$2k budget; let the builds begin!

phantomdesign

phantomdesign

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Budget
I have a client feeling generous, so lets say I have an additional $2000 (USD) to spend on a computer (can toss in some ofm y own $$$ if upgrades are worth it).

Purpose
3D modeling -> 3d Rendering -> Gaming
I already have a relatively modern PC and laptop, so there may be a couple areas I can trim a little (like HD space).

Overclocking?
Yes please! My q6600 I have OCed from 2.4 to 3.3 GHZ, cool & fully stable!

Random Ideas. . .
SLI is probably not nessecary, jsut a good Geforce 9 or 200 series (quadro out of budget), 8gb ram, 2x 10k HDs in raid (150gb each probably).

I'm half asleep right now, but I wanted to get some ideas on the table! Lets see what you've got!
 
$8000 Graphics card for the win.
 
I'd wait for a Nehalem CPU coming out by the end of 2008 if you're interested in 3d rendering. Also, get a nice widescreen monitor. The rest of the parts you can keep pretty standard- 2-4gb RAM, 9800 GTX, and that expensive 10,000RPM hdd will come in handy in tandem with a larger 7200 hdd.

You can go pretty nuts on a monitor and CPU with a $2000 budget.
 
Keep in mind my client wants to spend money NOW & waiting would defeat the purpose of him buying me a computer in the first place. Waiting is out of the question.

For the HD, if I run 2x smaller 10k RPM Harddrives in raid, that would be optimal.
 
I would advise you to go with the the HD4850 over the 9800GTX.

-MRG
 
phantomdesign said:
Keep in mind my client wants to spend money NOW & waiting would defeat the purpose of him buying me a computer in the first place. Waiting is out of the question.

For the HD, if I run 2x smaller 10k RPM Harddrives in raid, that would be optimal.
Click to expand...

Can he just write a check for $2k?
 
I'm on it Phantom. Give me a few and I'll edit this post with the complete component list.

Edit: Here goes!

CPU: Intel Q9450
Motherboard: Asus Rampage Formula
Video Cards 2x Powercolor 4870
RAM: 2x Corsair Dominator 4GB DDR2 1066 kits
PSU: PC Power & Cooling 860W
HD: 2x Western Digital Raptor 150GB 10,000 RPM Drives
Optical LITE-ON DVD/CD RW Drive

Total without shipping and rebates = $2,072

Total after $140 in rebates = $1932

These components will give you huge overclocking capabilities, especially with the rock solid Intel X48 chipset coupled with Asus' unmatched engineering. You'll have two 4870's for around the price of a single GTX 280, but double the performance. The case is up to you.
 
I wasn't sure which components you didn't need, so I put everything on there. All together, it goes over $2k, but I'm assuming you won't need some of it.

Case: Lian-Li PC-7B
Motherboard: ASUS Rampage Intel X48
CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 2.83 GHz - I went with the $500 one instead of the $1000+ 3.0 GHz because you said you're OCing the one you've got now, so I'm guessing it won't be a problem with this one.
PSU: Corsair 620W
Memory: 2x OCZ Platinum 4GB DDR2 1066
Boot/Application HDD: WD Velociraptor 300GB 10k RPM SATA 3.0GB/s - I only put one on the list... see the article I linked to earlier.
Data Storage: 2x WD Caviar 320GB Sata 3.0GB/s 16MB cache in RAID 1
Video: EVGA GeForce GTX 280 1GB
Optical: Liteon DVD+/-R/W
CPU Cooling: Scythe SCINF-1000
 
Personally, I would check out the Samsung DVD/CD burner (sata). It can read hidden tracks on Audio CDs (few drives can). I'm not talking about an extended last track either.
 
I think I might have convinced him to spend closer to $3500 on a dual-processor quadcore; if not I might toss in the extra $1400 or so myself. Doesn't quite make sense to build a computer only 20% better than my current rig just to have 2.

1x Mbd: ASUS RAMPAGE FORMULA LGA 775 Intel X48 ATX
1x Vid: EVGA GeForce GTX 280 SuperClocked Edition 1GB 512-bit GDDR3
1x CPU: Core2Quad Q9450 Yorkfield 2.66GHz, 1333 FSB, 45mn, 12MB L2, Intel
2x Mem: 2x 2GB (8gb total), DDR2 1066 Dual Channel, CAS 5, 5-5-5-18, OCZ Platinum
1x HDD: 750GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Seagate Barracuda
1x DVD: 16X DVD?R DVD Burner, Blu-ray/HD DVD-ROM & , LG
1x LCD: 22" LCD, 1680x1050, 5ms, 1000:1, ASUS
1x Cas: Antec Nine Hundred, ATX Mid Tower
1x PSU: 700W, Modular, Thermaltake
2x FAN: 1900 RPM, 110 CFM, 37 dBA, Scythe 120mm "Slipstream"
2x Fan: 2000 RPM (variable), 79 CFM, 30 dBA, Antec 120mm
1x Col: Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme CPU Heatsink, Lapped
$2149.38 (doesn't include shipping or mail-in rebates)

