$2000 Rendering/Computation Build

[codfishbilly]

I am looking to put together a rig mainly used for rendering, but also fluid and stress computations. These are both very CPU intensive so a good CPU is a must. I suppose I may do minor, conservative overclocking if I have the thermal headroom. As far as gaming, I may play LoL or Minecraft on it occasionally, but not anything GPU intensive.

I already have boatloads of HDD space in a storage rig, so that isn't a big deal. I already have a keyboard, mouse, moniter, etc. I can get Windows, so don't include it in the budget. I really want an nVidia GPU to take advantage of CUDA accelerated GI rendering.

This rig will be running for days at full load, so reliability is a must.

I am in Canada, but I live on the border and have friends in the US so it's okay if the stuff is bought from US sites I'll just ship it to them.

This is my current build.
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i7-3930K 3.2GHz 6-Core Processor ($569.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H110 94.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($119.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock X79 Extreme9 ATX LGA2011 Motherboard ($340.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 16GB (4 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($104.99 @ Best Buy)
Storage: Samsung 830 Series 256GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($159.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 660 Ti 2GB Video Card ($276.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Corsair 650D ATX Mid Tower Case ($159.99 @ Amazon)
Case Fan: Cougar Vortex 70.5 CFM 140mm Fan ($13.98 @ Outlet PC)
Power Supply: Corsair 760W 80 PLUS Platinum Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($159.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($18.98 @ Outlet PC)
Total: $1905.87
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-03-05 21:00 EST-0500)

 

[properbuilds]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i7-3930K 3.2GHz 6-Core Processor ($574.79 @ DirectCanada)
CPU Cooler: Phanteks PH-TC14PE 78.1 CFM CPU Cooler ($86.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-X79-UD3 ATX LGA2011 Motherboard ($205.00 @ Canada Computers)
Memory: Patriot Viper 3 16GB (4 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($94.99 @ Canada Computers)
Storage: Crucial M4 256GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($169.99 @ Canada Computers)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 660 Ti 2GB Video Card ($279.00 @ Canada Computers)
Case: Fractal Design Define R4 (Black Pearl) ATX Mid Tower Case ($109.99 @ Memory Express)
Power Supply: SeaSonic G 550W 80 PLUS Gold Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($89.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($17.79 @ DirectCanada)
Total: $1628.53
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)

Hi, i don't know if it's cheaper, but since you live in Canada, i put the parts from there.
It seems that ncix isn't picked by pcpartpicker.
The phanteks-> http://ncix.com/products/?sku=73199&promoid=1387

If you're still buying from usa, made some changes to it.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i7-3930K 3.2GHz 6-Core Processor ($560.98 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Phanteks PH-TC14PE 78.1 CFM CPU Cooler ($84.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock X79 Extreme6 ATX LGA2011 Motherboard ($219.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Patriot Viper 3 16GB (4 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($89.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Crucial M4 256GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($186.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 660 Ti 2GB Video Card ($276.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Fractal Design Define R4 (Black Pearl) ATX Mid Tower Case ($109.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: SeaSonic G 550W 80 PLUS Gold Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($18.98 @ Outlet PC)
Total: $1638.87
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)