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Need Help Building : Powerhouse PC for 3D Rendering , Designing, Multi-Tasking

A

amrit02

Junior Member
Hi guys,

I am looking to purchase a CPU. Please critique me on the setup below:


* Usage is mostly for 3D Rendering most of the time + multi-tasking with Adobe Illustrator and Corel Draw
* 95% of my work would be Image Rendering (seen below) ,
* It would be for work projects so i expect a continuous use for atleast 12 hours a day of rendering * Render time is money , so i expect a decent though not top-of-the-line ridiculously priced setup.



My Workflow:

Basically I am using this as a workstation to importing fabric images created in Adobe Photoshop, style them using an Avatar in a 3D Application called Marvelous Designer, then posing and rendering them with Nvidia iRAY on DAZ3D by placing the avatars in front of an architectural background , thus creating a very realistic 3D Photoshoot which mimicks a fashion catalog.

This requires the above 3 applications to be always ON though in the background , just incase some changes are necessary.

Budget : $3000 - $3500

Plan of Purchase : Next Week

After much extensive research i have come up with the following setup:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-5930K 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor ($554.99 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D15 82.5 CFM CPU Cooler ($88.49 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Asus RAMPAGE V EXTREME EATX LGA2011-3 Motherboard ($505.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR4-2666 Memory ($134.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Sandisk Solid State Drive 256GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($144.95 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 980 Ti 6GB Video Card ($709.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Corsair 750D ATX Full Tower Case ($145.44 @ Mac Mall)
Power Supply: Corsair 1000W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($188.79 @ B&H)
Optical Drive: LG WH16NS40 Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Writer ($54.88 @ OutletPC)
Case Fan: Corsair Air Series AF140 Red 66.4 CFM 140mm Fan ($15.09 @ Amazon)
Total: $2543.59



Some Questions :


* Do i need extra cooling fans since the PC would be working intensively? If so , what should i add?
* Is 1000W Powersupply enough?
* I chose a 6GB 980 Ti CARD instead of the TITAN because my rendering would be mostly architectural which uses CPU Power , but i am taking an X-99 motherboard with 4 PCI 3.0 slots for the long run, incase more graphic cards needs to be added.

I know that's a long post but if you came to this point and would like to help me, I would really appreciate it!
 
I would recommend a samsung 950 Pro M.2 SSD since your motherboard has an M.2 x4 slot.

Either instead of the SATA SSD you're already getting, or in edition to. The M.2 SSDs performance is much greater than SATA SSDs.
 
Here's the solid state drive you want for raw speed... with your budget it can be PCI Express based which will be faster than SATA based, not to mention it appears the Asus motherboard I linked too only supports PCI Express based....

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...ci_express_samsung_ssd-_-20-147-466-_-Product

This case is a popular full tower alternative

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...0&cm_re=haf_full_tower-_-11-119-160-_-Product


Unless you need a lot of USB ports in the back you can save money with a less expensive motherboard. If you need those USB ports get the updated Asus with the USB 3.1 ports in the back.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813132505


This gigabyte board offers a lot of value with good reviews... lots of stuff for futureproofing like thunderbolt, sata express, usb type C, etc.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128885



I would wait for Broadwell-E and Pascal... 2-3 months is not a long time... Pascal is going to be a huge performance gain with the 16nm process.. but hey that's all I'm gonna say about it, the choice is yours. 🙂
 
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$500 for a motherboard is a waste of money, you aren't getting gaining anything but bragging rights. Something in the $200 range will work just as well.

1000 watt PSU is also way overkill, the CPU and graphics will be just under 400 watts full load, the rest is trivial in comparison. Something in the 600-700 watt range would be better. For example, EVGA has a 750 watt platinum PSU for under $100.

I would take those saving and get a better SSD, plus $145 for a 250GB Sandisk SSD is a pretty crappy deal, that's about how much I payed for my 500 GB 850 EVO.

You should also do some research into GPU utilization of the program's you use. $700 on a 980Ti could be a giant waste of money, or a workstation card might give you better performance.
 
The op's build looks more like a gaming rig that can do rendering than a dedicated rendering rig. If you're going to be using this mainly for rendering along with Illustrator and other programs you're better off going at it like a workstation. Here's what I would propose:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Xeon E5-2630 V3 2.4GHz 8-Core OEM/Tray Processor ($599.99 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Phanteks PH-TC12LS_BK 53.3 CFM CPU Cooler ($34.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-X99-SLI ATX LGA2011-3 Motherboard ($197.88 @ Amazon)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($119.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Samsung XP941 Series 512GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive ($299.90 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Blue 4TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($129.89 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 980 Ti 6GB Video Card ($575.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Fractal Design Define R5 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($96.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA P2 850W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($109.99 @ NCIX US)
Optical Drive: LG UH12NS30 Blu-Ray Reader, DVD/CD Writer ($39.89 @ OutletPC)
External Storage: Western Digital My Book 4TB External Hard Drive ($115.12 @ Amazon)
Total: $2320.62
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-04-20 22:32 EDT-0400


