted feature as overclocking is not desirable in a workstation for stability reasons. However it's possible that would be sufficient if you will have one GPU. I imagine a system for animation might have two GPU's, possibly a PCIe sound card / interface- if you need more bandwidth than USB or Firewire, possibly a RAID controller, and so on. If I were buying an X99 motherboard though I would take advantage of M.2 SSD speed though and M.2 does use extra PCIe lanes.

The Z97 chipset is not an option with the i5-5820K, as it the chipset for LGA1150 CPU's (limited to four cores).

There are some very good X99 motherboards, the ASUS X99-A has among the highest benchmark scores on Passmark Performance Test. There are 11 systems tested using the I7-5820K / ASUS X99-A /GTX 970 / Samsung 850 Pro combination:

System Ratings 4911 to 6281 / CPU: 13077 to 17133 / 2D: 665 to 1029 / 3D: 1870 and 1918 then 8598 to 10447 / Memory: 2503 to 3115 / Disk: 3618 to 5097. The ASUS X99-A seems to produce much better than average CPU scores from the same CPU. I wrote the 3D scores in that way as the lowest two scores are so far from all the others and must represent a problem with the systems.

It could be useful if you tested your current system with Passmark there's a free 30-day trial- and compare the results with the above list to see the general level of improvement.

Besides the X99-A the ASUS Z10PE- D16 WS is one of my favourites, but as you say, they tend to be a bit more expensive and are EEB size and really used with ECC RAM - a lot of it. As with the X99-A the disk performance is fantastic, especially with an M.2 SSD.

There are reasons to have an 850W PSU, but unless you are having a pair of GPU's I think 650W to 750W is plenty and consider a gold-rated efficiency. I use an HP z420 with a 130W, 6-core LGA2011 Xeon and 120W GPU- and could add a second one and that system has a 600W PSU.

For cooling, I recommend a good fan / heatsink instead of liquid as the air cooling is perfectly adequate and quieter. When looking at CPU coolers make a note of the cooling efficiency but also the noise. If you are editing sound the cooling pump noise could be a distraction.

Again, these are somewhat general remarks,, but if you say something more about your work, there may be ways to refine the choices.

Cheers,

BambiBoom

1. HP z420 (2015) > Xeon E5-1660 v2 six-core @ 3.7 / 4.0GHz > 32GB DDR3 ECC 1866 RAM > Quadro K4200 (4GB) > Intel 730 480GB (9SSDSC2BP480G4R5) > Western Digital Black WD1003FZEX 1TB> M-Audio 192 sound card > 600W PSU> Logitech z2300 > Linksys AE3000 USB WiFi > 2X Dell Ultrasharp U2715H (2560 X 1440) > Windows 7 Professional 64 >
[ Passmark Rating = 5064 > CPU= 13989 / 2D= 819 / 3D= 4596 / Mem= 2772 / Disk= 4555] [Cinebench R15 > CPU = 1014 OpenGL= 126.59 FPS] 7.8.15

Pending upgrade: HP /LSI 9212-4i PCIe SAS /SATA HBA RAID controller, 2X Seagate Constellation ES.3 1TB (RAID 1)

2. Dell Precision T5500 (2011) > Xeon X5680 six -core @ 3.33 / 3.6GHz, 24GB DDR3 ECC 1333 > Quadro K2200 (4GB ) > Samsung 840 250GB / WD RE4 Enterprise 1TB > M-Audio 192 sound card > Linksys WMP600N PCI WiFi > 875W PSU > Windows 7 Professional 64> HP 2711x (1920 X 1080)
[ Passmark system rating = 3490 / CPU = 9178 / 2D= 685 / 3D= 3566 / Mem= 1865 / Disk= 2122] [Cinebench 15 > CPU = 772 OpenGL= 99.72 FPS] 7.8.15