2 new Powerhouse Computers required

[Mono]

First off, I would like to say I have built several computers in the past and I have a working understanding of doing so. The reason I am being even more hesitant is because the budget for my latest project is a bit bigger than normal.

I will try to detail out as clear as possible because I dont have the money to get this wrong

- I have been allocated a budget of £8000
- I will be responsible for buying constructing and testing 2 full systems.
- The systems will be used for 3D rendering/ animation & Game design.
- Minimum is dual monitors.

I have checked components over OCUK and can see that this is easily achievable but I would like to know what parts other people would select for this build.

Even though the budget is £8k it does not mean I have to spend every penny


Some things I have considered
* Dual 28" 4k monitors with 2 smaller monitors
* Nvidia 980GTX SLI
* CPU i7 (but which one)
* Ram (what would be best for this type of work?)


Thanks for your responses.

 

[Mono]

What software are you using? That's pretty much going to determine what hardware you need (rendering software, specifically).
980GTX are gaming cards. Chances are if you're using GPU-accelerated rendering software there are more appropriate options.

Software mention to me so far:

- Autodesk Maya
- Blender
- Unreal Engine 4
- Office 2013
- Adobe CS6

Does that cover your question or should I get a full requirement from them?

 

[Mono]

Both machines identical? so basically upto 4K each.

Need everything from OS< keyboard+mouse etc?

Yes, currently all they own is the software they require (not including OS)

 

[Mono]

If you use specialised rendering plugins for Maya/Blender then it may be worth speccing for that, depending on how optimised they are. I know with VRay for 3DS Max the GPU-accelerated version is missing some features compared to the standard version, so people don't really bother outside of very specific circumstances.

For general-purpose grunt, you're probably best off with with an 8c16t X99 system coupled with a gaming card. For example with a plugin like Furryball you can get 95% of high-end rendering performance with a gaming card (780ti or so) but some features aren't available on AMD cards.

Thats really handy to know. I will get a more detailed view on the software they will be using and especially what plugins.

 

[Mono]

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel 5960X Extreme 3.00GHz (Haswell-E) Socket LGA2011-V3 Processor - Retail (BX80648I75960X) £761.99
2 x OcUK GeForce GTX 980 "Reference Design" 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £419.99 (£839.98)
2 x AOC U2868PQU 28" 4K 60Hz 1MS Gaming Widescreen LED Monitor - Black £389.99 (£779.98)
1 x Crucial 32GB (4x8GB) DDR4 PC4-17000C16 2133MHz Quad Channel Kit (CT4K8G4DFD8213) £289.99
1 x Gigabyte X99-UD4 Intel X99 (Socket 2011) DDR4 ATX Motherboard £167.99
1 x Crucial MX100 512GB SATA 2.5” 7mm SSD + 9.5mm Adapter CT512MX100SSD1) £154.99
2 x AOC I2369VM 23" Widescreen LED IPS Monitor - Black/Silver £129.95 (£259.90)
1 x SuperFlower Leadex GOLD 850W Fully Modular "80 Plus Gold" Power Supply - Black £89.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 8.1 64-Bit DVD - OEM (WN7-00614) £77.99
1 x Corsair Carbide 330R Silent Mid Tower Case - Black (CC-9011024-WW) £69.95
1 x Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST2000DM001) HDD £61.99
1 x Noctua NH-U12S Ultra-Quiet Slim CPU Cooler with NF-F12 Fan £52.99
1 x Gigabyte KM7580 Wireless 2.4GHz Keyboard & Mouse Set £19.99
1 x LG GH24NSB0 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £13.99
Total : £3,687.60 (includes shipping : £38.25).

Thanks for this! Looking at the PSU would there be any reason they would need more power? (I have never needed more than 850 in my boxes) but I have never run sli before (well since my 7800GTX's )

 

[Mono]

850W is what a pair of those cards+system need, you dont want to be running a PSU at full load, 50-60% range is spot on for best efficiency.

http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/geforce_gtx_980_sli_review,4.html

You only need more if you add a 3rd card.

There is also a cheaper board here - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-280-MS&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=2875

perfect, will keep this in mind.

 

[Mono]

OP, I would choose this case for a workstation build.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=ca-167-sv

these coolers are quite, and there reliable with these co fans.
http://www.arctic.ac/eu_en/freezer-i30co.html

Again for workstation you need very reliable SSD/HDD. I would be looking at Samsung 850 Pro SSD's that can sustain a large amount of writes. HDD's you need Weston Digital Black, or Weston Digital RE if your running raid. I would also look at Raid recovery on the boot drive, you can use a HDD to Raid recover an SSD.

I would also consider if you need a 6 or 8 core i7. The 6 core i7 is a huge saving over 8 core.

Any workstation build is balancing these things.
1) Noise as someone has to sit 3 foot away for maybe 40 hours a week.
2) The computer is performing a high value task, so you need to minimize downtime. So you choose high quality components, think also if a application drive fails. Whats the downtime cost of re-installing software compared to buying extra RAID disks.

thanks for th?e suggestions. have not noticed that case before! will take a look at it

 

[Mono]

Id side with JoJo on this one, as incredible as stulids spec is you really need to look into the requirements of your software, which I don't think you have done.

CPU wise a lot of cores, virtual are important but the core speed is not so, making the Xeon a much wiser choice.

The GPU is the area you need to pay the most attention too though as if you get this choice wrong its a lot of money down the drain. I think the GPU in JoJo's spec is a wise choice. For one, a lot of these programs, adobe and maya especially, aren't able to use multi GPUs so SLI is useless, less than useless, a waste of power..

Another thing, I bought up in another thread is the performance of gaming GPUs in professional tasks. I was looking into Maya use age and found the GTX TITAN (£600ish) is outperformed two/threefold by a professional card half its price (£340). This shows how the hardware and drivers of the professional cards are so adept to these tasks. With the budget you have it would be a massive waste not to go for one, as you'd get incredible performance. Considering the range of programs you use too, a professional GPU is an obvious choice..

Take another look at JoJo's spec please..

As mentioned, i have built gaming computers before but never a professional system such as this. I am going to do quite a bit of reading on Jojos spec tonight.

good to know about the titan too because i never even knew professional cards to buy!

 

[Mono]

Your paying a lot for the W8100 for a card that can do both and I'm not convinced (though lacking enough information to be sure) that the DP performance and feature set is worth paying the extra for for what they are doing.

UE4 (and a lot of windows development/content creation applications also) don't tend to take advantage of SLI its true but they can be quite GPU heavy especially when working with complex, unoptimised, environments though you can use techniques like cubic/far plane clipping to reduce the GPU load but thats not really ideal.

I am going to do some reading tonight because i am not sure either. i didd'nt know about these cards either. my main reasoning for sli was to drive 4 screens with no issue 2x4k and 2 lower res ones but will review with all the information on this thread.