Need advice : first workstation for a beginner

[kubasluzek]

Hi guys,

 

I’m new to this forum. Recently I’ve started learning rendering but my good ol’ laptop is very slow and makes learning process very frustrating. So I decided to invest in a workstation.

 

It’s been a while since I bought any computer so my knowledge about components is definitely not up to date. I did some research and came up with a build that probably will suit my needs, but before I order anything I was hoping you could give me some advices and help to clear out my confusion about some parts. It looks like you guys know a lot about hardware so your input would be very much appreciated.

 

I will be using 2D AutoCAD, Sketchup + Vray or Maxwell (haven’t decided yet), Photoshop (post production and digital painting) and probably 3dsmax in the future. I will be focusing mainly on interiors visualizations as this is something that would be very useful in my current job.

 

 

Budget: £2400-2500 including monitor

 

 

CPU: Intel Core i7 4930K Extreme Hex Core

 

Cooler: Thermalright Silver Arrow SB-E

 

MoBo: Asus P9X79 PRO

That mobo seems to be hard to get in the UK. There’s none of them on ebay and Amazon. Few online stores I’ve checked were out of stock and I’ve read somewhere that this mobo was discontinued. Could you recommend another mobo in a similar price range in case I won’t be able to get P9X79 PRO?

 

GPU: QUADRO k4000 or GTX760/770/780/780ti?

This is the biggest headache for me. I did the research but I’m still not sure what would be the right choice in my case. Is quadro worth the extra money or would GTX card be good enough for my needs? There’s a big price difference between GTX770 and quadro. Even GTX780ti is £160 cheaper.

 

RAM: Corsair CML32GX3M4A1600C10B Vengeance Low Profile 32GB (4x8GB) DDR3 1600 Mhz CL10 XMP

 

SSD: SSD 256 GB SAMSUNG 840 PRO

 

HDD: HDD 2TB WD BLACK

 

Case: FRACTAL DESIGN DEFINE R4

 

 

PSU: Corsair AX760 or RM750 or RM650

To be honest I have no idea which PSU I should use. Would 650W be enough for that build or do I need more power considering that I’d like to overclock the CPU?

 

System: Windows 7 64 bit Pro

 

Monitor: Dell u2413 or Asus PA248Q

I’m leaning more towards Dell but I’m also open for any suggestions of other monitors in £300-400 price range.

 

 

Thank you in advance.

[numerobis]

Looks good.

 

MoBo: Asus P9X79 PRO

That mobo seems to be hard to get in the UK. There’s none of them on ebay and Amazon. Few online stores I’ve checked were out of stock and I’ve read somewhere that this mobo was discontinued. Could you recommend another mobo in a similar price range in case I won’t be able to get P9X79 PRO?

 

http://skinflint.co.uk/asus-p9x79-pro-90-mibh40-g0eay00z-a697065.html?t=alle&plz=&va=b&vl=uk&v=e#filterform

alternatively maybe the Sabertooth

http://skinflint.co.uk/asus-sabertooth-x79-90-mibgw0-g0eay00z-a699487.html

or a ASRock X79 Extreme 6 or 9

http://skinflint.co.uk/?cat=mbp4_2011&xf=544_ASRock~544_ASUS~493_8x+DDR3#xf_top

 

GPU: QUADRO k4000 or GTX760/770/780/780ti?

This is the biggest headache for me. I did the research but I’m still not sure what would be the right choice in my case. Is quadro worth the extra money or would GTX card be good enough for my needs?

A GTX is good enough for Sketchup and for GPU rendering. If you plan to use GPU rendering or the GPU features of Maxwell you should take a card with at least 4GB RAM i would say.

RAM: Corsair CML32GX3M4A1600C10B Vengeance Low Profile 32GB (4x8GB) DDR3 1600 Mhz CL10 XMP

I would take the 1866MHz version but 1600MHz should be enough. Almost no difference - performance-wise.http://skinflint.co.uk/?cat=ramddr3&asuch=low+profile&bpmax=&v=e&plz=&dist=&filter=update&sort=p&xf=254_1600~2216_DDR3~1126_Corsair~253_32768~1454_8192~256_4x

 

PSU: Corsair AX760 or RM750 or RM650

To be honest I have no idea which PSU I should use. Would 650W be enough for that build or do I need more power considering that I’d like to overclock the CPU?

