Graphic Design workstation Build (High End - no budget limit) - Photoshop, Illustrator, After Effects, Rendering Machine

As a side note, the Titan X is the newest, not the Titan Z.

If you don't have a budget limit, then you will want a high end xeon. More cores -> faster rendering.

Consumer vs. Pro graphics card:
It depends on the software you use. Consumer cards seem the way to go according to this: https://forums.adobe.com/thread/1832013?start=0&tstart=0


You probably want either a 980ti or a titan x. The titan x has more VRAM, which could be helpful for large projects, but the 980ti is probably all you need. Then again, if you have an unlimited budget, why not get the titan x?

I'll make a part list soon and then post it.

Start here and do all the recommended reading at the bottom:

https://www.pugetsystems.com/workstation.php

http://pcpartpicker.com/user/jtabb1256/saved/C38frH

Here it is.
The CPU is the most expensive one. You can obviously lower it to another xeon.
The RAM is probably overkill, too. 32GB is probably enough.
The MOBO is the best rated at that high tier. Has USB 3.1 and a decent sound chip.
The 950 SSD would be for your OS and programs.
The 850 SSD would be for bulk storage. You could replace this with a standard HDD to lower the price.
The PSU is also overkill, but is also really efficient and had modular cables.
The CPU cooler is one of the nicest air coolers - great performance and reliability.
The case is one of the best you can get. High quality, easy to build in, etc.
Blu ray player is optional. You could just get a plain cd / dvd reader.
Windows 10 Home because I don't know what you need / prefer.
The GPU could be bumped down to a 980ti. The funny thing about using a 980ti is that since they have aftermarket coolers, you could overclock it to get better performance than the titan x, but you would still have less VRAM.

This is obviously an overkill part list, but with a few simple tweaks, it becomes reasonable. BUT, if it is in your budget, then it would be one sweet rig.

krodista,

For professional use with the listed applications, a dual Xeon > ECC > Quadro system is going to be produce the best image quality- and have the highest reliability.

Follows is a suggestion for a system of high cost / performance components. The basis is a Supermicro Superworkstation and this provides a case, motherboard, CPU coolers, and 900W power supply such that you need only plug in the CPU's , RAM, GPU, and drives and load the OS and applications. This is much faster than researching, ordering, and assembling parts from different sources and Supermicro are specialists in servers and workstation motherboards. The Superworkstations are also related to be very quiet. I am also a big fan of Lian Li cases, but I'm quite sure that this system will be quieter.

CPU: This suggests a pair of Xeon E5-2640 v3 8-Core 2.6 / 3.4GHz Haswell Processors . This provides 16 cores / 32 threads at 2.6 / 3.4GHz for rendering. In graphic design /single image work, only use CPU rendering. I tried GPU rendering on a GTX for architectural images and I never had an image of a usable quality and there were several random crashes.

A 3.4GHz single-core performance is sufficient should the firm venture into 3D modeling animation. there is a diminishing return for additional cores, but I'm quite sure that well within the life of this system, the situation will change substantially towards full multi-threaded applications. Already, the rendering in Solidworks is full scalar to every avaialable thread.This would be a very good system for video editing as well. There are other good choices for the CPU's,

GPU: The choice of the Quadro M4000 (8GB) is in my view sufficient in up to medium complexity /scale 3D modeling. Quadros are CUDA accelerated which includes Adobe, Autodesk, and Dessault programs. These provide 10-bit color and higher anti-aliasing- in Solidworks you can work at x128. This is being used by professionals for Solidworks, 3ds, and Maya for example.

Drives: The Intel 750 is amazingly fast and the 800GB can accommodate the working files. I would be open to considering a scratch disk arrangement, but really the access and transfer rates are so fast on this kind of drive that I think in this use it will be very fast. The storage drives running an LSI RAID controller can have a number of configurations, but should at least has a RAID 1 for data protection. The Seagate Constellation ES.3 is an enterprise rated drive and has the advantage of a 128MB cache instead of 64MB.

