Recommendation for somewhat quiet <$6000 system that handles Davinci Resolve at 4K with ease

[sdanzig]

Recommendations for the following, please?

Approximate Purchase Date: March, 2017
Budget Range: $5000-$6000
System Usage: 4K video in Davinci Resolve/Adobe Premiere/After Effects, RAW Photo Editing (Capture One), Java/Scala distributed programming in a Virtualbox Linux machine
Monitor: Yes
Need to buy OS: Yes
No preferred website, although I do have Amazon Prime
Location: Binghamton, NY, USA
No parts preference, although I think it's time I move away from Mac.
Overclocking: Yes
SLI/Crossfire: No
Monitor Resolution: 3840x2160
Additional comments:
I'd like the computer to be quiet as possible, at least when being used for just web browsing. I do want it to handle Davinci Resolve at 4K with ease. And I'd want a minimum of 6TB, with room for expansion. I have an external bluray burner, which I've used, although internal might be nice. I think the Alienware/Republic of Gamers cases are horribly ugly.
Why am I upgrading:
I'm an indie filmmaker/software engineer with an early-2009 Mac Pro tower. I have three drives totaling 6TB, and 22GB of RAM, which lets me run Adobe Premiere/After Effects/Speedgrade usably, but it still can be very choppy with slow rendering. Davinci Resolve doesn't run at all. After waiting long enough for Apple to come out with a more reasonably designed overpriced system, I'm ready to go PC.

 

[King Dranzer]

Here is the list:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Xeon E5-2683 V4 2.1GHz 16-Core Processor ($1867.95 @ B&H)
CPU: Intel Xeon E5-2683 V4 2.1GHz 16-Core Processor ($1867.95 @ B&H)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-U9DXi4 37.8 CFM CPU Cooler ($56.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-U9DXi4 37.8 CFM CPU Cooler ($56.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Asus Z10PE-D16 SSI EEB Dual-CPU LGA2011-3 Narrow Motherboard ($389.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Kingston 32GB (1 x 32GB) Registered DDR4-2133 Memory ($226.67 @ Amazon)
Memory: Kingston 32GB (1 x 32GB) Registered DDR4-2133 Memory ($226.67 @ Amazon)
Memory: Kingston 32GB (1 x 32GB) Registered DDR4-2133 Memory ($226.67 @ Amazon)
Memory: Kingston 32GB (1 x 32GB) Registered DDR4-2133 Memory ($226.67 @ Amazon)
Storage: Crucial MX300 525GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($131.15 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Western Digital BLACK SERIES 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($116.99 @ Jet)
Case: Phanteks Enthoo Pro ATX Full Tower Case ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair RMx 1000W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($139.99 @ Newegg)
Other: SAMSUSNG 40KU6300 ($498.00)
Total: $6122.67
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-01-18 00:35 EST-0500

It is little bit over budget. But is completely worth it.

There is a good reason I went with TV instead of monitor. There is no monitor available(at-least at this price range) which can provide you colors nearly as accurate as this TV. Best suited for your work.(Unless you are tight on space)

You asked for 6TB HDD but I was not able to fit into budget as I did not want to compromise with any other components as it would effect on performance unlike a HDD with smaller storage capacity.

When you upgrade the HDD in near future please get the WD Gold edition HDD as they are most reliable Storage units available.

This PC is highly up-gradable. You can add huge amount of Storage. It comes with 10 SATA 6GB/s Ports.

You can add upto 384GB more RAM if required.

Overall this is a beast.

 

[sdanzig]

Here is the list:

There is a good reason I went with TV instead of monitor. There is no monitor available(at-least at this price range) which can provide you colors nearly as accurate as this TV. Best suited for your work.(Unless you are tight on space)

You asked for 6TB HDD but I was not able to fit into budget as I did not want to compromise with any other components as it would effect on performance unlike a HDD with smaller storage capacity.

When you upgrade the HDD in near future please get the WD Gold edition HDD as they are most reliable Storage units available.

Wow, thanks... 128GB RAM would be scary enough for me to get my hands on I immediately wonder if the WD Gold 2TB, which seems $132 on amazon, would be something to consider now. I actually do have a Toshiba DT01ACA300 3TB which I neglected to mention that I can probably salvage from the mac, to get me up to 5.5TB total. I'm a little nervous about the TV though. I see mention that despite the "PurColor", Samsung still enhanced the contrast in "key areas". Since I'm already convinced I should eBay the family cat to cover the extra cost in your proposal, I'm wondering if this is worth stretching the budget another $400 for: https://www.amazon.com/Ultra-ProArt-Professional-Monitor-PA328Q/dp/B00YWD9ZZM/

 

[King Dranzer]

Here is the list:

There is a good reason I went with TV instead of monitor. There is no monitor available(at-least at this price range) which can provide you colors nearly as accurate as this TV. Best suited for your work.(Unless you are tight on space)

You asked for 6TB HDD but I was not able to fit into budget as I did not want to compromise with any other components as it would effect on performance unlike a HDD with smaller storage capacity.

When you upgrade the HDD in near future please get the WD Gold edition HDD as they are most reliable Storage units available.

Wow, thanks... 128GB RAM would be scary enough for me to get my hands on I immediately wonder if the WD Gold 2TB, which seems $132 on amazon, would be something to consider now. I actually do have a Toshiba DT01ACA300 3TB which I neglected to mention that I can probably salvage from the mac, to get me up to 5.5TB total. I'm a little nervous about the TV though. I see mention that despite the "PurColor", Samsung still enhanced the contrast in "key areas". Since I'm already convinced I should eBay the family cat to cover the extra cost in your proposal, I'm wondering if this is worth stretching the budget another $400 for: https://www.amazon.com/Ultra-ProArt-Professional-Monitor-PA328Q/dp/B00YWD9ZZM/

If you are going at $900 range get this SONY BRAVIA. The best TV for that range. Best color accuracy as well as great contrast. Check it out.
SONY 55X850D

Lot better than the ASUS monitor you listed.
But are you serious about spending that much extra. If you are go for SONY BRAVIA instead of ASUS.
But seriously your budget will go up. Don't think

 

[King Dranzer]

Yes you can get WD Gold 2TB for now and get bigger HDD in future. WD Gold series is the best HDD available in quality and durability.

