ArchViz - Animation WorkSation

[Sephirox]

First of all, Hi to everyone and let me introduce myself, I am 20 Years old currently studying Architecture and on my Free Time e-learning/self teaching myself Animation and ArchViz...I love computers but there is a lot of things I don't understand still and if someone could help, it would be awesome.

 

I want to build a computer for ArchViz and Animation ( Autodesk and Adobe mostly ), and 2 Render Farms.

 

The spechs I am looking for the Workstation are:

 

CPU

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115070

 

RAM

 

http://www.corsair.com/memory/intel-memory-solutions/intel-triple-channel-kits/cmt12gx3m3a2000c9.html

 

MOTHERBOARD

 

http://www.evga.com/products/moreInfo.asp?pn=141-GT-E770-A1&family=Motherboard+Family&series=All+Motherboards&sw=5

 

HDD

 

1 x http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136803

 

2 x http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136792

 

CASE

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119225

 

Monitors

 

2 x http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824009297 or http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824005196 ( The bad thing about the LG ones is that they are TILT...So quite imposible to fit them at and angle I like, I would have to buy a 2 x Arm to do that...)

 

GRAPHICS CARD

 

3 x http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130659

 

WATER COOLING

 

I really have no Idea about water cooling systems...Which one could be a good one to keep Temp real low for this machine...I am on A/C 24/7. and a Mini A/C right behind the future machine could be fit.

 

DVD / BLU Ray Drive

 

1 x http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827249057

 

2 x http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827269008

 

I have heard a lot of things about buying a separate Velociraptor just for temp files or something like this ( IF someone could explain better would be awesome ), or buying a SSD but I have Windows main drive on 150GB and is just apps so I would need a 300GB SSD+ cause I have heard that we have to leave 50% free on a SSD...

 

For the RenderFarms a 4GB Ram setup with some cheap but efficient hardware.

 

Thanks in advance.

Edited July 9, 2011 by Sephirox

[AJLynn]

A few comments:

 

You've made a good choice of CPU but it doesn't match the MB and RAM - the ones you've got are for i7-900 series CPUs only. The i7-2600K requires an 1155 motherboard - there are several chipsets for it, but anybody intending to use a real video card should get a P67, like this: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004QF0VD6/?tag=andylynnnet-20

 

Memory speed is not very important with these, because the bclock is 100MHz and that's all you can do - you OC a Sandy Bridge chip by upping the multiplier (carefully! you OC at your own risk) - so don't buy fancy RAM. I'd go with two of these: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003N8GVUY/?tag=andylynnnet-20

 

Video cards: If you want to use multiple video cards with a Sandy Bridge, get a motherboard like this: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004OT7XLM/?tag=andylynnnet-20 - it adds extra PCIE lanes with an added chip. But you didn't say why you want the multiple, and extra expensive, video cards. Three Geforce 590's in one box? That's a power consumption nightmare. You should only buy these is you use Vray RT-GPU (regular Vray does not use them) or iray (regular mental ray does not use them) or another CUDA package, AND you know your scenes will fit in under 1.5GB. Why 1.5 and not 3? The 590 is two video cards on one board, with two GPUs and each one has 1.5GB, so your scene needs to load into each GPU's memory space.

 

But that video card configuration is really overkill for a student. Even if you use CUDA, get one 580 3GB board like this: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004YJVUBG/?tag=andylynnnet-20 - you can load a scene into the full 3GB, and it's plenty fast. If you want CUDA and overkill and don't mind spending money, get a MB like this: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004OT7XLM/?tag=andylynnnet-20 and two of that 3GB 580 card, and one ATI card like this: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004GCIZ5A/?tag=andylynnnet-20 because you can put the monitor on the ATI card, which does not support CUDA, and ensure that you're never running both the monitor and CUDA on the same monitor.

 

If you don't use CUDA, get some more modest video card, like this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130687 or this: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0050I1PI8/?tag=andylynnnet-20 or this: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004GCIZ5A/?tag=andylynnnet-20

 

Blu-Ray burner: Why? If there is a why, you're not going wrong with Plextor. Two DVD burners and a Blu-Ray burner in one box? There's not much point in that. Water cooling: You're on your own here, water cooling is for OC and I don't recommend OC.

 

SSDs: Installing Windows and apps on an SSD is a good idea, but you don't have to go nuts here. A Crucial C300 128GB is ideal. Then add some hard drive space.

 

Render nodes: A render node should ideally be as powerful as your workstation but without the video card, SSD, fancy case and other features not necessary when all you're doing with it is running the CPU.

 

Monitors: One large or two medium, that's a personal preference thing (I like one large) but what you want to do is find IPS displays. In 24", HP ZR24w and Dell U2410 are good choices. Then calibrate it, using something like this: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000JLO31M/?tag=andylynnnet-20 (the price on that dropped a lot recently because there's a new model in the pipeline). If you just go with consumer model, uncalibrated monitors, they'll be overbright and overblue and anything you print will look dark and ugly, so calibration is important.

[Slinger]

Welcome to the forums Juan.

I would have to agree with Andrew's assessment for a build.

 

As for a watercooling setup, I honestly would stay away from this. Unless you are massively trying to overclock and such, you really don't need it. A good case with good airflow goes a long way. Otherwise, I use Corsair's Hydro Series line. It is a All-in-one, closed loop cooling solution for the cpu. http://www.corsair.com/cooling/hydro-series.html I currently have the H50 but am about to upgrade to the H100.

 

If you have any more questions, let us know.

