5k$ Workstation - looking for all possible advices

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caroline_

Prominent
Dec 19, 2017
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510
Hi,
I am looking for all possible advice about building workstation. This is my first time so I am very scared. ;) Some parts are pre-selected, for some I need your recommendation.

Budget: About 5k$
Purpose: VR Game Development, Unreal Engine, Maya, 3Ds Max,Blender, Zbrush, Substance Painter, Designer, B2M,and other 3d software, VR Gaming, Rendering, Photoshop, InDesign. Few times, there will be a time that PC will be left for few days to bake a game in Unreal Engine. Maybe even a week.
Priority: flawless performance and stability. I don't care about looks.

CPU -I am giving my preference to i9 7940x. I know that for rendering Xeon is recommended, but Rendering is not the main task for this workstation. Of course, if you have another point of view and strong arguments, do not hesitate to convince me

GPU - GTX 1080 Ti. I am pretty sure, that I don't want Quadro. But again - let's talk about it, if you are sure that I should get Quadro, please let me know.

MOBO: Asus ROG RAMPAGE VI EXTREME, but I am open to other propositions.

RAM - Not specified, but I need fast 32GB RAM with a possibility of expanding in 2 years.

SSD - Not specified. For now, Fast 500-750 GB will be enough.

HDD - Not specified.For now, Fast 3T will be enough.

Cooling - I will go forwater CPU cooling, maybe GPU as well. I want my parts to be cool and longstanding. I was thinking about NZXT Kraken X62 v.2 for CPU

Case -I prefer lightweight midtower, because this PC will have to travel few times in a year on game events, but again: If you think it's a bad idea, please let me know. First choice: Lian Li PC-J60WX

Power -Not specified, but I am considering SLI in the future.


Thank you for any advices :)


 
Solution
Zerk2012
If time is money then yes get the more expensive build the other I posted was because a lot of people will think their going to do all of that and not ever actually do it. Using the m.2 for a scratch drive will speed up the rendering process.
For the power supply get bigger if you wish no biggie to me but the 850 Watt will power everything I listed the video card maxes out at about 300 watts so about a 500 watt PC under load.
For the video card I can't see the future so not a clue if they will start using SLI but in a couple years you will be able to buy a much better video card. I have heard the new cards coming out next year have a big performance increase but I have seen no benchmarks.
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vapour

vapour

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Aug 28, 2017
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Threadripper is a good choice too if you haven't bought X299 yet.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Threadripper 1950X 3.4GHz 16-Core Processor ($899.00 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Enermax - LiqTech TR4 360 102.2 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($149.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock - X399 Taichi ATX TR4 Motherboard ($333.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws V Series 64GB (4 x 16GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($799.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung - 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($84.99 @ B&H)
Storage: Samsung - 960 EVO 1TB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive ($450.98 @ Newegg)
Storage: Toshiba - X300 4TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($105.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: EVGA - GeForce GTX 1080 Ti 11GB FTW3 GAMING iCX Video Card (2-Way SLI) ($799.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: EVGA - GeForce GTX 1080 Ti 11GB FTW3 GAMING iCX Video Card (2-Way SLI) ($799.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Corsair - Air 540 ATX Mid Tower Case ($139.99 @ B&H)
Power Supply: EVGA - SuperNOVA G2 1600W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($359.89 @ B&H)
Operating System: Microsoft - Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit ($89.89 @ OutletPC)
Total: $5014.67
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-12-19 11:49 EST-0500
 
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Zerk2012

Zerk2012

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Oct 6, 2014
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We use our PC's for a lot of the same things but your spending a ton more money.
For what you have listed go for 64GB of memory right off the bat. I have 32GB and use in the 24GB area sometimes with a i7 4790K and a GTX 980.
I really don't see how SLI 1080ti's are going to help you unless your playing games on a 4K resolution monitor.
I'm fairly surprised to see Blender listed and UR4 is very hard to get optimized for multi-player games with a lot of people on the screen at one time.
One of the things your missing is a dedicated SSD for a scratch drive it makes a huge difference in making the finished product time wise.
The reason most use the Xeon is for the ECC memory support.
If your not going the Xeon direction then although more expensive and giving a bit up on the all core performance I like the 7940 should give killer performance.
Just so you know incase your have not though out everything your going to need a good drive back up system to make sure you don't loose your work. I use both internal and external for that.
Here is what I would look at I'm not including the drive backup.
Very solid build.
For the case remove the center drive bay, move the front case fan to the bottom slot and install the extra fan listed in it's slot both blowing in. (this case is very well made fairly quite but is not the lightest) CPU cooler mounted in the top blowing out.
The SATA SSD is for the OS and programs plenty of space for whatever, the M.2 drive is just for a scratch drive Google it if your not sure how to use a scratch drive it will help big time with the time it takes to get the finished product.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i9-7940X 3.1GHz 14-Core Processor ($1379.99 @ B&H)
CPU Cooler: Corsair - H110i 113.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($110.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock - X299 Extreme4 ATX LGA2066 Motherboard ($191.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws V Series 64GB (4 x 16GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($804.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung - 960 EVO 250GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive ($127.89 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Samsung - 850 EVO-Series 1TB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($289.99 @ B&H)
Storage: Western Digital - BLACK SERIES 3TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($242.69 @ Newegg Marketplace)
Video Card: MSI - GeForce GTX 1080 Ti 11GB GAMING X Video Card ($774.98 @ Newegg)
Case: Fractal Design - Define R5 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($99.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: SeaSonic - FOCUS Plus Gold 850W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($99.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Case Fan: Fractal Design - HF14-BK 118.2 CFM 140mm Fan ($19.29 @ SuperBiiz)
Total: $4142.77
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-12-19 21:55 EST-0500

