New build for 3d modeling

[gilljoy]

Hi all,

I'm looking for some advice around building my brother a new machine for use in 3d modeling, rendering and animation.

He's going to be using Maya, Houdini and z-brush mostly.

Could someone spec me a build for around £500(£600ish with Gpu), no peripherals or software just hardware.

For build wise I've been thinking about using an AMD 8-core based processor as from what he's been telling me all of his work is very core dependent and 8-cores vs 4 with 2 threads seems like a good choice. Also ideally he wants to fit a BitFenix Prodigy case but it's not a huge deciding factor.

He's currently thinking of buying my 7970 Ghz edition as I'm thinking of upgrading to a 1070 / 1080.

 

[gilljoy]

Honestly I'd be looking at i5 if you can get it in budget, I did a lot of looking into AMD versus Intel a short while ago and in 3D programs where all the cores are being used there's very little between them even with less cores. Basically the slower performance of the AMD negates the benefits of the extra cores at similar price points, you would also gain on the areas where the programs aren't multithreaded (surprisingly there's a fair few areas). You could also overclock the i5 if confident.

In essence you could pick up this i5 bundle. This would stop you from using a bitfenix prodigy though but if you want to change to an itx or matx it would basically be a motherboard change.

It would leave you with around £180 for the case, ssd & hard drive (250GB Evo 850 and 1TB WD Blue is about £100) and psu plus any other little extras you might like.

As to the GPU, it would likely be enough but personally I prefer Nvidia when it comes to 3D programs.

Brilliant thanks for the info.

Currently looking at this :

My basket at Overclockers UK:

• 1 x 8Pack Approved - Intel Core i5 6400 @ 4.4GHz Overclocked Quad Core Gaming Bundle = £322.96
  • Memory:Kingston Fury Black 8GB (2x4GB) DDR4 PC4-21300C15 2666MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black (HX426C15FBK2/8)
  • CPU Cooler:Alpenföhn Brocken 2 CPU Cooler
• 1 x Bitfenix Nova Midi Tower Case - Black Window= £26.99
• 1 x Samsung 120GB 850 EVO SSD 2.5" SATA 6Gbps 32 Layer 3D V-NAND Solid State Drive (MZ-75E120B/EU= £52.99
• 1 x Seagate 1TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache HDD - OEM (ST1000DM003)= £40.99
• 1 x Corsair Builder Series CX 600w Modular '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (CP-9020060-UK)= £66.95

Total: £510.88
(includes shipping: £0.00)
​

As for GPU I agree Nvidia would be a better pickup but it's more a question of budget for him, the only ones in his price range or the 750ti and at a stretch the 950 both of which from what I can tell don't have as good performance in general as the 7970.

Edit:
Might be able to squeeze in an upgrade to a 6600k instead of the 6400 at a stretch I'll speak to him about it