First Time Build High-End Motion Graphics Workstation

[JoeyShabbadoo]

Hello,

To start off, this is my first time build. I work in the motion graphics industry and I am looking to take on freelance work. I will mostly be using Cinema 4D and the Adobe Suite. My budget is $4,000 to $5,000. I have decided I would like to use Windows 8 with a touch-screen monitor (at least one, possibly with an additional 2 or 3 normal LCD Monitors). Keep in mind that I would like this system to look awesome.

Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131886 ] ASUS Z9PA-D8 ATX Server Motherboard [/url]

CPU
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819117268 ] 2 x Intel Xeon E5-2630 [/url]

Computer Case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811146086 ] NZXT Phantom 410 CA-PH410-B1 Red Steel [/url]

GPU
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814195118 ] AMD FirePro W7000 [/url]

CPU Heatsink
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835203006 ] 2 x Intel BXRTS2011LC Liquid-cooled [/url]

RAM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820239235 ] 2 x Kingston 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR3 1600 [/url]

Power Supply
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817171062 ] COOLER MASTER RS-A50-SPHA-D3 Silent Pro Hybrid 1050W [/url]

Sound Card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829102040 ] Creative Sound Blaster Recon3D Fatal1ty Champion [/url]

OS Drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147192 ] SAMSUNG 840 Pro Series MZ-7PD128BW SATA III SSD [/url]

Media Drives (RAID1)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136891 ] 2 x Western Digital WD Green 2TB Internal Hard Drive [/url]

Touch-Screen Monitor
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824009439 ] Acer T272HL [/url]

I would appreciate any advice and/or insight on compatibility, bottlenecks, function, and improvements. Also, remember I am a first time builder.

 

[DarkSable]

"Look awesome"

"Windows 8 with a touch screen monitor"

... You've got some crossed wires there.


Other than that, I'd avoid any closed-loop water coolers; they break WAY more often than normal air coolers, and when they do break, lack a giant metal heatsink to allow the chip to downthrottle. This is especially important with a 125w beast like the Xeons; they'll fry the instant something goes wrong with the pump. If you want water cooling, it's got to be REAL water cooling, with accommodations made for the massive heat output you're dealing with.

Do you really need a sound card? (And I'd get RE drives instead of the slower Green drives with a worse warranty.)

 

[TheBigTroll]

do you honestly need dual xeons?

get a gtx 670 if you render in 2d and a quadro k5000 if you do in 3d. from what i know, CUDA is generally better than OpenCL.

for a single CPU setup, id get this
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/z4Kg

quadro card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814133468

please dont get creative. they make crap that you dont use

 

[ttcboy]

Like dark sable says, WD green drives are not recommended. Go for blue or black.

For professional use, 128GB SSD os drive seems quite small. consider for much bigger ssd drive if you want to do lots of renderings and want to speed up the process.

 

[TheBigTroll]

here. this build i made would be alot more useful with 64 bit processor. 64 gigs of ram. better monitor.

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/z4G0
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/z4G0/by_merchant/
Benchmarks: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/z4G0/benchmarks/

CPU: Intel Core i7-3960X Extreme Edition 3.3GHz 6-Core Processor ($993.98 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H80i 77.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($91.94 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: MSI Big Bang - XPower II XL ATX LGA2011 Motherboard ($299.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 64GB (8 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($399.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($89.99 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($89.99 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Samsung 840 Pro Series 256GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($219.99 @ Adorama)
Storage: Samsung 840 Pro Series 256GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($219.99 @ Adorama)
Video Card: ATI FirePro V5900 2GB Video Card ($429.99 @ Newegg)
Sound Card: Creative Labs Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium HD 24-bit 96 KHz Sound Card ($109.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Antec Eleven Hundred ATX Full Tower Case ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Thermaltake Toughpower Grand 850W 80 PLUS Gold Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($139.99 @ Amazon)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($15.98 @ Outlet PC)
Monitor: Asus PB278Q 27.0" Monitor ($674.59 @ Amazon)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8 (OEM) (64-bit) ($84.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $3951.38
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-01-22 22:48 EST-0500)

Base Total: $3955.39
Mail-in Rebates: -$8.00
Shipping: $3.99
Total: $3951.38

dude, recommending a 3960x is the dumbest thing you can do really. performs no better than a 3930k, overclocks the same, and is the same. just with a different sticker

 

[iceclock]

thats a single cpu mate.

also the firegl is quite good.

and 64bit is useful when editing.

