Workstation Build - £1k -1.5k - Overkill?

hi,

After reading the majority of the "build posts" on this site and doing my own research, I think I have a fair understanding of the hardware needed. But fear the spec that i'm going for is overkill for what i actually need?

Current Situation

- University student (architecture related) going into final year

- currently have 2011 Macbook pro, i5 @2.3Ghz, 4gb Ram (have ran VMware+3DSmax which was a fail lol)

- Using AutoCAD, PS and sketch up with SU Podium plugin render.

- Budget: £1.1k - £1.5k

I have been a die hard Apple advocate throughout uni but after going through last terms work, I know that I need a faster machine, considered the knew 15" macbook retina display - fully loaded, but didn't seem worth it, as I want to start using Revit, 3DSmax, Vray and doing this through bootcamp on the retina display would have brought up headaches I don't need (icon+resolution issues)so have decided to convert to the dark side and build a windows workstation. Preferably would like to stay below £1.1k but don't want to build the workstation and have performance issues for the sake of a few hundred.

Build Specs

So here is the build that have came up with, would greatly appreciate your thoughts and advice:

Intel i7-5820K Extreme Hex Core CPU Processor (3.30GHz, 15MB Cache, 140W, Socket 2011-V3, 28 Lanes PCI Express Generation 3) £300

ASUS® X99-E WS: SOCKET 2011-V3, DDR4, USB 3.0, SATA 6 GB/s: £394

FRACTAL DESIGN ARC MIDI R2 MID-TOWER CASE: £73

32GB KINGSTON HYPER-X FURY DDR4 2133MHz (4 x 8GB): £190

PNY QUADRO K620 - 2GB GDDR3, 384 CUDA Cores - 1 x DP, 1 x DVI: £166

240GB KINGSTON HYPERX SAVAGE SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s: £92

1TB 3.5" SATA-III 6GB/s HDD 7200RPM 32MB CACHE: £35 ***

CORSAIR 450W VS SERIES™ VS-450 POWER SUPPLY: £35

CoolerMaster Hyper 212 EVO (120mm) Fan CPU Cooler (£29)

Creative Sound Blaster® Audigy™ FX OEM: £20

24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM: £15

ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND: £5

ASUS MX279H 27" Full HD AH-IPS LED DISPLAY: £244

Total:£1,569

Questions

- Have I missed anything on spec compatibility?

- Should I be going with DDR4 RAM and associated costs (main concern)?

- Would you change certain parts? Suggestions?

Since you like apple product, that for me means looks are important for you.

Tell us how you want your pc to look like. There is so much choice out there that it is possible to configure a pc to your own preferences. If you could post a few photo example or links of stuff you find nice looking, that would help. Would you like to see your components in the case through a window. Or do you want a closed case or perhaps an open pc. Do you want a small pc or a big pc. The hardware part is easy. The hard part is getting the looks right.

When i have time i will try to configure a nice looking workstation. First i will wait for your answer.

What percentage of time do you model and what percentage of time do you render?

Would you like to bump up your budget in order to get a 4k monitor?

You don't want to put the components together by yourself?

Apart from the screen resolution issue, what are other issue you have with your mac when working with your software? Perhaps modeling is to slow, or rendering way to slow.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-5820K 3.3GHz 6-Core Processor (£293.94 @ Aria PC)

CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-U14S 55.0 CFM CPU Cooler (£48.12 @ CCL Computers)

Motherboard: Asus X99-A/USB 3.1 ATX LGA2011-3 Motherboard (£206.26 @ Dabs)

Memory: Kingston HyperX Fury Black 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory (£172.23 @ Ebuyer)

Storage: Crucial BX100 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£63.15 @ Amazon UK)

Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£38.98 @ CCL Computers)

Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 4GB Video Card (£249.55 @ Aria PC)

Case: Fractal Design Define R5 w/Window (Titanium) ATX Mid Tower Case (£84.14 @ CCL Computers)

Power Supply: Antec TruePower Classic 650W 80+ Gold Certified ATX Power Supply (£67.92 @ CCL Computers)

Monitor: Dell U2715H 60Hz 27.0" Monitor (£359.99 @ Aria PC)

Total: £1584.28

Much better now.

You wont be needing a thermal paste. Every cooler has its own inside. Noctua gives one of the best compounds in the market with its top cooler, the NT-H1.

Don't go below 27" with 1440p. 27" with FHD isn't going to be comfortable for working CG programs.

Cheers for the response joel, I'm not sure if your being smart or not…but i'll give you benefit of the doubt. I didn't simply get a Macbook because it "looks nice" it was a natural progression as I mainly used OS X before going to uni, preferred the interface and already had software licences that I could use on another mac. Plus was going for a laptop so I could work in class.

So to be honest I don't really care to much what it looks like, just one that is practical, provides the right setup for the components, gives good air flow and isn't noisy.

