PC Build for Data Science, Software Development, Virtualization, Multimedia

[someGuy2014]

Greetings All,

I am quite new to the building PC world, and thus I do not quite understand what hardware I will need for my next computer. In August I will be starting a new job in a new tech field (to me), but I would like to continue with the work I was introduced to with my current employer, in my spare time. Therefore I will need to upgrade my computer setup to handle the load.

Approximate Purchase Date: the sooner the better

Budget Range: Flexible - not unlimited but not restrictive either

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Data Science/Analysis, Software Development, Web Development, Web Design, Photo/Video Graphics, HD Video/Movie streaming and viewing, *some* Gaming, Browsing the Web, General Purpose computing use.

Are you buying a monitor: Yes, at least two but probably three. And eventually a projector (not initially though)

Parts to Upgrade: Everything but the keyboard and mouse

Do you need to buy OS: Yes (Windows as host OS)

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: prefer no more than 2 sites to purchase from - no preference for which sites, but I do have Amazon Prime to save shipping costs if necessary.

Location: Northern Colorado

Parts Preferences: Intel CPU

Overclocking: No

SLI or Crossfire: Maybe

Your Monitor Resolution: 1920x1080

Additional Comments: Items computer needs to handle >> Photoshop, AutoCAD, OpenGL/WebGL, CUDA, OpenCL, Microsoft Office, Eclipse IDE, Virtual/Augmented Reality software development, VirtualBox/VMware (will need to have multiple guest operating systems active simultaneously from time to time - no more than 3 at any one time though) - - RAM will certainly need to be upped for this build that much I know.

Thank you.

 

[woworwow]

Then you'll want a CPU with as many cores as possible and an editing card (Nvidia quadro or something like that) this build will be damn expensive

 

[someGuy2014]

Then you'll want a CPU with as many cores as possible and an editing card (Nvidia quadro or something like that) this build will be damn expensive

Yeah I figured it would be, but that is why my budget is flexible! I've already got Photoshop and AutoCAD (thanks to my boss) as well as Microsoft Office, so at least those pieces need not be included within the budget and overall price.

 

[woworwow]

Really expensive
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/ssLbCJ
Are you a designer or something?

 

[someGuy2014]

Really expensive
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/ssLbCJ
Are you a designer or something?

That build's price is not that bad actually even minus the little things. Thanks for giving me that start.

I do quite a few things - design is one of them.

 

[trainwreck14]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Xeon E5-2690 V2 3.0GHz 10-Core Processor ($1992.98 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-U9DXi4 37.8 CFM CPU Cooler ($61.84 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Asus P9X79 WS SSI CEB LGA2011 Motherboard ($350.00 @ Amazon)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance Pro 64GB (8 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($720.26 @ Amazon)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 1TB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($449.00 @ Amazon)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX Titan Z 12GB Superclocked Video Card ($3199.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Silverstone TJ04B-EW ATX Mid Tower Case ($159.00 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Corsair 1200W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($336.77 @ Amazon)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24F1ST DVD/CD Writer ($14.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 Pro (OEM) (64-bit) ($129.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $7414.82
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-06-16 00:36 EDT-0400

The suggested build by woworwow is not indicative of what a high-end build should look like. The case, the RAM, the liquid cooler, and especially the HDD and power supply are way off.

 

[trainwreck14]

Do you think you'll need more than 6 cores and 12MB cache? If not, you can save ~$1500 and just get an Intel Core i7-4930K- 6 core CPU with 12MB cache. Or, there are several server/workstation options with 6-8 cores and 12-20MB cache that are cheaper than $2000.

As for the RAM- I maxed the board with 8x8GB RAM modules. You can save ~$300 and cut that down to 32GB total.

You didn't really mention storage, but I assume you will likely benefit from a SSD. If you would like more than just 1TB storage, you can add another 840 EVO or get a cheapy 1TB-2TB Western Digital HDD.

The video card I picked is likely overkill due to the 12GB DRAM, I didn't realize you're only running at 1080p. You can run a standard Titan(or two in SLI) in that case. Also, choose the nVidia Titan(not Quaddros) because you mentioned that you will game and the Titan was designed to be a hybrid developers/gamers GPU.