BambiBoom PixelCannon Animaeditrendercadagrapharific i2DWonk TurboSignature Extreme RenderBlaster 9900 ®©$$™®£™©™ _ 3.9.16

Case /Motherboard /Power supply/ CPU coolers : Supermicro SuperWorkstation SYS-7038A-I Dual LGA2011 / Suprmicro X10DA / 900W Mid-Tower Workstation Barebone System (Black) > $720

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 E5-2640 v3 Eight-Core Haswell Processor 2.6 / 3.4GHz 8.0GT/s 20MB LGA 2011-v3 CPU w/o Fan, Retail > $1,820 ($910 each)

http://ark.intel.com/products/83359
http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?name=E52640V3BX

Memory: 64GB (8x 16GB) Samsung DDR4-2133 8GB/1Gx72 ECC/REG CL15 Server Memory > $800 ($200ea.)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA5EM3KB7224&cm_re=Samsung_DDR4-2133_unbuffered-_-9SIA5EM3KB7224-_-Product

GPU: PNY PNY NVIDIA Quadro M4000 8GB GDDR5 4DisplayPorts PCI-Express Video Card > $798

http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?name=PNY-M4000

RAID Controller : LSI MegaRAID SATA/SAS 9260-4i 6Gb/s PCI-Express 2.0 w/ 512MB onboard memory RAID Controller Card, Kit--Avago Technologies > $280

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816118107&cm_re=LSI_megaraid-_-16-118-107-_-Product

Disk 1: Intel 750 Series AIC 800GB PCI-Express 3.0 x4 MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) SSDPEDMW800G4X1 > $700.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820167361&cm_re=intel_750_800gb-_-20-167-361-_-Product

Disks 2, 3, and 4: Seagate Constellation ES.3 ST4000NM0033 4TB 7200 RPM 128MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Enterprise Internal Hard Drive Bare Drive > $630 ($210 ea.) (RAID 5)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA2W021H6289&cm_re=Seagate_Constellation_ES.3-_-22-178-307-_-Product

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 = $5,907

If the cost is prohibitive, the system could be built with a single CPU, 32GB RAM, no RAID controller) and a single storage drive which would total about $4000.

A variant could be to build a Superworkstation with a single LGA2011-3 10-core

If budget is even tighter, consider buying a "barebones" Dell Precision T7600 for about $500, add a pair of Xeon E5-2680 8-core @ 2.7 /3.5GHz (about $400 a pair), then the 64GB RAM (DDR3-1600 ECC), Quadro M4000, RAID controller, and drives. This would be as fast to build as the Superworkstation, have a very high percentage of the performance and using depreciated previous version CPU's saves a lot. Total could be perhaps $2,000- $2,400.

Cheers,

BambiBoom

Modeling:

1. 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

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


Rendering:

2. 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)

krodista,

There are two key elements that are getting lost in this discussion:

1. If you are interested in image quality and in 2D, the first focus should be on CPU performance. In Adobe CS and CC, the multithreaded effiiciency drops off at different points for different programs. Overall, the single-threaded performance is important as well as performance up to about 8 cores /16 threads. There is also some inefficiencies in using dual CPU's, but some CPU rendering can use it and this rend will continue to improve

In After Effects, the single -threaded performance is especially important. The single-threaded performance of the Xeon E5-2699 V3 is rated in Passmark as 1701. This is an 18-core CPU @ 2.3 . 3.6GHz and is useful for fully multi-threaded tasks, but not what you're looking for here. The E5-2640 v3 Eight-Core 2.6 / 3.4GHz single- threaded performance is 1935. The best E5 single- threaded performance is the E5-1680 v3 Eight-Core 3.2/ 3.8GHz with a score of 2203 and costs $1,750 as compared to $3.890 for the E5-2699 V3. That is a difference of $2,100 for a lesser performance in an important area. If you look at the recommended CPU's in the Puget Systems reviews, they are single 6-cores with very high single- threaded ratings These have high clock speeds on the other cores as well.

