Budget Workstation Build (Looking For Feedback On System Hardware)

gb0001 · Sep 26, 2018

Hi Guys

Needing some advice with a workstation build. I have a very tight budget $1600 Aus, system only monitor or peripherals are already sorted. System will primarily be used for Lumion 8 (only small projects house rendering etc). Have built a similar system but several of the components i planned on modeling this build on have been discontinued so looking for feedback on options to improve what I have listed below.

https://lumion3d.com/system-requirements.html (Better Than Recommended)

Have looked through pcpartpicker and found some older builds. Tried tweaking a few myself but would appreciate any advise.

Below is where I am at so far, yet to sort out a motherboard selection. The price increase in RAM and graphics cards since I last built a system are a blow to the budget. Looking to use suppliers like Umart or shopping express, Mwave etc

Case
CoolerMaster NSE-300-KKN2 Black USB3.0 NO PSU
$58.00

Cooler
Cooler Master Hyper 103 Universal CPU Cooler
$28.00

Power Supply
Silverstone SFX SX500-LG 500W 80 Plus Gold PSU
$119.00

Operating System
Microsoft Windows 10 Home 64bit OEM DVD
$139.00
In Stock

DVD Drive
Asus DRW-24D5MT BLACK INT OEM SATA DVD BURNER
$15.00

Graphics Card
Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1060 Windforce OC 6GB Video Card
$425.00

RAM
G.Skill RipJaws 4 16GB KIT 2X8GB F4 2400C15D 16GRR DDR4 2400Mhz
In Stock
$275.00

Processor
Intel Core i7 7700K Quad Core LGA 1151 4.2 GHz Unlocked CPU Processor
In Stock
$499.00

Hard drive
Samsung 250GB SSD 860 EVO
$79.00

Motherboard
Not Selected

animemangamer · Sep 26, 2018

Here is an Australian pcpartpicker and my suggestion for your build:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i7-8700 3.2GHz 6-Core Processor ($469.00 @ Umart)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master - Hyper 103 43.1 CFM CPU Cooler ($28.00 @ Shopping Express)
Motherboard: Gigabyte - B360M DS3H Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($107.13 @ Amazon Australia)
Memory: Corsair - Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($209.11 @ Amazon Australia)
Storage: Samsung - 860 Evo 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($82.50 @ Shopping Express)
Video Card: Asus - GeForce GTX 1060 6GB 6GB ROG STRIX Video Card ($379.00 @ Umart)
Case: Cooler Master - MasterBox Lite 3 (Windowed) MicroATX Mini Tower Case ($49.00 @ PCCaseGear)
Power Supply: SeaSonic - FOCUS Gold 450W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($99.00 @ PCCaseGear)
Optical Drive: Asus - DRW-24D5MT DVD/CD Writer ($15.00 @ Shopping Express)
Operating System: Microsoft - Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit ($133.00 @ Shopping Express)
Total: $1570.74
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-09-27 11:02 AEST+1000

I don't see the need for overclocking according to what you said so I didn't include the 8700K with Z370 Motherboard. This build has an 8th gen intel processor compared to the initial parts list you provided.

kmfa1988 · Sep 26, 2018

For a motherboard with the selected parts you have presented I like how this MOBO would fit in https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813145035&cm_re=lga_1151-_-13-145-035-_-Product

I mean considering your over $1600 already with out a motherboard I could suggest some much cheaper ones however with the parts you are considering I personally wouldn't go cheap on a MOBO. There are quite a few good/cheaper ones then the above mentioned but I am considering getting it as well. Good luck and hope it all works out for you!

animemangamer · Sep 26, 2018

kmfa1988 :

The Gigabyte - B360M DS3H Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard would be around $65 in USD

The prime mediocre · Sep 26, 2018

This build uses an i3-8350K instead of an i7. Since Lumion doesn't thread past four cores (according to the requirements page) this would probably perform about the same. The generational improvement probably makes up for the slight clock speed difference, and the i3 is still overclockable. If you wanted to get a GeForce 1070 in there, you could switch to an i3-8100 with the stock cooler, and use a B360 motherboard.

The prime mediocre · Sep 26, 2018

Animemangamer, the system requirements page says this software favors frequency over core count (it doesn't scale past four cores) and recommends against frequencies under 3.4GHz.

animemangamer · Sep 26, 2018

The prime mediocre :

I only suggested a processor better than TC's choice and Intel's turbo boost will go up to 4.6GHz

The prime mediocre · Sep 26, 2018

animemangamer :

That's true, however it costs almost twice as much as the i3. Assuming OP is okay with overclocking (admittedly a big assumption), surpassing 4.3GHz (the 8700's four-core turbo frequency) is all but guaranteed, and 5.0GHz is very achievable.

cryoburner · Sep 27, 2018

I agree that a 6-core, 12-thread i7-8700 would probably be overkill if the software they primarily use doesn't need more than four cores. I wouldn't go with the i7-7700K either though, since it's overpriced compared to what the 8000-series processors have to offer, and an i5-8600K tends to be slightly faster for around $100 less. Or, if more than four cores are absolutely not needed, then the i3-8350K might also be a decent choice, but in addition to having two more cores, the 8600K also offers a bit higher boost performance if you are not planning to overclock.

