Building computer for mostly - 3D modeling with MAYA and zBrush

doOrway,

The 8-core LGA2011-3 CPU / X99 motherboard is a very good choice for your uses. Maya is, as usual for 3D modeling with a lot a textures dependent on a high single-thread performance and Adobe AE runs best on a single processor system and 5-6 cores, and for animation GPU-rendering is the only reasonable type- which the GTX is very good at doing.

CPU cooling is a big subject and extremely important if the system is to be used for animation. A very good thermal efficiency and lower sound levels are possible with a well-selected fan /heatsink. Liquid cooling might be advisable for the very long processing in animation, however that will usually end up having noisier surface-mounted radiators. If this system is for animation and the system can be located under a desk and with a side or rear-mounted radiator, liquid cooling may be a component to reconsider, by checking on forums for the particular software.

One factor that can be improved significantly is that the X99 is designed for very high performance with M.2 drives and in my view the Gigabyte GA-X99-Ultra Gaming is not optimal to M.2 as there is no dedicated M.2 slot. For animation / video editing, the drive speed -and a lot of RAM- is important. So, the suggestion is to use an ASUS X99-A with a native M.2 slot. The ASUS X99-A is listed more than once in the Passmark "Top 100" systems- the highest performing of I think more than 300,000 tested systems.

For the M.2 slot, a Samsung 950 Pro 512GB is suggested, in the top tier of the fastest M.2's. These apparently need a cooling solution to ensure against thermal throttling and suggested is a set of Copper heatsinks on adhesive pads.

The storage drive suggested is a Seagate Constellation ES.3 as these are enterprise rated and have 128MB cache instead of the usual 64MB.

For any workstation use, the case should have noise as it's primary design parameter, and in my view, a somewhat oversized case is preferable as the air flow is less constricted and it's easier to work in.

Parts recommended:

ASUS X99-A II LGA 2011-v3 Intel X99 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.1 USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard > $244

Noctua NH-D14 120mm & 140mm SSO CPU Cooler > $67

64GB (4X 16GB) Ballistix Sport LT 16GB 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM DDR4 2400 (PC4 19200) Desktop Memory Model BLS16G4D240FSC > $400 ($100 ea)

SAMSUNG 950 PRO M.2 2280 512GB PCI-Express 3.0 x4 Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) MZ-V5P512BW > $395

Premium 3pcs/Set CPU RAM LAN Copper Heatsink Cooler Pad Kit for Raspberry Pi 3,Pi 2,Pi Model B+, Raspberry Pi A A+ Radiator Cooling > $5

Seagate ST4000NM0035 4 TB 3.5" Enterprise 128MB cache Internal Hard Drive >$183

CORSAIR RMx Series RM750X 750W 80 PLUS GOLD Haswell Ready Full Modular ATX12V & EPS12V SLI and Crossfire Ready Power Supply > $130

Fractal Design Define XL R2 Titanium Silent EATX Full Tower Computer Case > $130

Cheers,

BambiBoom

CAD / 3D Modeling / Graphic Design:

HP z420 (2015) (Rev 3) > Xeon E5-1660 v2 (6-core @ 3.7 / 4.0GHz) / 32GB DDR3 -1866 ECC RAM / Quadro K4200 (4GB) / Samsung SM951 M.2 256GB AHCI + Intel 730 480GB (9SSDSC2BP480G4R5) + Western Digital Black WD1003FZEX 1TB> M-Audio 192 sound card > 600W PSU> > Windows 7 Professional 64-bit > Logitech z2300 2.1 speakers > 2X Dell Ultrasharp U2715H (2560 X 1440)
[ Passmark Rating = 5581 > CPU= 14046 / 2D= 838 / 3D= 4694 / Mem= 2777 / Disk= 11559] [6.12.16]

Analysis / Simulation / Rendering:

HP z620 (2012) (Rev 3) 2X Xeon E5-2690 (8-core @ 2.9 / 3.8GHz) / 64GB DDR3-1600 ECC reg) / Quadro K2200 (4GB) + Tesla M2090 (6GB) / HP Z Turbo Drive (256GB) + Samsung 850 Evo 250GB + Seagate Constellation ES.3 (1TB) / Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium PCIe sound card / 800W / Windows 7 Professional 64-bit > Logitech z313 2.1 speakers > HP 2711x (27" 1980 X 1080)
[ Passmark System Rating= 5675 / CPU= 22625 / 2D= 815 / 3D = 3580 / Mem = 2522 / Disk = 12640 ] 9.25.16
[ Cinebench R15: OpenGL= 119.23 fps / CPU = 2209 cb / Single core 130 cb / MP Ratio 16.84x] 10.31.16

if you already have the Gigabyte board, keep it.

the Samsung 960 is more expensive than the Crucial MX300, for less space.

do0rway,

The Samsung 960 Pro is indeed faster than the 950 Pro.

Overclocking: Be extremely careful about overclocking the CPU and using overclocked RAM or O/C GPU in an animation workstation. This can strongly increase stability in operations that run over a long period of time such as rendering, the synchronization /timing between processes is thrown off and there's a greater chance of errors. It's not a time saver if there's a crash an hour in every fifth processing run. In 2012 I tried changing from Quadro to GTX GPU' fro 3D modeling and rendering, and I never had a usable rendering- it either crashed after twenty minutes or there there many artifacts in the images.

Not that it is typical, but -that I learned the value of sacrificing the ultimate speed for image quality and reliability. That's why over time, I've ended up with Xeon /.ECC RAM ./ Quadro systems- not one system or component failure and zero data loss since 2009. This is not to suggest that for this system, but only to use the native speeds for the CPU and RAM.

M.2 Slot: The Gigabyte GA-X99-Ultra Gaming does list an M.2/ U.2 interface. However it is in the form of a PCIe x4 slot, which requires a PCIe x4 to M.2 adapter card for bare M.2;s such as Samsung 950 /960. For the U.2 which means Intel 750 it's in an enclosure with pins. An Intel 750 would simply plug into the PCIe x4. With the ASUS X99 Deluxe II, there is a dedicated M.2 socket along the edge and the Samsung 960 would simply plug directly into that slot vertically. I like that arrangement more for two reasons: 1. not needing an adapter card means the connection is more direct and therefore intuitively is faster, and 2. The location means one less component plugged into the area where there eventually might be two double height cards that will cover other PCIe slots.

Motherboard: It's not extremely essential to change, but I notice that the ASUS Deluxe does seem to produce higher CPU scores in Passmark. There are of course even higher performing motherboards and it occurred to me, thinking about the disposition of the slots, that if there is to be two double height cards, there may be a better choice, using E-ATX format.

The other concern is the distance between the CPU socket and RAM slots if the CPU cooler is very large. It's worth looking into if the motherboard choice is still open. A very small item: The Gigabyte also appears to have quite a number of small red LEDS on the board and, personally, I don't care for decoration in a workstation.

Cheers,

BambiBoom