Rendering pc, 6000usd budget

[vytulis]

Hi, I'm enrolling a film production course which is going to be mainly focused on CGI. I'm using software like Blender, 4d cinema, v-ray, mental ray etc.
What would be the best machine I could build for ~6000usd?

 

[mikerockett]

Something along the lines of this i would suspect

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i7-3970X Extreme Edition 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor ($1044.98 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D14 SE2011 CPU Cooler ($80.48 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: MSI Big Bang - XPower II XL ATX LGA2011 Motherboard ($369.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: G.Skill Trident X Series 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($235.98 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 840 Pro Series 512GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($493.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Storage: Western Digital WD Black 4TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($303.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Video Card: PNY Quadro 6000 6GB Video Card ($2839.03 @ Compuvest)
Case: NZXT Switch 810 (Gun Metal) ATX Full Tower Case ($169.98 @ Outlet PC)
Power Supply: Kingwin Lazer Platinum 750W 80 PLUS Platinum Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($140.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: HP 447328-B21 DVD/CD Writer ($38.12 @ Compuvest)
Total: $5717.51
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-02-13 08:57 EST-0500)

 

[vytulis]

Thanks for such a quick reply! I have no previous experience in assembling pc from scrach, so maybe you know a company who could do it for me in UK? I'd feel a liiiittle bit uncomfortable messing around with 2.8k video card without experience.

 

[mikerockett]

If you're from the UK why did you put your budget in $?

PCspecialist may be able to but you'll pay through the nose for it.

Probably the best bet is a local computer shop, someone friendly and not like PCworld or someone just churning customers through the door.

Say you want to build a PC, you are going to order the parts and ask if they can put it together for you. Hopefully you can get it for about £50 or so.

Just don't get the parts from them. Buy yourself on line and shop around and you will get a better deal.

If you live near Southampton i'll build it for beer :lol:

 

[vytulis]

Yeh, i checked pcspecialist it would be around £5.3k. Rip off :O .. Anyway thanks for advice, i'll check local computer shops. I'm only going buy it around september so maybe prices will change till that time

 

[mikerockett]

Ah yes, prices will change by that point, also Haswell CPU's will be available by then. Best off to look at pricing a computer at the very most 2 months before you purchase but i'd say 3-4 weeks is better.

Start going to local computer shops now, get them to know your face and chat with them, that way when the time comes they'll be more willing to help out. My local computer shop is great, say i need a sata cable or case speaker or something cheap i can pop in and they'll usually give it to me free or ask me to chuck a little cash in the charity box.

 

[camohanna]

Something along the lines of this i would suspect

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i7-3970X Extreme Edition 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor ($1044.98 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D14 SE2011 CPU Cooler ($80.48 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: MSI Big Bang - XPower II XL ATX LGA2011 Motherboard ($369.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: G.Skill Trident X Series 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($235.98 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 840 Pro Series 512GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($493.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Storage: Western Digital WD Black 4TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($303.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Video Card: PNY Quadro 6000 6GB Video Card ($2839.03 @ Compuvest)
Case: NZXT Switch 810 (Gun Metal) ATX Full Tower Case ($169.98 @ Outlet PC)
Power Supply: Kingwin Lazer Platinum 750W 80 PLUS Platinum Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($140.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: HP 447328-B21 DVD/CD Writer ($38.12 @ Compuvest)
Total: $5717.51
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-02-13 08:57 EST-0500)

Only thing i suggest is get 1tb hdd's in raid. Might as well at that budget

 

[vytulis]

Only thing i suggest is get 1tb hdd's in raid. Might as well at that budget

Hei, thanks for a reply, but how would it actually affect computers performance?... Never got arount these raid levels.. dugh, ignorant me .....

 

[camohanna]

Hei, thanks for a reply, but how would it actually affect computers performance?... Never got arount these raid levels.. dugh, ignorant me .....

It splits data in two and writes half to each drive, basically you have a 100gb file, it will write 50gb to each. This will take 1/2 the time as your "technically" only transfering 50gb not 100gb. does that clear it up for you?

 

[mikerockett]

Or to confuse things more if you're going to have a raid set up id go raid 10 or raid 1+0 depending on how you like to refer to it. This is the same as what's mentioned above except it also mirrors that data on to another HDD so you have speed and data redundancy.