32 will get eaten up fast beleive me.

 

[iceclock]

that was actually a mistake meant to choose the 580$ 6core

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/z4Kw
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/z4Kw/by_merchant/
Benchmarks: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/z4Kw/benchmarks/

CPU: Intel Core i7-3930K 3.2GHz 6-Core Processor ($499.99 @ Microcenter)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H80i 77.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($91.94 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: MSI Big Bang - XPower II XL ATX LGA2011 Motherboard ($299.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 64GB (8 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($399.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($89.99 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($89.99 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Samsung 840 Pro Series 256GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($219.99 @ Adorama)
Storage: Samsung 840 Pro Series 256GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($219.99 @ Adorama)
Video Card: ATI FirePro V5900 2GB Video Card ($429.99 @ Newegg)
Sound Card: Creative Labs Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium HD 24-bit 96 KHz Sound Card ($109.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Antec Eleven Hundred ATX Full Tower Case ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Thermaltake Toughpower Grand 850W 80 PLUS Gold Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($139.99 @ Amazon)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($15.98 @ Outlet PC)
Monitor: Asus PB278Q 27.0" Monitor ($674.59 @ Amazon)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8 (OEM) (64-bit) ($84.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $3457.39
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-01-22 22:55 EST-0500)

Base Total: $3525.39
Mail-in Rebates: -$8.00
Shipping: $4.99
Total: $3522.38

but calling it dumb is uncalled for.

 

[TheBigTroll]

that was actually a mistake meant to choose the 580$ 6core

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/z4Kw
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/z4Kw/by_merchant/
Benchmarks: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/z4Kw/benchmarks/

CPU: Intel Core i7-3930K 3.2GHz 6-Core Processor ($499.99 @ Microcenter)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H80i 77.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($91.94 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: MSI Big Bang - XPower II XL ATX LGA2011 Motherboard ($299.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 64GB (8 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($399.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($89.99 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($89.99 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Samsung 840 Pro Series 256GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($219.99 @ Adorama)
Storage: Samsung 840 Pro Series 256GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($219.99 @ Adorama)
Video Card: ATI FirePro V5900 2GB Video Card ($429.99 @ Newegg)
Sound Card: Creative Labs Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium HD 24-bit 96 KHz Sound Card ($109.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Antec Eleven Hundred ATX Full Tower Case ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Thermaltake Toughpower Grand 850W 80 PLUS Gold Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($139.99 @ Amazon)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($15.98 @ Outlet PC)
Monitor: Asus PB278Q 27.0" Monitor ($674.59 @ Amazon)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8 (OEM) (64-bit) ($84.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $3457.39
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-01-22 22:55 EST-0500)

Base Total: $3525.39
Mail-in Rebates: -$8.00


Shipping: $4.99
Total: $3522.38

but calling it dumb is uncalled for.

you still need to fix the windows to windows pro. regular wont support more than 16gb ram. also note that 2 kits of 4x8gb of gskill ram is still 100 bucks cheaper than a 8x8 kit from corsair.

the xpower ii still uses analog power phases. wouldnt recommend

 

[iceclock]

u just copied and paste what i wrote, stop been a troll.

 

[TheBigTroll]

ill edit it. i put it in the middle of your post

 

[iceclock]

ok sounds good.

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/z8tJ
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/z8tJ/by_merchant/
Benchmarks: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/z8tJ/benchmarks/

CPU: Intel Core i7-3930K 3.2GHz 6-Core Processor ($499.99 @ Microcenter)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H80i 77.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($91.94 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: MSI Big Bang - XPower II XL ATX LGA2011 Motherboard ($299.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 64GB (8 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($399.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($89.99 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($89.99 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Samsung 840 Pro Series 256GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($219.99 @ Adorama)
Storage: Samsung 840 Pro Series 256GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($219.99 @ Adorama)
Video Card: ATI FirePro V5900 2GB Video Card ($429.99 @ Newegg)
Sound Card: Creative Labs Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium HD 24-bit 96 KHz Sound Card ($139.98 @ Outlet PC)
Case: Antec Eleven Hundred ATX Full Tower Case ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Thermaltake Toughpower Grand 850W 80 PLUS Gold Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($139.99 @ Amazon)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($15.98 @ Outlet PC)
Monitor: Asus PB278Q 27.0" Monitor ($674.59 @ Amazon)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8 Professional (OEM) (64-bit) ($137.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $3540.38
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-01-23 10:39 EST-0500)

Base Total: $3618.38
Combo Discounts: -$20.00
Mail-in Rebates: -$8.00
Total: $3590.38

cheeers.

