DCC/3D animation and rendering workstation

[gclambert]

I am planning on building a total workstation for 3d graphics and rendering. I will also be simulating fluid effects which will be very CPU intensive. Now my dilemma is; should I go with two Quad Xeon E5506 processors that perform at 2.13 ghz? or a single Quad Xeon E5530 processor performing at 2.4 ghz? Will ghz speed up rendering time? or will the extra processor despite the lack of extra ghz compensate?

Im going to be working with Maya and 3DS Max, along with fluid and ridged body simulation program Realflow. Im also incorporating the Nvidia Quadro 3800 card for graphics.

Anyway, i just thought i would ask you guys because I am really stuck and cant decide what will give me better rendering time and performance. Any advice would be great!

 

[gclambert]

need some help guys! Any recommendations?

basically in a nutshell, should i go with a single quad processor workstation with higher clock speed (i7 or xeon), or duel quad processor workstation with lower clock speed?

 

[warezme]

i7 is the most bang for your buck. It is essentially a xeon but cheaper. You will get more performance from a mild but stable overclock of around 3.8Ghz on the i7 than a stock xeon. Plus with an x58 platform you can upgrade to a 6 core 12 thread gulftown CPU in the future. If I know anything its that 3D rendering apps love threads. The more the merrier. For the price you save on not getting a xeon you can get both a faster clocked and performing i7 and good X58 mobo platform.

 

[gclambert]

I see. Early on i was planning on a I7 build utilizing the 920 processor. Then I started thinking about brute power and performance, so i began to plan for a duel quad, however, that is proving to be quite expensive. Now I am positive I want to do a single processor workstation, the question that I face now is,

Should I go with an core I7 920? Or Xeon E5530?


PS. I do not plan to overclock.