Quick rundown:

CPU: When it comes to rendering more cores are king. This Xeon comes with 8 cores which will help out when it comes to rendering if you're willing to spend the cash
Motherboard: A solid motherboard is needed, however a $500 motherboard is not. The previously selected one is massive overkill and this Gigabyte should serve just fine
RAM: Stayed with what was selected
SSD: Went with a faster & higher capacity M.2 SSD with all of the money freed up from the motherboard
HDD: You're going to need to store your renders somewhere
GPU: This is really a placeholder. I would highly recommend posting what programs you intend to use for 3D rendering. Some programs take better advantage of CUDA, others OpenCL and sometimes you're better off getting a workstation card like a Quadro.
PSU: 1000 watts is massive overkill. This 850 watt PSU should be plenty and still provide plenty of headroom while being a good bit less expensive
Case: Mainly a personal choice but I tend to prefer Fractal Designs cases nowadays
External HDD: Backups, backups, backups. If this is for income always keep backups of your work.
 
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nsafreak said:
The op's build looks more like a gaming rig that can do rendering than a dedicated rendering rig. If you're going to be using this mainly for rendering along with Illustrator and other programs you're better off going at it like a workstation. Here's what I would propose:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Xeon E5-2630 V3 2.4GHz 8-Core OEM/Tray Processor ($599.99 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Phanteks PH-TC12LS_BK 53.3 CFM CPU Cooler ($34.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-X99-SLI ATX LGA2011-3 Motherboard ($197.88 @ Amazon)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($119.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Samsung XP941 Series 512GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive ($299.90 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Blue 4TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($129.89 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 980 Ti 6GB Video Card ($575.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Fractal Design Define R5 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($96.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA P2 850W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($109.99 @ NCIX US)
Optical Drive: LG UH12NS30 Blu-Ray Reader, DVD/CD Writer ($39.89 @ OutletPC)
External Storage: Western Digital My Book 4TB External Hard Drive ($115.12 @ Amazon)
Total: $2320.62
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-04-20 22:32 EDT-0400


Quick rundown:

CPU: When it comes to rendering more cores are king. This Xeon comes with 8 cores which will help out when it comes to rendering if you're willing to spend the cash
Motherboard: A solid motherboard is needed, however a $500 motherboard is not. The previously selected one is massive overkill and this Gigabyte should serve just fine
RAM: Stayed with what was selected
SSD: Went with a faster & higher capacity M.2 SSD with all of the money freed up from the motherboard
HDD: You're going to need to store your renders somewhere
GPU: This is really a placeholder. I would highly recommend posting what programs you intend to use for 3D rendering. Some programs take better advantage of CUDA, others OpenCL and sometimes you're better off getting a workstation card like a Quadro.
PSU: 1000 watts is massive overkill. This 850 watt PSU should be plenty and still provide plenty of headroom while being a good bit less expensive
Case: Mainly a personal choice but I tend to prefer Fractal Designs cases nowadays
External HDD: Backups, backups, backups. If this is for income always keep backups of your work.
Click to expand...

I would change the motherboard, that particular one doesn't support M.2 SSDs at full speeds (only 6gbps). Also, he said he may want to add more GPUs later, that motherboard would only let him add 1 more. And lastly, I don't see support for ECC RAM, if he is getting a Xeon, might as well take advantage of that.

This motherboard is a bit cheaper than what was originally suggested, but still pretty expensive and will require a large full tower case, but can support Quad SLI GPUs and ECC RAM.

$450
ASRock X99 WS-E LGA 2011-v3

$210
32GB(4x8GB) DDR4 ECC UDIMM

And since the define R5 can't hold E-ATX I'd say switch to something that can, though that's a personal choice. I like the Corsair cases for working with.


Lastly, you linked to the XP941, which is slower and uses Gen2 PCI-E. The 950 pro M.2 drive is much faster.
http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-950-PRO-Internal-MZ-V5P512BW/dp/B01639694M
 
For Photoshop, the most important piece is memory and from the sound of your workflow, lots of it. Sure 32GB is good to start with, but I'd get 16GB x 2. Then you can add more if needed if you notice soon it's just not cutting it. If your board has 4 RAM slots, with 8GBx4 you have no more slots to add to.

Also agree on the motherboard choice. $500 that's just crazy talk.

For the MOBO, the two things that matter are two have two M.2 SSD slots (Maybe RAID if your feeling so adventurous-if you really need it-especially for 3D work). Though if getting two M.2 slots, you need to verify 100% that with two your not going to loose the bandwidth when using the second one. Not all boards can support full lane PCIe 3.0 x4 M2 drives at full bandwidth. This was the hardest part for me to verify with my new rig I just built.. (For a better idea of what I mean, go to the MSI website and d/l the Z170A-G45 manual. It shows how two M.2 drives would work and what else is impacted. You may not get this board, but will give you a general idea of what to look for.
 
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