New Workstation Build.

[Davidh373]

First off, I'd like to say I'm going to be getting a great deal on my processor. So before you guys go all "Why are you spending money on a $600 processor!?" I'll be getting an i7 3930k for around $150. I work at Best Buy, which entitles me to a holiday sale via Intel's training site. I'm also told there are going to be Motherboards, Memory, and other PC parts available, but for now I'm just assuming I'm buying the other parts elsewhere, or I'll get something similar from the sale.

This will be a workstation for 3D Modeling, Video Editing, and Compositing of Visual Effects. Since I'm saving so much, I'm trying to buy my case, peripherals, fans, and cooler so it runs more quietly. I've already purchased an Antec Sonata Solo II and Sennheiser HD 380 headphones to reduce some of the noise I experience from both the case and the AC/ Heating unit directly behind my Workstation.

I will be reusing my Case - which is technically new- (Antec Sonata Solo II), GPU (GTX 470), PSU (Corsair 650TX), SSD (Intel 330 180GB) and HDDs (2x 1TB Caviar Black).

By around the end of winter, I plan to replace my GPU with a 670 or better and the 2 old 1TB HDDs with brand new 2TB Caviar Blacks or RE drives. I'm also planning the purchase of 2 24" Dell IPS panels to replace the cheapo Hanns G 23" I have.

So in summary, I need a new chipset from the sale, along with approval of the rest of my parts or alternatives recommended.

-December Upgrades-

CPU (Intel 3930k) (~$150)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819116492

CPU Cooler (Noctua NH-U9B)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835608016

Mobo (ASUS Sabretooth LGA 2011))
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131801

RAM (Geil Black Dragon)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820144565

-Late Winter/ Early Spring Upgrades-

2x Monitor (Dell 2412M)
http://www.amazon.com/Dell-UltraShar...rds=dell+2412m

Blu Ray (LG) (Guessing around 25%-50% off at Best Buy)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827136249

DAC (Audioengine D1)
http://www.amazon.com/Audioengine-D1...4&keywords=dac

Speakers (M-Audio AV40) ($80 at Best Buy)
http://www.amazon.com/M-Audio-Studio...&keywords=Av40

What do you guys think?

[tynopik]

save $23
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231556

save $20
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835103099

[crazymonkeyzero]

3930k is a very good processor, and especially at that price! The 6 cores and hyper threading should be great over 1155 cpus.

Since you are building a workstation for modeling/rendering, you may want to consider investing in 64gb of ram since you're building x79 and can make use of the massive bandwidth and extra x79 features such as ram cache. The Geil modules you selected are not the best. If you are OK with 32gb, go with these samsung kits (buy 4 kits, for a total of 32gb). These are some of the best modules out, run cool and very stable, even when OCed. If you do with 64gb, make sure the memory is has as low latencies and voltages as possible,while maintaining speed. Typically most 1.5v quad channel DDR3 1600 memory will work~other good companies being mushkin, gskill, and corsair.


The 92mm noctua cpu cooler is very good with a balance of performance and form factor and will fit the bill perfectly if you will not be OCing. But some may recommend the behemoth, coveted, NHD14, which I personally don't like because it's too bulky, but hey, to each their own right?

The 2011 Sabertooth motherboard is a solid choice, especially with the 5 year warranty. Cheaper alternative would be the Asrock X79 Extreme6, which is great! Almost all the features of Asus for 100$ less pluys support for ECC memory and Xeons if you choose to upgrade/change. (I have one and love it ).

I don't know much about graphics cards, so hopefully some of the others on the forums who are more knowledgeable in that area can give you the thumbs up on that or recommend improvements.

[Davidh373]

Originally Posted by tynopik

save $23
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231556

$65 + $65 = $130. It saves me only $2.99, and it's not matchy matchy.

Originally Posted by tynopik

save $20
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835103099

I don't think this is going to run quite as quietly as the Noctua. Plus, the Noctua has two fans included, this one only has a single fan.

Can you link stats or specs to show the Db of both?

[Davidh373]

Originally Posted by crazymonkeyzero

Since you are building a workstation for modeling/rendering, you may want to consider investing in 64gb of ram since you're building x79 and can make use of the massive bandwidth and extra x79 features such as ram cache. The Geil modules you selected are not the best. If you are OK with 32gb, go with these samsung kits (buy 4 kits, for a total of 32gb).

As is, RAM is used, but I was planning on getting 32GB at first, then moving up to 64GB. The most RAM intensive application I run is After Effects, which only uses my RAM for long previews. In any case, for now I think 32GB (almost 3x what I have now) is going to be plenty.

I'm getting the Geil specifically because it matches everything else and it's cheap, but if you can find me better 8GB dimms that are plain, I'll take those too.

Originally Posted by crazymonkeyzero

I'm not very knowledgeable about graphics cards, so hopefully some of the other on the forums can give you the thumbs up on that or recommend improvements.

I'm sticking with the 470 for now because it supports the Mercury Playback Engine in Adobe CS5.5. The 570, 580, and 590 do as well, but nothing newer. I'm going to approach that upgrade with caution.

