Student Architecture Workstation £1000 (~$1500)

[Agrieveson]

Student Architecture Workstation

Approximate Purchase Date: Within the next month

Budget Range: Around £1000 (~$1500)

System Usage: Autodesk Revit and AutoCAD, Creative Suite 6 (Mainly Photoshop and Illustrator), 3ds Max (rendering with Vray), Sketchup. No gaming.

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: UK Suppliers (Ebuyer, OCUK, Scan etc.)

Location: UK

Overclocking: Maybe

SLI or Crossfire: Unlikely

Monitors: 2560 x 1440 (Dell U2711) and 1920x1080 (Samsung BX2340)

Additional Comments: A new build for an Architecture student with 3 years of study remaining. Replacing an ageing MacBook Pro. Aiming to be as silent as possible.

Currently thinking:

-i7 3770K

-Gigabyte GA-Z77-D3H

-AMD FirePro V4900

-Plextor M3 128GB SSD

-Seagate 3TB Barracuda HD (7200RPM 64MB)

-Corsair 16GB (4x4GB) DDR3 1600Mhz Vengeance "low Profile"

-Samsung SH-S222AB 22x DVD±RW DL

-Silverstone Raven 3

-Noctua NH-D14

-600W Silverstone Strider PSU

This is a new build from scratch and nothing is set in stone, I am open to any suggestions.

 

[Agrieveson]

Updated Specs:

-i7 3770K

-Gigabyte GA-Z77-D3H

-Nvidia Quadro FX 4800 (currently bidding on eBay)

-Plextor M3 128GB SSD

-Seagate 3TB Barracuda HDD 7200RPM 64M

-Corsair 16GB 2x8G XMS3 DDR3

-Samsung SH-S222AB 22x DVD±RW DL

-Silverstone Raven 3

-Noctua NH-D14

-750W Silverstone Strider PSU

Any changes people might suggest?

 

[Agrieveson]

I have been doing some research into Xeons last night and after a little more research I am getting tempted to go with a Xeon E3-1240 V2 instead of the i7 3770k. The Xeon is ~3.5% slower than the i7 in benchmarks, but this swap would give me a saving of £55 (~$85), enough to get a full 32GB RAM set (or just save some decent money!). I think the advantages of the extra RAM would out way the ~3.5% performance loss. The Xeon is also marketed as a more reliable CPU with more efficient multithread processing (as opposed to i7), both of these would also be an advantage to me. Any overclocking I would have done with the i7 would have been minimal in favor of stability, so I do not see this as a great loss. I have no use for the IGP in the i7 or Quicksync functionality it could have provided. The Xeon would be compatible with all other previously specified components.

Does this sound a sensible idea?

If I were to go with the Xeon, I don't see the ND14 as necessary anymore. What cooler would you suggest? (Silence is a priority over price).