PC system for Animation works with a budget of $1500 USD

[lewistho]

Can any one advise me on the hardware that i would have to buy in order to build a PC system for animation works with a budget of $1500 USD. Also two types of software that i may need for animation works and two types of standard software that i may need for a PC the OS software, monitor, keyboard and mouse needs to be in the budget. Thank you your suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

[profoundnoah]

For animation, Blender is a great, free software that you can look into. It's very widely used. For the more professional end, consider AutoDesk Maya. Your build is very reliant on the software you use. Generally, you'll want strong single core performance, so I'd recommend an intel build. What timeframe are you looking into building this? There are rumors of news coming out on intel's latest CPUs soon, so it may be worth your while to wait a bit before buying. As far as PC software is concerned...I'd say obviously windows, but apart from that, I'd download HWinfo to monitor your systems temperatures, and possibly a screen capturing solution such as OBS if you ever want to do tutorials. Any of the Adobe services (photoshop, premiere, audition etc.) would be nice-to-haves as well.

 

[PuperHacker]

PCPartPicker part list: https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/list/qRFmCb
Price breakdown by merchant: https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/list/qRFmCb/by_merchant/

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 7 1700 3GHz 8-Core Processor ($329.99 @ Amazon Canada)
CPU Cooler: Noctua - NH-D15 82.5 CFM CPU Cooler ($99.95 @ Newegg Canada Marketplace)
Motherboard: Gigabyte - GA-AX370-Gaming ATX AM4 Motherboard ($119.99 @ Memory Express)
Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($219.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Storage: Western Digital - Blue 250GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive ($92.92 @ Mike's Computer Shop)
Storage: Seagate - Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($72.75 @ Vuugo)
Video Card: Asus - Radeon RX 580 4GB Dual Video Card ($378.99 @ Mike's Computer Shop)
Case: Fractal Design - Focus G (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($64.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Power Supply: EVGA - SuperNOVA G3 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($117.92 @ Mike's Computer Shop)
Total: $1497.49
Prices include shipping and taxes.
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-06-08 11:42 EDT-0400
You will need a strong CPU with good cooling and plenty of RAM. 16GB is basic, but you can add another 16GB when the prices have dropped. I've added a 2TB hard drive to store files and a 250GB M.2 to render at fast speeds. In conjunction with a potent GPU, PSU and case, this build should be a match for your needs.

 

[profoundnoah]

Erm, those prices are in CAD Puper....not to mention for programs like Maya, I'd recommend staying away from AMD GPUs. As per Matsuda on Quora: "I highly recommend choosing NVIDIA graphics cards over AMD graphics cards because Maya is more successful with NVIDIA brands. AMD brands tend to ignore many of Maya’s rendering and simulation caches, which can cause an odd mix of quality and crashing problems."

This is the PC Build, without windows of course. https://pcpartpicker.com/list/7xbRV6

PCPartPicker part list: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/7xbRV6
Price breakdown by merchant: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/7xbRV6/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel - Core i7-8700K 3.7GHz 6-Core Processor ($347.00 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: CRYORIG - H7 49.0 CFM CPU Cooler ($34.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: MSI - Z370-A PRO ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($110.56 @ Amazon)
Memory: Corsair - Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($179.89 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Samsung - 860 Evo 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($129.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Seagate - Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($59.09 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: EVGA - GeForce GTX 1070 8GB SC Gaming ACX 3.0 Video Card ($459.99 @ B&H)
Case: Fractal Design - Meshify C Dark TG ATX Mid Tower Case ($89.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: EVGA - SuperNOVA G3 750W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($83.98 @ Newegg Business)
Total: $1495.48
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-06-08 12:04 EDT-0400

Also the SSD has little to nothing to do with how fast you can render something. The only time it would come into play would be in accessing media files/resources for the project. Even then, being in an m.2 form factor doesn't automatically make something fast, as I'm sure you know. The 860 Evo from Samsung is very close to the same price point, and it offers faster speeds, and a better warranty imho.