[tynopik]

Originally Posted by Davidh373

$65 + $65 = $130. It saves me only $2.99, and it's not matchy matchy.

there's the $10 off promo code that you're not entering

Originally Posted by Davidh373

Plus, the Noctua has two fans included, this one only has a single fan.

and that fan is 120mm vs 92mm

it is also a physically bigger and heavier heatsink while the noctua is a 'compact premium cooler' that 'lends itself to use in quiet HTPC’s or smaller cases'

since you're not so space constrained, that doesn't really seem like an advantage

also the 212 can move more air if you actually do need it for cooling

look, they're both great, I just doubt you'll hear a $20 difference, especially over your gpu fan

[Davidh373]

Originally Posted by tynopik

look, they're both great, I just doubt you'll hear a $20 difference, especially over your gpu fan

Fair enough. I'll consider it.

[mfenn]

Originally Posted by Davidh373

-December Upgrades-

CPU (Intel 3930k) (~$150)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819116492

Good for that price.

Originally Posted by Davidh373

CPU Cooler (Noctua NH-U9B)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835608016

Tyopik is right, there is no replacement for displacement. You should definitely prefer a cooler with a 120mm fan. Obviously measure the case to make sure there is enough clearance.

Originally Posted by Davidh373

Mobo (ASUS Sabretooth LGA 2011))
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131801

Too expensive! An ASRock X79 Extreme6 sports 8 DIMM slots, plus most of the other bells and whistles for $220.

Originally Posted by Davidh373

RAM (Geil Black Dragon)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820144565

The Ares that tynopik pointed out does work out to be cheaper. What does it matter what the RAM looks like when it's in a windowless case?

Originally Posted by Davidh373

-Late Winter/ Early Spring Upgrades-

2x Monitor (Dell 2412M)
http://www.amazon.com/Dell-UltraShar...rds=dell+2412m

Blu Ray (LG) (Guessing around 25%-50% off at Best Buy)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827136249

DAC (Audioengine D1)
http://www.amazon.com/Audioengine-D1...4&keywords=dac

Speakers (M-Audio AV40) ($80 at Best Buy)
http://www.amazon.com/M-Audio-Studio...&keywords=Av40

What do you guys think?

Those all look fine as products, obviously its way too early to talk about pricing.

[Davidh373]

Good advice. I'll look into a 120mm cooler tomorrow. The ASUS is a brand thing, plus a 5 year warranty doesn't hurt it's case. Now that I have money to spend, price doesn't matter as much to me as it used to. One other thing is, my case has a "SS USB 3.0" plug for the two front USB 3.0 ports. Will most if not all motherboards have that, or is that something special I need to look for? I'd like the front ports to work as intended.

[mfenn]

Originally Posted by Davidh373

Good advice. I'll look into a 120mm cooler tomorrow. The ASUS is a brand thing, plus a 5 year warranty doesn't hurt it's case. Now that I have money to spend, price doesn't matter as much to me as it used to. One other thing is, my case has a "SS USB 3.0" plug for the two front USB 3.0 ports. Will most if not all motherboards have that, or is that something special I need to look for? I'd like the front ports to work as intended.

It doesn't matter how much money you have to spend, the Sabertooth is still a waste for your purposes. The ASRock has a 3-year warranty, so it's not like you're going to be high and dry. If the board fails in year 4, you would rather have that $100 to go towards the latest and greatest.

As for USB 3.0, all Intel 7 series mobo have a front panel USB 3.0 header, so you don't have to worry about that.

[crazymonkeyzero]

Originally Posted by mfenn

he ASRock has a 3-year warranty, so it's not like you're going to be high and dry.

As I recall Asrock has a 1 year warranty...since I actually bought this board. If it really is 3 years, it is definitely THE x79 mobo to get.

[MarkLuvsCS]

The G.Skill Ares is DDR3 1600 which if cost is almost the same then why not get higher speed ram. I've also got nothing but good things to say about Gskill and they seem to have some of the highest number and quality reviews out there.

[mfenn]

Originally Posted by crazymonkeyzero

As I recall Asrock has a 1 year warranty...since I actually bought this board. If it really is 3 years, it is definitely THE x79 mobo to get.

Newegg says 3 years. The way ASRock's warranty works is that it is 1 year, plus whatever extra the retailer is willing to add on.

[Davidh373]

Originally Posted by mfenn

Newegg says 3 years. The way ASRock's warranty works is that it is 1 year, plus whatever extra the retailer is willing to add on.

Are there any other alternatives from Gigabyte, ASUS, or MSI? I know ASRock is making good motherboards, but I'd rather go with a brand I trust than go for value. You are right when you said $100 was worth saving, but I'm going to be using this as my primary rig. I'd like it to be reliable over spending less money.

[MichaelD]

FWIW, I have an Asrock P67-based motherboard, which is 2-year old technology. Asrock is still releasing driver updates for it. The board has been rock-solid, overclocks well, runs cool and even the onboard sound is relatively quiet indicating good engineering of the board. I am very pleased with it and will strongly consider getting another Asrock MB in the future.