650W should be theoretically enough even if you plan to overclock ( http://www.enermax.outervision.com/PSUEngine ) but i think i would take something around 750W to have a bit more headroom and because it should be a bit more quiet. But i would go with the Corsair AX instead of RM because they are build by Seasonic ( http://www.tomshardware.de/netzteil-oem-hersteller,testberichte-240604-5.html ) or take a Seasonic X-Series.

Edited March 30, 2014 by numerobis

[Zdravko Barisic]

As Numerobis already said, GTX series, like 560,660,760, are good enough, and even more, do not need for Quadro/780, etc...even GTX 560 would be perfect for you.

And about displays, GET 2 MONITORS, dual setup working is not so expensive nowadays, and the quality of working is awesome.

The 2nd one can be some cheap/second hand 20/22"...

 

Good luck!

[kubasluzek]

Thank you very much numerobis and Zdravko!

 

Very useful links. I'll check prices and update my build.

 

As for the GPU. I really like Multilight feature in Maxwell and I'd like to give it a go. I've found out today that in Maxwell Render v3 they introduced Fast Multilight display which is GPU accelerated, so I guess having a card with 4GB RAM would be a good idea?

 

Just one more question. Is GTX770 4GB RAM card actually better for GPU rendering than GTX780ti which has only 3GB RAM?

 

As for a dual display setup - I really like the idea. I have a 27'' monitor at work and many times I feel like it's still not enough space.

I was considering getting another monitor later, but maybe if i'll save some money on GPU I'll be able to squeeze 2nd cheaper monitor into my current budget.

[kadritahir]

Quadro v GTX780 benchmark test:

 

Unless you are planning to step-up to really heavy renders in the near future,

I would stick to a GTX 560 - as Zdravko Said.

 

For a beginner, I would recommend the following system.

really, you don't need the system you stated, its overkill. -unless you like overkill, like me.

 

 

 

Budget: £2400-2500 including monitor

 

MYREC: 1500p - 2500p max.

 

CPU: Intel Core i7 4930K Extreme Hex Core

 

MYREC: Intel Core i7-4771 LGA1150

 

Cooler: Thermalright Silver Arrow SB-E

 

MoBo: Asus P9X79 PRO

 

GPU: QUADRO k4000 or GTX760/770/780/780ti?

 

MYREC: GTX 560

 

RAM: Corsair CML32GX3M4A1600C10B Vengeance Low Profile 32GB (4x8GB) DDR3 1600 Mhz CL10 XMP

 

MYREC: 8Gb DDR3 G.Skill 1600mhz

 

SSD: SSD 256 GB SAMSUNG 840 PRO

 

MYREC: stay away from samsung ssd, go for crucial or intel

 

HDD: HDD 2TB WD BLACK

 

Case: FRACTAL DESIGN DEFINE R4

 

PSU: Corsair AX760 or RM750 or RM650

 

MYREC: Corsair AX760i

 

System: Windows 7 64 bit Pro

 

Monitor: Dell u2413 or Asus PA248Q

 

MYREC: I have never failed with benq. Benq EW2740L 27" LED Monitor x2

 

 

hope that helps,

 

Kadri.

[numerobis]

I've found out today that in Maxwell Render v3 they introduced Fast Multilight display which is GPU accelerated, so I guess having a card with 4GB RAM would be a good idea?

Yes, that's why i recommended at least 4GB.

 

Just one more question. Is GTX770 4GB RAM card actually better for GPU rendering than GTX780ti which has only 3GB RAM?

regarding overall performance the 780 / 780TI is clearly the faster card - but it is limited to 3GB RAM. If you need more RAM and faster rendering you have to go with a Titan for now or a EVGA or Palit 780 6GB in a few weeks - or a EVGA 780 TI Kingpin 6GB in May/June. The additional charge for the 3GB should be around $50. Maybe other brands will follow.

[RyderSK]

The additional charge for the 3GB should be around $50. Maybe other brands will follow.

 

Is that so :- ) ? Crazy, well, looks like a great deal then. I am not exactly too much into GPUs, so, what would I gain with TitanBlack 6gb vs 780Ti 6gb ?

