Recommendations for 3D design and rendering PC build

2S design,

By the far, the best cost /performance for a budget workstation i sgoing ot be to buy a used workstation and upgrade it. As workstations are built for these uses and for server-like reliability, they do very well. I've bought, upgraded, and used 5 used workstation in the last 7 years and never had a single component failure.

For example:

Dell Precision T3600 QC Xeon E5-1620 3.6GHz 16GB RAM 250GB HDD H310 Quadro 600 > sold for $550 or offer

Change the GPU to a used Quadro K2200 and add a 250 GB and WD Blue 1TG storage drive- completely possible for less than $1,000. This kind of purchase provides a highly reliable and quiet system that is more or less usable out of the box- no fuss with researching ,ordering, and assembly and can be upgraded without having it out of use more than an hour. Importantly, it's LGA2011 and the very fast E5-1620- 3.6 / 3.8GHz 4-core can be changed for a fast 6 or 8-core and the RAM increased to 64GB.

Another possibility is the HP z420. I have an HP z420 with the E5-1620 and it has been an excellent system with very good performance and perfect reliability.

HP Z420 Workstation Quad Core E5-1620 3.6GHz/8GB/500GB/Quadro 600 > sold for $510

If you are more adventurous and need more capabilities, you can go a generation back to the world of the excellent Xeon LGA1366:

Purchased for $171:

Dell Precision T5500 (2011) (Original): Xeon E5620 quad core @ 2.4 / 2.6 GHz > 6GB DDR3 ECC Reg 1333 > Quadro FX 580 (512MB) > Dell PERC 6/i SAS /SATA controller > Seagate Cheetah 15K 146GB and 300GB > Windows 7 Professional 64-bit
[ Passmark system rating = 1479 / CPU = 4067 / 2D= 520 / 3D= 311 / Mem= 1473 / Disk= 1208]

Spending about $850 on upgrades:

Dell Precision T5500 (2011) (Revised) > 2X Xeon X5680 (6 -core @ 3.33 / 3.6GHz), 48GB DDR3 1333 ECC Reg. > Quadro K2200 (4GB ) > PERC H310 / Samsung 840 250GB / WD RE4 Enterprise 1TB > M-Audio 192 sound card > Logitech z313 > 875W PSU > Windows 7 Professional 64> HP 2711x (27", 1920 X 1080)
[ Passmark system rating = 3844 / CPU = 15047 / 2D= 662 / 3D= 3500 / Mem= 1785 / Disk= 2649] (12.30.15)

So, a 12-core /24 thread 3.46 / 3.72GHz, 48GB RAM, 4GB Quadro, 6GB/s disk/ 250GB SSD /1TB HD system for under $1,100.


Cheers,

BambiBoom

HP z420 (2015) > Xeon E5-1660 v2 (6-core @ 3.7 / 4.0GHz) > 32GB DDR3 1866 ECC RAM > Quadro K4200 (4GB) > Intel 730 480GB (9SSDSC2BP480G4R5) > Western Digital Black WD1003FZEX 1TB> M-Audio 192 sound card > 600W PSU> > Windows 7 Professional 64-bit > Logitech z2300 speakers > 2X Dell Ultrasharp U2715H (2560 X 1440)>
[ Passmark Rating = 5064 > CPU= 13989 / 2D= 819 / 3D= 4596 / Mem= 2772 / Disk= 4555] [Cinebench R15 > CPU = 1014 OpenGL= 126.59 FPS] 7.8.15

"Thank you all for your fast responses and the time you put into coming up with configurations, I really appreciate it.

Bambiboom I really like the last configuration a lot and really leaning towards it as an option. I'm just a little intimidated about putting it together myself and trying to find all the parts myself. I'm also not seeing the Xeon x5680s for less than $550 for a set, I feel this will make the upgrade more than $850, or is that the price you took into consideration in your estimate?

Your first 2 options being more straight out of the box is a lot more up my alley and less daunting. How does this compare performance wise to the 12 core though?

A few other questions, how about cooling? Is this system ok to run with just the stock air fan?
I also need a monitor which I saw you included in the last suggestion.
I definitely want to go with the quadro k2200 As well as the ssd drive for the 250gig hdd. And I think 1tb is plenty for the secondary hdd.

I forgot to add in my post I'm running daz3d/poser, zbrush, vue and in the future 3dmax and/or cinema4d."


2S design,

The newer and more complete the system as purchased- the less there is to change, the easier and faster it will be as a project and the value will be higher when resold. However, more cost is put into the expensive parts that are more depreciated in the older generation system, so that system can have to some degree- more and faster cores, more RAM, and a better GPU and disk etc. If I compare the T5500 12-core- which has a higher CPU-score than the HP z420 6-core, the cost performance of the T5500 is quite a bit better, but I also had to change the disk system to 6GB/s which was complicated and bit frustrating- I had to reload everything manually instead of being able to reload from a system image. At the moment, after 8 months use the value is probably what I've invested so it's essentially free, but in two years, the value will be "moderate". My generalized calculation based on my first system of this kind, a Precision T5400, is that the T5500 will end up costing about $60-100 / year.

The performance is a bit difficult to compare directly as I directed the HP z420 to be a fast modeling system and the T5500 is for CPU rendering. I haven't really done the same thing on both systems- except I've timed opening large 3D models and not surprisingly, the 4GHz z420 with an SATA III disk and 1866 RAM opens the big files faster, but only about 8-10 seconds faster. The T5500 has the K2200 that was in the z420 and to me, on except on a very large model with a lot of textures, the 3D navigation is about the same, even though the K200 was a $450 card and the K4200 was $850 new. In my view, performance in a workstation is a diminishing return. I think it takes at least +300-500MHz for a CPU to feel really much different.The only thing I notice in performance is the z420 saves files instantly- but that is because the Intel 730 480GB is miles faster than a two year old Samsung 840- not even an Evo.