1x Mbd: ASUS, Dual LGA 771, 1600 FSB, Intel 5400, DDR2 800 FBDIMM x16 max 64GB
1x Vid: EVGA GeForce GTX 280 SuperClocked Edition 1GB 512-bit GDDR3
2x CPU: Xeon Quad E5430 Harpertown, 2.66GHz, LGA 771, 12MB L2, 45nm, Intel
6x MEM: 2GB, DDR2 800 FB-DIMM, CAS 5, 5-5-12, A-DATA
1x HDD: 750GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Seagate Barracuda
1x DVD: 16X DVD?R DVD Burner, Blu-ray/HD DVD-ROM & , LG
1x LCD: 22" LCD, 1680x1050, 5ms, 1000:1, ASUS
1x CAS: Antec Twelve Hundred, ATX Full Tower
1x PSU: 850w, Modular, Antec
2x FAN: 1900 RPM, 110 CFM, 37 dBA, Scythe 120mm "Slipstream"
2x Fan: 2000 RPM (variable), 79 CFM, 30 dBA, Antec 120mm
1x USB: D-Link 7-Port USB Hub
2x Col: Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme CPU Heatsink, Lapped
$3518.96 (doesn't include shipping or mail-in rebates)
 
Buy the more expensive one and then give me your current one.
 
Honestly Phantom, if you're going with a dual CPU board, go with a Skulltrail. If you can squeeze out the extra cash for it, it'll be far better suited to what you plan to do than a plain server board.
 
I could probably squeeze some money together for the Skulltrail; especailly since I'd be limited to 8gbs; but . . . forgive me for my lack of knowledge . . . what's the advantage?

EDIT: Corsair memory back in stock, so I replaced the crappy a-data stuff.
 
phantomdesign said:
I could probably squeeze some money together for the Skulltrail; especailly since I'd be limited to 8gbs; but . . . forgive me for my lack of knowledge . . . what's the advantage?
Click to expand...

The Bios features are a bit more complete than standard server motherboards. Also, not sure if you're aware of this, but the Skulltrail also includes support for SLI. To my knowledge, it is the only Intel motherboard with this capability. It will certainly give you options down the line. If at all possible, you may want to consider the power supply I linked with my previous build. This build will be very power hungry, and at 64A on a single 12V rail, there's plenty of current to go around. This platform is probably your best choice for 3D rendering though, and you'll still have much better gaming performance than you would with a quadro.
 
Impressive power supply, but is it worth the extra $60. Also; is the motherboard better enough that I should go from 12gb to 8gb. I suppose in a sense I typically don't use much over 4, but I don't know.
 
phantomdesign said:
Impressive power supply, but is it worth the extra $60. Also; is the motherboard better enough that I should go from 12gb to 8gb. I suppose in a sense I typically don't use much over 4, but I don't know.
Click to expand...

I highly doubt you will see any performance difference going from 12GB to 8GB. I too use 4 GB, and my system has never even been close to using it all. If you're going to be overclocking this beast, you'll probably want the most stable power supply you can get, and the PC P&C is just that.
 
Motherboard: Intel Skulltraill D5400XS http://************/6kz7en

Processors: 2 Intel Xeon E5420 Quad-Core http://************/2h2cqc

RAM: 4GB Crucial FB-DIMM DDR2 800 http://************/6ygmh8

Video Cards: 2 Visiontek Radeon 4870's in Crossfire http://************/6fkavg

Storage: Samsung Spinpoint F1 1TB http://************/2s8hpd

DVD Burner: Sony Optiarc http://************/6mjxda

PSU: PC Power And Cooling Silencer 750w http://************/6enwj8

Case: Cooler Master Cosmos http://************/2anzyt

With this config you get 8-cores, Dual videocars, 1TB of storage, a reliable Power Supply, reliable Crucial memory, and all the power you want for around $2,800. Also the Xeons run a good deal cooler than the C2E 9775's so you can overclock. Skulltrail does not support Geforce GTX 200's in SLI
 
Isn't ram crucial in rendering? I'd go with 8GB. And maybe get a GPU desinged for modeling. I don't know how complex rendering you're doing but I wouldn't count on overclocking. Rendering a scene for 20h and then having the computer crash because of a memory error, ewww.
 
Workstation grade processors such as the Xenon's in my proposal have 12MB of cache that remove most of the RAM dependence in most rendering applications. Also 32-bit operating systems will only recognize 4GB of ram anyway making having anymore overkill. 64-bit Windows can see more than 4GB of RAM but both 64-bit Vista and XP are not stable and have compatibility issues with many common programs.
 
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