 

[King Dranzer]

That SONY 55X850D is also bigger in size and probably will provide more details as per your requirement.

 

[jmsellars1]

Here is the list:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Xeon E5-2683 V4 2.1GHz 16-Core Processor ($1867.95 @ B&H)
CPU: Intel Xeon E5-2683 V4 2.1GHz 16-Core Processor ($1867.95 @ B&H)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-U9DXi4 37.8 CFM CPU Cooler ($56.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-U9DXi4 37.8 CFM CPU Cooler ($56.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Asus Z10PE-D16 SSI EEB Dual-CPU LGA2011-3 Narrow Motherboard ($389.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Kingston 32GB (1 x 32GB) Registered DDR4-2133 Memory ($226.67 @ Amazon)
Memory: Kingston 32GB (1 x 32GB) Registered DDR4-2133 Memory ($226.67 @ Amazon)
Memory: Kingston 32GB (1 x 32GB) Registered DDR4-2133 Memory ($226.67 @ Amazon)
Memory: Kingston 32GB (1 x 32GB) Registered DDR4-2133 Memory ($226.67 @ Amazon)
Storage: Crucial MX300 525GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($131.15 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Western Digital BLACK SERIES 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($116.99 @ Jet)
Case: Phanteks Enthoo Pro ATX Full Tower Case ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair RMx 1000W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($139.99 @ Newegg)
Other: SAMSUSNG 40KU6300 ($498.00)
Total: $6122.67
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-01-18 00:35 EST-0500

It is little bit over budget. But is completely worth it.

There is a good reason I went with TV instead of monitor. There is no monitor available(at-least at this price range) which can provide you colors nearly as accurate as this TV. Best suited for your work.(Unless you are tight on space)

You asked for 6TB HDD but I was not able to fit into budget as I did not want to compromise with any other components as it would effect on performance unlike a HDD with smaller storage capacity.

When you upgrade the HDD in near future please get the WD Gold edition HDD as they are most reliable Storage units available.

This PC is highly up-gradable. You can add huge amount of Storage. It comes with 10 SATA 6GB/s Ports.

You can add upto 384GB more RAM if required.

Overall this is a beast.

This system has lots of processing power but it doesn't have anywhere to plug in a monitor, not even integrated graphics. Considering he also wants to do 4k he will need a powerful GPU. I don't like to be too critical but you're advising someone on spending a lot of money so you have to be careful.

The maximum configurable spec of that Mac Pro was 2 x Xeon X5500, 32GB of ECC DDR3, HD 4870 GPU and 7200RPM hard drive (no SSD). Those CPU's would have a passmark rating of around 11000 total so a single i7-7700 would be slightly better, good to know gaming cards like the HD 4870 seem to do a good job as well because they are a lot cheaper than workstation cards.

That gives you a reasonable idea of what you're coming from. I haven't got time right now to suggest a full build but I'll come back later today and do just that.

 

[King Dranzer]

Here is the list:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Xeon E5-2683 V4 2.1GHz 16-Core Processor ($1867.95 @ B&H)
CPU: Intel Xeon E5-2683 V4 2.1GHz 16-Core Processor ($1867.95 @ B&H)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-U9DXi4 37.8 CFM CPU Cooler ($56.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-U9DXi4 37.8 CFM CPU Cooler ($56.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Asus Z10PE-D16 SSI EEB Dual-CPU LGA2011-3 Narrow Motherboard ($389.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Kingston 32GB (1 x 32GB) Registered DDR4-2133 Memory ($226.67 @ Amazon)
Memory: Kingston 32GB (1 x 32GB) Registered DDR4-2133 Memory ($226.67 @ Amazon)
Memory: Kingston 32GB (1 x 32GB) Registered DDR4-2133 Memory ($226.67 @ Amazon)
Memory: Kingston 32GB (1 x 32GB) Registered DDR4-2133 Memory ($226.67 @ Amazon)
Storage: Crucial MX300 525GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($131.15 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Western Digital BLACK SERIES 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($116.99 @ Jet)
Case: Phanteks Enthoo Pro ATX Full Tower Case ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair RMx 1000W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($139.99 @ Newegg)
Other: SAMSUSNG 40KU6300 ($498.00)
Total: $6122.67
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-01-18 00:35 EST-0500

It is little bit over budget. But is completely worth it.

There is a good reason I went with TV instead of monitor. There is no monitor available(at-least at this price range) which can provide you colors nearly as accurate as this TV. Best suited for your work.(Unless you are tight on space)

You asked for 6TB HDD but I was not able to fit into budget as I did not want to compromise with any other components as it would effect on performance unlike a HDD with smaller storage capacity.

When you upgrade the HDD in near future please get the WD Gold edition HDD as they are most reliable Storage units available.

This PC is highly up-gradable. You can add huge amount of Storage. It comes with 10 SATA 6GB/s Ports.

You can add upto 384GB more RAM if required.

Overall this is a beast.

This system has lots of processing power but it doesn't have anywhere to plug in a monitor, not even integrated graphics. Considering he also wants to do 4k he will need a powerful GPU. I don't like to be too critical but you're advising someone on spending a lot of money so you have to be careful.

The maximum configurable spec of that Mac Pro was 2 x Xeon X5500, 32GB of ECC DDR3, HD 4870 GPU and 7200RPM hard drive (no SSD). Those CPU's would have a passmark rating of around 11000 total so a single i7-7700 would be slightly better, good to know gaming cards like the HD 4870 seem to do a good job as well because they are a lot cheaper than workstation cards.

That gives you a reasonable idea of what you're coming from. I haven't got time right now to suggest a full build but I'll come back later today and do just that.

He can swap in GPU from his old system.

He won't bee needing MAC anymore as Windows will be having better software as well as Hardware support unlike MAC.

Probably now it makes more sense.