2. GPU: The Wacom 24HD, ($3,700!), has a resolution of 1920 X 1200 and while the unnamed secondary 24" monitor could be 2560 X 1440 or 4K but in 2D work, a GPU with a very high 3D rating is not useful- it's high FPS for games. To run a 10-bit color correcting monitor, a Quadro or Firepro is the thing and given that the number of pixels that have to be moved is not high and the processing is CPU-based, a GTX 980 or Titan. If you are GPU rendering, that's a different story, but in my view, the expensive workstation CPU is wasted as you're running on CUDA cores. Yes, much faster, but the gradients are rainbowed, the AA is much lower- Quadros can run up to x128 instead of x16 and reflections and particles are flattened and lifeless. Keep in ming also that Photoshop can not access dual GPU's, two can be in the systems and run separate monitors however.

3, Disks: If you are working with single 2D images, the limited file size means that sufficient RAM does all the processing swapping with the CPU such that the disk is used to open and save. If you were video editing / processing with extremely large files, the sik speed becomes more critical, but it's not necessary to go overboard with large scratch disks and so on. I use an Intel 730 480GB with a partition fdor working files and even with large 3D models it is plenty fast. I have a dedicated rendering system with an old Samsung 840 250 GB with the files on a WD RE 1TB and the time difference in opening a large 3D model is timed as 8-10 seconds difference.

Here's another suggestion for a system :

BambiBoom PixelCannon Cadamodelrendergrapharific iWork TurboBlast ExtremeSignaure SuperModel 9600 ®©$$™®£™©™_ 3.9.16

1. CPU: Intel CPU CM8064401547809 Xeon E5-1680v3 20M 3.20 / 3.80GHz 2011-3 Tray 8-Core Bare > $2,013

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

3. Motherboard: 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 > $488

____ http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?name=MB-X99E-WS

4. RAM: Memory: 64GB (4x 16GB) SAMSUNG 16GB 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM ECC Registered DDR4 2133 (PC4 17000) Server Memory Model M393A2G40DB0-CPB > $456 ($114ea.)

____ http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147382&cm_re=Samsung_DDR4-2133_16GB_Server_Memory-_-20-147-382-_-Product

5. GPU: PNY Quadro M4000 VCQM4000-PB 8GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 Full Height Workstation Video Card> $859

____ http://www.macmall.com/p/PNY-Video-Cards/product~DPNo~13248565~pdp.iigbbje?source=mwbgoogleshop&gclid=CjwKEAjw2f2hBRCdg76qqNXfkCsSJABYAycP_-AKV0I5UZVBtWrk8ltpCKFcaH__Twc558CuDVDMhBoC8B_w_wcB

6. Drive 1: SAMSUNG SM951 MZHPV512HDGL-00000 M.2 512GB Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) - OEM > $369

____http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147426&cm_re=samsung_m.2_ssd-_-20-147-426-_-Product

7. RAID Controller: LSI MegaRAID SATA / SAS 9260-4i 6Gb/s PCI-Express 2.0 w/ 512MB onboard memory RAID Controller Card, Single--Avago Technologies > $294

____ http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816118106&cm_re=lsi_9260-4i-_-16-118-106-_-Product

8. Drive 2 & 3: 2X Seagate Constellation ES.3 ST4000NM0033 4TB 7200 RPM 128MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Enterprise Internal Hard Drive Bare Drive > $418 ($209 each)

____ http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA5EM1PU0758&cm_re=Seagate_Es.3-_-22-178-307-_-Product> $140 (Files, Backup, System Image)

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

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

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

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

________________________________________________________

TOTAL = $ 5,412

If you just want a big total cost for no particular reason, here's one from a few months ago:

BambiBoom DataCannon Compucompilamathagrapharific iWork TurboSignature Extreme ModelBlast 9900_5.9.15

1. Motherboard / Case /PSU: Supermicro SuperWorkstation SYS-7048A-T Dual LGA2011 1200W 4U Rackmount/Tower Workstation Barebone System > $980 (Includes case, motherboard, 1200W power supply)

____ http://www.supermicro.com/products/system/4u/7048/sys-7048a-t.cfm

____ http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?name=SY-748AT

2. Processors: (2X) Intel Xeon E5-2643 v3 Six-Core Haswell Processor @ 3.4 / 3.7GHz 9.6GT/s 20MB LGA 2011-v3 CPU, OEM > $3,040 ($1,520 ea)