Most of the time I will be modelling

This post is about the possible overkill of the specs, I think a 4k monitor is unnecessary. (MAX £1.5k budget)

It doesn't look too hard, read a lot and watched enough youtube videos - will give it a go myself.

yeah modelling has slowed down over the years as my projects have grown bigger, I think the render engine I'm using isn't that heavy on my mac, but yes it took a while. I am keeping my macbook, but upgrading it with 16gb RAM and an SSD - but will only be used when I need to take things into class.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

 

CPU: Intel Core i7-5820K 3.3GHz 6-Core Processor (£293.94 @ Aria PC)

CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-U14S 55.0 CFM CPU Cooler (£48.12 @ CCL Computers)

Motherboard: Asus X99-A/USB 3.1 ATX LGA2011-3 Motherboard (£206.26 @ Dabs)

Memory: Kingston HyperX Fury Black 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory (£172.23 @ Ebuyer)

Storage: Crucial BX100 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£63.15 @ Amazon UK)

Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£38.98 @ CCL Computers)

Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 4GB Video Card (£249.55 @ Aria PC)

Case: Fractal Design Define R5 w/Window (Titanium) ATX Mid Tower Case (£84.14 @ CCL Computers)

Power Supply: Antec TruePower Classic 650W 80+ Gold Certified ATX Power Supply (£67.92 @ CCL Computers)

Monitor: Dell U2715H 60Hz 27.0" Monitor (£359.99 @ Aria PC)

Total: £1584.28

 

Much better now.

 

You wont be needing a thermal paste. Every cooler has its own inside. Noctua gives one of the best compounds in the market with its top cooler, the NT-H1.

 

Don't go below 27" with 1440p. 27" with FHD isn't going to be comfortable for working CG programs.

Cheers Nikolaos,

Updated spec looks good,thanks for clarifying that about the monitor, just a few questions:

Why go for the lower motherboard, was the x99-E WS was this something that was simply overkill?

Do I need the more powerful video card if I'm mainly doing CPU renderings?

If I went with DDR3 RAM and associated CPU etc would I be greatly affecting the performance? what I'm trying to say is, am I just paying a premium for newer parts which still yield the same performance as the older DDR3?

Thanks again

Cheers Nikolaos,

Updated spec looks great! Thanks for clarifying that about the monitor, i just have a few questions:

Why did you go for the lower mother board rather than the x99-E WS was this something that was simply overkill?

why did you choose a more powerful/expensive video card? as am mainly going to be using the CPU for renderings.

Should I be going for DDR4 RAM and associated costs like the compatible CPU? what I'm trying to say is that am I paying a premium for newer hardware that will yield the same result as the the older DDR3 models?

Thanks again

P.S.(if this reply is a repeat, it is due to the first response not posting/being reviewed by moderator, have read others having similar issues)

Cheers Nikolaos,

 

Updated spec looks great! Thanks for clarifying that about the monitor, i just have a few questions:

 

Why did you go for the lower mother board rather than the x99-E WS was this something that was simply overkill?

 

why did you choose a more powerful/expensive video card? as am mainly going to be using the CPU for renderings.

 

Should I be going for DDR4 RAM and associated costs like the compatible CPU? what I'm trying to say is that am I paying a premium for newer hardware that will yield the same result as the the older DDR3 models?

 

Thanks again

 

P.S.(if this reply is a repeat, it is due to the first response not posting/being reviewed by moderator, have read others having similar issues)

Hi Ryan.

Lets take things one at a time:

1. The Asus X99-A has everything you need on it. The WS model has many-many features you probably wont be needing, like the multiple pciex16 slots that run simultaneously x16 lanes for gpgpu uses, or the dual LAN ports, or the ability to use up to 128gb of RAM, buffered or unbuffered (ECC vs non ECC). Do you need all these? Because, by buying such an expensive board while having a tight budget will cause a poorer choice of other parts that are essential for having a balanced system.

2. I chose a more powerfull gpu because it could fit inside budget and would make your system more future proof, mainly because of the Vram amount. The next cheaper choices have 2gb of vram that are nowadays an absolute minimum for CG setups. CG softwares become more and more RAM and VRAM hungry, not only in gpu rendering, but in viewports too. With 4gigs of vram you wont be needing an upgrade for some time to come. Simple as that. If your budget was at about 1K£ you could consider picking another gpu, cheaper and with less Vram.

3. DDR4 have almost the same price with ddr3 right now. You are not paying a premium, at the moment we speak. When ddr4 first came out, the price distance was huge. But now they are on par with each other. Check the prices yourself, and you'll notice that.

As for the monitor, 1080p is progressively passing on its domination to 1440p, especially when we're talking about 27" or more. It's all about pixel density. 27" at 1440p is considered to be a good standard these days for people messing with CG. 1080p is very good at 23-24". 4K is slowly appearing at desktop monitors, but anything below 32" is said to be very hard to work with, due to the great density of pixels and the small size of the appearing letters and schemes. For your budget go for a 1440p at 27". The dell I chose is a safe bet.

If you might want to get a different case:

http://www.cooltek.de/en/powered-by-jonsbo/w2/131/w2

I will get this one for my next workstation.

The rest I would get similiar to what Nikolaos wrote. Maybe a Samsung Pro ssd, but nothing smaller than 250 gb for a ssd.

Hi Ryan.

