Quad c.extrem ?i7 || animation build - around $4500

suggestions, dual LGA1366 xeons
quadro FX video card (or comparable firegl)
lots of memory
4 fast hdd's in a raid-0

Hi...
The i7 has 3 different CPUs in 3 different price ranges...
As you are comparing it to a C2Q Extreme, I assume you are comparing the i7 extreme with it...
And of those 2 CPUs, the i7 would be faster and more efficient...

You can get comparable performance of a i7 extreme with the an i7 920, which costs about $280 but you would have to overclock it...

Here is a rough specs, that you can have as an reference...

CPU -
i7 920 - about $280
or i7 950 about $580
or the fastest desktop CPU on the planet - i7 975 Extreme about $1040

Mobo -
ASUS P6T
or Gigabyte UD4P

RAM -
OCZ/ GSKillz/ Corsair/ Mushkin 12GB kit(6x2GB) preferably 1600MHz or even 1333MHz would do and low CAS - preferably 7 or even 8 would be good...

SSD - 2x Intel X25-M 80GB in RAID 0 for OS and apps.

HDD - 1 or more 1TB WD Black for backup

CASE - Professional and sound dampening - Antec P 182

Power supply - Corsair 520HX

Graphics card -
ATI - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814195079
Nvidia - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814133252

Check which works best with the apps that you run...

Totals - would easily fit in your budget...actually if you are in US, it would just hit about $4000 with the i7 975 extreme and the Nvidia FX 4800...

+1 to gkay09 the i7 975 overclocked would beat dual xeon nehalem 5520 with a clock of 2.26 GHZ each.IMO you must overclock because on air cooling some get to 5 GHZ and of course the 5 GHZ would beat the dual L5520 but at stock speeds the dual L5520 xeon nehalem would beat the i7 975

then the dual nehalem would be your choice,you need a monitor.os,keyboard and mouse right ?

using

2xIntel Xeon E5520 Nehalem 2.26GHz LGA 1366 80W Quad-Core Server Processor Model BX80602E5520 - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6819117185

SUPERMICRO MBD-X8DAL-i-O Dual LGA 1366 Intel 5500 ATX Dual Quad-Core Intel Xeon Processor 5500 sequence (Nehalem-EP processor) ... - Retail


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813182192


2xG.SKILL 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Triple Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F3-10666CL9T-6GBNQ - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820231223

if you need any other suggestions on anything else please don't hesitate

well for dual xeon nehalem you have to use a ddr3 ram with 1.5 volt and in the 1.5 volt the best is gskill

edit:generally gskill is one of the best brands also mushkin,crucial,ocz and corsair are excellent

for i7 i would get

Intel Core i7 Extreme Edition 975 Nehalem 3.33GHz 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1366 Quad-Core Processor - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] k=i7%20975

ASUS P6T LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813131359

OCZ Platinum 12GB (6 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] num%201600

edit:also a cooler

Noctua NH-U12P SE1366 120mm SSO CPU Cooler - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6835608007

aslo a thermal compound

Tuniq TX-2 Cooling Thermal Compound - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6835154003

you are welcome

first of all, what sort of 3D do you do? i too work in 3D/2D, and am currently building a new workstation. however you need to sort out what your needs are. i do character modeling, and game asset/environments/texturing/zbrush high poly workflow type stuff. i hardly ever render, but i do import into game engines a lot to check my models for ingame use. using this info, i have decided to forgo getting a quadro card, and a xeon cpu, because i cannot justify the cost, and for my 3D need it is overkill. and for running things in a game engine, having a geforce card will help me out more.

now thats not to say your build isnt perfectly fine if you are doing a lot of lighting/rendering/complex scenes in one of the 3D progams. so what is it you specialize in? and if you cant answer that then you may want to re-think dropping $4500 on a workstation.