If you only had $5k for a video workstation with a focus on 3D rendering how would you spend it?

[Grasonjace]

I am a newb when it comes to building. I have a series of laptops that I've been told would be able to do what I want but lack any real capability. I've decided to build a machine that will meet my current needs and hopefully future wants. I use adobe creative cloud and cinema 4d mostly, but I'd like to build a system that I could enhance as I earn more. I'm very appreciative for any and all input you can share, thank you.

 

[Aeacus]

My pick would be this.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-6950X 3.0GHz 10-Core Processor ($1820.00)
CPU Cooler: NZXT Kraken X61 106.1 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($114.99 @ B&H)
Motherboard: MSI X99A GAMING 9 ACK EATX LGA2011-3 Motherboard ($399.99 @ B&H)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LED 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($192.98 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 512GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive ($350.00)
Storage: Hitachi Deskstar 7K3000 3TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($124.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 1080 8GB Video Card (2-Way SLI) ($754.98 @ Newegg)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 1080 8GB Video Card (2-Way SLI) ($754.98 @ Newegg)
Case: Corsair 760T Black ATX Full Tower Case ($179.08 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: SeaSonic 1200W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($225.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($16.88 @ OutletPC)
Total: $4934.86
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-10-11 23:39 EDT-0400

With radiator mounting: CPU - top, 1st GPU - rear, 2nd GPU bottom/front.

 

[Karsten75]

What benchmark have you ever encountered that suggested that either Adobe CC or Cinema4D ever benefits from two gaming graphics cards in SLI? This at a time when several sources are suggesting that Nvidia is backing off on SLI as a high-performance option.

OP is far better advised to go look at rigs like those made by Puget systems to get ideas for good workstations. Puget systems also have great articles on performance and which way multi-threading benefits graphics applications.

My own personal advice to the OP is to not attempt to build a $5,000 rig out of the door - too many things can go wrong. While you will certainly pay some price premium, I'd strongly suggest you look at bespoke builders such as Puget Systems and the one or two other boutique builders that specialize in video workstations.

 

[Aeacus]

What benchmark have you ever encountered that suggested that either Adobe CC or Cinema4D ever benefits from two gaming graphics cards in SLI? This at a time when several sources are suggesting that Nvidia is backing off on SLI as a high-performance option.

OP asked how anyone would spend $5K on a rendering build (read the title), so, i replied how i would build mine.

Most people like to build a set and use it as it sits for a long time. I, in the other hand, like to constantly upgrade my build. 2-way SLI is just for getting started. Along the road, upgrading my build to 3-way SLI and eventually to 4-way SLI.
Having LGA2011-3 socket sets me up CPU wise also. I can upgrade my CPU to a high end Intel Xeon CPU if needed.
128GB of total RAM on MoBo can also be achieved by upgrading the build further from the initial 32GB of RAM.

So... yeah. If one looks for a build that can sit as it is, without upgrades then my build isn't the one to go after. But for future upgrade wise, my build is something to consider.

 

[g-unit1111]

Having LGA2011-3 socket sets me up CPU wise also. I can upgrade my CPU to a high end Intel Xeon CPU if needed.
128GB of total RAM on MoBo can also be achieved by upgrading the build further from the initial 32GB of RAM.

In what possible scenario would you *EVER* need 128GB of RAM and a 10 core CPU for? Even most Autodesk programs barely use 4, let alone 6. If you were doing video editing and needed it for production work, I could see that. But for Autodesk? No.

 

[k1114]

Would need to know what renderer as some won't benefit from multiple gpus. C4d doesn't even come with a gpu renderer. Focusing on 3d rendering as he said would easily use more than 10 cores.

 

[g-unit1111]

Would need to know what renderer as some won't benefit from multiple gpus. C4d doesn't even come with a gpu renderer. Focusing on 3d rendering as he said would easily use more than 10 cores.

Yeah I know Revit, Solidworks, and Sketchup don't. I run Sketchup and Revit on a daily basis and I can run both on years old CPUs. I can't imagine either one would benefit from more cores.

