Building a budget Workstation

[anonymous_86]

Hey guys,

Enrolled in an animation programme this year.I want to get into game-designing.Just gathering info on what to add in my new workstation.Details below:-

Approximate Purchase Date: This week (or sooner maybe,if the discussion goes on...)

Budget Range: Not sure... I want a "value for money" system and...the cheaper,the better 😉 or maybe Rs. 40000 INR

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Rendering softwares,Gaming,Watching movies,Internet Surfing

Parts Not Required: Nothing except CPU components

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: --

Country of Origin: India

Parts Preferences: by brand or type: Shortlisted an Intel WX58BP for work

Overclocking: No / Maybe

SLI or Crossfire: Yes to SLI

Monitor Resolution: 1600X1200

Additional Comments: I need a quiet system,on which I can occasionally be able to play games like COD4.

Well,here are the things I've shortlisted so far:

Mobo- Intel WX58BP
6GB DDR3 RAM
500GB HDD Seagate/Samsung
Antec/Cooler Master/Corsair:600W/700W PSU
Cooler Master CPU Case Mid-Tower
Intel i7-950k/ i5-2500k (I am a bit confused... )
GTX 460 1024MB or GTS 250 1GB (I know some of you will recommend Quadro series,but as I'm on a budget,I'm just left with FX580 and FX600,and many people say they're not for gaming purposes,GFX cards can also handle Max and Maya well,entry level Quadros are not worth spending and all...).My main problem is that I want gaming as well as good rendering times/speeds .If you guys still insist on getting FX580,I will,but can you tell what games it will be able to run,at most? 3D-rendering is my main purpose and gaming is secondary.So,I will sacrifice gaming (but only if it is very very necessary).And FYI,I know that Maya is a CPU bound more than GPU bound.But still,I've to choose a card anyway...
I'm a bit noob at choosing these things as it is my first time ever,so ignore any of my nonsense selection choices 😉 and recommend the best (and cheapest,of course) you can.

P.S.: Don't even try to divert my mind away from intel processors and/or nVidia GPUs.I'm a hardcore fan of these 😀 .
Any help/suggestions/improvements would be greatly appreciated.I hope the system is not a pure bottleneck hehe...

 

[mosox]

Do you have the OS?

 

[Proximon]

As a student do you have access to student prices for software in India?

Cooler Master generally does not sell good PSUs, and the ones that are good are usually overpriced. You also do not need a 600W PSU for the parts as listed.

i7 Intel CPUs come in several different shapes... they will plug into 3 different sockets.

The NEWEST Intel CPUs require an LGA 1155 socket. That is the one you want, as the i7 2600K is the fastest CPU at a reasonable price and requires LGA 1155.

That also means you need to rethink your motherboard choice. You will need a good LGA 1155 board.

What was it that made you think the Intel X58 board was what you wanted? Was it just a flawless work experience or was there some specific feature?

 

[anonymous_86]

As a student do you have access to student prices for software in India?

Cooler Master generally does not sell good PSUs, and the ones that are good are usually overpriced. You also do not need a 600W PSU for the parts as listed.

i7 Intel CPUs come in several different shapes... they will plug into 3 different sockets.

The NEWEST Intel CPUs require an LGA 1155 socket. That is the one you want, as the i7 2600K is the fastest CPU at a reasonable price and requires LGA 1155.

That also means you need to rethink your motherboard choice. You will need a good LGA 1155 board.

What was it that made you think the Intel X58 board was what you wanted? Was it just a flawless work experience or was there some specific feature?

The only ones I've heard about are the Corsair and CoolerMasters' PSUs.Also,I've tramped this forum for similar problems reported by people and found that most of them were recommended 600w-700w PSUs.Another reason for that would be that I plan to SLI in near future with a quadro (4-5 yrs estimate).
As I stated,YOU guys will recommend the processors (i5/i7) as I'm very confused.So,I won't be able to say anything for it.
i7s are good for hyperthreading I know but was just wonderin' if I really need it or not.
Also,somewhere on this forum,some person recommended the WX58BP to a similar person like me,who wanted to build a rig for animation purposes.He said it was built for these purposes only.Well,I haven't got much of a "general" info from the manufacturer's site,so it'd be great if someone sheds light on this (and in a simple language please 😀 ).And can we talk on an another most important aspect: The GPU,too?
Thanks for the replies,mates.

 

[Proximon]

I"ll use a build linked to newegg with common parts you should be able to find.

■SAMSUNG CD/DVD Burner Black SATA Model SH-222AB - OEM
■COOLER MASTER RC-692-KKN2 CM690 II Advanced Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
■Seagate Barracuda ST31000524AS 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
■GIGABYTE GV-N560OC-1GI GeForce GTX 560 Ti (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card
■CORSAIR Enthusiast Series TX750 V2 750W ATX12V v2.31/ EPS12V v2.92 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC High Performance Power ...
■CORSAIR Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Low Profile Desktop Memory Model CML8GX3M2A1600C9
■ASUS P8Z68-V PRO LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard with UEFI BIOS
■Intel Core i7-2600K Sandy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80623I72600K

TOTAL: $1,093.24

 

[anonymous_86]

Can you justify the need for considering:
a. Seagate Barracuda ST31000524AS 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive (I've heard Samsung F1/F3 are faster and reliable)
b. 560Ti
c. i7-2600k/ASUS P8Z68

???

 

[Proximon]

a. Seagate is a good blend of speed and value. What little data we have seen from businesses show Seagate and Samsung with similar failure rates. Western Digital Caviar Black paired with a reliable Intel or Crucial SSD would actually be what I recommend, but I'm not clear on what your budget would allow.

b. A 560ti will get you good but not fantastic frame rates at 1920x1080. It's able to do CUDA and so can help with your rendering possibly. I didn't think you wanted to spend any more, but the GTX 570 is a decent value.

C. You need the best processing power you can get. The i7 2600K is that processor, unless you want to spend over 3 times as much on a CPU. it's faster in all benchmarks compared to the i7 -950.
http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/desktop-cpu-charts-2010/Image-Rendering-3DS-Max-2010,2420.html

 

[anonymous_86]

Thanks.Whats the difference between 560Ti and 560,anyway?

 

[Proximon]

GTX 560 is a slightly slower card that is not CUDA enabled.

 

[anonymous_86]

And do you think all of these items will suit my needs (animation & a bit of gaming)? Just verifying if you've acknowledged ALL my needs.No offence.
But anyways,accept my warm thanks for all the time you've spent for my problem...

 

[Proximon]

Unless you want to watch Blu-ray movies

I didn't include an after market CPU cooler for overclocking.
I didn't include an SSD as I thought you might be near your budget limit.
It may well be that you need more than 1TB of disk space, I don't know what kind of projects you have in mind.

If you get a list together and have some room left in the budget, let me know.

 

[anonymous_86]

I just plan to do some gaming (COD MW2) and as for my course,they're currently "teaching" me 3DS Max,Maya,Mudbox,Photoshop,After Effects,Premier and so on...
So what do ya think?

 

[Proximon]

That should be fine then. As I said, let me know how the budget matches up.

 

[anonymous_86]

Okay,I'll calculate and report to ya in some time.But I need some time.Is that okay?

 

[anonymous_86]

Best answer selected by Anonymous_86.