 

[JoeyShabbadoo]

"Look awesome"

"Windows 8 with a touch screen monitor"

... You've got some crossed wires there.


Other than that, I'd avoid any closed-loop water coolers; they break WAY more often than normal air coolers, and when they do break, lack a giant metal heatsink to allow the chip to downthrottle. This is especially important with a 125w beast like the Xeons; they'll fry the instant something goes wrong with the pump. If you want water cooling, it's got to be REAL water cooling, with accommodations made for the massive heat output you're dealing with.

Do you really need a sound card? (And I'd get RE drives instead of the slower Green drives with a worse warranty.)

I take it you don't like Windows 8. I think I can get past that.

thanks for the heads up on the closed-loop water coolers. I didn't know they were so unreliable. Perhaps I'll go with a metal heatsink for now and maybe in the future I can upgrade to a "real" water cooling system. Are there any systems that you can recommend?

The sound card I'm not totally set on, but I do plan on working on some animations with 5.1 surround. the only reason I like this card is the interface. I like to have as much control at my finger tips as possible, especially because I frequently go back and forth between headphones and audio monitors.

I will take your advice on the hard drives. Thank you.

 

[iceclock]

so how u like the build i made u joey?

 

[iceclock]

also closed in water system are quite fine, thats rubbish u just gotta get a quality one.

 

[JoeyShabbadoo]

do you honestly need dual xeons?

get a gtx 670 if you render in 2d and a quadro k5000 if you do in 3d. from what i know, CUDA is generally better than OpenCL.

for a single CPU setup, id get this
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/z4Kg

quadro card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814133468

please dont get creative. they make crap that you dont use

Do I need dual xeons? This is a topic I'd like to have a discussion about. I will be mostly working in Cinema 4D. I am under the presumption that the more cores I have, the faster the renders in cinema 4D. Is this incorrect? I know I will be sacrificing some speed with certain programs that do not take advantage of multi-cores. Especially with the xeons being only 2.3 ghz, but for my budget I think that's my best fit. But, if I go single CPU that would definitely be easier on my budget.

As far as the GPU goes, the quadro card is so similar in specs to the firepro w7000, but it is over $1,000 more. How much better can it be? Do you know of any benchmarks that have been done with these two cards?

 

[JoeyShabbadoo]

so how u like the build i made u joey?

Looks awesome iceclock! The motherboard has bullets on it! And it's definitely under my budget. What are your thoughts on using a 6 core system compared to a 12 core system, if your main goal is to get faster renders in Cinema 4D?

 

[iceclock]

um 6cores would be fine, i dont see the need for 12cores tbh.

alot of ram will help as i suggested.

 

[TheBigTroll]

Do I need dual xeons? This is a topic I'd like to have a discussion about. I will be mostly working in Cinema 4D. I am under the presumption that the more cores I have, the faster the renders in cinema 4D. Is this incorrect? I know I will be sacrificing some speed with certain programs that do not take advantage of multi-cores. Especially with the xeons being only 2.3 ghz, but for my budget I think that's my best fit. But, if I go single CPU that would definitely be easier on my budget.

As far as the GPU goes, the quadro card is so similar in specs to the firepro w7000, but it is over $1,000 more. How much better can it be? Do you know of any benchmarks that have been done with these two cards?

generally yes more cores will be faster if the software uses the CPU extensively and is multi-threaded. but if most of the work is on the GPU, the CPU side of things wont be fully using the xeons properly

you cant compare cores for cores with a amd card and a nvidia card.

heres a product comparison comparing older nvida cards and the new k5000. cant find a benchmark.
http://www.nvidia.com/content/PDF/product-comparison/Product_Comparison_Oct_2012.pdf

toms review on the w8000 and the w9000
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/firepro-w8000-w9000-benchmark,3265.html

 

[iceclock]

yes i agree, depends what ur using,

but im unshur if u really need dual-processors versus a better auto-cad, 3d design card.