____ http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?name=E5-2643V3

2ALT. (2X) Intel Xeon Processor E5-2660 v3 (10-core 25M Cache, 2.60 / 3.3 GHz) $2,718 ($1359 Each)
____ http://ark.intel.com/products/81706/Intel-Xeon-Processor-E5-2660-v3-25M-Cache-2_60-GHz

3. Memory: 128GB (SAMSUNG (8X 16GB) 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM ECC Registered DDR4 2133 (PC4-17000) Server Memory Model M393A2G40DB0-CPB > $1,600 ($200 each) ( Verify compatibility with Supermicro)

____ http://www.supermicro.com/support/resources/mem.cfm

4. GPU: PNY Quadro M5000 VCQM5000-PB 8GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 Full Height Workstation Video Card> $1,999 789

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814133558&cm_re=quadro_k4200-_-14-133-558-_-Product

5. Co-Processor: NVIDIA TESLA K20 (900-22081-2220-000) GK110 5GB 320-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 3.52 Tflops Workstation Video Card - OEM > $2,900

_____ http://www.neweggbusiness.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9B-14-132-008&nm_mc=KNC-GoogleBiz&cm_mmc=KNC-GoogleBiz-_-2015Promo-_-ProductPages-_-DynamicAd&gclid=COSLlMzQtMUCFWgV7Aodq2wAEw

6. Drive1: Intel 750 Series SSDPEDMW400G401 AIC 400GB PCI-Express 3.0 MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) - OEM> $405 (OS / Applications Working Files)

____ http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820167299&nm_mc=KNC-GoogleAdwords-PC&cm_mmc=KNC-GoogleAdwords-PC-_-pla-_-Internal+SSDs-_-N82E16820167299&gclid=CPH9lZTTtMUCFeY77AodiWAAEA&gclsrc=ds

6 Drives 2,3,4,5: 4X) Seagate Constellation ES.3 ST4000NM0033 4TB 7200RPM SATA3/SATA 6.0 GB/s 128MB cache Enterprise Hard Drive (3.5 inch) > $1,000 ($250 each) (RAID 10)

____ http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?name=HD-ST40NM3

7. Disk Controller: LSI MegaRAID SAS LSI9240-4I 4-Port 6Gb/s PCI-Express SATA/SAS Single RAID Controller, Retail > $180

____ http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?name=LSI-92404S

8. Optical Drive: LG Electronics WH16NS40 16X SATA Blu-ray Internal Rewriter, Bulk > $60
____ http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?name=WH16NS40


9. Monitors: ( 3X ) Dell P2715Q Black 27" Fast mode: 6 ms gray-to-gray (typical) Normal mode: 8 ms gray-to-gray (typical) HDMI Widescreen LED Backlight LCD Monitor IPS 350 cd/m2 DC 2,000,000:1 (1000:1) $1,656 > ($552 each)

____ http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Order=BESTMATCH&Description=Dell+P2715Q+&N=-1&isNodeId=1

10. OS: Microsoft Windows 8.1 Pro Operating System 64-bit English (1 Pack), OEM > $135 (Upgrade to Windows 10 Pro when available)

____ http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?name=MSFQC06950

_______________________________________________________

TOTAL = $13,945 w/ E5-2643 v3 / $13,633 w/ E5-2660 v3

Funny how old-fashioned some of these components are now,..

Cheers,

BambiBoom

I agree with your suggestion for the CPU (the CPU I listed was so that he could grasp the max amount he should spend).
Using quad-channel RAM makes sense, but ECC is not necessary in this case. But, if he wants absolute reliability, ECC RAM is normally binned better, so that is a reason to get it.

That motherboard has 3 out of 5 eggs on newegg. I wanted to recommend that one, but after looking around, I found that the MSI is the most reliable in that tier.

About Pro vs. Gaming card: (scroll down about halfway)
https://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/Adobe-Premiere-Pro-CS6-GPU-Acceleration-162/#Geforcevs_Quadro

It says that as of then, the only difference for Adobe stuff is driver support, which is Adobe says it is now supporting titan x:
https://forums.adobe.com/thread/1834241?start=0&tstart=0

The Titan X is not suitable for some CAD programs because of driver issues, but, for after effects, photoshop, and illustrator it will work just as well for accuracy, and better for time.