ASUS Z9PE-D16/2L 3D Rendering Workstation $2K

[jimted]

Approximate Purchase Date: Between now and Oct/Nov

Budget Range: Under 2K after rebates and shipping.

System Usage from Most to Least Important: 3D rendering, PhysX Sims, video editing.

Are you buying a monitor: No

Parts to Upgrade: All main internals, I have an Antec P190 case.

Do you need to buy OS: Yes, buying OEM Win 7 Pro, 119.99 TigerDirect.

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: newegg.com

Location: Arizona.

Parts Preferences: Intel based.

Overclocking: No

SLI or Crossfire: Maybe

Additional Comments: I would like a quiet PC. 3DS Max, Cinema 4D, After Effects, PhysX.

Home build to futher my 3D skills.

Parts up for consideration so far:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131861
ASUS Z9PE-D16/2L SSI EEB Server Motherboard Dual LGA 2011 DDR3 1600
Model #:Z9PE-D16/2L
Price :379.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819117269
X2 Intel Xeon E5-2620 Sandy Bridge-EP 2.0GHz (2.5GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 2011 95W Six-Core Server Processor BX80621E52620
Model #:BX80621E52620
Price :2x 414.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820239234
Kingston 32GB (4 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 ECC Registered Server Memory DR x4 Model KVR16R11D4K4/32
Model #:KVR16R11D4K4/32
Price :238.49

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151102
SeaSonic X Series X-850 (SS-850KM Active PFC F3) 850W ATX12V v2.3 / EPS 12V v2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS GOLD ...
Model #:X-850
Price: 189.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130782
EVGA 02G-P4-2670-KR GeForce GTX 670 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card
Model #:02G-P4-2670-KR
Price :359.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835118046
ZALMAN CNPS9900ALED 120mm 2 Ball Low-noise Blue LED CPU Cooler
Model #:CNPS9900ALED
Price: 2x 62.99 47.99 after rebate.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148756
Seagate Constellation ES ST500NM0011 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Enterprise Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
Model #:ST500NM0011
Price: 89.99

$2,334.40 before shipping.

Advice I'm looking for is any glaring errors, any tips on getting this price down without a hit to performance and system stability etc... Does anyone know if you can get free shipping from newegg buying this much stuff?

Any other help appreciated.

Other Notes: I will need CUDA, pots of RAM and as many Cores as I can get.

Thank you in advance.

 

[TheBigTroll]

1: i dont really see the point of server memory when i have yet to hear about memory errors killing someones rig. memory is pretty reliable
2:id suggest a quadro 2000 or a quadro 4000 given this is a workstation build
3:better value psu
http://us.ncix.com/products/?sku=62224&vpn=P1750BNLG9&manufacture=XFX&promoid=1265

4:better cooler. would fit better given it isnt that thick
http://us.ncix.com/products/?sku=64385&vpn=RR-212E-20PK-R2&manufacture=COOLERMASTER&promoid=1375

5; id really suggest a SSD like so. actually makes your 2000 dollars well spent. put the OS, programs on this and the rest on the hard drive
http://www.microcenter.com/product/387745/Vertex_4_VTX4-25SAT3-128G_128GB_SATA_60GB-
s_Internal_Solid_State_Drive_(SSD)_with_Indilinx_Everest_2_Controller

6: i suggest this hard drive instead
http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?name=HD-W13FBYX&c=CJ

 

[TheBigTroll]

the ram
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231490&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-na-_-na-_-na&AID=10446076&PID=3938566&SID=

 

[jimted]

the ram
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231490&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-na-_-na-_-na&AID=10446076&PID=3938566&SID=

Thanks for all those links, it has taken the price down a bit. What advantage do you think a Quadro 4000 has over a GTX 670, it seems to have many fewer CUDA cores, any advice is appreciated.

 

[TheBigTroll]

more cuda cores doesnt mean it is better. quadro cards have drivers that are suited for work and geforce cards have drivers suited for games. quadro cards have all the processing power dedicated to render and compute while geforce cards have performance caps and are designed for having the highest frame rate possible

therefore, the quadro card performs much better in work but sucks in games.


you could wait for new quadro cards that are coming out at the end of the year (based off of the kelper arctecture found on 600s series cards)

 

[weazel]

herd u can use the cuda rendering drivers on gaming cards to get rendering performace up
i may say look at evga board ram isnt as high but 96 gig good
reson say evga board is the sli crossfire capabilty yet to see it on these boards i know of
still woundering if 96gig is true cap

 

[brandon402]

Here is a build that I came up with for you. Note that the corsair vengeance low profile memory also comes in blue for 32gb and would look better on the blue Asus motherboard.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i7-3930K 3.2GHz 6-Core Processor ($499.99 @ Microcenter)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($26.22 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: Asus P9X79 LE ATX LGA2011 Motherboard ($237.31 @ NCIX US)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LP 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($149.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 830 Series 256GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($198.87 @ Amazon)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 660 Ti 2GB Video Card ($299.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Corsair Professional 750W 80 PLUS Silver Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($109.99 @ NCIX US)
Optical Drive: Asus BW-12B1ST/BLK/G/AS Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Writer ($62.50 @ NCIX US)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Professional SP1 (64-bit) ($136.45 @ B&H)
Total: $1721.31
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)

Permalink: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/mHF8

 

[brandon402]

You could choose a different cpu cooler if you wanted, and also add a 1TB 7200rpm hard drive. But the 256gb solid state drive will get you going for sure. For a close to $2000 budget I would choose to get the 6 core 3930k cpu. But if you want to save some money and still be fast, the i7-3770(k) is a good choice ($300) and also would save money on it's motherboard (H77 for 3770, and Z77 for 3770k).