Computer build for 3D animation/rendering/Compositing for $1000

[blingchen]

Hi I am a Jr. Animator who just graduate. I am looking to build my first machine for 3D animation. I don't play games.

the machine will be mostly used for
-Maya
- Adobe creative suite (AE, Premiere, Ai, PS..)

Probably a little bit of dynamic, but not gonna go crazy.

Here is my build :
http://pcpartpicker.com/user/bling.chen/saved/67Nscf

I am not a expert in building hardware, so any suggestions would be appreciated.

Questions:
1. What's the difference between Intel Core i7-4770 and 4770K? does it make a huge difference?

2. Do I have to go for a 8-core double processors machine? or should I go for 6 core?

3. Is a SSD necessary? I know it can speed up the computer but I don't really mind if the software boots up slower ( as long as it's not crazy slow like more than 3 min)

I am really trying to keep my budget around $1000. thank you very much.

 

[dottorrent]

1) The 4770K you can overclock freely with any Z87 / Z97 board. Unless you're an avid gamer, there's no point in overclocking.

2) Nope. Unless you're nuts about rendering times. The Core i7 CPUs are fine for your needs.

3) If you want a super fast start-up, then yes.

Here's a counter-build -

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790 3.6GHz Quad-Core Processor ($294.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: MSI Z97-G55 SLI ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($117.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-2133 Memory ($159.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Sandisk Solid State Drive 128GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($54.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 770 2GB TWIN FROZR Video Card ($272.98 @ Newegg)
Case: Fractal Design Define R4 w/Window (Titanium Grey) ATX Mid Tower Case ($89.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: Antec High Current Gamer 620W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($79.98 @ OutletPC)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24F1ST DVD/CD Writer ($14.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $1145.87
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-11-05 16:31 EST-0500

 

[blingchen]

1) The 4770K you can overclock freely with any Z87 / Z97 board. Unless you're an avid gamer, there's no point in overclocking.

2) Nope. Unless you're nuts about rendering times. The Core i7 CPUs are fine for your needs.

3) If you want a super fast start-up, then yes.

Here's a counter-build -

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790 3.6GHz Quad-Core Processor ($294.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: MSI Z97-G55 SLI ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($117.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-2133 Memory ($159.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Sandisk Solid State Drive 128GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($54.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 770 2GB TWIN FROZR Video Card ($272.98 @ Newegg)
Case: Fractal Design Define R4 w/Window (Titanium Grey) ATX Mid Tower Case ($89.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: Antec High Current Gamer 620W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($79.98 @ OutletPC)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24F1ST DVD/CD Writer ($14.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $1145.87
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-11-05 16:31 EST-0500

Right now I am using a macbook pro that has i7 2.4 ghz and 8gb of ram to run maya and ae, but when it comes to rendering it renders about 20 ish frame overnight and the computer is likr burning hot..

 

[dottorrent]

1) The 4770K you can overclock freely with any Z87 / Z97 board. Unless you're an avid gamer, there's no point in overclocking.

2) Nope. Unless you're nuts about rendering times. The Core i7 CPUs are fine for your needs.

3) If you want a super fast start-up, then yes.

Here's a counter-build -

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790 3.6GHz Quad-Core Processor ($294.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: MSI Z97-G55 SLI ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($117.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-2133 Memory ($159.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Sandisk Solid State Drive 128GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($54.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 770 2GB TWIN FROZR Video Card ($272.98 @ Newegg)
Case: Fractal Design Define R4 w/Window (Titanium Grey) ATX Mid Tower Case ($89.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: Antec High Current Gamer 620W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($79.98 @ OutletPC)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24F1ST DVD/CD Writer ($14.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $1145.87
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-11-05 16:31 EST-0500

Right now I am using a macbook pro that has i7 2.4 ghz and 8gb of ram to run maya and ae, but when it comes to rendering it renders about 20 ish frame overnight and the computer is likr burning hot..

Yeah Macbooks are notorious for scalding your lap when in full use. A desktop build will run much cooler and faster. The benefit of a Desktop i7 is that you get full power all the time and not blister your palms.

 

[g-unit1111]

1) The 4770K you can overclock freely with any Z87 / Z97 board. Unless you're an avid gamer, there's no point in overclocking.

2) Nope. Unless you're nuts about rendering times. The Core i7 CPUs are fine for your needs.

3) If you want a super fast start-up, then yes.

Here's a counter-build -

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790 3.6GHz Quad-Core Processor ($294.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: MSI Z97-G55 SLI ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($117.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-2133 Memory ($159.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Sandisk Solid State Drive 128GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($54.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 770 2GB TWIN FROZR Video Card ($272.98 @ Newegg)
Case: Fractal Design Define R4 w/Window (Titanium Grey) ATX Mid Tower Case ($89.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: Antec High Current Gamer 620W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($79.98 @ OutletPC)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24F1ST DVD/CD Writer ($14.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $1145.87
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-11-05 16:31 EST-0500

Why would you need a Z97 motherboard with a locked CPU? Couldn't you just go with an H97 motherboard? If you're not looking to overclock I would do something like this:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790 3.6GHz Quad-Core Processor ($294.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock H97 PERFORMANCE ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($105.91 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance Pro 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-2133 Memory ($176.75 @ Amazon)
Storage: Samsung 850 Pro Series 128GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($116.09 @ Amazon)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($53.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB Superclocked Video Card ($132.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Corsair 300R ATX Mid Tower Case ($69.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: SeaSonic S12G 550W 80+ Gold Certified ATX Power Supply ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-14 DVD/CD Writer ($13.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $1044.68
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-11-05 18:41 EST-0500

 

[dottorrent]

1) The 4770K you can overclock freely with any Z87 / Z97 board. Unless you're an avid gamer, there's no point in overclocking.

2) Nope. Unless you're nuts about rendering times. The Core i7 CPUs are fine for your needs.

3) If you want a super fast start-up, then yes.

Here's a counter-build -

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790 3.6GHz Quad-Core Processor ($294.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: MSI Z97-G55 SLI ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($117.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-2133 Memory ($159.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Sandisk Solid State Drive 128GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($54.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 770 2GB TWIN FROZR Video Card ($272.98 @ Newegg)
Case: Fractal Design Define R4 w/Window (Titanium Grey) ATX Mid Tower Case ($89.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: Antec High Current Gamer 620W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($79.98 @ OutletPC)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24F1ST DVD/CD Writer ($14.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $1145.87
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-11-05 16:31 EST-0500

Why would you need a Z97 motherboard with a locked CPU? Couldn't you just go with an H97 motherboard? If you're not looking to overclock I would do something like this:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790 3.6GHz Quad-Core Processor ($294.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock H97 PERFORMANCE ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($105.91 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance Pro 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-2133 Memory ($176.75 @ Amazon)
Storage: Samsung 850 Pro Series 128GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($116.09 @ Amazon)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($53.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB Superclocked Video Card ($132.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Corsair 300R ATX Mid Tower Case ($69.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: SeaSonic S12G 550W 80+ Gold Certified ATX Power Supply ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-14 DVD/CD Writer ($13.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $1044.68
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-11-05 18:41 EST-0500

Well firstly, it's a better upgrade path when he wants an unlocked processor from now or Broadwell next year. And secondly, better SSD caching technology.