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First build

S

sidmartin

Junior Member
1. What YOUR PC will be used for.
Digital painting in photoshop, working in Mudbox, some (basic) animation and modeling in Maya. Also 2D animation in Flash. Eventually I'll probably move into more advanced Maya as well as 3ds Max, Vray, etc, so upgradeability is a big thing, but that's at least a year away. I can upgrade RAM, GPU, extra monitors later, but the digital painting will be happening now.

2. What YOUR budget is.
Call it $1,200-$1,500. One note: if something guarantees upgradeability (getting a LG2011 socket now because the LG1155 is near the end of its run) then I will find the extra cash, up to $2,000. I'd rather stick to my budget, though.

3. What country YOU will be buying YOUR parts from.
USA

5. IF YOU have a brand preference.
Nope. If it's a quality part and I can afford it, I don't care who made it. Anyone who wants to argue for an AMD CPU or Radeon GPU is welcome here.

6. If YOU intend on using any of YOUR current parts, and if so, what those parts are.
I've been on a Mac for the last five years (it was a gift) so I have nothing. Not even a keyboard and mouse.

7. IF YOU plan on overclocking or run the system at default speeds.
Every time I think I've done enough research, I run into something like this. I'll probably overclock, once I figure out how.

8. What resolution, not monitor size, will you be using?
1920x1080 sounds good. Monitor suggestions are welcome.

9. WHEN do you plan to build it?
As soon as all the parts are ordered and arrived, so probably about 1-2 weeks from now.

X. Do you need to purchase any software to go with the system, such as Windows or Blu Ray playback software?
No. I already have Windows 7 Professional, Maya and Mudbox 2013, and Photoshop CS6 extended, which I'll be installing once it's built.

I'm hoping to order parts by early next week, so any suggestions or advice would be great. Thanks!
 
Welcome to the forums sidmartin!

For your purposes, I wouldn't allocate too much money to a video card - maybe just an Nvidia GTX650 or 650Ti if you'll be doing a lot of work in CS6, which is GPU-accelerated and runs faster on Nvidia. The most important considerations will be getting a fast processor and fast SSD storage.

You might find this thread helpful: http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2301074. Don't mind the initial budget - the suggestions we gave were much less expensive. They should cover many of your questions.
 
Thank you!

I'm actually avoiding Nvidia's 600 series, based on comments I've gotten from other digital artists. Apparently they refuse to play nice with Maya, and I can't afford a quadro. I was planning to either drop back to the 500 series, or go with AMD.

I was definitely planning on getting a SSD. Any suggestions for a fast processor? I've been looking at the i7 3770(K) and i7 3930K from Intel, and the FX-8350 from AMD.
 
in the 1155 space , you're looking at either a I7-3770K ( will over clock) , or a Xeon X3-1245V2 or I7-3770 non-K (no over clocking) .. That can also drive the mobo to be a P77 or H77 based . Since you do Digital Painting, do you need 10 bit color support ?? If so, you'll need to go with the NVIDIA Quadro or AMD Firepro series ..if not, you can get pretty good 3D performance from a reference HD 7970 card . You're also looking at 16 G of Memory . For a monitor, Dell U2410 or U2412 , depending on your colorspace preferences ( do you need to work in a high gamut colorspace ??) ..I don't have experience with the HP high gamut or Dreamcolor, or the Eizos .. I'm certain they would be more than adequate .
 
I've been fine with 8 bit so far, so I think I'll leave that for a future upgrade. I've been looking at the HD 7970 for a while, so it's good to hear that I can get 3D performance from that. Have you tried it yourself in any 3D programs? How did it do?
 
I have not, but the benchmarks rate it pretty good , and, while not certifying it officially,Autodesk/Maya says it's OK to use .. There's another earlier post where this was discussed .. the card was pretty close to a much more expensive quadro .. I can check w/ the digital content wizards I work with for any real world with it .. I know one who uses a GT 670 for 3d Modeling, animation, etc .. but not Maya .
 
Cool, thanks. I'll search for that post.

I'm still trying to decide if the i7 3930K would actually be worth it for me, or if I would just be spending extra money without seeing better performance.
 
Check out this thread :
http://forums.cgsociety.org/archive/index.php/t-1057340.html

Discussion from CG folks on merits of HD 7970 in a 3D environment . The 7970 brings the amount of video memory into the pro card space. You do get support and certification with a pro graphics card, but only you can decide if it's worth the price of admission . As for the processor, i know Adobe PS will leverage the extra threads ..not sure about Autodesk, but my guess is yes . CG /DCC generally benefits from more of anything . With your budget , you could swing a pro card and a good 1155 setup , but you'd be getting close /over with a pro card and a 2011 . The other members that contribute to this forum are really good at ferreting out the deals, so ..let's see..
 