[AJLynn]

After a review, maybe I'm a bit too down on multiple GPUs - because if you do rely on CUDA, they are useful. So one more thing I should say about them, if you use more than one high end Geforce, be aware that they use a lot of power and you'll need a correspondingly high end power supply. The 590 uses an exceptionally large amount of power. Three of them would total over 1000W at peak, and that's just the video cards, so you'd want the highest capacity PSU Newegg sells, which is a Silverstone 1500W. BUT, the 590 requires TWO 8-pin power cables and that PSU has four, so hit the gamer forums to find out what people with rigs like that are using.

[Sephirox]

I really appreciate all the help, and now it comes to my last question the OS, I am confuse about windows 7 Pro and Ultimate, which will I need ( I will be working mostly with Adobe and Autodesk products )? Will going for Ultimate make my computer a bit slower due to extra features i might not use, or I will not see the difference between pro and ultimate?

[AJLynn]

Ultimate adds a few features but unless you want them it's probably not necessary. But the price difference isn't huge - on Newegg it's only a $45 difference between 64-bit OEM copies of Pro and ultimate - so I don't think it's that big a deal which you choose.

[tecton3d]

Welcome to the forums Juan.

I would have to agree with Andrew's assessment for a build.

 

As for a watercooling setup, I honestly would stay away from this. Unless you are massively trying to overclock and such, you really don't need it. A good case with good airflow goes a long way. Otherwise, I use Corsair's Hydro Series line. It is a All-in-one, closed loop cooling solution for the cpu. http://www.corsair.com/cooling/hydro-series.html I currently have the H50 but am about to upgrade to the H100.

 

If you have any more questions, let us know.

 

there are plenty of watercooling "kits" becoming available on the market these days. I'm spying this part for my next build: http://www.frozencpu.com/products/12222/ex-wat-162/XSPC_Rasa_750_RS360_Universal_CPU_Triple_Radiator_Water_Cooling_Kit-_HOT.html

[Sephirox]

What about RAID conf, I was thinking of buying this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136557 ( WD Veloc Sata 3 - 450GB ), but I am confuse about RAID Conf, which one will be better? If Raid 0 is equal to Raid 10 in perf but Raid 10 offers Data protection at the cost of 2 more Drives, is that really nessesary or Raid 0 and Continous Backup Protection on a External USB Drive would be better? If someone could explain.

 

PS: Raid 0 ( 2 x Veloc Sata 3 ) and USB with a WD Xternal for backup

Edited August 6, 2011 by Sephirox

[AJLynn]

I always thought those drives were too expensive. You want a fast raid, get some WD RE4 series drives and make a raid 0 and use external backup.

[Sephirox]

I am back, hahaha so currently I went on an bought Dual Monitors since I move to US, I bought Dual LG IPS236V, since one guy on another forum said that IPS was way better than normal LCD monitors. The things is that before updating my card the resolution show 1920x1080 and after updating my card it opens a new section name HD,SD and now the resolution is on there 1080p, 1920x1080....Is this better? and there is another section name PC with one that says 1920x1080 ( native ), but my video card sets it up automatically to the section of HD,SD 1080p,1920x1080.

 

Also the color between screens is different, some colors hard to notice but others such as white really easy to notice. Is this normal or will I have to calibrate the screens so that the colors between screens are the same? And if so how can I do this?

 

Thanks, in advance.

 

PS: On one I am using the LG DVI cable and on the other a Dynex best buy cable since the LG was too short.

Edited August 30, 2011 by Sephirox

[Slinger]

Juan, 1080p is basically the same thing as 1920x1080. Don't worry about it at all.As for the color issues, you have 3 choices: get a professional calibration disc(Andrew has posted one before), eye the settings yourself, just deal with it.

 

As for the cables, it could make a difference based off the line of the copper, but if they are both DVI, they are more than likely identical.

[Slinger]

there are plenty of watercooling "kits" becoming available on the market these days. I'm spying this part for my next build: http://www.frozencpu.com/products/12222/ex-wat-162/XSPC_Rasa_750_RS360_Universal_CPU_Triple_Radiator_Water_Cooling_Kit-_HOT.html

Yeah there are alot more but two issues come up:

1. most people don't want to deal with a custom or "kit" loop they have to put all together and deal with possible leaks.

2. alot of people would have issues finding an appropriate place to mount a triple rad. I don't skimp on cases with my builds but most people here seem to get the cheapest they can get.

 

That's the beauty of the Coesair Hydro Series. They are all self-contained water cooling kits. They are easy to mount in the existing case since the majority are a single rad setup. The Corsair H100 being a double rad will make it a bit trickier to mount but nothing like trying to manage a triple rad setup.

Edited August 30, 2011 by Slinger

[Sephirox]

A disc like this http://www.amazon.com/Monster-ISF-HDTV-Calibration-Wizard/dp/B000EEXEIW ?

 

or tool like this

 

http://spyder.datacolor.com/product-mc-s3pro.php ?

[AJLynn]

The Spyder device or a similar Eye One model. The i1 Display 2 has been selling at a discount since they announced a new model. That other product is for HDTVs and probably not the least bit useful to you.

[Sephirox]

I am thinking og getting the Corsair Hydro Series for CPU Water Cooling but What water cool system works for GTX 580 3G Hydro Cooper 2? I need to build one from scratch using FrozenCPU parts? With tanks and everything? Or is it easier to build one from 0 and get the CPU and VideoCard cool by the same system? If so...What do I need...I really like the Rig he has in this video but since I know 0 about water cooling can someone help me, in what are the parts he is using?

 

[Sephirox]

Back...hehehe which you thing is better?

 

UPS: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16842102048

Or a Simple power strip?

 

I am living on Campues at my Uni...Voltage rarely change and power never goes away as I have been told but I don't know my PSU is 1000W and I might change it to 1500W...Will a UPS be better? and if so will that one manage it?