vfx - new micro atx build advice - i7 4core vs 6core - 32gb

[sandysutherland]

Hello All,

 

It was suggested I get some build advice from you good people from Ant over at Renderpockets.

 

I work in VFX, doing fx simulations mainly. Having just done my first 3 remote jobs on a single i5, 16gb machine it's clear I need some more power.

 

I'm looking to build a single small machine I can palm off heavy sims and rendering to while I keep working on my current workstation.

 

So - Looking at a microATX case, 32gb ram, do I go for the i7 4790k with ddr3, or go for the i7 5820k with ddr4.

 

Right now I'm not clear on the potential gains of ddr4 over ddr3 memory.

 

I use houdini which is pretty great at making use of all the cores it can.

 

1 more powerful machine vs building say 2 less powerful ones means I only need to fork out on 1 extra render licence instead of 2.

 

I'm looking at the corsair air 240 case right now... no need for a gpu either. probably a smallish ssd for the base OS etc, and then 2 x 1tb HDDs in raid0 for writing the sim data to. Generally speaking the sim data doesnt need backing up, if and when it does I can shift it over to my NAS.

 

Any over arching suggestions would be great to hear, then I can focus in on specific components.

Thanks all

[joelmcwilliam]

What's the i5 you have currently?

 

Here is a push:

 

Look at the i7 5820K. Don't go for the haswell i7 4790k with skylake on the doorstep. I like to go for the newer architecture. If you were doing lots of stuff that needed one very fast single core then the i7 4790k would be great. The i7 4790k is also very good at rendering, however the i7 5820k just has some more renderingpower.

 

Usefull links in this topic: http://forums.cgarchitect.com/77746-need-advice-making-rendering-pc.html#post399594

 

Ram: please dont worry about ram. Just make sure you have enough ram. Go to the website of kingston and crucial (or the website of your mobo manufacturer) and see what they recommend for a specific mobo.

 

Mobo: well, there are mobo's for micro atx for the i7 5820K. Which one you choose is up to you. Read review's on tech site and on newegg and amazon of your mobo to see if you can find things you were unfamiliar with.

 

Psu: Modulair would be nice in a small case. Some psu you can look at are the Super flower Leadex gold and the newer corsair rm. Both are very quiet and a good quality-price ratio.

 

You might do a google or youtube search on 'corsair air 240 and i7 5820k'.

 

If you go for a case with a window I would try to match colors of your components. First find out what color scheme you like and then try to find components that match the color scheme.