First things first, you need a monitor, and it needs to be a good one. I recommend the Dell U2410 at $390. You also need a keyboard and mouse. You'd not going to be typing a lot (probably) so something basic like the Logitech K120 will do at $12. The mouse is a bit trickier. It's important to get a good one if its going to be your primary input device, but it's not nearly as important if you have a Wacom slate or similar. I think the Logitech G400 at $34 is a good compromise. That's $436 on peripherals, leaving you with at most $1064 for the rest of the machine.

Xeon E3-1230 V2 $240
Scythe Katana 4 $26
ASRock H77 Pro4/MVP $80
7850 2GB $180 AR
Corsair DDR3 1600 16GB $70
Samsung 840 120GB $110
Seagate 2TB HDD $110
LG DVD Burner $17
XFX Core 550W $65 AR
Fractal Design R4 $110
Total: $1008 AR
 
I can upgrade the monitor in about six months, and I do have a Wacom tablet, so I haven't really been counting the peripherals. The $1,200-$1,500 still stands for the rest of the machine. Thanks for the monitor suggestion, though.
 
What is your current monitor? I took the statement "I have nothing. Not even a keyboard and mouse," to mean that you had, well, nothing.
 
Sorry, I'm not being very specific. I don't have a monitor, but I might grab something cheaper now and then add one to run a dual monitor setup in about six months, when I should be getting a pretty nice paycheck. I have a Wacom tablet and a crappy, $8 mouse. No keyboard.

My real point was that I've budgeted that $1,200 to $1,500 for the build itself. Any peripherals don't need to come out of that budget, although I appreciate your taking the time.
 
Wondering why peripherals are not part of the same budget if they are to be used with the same PC?
 
sidmartin said:
Sorry, I'm not being very specific. I don't have a monitor, but I might grab something cheaper now
Click to expand...

Absolutely do not, under any circumstances, do this. You are going to be doing digital painting, which means that the monitor is the absolute most important part of the PC. No other part even comes close.

You have the budget to get a good one now, so there is no reason to screw up your paintings for six months just to save a few bucks. When some extra money comes in, use that to get an equally nice second screen.
 
mfenn said:
Absolutely do not, under any circumstances, do this. You are going to be doing digital painting, which means that the monitor is the absolute most important part of the PC. No other part even comes close.

You have the budget to get a good one now, so there is no reason to screw up your paintings for six months just to save a few bucks. When some extra money comes in, use that to get an equally nice second screen.
Click to expand...

Gotcha. The monitor I've got lined up at the moment is a budget IPS that I assumed was good enough. The price range I've seen for monitors is huge, which makes it a bit hard to find one that's both high quality and under $300. Suggestions? You sound pretty knowledgeable about this--most of the people I've asked stare at my blankly and suggest that I get a used HD TV off of craigslist.

Here's the current line up. Anything horribly wrong?
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/EbG4
 
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lehtv said:
Wondering why peripherals are not part of the same budget if they are to be used with the same PC?
Click to expand...

Bad planning on my part. When I first started planning this build I thought I could just grab some cheap monitor and a used tablet and make do. That got beaten out of me fast, and now I need to redesign my budget to make sure I account for the digital art side of things. The systems I've been putting together for $1,200-$1,500 have been just about perfect, so I've decided to add money onto that for the peripherals I need, rather than drop the quality of my system.

tl;dr: The search button successfully talked me out of a laptop or a custom gaming build, so I had to fill my quota of stupid in other areas :biggrin:
 
It looks pretty good in terms of the kinds of parts-- but I can think of a few ways you can cut down to make more room for a monitor, mostly by cutting fat around certain parts. Take the i7 and make it a Xeon instead (no overclocking, similar performance); this allows you to switch to an H77 mobo, which is cheaper, and drop the cooler. Your RAM is also a bit overpriced--you can get a good pair for $60-70. The 7870 doesn't get you much over a 2GB 7850, especially if you overclock. The PSU is a bit too expensive too.

In other words, something like this:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1240 V2 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($260.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock H77 Pro4/MVP ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($87.55 @ Newegg)
Memory: GeIL EVO Veloce Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($67.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($76.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Storage: Samsung 840 Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($101.85 @ SuperBiiz)
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon HD 7850 2GB Video Card ($194.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Fractal Design Define R4 w/Window (Black Pearl) ATX Mid Tower Case ($119.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 500W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224BB DVD/CD Writer ($17.99 @ Newegg)
Keyboard: Logitech MK120 Wired Slim Keyboard w/Optical Mouse ($16.89 @ Amazon)
Total: $1005.20
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-02-18 02:24 EST-0500)

That leaves you room for something pretty high end, like a 24" 1200p Dell Ultrasharp for roughly $400. Or, buy a Korean 1440p panel off Ebay and a monitor calibrator.
 