[kubasluzek]

I've made few updates to my build considering your comments, and now it looks like this:

 

CPU: Intel Core i7 4930K Extreme Hex Core

 

Cooler: Thermalright Silver Arrow SB-E

 

MoBo: Asus P9X79 PRO

 

GPU: EVGA GeForce GTX 770 SC 4GB

 

RAM: Corsair Vengeance Low Profile 32GB (4 x 8GB) Memory Kit PC3-15000 1866MHz DDR3 DIMM

 

SSD: SSD 256 GB SAMSUNG 840 PRO

 

HDD: HDD 2TB WD BLACK

 

Case: FRACTAL DESIGN DEFINE R4

 

 

PSU: Corsair AX760

 

System: Windows 7 64 bit Pro

 

Monitor: Dell u2413

 

 

This build costs £2121 which would leave me an option to get second Dell u2413 or maybe something like NEC PA241W + one very cheap display. But is NEC really that much better than Dell or Asus (it costs almost 2 times more)?

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for your input Kadri. You are probably right that this is an overkill, but I'll stick to it

If you don't mind, could you explain what's wrong with Samsung SSD?

 

 

 

regarding overall performance the 780 / 780TI is clearly the faster card - but it is limited to 3GB RAM. If you need more RAM and faster rendering you have to go with a Titan for now or a EVGA or Palit 780 6GB in a few weeks - or a EVGA 780 TI Kingpin 6GB in May/June. The additional charge for the 3GB should be around $50. Maybe other brands will follow.

 

Oh, that's good news That makes buying EVGA GTX card a good choice if they will release 6GB version in next 90 days, since they have a step-up program.

 

Thank you guys.

[numerobis]

Is that so :- ) ? Crazy, well, looks like a great deal then.

That's what i read in an announcement. But it seems to be a bit more...

http://skinflint.co.uk/eu/palit-geforce-gtx-780-super-jetstream-a1091574.html

http://geizhals.de/eu/?cat=gra16_512&asuch=gtx+780&bpmax=&v=e&plz=&dist=&filter=aktualisieren&bl1_id=300&sort=p&xf=132_4096

But it is still not released so maybe the price will go down a bit.

 

I am not exactly too much into GPUs, so, what would I gain with TitanBlack 6gb vs 780Ti 6gb ?

Not much... only if you need double precision, i think. This seems to be something where the Titan still stands out against the 780 http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-gtx-780-ti-review-benchmarks,3663-14.html

But as far as i know v-ray is only single precision and the 780 not really slower than a Titan.

Btw. i just read at Chaos forums that someone has tested a AMD RX290 with v-ray RT and claims to get aound 2 min in the benchmark ( http://forums.chaosgroup.com/showthread.php?52415-GPU-benchmarks/page18) This would be almost on par with a Titan/780TI.

If this is really true, AMD could be back in the game with OpenCL... i hope so!

Edited March 30, 2014 by numerobis

[RyderSK]

The Palit being 100 euros cheaper it might be good to go with it and just slap a water block in that price on top of it instead, EVGA after all keeps the reference which I am not particulary fond of. Well, something to look forward to

[numerobis]

Yes, the Palit seems to be a nice card - especially at this price. Here is a review of the 3GB version: http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/palit_geforce_gtx_780_super_jetstream_review,28.html

And it should be great with a water block on it!

[Dimitris Tolios]

If you won't be overclocking past 1150-1250MHz @ core, I don't see a reason for even worrying about GPU brand for nVidia cards...

The stock/reference cooler and VRM design can do that easily with pretty low noise levels, all aftermarket coolers are usually better, so it boils down to "Silicon Lottery" and how capable your particular GK110 core copy overclocks.

 

For stock speeds, there is nothing to worry about. I would guess getting the company that gets the better support in your area or simply the color combination that you like the most is completely justified.

 

For crazy overclocks, your best bets are with a EVGA "Kingpin" or Galaxy "HOF" 780Ti, then EVGA Classified and MSI Lighting 780s, but this is all "e-peen" at a hefty premium over the stock/mildly overclocked cards.

[paneli]

+1 for Sabertooth X79

[carlonarducci]

Is that so :- ) ? Crazy, well, looks like a great deal then. I am not exactly too much into GPUs, so, what would I gain with TitanBlack 6gb vs 780Ti 6gb ?

 

the package