 

[King Dranzer]

OP if you feel like your old GPU is being outdated as that hardware is from 2009 get a new GPU for Mere $50-100 as per the requirement. Get a GTX750Ti or even GT730 will do fine.

 

[sdanzig]

OP if you feel like your old GPU is being outdated as that hardware is from 2009 get a new GPU for Mere $50-100 as per the requirement. Get a GTX750Ti or even GT730 will do fine.

Hmm... Maybe it was late at night, but yeah, I didn't notice the lack of graphics cards. Most high-powered systems recommended for Davinci Resolve I've seen have suggested an NVidia 1080, or two 1070's. From what I'm understanding, Resolve is highly dependent on the GPU, and that software is my number one priority. GPU being considered an afterthought makes me worried.

 

[sadams04]

Plenty of cores at 2.4GHz / 3.2GHz boost (no overclocking), 64GB memory with open slots for a future upgrade, a proper NVMe M.2 OS / boot drive, 6TB 7200RPM storage drive, BD-RW, and a GPU that will handle 4K...

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Xeon E5-2630 V3 2.4GHz 8-Core OEM/Tray Processor ($589.99 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU: Intel Xeon E5-2630 V3 2.4GHz 8-Core OEM/Tray Processor ($589.99 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-L12 37.8 CFM CPU Cooler ($56.88 @ OutletPC)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-L12 37.8 CFM CPU Cooler ($56.88 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Asus Z10PE-D16 WS SSI EEB Dual-CPU LGA2011-3 Motherboard ($479.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Crucial 32GB (4 x 8GB) Registered DDR4-2133 Memory ($230.98 @ Directron)
Memory: Crucial 32GB (4 x 8GB) Registered DDR4-2133 Memory ($230.98 @ Directron)
Storage: Samsung 960 PRO 512GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive ($329.00 @ B&H)
Storage: Western Digital Black 6TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($279.00 @ B&H)
Case: Phanteks Enthoo Pro ATX Full Tower Case ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: SeaSonic G-750 750W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($89.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Optical Drive: LG WH16NS40 Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Writer ($57.88 @ OutletPC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit ($88.58 @ OutletPC)
Other: NVIDIA GeForce Titan X Pascal 12GB GDDR5X (900-1G611-2500-000) ($1599.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $4770.12

 

[King Dranzer]

OP if you feel like your old GPU is being outdated as that hardware is from 2009 get a new GPU for Mere $50-100 as per the requirement. Get a GTX750Ti or even GT730 will do fine.

Hmm... Maybe it was late at night, but yeah, I didn't notice the lack of graphics cards. Most high-powered systems recommended for Davinci Resolve I've seen have suggested an NVidia 1080, or two 1070's. From what I'm understanding, Resolve is highly dependent on the GPU, and that software is my number one priority. GPU being considered an afterthought makes me worried.

As I remember GPU is only used for RGB layering calculation of frames. But the encoding and decoding is done by CPU. I mainly use After Effects and Vegas for video rendering which mainly utilize CPU multi core performance.
I would recommend you to check it and reply. If GPU is required then will provide different list.

 

[jmsellars1]

Yeah the old GPU may not even support 4k and even if it does the performance will be poor. GTX 1070 is your bare minimum and a 1080 would be better. A Titan X would be better again but they are so expensive for what they are. The Titan X only comes with the terrible 'founders' cooler as well which either means you get poor cooling or you get good cooling and it is noisy, not ideal for a quiet system.

If you were to go with a single CPU system I'd look at something like the i7-6900k, that would be around 60% more powerful than the maximum configurable spec of that Mac at the time. That's a decent improvement but to get something any better than that you'd need to look at a dual CPU system like these guys suggested.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Xeon E5-2630 V4 2.2GHz 10-Core Processor ($649.99 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU: Intel Xeon E5-2630 V4 2.2GHz 10-Core Processor ($649.99 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-U12S 55.0 CFM CPU Cooler ($57.89 @ OutletPC)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-U12S 55.0 CFM CPU Cooler ($57.89 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Supermicro MBD-X10DAL-I-O ATX Dual-CPU LGA2011-3 Motherboard ($301.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial 64GB (4 x 16GB) Registered DDR4-2133 Memory ($417.77 @ Amazon)
Storage: Intel 750 Series 400GB PCI-E Solid State Drive ($299.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Storage: Western Digital Red 8TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($302.94 @ Jet)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 1080 8GB ROG STRIX Video Card ($639.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Corsair Carbide 400Q ATX Mid Tower Case ($99.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA T2 750W 80+ Titanium Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($159.89 @ B&H)
Case Fan: Noctua NF-S12A FLX 120mm Fan ($19.88 @ OutletPC)
Case Fan: Noctua NF-A14 FLX 68.0 CFM 140mm Fan ($21.48 @ OutletPC)
Case Fan: Noctua NF-A14 FLX 68.0 CFM 140mm Fan ($21.48 @ OutletPC)
Total: $3701.15
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-01-18 09:41 EST-0500

Something like that would be good value for money and would be quiet under low loads. Performance-wise it should be at least 150% more powerful than the best possible spec for that Mac and has room to upgrade. That's pretty much the smallest case you can get for that setup so I'd just be aware of that, get something bigger if you're concerned about room for upgrades and don't want something small.

That gets you a super efficient and quiet PSU with all Noctua fans which are excellent for quietness while still giving decent airflow.

That hard drive is still the NAS model rated for 24/7 use so very reliable but it runs at the slower 5400RPM so good for quietness.

Let me know if you have any questions about that.

