3D rendering and Multitasking PC build. Need suggestions!

eband00

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Aug 1, 2007
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Hey guys, i'm starting school in several months, and i will be using my computer with 3ds max, Solid works, Photoshop, Illustrator and other similar softwares. As im looking to save as much as possible, i can't spend much, but i would like to get the most out of it for the next 4 years, with maybe a memory upgrade in a couple of years.

Current PC:
Intel Q6600
Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3R/S3R
850Watt OCZ powersupply
XFX Radeon 4890 1GB
4gb Viper DDR2 (with another 2 sticks of Crucial DDR2 1gb that stopped working with the viper, but works wonderfully alone...)
Lots of hard drives, dvd-roms.

For the new PC, i need a more silent built since i will be living in a small room. So i will be buying a new case (Currently own a Thermaltake Matrix). I will also use my 850W power supply, my hard drives, DVD-roms and my XFX Radeon Card.

What i need: CPU, Motherboard, Memory and Case. Budget: 500-600$ Canadian!

What i was looking at:

AMD Phenom II X6 1090T Black Edition: [strike]149.99[/strike] 137.50 (Pricematch -15%) http://ncix.com/products/?sku=52067&vpn=HDT90ZFBGRBOX&manufacture=AMD&promoid=1026

[strike]Gigabyte GA-890XA-UD3: 129.99 http://ncix.com/products/?sku=51764&vpn=GA-890XA-UD3&manufacture=Gigabyte[/strike] (since i don't need a dual GPU, and never will need it)

GIGABYTE GA-870A-UD3: 96.99 http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128443

Mushkin Enhanced Silverline Stiletto 8GB 2X4GB PC3-10666: 85.68 http://ncix.com/products/?sku=55544&vpn=996770&manufacture=Mushkin%20Enhanced


Already Bought
Fractal Design Define R3 & Coolit Systems Eco for 127$ shipped! Thanks jason!

Waiting for excellent deals or pricedrops to complete the system, i still have a couple of months before i need to make it work!
 

jasonw223

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Jul 8, 2010
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Here are my suggestions:

1) Case and cooler
http://ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=60896&vpn=R3%20%26%20ECO&manufacture=Bundle%20Deals&promoid=1026

2) Motherboard and SSD
http://ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=61287&vpn=Gigabyte%20Z68X-UD4%20%26%2040GB%20Intel%20320%20SSD&manufacture=Bundle%20Deals&promoid=1026

3) Processor
http://ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=57962&vpn=BX80623I52500K&manufacture=Intel&promoid=1026

4) Memory
That Mushkin stuff is good, although 1600mhz stuff isn't much more these days...

Anyway, I'd personally suggest going to an Intel chip rather than the 1090t. The 6-core sounds real nice, but the 2500k will destroy it. As for the case, if you want to save a few bucks that Fractal one is quite nice, and has a bundle with the liquid cooler right now...
 

eband00

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I think I'd rather go for the AMD. I've viewed some comparative charts with the more expensive i5, but it is not that far off, and the mother board + CPU is cheaper, i can probably even increase the rendering performance by getting even more ram with the price difference. Considering the biggest gap was in gaming, and gaming is secondary for me anyways...

When you're about to get a 60.000$+ loan to go to school, its hard to justify spending more on something that is just slightly better!

I've heard people saying that i should wait a couple pf months for the next gen of AMD bulldozer cpu's? That will bring the price of the 1090bt down, and i would think of getting an AM3+ motherboard which will be future-proof if i want to acquire the next generation of AMD cpus.

About the case and water-cooler combo, that's excellent! i was actually looking at that, reading reviews about the case and the water-cooler. And both get excellent reviews keeping everything nice, cool and quite! I'm just not sure if the cooler will support the bulldozers. Anybody knows?
 

jasonw223

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I'm finishing up a degree in engineering and have a $50,000 one as well... I know what you mean.

I'd personally go with a sandy bridge system, or else just wait out Bulldozer (I hear its coming in June). Those hexacores (I've had a couple 1090t systems) are alright, but the new Intel chips not only have more performance at stock speeds, but also have a huge amount of overclocking headroom and run super cool compared to AMD or previous gen Intel chips.

Lastly, that water cooler should be fine on AM3+ chips. They've had the same mounting holes and whatnot on their boards for a while now, and I really really doubt they will change them randomly. while keeping the same size socket and proc.
 

eband00

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Thank you :), i will wait until the Bulldozer then, hopefully their prices won't be too high. I just want more than 4 cores, that way, i can assign a rendering on two cores and still have 4 cores running my other programs in the meantime, plus i'm sure all those cores will be utilized to their full potential in the near future, just like my q6600 is now but wasn't when i built it 4-years ago