[ Build ] [ Workstation ] [ Help ] [ wip ] Workstation build help desperately needed

[coccosoids]

Hello world,

First and foremost let me just say that I am in a completely unpleasant place (work, life), and I really honestly need all the help that I can get. Really stressed out and frustrated at how much the technology has changed since I last did a build, so if you want to win some kudos points read along:

Please be aware that the questions will come after the build link, where I try to justify the components selection and the uncertainty which accompany it.

Budget Goal: ~4000E. That is Euros. That's roughly 4500$. Is that correct?! Hm...
Current Total: ~4700E excluding the display

So, on to the present build:

http://it.pcpartpicker.com/p/72vHgs

Name: the Confabulator
Purpose: 3d personal workstation with entry level capabilities for GPU rendering
Build Goal: have it all fit into the ~4000E (~4500E maybe) budget but also include a decent monitor

Please click through it and have a look.

CPU: I went with the 5930K but I believe the 5820K would work just as good, and that is a solid 220E shave.
Q1: would that be the smart move to make here? I understand that 40 lanes is better, but I have to ask - will fewer lanes noticeably affect 2xGPU performance? Other than that the goal is to overclock to 4.5 Ghz, which I'm pretty sure the 5820K is very capable of that. Is it not?!
5930k
5820k

GPU: I'm thinking of 2xGTX 980ti's to cover the basic needs of GPU rendering. Picked the EVGA hydro coppers since I'm really keen for the moment on watercooling, but more on the subject later. I think these are the only 980ti's on the market with waterblocks, and on a first look they cost the same as two generic 980ti's + separate waterblocks. Not the same looks of course.
Q2: is my reasoning on the GPU's good? Should I get two cheaper GPU's and if going the watercooling route buy separate waterblocks?
EVGA 980ti Hydro Copper

CASE: The case selected is the Fractal Design Define S. I am also very partial to the Corsair 540 Air. I admit of not having done too much research on this subject yet, so please share your advice.
Q3: which case should I go with? Any other options apart from the two I mentioned in the same price range?
Fractal Design Define S
Corsair Carbide 540 Air

RAM: 64Gb, pretty self explanatory.
Q4: what is the best DDR4 that I can get right now? I read that 2400Mhz with CAS 11 is slower than 2133 on CAS 9 etc... everyone seems to have an opinion on this. What is the best choice, as I see worrying price increases with higher frequency modules.

HDD: I'm thinking of going with three Samsung PROs, although the EVO seem considerably cheaper here. I want to RAID 0 two of them, and keep the third as a temp. The 2TB looks sufficient for now for storage.
Q5: is a RAID 0 with 850 EVOs instead of PROs a better idea? Are there any 'other' better ideas than RAID 0 and my setup? Other manufacturers?

PSU: I went with something modular, 1000W 80+ Bronze I think. Did not give much consideration yet.
Q6: Is this enough for the CPU + the two 980ti's? Any recommended manufacturers?

MB: for the mother board I picked an MSI, for the X99 and... well... looks.
Q7: Good choice? The only thing that interests me in particular (other than the 4.5Ghz overclock) would be a decent sound chip. To cut back on a dedicated sound card. Something better than this MSI, and for good reason - consider the price point for this?
MSI X99A SLI Plus

DISPLAY: any recommended displays out there? Not for gaming so a little color accuracy is welcome. At work I use 2 full HD Dells, and I am beginning to feel crammed. Would prefer a single monitor setup. Maybe this one?!


COOLING: well, if you've made it thus far, I have bad news for you. Because the cooling aspects of the build present the most challenges for me. For some reason I've decided to go with water cooling, but as I progress with the build I find out I'm really stretching my budget. But this is where you have a free hand - so any arguments pro or not are welcome. I've got a 360 radiator in the build right now: is that enough for the CPU+GPU's? Next, I've only got 3 fans for the radiator but I'm thinking I'm going to need a bit more to plaster all over the case. The exact number of fittings... I have no idea but I've just added 10 compression fittings and 6 2x45deg fittings. I thinking soft tubing here. Pump + Res. Etc. Now, my main gripe with this is as follow: I'm blowing a lot of money on this build, and I'm pretty low on expectations (I mean, rendering is always a pain), but I surely, again: SURELY do not want a jet engine in the living room with me for this amount of money - hence the water cooling. Right now I've got about 600, 700E in the estimate on water cooling alone - using EKWB parts. I need, again: NEED to know if it is worth it. If I can air cool this rig (yes, I said 'rig', you're allowed to laugh) on air alone then I'm fine with that I guess. It will be a disappointment but I can throw the difference on a nice display.

I have to admit that on par with the noise considerations for going with water cooling are the looks possible once you go that route. Would have loved to do a mod on the case and all, but since the budget inflated this much, I don't know. What are your personal thoughts? Any psychos out there willing to blow the budget on modding?

Any help appreciated, thank you!

 

[Ken g6]

OK, let's back up. First, what are all the tasks you want to do on this computer? I hear GPU 3D rendering. What about CPU 3D rendering? Generally, GPU work on anything is of lower quality, though there are exceptions. What about gaming or other applications?