 

[King Dranzer]

Check this build:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Xeon E5-2660 V4 2.0GHz 14-Core Processor ($1388.99 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU: Intel Xeon E5-2660 V4 2.0GHz 14-Core Processor ($1388.99 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-U9DXi4 37.8 CFM CPU Cooler ($56.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-U9DXi4 37.8 CFM CPU Cooler ($56.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Asus Z10PE-D16 SSI EEB Dual-CPU LGA2011-3 Narrow Motherboard ($389.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Kingston 32GB (1 x 32GB) Registered DDR4-2133 Memory ($226.67 @ Amazon)
Memory: Kingston 32GB (1 x 32GB) Registered DDR4-2133 Memory ($226.67 @ Amazon)
Memory: Kingston 32GB (1 x 32GB) Registered DDR4-2133 Memory ($226.67 @ Amazon)
Memory: Kingston 32GB (1 x 32GB) Registered DDR4-2133 Memory ($226.67 @ Amazon)
Storage: Crucial MX300 525GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($131.15 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Western Digital BLACK SERIES 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($116.99 @ Jet)
Video Card: NVIDIA Titan X (Pascal) 12GB Video Card ($1200.00)
Case: Phanteks Enthoo Pro ATX Full Tower Case ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair RMx 1000W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($139.99 @ Newegg)
Other: SAMSUSNG 40KU6300 ($498.00)
Total: $6364.75
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-01-18 09:55 EST-0500

This should satisfy all your needs. In all the ways.

But in this case you will have to stick with SAMSUN TV or a monitor of similar budget. As that TV is better than monitors of similar budget.

I went with TITAN X PASCAL instead of GTX1080 is because TITAN X PASCAL is 30% stronger than GTX1080 in professional work and if I went with two GT1080 instead of TITAN X PASCAL you will get better performance but it is gain comparatively low. And if you go for 2 GTX1080 it will limit the upgrade optionsof adding second TITAN X PASCAL. 2 TITAN X PASCAL will provide 40% more performance over 2 GTX1080.(eg. Work which will be done in 30min by 2 GTX1080 will be done in less than 18min by 2 TITAN X PASCAL)

If there is any thing more I need to know about the requirements, please inform me.

 

[King Dranzer]

Yeah the old GPU may not even support 4k and even if it does the performance will be poor. GTX 1070 is your bare minimum and a 1080 would be better. A Titan X would be better again but they are so expensive for what they are. The Titan X only comes with the terrible 'founders' cooler as well which either means you get poor cooling or you get good cooling and it is noisy, not ideal for a quiet system.

If you were to go with a single CPU system I'd look at something like the i7-6900k, that would be around 60% more powerful than the maximum configurable spec of that Mac at the time. That's a decent improvement but to get something any better than that you'd need to look at a dual CPU system like these guys suggested.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Xeon E5-2630 V4 2.2GHz 10-Core Processor ($649.99 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU: Intel Xeon E5-2630 V4 2.2GHz 10-Core Processor ($649.99 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-U12S 55.0 CFM CPU Cooler ($57.89 @ OutletPC)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-U12S 55.0 CFM CPU Cooler ($57.89 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Supermicro MBD-X10DAL-I-O ATX Dual-CPU LGA2011-3 Motherboard ($301.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial 64GB (4 x 16GB) Registered DDR4-2133 Memory ($417.77 @ Amazon)
Storage: Intel 750 Series 400GB PCI-E Solid State Drive ($299.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Storage: Western Digital Red 8TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($302.94 @ Jet)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 1080 8GB ROG STRIX Video Card ($639.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Corsair Carbide 400Q ATX Mid Tower Case ($99.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA T2 750W 80+ Titanium Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($159.89 @ B&H)
Case Fan: Noctua NF-S12A FLX 120mm Fan ($19.88 @ OutletPC)
Case Fan: Noctua NF-A14 FLX 68.0 CFM 140mm Fan ($21.48 @ OutletPC)
Case Fan: Noctua NF-A14 FLX 68.0 CFM 140mm Fan ($21.48 @ OutletPC)
Total: $3701.15
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-01-18 09:41 EST-0500

Something like that would be good value for money and would be quiet under low loads. Performance-wise it should be at least 150% more powerful than the best possible spec for that Mac and has room to upgrade. That's pretty much the smallest case you can get for that setup so I'd just be aware of that, get something bigger if you're concerned about room for upgrades and don't want something small.

That gets you a super efficient and quiet PSU with all Noctua fans which are excellent for quietness while still giving decent airflow.

That hard drive is still the NAS model rated for 24/7 use so very reliable but it runs at the slower 5400RPM so good for quietness.

Let me know if you have any questions about that.

Yep thought of providing 2 x 10 or 12core CPU setup but then again he will also be using Premier and After effects which are vastly CPU intense and will have great performance gain with that extra 8cores.

Yes TITAN X PASCAL is way costlier but when you see it professional point of view the performance gain provided by it on long term is huge and is completely worth it.

 

[jmsellars1]

The Titan X Pascal is around 25% more powerful for 100% more money, I don't think that's good value personally but that's OP's decision to make.

 

[bambiboom]

Recommendations for the following, please?

Approximate Purchase Date: March, 2017
Budget Range: $5000-$6000
System Usage: 4K video in Davinci Resolve/Adobe Premiere/After Effects, RAW Photo Editing (Capture One), Java/Scala distributed programming in a Virtualbox Linux machine
Monitor: Yes
Need to buy OS: Yes
No preferred website, although I do have Amazon Prime
Location: Binghamton, NY, USA
No parts preference, although I think it's time I move away from Mac.
Overclocking: Yes
SLI/Crossfire: No
Monitor Resolution: 3840x2160
Additional comments:
I'd like the computer to be quiet as possible, at least when being used for just web browsing. I do want it to handle Davinci Resolve at 4K with ease. And I'd want a minimum of 6TB, with room for expansion. I have an external bluray burner, which I've used, although internal might be nice. I think the Alienware/Republic of Gamers cases are horribly ugly.
Why am I upgrading:
I'm an indie filmmaker/software engineer with an early-2009 Mac Pro tower. I have three drives totaling 6TB, and 22GB of RAM, which lets me run Adobe Premiere/After Effects/Speedgrade usably, but it still can be very choppy with slow rendering. Davinci Resolve doesn't run at all. After waiting long enough for Apple to come out with a more reasonably designed overpriced system, I'm ready to go PC.

sdanzig,

Option 1:

This system suggestion is based on the the idea that in the priority application, DaVinci Resolve, the processing priority is GPU - CUDA cores plus video memory and this is true of Capture One as well. Adobe Premiere and After Effects are negatively efficient on dual processors- having the second processor actually lows processing, and are optimal at 5-6 cores of a single processor. The Adobe applications can not see dual GPU's but are accelerated through a high number of CUDA cores, but Resolve and Capture One can benefit from as many CUDA cores and video memory as possible, although it's not clear if it is fully scalar.

