New build for 3D Animation/Rendering

[Xandos]

Hi guys, I'm looking to build a new machine to replace my aging i7 920.

I'm a 3D Animator so the most important thing for me is CPU grunt for rendering. I would love some sort of affordable option for a dual hex core system but I think realistically my budget can't stretch to that.

What I've arrived at so far is the 4930k, overclocked to at least 4.5ghz - this will double my current clock which is generally the point at which I upgrade. I'd love some guidance on a cheap motherboard which will not too far limit the overclocking potential of the CPU. I've seen the MSI X79A-GD45 recommended in other threads, how will this overclock?

RAM is looking to be Kingston 4x8gb DDR3 2400MHz HyperX XMP Beast (based from another thread whos recommendations I'm stealing, it seems that there would be benefit from fast RAM and need 4 sticks). Would this maybe be too high profile for a massive cooler like the Noctua D14?

Given the choice, a quiet system would be fantastic, though not at an absurd additional cost. The Corsair Hydro H100i seems to be highly rated, though I would imagine any benefit of water cooling on noise reduction would be lost once a chunky air cooled GPU is added to the mix? The Inno3D GeForce GTX 780Ti seems to be highly rated, though honestly probably a bit over budget for my graphics needs - I was thinking of about £350 max, although if it's really that much better perhaps I could be persuaded....
I do use After Effects a fair bit too, so I think this means nVidia for CUDA? Maybe OpenCL ATIs can be hacked to work but potentially problematic.

How much would a suitable water cooling loop come in at for a system like this? (never watercooled before)

In terms of storage, let's forget about mechanical storage for now. I was thinking two SSDs, one for system and one for the current project I'm working on, maybe 128GB each (larger would be nicer of course but being slightly budget conscious).

The BitFenix Ronin Tower Case seems highly recommended, though I don't much care about a window. Does this have any advantages over something like the Lian Li PC-6B? I guess it's a tenner cheaper.

Which leaves the PSU really. I've previously always gone Corsair though the tides seem to have changed somewhat. I'm not sure how likely I'll be to add another GPU at some point.... It's possible though not extremely likely. Could anyone suggest good options for either eventuality?

4930k - £412
32bg Kingston 2400mhz - £242
Bitfenix Ronin case - £70
Mobo - ???
SSDs - ???
Cooling - ???
PSU - ???
GPU - ???
Totally open to radical suggests and rethinks, I'd love to have your opinions. Thanks for reading!

 

[Xandos]

Thanks for the reply Doomedspeed.

I do some rendering in After Effects, in fact everything I do goes through it for post production, though the bulk of my work and rendering is with true 3d renderers, for which there is currently no true flexible GPU alternative, even after waiting years for the GPU to bury CPU renderers (MentalRay, vRay). Also, lots of AE plugins don't utilise the GPU properly. So the answer to that is that yes, I will be doing some GPU rendering, but not at the expense of CPU, which accounts for the majority of my work.

The reason to potentially leave some spare wattage in the PSU is in case GPU rendering becomes more of a reality in my field over the coming years.

Would be very interested in seeing your spec.

 

[Xandos]

Aye, that's the one. Saves you repeating yourself at least for the most part. Thanks for taking the time to spec this out, very much helping me to narrow down my build.

Regarding the Xeon 8 core, I'm in two iminds. Could this be overclocked to similar levels? (I'm guessing not). How much is the CPU and required motherboard? If it's only 200 more than what's currently specced... it gets tempting, though I do often find myself waiting on poorly coded single threaded tasks so do like the idea of 4ghz+.

I saw m500 240gb SSDs for about 80 quid, are those much inferior to the Samsungs you suggested? as i don't really do video editing in the traditional sense, I think raid SSDs are overkill, though definitely one for OS and applications and one for data that will be bottlenecking whatever project I'm working on if on a mechanical drive. PSU and case look good, though aesthetically I prefer the lian li pc-6b, would that have worse sound insulation then?

Regarding GPU, if you were to spec a CUDA card at around the 350 mark, what would it be? I assume the 780ti is capable of being quiet whilst not in full swing...

Will be more than I've paid for a computer before, though justifiable for work (1440p gaming a plus...)

 

[Xandos]

Thanks for the replies good people.

I think the 780 will probably be good enough, so seems worth saving 140 quid there.

Regarding storage and backups, the SSDs would just be one for OS and applications and some other stuff, and one for the current working project, perhaps being automatically backed up to a mechanical drive at the end of each day. I haven't mentioned mechanical drives but I will probably add 2x2tb. Further backup would be copying data onto my current workstation, which I will be keeping around as it's far from useless. Though admittedly this won't save me from a house fire. I haven't ever really been stung so I don't really take backups as seriously as I should.

Sorry to hear about the lost data, but glad it wasn't actual project files!

I'm quite out of the loop on hardware these days, would it be worth hanging around for z99? I'm not currently being crippled by my machine but it seems to be about time...

I spend most of my time (and most demanding work) in 3ds max, not after effects. In terms of GPU rendering perhaps I'm a little behind the times now, but I've used iRay and found it lacking in a lot of flexibility, though potentially great for photorealistic architectural visualisations etc. VRay RT was fun for previewing. I haven't heard of red shift but interested, will research it when I have some time. I'm sure if it's all that it will come to max sooner or later, I should probably learn Maya anyway (though loads of studios seem to be taking up cinema 4d these days, grr.

3.5 grand must have made for quite a beast.

 

[Xandos]

Thanks for the suggestion stulid, will probably go with that cooler. I'm leaning toward the fractal design r4 over the antec purely for aesthetic reasons, though it's also deeper and will definitely fit that cooler. Moderately interested about the new noctua, if only because I installed a d14 in an old work machine and it was a beast. Think I'd need an extra fan or two in the fractal r4?

Generally on projects I work on frames take between 4 seconds and 30 minutes, even at an HD frame every four seconds that's not so much writing to disk, so don't feel the need for raiding, but for video editing it would definitely be a good idea.

Seems like this will be a nice machine. Last time I got the 920 box for 400 quid on members market, fell justified to splurge a little here, unless there's any fantastic 2nd hand options these days, 80% performance for half the price?

 

[Xandos]

PSU - Seasonic are a great (if not THE great) maker of PSU's. This 'budget' 850W PSU has smart fan which will adapt to the power its using, so it will be silent. Its also enough to power another 780ti.

So I got this build, nearly as specced in this thread.

I have a Fractal Design R4 case and the Archon X-2 cooler.

The seasonic PSU m12ii is LOUD! Idling it is by far the loudest thing in the case. Is there something wrong with it or are they just actually loud? I can hear it clearly from the other side of the room, encased in a 'silent' case...
It seems to be steadily on full? Like the fan controller isn't even considering being quiet...

 

[Xandos]

Thanks for reply.

I think I will get another intake fan, although with my rampaging PSU I think things are loud enough at the moment!