[Raincity]

Originally Posted by Davidh373

Are there any other alternatives from Gigabyte, ASUS, or MSI? I know ASRock is making good motherboards, but I'd rather go with a brand I trust than go for value. You are right when you said $100 was worth saving, but I'm going to be using this as my primary rig. I'd like it to be reliable over spending less money.

You really have to roll the dice and take your chances since there is no guarantee that you will get a good board that will last. Personally I won’t ever use another ASrock board again due too that I was burned twice by them on the RMA process. But that is not to discount the good luck others are having with them.

[mfenn]

Originally Posted by Davidh373

Are there any other alternatives from Gigabyte, ASUS, or MSI? I know ASRock is making good motherboards, but I'd rather go with a brand I trust than go for value. You are right when you said $100 was worth saving, but I'm going to be using this as my primary rig. I'd like it to be reliable over spending less money.

Statistically speaking, you are better off with an ASRock board. It's completely up to you if you want to spend more money than is necessary, but I can't see why you would want to in the face of all the evidence presented to the contrary.

[Raincity]

Originally Posted by mfenn

Statistically speaking, you are better off with an ASRock board. It's completely up to you if you want to spend more money than is necessary, but I can't see why you would want to in the face of all the evidence presented to the contrary.

Just curious, where does that site get its numbers from ?.

[MarkLuvsCS]

Originally Posted by Raincity

Just curious, where does that site get its numbers from ?.

Originally Posted by From Page 1 @ Website

"The first question is of course where the stats come from. They’re taken from a large French etailer, whose database we have had direct access to. We were therefore able to extract the stats we wanted directly from source.

Under what conditions is a part declared as defective by this etailer? There are two possible cases: either the technician considers the exchange of information with the client (type of problem, cross testing) sufficient to declare that the product isn’t working, or there’s a question mark over the component and the etailer tests it to check if it’s working or not."

I didn't see anything more specific.

[mfenn]

Originally Posted by MarkLuvsCS

I didn't see anything more specific.

Yep.

It's not a perfect source of data, but its the best that I know of.

[Davidh373]

Sorry about taking so long to reply. I've been swamped with hours at BB for the Holiday season. They've revealed the deal. It's not as good as I was expecting, but looking at benchmarks it's better in a lot of ways.

The deal is an Intel 3770k for $105, and the bundle is with the DZ77GAL-70K board for $245. Since I'm only getting this board for $50 off, it might be worth it to me if I were to get a different board if one is better. So if you guys have recommendations, throw them at me!

It's kind of unfortunate the deal isn't for Sandy Bridge-E. When is Ivy Bridge-E coming? I've seen some speculation it isn't until at least Q2 next year. This would be right around the time for the Summer sale, but I don't want to work at Best Buy forever. It's mostly a safety net for the time being. So I may not be around for that one.

Thinking into the future, I also want to replace my MacBook Pro with a ThinkPad Edge E530 ($490 on Newegg). The second I get it I want to max out RAM and install an SSD. There is a deal on the sale for a $140 180GB Intel 520 SSD. I'm considering this for my Workstation, and swapping the 330 into my Gaming rig, or saving it for when I get my ThinkPad. Keep in mind, either way I'll be getting an SSD for all my builds, but it's more likely to be a 330/ 335 series if I wait.

I'm by no means displeased with the 330 series. It's a really fast SSD, and I'm thinking I could get a 250GB drive for that price in some cases. What do you guys think?

Since this is kind of on and off topic, I'm only asking about the deal on the SSD, not the ThinkPad itself. I'll create a separate thread for that later down the road.

So is the deal a "good deal?" I feel like it is, and it's been close to 5 years since I've made a chipset upgrade in that beast, and it would be nice to have an extra SSD around.

[OBLAMA2009]

why is that blue ray burner so expensive. arent there much cheaper ones by now? i was thinking they were $60

[mfenn]

I would get the CPU and pass on the mobo since they want $140 for it. You can get a good ASRock Z77 Extreme3 from Newegg for $100.

$140 for a 180GB SSD is decent, but we're still only talking $0.78/GB, so it's hardly mind blowing. You can get a Samsung 830 128GB from Newegg for $104 ($0.81/GB) and not have to deal with Sandforce nonsense.

[Davidh373]

Originally Posted by mfenn

I would get the CPU and pass on the mobo since they want $140 for it. You can get a good ASRock Z77 Extreme3 from Newegg for $100.

Cool.

Originally Posted by mfenn

$140 for a 180GB SSD is decent, but we're still only talking $0.78/GB, so it's hardly mind blowing. You can get a Samsung 830 128GB from Newegg for $104 ($0.81/GB) and not have to deal with Sandforce nonsense.

Isn't the 520 drive an Intel controller? I thought the 330 was the sandforce drive?

[mfenn]

Originally Posted by Davidh373

Isn't the 520 drive an Intel controller? I thought the 330 was the sandforce drive?

Nope, it's a Sandforce as well. Intel consumer drives break down like this:

X-25M G1: Intel Custom
X-25M G2: Intel Custom (2nd gen)
320: Intel Custom (2nd gen)
330: Sandforce SF-2281
510: Marvell
520: Sandforce SF-2281