A fast disk is also key and the OS /Program drive is a Samsung 960 500GB one of the fastest drives made. The X99 platform is especially configured for M.2 integration and the i7-6950X / ASUS X99 Deluxe II / M.2 combination appears more than once on the Passmark "Top 100" systems. For reference, the highest performing motherboard is the ASUS Maximus Hero (LGA1151, about $500). That's the best 100 systems out of over 300,000 tested. the storage drives are two 4TB Seagate Constellation ES.3 which are enterprise rated (5-year instead of 4 year warranty) and have 128MB cache instead of 64MB and that is useful in handling large files. I have four, 1TB ES.3 drives and these are excellent and have disk scores 10%+ above Western Digital Black 1TB.

The i7-6950X is 10-core @ 3.0 / 3.5Ghz, 25MB cache, max. ram =128GB DDR4-2400.

Comparing some of the CPU's recommended in this thread:

i7-6950X: Passmark CPU rating = 19987 / single thread rating = 2122
E5-2630 v4 = 14239 / 18646(dual) / 1683
E5-2660 v4 = 18816 / 22164 (dual) / 1826

In pure computing power, the dual Xeon E5's are very good and those are extremely reliable, However, the i7-6950X has a much higher single-thread rating and average all-core speed of 3.2GHz whereas the E5-2630 v4 will run on all cores at 2.7GHz. The Passmark CPU ratings reflect a total calculation cycle rate, so in relative terms, the single i7-5690X is still processing more per unit time than two E5-2630 v4's but about 10% less than two E5-2660 v4's. There is apparently an inefficiency in thread synchronization between two processors which is why ECC registered parity check is introduced. The single thread mark of 2122 is amazingly good for a 10-core, enough for high complexity 3D modeling in Maya or Solidworks. Ultimately, Resolve can use up to 64 threads, but the efficiency is not fully scalar. Within the limits of the budget, which includes the monitor, the CPU/ GPU equation in GPU processing is better weighted towards GPU power on a single CPU.

GPU: Performance in Resolve is related towards the total GPU's, CUDA cores, and memory, so in this suggested system, there are two GTX 1070's which = 2X GPU / 16GB RAM / 3,840 CUDA cores. This compares to the fastest GPU, the Titan X which = 1X GPU / 3,584 CUDA cores /12GB RAM.

GTX and Quadro considerations: Be aware that the GTX is limited to 10-bit color while a Quadro GPU may resolve at 30-bit color depth and at higher anti-aliasing rates. They can also run multiple lighting sources. For rendering animation, and using complex reflections and lighting and particles, the somewhat slower rate may be worth the improvement in image quality.

You may or may not like the idea of a used GPU but have a look at a Quadro M5000 8GB. The performance is similar (Passmark 3D rating is 8449) to a GTX 1060 (8442) and not far off Titan Black (8676). An M5000 is $1,800 new but used is about $1,100 these days (1.17), sometimes as low as $900.

There's is going to be a new Quadro, the P4000 8GB quite soon (the release date was "Q4 2016") which may well have performance at or even above the M5000 level for under $1,000. I was going to buy an M4000 but am waiting for the P4000.

I'd mention that I've had eight or so used Quadros and they are beautifully made and slightly understressed for professional work. I have a 2003 FX 580 in a server and a 2009 FX 4800 in a Precision T5400 in excellent working order.

Case: The Fractal Design case is especially rated for quiet running and is purposely a big larger than strictly necessary for good air flow and to be easy to work in.

Monitor: Following the system concept are some monitor suggestions. With monitors for professional work, it's ideal if it's possible to see them in person. The feel and refinement and effectiveness of controls and level of anti-glare coating and etc, make a lot of difference. One of the suggestions is to have a pair of monitors, which I find essential in architecture, industrial, and graphic design- one for the image, the second for the supporting materials, libraries, browser, and menus.

BambiBoom Pixel Cannon DaVincirendervideolicious iWork TurboSignature Extreme ModelBlast 9900 ®©$$™®£™©™_1.18.16


(Prices are Newegg)

1. CPU: Intel Core i7-6950X 25M Broadwell-E 10-Core 3.0 GHz LGA 2011-v3 140W BX80671I76950X Desktop Processor $1,649.99

2. CPU Cooler: Corsair Hydro Series H100i V2 Extreme Performance Water / Liquid CPU Cooler. 240mm (CW-9060025-WW) > $102.99

3. Motherboard: ASUS X99-DELUXE II LGA 2011-v3 Intel X99 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.1 USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard > $399.99

4. RAM: 128GB (8X 16GB) CORSAIR Vengeance LPX 16GB 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM DDR4 2400 (PC4 19200) Desktop Memory Model CMK16GX4M1A2400C14 $823.92 ($102.99 ea.)

5. GPU 1,2: 2X MSI GeForce GTX 1070 DirectX 12 GTX 1070 GAMING X 8G 8GB 256-Bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support ATX Video Card > $860 ($430 each)

6. Drive 1: SAMSUNG 960 EVO M.2 500GB NVMe PCI-Express 3.0 x4 Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) MZ-V6E500BW > $267

7. Drive 2,.3 : 2X Seagate Constellation ES.3 ST4000NM0033 4TB 7200 RPM 128MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Enterprise Internal Hard Drive Bare Drive > $334 ($167 each)

8. Power Supply: CORSAIR RMx Series RM750X 750W 80 PLUS GOLD Haswell Ready Full Modular ATX12V & EPS12V SLI and Crossfire Ready Power > $129.99