With the amount of money you're spending, don't get anything short of a Platinum or Titanium certified PSU

Please ask more questions

 

[someGuy2014]

Cool, thank you trainwreck14. I had a question related to the graphics card. In the first build presented there was a Quadro, which as I understand is geared more towards creating graphics whereas in the build you've presented there is a GeForce. In your opinion, is this GeForce capable of doing adequate Photoshop/AutoCAD rendering or is it more geared towards gaming/consuming graphics?

 

[someGuy2014]

Do you think you'll need more than 6 cores and 12MB cache? If not, you can save ~$1500 and just get an Intel Core i7-4930K- 6 core CPU with 12MB cache. Or, there are several server/workstation options with 6-8 cores and 12-20MB cache that are cheaper than $2000.

As for the RAM- I maxed the board with 8x8GB RAM modules. You can save ~$300 and cut that down to 32GB total.

You didn't really mention storage, but I assume you will likely benefit from a SSD. If you would like more than just 1TB storage, you can add another 840 EVO or get a cheapy 1TB-2TB Western Digital HDD.

The video card I picked is likely overkill due to the 12GB DRAM, I didn't realize you're only running at 1080p. You can run a standard Titan(or two in SLI) in that case. Also, choose the nVidia Titan(not Quaddros) because you mentioned that you will game and the Titan was designed to be a hybrid developers/gamers GPU.

With the amount of money you're spending, don't get anything short of a Platinum or Titanium certified PSU

Please ask more questions

I won't need that many cores initially, but I will be getting more heavily involved in multi-core parallel software development over the next couple of years. Therefore it would be beneficial to get more cores up front.

The RAM is fine. At work I'm currently running 32 GB and I find that it more often than not, it is not good enough.

My thoughts in regards to storage was to have an SSD for OS, Photoshop, AutoCAD and other software installs. Then have a HDD for software and files that I wouldn't benefit from having the performance increase for. I probably will go with a 1 TB SSD, and then 2-4 TB HDD.

Regarding graphics card: my previous answer was being written before I saw this response by you. I'm looking into going beyond 1080p someday, that is just what I have available at the moment. I'll certainly look into that Titan card.

 

[trainwreck14]

Cool, thank you trainwreck14. I had a question related to the graphics card. In the first build presented there was a Quadro, which as I understand is geared more towards creating graphics whereas in the build you've presented there is a GeForce. In your opinion, is this GeForce capable of doing adequate Photoshop/AutoCAD rendering or is it more geared towards gaming/consuming graphics?

The 6GB Titan is basically geared towards part-time gamers and part-time designers, while the GTX 780 Ti is for gamers and the Quadro 6000 is for workstations. The 12GB Titan Z($3100) is, again, the middle ground between the gaming and workstation card(the new 12GB Quadro k6000 $5000). Link for k6000: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814133494

If you choose the k6000 it will likely play many games at high settings, but keep in mind its drivers aren't meant for games and it may have some issues. Likewise, the Titan Z will not be fully optimized for all development software, but shouldn't have any issues gaming.

If your budget allows, go for the k6000. It's the most powerful consumer GPU in the world.

This video breaks down which applications you'd likely need a k6000 with(Pixar used one while developing a movie-these things are no joke!)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-utyEm0QZMQ

 

[someGuy2014]

Cool, thank you trainwreck14. I had a question related to the graphics card. In the first build presented there was a Quadro, which as I understand is geared more towards creating graphics whereas in the build you've presented there is a GeForce. In your opinion, is this GeForce capable of doing adequate Photoshop/AutoCAD rendering or is it more geared towards gaming/consuming graphics?

The 6GB Titan is basically geared towards part-time gamers and part-time designers, while the GTX 780 Ti is for gamers and the Quadro 6000 is for workstations. The 12GB Titan Z($3100) is, again, the middle ground between the gaming and workstation card(the new 12GB Quadro k6000 $5000). Link for k6000: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814133494

If you choose the k6000 it will likely play many games at high settings, but keep in mind its drivers aren't meant for games and it may have some issues. Likewise, the Titan Z will not be fully optimized for all development software, but shouldn't have any issues gaming.

If your budget allows, go for the k6000. It's the most powerful consumer GPU in the world.

This video breaks down which applications you'd likely need a k6000 with(Pixar used one while developing a movie-these things are no joke!)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-utyEm0QZMQ

I'm not a heavy gamer, nor do I desire to have the best settings possible when I game (I currently don't even have a graphics card on my personal PC that I play games on). So that being said, I think the K6000 would be a better fit, if for no other reason than the fact that I don't get paid to play games, but I do get paid to do design work and parallel programming

And yes, even with that price tag it is still within my budget!!

