BestConfigs Poll - High-End Workstation

[jpishgar]

It's time to vote on your favorite build for this category!

Please see below for a list of the choices available.

BurritoBob's Build
CPU: Intel Core i7-3930K 3.2GHz 6-Core Processor ($569.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H100 92.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($84.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Asus Rampage IV Gene Micro ATX LGA2011 Motherboard ($279.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($164.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($91.33 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($91.33 @ Amazon)
Storage: Samsung 840 Pro Series 256GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($268.19 @ amazon)
Video Card: ATI FirePro V7900 2GB Video Card (CrossFire) ($687.86 @ Newegg)
Video Card: ATI FirePro V7900 2GB Video Card (CrossFire) ($687.86 @ Newegg)
Video Card: ATI FirePro V7900 2GB Video Card (CrossFire) ($687.86 @ Newegg)
Case: Cooler Master Storm Stryker (White) ATX Full Tower Case ($159.04 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Cooler Master Silent Pro Gold 1000W 80 PLUS Gold Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($189.99 @ Amazon)
Optical Drive: Asus BW-12B1ST/BLK/G/AS Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Writer ($59.99 @ Amazon )
Total: $3980.92

Cerunnos Build

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i7-3930K 3.2GHz 6-Core Processor ($569.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D14 SE2011 CPU Cooler ($74.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASUS P9X79 WS LGA 2011 Intel X79 ($379.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Mushkin Redline 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($199.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($91.33 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Red 2TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($109.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Red 2TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($109.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Red 2TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($109.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Red 2TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($109.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Corsair Neutron Series GTX 240GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($229.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Corsair Neutron Series GTX 240GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($229.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: AMD FirePro W7000 4GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 CrossFire Supported Workstation Video Card ($769.99 @ Newegg)
Sound Card: Creative Labs Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium HD 24-bit 96 KHz Sound Card ($109.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Corsair Obsidian Series 800D ATX Full Tower Case ($267.98 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Corsair 860W 80 PLUS Platinum Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($179.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Pioneer BDR-207MBK Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Writer ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Other: Adaptec RAID 6405 2271100-R 6Gb/s SATA/SAS 4 internal ports w/512MB cache memory Controller Card, Kit ($354.99 @ Newegg)
Other: Rosewill RX-C200P 2.5" SSD / HDD Plastic Mounting Kit for 3.5" Drive Bay ($5.99 @ Newegg)
Other: Arctic Cooling MX 4 TIM ($6.65 @ Amazon)
Total: $3991.80
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)

DRosencraft's H.E.W.S Build 4
Processor: AMD Opteron 6348 Abu Dhabi 2.8GHz $599.99 ea. (x2) @Newegg
Motherboard: Asus KGPE-D16 SSI EEB Dual G34 $419.99 @Newegg
RAM: Kingston 8GB RDIMM 1333 Hynix model $52.99 ea. (x8) @Newegg
Graphics Card: ATI 100-505604 FirePro V7800 $619.99 ea. (x2) @Newegg
Solid State Drive: Samsung 840 Pro Series 128GB SSD $149.99 @Newegg
Hard Drive: Western Digital WD Black 1TB 7200 RPM 109.99 ea. (x2) @Newegg
Case: AZZA Genesis 9000 ATX Full-Tower Case $159.99 @Newegg
Power Supply: SeaSonic SS-660XP 660W 80Plus Platinum Fully Modular $149.99 @Newegg
Cooling: Noctua NH-UPDO A3 AMD Opteron CPU Cooler $75.99 ea. (x2) @Newegg
DVD Burner: LG Black Blu-Ray Burner $54.99 @Newegg

TOTAL: $3958.83

lp231's Build

Processor:2x Intel Xeon E5 2630 @2.3GHz ($1,269.98 @ Newegg)
Motherboard:Asus Z9PE-D16/2L ($379.99 @ Newegg)
RAM:2x Kingston 16GB (4x4GB) DDR3 1600 ECC Registered ($237.98 @ Newegg)
Graphics Card:AMD FirePro W5000 2GB ($449.99 @ Newegg)
Solid State:2x Crucial M4 256GB in RAID 0 ($399.98 @ Newegg)
Hard Drive:Western Digital Black 2TB ($179.99 @ Newegg)
Case:Cooler Master Cosmos II ($349.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply:Corsair HX1050 ($209.99 @ Newegg)
Cooling:2x Corsair H60 ($109.98 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive:LG Blu-Ray Writer ($54.99 @ Newegg)
Sound card:Asus Xonar ($39.99 @ Newegg)
Add on:Koutech USB 3.0 card ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Total:$3,712.84