 

[King Dranzer]

Here is the build:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-6950X 3.0GHz 10-Core Processor ($1649.99 @ B&H)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H115i 104.7 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($114.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Asus ROG STRIX X99 GAMING ATX LGA2011-3 Motherboard ($322.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LED 32GB (2 x 16GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($199.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($157.30 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($49.49 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: NVIDIA Titan X (Pascal) 12GB Video Card (2-Way SLI) ($1200.00)
Video Card: NVIDIA Titan X (Pascal) 12GB Video Card (2-Way SLI) ($1200.00)
Case: NZXT S340 (Black/Red) ATX Mid Tower Case ($66.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: Corsair RMx 1000W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($139.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $5101.73
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-10-12 04:12 EDT-0400

Probably you will be doing video rendering as well as 3D graphical rendering. For cinema 4D single core with high clock speed as well as multi core processing for which i7-6950X is perfectly suited as it has 10cores and can be over clocked to high clock speeds. For 3D rendering the 2 TITAN X PASCALS(not in SLI) are better suited. Why not 2 GTX1080, because 2 TITAN X PASCAL gives 35%performance boost over 2 GTX1080 for work like this.

 

[Aeacus]

Probably you will be doing video rendering as well as 3D graphical rendering. For cinema 4D single core with high clock speed as well as multi core processing for which i7-6950X is perfectly suited as it has 10cores and can be over clocked to high clock speeds. For 3D rendering the 2 TITAN X PASCALS(not in SLI) are better suited. Why not 2 GTX1080, because 2 TITAN X PASCAL gives 35%performance boost over 2 GTX1080 for work like this.

Didn't know the Titan X Pascal was already available at pcpp. I would've gone with those in my build if i would've known that.

 

[King Dranzer]

Probably you will be doing video rendering as well as 3D graphical rendering. For cinema 4D single core with high clock speed as well as multi core processing for which i7-6950X is perfectly suited as it has 10cores and can be over clocked to high clock speeds. For 3D rendering the 2 TITAN X PASCALS(not in SLI) are better suited. Why not 2 GTX1080, because 2 TITAN X PASCAL gives 35%performance boost over 2 GTX1080 for work like this.

Didn't know the Titan X Pascal was already available at pcpp. I would've gone with those in my build if i would've known that.

It is at the bottom of chipset selection section in the left pane on video card page. The price must be entered by you.

 

[Aeacus]

It is at the bottom of chipset selection section in the left pane on video card page. The price must be entered by you.

Thanks for the info.

 

[King Dranzer]

It is at the bottom of chipset selection section in the left pane on video card page. The price must be entered by you.

Thanks for the info.

You are welcome

 

[Grasonjace]

This is a really strong set up. Thanks I am going to research it further. I have read that C4D is a single thread application and won't use multiple cards and pulls from the CPU not GPU. But premier and a few other NLE's will use the multi card set up. I just want an efficient tool.

 

[King Dranzer]

This is a really strong set up. Thanks I am going to research it further. I have read that C4D is a single thread application and won't use multiple cards and pulls from the CPU not GPU. But premier and a few other NLE's will use the multi card set up. I just want an efficient tool.

CD4 uses single core performance only for Animation and 3D Modeling. But for rendering it will be needing as many cores and threads possible. Therefore i7-6950X is the best choice as it has high single core performance for animation and 3D modeling as well as 10cores and 20threads for rendering.

 

[superninja12]

jesus all there people are spendings 1000+ dollars for a 1% peformance increase..

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-5820K 3.3GHz 6-Core Processor ($368.99 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: CRYORIG A80 128.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($123.89 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Asus X99-A ATX LGA2011-3 Motherboard ($219.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($144.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 1TB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($306.07 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Red 4TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($147.81 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 1080 8GB STRIX Video Card (2-Way SLI) ($629.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 1080 8GB STRIX Video Card (2-Way SLI) ($629.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Phanteks Enthoo Luxe ATX Full Tower Case ($139.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: SeaSonic PRIME 850W 80+ Titanium Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($189.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Total: $2901.70
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-10-12 09:08 EDT-0400

 

[Grasonjace]

Yes, I have seen that C4D is single thread and will only pull from one card. The multiple cores and big ram will be used while compiling it in premier from what I understand, and After effects too is really a ram hog. Will these configurations be able to handle multiple monitors? Puget sound has some fantastic offerings but I can't see allocating 10k-15k at this point, which is why I am considering my own build. Currently I am doing it on a 2.4ghz i5 2011 mac book pro with 16gb ram, so anything is going to be a big improvement. Thank you all very much for your insight.