If your not really tech savey then I would consider buying a prebuilt from here call them and tell them what your doing you will pay a premium price but get a PC already set up and working.
https://www.pugetsystems.com/

If your just starting out on this road then this would work well and could be sold if you actually start making money and upgrade to a much better system like listed above.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i7-8700K 3.7GHz 6-Core Processor ($404.00 @ B&H)
CPU Cooler: Corsair - H100i v2 70.7 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($94.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock - Z370 Extreme4 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($156.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair - Vengeance LPX 32GB (2 x 16GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($399.99 @ Corsair)
Storage: Samsung - 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($84.99 @ B&H)
Storage: Samsung - 850 EVO-Series 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($139.99 @ B&H)
Storage: Western Digital - BLACK SERIES 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($116.39 @ Newegg Marketplace)
Video Card: MSI - GeForce GTX 1070 Ti 8GB Titanium Video Card ($477.98 @ Newegg)
Case: Fractal Design - Define R5 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($99.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: SeaSonic - FOCUS Plus Gold 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($83.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Total: $2059.29
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-12-19 22:23 EST-0500
OPPS left the extra fan off.
https://pcpartpicker.com/product/wzM323/fractal-design-case-fan-fdfanventhf14bk
 
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C

caroline_

Prominent
Dec 19, 2017
3
0
510
Threadripper is a good choice too if you haven't bought X299 yet.
Click to expand...

I heard about it, but I found somewhere that AMD's cores are not equal to those in Intel, and software that I am using ( except rendering of course) prefer to have less, but powerful cores. Maybe you know, if that is true?


If it comes to RAM, I am planning to buy 32 now, and in next year expand it to 64.

Power Supply: SeaSonic - FOCUS Plus Gold 850W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($99.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Click to expand...

Is it not too small? I saw some power tests and GPU that I am considering can take about 400W

We use our PC's for a lot of the same things but your spending a ton more money.
Click to expand...

I work really a lot, like 12 hours a day and I have almost never free weekends, so every my second count to me :) It's really a saving if you are thinking about it that way :D


I really don't see how SLI 1080ti's are going to help you unless your playing games on a 4K resolution monitor.
Click to expand...

Yes, I am not a huge fan of SLI either. But, I like to have a backup for the future, I want this PC to be for 5-7 years. Maybe until that time, software will make support for it?


From another hand, do you think that it's worth to wait a while until new GPU series? Titan V is already here, you think that it will be cheaper soon?


Thank you for all your time!
 
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Zerk2012

Zerk2012

Titan
Ambassador
Oct 6, 2014
21,401
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104,240
If time is money then yes get the more expensive build the other I posted was because a lot of people will think their going to do all of that and not ever actually do it. Using the m.2 for a scratch drive will speed up the rendering process.
For the power supply get bigger if you wish no biggie to me but the 850 Watt will power everything I listed the video card maxes out at about 300 watts so about a 500 watt PC under load.
For the video card I can't see the future so not a clue if they will start using SLI but in a couple years you will be able to buy a much better video card. I have heard the new cards coming out next year have a big performance increase but I have seen no benchmarks.
 
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Solution
C

caroline_

Prominent
Dec 19, 2017
3
0
510
Hi,

I hope you had lovely Xmas. Thank you for all your answers :)

I want to ask you also about water cooling GPU. I know, that I am getting paranoid, but is it 100% safe, if you buy eg. AORUS GeForce® GTX 1080 Ti Waterforce Xtreme Edition?
How often do you have to change liquid and is it very hard to do it?
Do you have some reliable benchmarks of them?

Is it even worth it, or is it better to buy a card without water cooling? If so - which one from GTX 1080 Ti do you recommend?

Have a nice day!
 
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