9. Optical Disk: LG Black 16X Blu-Ray BDXL SATA Internal rewriter with 3D Playback, Model BH16NS40 > $100

9. Case: Fractal Design Define XL R2 Black Silent EATX Full Tower Computer Case $129.99

10. OS: Windows 7 Professional SP1 64-bit - OEM > $139.99
____________________________________________________________

TOTAL = $4,840

Monitor 1st choice: Eizo FlexScan EV3237FX 31.5" 4K UHD IPS Monitor 3840x2160 (EV3237FX-BK) > $1,698

Monitor 2nd Choice: LG Electronics IPS Digital Cinema 4K Monitor 31MU97-B 31.0-Inch Screen LED-Lit Monitor > $900

Monitor 3rd Choice: 2X BenQ (BL2711U) 27-Inch Professional Graphic Design Display IPS Ultra High Definition LED Monitor , 4K2K HD 3840x2160 Display > $900 ($449 each)

Option 2:

To present a system with the best cost /performance within the budget, The following concept is based on a Supermicro Superworkstation specifying dual used 10-core Xeons. The Superworkstation provides a case, dual LGA2011 motherboard, CPU coolers, and power supply such that the user need only plug in the CPU's, RAM, GPU's, and drives. the motherboard supports Thunderbolt which I think is still the fastest drive interface. This simplifies the hardware decisions and as there is no real assembly nor wiring, the configuration is very fast. The cooling is designed for server-level use and these systems are rated to be very quiet.

The key to this idea is to employ used CPU's, in this suggestion, a pair of Xeon E5-2680 v2 which are 10-core @ 2.8 /.3.6GHz. On Passmark, the top CPU score for dual E5-2680's is 26121 on ASUS ZPE-D8 WS and 23963 on the Supermicro X9Dri. The single threaded rating is 1758. These are extremely reliable processors. The MTBF of the E5-1680 v2 is 170,000 hours or 19.4 years continuous running.

By using depreciated CPU's, a much higher specification is possible and funds are released for other purposes. There are tests that indicate that in some applications, including Premiere and After Effects, above a certain number, additional cores do not contribute to processing efficiency, and dual processors can actually go slightly negative. Resolve can utilize up to 64-threads, but I'm not convinced that this is fully scalar, based on comments that minimize the CPU's role in favour of sveral GPU's.

BambiBoom PixelCannon Videoresolvolicious iWork TurboExtreme SignatureX Blast 9800 ®©$$™®£™©™_1.19.17

Case /Motherboard / CPU coolers / Power supply : Supermicro SuperWorkstation SYS-7037A-I Dual Socket LGA2011 Xeon 900W Mid-Tower Workstation Barebone System (Black) > $734

http://www.supermicro.com/products/system/tower/7038/SYS-7038A-i.cfm
http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?name=SY-7038AI

CPU: 2X Intel Xeon E5-2680 v2 Eight-Core Haswell Processor 2.9 /3.8GHz, 20MB LGA 2011 CPU, 130W > used about $1,400 ($500 -$700 each)

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Intel-Xeon-E5-2680-v2-10-Core-2-8GHz-SR1A6-Ivy-Bridge-EP-LGA2011-CPU-Processor-/302172429488?hash=item465ae15cb0:g:WdIAAOSwXeJYJTou

Memory: 128GB (8X 16GB) SAMSUNG M393B2G70DB0-CMA Samsung DDR3-1866 16GB2Gx72 ECCREG CL13 Samsung Chip Server Memory > $960 ($120ea.)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=12K-00WZ-00010&cm_re=8GB_DDR3-1866_ECC_unbuffered-_-12K-00WZ-00010-_-Product

GPU 1, 2: 2X MSI GeForce GTX 1070 DirectX 12 GTX 1070 GAMING X 8G 8GB 256-Bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support ATX Video Card > $860 ($430 each).

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127947&cm_re=GTX_1070-_-14-127-947-_-Product

Disk 1: SAMSUNG 950 PRO M.2 2280 512GB PCI-Express 3.0 x4 Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) MZ-V5P512BW> $400.

M.2 to PCIe Adapter: M2P4A (PCIe X4 to M.2 (NGFF) SSD Adapter) > $54

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA12K3U60461&cm_re=samsung_950_pro_512gb-_-20-147-467-_-Product

Drive 2,.3: 2X Seagate Constellation ES.3 ST4000NM0033 4TB 7200 RPM 128MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Enterprise Internal Hard Drive Bare Drive > $334 ($167 each) (Files, Backup, System Image)

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822178307&cm_re=Es.3_4tb-_-22-178-307-_-Product

Optical Disk: LG Black 16X Blu-Ray BDXL SATA Internal rewriter with 3D Playback, Model BH16NS40 > $100

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827136264

Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Professional SP1 64-bit English (1-Pack), OEM > $139.

http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?name=MSFQC08289
_______________________________________

TOTAL = $4,600-5,000

So, there are a couple of options.

Cheers,

BambiBoom

CAD / 3D Modeling / Graphic Design:

HP z420 (2015) (Rev 3) > Xeon E5-1660 v2 (6-core @ 3.7 / 4.0GHz) / 32GB DDR3 -1866 ECC RAM / Quadro K4200 (4GB) / Samsung SM951 M.2 256GB AHCI + Intel 730 480GB (9SSDSC2BP480G4R5) + Western Digital Black WD1003FZEX 1TB> M-Audio 192 sound card > 600W PSU> > Windows 7 Professional 64-bit > Logitech z2300 2.1 speakers > 2X Dell Ultrasharp U2715H (2560 X 1440)
[ Passmark Rating = 5581 > CPU= 14046 / 2D= 838 / 3D= 4694 / Mem= 2777 / Disk= 11559] [6.12.16]

Analysis / Simulation / Rendering:

HP z620 (2012) (Rev 3) 2X Xeon E5-2690 (8-core @ 2.9 / 3.8GHz) / 64GB DDR3-1600 ECC reg) / Quadro K2200 (4GB) + Tesla M2090 (6GB) / HP Z Turbo Drive (256GB) + Samsung 850 Evo 250GB + Seagate Constellation ES.3 (1TB) / Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium PCIe sound card / 800W / Windows 7 Professional 64-bit > Logitech z313 2.1 speakers > HP 2711x (27" 1980 X 1080)
[ Passmark System Rating= 5675 / CPU= 22625 / 2D= 815 / 3D = 3580 / Mem = 2522 / Disk = 12640 ] 9.25.16
[ Cinebench R15: OpenGL= 119.23 fps / CPU = 2209 cb / Single core 130 cb / MP Ratio 16.84x] 10.31.16

 

[King Dranzer]

@bambiboom i7-6950X is good for single core performance as well as multi core to some extent. But as I read all the requirements and reviews of Davinci Resolve and it does perform better with more cores(Xeon setup) rather than single core performance(i7 setup). The software require as many cores possible for decoding process. And After effects and Premier pro do get huge performance gain with more number of cores rather than single core with higher clock rate.