 

[logainofhades]

$5k, I would build a more sensibly priced rig, and pocket the rest.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-6800K 3.4GHz 6-Core Processor ($428.99 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: CRYORIG A80 128.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($123.89 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: ASRock X99 Taichi ATX LGA2011-3 Motherboard ($219.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR4-2666 Memory ($156.21 @ Amazon)
Storage: Crucial MX300 1.1TB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($236.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Storage: Hitachi Deskstar NAS 4TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($154.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Hitachi Deskstar NAS 4TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($154.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Hitachi Deskstar NAS 4TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($154.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1080 8GB G1 Gaming Video Card ($619.00 @ B&H)
Case: Antec P9 Window ATX Full Tower Case ($87.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: EVGA 850W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($118.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Total: $2457.02
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-10-12 09:36 EDT-0400

 

[Koka Biel]

I would do almost the same as Logain, but get rid of the storage drives and use the extra 3k, to work on a separate SAN. I prefer having a nice SAN for storage and even read/write with load balancing and enough hard drives and a couple Gbit NICs, because then I can just continue to tinker and upgrade on graphics and processing only on my system, while maintaining very large fast, efficient network storage. Personally I would have a Raid-0 Config for read/ temp write, then a Raid 10 for long term storage. I've always felt like people tend to forget about Hds..except for size, As fill rates go up and if you have multiple tracks, even at today's standards it's nice to have a robust storage and read/write solution. All just imo..which isn't worth a lot.

 

[sadams04]

I'll play...

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-6900K 3.2GHz 8-Core Processor ($1064.99 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: NZXT Kraken X61 106.1 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($114.99 @ B&H)
Motherboard: Asus X99-A II ATX LGA2011-3 Motherboard ($229.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: G.Skill TridentZ Series 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($229.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 950 PRO 512GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive ($315.62 @ B&H)
Storage: Crucial MX300 1.1TB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($236.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 1080 8GB Superclocked Gaming ACX 3.0 Video Card (2-Way SLI) ($644.99 @ B&H)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 1080 8GB Superclocked Gaming ACX 3.0 Video Card (2-Way SLI) ($644.99 @ B&H)
Case: Corsair 550D ATX Mid Tower Case ($169.49 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: SeaSonic PRIME 850W 80+ Titanium Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($189.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Optical Drive: LG WH14NS40 Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Writer ($48.88 @ OutletPC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit ($85.70 @ My Choice Software)
Total: $3976.61

 

[Grasonjace]

$5k, I would build a more sensibly priced rig, and pocket the rest.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-6800K 3.4GHz 6-Core Processor ($428.99 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: CRYORIG A80 128.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($123.89 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: ASRock X99 Taichi ATX LGA2011-3 Motherboard ($219.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR4-2666 Memory ($156.21 @ Amazon)
Storage: Crucial MX300 1.1TB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($236.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Storage: Hitachi Deskstar NAS 4TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($154.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Hitachi Deskstar NAS 4TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($154.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Hitachi Deskstar NAS 4TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($154.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1080 8GB G1 Gaming Video Card ($619.00 @ B&H)
Case: Antec P9 Window ATX Full Tower Case ($87.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: EVGA 850W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($118.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Total: $2457.02
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-10-12 09:36 EDT-0400

I picked this one because it seems to fit the need and allows me to purchase two monitors and mounts as well as keyboard and mouse. Thank you very much for your help!

 

[Grasonjace]

If you wanted to have a flashier tower case what would you choose?

 

[Aeacus]

If you wanted to have a flashier tower case what would you choose?

Free pick? I'd go for ATX full tower.
NZXT Phantom (Black) seems nice.
pcpp: http://pcpartpicker.com/product/3QW9TW/nzxt-case-phan001bk

 

[g-unit1111]

If you wanted to have a flashier tower case what would you choose?

First off I would define "flashier" because that's pretty subjective. If you want a well built case that looks pretty I would look no further than the Phanteks Enthoo Luxe: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811854006