I'm not very familiar with the exact demands of Lumion, but going by their site, it sounds like performance can heavily benefit from having a better graphics card, since the card appears to be used for all the rendering and realtime visualization. In that case, it might be worth trying to get a GTX 1070 in there.

Prime's build seems fairly good, but I wouldn't bother with a 120mm water cooler, as they don't tend to perform any better than a tower cooler of similar size, while costing more and being more prone to failure. Something like that 92mm Hyper 103 might perform well enough, but you may wish to move up to something like a 120mm Cryorig H7, which should be quieter under load. If you made a few changes to Prime's Build, such as swapping the water cooler for a tower cooler, and the SSD for a lower capacity one like you had listed, you might be able to squeeze a GTX 1070 within that budget. Also, if you are not overclocking, you could switch to a lower-priced B360 chipset motherboard, though that will also limit your maximum RAM speed. Though again, I'm not familiar enough with Lumion to know how much of a performance difference RAM speed might make.

Also probably worth asking, is this system intended to be replacing an existing system? If so, what kind of hardware does it have? If it's not too outdated, it might be a better use of funds to perform some significant upgrades on that.

gb0001 · Sep 27, 2018

Hi Guys

Thanks for all the feedback some great advise from all the poster will end up going with animemangamer's part list with the exception of the processor which I will look at i5-8600k or something similar that allow for more spend on a better graphics card (GTX 1070) as Lumion draws heavily on the graphics card. Thanks again always lots of helpful posters

animemangamer · Sep 27, 2018

gb0001 :

TC going with GTX 1070 is ill advised since the 1070 Ti can now be had at about the same cost and I found that the cheapest 1070 Ti is about the same price as the cheapest 1070 at least according to pc part picker's online vendor list for Australia.

Also this card combined with an 8600k + Z370 Motherboard would put you over budget :

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i5-8600K 3.6GHz 6-Core Processor ($379.00 @ Storm Computers)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master - Hyper 103 43.1 CFM CPU Cooler ($28.00 @ Shopping Express)
Motherboard: MSI - Z370M MORTAR Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($159.00 @ Shopping Express)
Memory: Corsair - Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($199.00 @ Umart)
Storage: Samsung - 860 Evo 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($82.50 @ Shopping Express)
Video Card: MSI - GeForce GTX 1070 Ti 8GB DUKE Video Card ($589.00 @ Umart)
Case: Cooler Master - MasterBox Lite 3 (Windowed) MicroATX Mini Tower Case ($49.00 @ PCCaseGear)
Power Supply: SeaSonic - FOCUS Gold 650W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($129.00 @ Mwave Australia)
Optical Drive: Asus - DRW-24D5MT DVD/CD Writer ($15.00 @ Shopping Express)
Operating System: Microsoft - Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit ($133.00 @ Shopping Express)
Total: $1762.50

An i3-8350k will put you back near budget and still overclockable up to 5GHz however with a limited 4 cores for other task other than Lumion 8.
https://au.pcpartpicker.com/list/DgQTjy Total: $1628.50

cryoburner · Sep 27, 2018

animemangamer :

Except that one's not actually in stock at that price. : P There are some other 1070 Tis for not too much more though, which might be worth looking into.

animemangamer :

They don't need to go with a Z370 board if they're not overclocking and are going with DDR4-2400 or 2666 RAM though. Although in that case, they might as well go with an i5-8600 (non-K), which offers the same boost clocks as the 8600K, and therefore nearly identical performance, while costing less. Even for lightly-threaded tasks, the 8600 would be a little faster than an 8350K when not overclocked, and while the extra cores might not help in Lumion now, it's possible that they might be helpful in other software that the system is used for at some point. If they're not overclocking, an 8600+B360 mobo should perform better than an 8350K+Z370 mobo. Plus, the 8600 comes with a bundled cooler, that while not great, can likely handle the four-or-fewer threads Lumion is likely to throw at it without limiting performance.

If you swap the i5-8600K for an i5-8600, and the Z370 motherboard for a B360, and cut out the cooler in favor of the one included with the 8600, that would put the price about the same as that i3-8350k build.

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