$2000 Workstation

[TheCheeseling]

Approximate Purchase Date: doesn't matter

Budget Range: $1500 to $2000

System Usage from Most to Least Important: 3ds animation and After Effects

Are you buying a monitor: No


Do you need to buy OS: Yes

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: newegg.com

Location: West Palm Beach, FL, U.S.

Parts Preferences: Intel, Nvidia

Overclocking: No

SLI or Crossfire: Maybe

Your Monitor Resolution: 1920x1080

Additional Comments: A window would be nice, i'm going to be using C4D, After Effects, Maya.

Thanks.

 

[manofchalk]

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/353572-31-build-upgrade-advice

The form, it needs filling out.

 

[TheCheeseling]

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/353572-31-build-upgrade-advice

The form, it needs filling out.

Thanks, I updated it.

 

[manofchalk]

CPU: Intel Core i7-3770. $300
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116502

Mobo: AsRock H77 Pro4. $80
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157302

RAM: G.Skill Ares 16GB (2x8GB) 1600Mhz CL9 1.5v. $90
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231606

PSU: Corsair Enthusiast 650W, 80+ Bronze non modular. $90 ($10 rebate)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139020

SSD: Samsung 840 Pro 120GB. $150
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147192
I recommend this with a bit of reluctance, its fairly expensive for an SSD of its capacity. I would rather advise a Samsung 830, but it seems they are disappearing from stock now that the 840 series is out, and unfortunately they are of lower quality than their predecessors. The 840 is about the best SSD on the market, but I personally dont think its worth the extra $40 you pay. If you can find a 128GB 830 somewhere else, I advise you get that.

HDD: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200RPM. $110 x2 = $220 (will explain why).
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148834

OS: Windows 8 64bit OEM. $100
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832416550
if you want to stick with Win7, get the Professional edition. Otherwise you wont be able to support more than 16Gb of RAM.

Case: Largely personal preference which one to get, I'l link to a couple of good options.

Coolermaster HAF-XM. $120 ($10 rebate)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119257

NZXT Phantom, various colours. $120
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Order=BESTMATCH&N=100006644&isNodeId=1&Description=NZXT+Phantom&x=0&y=0

Corsair Carbide 500R, black or white. $130 ($10 rebate)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Order=BESTMATCH&N=100006644&isNodeId=1&Description=Corsair+500R&x=0&y=0

Antec Eleven Hundred. $100
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129178
Plus two fans, as it doesnt have any front intake fans at stock. $12
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103060

Total (With Corsair case, before rebates and shipping): $1160
That leaves you enough cash to throw in a workstation card of some sort, while being a fairly good rig.

The reason for two hard drives (and the SSD) is to distribute the load. The SSD has Windows and your important programs on it, one HDD holds all the raw footage or resources your dealing with in an editing application, while the other HDD acts as the output drive for when your rendering. This is so no one drive is reading and writing data at the same time, which can slow things down a fair bit.
Your unimportant programs, general files (movies, music, documents) and such can be put on the output drive to no ill effect.