The cooling of these system, as they are using the CPU's that could be included when new means that they are adequately cooled. However, the Tx500's had two kinds of CPU cooler, there was an all Aluminum one for the lower power- 80-85W CPU's ans the 130W CPU- the -cores had a Steel plate /Copper pipe one- it look like a model of an office building. However, these are inexpensive- $15 or so.

It's interesting that you need a 1TB drive. I've kept everything I ever done on a computer since 1993 and it's only about 75GB. That includes 28,000 documents, 24,000 images, 600 CAD drawing, 300 3D models and so on. I do have some media files- but I never can guess why people have three 4TB drives. My brother's architectural office had a server and with 30 years of files the storage drives were only 146GB.

The best cost / performance is of course the LGA1366 approach as the $1,600 CPU's are now $200 or so (I paid $230 for the first X5680 and $170 for the second). The RAM is a bit slower- 1333 instead of 1600 or 1866, but the latency is so much lower, that the sensation of speed is about the same. DDR3-1333 has a latency of 7-8 and DDR4-2133 is 15.

It does take vigilance and careful shopping to change so many of the important parts of a system and get good values, but the rewards are in my view worth the trouble. If you buy the right system, it's possible to put it into use and then plug in the upgrade parts as they're found. In December 2105, I bought a Precision T3500 for $53 +@14 shipping :

Precision T3500 (2011) (Original) Xeon W3530 4-core @ 2.8 /3.06GHz > 4GB (2X 2GB) DDR3-1333 ECC > GeForce 9800 GT (1GB)> WD Black 500GB
[Passmark system rating = 1963, CPU = 4482 / 2D= 609 / 3D=805 / Mem= 1409 / Disk=1048]

The scores were so good, except for the 3D, it was entirely possible to use as it was. But, I decided to make a game of getting the best performance for the leas cost and I purchased over about two weeks time:

CPU: $60
RAM: $43
GPU, PERC 6/i and drives left over from another upgrade

TOTAL Expenditure = $185=

> and the results were very good:

Dell Precision T3500 (2011) (Rev 2) Xeon X5677 4-core @ 3.06 / 3.46GHz > 12GB (6X 2GB) DDR3-1333 ECC > Quadro 4000 (2GB) > PERC 6/i + Seagate 300GB 15K SAS ST3300657SS + WD Black 500GB > 525W PSU> Windows 7 Professional 64-bit > 2X Dell 19" LCD
[Passmark system rating = 2751, CPU = 7236 / 2D= 658 / 3D=2020 / Mem= 1875 / Disk=1221]

The disk , though noticeably faster is the weak link, as it tkaes a long time to start with all the programs I have (C:\ = 156GB) so of course an SSD would make a great improvement.

If I add the value of the used parts I added, the total cost is about $350. Note that the X5677 used cost $60., but that system can use a W3690 which is a 6-core @ 3.46 /3.73GHz . With patience you can find some very good buys on the higher speed processors, although the faster 6-cores will always be higher.

And for example, a T3500 with a 6-core, 24GB of RAM, a 6GB/s PCIe disk controller and good SSD and storage drive would be a reasonable system for your use.

Dell-Precision-T3500-3-46GHz-Hex-Core-W3690-3GB-RAM-2x-80GB-HDD-No-OS > sold for $275

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Dell-Precision-T3500-3-46GHz-Hex-Core-W3690-3GB-RAM-160GB-HDD-No-OS-/181944379275?hash=item2a5cbae78b:g:S7IAAOSwJb9WsNe6

And with that one, the budget could afford a used Quadro K4200, PERC H310 controller, Samsung 850 Evo, and nice big WD Black.

Of course, a dual CPU system is more expandable and especially if you move into animation or video editing, there are advantages. There is a very fast 4-core LGA1366, the X5687- 3.6 / 3.83GHz and a pair of those in a T5500 or T7500 could be very fast in multi-threaded use. But even the X5670 6-core @ 2,93 /3.33 produces remarkably good CPU scores and those are sometimes $80-90. Prices are higher this time of year and lowest in August /Sept.

Another model to consider is a Precision T7600:

Dell Precision T7600 Tower Xeon 2.30GHz E5-2630 8GB Ram No hard drives > sold for $445

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Dell-Precision-T7600-Tower-Xeon-2-30GHz-E5-2630-8GB-Ram-No-hard-drives-/172065005220?hash=item280fdf9ea4%3Ag%3AejwAAOSwuYVWmmuw&nma=true&si=vXjTAFDQQY2xaXwyw%252FBvBIT9dPk%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

This can use a pair of Xeon E5's, so there can be a pair of 8-cores. In that system, I'd change the CPU to a single E5-2680 8-core @ 2.7 / 3.5GHz - about $160-200 now, add 16GB of RAM- about $90, a used K2200- $250, SSD $90, Storage drive $75 and that's about $1,150. Later on, add a second CPU (+ 2nd fan / heatsink- about $70) and up the RAM to 32GB and if you're doing animation, possibly a Quadro M4000- that kind of thing. If you upgrade the BIOS, that system can use E5-v2 up to 14-core. That is probably the most forward-looking solution as it is using Xeon E5 which is still the current designation- there is an E5-2680 v2 (10-core) and v3 (12-core, LGA2011-3)- all having more cores than LGA1366.

It does take a kind of determination and a lot of watching of Ebahhhh, but it's time well spent as a Precision T7600 with a pair of E5-2680's, 32GB of RAM, K2200 and etc. would have been over $6,000. Think of the person that paid the $6,000 and that his and your system would have about equal value at resale. The good feature is that if you're using the system, the pressure is less and you can purchase and change only one part at a time.

Cheers,

BambiBoom