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I've been told that the AMD 8350 would be a good way to save money on my CPU, but the Xeon is a new one. I'll have to look it up. Thanks!
 
sidmartin said:
I've been told that the AMD 8350 would be a good way to save money on my CPU, but the Xeon is a new one. I'll have to look it up. Thanks!
Click to expand...

This particular model of the Xeon is the Ivy Bridge server equivalent of the i3770 without the Ivy Bridge integrated graphics. It has pretty much the same real world processing power of the i3770, but little overclocking headroom (which isn't important in your situation, anyway). It is also significantly cheaper than the i3770. For folks who aren't overclocking and who use discrete graphics cards, the Xeon is a great alternative to the i3770.

The 8350 is a good processor, but it doesn't have comparable floating point capabilities to Intel's processors.
 
Sleepingforest said:
It looks pretty good in terms of the kinds of parts-- but I can think of a few ways you can cut down to make more room for a monitor, mostly by cutting fat around certain parts. Take the i7 and make it a Xeon instead (no overclocking, similar performance); this allows you to switch to an H77 mobo, which is cheaper, and drop the cooler. Your RAM is also a bit overpriced--you can get a good pair for $60-70. The 7870 doesn't get you much over a 2GB 7850, especially if you overclock. The PSU is a bit too expensive too.

In other words, something like this:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1240 V2 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($260.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock H77 Pro4/MVP ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($87.55 @ Newegg)
Memory: GeIL EVO Veloce Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($67.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($76.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Storage: Samsung 840 Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($101.85 @ SuperBiiz)
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon HD 7850 2GB Video Card ($194.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Fractal Design Define R4 w/Window (Black Pearl) ATX Mid Tower Case ($119.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 500W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224BB DVD/CD Writer ($17.99 @ Newegg)
Keyboard: Logitech MK120 Wired Slim Keyboard w/Optical Mouse ($16.89 @ Amazon)
Total: $1005.20
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-02-18 02:24 EST-0500)

That leaves you room for something pretty high end, like a 24" 1200p Dell Ultrasharp for roughly $400. Or, buy a Korean 1440p panel off Ebay and a monitor calibrator.
Click to expand...
The Corsair does have a $10 rebate going on. There are some other options, though.

The Corsair CX600 is cheaper has $12 in instant savings--which ends today--, and a $20 rebate.

The XFX mfenn suggested can be had at amazon for $65 with no need for rebate. They offer a 5-year limited warranty, which is better than what the CX500 offers. It is also built on the same platform as the Seasonic S12II.
http://www.kitguru.net/components/p...o-series-450w-and-550w-power-supply-review/6/
http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story3&reid=225
sidmartin said:
I've been told that the AMD 8350 would be a good way to save money on my CPU, but the Xeon is a new one. I'll have to look it up. Thanks!
Click to expand...

The E3-1230 V2 is the cheapest quad core with Hyperthreading(~$240). It's clockspeed is 3.3 Ghz instead of the 3.4 Ghz in the E3-1240 V2.
 
I think that the XFX has gone up in price, because it's hovering around $72 on Amazon right now and $70 after rebate and shipping on Newegg. I fully admit that the CX600 is a good choice though.

On the processor side: the 8350 is very slightly weaker than an a Xeon with hyperthreading as seen here (okay, so it's an i7-3770K instead. But that's only around 7% faster in pure clockspeed, and scaling isn't perfectly linear, so a 3.4GHz Xeon is pretty close to the 3770K).
 
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Sleepingforest said:
I think that the XFX has gone up in price, because it's hovering around $72 on Amazon right now and $70 after rebate and shipping on Newegg. I fully admit that the CX600 is a good choice though.

On the processor side: the 8350 is very slightly weaker than an a Xeon with hyperthreading as seen here (okay, so it's an i7-3770K instead. But that's only around 7% faster in pure clockspeed, and scaling isn't perfectly linear, so a 3.4GHz Xeon is pretty close to the 3770K).
Click to expand...
Yeah. It's about $70 on Newegg and the Seasonic S12II it is derived from is 68.65. Still, they have longer warranties if the OP cares. Shame Newegg discontinued selling those NEO ECOs.
 
One reason I'd consider the 1245V2 versus the 1240 version IS the IGP ..some folks think it's a waste, but if your graphics card ever goes toes up , it's nice to have the IGP . In this case, the IGP on the 1245 will be more than adequate to fill in , especially since you're not gaming nor diving into animation, etc .. A certain retailer recently had it on sale so it was more than competitive with its equals .. Either way, the 124* processors will not break a sweat for your uses ... good luck on the build ..
 
Thank you! I think I've just about got it put together--I'm trying to finalize my case, PSU, and monitor so I can get it ordered by tonight. Of course, then I have to move a small mountain of junk off the table so I actually have somewhere to assemble it . . . this is going to be interesting 🙂
 
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