Second, what software do you plan to use? Some 3D rendering programs, in particular, require "professional" graphics cards, such as Quadros. This isn't about hardware; you're paying for "professional" drivers. But sometimes it matters.

Third, [thread=80121]here's a bunch of questions you should answer[/thread]. An important one is whether you want to overclock. If this computer will be earning you money, I recommend not overclocking. If you don't overclock you shouldn't need water cooling.

Fourth, what size and what resolution do you want your display(s) to be. How many do you want?

 

[piasabird]

Decide on the monitor first. You have to decide on the monitor and the resolution and type of the monitor. 4K? Resolution? 3D. HDTV?

Then do you need a video card?

I figure these two items might be expensive. You need to know what you are going to spend on these two items to decide what else it will be paired with.

 

[coccosoids]

OK, let's back up. First, what are all the tasks you want to do on this computer? I hear GPU 3D rendering. What about CPU 3D rendering? Generally, GPU work on anything is of lower quality, though there are exceptions. What about gaming or other applications?

Second, what software do you plan to use? Some 3D rendering programs, in particular, require "professional" graphics cards, such as Quadros. This isn't about hardware; you're paying for "professional" drivers. But sometimes it matters.

Third, [thread=80121]here's a bunch of questions you should answer[/thread]. An important one is whether you want to overclock. If this computer will be earning you money, I recommend not overclocking. If you don't overclock you shouldn't need water cooling.

Fourth, what size and what resolution do you want your display(s) to be. How many do you want?

Right.
First and second: this is basically a workstation PC, with some (desirable) entry level capabilities for GPU rendering. This is why I'm thinking of 2xGTX 980ti's. I'm not into Quadros, W9000s at the moment for budget considerations.
3ds max / Maya mainly. And V-Ray.

Third: like I said in the beginning I am aiming for a 4.5Ghz overclock. For anything less I don't think that I can justify the investment. I know that I can get away with something very similar to my day to day workstation at work for around ~2000E. If I am to do a couple of personal projects I need something at least a little bit faster otherwise I don't see the point of a single PC setup. I am not sure if there will be any money earning at least for the very close future, right now this would be mainly for personal / portfolio work.

Fourth: the bare minimum in the display category would have to be 2xFull HDs. This is my work setup, but to be honest I hate to have two monitors. So, because I would prefer to go with only one screen, something in the area of 3440x1440 might cover my needs.

Thanks.

 

[zir_blazer]

You are building a dream gaming machine in place of a true Workstation. Go Xeon with ECC RAM.
Are you aware if the applications that you are going to use works well with consumer GeForces? Most have features only available to the professional Quadros. Can they render via GPU with CUDA, OpenCL, something?

 

[coccosoids]

You are building a dream gaming machine in place of a true Workstation. Go Xeon with ECC RAM.
Are you aware if the applications that you are going to use works well with consumer GeForces? Most have features only available to the professional Quadros. Can they render via GPU with CUDA, OpenCL, something?

Opinions (as well as personal experience) are split on Xeons. Going Xeon for the same performance as an overclocked 6 core i7 is very tricky for me - I imagine expensive too. For multimedia work I can skip ECC. I'll have a look nonetheless.

Most GPU renderers are CUDA optimized for now. I see some recent openCL developments, especially on the ATI side and octane. There's still a little to go, and right now I think performance is largely optimized for CUDA. But, please, if you know anything different just let me know and I can take into consideration.

 

[coccosoids]

Updated the parts list.
Went for two 32GB kits. Good idea? Compatibility issues?
Added a third SSD.
Updated the relative Euro price of the 980ti's over here.

http://it.pcpartpicker.com/p/ypxYFT

 

[zir_blazer]

Between a Core i7 5960K and a Xeon E5 1650V3, I would pick the latter. They should cost the same, you would be missing overclocking but getting ECC. Typical recommendations for your type of system is that you want rock solid stability if you would do something as a multi-day render or whatever. Yes, you can do it with overclocked consumer Hardware, but you will need to spend a lot of time doing stress tests before being able to actually use it for work. And you would be missing ECC.
Regardless, I would deploy actual Workstation parts instead of consumer (Xeon, Motherboard with Intel C612 Chipset, Registered+ECC RAM). May also consider Dual Socket if you need more Cores in parallel. Your budget allows for things like that.

Single Intel 750 NVMe PCIe SSD > RAID 0 of Samsungs 850 EVO.
May want to use one or two cheap, big HDs for storage instead of a WD Black. One or two WD Red 4 TB or something like that.

May also want to consider if whatever you do really makes use of the GeForces 980 Ti, including SLI. A safer choice should be the latest GeForce Titan model, since nVidia had higher FP64 performance on those if I recall correctly, but still lower that Quadros.
The performance and supported features of professional applications are all over the place, you have things where a GeForce would do equal to a similar Quadro costing 5x more (Raw CUDA was one of those cases, if I recall correctly), and others were a low end Quadro may perform surprisingly well. And sometimes trying to mod a GeForce @ Quadro also provided partial benefits, but not all. Basically, you would have to research extremely well since there are too many variables at work with the Video Cards.