Rig for 3D modeling and graphics at ~$2000

[bigfatsiu]

I am going to purchase a new computer for the sake of faster and better performance. The most important thing of my work is designing, which i have to use a lot autoCAD and photoshop (it will be perfect if its also good for gaming). Heres my ideal rig, please comment and give suggestions to me cuz i know how to use a computer but i dont know how to build a good computer.

CPU: Intel Core i7 860

Motherboard: ASUS P7P55D Pro

RAM: Corsair TR3X6G1866C7GTF(3x2GB)

Graphics card: Asus EAH5870

Power supply: Corsair HX750

HDD: Hitachi HDS722020ALA330(2TB)

Optical Drive: Pioneer DVR-A12XLA

Chassis: CoolerMaster RC-690II

Accessory: BenQ V2200 ECO monitor
Microsoft wireless comfort desktop 5000 (mouse and keyboard)
Altec Lansing FX3022 speaker

I am not quite sure if this is a good build or not, need advice desperately. As i am using a total of 6GB ram, people suggested me to use a 64-bit windows 7. However, AFAIK, quite a number of softwares do not support 64-bit windows(correct me if i am wrong). Do you think i should use a 64-bit/32-bit?

Appreciate for all of your help.

 

[ares1214]

well...first i will show you your mistakes and give recommendations:

CPU: i would definitely go with the i7 920, it supports triple channel ram, and is better, and is more future proof.

RAM: that is triple channel ram, the i7 860 doesnt support it, so for the i7 860, get dual channel (4 gigs), but for the i7 920 get triple channel (6 gigs).

MOTHERBOARD: depends on what you are going with cpu-wise, but i will show you in my build...

RAM: for the i7, get the g.skill 1600 MHz pi series, for the other, get any 2x2 kit with 7-7-7 timings and below 1.65 volts.

GPU: that is a great card, but for what you seem to be using things for, it seems a bit overkill, maybe a 5850 would be better...

PSU: good one, but might be different in my build

HDD: well...i would either recommend the samsung f3 1 TB in raid 1, or 1 WD 2 TB drive

CASE: subjective to taste

now that i have shown where you went wrong, heres the build i would recommend:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.342884

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.332636

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.332207

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.335384

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136456

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827118032

final price is 1965.78. that has 6 gigs of fast ram, a great case (you can get the 300 if you want), a great 120 gig ssd, the i7 920, and th os (not sure if you need it). it was downgraded to the 5850, but im sure that that is plenty of performance for you...if the accessories are included in the price, tell me and i will adjust it a bit...hope this helped

 

[MadAdmiral]

Most of what ares said is good, but there's a lot I don't like about that build. There's a lot of waste that is unnecessary.

CPU/Mobo: i7-920 and same board as ares $579. Better combo
OS: Windows 7 64-it $105
RAM: 2x Mushkin Enhanced Redline 3x2 GB 1600 mhz CAS Latency 6 $500
HDD: Samsung Spinpoint F3 1 TB $90 or Seagate 7200.12 1 TB $95
Case/PSU: Antec 900 and TruePower 650W $170 after rebate. 750W is overkill and this cuts the price down a bit.
Optical: Cheapest SATA DVD burner $20
GPU: I would recommend getting a workstation GPU (ATI's Fire, nVidia's Quadro). These are the premier cards for graphics related work, but are pricey.

Total: $1,465 w/o GPU.

For your uses, you would get more performance out of the additional (and faster) RAM over the SSD. In addition, the workstation GPU will greatly enhance the quality of the graphics work and provide you with better support and more reliable performance.

 

[ares1214]

i can see where madadmiral is coming from, and his build is excellent, but for the sake of argument...he said he wanted gaming, or atleast some gaming ability, so i think it would be better to get a normal 5870 or 5850. next, is the ram, 12 gigs is a viable option, i would recommend to get 6 gigs, if it isnt enough, then add the extra 6 if you need it, but what i have more of the problem with is the ram itself. that ram is amazing, possibly the best, but it costs 250$, this costs 180$:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231335&cm_re=pi-_-20-231-335-_-Product

this ram also has super low timings, which probably at this point isnt affecting performance extremely much, and it also has a voltage of 1.5v, so you can oc it quite a bit, and maybe get the lower timings of the other ram at about 1.65v. also, if you get 6 gigs, you save 70$, so get 12 gigs, and you save 140$. the case and psu are fine, as is the mobo, and cpu, but my next problem is the hdd setup. i personally think a budget like this, with needs like this deserve a ssd, which is why i put a 120 gig one it. granted, that might be a bit much, and it might be better to only get a 60 gig one, but i feel there should atleast be one in there. after that, im gonna guess he need A LOT of storage, also backed up by the fast he put a 2 Tb drive in there. yes, it would save $ to get a f3 and all, but i think its better to get the best-ish drive, and go for the WD 2 TB with 500 gig platters and a 64 mb cache. it costs 300$, so you might want to get a lesser one, or maybe just a 1.5 Tb one, like something to this effect:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136495

but i feel that it may be worth it. theres my argument...as both of our builds are very good, i would think it would be best to combine the concepts, to get something like this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.340798

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.328218

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.342474

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116754

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231335 (x2 for 12 gigs)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148433 (x2 for raid...also wait for the f3s)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827118032

final price is 2009.89$, and i think that it is better than both builds...it has the same mobo, cpu, but it also has a ssd from my build, the 12 gigs of ram from his build, the hdd from his build in raid _, and then a better or equal case and psu...not to mention that now it also has a 5870 for even better graphics...