 

Lets take things one at a time:

 

1. The Asus X99-A has everything you need on it. The WS model has many-many features you probably wont be needing, like the multiple pciex16 slots that run simultaneously x16 lanes for gpgpu uses, or the dual LAN ports, or the ability to use up to 128gb of RAM, buffered or unbuffered (ECC vs non ECC). Do you need all these? Because, by buying such an expensive board while having a tight budget will cause a poorer choice of other parts that are essential for having a balanced system.

 

2. I chose a more powerfull gpu because it could fit inside budget and would make your system more future proof, mainly because of the Vram amount. The next cheaper choices have 2gb of vram that are nowadays an absolute minimum for CG setups. CG softwares become more and more RAM and VRAM hungry, not only in gpu rendering, but in viewports too. With 4gigs of vram you wont be needing an upgrade for some time to come. Simple as that. If your budget was at about 1K£ you could consider picking another gpu, cheaper and with less Vram.

 

3. DDR4 have almost the same price with ddr3 right now. You are not paying a premium, at the moment we speak. When ddr4 first came out, the price distance was huge. But now they are on par with each other. Check the prices yourself, and you'll notice that.

 

As for the monitor, 1080p is progressively passing on its domination to 1440p, especially when we're talking about 27" or more. It's all about pixel density. 27" at 1440p is considered to be a good standard these days for people messing with CG. 1080p is very good at 23-24". 4K is slowly appearing at desktop monitors, but anything below 32" is said to be very hard to work with, due to the great density of pixels and the small size of the appearing letters and schemes. For your budget go for a 1440p at 27". The dell I chose is a safe bet.

Hi Nikolaos,

Thanks for taking the time to explain that, I think I'm going to go with the spec that you've listed. all the parts seem to be justified and thats what I was worried about.

Thanks again! and I will update the thread on how the build goes and performs.

Cheers

You're welcome. Let us know how things turned out with this build. Some pictures would be nice too.

Hi Guys,

Been a while, but I've had my PC up and running for a number of weeks now and everything seems to be working great! wouldn't have been able to do it without the guidance from the forum! especially Nikolaos!

however, now that the hardware is put together and I've had some time to play around on it, I've noticed that when I did a practice render (just on sketch with SU podium plugin) the CPU usage jumped up to 100% even though it was an uncomplicated scene, rendered in a low quality setting (this normal?). Also, the fan speed didn't change - this may be down to the fans running at max speed all the time or they do not speed up when the CPU goes into high usage, i don't know. I just have a fear that when i do a more complicated render on a higher setting I may destroy the CPU if the fans (or even the chipset?) aren't in cohesion with the CPU??

Is there any way of knowing if my chipset is set up correctly, or if my fans are reacting to the power usage etc?? also thought of running "fanspeed" which may configure my pc better? (I'm running windows 10)

would really appreciate some advice on this guys, cheers.

Hi Ryan. It's nice to hear that you've built yourself a system that is satisfactory for your needs. Have you picked the Noctua u14s, eventually? You must connect the 4pin header of the noctua's fan to the cpu fan connector of your motherboard. If you have the Asus X99-A, then use the AIsuite to adjust fan speed according to temperature. But even at full speed (1500rpm) the Noctua fan should be relatively silent. You can also check inside the BIOS what's the selected fan profile. If it is the silent profile then your cpu fan is probably running at 600 rpm, which is very low.

You can also download some useful software with which you can check your cpu's temperature and other essential measurments. Try coretemp, Realtemp, HWmonitor and cpu-z as a basis. Check out your temperatures after a, lets say, 10-15' rendering, and share the results with us, to see if everything is OK.

Ps. It's completely normal to see all cores running at 100% during rendering if the software you use scales well to all of them. Nothing to worry about.

Hi Nikolaos,

Yes I went with the Noctua u14s, and correctly plugged it into the cpu fan connection on the motherboard. Thats when things get a bit complicated, i was having trouble installing the drivers on windows 10, so took it to a local PC shop who said the CD drivers where corrupted and just downloaded the latest from ASUS's website etc. I couldn't get an AIsuite onto my computer, it just wouldn't run. Thats why I am looking for alternative software, that can change the fan speed according to temperature instead of having to just set the fan at a certain speed which isn't reactive to what I am doing.

Thanks Nikolaos, I will take a look at that software and have a play about with it. Just the feeling that I have nothing to check it off against. Will do a render, keep an eye on the cpu temperature and report back. What temperature is expected, what is regarded as moderate to high and extreme?

Normally you don't need any software installed unless you want to change the settings in windows. You can simply set up the fan curves in the BIOS/UEFI. If you don't see any changes to the fan speed when you start rendering, and if you didn't check the settings in the BIOS before then it is quite possible that they are set to a fixed value - i don't know what the default setting is on ASUS boards.

Thats why I am looking for alternative software, that can change the fan speed according to temperature instead of having to just set the fan at a certain speed which isn't reactive to what I am doing.

Inside your BIOS there is a fan control curve that is customisable.

If you run your system at stock speeds and auto voltages, then with the Noctua U14s you should see temps around 55-60° after a 10-15' rendering. If you are interested in tweaking the BIOS settings a little, like adjusting the vcore with offset values, then temps should go down a great deal.