Heavy 3D Models render Computer Build

Solution
This is a tricky one. The Zbrush software wants a good CPU and 16GB or more RAM, while 3DSMax wants a good GPU. In fact, their site basically only has compatibility for the workstation cards - Quadro and FireGL - see here: http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/syscert?siteID=123112&id=18844534&results=1&stype=graphic&product_group=6&release=2016&os=8192&manuf=all&opt=2

Meanwhile, actual 3DSMax users say GTX cards are compatible, see here: http://forums.autodesk.com/t5/3ds-max-3ds-max-design-general/graphics-card-comparison-for-3ds-max/td-p/5540133

The CPU choice *could* be better for Zbrush, specifically an i7-5820K or i7-5930K as you'll get 6 cores instead of 4 (12 threads vs 8), but this will carry an LGA2011-3 motherboard premium...
This is a tricky one. The Zbrush software wants a good CPU and 16GB or more RAM, while 3DSMax wants a good GPU. In fact, their site basically only has compatibility for the workstation cards - Quadro and FireGL - see here: http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/syscert?siteID=123112&id=18844534&results=1&stype=graphic&product_group=6&release=2016&os=8192&manuf=all&opt=2

Meanwhile, actual 3DSMax users say GTX cards are compatible, see here: http://forums.autodesk.com/t5/3ds-max-3ds-max-design-general/graphics-card-comparison-for-3ds-max/td-p/5540133

The CPU choice *could* be better for Zbrush, specifically an i7-5820K or i7-5930K as you'll get 6 cores instead of 4 (12 threads vs 8), but this will carry an LGA2011-3 motherboard premium as well as a couple hundred more for the CPU itself. The DDR4 price shouldn't be much of an issue, though.

The GPU choice is probably not good. First of all, based on AutoDesk's compatibility chart the Titan and Titan Z are supported, but the Titan X is not listed. This means that going with a Titan X would effectively be as risky as going with a GTX branded card, and for $1,000 you can get something that's still plenty powerful but cheaper. However, here's some benchmarks from THG: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/nvidia-geforce-gtx-980-ti,4164-10.html

This means the GTX 980Ti is basically on par with the Titan X in rendering/CUDA applications and at $650 is a much better value!

Now if you switch out the Titan X for the 980Ti, you'll save $350. This can get you a few things. First of all, your build is using 2x1TB WD Blue ... that's not going to fly. You need to get yourself into an SSD, which Zbrush also benefits from. For $160 you can pick up a Samsung 850 Evo 500GB disk, so let's add that and you still have about $200 left of your budget.

Next up we'll remove the HDDs you had added, bringing us back up to $300 but we still need something for large storage. For $110, you can get a 3TB WD Red, so that'll bring us back down to a $200 savings, but now you've got a 500GB SSD + 3TB WD Red + 980Ti + $200 combination instead of Titan X + 2x1TB WD Blue. Seems like a better solution there.

Now for that last $200, I see a couple good uses for it:

1) Don't spend it yet, save it for an upgrade

2) Spend it on another monitor or other accessories (do you need some sort of input device?)

3) Toss in another pair of WD Red 3TB and create a 6TB RAID5 partition. Increased speed, capacity, and redundancy. Sounds good to me.

4) Swap the CPU/Motherboard/RAM/Heatsink for an LGA2011-3 based system. 32GB of DDR4-2400 15-15-15 is $175, so that's the same as your $180 for the 32GB of DDR3. And it's sold as a 4x8GB kit so you won't run into any low probability incompatibilities like you might with the two packages of 2x8GB DDR3. A 5820K is $385, which is only $60 more than the 4790K. The 212 Evo would fit on an LGA2011-3 board (it says LGA2011, other forums have indicated that it does fit a 5820K), so that leaves us with $140 left over... but we still need a motherboard. Since the Z97 board was $150, that gives us $290 for the motherboard. It looks like you don't have any particular requirements here, and an Asus X99-A is $240. That's pretty good, and leaves us with $50 leftover. Now the heatsink situation isn't that great; so if we pull the 212 Evo out, at $25, that gives us another $75 to play with which happens to be the price of a Noctua NH U14S.

So, to conclude:

4790K -> 5820K
MSI Z97-Gaming -> Asus X99-A
212 Evo -> Noctua NH U14S
2x2x8GB DDR3-1886 -> 4x8GB DDR4-2400
2x1TB WD Blue -> Samsung 850 Evo 500GB + 3TB WD Red
Titan X -> GTX 980 Ti
 
Solution

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