 

[bigfatsiu]

It seems very nice however it's a lil bit over-budget for me as the $2000 budget includes other stuffs like monitor, keyboard and whatsoever. And i live in somewhere in asia, things are more expensive(less discount). I have downgrade the GPU to a 5850 and 12GB ram to 6GB. It's still too expensive for me, i might get a cheaper motherboard. Any suggestion?

 

[MadAdmiral]

In that case, I would switch to an i5/i7-860 build.

The i7-860 would be good for your uses as well. It should be about the same price as the i7-920. The difference is the boards and RAM. The board I'd recommend is the Asus P7P55D-E Pro ($190) and the RAM would be G.Skill Ripjaws 2x2 GB 1600 mhz CAS Latency 7 ($115).

 

[bigfatsiu]

what if i stick with the i7-920 build but using a gigabyte GA-EX58-UD4. The review seems possitive.

BTW, whats the difference between the Asus P7P55D-E Pro and the MB in my own build(ASUS P7P55D Pro)?

 

[MadAdmiral]

USB 3/SATA III ports.

 

[ares1214]

dont like the idea of the i7 860, either you get the i5 750 for more of gaming, or you get the i7 920 for more of graphics and editing. the 860 costs the same as the i7 920, but doesnt have as good of mobos, or uses triple channel ram. of course it costs a bit more build wise, but for a budget like this, you could easily fit the i7 920 in there. also, the 860 is about as good as it gets in the 1156 socket, so you are probably not going to be able to upgrade at all...also, with the i7 920, you get 6 gigs of ram over the 4 for 1156 (yes, you could also get 8 and 12). and i wouldnt be getting to worried about sata 6 and usb 3 yet, there is just about nothing that utilizes those techs right now, and sata 3 is a waste anyway...unless you have about 20 ssds in raid 0, or 4 pci ones in raid 0, you arent even approaching 3 Gb/s...usb 3 will be more useful, but it wont be out for a long time, so just get a card reader in about 2 years, or when you actually want something that uses one of the techs...

 

[MadAdmiral]

Actually, the i7-860 is a great CPU. It's better than the i7-920 at many tasks, and the build is cheaper. There are a wider variety of boards. Triple channel memory hasn't actually shown to be useful yet.

As far as USB 3/SATA III goes, it's a cost increase of $20-30. Well worth the price for future usage.

 

[ares1214]

the i7 920 is more expensive yes, and the 860 is about evenish, but it makes no sense, i dont see why you would want to save about 50$, but get rid of just about all chance of upgrade, get a lesser system, and get a lesser board...dont get me wrong, its a great cpu, i would be all over it if it werent the same price as the i7, and the entire build is only about 50-75$ less...im just saying, if you have the budget for either of them, you might as well get the best. i dont really actually see the niche for the 860, you either have the priority of budget, gaming, or intensive/graphics work...the budget doesnt really fit either (i3 series i guess), the gaming is the i5 750, and the intensive/graphics work is the i7 920...the 860 is just "if you want to spend $60 extra over the 750, and 60$ less than the i7 920"...just my opinion though...

 

[MadAdmiral]

It's more like $200 for the board and RAM. And all you lose is the ability to pay $1,000 for a 6 core CPU.

The i7-860's use is for the middle ground budget which would benefit from hyperthreading. In this case (since the i7-920 was a bit expensive), the i7-860 is a good idea.

 

[ares1214]

$200!!?? lets see:

i7 920: http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.324969

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231335

final price is 658.97$...

i7 860: http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.338969

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231276

final price is 566.97...but, ( :lol: heres where i make my point)...it isnt fair to compare a 860 with 4 gigs to a 920 with 6 gigs, so to be fair, lets do some math (all rounded), multiply 115x1.5, and we get 172.50...more math is 172.50-115= 57.5, and even more math is 57.5+567= 624.5$...hmm no wait a second, of course you could pick different parts, but i got an average board for each one, not pathetic, not amazing, so it should only be slightly changed by part selection. also, the difference of 34.50$ is no where close to 200$, not even if you got a much better board for the i7...like i said, sure its a little more expensive, but it is also much more worth it...

 

[coldsleep]

Why isn't it fair to compare the stock recommended parts? You're not comparing a fractional portion of the recommendation. You're comparing the recommended builds.

i7-920 ($290) + X58 mobo ($?) + 6 GB RAM ($170ish for CAS 7 1333 MHz)
vs.
i7-860 ($280) + P55 mobo ($?) + 4 GB RAM ($115ish for CAS 7 1333 MHz)

Much of the difference is in the motherboard, but generally if you're laying out extra for the RAM and th i7-920, it's probably for a reason, and you're likely to be willing to spend a little more for a full-featured motherboard, which will drive the price up.

 

[MadAdmiral]

No it is fair, because that's the minimum recommended for each. You wouldn't get an i7-860 with less (or more) than 4 GB, nor would you get an i7-920 with less (or more) than 6 GB. It's about the cash that must be spent, not what could be spent.

You choose one of the cheapest LGA1366 boards and one of the most expensive LGA1156 boards. The fair comparision is to use the most recommended for both (Asus P6X58D Premium for $310 and Asus P7P55D-E Pro for $190). That's a difference of $120, plus the $65 for the RAM for a total of $185. Close enough to $200...

 

[ares1214]

well first off, even if it wasnt proportional, it would still only be about 100...second, he is 3d modeling, so 4 gigs def isnt gonna cut it, so then he would probs get 8, and then it would be the same price, but the i7 would have 2 less, so i figured to make it fairer and present that...its not fair to compare a system with more ram to one that has less, becuase then obviously the one with less will also cost less...