 

[woworwow]

Alternatively, get a AMD FirePro

 

[trainwreck14]

Cool, thank you trainwreck14. I had a question related to the graphics card. In the first build presented there was a Quadro, which as I understand is geared more towards creating graphics whereas in the build you've presented there is a GeForce. In your opinion, is this GeForce capable of doing adequate Photoshop/AutoCAD rendering or is it more geared towards gaming/consuming graphics?

The 6GB Titan is basically geared towards part-time gamers and part-time designers, while the GTX 780 Ti is for gamers and the Quadro 6000 is for workstations. The 12GB Titan Z($3100) is, again, the middle ground between the gaming and workstation card(the new 12GB Quadro k6000 $5000). Link for k6000: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814133494

If you choose the k6000 it will likely play many games at high settings, but keep in mind its drivers aren't meant for games and it may have some issues. Likewise, the Titan Z will not be fully optimized for all development software, but shouldn't have any issues gaming.

If your budget allows, go for the k6000. It's the most powerful consumer GPU in the world.

This video breaks down which applications you'd likely need a k6000 with(Pixar used one while developing a movie-these things are no joke!)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-utyEm0QZMQ

I'm not a heavy gamer, nor do I desire to have the best settings possible when I game (I currently don't even have a graphics card on my personal PC that I play games on). So that being said, I think the K6000 would be a better fit, if for no other reason than the fact that I don't get paid to play games, but I do get paid to do design work and parallel programming

And yes, even with that price tag it is still within my budget!!

Here's an updated build, which includes the k6000 and being that you're on the verge of an $8-10k build, you may as well get the most powerful workstation CPU available- it's a 12-core. But, if you want to cut ~$700 off you can opt for the original 10 core I recommended prior. Also, I updated the motherboard to the newer version of the previous one(has more Sata/connector ports, faster LAN, and a few more tidbits), added a 2TB HDD, changed out the case to a larger but more temperature efficient one, and added a couple ultra-quiet and high quality Noctua case fans. The only way this build gets more powerful is if you go for the dual-CPU Asus motherboard and run 24 cores



http://pcpartpicker.com/p/6CCMTW

CPU: Intel Xeon E5-2697 V2 2.7GHz 12-Core Processor ($2534.98 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-U9DXi4 37.8 CFM CPU Cooler ($62.02 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Asus P9X79-E WS SSI CEB LGA2011 Motherboard ($444.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance Pro 64GB (8 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($720.26 @ Amazon)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 1TB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($449.00 @ Amazon)
Storage: Seagate 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($99.00 @ Amazon)
Case: Raidmax Vampire ATX Full Tower Case ($122.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair 1200W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($333.43 @ Amazon)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24F1ST DVD/CD Writer ($19.99 @ Amazon)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 Pro (OEM) (64-bit) ($129.99 @ Amazon)
Case Fan: Noctua NF-A15 PWM 140mm Fan ($19.99 @ Amazon)
Case Fan: Noctua NF-A15 PWM 140mm Fan ($19.99 @ Amazon)
Other: NVIDIA Quadro K6000 ($4999.00)
Total: $9955.61
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-06-16 03:09 EDT-0400

 

[woworwow]

I wonder how that build would perform in games.
I heard about AMD FirePro. Is that good?

 

[trainwreck14]

I wonder how that build would perform in games.
I heard about AMD FirePro. Is that good?

Tom's has a good benchmark comparing workstation cards, along with a page on game benchmarks. AMD's flagship is the W9100 which has 16GB VRAM and costs $4000. nVidia's k6000 is almost a bargain at $5000 as it pretty much blows the 9100 out of the water in every aspect. As for gaming, both the W9100 and k6000 can max newer games at 1080p, but it's disheartening to learn that video cards which cost 4-5x as much as dedicated gaming cards hardly produce playable framerates above 1080p.

Tom's article: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/firepro-w9100-performance,3810.html

 

[woworwow]

So what's the point of theese cards then?
If usual high end card is good nough why all this expensive cards? All i know is they're optimized for CAD

 

[reesemonster]

Depending on your work, having a high storage HDD with a medium storage SSD will be pretty good, perhaps something like 2TB HDD 1TB SSD, etc.