Need help with workstation build

[localstarlight]

Hi,

I'm looking to build a workstation PC for my company to serve a few different tasks, as I wear quite a few hats in the company.

I'm a 3D generalist, using apps like Maya, C4D (Octane), Houdini and Nuke.

I use a few Adobe CC apps: Premiere, AE, and Photoshop primarily.

I'm also moving into some UE4 development, specifically for VR.

I've never built a PC before, and only have relatively limited understanding of the hardware, so I'm struggling a bit trying to find the right balance between price and performance. Budget is up to $5000, but less is better.

(It would be great if this machine could also be a gaming beast, because I've never owned anything like a decent gaming setup.)

GPU
I think dual card SLI seems like a good option. Trying to understand whether to go for dual 980 TI's or dual EVGA Titan X's - or whether I actually do need Quadros for the kind of work I might be doing (Houdini sims for example)?

CPU
i7 I imagine? I know a lot of stuff is leaning GPU-based these days, but I'm pretty sure some of the software I use can do with a decent GPU. I'm sure Xeon is overkill, but just not sure what i7 to pitch for.

Storage
A good fast SSD for main drive would be good. Other internal storage will just be scratch, but needs to be fast. Interested in an internal RAID of some kind if possible.

Other components (mobo, cooling, power, case) I'm not sure of at all. A motherboard with Thunderbolt would be useful since I'm coming from a Mac environment with loads of TB drives.

All help massively appreciated!

LS

 

[kwa-e]

I'm not really all that experienced with assisting people in building high end rendering rigs but I'll do my best to help.

I've put together a base build for around 2,000USD without storage or video cards.

Dual 6 core CPUs (making for a total of 12 cores and 24 threads.) as the rendering programs you have do seem to take advantage of more than 8 core(16thread) CPUs (While 3D modeling software might not), all cooled by Noctua U9DX coolers which are pretty damn quiet to keep you from driving insane.

64 gigs of ECC (Since I don't know how big your project files are, went with that high a number to be safe)

As for the graphics cards, we have a couple of option ranging from the 980ti's and Titan X's to the Quadro M5000/M4000

Here are the cons/pros of each of the cards that I know of

QUADROS
Pros
>Better driver and tech support, have a glitch in the software? Expect it to get taken seriously and fixed as soon as possible. Something wrong with the hardware? Tech support will help you do it to the best of their abilities.
Cons
>Expensive
>Price/performance isn't the best

GTX's
>Relatively cheaper
>Good price/performance

Cons
>Tech support isn't as thorough as on the quadro cards, and if there are driver problems it may not be fixed that easily (Rolling back drivers to latest known stable will probably work though) .

If you'd ask me, I'd personally go for 2 Titan X's as the extra VRAM helps with rendering large projects when compared to 980ti's at the cost of the extra price, but if you want to go with the Quadros (At the cost of rendering speed) that'd be fine aswell.

(And 2 Titan X's will make for a sick gaming machine)

For the storage, how much do you need? Was thinking of 2 3 terabyte drives for the files, a 120GB SSD for the boot disk and 480GB scratch disk.

I could not find any thunderbolt motherboards nor any thunderbolt compatible nor any PCI-E adapter cards that work however. (It MAY be possible, as there is an asrock adapter meant for asrock boards only, but you'll have to resort to using only one CPU like the 5960X or the 5820K)
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Xeon E5-2620 V3 2.4GHz 6-Core OEM/Tray Processor ($389.99 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU: Intel Xeon E5-2620 V3 2.4GHz 6-Core OEM/Tray Processor ($389.99 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-U9DXi4 37.8 CFM CPU Cooler ($55.99 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-U9DXi4 37.8 CFM CPU Cooler ($55.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Supermicro MBD-X10DAL-I-O ATX Dual-CPU LGA2011-3 Motherboard ($301.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Kingston 64GB (4 x 16GB) Registered DDR4-2133 Memory ($387.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Corsair 600T White Graphite ATX Mid Tower Case ($189.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA 1300 G2 1300W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($182.23 @ Mac Mall)
Total: $1954.15
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-02-12 09:19 EST-0500

SOME THREADS YOU MAY WANT TO LOOK AT
http://forums.cgarchitect.com/77782-quadro-vs-gtx-3ds-max-machine-here-my-priorities.html
http://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/5228/how-will-two-gpus-improve-cycles-performance

 

[localstarlight]

Thanks! This is really helpful. LS

 

[okcnaline]

Here's a full build for the budget. You're getting full acceleration in all the listed programs. And kwa-e did awesome explaning things.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Xeon E5-2630 V3 2.4GHz 8-Core Processor ($628.99 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU: Intel Xeon E5-2630 V3 2.4GHz 8-Core Processor ($628.99 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-U9DXi4 37.8 CFM CPU Cooler ($55.99 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-U9DXi4 37.8 CFM CPU Cooler ($55.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Asus Z10PE-D8 WS SSI EEB Dual-CPU LGA2011-3 Motherboard ($548.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Crucial 32GB (2 x 16GB) Registered DDR4-2133 Memory ($209.36 @ Amazon)
Storage: Intel 750 Series 800GB PCI-E Solid State Drive ($589.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: PNY Quadro M5000 8GB Video Card ($1999.00 @ Amazon)
Case: Phanteks Enthoo Primo ATX Full Tower Case ($239.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: EVGA 1050W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($139.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $5097.28
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-02-14 01:43 EST-0500

 

[localstarlight]

Hey okcnaline: can you explain why you would choose a Quadro over dual Titan X?

From what I've been reading, Quadro is more useful for things like CAD and scientific software. Apparently in the past they held more precedence for general 3D work, but not so much anymore. Is that not true?

Thanks!