Daniel's crunching machine
Processor: Intel Xeon E5-2687W 8-Core $1899.99
Motherboard: Asus X79 Sabertooth. $314.99
RAM: 2x Kingston 16GB 1600MHz HyperX @ $79.99 : $159.98
Graphics Card: PNY nVidia Quadro 2000 $399.99
Hard Drive: OCZ RevoDrive 3 240GB $269.99
Hard Drive: 2x WD Black 2TB Raid 1 $359.98
Case: COMBO w/ PSU: Corsair Obsidian 800D $419.98
Power Supply: COMBO w/ case: Corsair HX850 Gold Modular PSU
Cooling: Corsair H100i $119.99
DVD Burner: Asus 24X DVD Burner $19.99

Total Price: $3989.88

 

[Onus]

BurritoBob: CM products
Cerunnos: Nice, but are those cards loud?
DRosencraft: Loud?
lp231: RAID0, in a business build? Oversized PSU?
Daniel: Purpose?

Clarity of purpose would go a long way toward choosing the better build. I had to pass on this one, although I would be unlikely to choose a RAID0 for a business build unless it were clarified that it was a scratch disk.

 

[lp231]

1050w is overkill, but that board needs 2x 8pin and that was the cheapest PSU with 2x 8pin.

 

[thefiend1]

I love this thread already <3

 

[burritobob]

BurritoBob: CM products
Cerunnos: Nice, but are those cards loud?
DRosencraft: Loud?
lp231: RAID0, in a business build? Oversized PSU?
Daniel: Purpose?

Clarity of purpose would go a long way toward choosing the better build. I had to pass on this one, although I would be unlikely to choose a RAID0 for a business build unless it were clarified that it was a scratch disk.

Lol I love how you instantly throw out the cooler master products, I have been using a few of these for a while now, they work perfectly fine for me. (I've had the Slient Pro 1kw for 4 years) And it still runs fantastically.

 

[Draven35]

And Daniel's crunching machine is likely to be just as fast or faster for Premiere than many of the other machines.

 

[dawsy]

I love all these Builds So Damn Nice , id love to own one

 

[improviz]

So, I'm interested in a build to run CS6 production premium, mostly for Premiere Pro but about 15% of the time for After Effects and some misc. Photoshop work. I'd like to hear opinions on a Quadro card vs something like a 4GB nVidia 680, since PP and AE will accelerate using the CUDA cores on the consumer cards. The crunching machine is interesting because I'd like to keep the $$ under $4,000 if at all possible. I was already thinking a Xeon CPU. Bring on the opinions!

 

[burritobob]

Quadros are streamlined for workstation processes unlike the GeForce cards which are streamlined for gaming permanence. You're going to see a better performance out of the workstation card than the gaming card. You really have 2 options the FirePros and the Quadros. I don't know much about them varying from app to app but you should do some research specific to what programs you're going to be using. In the end, go for the workstation card over the gaming cards.

Go with the Xeon CPU for sure, you really won't see much better workstation performance. A good alternative is going to be an i7 Extreme Edition processor both of those are fantastic choices for what you want.

 

[improviz]

I've read some pretty compelling articles about unlocking the GeForce consumer cards for use with Adobe products, vs. the Quadro cards. I am, in fact, currently using a 560ti card with a Core i7 940 and the acceleration in Premiere Pro CS5 with the Mercury Playback Engine is quite noticeable. I'm not doing any 3D modeling or animation, so I'm not as concerned about the kind of quarter-frame rendering accuracy that the Quadro might provide. I think I will probably go with a 4GB nVidia 680 card, for the amount of video RAM that it provices. As I'm trying to keep my build to around $3500 that's probably my best option. I appreciate this thread and would still like to see some more discussion around this with external references included. 🙂

 

[burritobob]

You should look into getting a titan, they have more CUDA cores than any of the other nvidia cards (or a 690), those have the large amount of VRAM your looking for. That at least is my recommendation, a 680 may do the trick but if you really want a large amount of process acceleration go with either 2x680s a 690 or a Titan depending on what you want.

 

[improviz]

I don't have $1000 in the budget for a video card. If I go with a Xeon, buy the time I get the MOBO, RAM and CPU there's no way a Titan is affordable. Well, I could afford it, but my wife would kill me... ;-)

 

[burritobob]

I don't have $1000 in the budget for a video card. If I go with a Xeon, buy the time I get the MOBO, RAM and CPU there's no way a Titan is affordable. Well, I could afford it, but my wife would kill me... ;-)

Mortgage boardwalk to buy one :lol:

 

[jpishgar]

This topic has been desticky in top of the forum by Jpishgar