@jmsellars1 if see it on short time basis then yoes TITAN X PASCAL is a waste. But for long term gain as I explained 2 x TITAN X PASCALS is better than 2 x GTX1080. and 3 X TITAN X PASCALS is lot more better than 3 x GTX1080. The performance gain is very huge. And this being long term expenditure(OP can add one GPU at a time as per his convenience instead of adding all at the same time) budget point of view gets diminished. Yes it is up to OP to decide.

 

[bambiboom]

@bambiboom i7-6950X is good for single core performance as well as multi core to some extent. But as I read all the requirements and reviews of Davinci Resolve and it does perform better with more cores(Xeon setup) rather than single core performance(i7 setup). The software require as many cores possible for decoding process. And After effects and Premier pro do get huge performance gain with more number of cores rather than single core with higher clock rate.

King Dranzer,

Yes, it's true that Resolve is able to utilize up to 64 threads, but Resolve is most definitely in the GPU-priority rendering category. Many reviews and suggested hardware barely mention the CPU, which I found odd. One said emphatically, "it's all about the GPU." Still. I question the efficiency of synchronizing threads across dual processors in all but really carefully multi-threaded compute applications. The best multi-threading I know is Matlab. Adobe has elegant interfaces and a lot of features, but they are still not well threaded. Premiere even deleted the 2014 mutli-threading option in the 2015 version. According to the excellent Puget Systems articles regarding tests of Premiere and After Effects, the dual processors performed worse than a single CPU and even then, the peak efficiency was 5-6 cores and additional cores presented diminishing returns. The Puget Systems recommended system for Premiere is a single LGA2011-3 CPU on an ASUS X99 Deluxe II motherboard with a single GPU, and in all their testing of Premiere 2017 no tests used a dual Xeon system, the i7-6950X has the highest performance.

In the end, this is a difficult equation. The $6,000 budget needed to include the monitor(s), the substantial priority of the GPU in the principal processing, the i7-6950X option consolidates the CPU cost into a single processor. the budget in this case means that dual processors have to have a lower specification and as mentioned, the i7-6950X produces a higher calculation cycle rate than for example a pair of E5-2630 v4's. It's not substantially higher, 19987 to 18646- about 7% but the single thread rating is much better 2122 to 1683- +26% and the majority of processes in most applications relies on the single-threaded rate.

However, a dual CPU system with appropriate characteristics and including the monitor is possible within the budget . I wasn't certain it was possible but have added a dual Xeon E5-2680 v2 option. This relies on used CPU's, which not everyone likes, but I currently have three dual Xeon systems purchased used: Precision T5400, T5500 and an HP z620 and have not had a single component failure of any kind since 2009. The HP z620 cost only $270 and with upgrades a total of about $1,500 resulting in the highest z620 system rating on Passmark (CPU= 22625). That's thanks to the used E5-2690's that cost $2,050 in 2012, but to me were $154 and $152. Although I'm completely in the dual Xeon / ECC / Quadro category - all my final rendering is single-image and CPU-based, the i7-6950X because of the high single-threaded rate still appeals more.

Good discussion!

 

[King Dranzer]

@bambiboom i7-6950X is good for single core performance as well as multi core to some extent. But as I read all the requirements and reviews of Davinci Resolve and it does perform better with more cores(Xeon setup) rather than single core performance(i7 setup). The software require as many cores possible for decoding process. And After effects and Premier pro do get huge performance gain with more number of cores rather than single core with higher clock rate.

King Dranzer,

Yes, it's true that Resolve is able to utilize up to 64 threads, but Resolve is most definitely in the GPU-priority rendering category. Many reviews and suggested hardware barely mention the CPU, which I found odd. One said emphatically, "it's all about the GPU." Still. I question the efficiency of synchronizing threads across dual processors in all but really carefully multi-threaded compute applications. The best multi-threading I know is Matlab. Adobe has elegant interfaces and a lot of features, but they are still not well threaded. Premiere even deleted the 2014 mutli-threading option in the 2015 version. According to the excellent Puget Systems articles regarding tests of Premiere and After Effects, the dual processors performed worse than a single CPU and even then, the peak efficiency was 5-6 cores and additional cores presented diminishing returns. The Puget Systems recommended system for Premiere is a single LGA2011-3 CPU on an ASUS X99 Deluxe II motherboard with a single GPU, and in all their testing of Premiere 2017 no tests used a dual Xeon system, the i7-6950X has the highest performance.

In the end, this is a difficult equation. The $6,000 budget needed to include the monitor(s), the substantial priority of the GPU in the principal processing, the i7-6950X option consolidates the CPU cost into a single processor. the budget in this case means that dual processors have to have a lower specification and as mentioned, the i7-6950X produces a higher calculation cycle rate than for example a pair of E5-2630 v4's. It's not substantially higher, 19987 to 18646- about 7% but the single thread rating is much better 2122 to 1683- +26% and the majority of processes in most applications relies on the single-threaded rate.

