Advice on My Workstation

[kjverine]

I have attached a word file with a list of items I'm thinking of putting into my new system. I will be modelling in Max & Archicad. I will be using Maxwell for rendering even though i'm trying my hardest to learn V-Ray:confused: . My budget is $3,000 and i really don't wanna go over that amount. I am also looking at the qx6700 by intel as my chip. I would love to add a nice water cooling system as well because this system will be running day and night. Right now i'm running maxwell on an Athlon XP1700+ with 1.5 gigs of ram and a geforce 5750le video card. If you guy think that there are some things i can change with my system specs plz let me know.

[tuekappel]

This will probably be way over your budget, but my best hardware buy within the last 2 years, is probably a Reserator 2 from Zalman.

It's a passively cooled water cooling system, based upon a radiator placed outside of your computer.

It's ugly, and pricey, but it's noiseless. And i mean noiseless. No fans, just a diving pump, placed in the tank.

Which means i can render 1000 frames while watching TV, right next to my computer. And it means that my girlfriend accepts the mere presence of my omputer, in the living room.

So, i'm one happy water-cooled guy.. :-)

[AJLynn]

What's with zipped Word files? If you want to post some text, copy and paste it into a message.

[AFK_Matrix]

Ok here is what I would buy:

 

First off if your not gonna overclock then the Zalman should just about handle the Quad Core CPU. Personally I would try and get hold of a Swiftech Ultra Kit like the one here -

 

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=WC-014-SW&groupid=701&catid=57&subcat=193

 

You can then add a waterblock for your gfx with not alot of hassle, if you do get a waterblock for the 8800 i would recommend the EK with acetal top. I do hope you realise your gonna have to either cut a hole in the top of the case and loose 2 x 5 1/4 bays or use the Swiftech radbox and hang the radiator out the back.

 

Now onto your parts:

 

Case - Fine lian li's are lovely, have 2 my self.

 

CPU - Expensive, if you can wait a while the Quad core prices should be comming down.

 

Motherboard - Any reason your going for a server board? I would say if you are gonna overclock get a Gigabyte DS3P or one of the 680i boards.

 

Memory - Crucial Ballistix if you can find it I have the PC5300 stuff, clocks well and is very cheap. Well it is cheap here in the UK anyway.

 

Harddrives - I would advise getting the Seagate 7200.10 drives they are very fast and have a 5 year warranty. Get the 160GB one like this:

 

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-122-SE&groupid=701&catid=14&subcat=

 

500GB ones:

 

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-084-SE&groupid=701&catid=14&subcat=

 

Graphics Card - Fine but you may want to wait for ATI to release there R600 cards, you might just save some money.

 

Power Supply - For this i wouldn't dare put a thermaltack psu in the machine. Use either a Enermax Galaxy, a Seasonic or Tagan Turbojet Quad SLI.

 

The rest of the bits are your personally choice. Saying all this though Intel are brining out there P35 boards which will support DDR3 memory.

 

Hope some of that helped.

[visual3d]

Always get the fastest processor available.....you can live on 2 gig ram or a cheap graphic for the mean time, and upgrade in the future....but to upgrade a processor means a change of motherboard and possible type of ram....