Low level 3D workstation

[Guest]

I work in the 3D animation/modeling software packages Newtek Lightwave 9 and 3DS Max my desktop is 5yo and badly needs replaced. Being a college student, I am tight for money but I need as much power as I can afford in order to render.

Budget: $1000-2000

Uses: (most -> least important) 3D Animation/Modeling, Video Editing, Audio Editing

Proposed Build:

CPU: INTEL i7-930 -- $259

Motherboard: x58a-ud3r -- $220

GPU: GTX 460 SLI or GTX 470 SLI -- $450/590

ram: CORSAIR XMS3 6GB (3 x 2GB) DDR3 1600 -- $170

PSU: Corsair CMPSU-750HX -- $150

HDD: WD1001FALS 1TB -- $90

case: Antec 300 -- $60

optical drive: SH-B083L/RSBP Internal SATA 8x Blu-ray Drive / 16x DVD Burner -- $80

OS: Windows 7 - $20 (from the bookstore at my school -- yes we have a license)

subtotal: 1493(with the GTX460) / 1633(with the GTX470)

Peripherals: basic mouse+keyboard (have)

Monitor: crappy dell 20" (have)


Am I missing anything? Does this configuration work? I have never overclocked but should I?
All Feedback is Welcome...

 

[Mr Pizza]

looks good to me, consider the AMD six cores though, they could help with rendering times. How about some work station cards? the GTX 4XX are desktop... not made for 3d rendering at all

 

[EisenRegen]

How about some work station cards? the GTX 4XX are desktop... not made for 3d rendering at all

thanks for the comment! ironically, i have little knowledge as to what constitutes a workstation card as opposed to a desktop card. my logic in the 470 setup was that i could add a third card later if i wanted.

also: I have seen a few other workstation builds posted here that seem to include much more ram than i have.. does this really improve a system enough to justify an extra couple c-notes?

 

[Mr Pizza]

Drop the GTX 4XX they won't help you at all. Get a quadro or firepro. They will seem like junk, but its for workstation... (remember that)

Some RAM: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231356

a ~400 quadro/firepro card would suffice.

 

[Mr Pizza]

like this would work charms http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814195097&cm_re=firepro-_-14-195-097-_-Product and allows you to work with DX11 and if you need more power just put it in crossfire pro

 

[Mr Pizza]

Processor, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103858&Tpk=1075t or http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103849&cm_re=1090t-_-19-103-849-_-Product or http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103851&cm_re=1055t-_-19-103-851-_-Product

I would use this because cores are better than threads... and the x6 beats the i7 930 in almost everything that deals with HEAVY CORE usage, such as video editing, 3d rendering, audio editing, photo editing and everything rendering.

 

[Shadow703793]

+1 on getting a Quadro if you are not gaming. If you ARE gaming, just stay with a single GTX460. The 460 has quite good OpenGL,etc performance along with good gamin performance. Swap the Antec 300 to a HAF 912 for about the same price.

If you plan to run massive renderings, having 12GB would help. Again, if budget suffices, you may want to look in to a true 2P workstation.

Adding a SSD (OS + main programs) would make a noticeable difference also.

PS:
I'm assuming you have heard about this: http://students.autodesk.com/?nd=3yearlicense

Since you are a student, you can DL pretty much any of the Autodesk products. There are no restrictions on features/comands,etc. The only limitations is that models,etc are tagged with a Educational Use tag. Can be removed, but that would be hacking/cracking....

 

[Mr Pizza]

Yeah, if you are really looking at a low budget true 2P workstation, the AMD server 6XXX CPUs are cheap and have some great motherboards to go along. If you wanna be all high class the xeons are nice too

 

[EisenRegen]

Best answer selected by eisenregen.