However, a dual CPU system with appropriate characteristics and including the monitor is possible within the budget . I wasn't certain it was possible but have added a dual Xeon E5-2680 v2 option. This relies on used CPU's, which not everyone likes, but I currently have three dual Xeon systems purchased used: Precision T5400, T5500 and an HP z620 and have not had a single component failure of any kind since 2009. The HP z620 cost only $270 and with upgrades a total of about $1,500 resulting in the highest z620 system rating on Passmark (CPU= 22625). That's thanks to the used E5-2690's that cost $2,050 in 2012, but to me were $154 and $152. Although I'm completely in the dual Xeon / ECC / Quadro category - all my final rendering is single-image and CPU-based, the i7-6950X because of the high single-threaded rate still appeals more.

Good discussion!

I disagree with Puget on this. I have friends who have studios and they use dual CPU Xeon setups for this purpose. I have seen them work and for 1080p I agree anything over 14 to 16 cores is not worth it but for 4K rendering It is completely worth it. The rendering time is reduced to a huge amount when they have 32 cores or above. They use Premier AE Vegas.

That being said Reolve is a different thing it is CPU as well as GPU intense. Or should I say "GPU as well as CPU intense", for some reason its GPU requirement is very high for a Video Editing software. All other counterparts do use GPU but on a very small scale.

That being the case 28 cores and a TITAN X PASCAL should satisfy all the requirements of all the video rendering software let it be AE, Premier or Resolve

 

[sdanzig]

I'm really loving the discussions here at Tom's Hardware, thanks guys! So I've been doing a bit more digging on my end, and here are my thoughts:

I'm actually liking the one GPU solution for now, because I'm still only using Davinci Resolve Lite, which can only use one. So two 1070's is definitely out. When I move onto more ambitious projects, I'll likely consider another, but one is fine for now. And with that regard. I don't really see myself ever getting more than two. And probably wouldn't need to for at least two years. I definitely feel some sticker shock with the increase of cost for the Titan, and while one 1080 is probably enough for a while based on reviews I'm seeing, especially with all the CPU I'll have, I feel that two will definitely be enough for the long haul. I'm thinking sticking with the 1080's is a good way to reign in the costs, plus avoid the same sticker shock down the road. Come to think of it, the 1080 Ti might be worth considering as well, since I hear it might be announced in March. I dug into the Quadro as well and didn't think it's worth considering.

I'd like to throw another software in the mix that I realized I'll be using a lot of... Blackmagic Fusion. I think it seems pretty even across the board in terms of CPU/GPU usage, so I'm not sure it affects the discussion much.

I like RAM. In my experience as a computer programmer/gamer/video editor, life always got a lot better by doubling my RAM, and everything else was debatable. So I'm liking the idea of 128GB.

The Fractal Design case sounds impressive, like it's made out of vibranium or something. I'm assuming some people go for SSI motherboards primarily for more expandability?

One more thing... I don't know how easy it is to use, but I do have a couple of external apple cinema displays to use:
A 27 inch with thunderbolt:
https://www.amazon.com/Apple-MC914LL-27-inch-Thunderbolt-Display/dp/B004YLCKYA
A 24 inch with display port:
https://www.amazon.com/Apple-Cinema-Display-24-Inch-MB382LL/dp/B0013FMLXK

I'm wondering how much this helps or hurts the discussion, as one may serve well as a handy second monitor.

 

[jmsellars1]

For those you just need to ensure you've got Thunderbolt on your board, all 1080's will have displayport.

A bigger SSI board is good if you don't mind the extra size.

 

[King Dranzer]

I'm really loving the discussions here at Tom's Hardware, thanks guys! So I've been doing a bit more digging on my end, and here are my thoughts:

I'm actually liking the one GPU solution for now, because I'm still only using Davinci Resolve Lite, which can only use one. So two 1070's is definitely out. When I move onto more ambitious projects, I'll likely consider another, but one is fine for now. And with that regard. I don't really see myself ever getting more than two. And probably wouldn't need to for at least two years. I definitely feel some sticker shock with the increase of cost for the Titan, and while one 1080 is probably enough for a while based on reviews I'm seeing, especially with all the CPU I'll have, I feel that two will definitely be enough for the long haul. I'm thinking sticking with the 1080's is a good way to reign in the costs, plus avoid the same sticker shock down the road. Come to think of it, the 1080 Ti might be worth considering as well, since I hear it might be announced in March. I dug into the Quadro as well and didn't think it's worth considering.

I'd like to throw another software in the mix that I realized I'll be using a lot of... Blackmagic Fusion. I think it seems pretty even across the board in terms of CPU/GPU usage, so I'm not sure it affects the discussion much.

I like RAM. In my experience as a computer programmer/gamer/video editor, life always got a lot better by doubling my RAM, and everything else was debatable. So I'm liking the idea of 128GB.

The Fractal Design case sounds impressive, like it's made out of vibranium or something. I'm assuming some people go for SSI motherboards primarily for more expandability?

One more thing... I don't know how easy it is to use, but I do have a couple of external apple cinema displays to use:
A 27 inch with thunderbolt:
https://www.amazon.com/Apple-MC914LL-27-inch-Thunderbolt-Display/dp/B004YLCKYA
A 24 inch with display port:
https://www.amazon.com/Apple-Cinema-Display-24-Inch-MB382LL/dp/B0013FMLXK

I'm wondering how much this helps or hurts the discussion, as one may serve well as a handy second monitor.

If you wanna use Resolve on temporary basis GTX1070 or GTX1080 is fine. But if you plan on using on longer basis I would recommend you not to cheap on GPU and get TITAN X PASCAL as for some reason reviews say Resolve is is GPU intensive and comparatively less on CPU.

If you plan on to do Video editing using some other software like AE or Premium or Vegas in future go for GTX1080. But if plan on keep using Resolve then TITAN X PASCAL is the card you should get. There is very big performance difference that you will be getting and is completely worth it.

Decide and respond. Are gonna shift from Resolve in future or wanna stick with it for a long time?

 

[jmsellars1]

It is up to OP to decide whether it is worth it, surely it is better to present him with the facts and let him make a decision rather than push your opinion too much?

 

[King Dranzer]

It is up to OP to decide whether it is worth it, surely it is better to present him with the facts and let him make a decision rather than push your opinion too much?

Yes, that's why I provided options and left the decision on him.
We will provide build depending on OP's decision.