The Better Build?

[BamBamm]

I am wanting to build two workstations, or maybe just one.
I will be running 3D Studio Max and Adobe Products - I am in college learning these programs, but I want the workstation to perform excellent for high demand projects...

My wife is in college for Photography, Digital Photography & Cinematography... She uses Adobe products heavily and a few others...

Both of us require a high demand on the workstation and I think I have a build in mind, using such products as Tyan and ATI Fire.
However, to be honest, I wasn't impressed with my last build with a Tyan MB utilizing dual 3.6 Xeons. The board shorted out in less than 6 months... I had a worse issue with an Asus board using the same CPUs. I couldn't get the identical CPUs to work in dual mode. If I removed one CPU the board worked fine... I even gave up and took it to a shop (15 years building and I took it else where.). The shop couldn't work it out either and Asus customer service was horrid!

So, new CPUs or not... I don't care. I will build from ground up (new Ram, CPUs, MB, etc.) The only thing I wish to reuse is the 1800 WATT Power Supply and a CoolMaster Server Case...

What's your take, what board, processors and ram would you all use?
I plan on using Windows 7 or 8....

Thanks...

 

[digdog]

you can build a relatively cheap monster with a 3770k, a Z77 mobo and 16 Gb of ram .. $500 for the three, then you need to add a case, at least 1 HD, a GPU/PSU combo and possibly a $29 cooler (CoolerMaster Hyper 212Evo). what you decide to spend on these last 4 components is based both on your budget and on how much you want this to be a "fun machine".

so, post back budget and fun factor, then you'll get better recommendations.

 

[digdog]

right, while (it's really annoying not being able to edit posts) you figure out the budget, here's a few pointers.

your average "gamer" build - which isn't so far from a workstation build would be like this:

a I7 3770k - $320
CM 212EVO - $30
GIGABYTE GA-Z77X-UD3H - $160
CORSAIR Vengeance 16GB (4 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 - $110
Mushkin Enhanced Chronos MKNSSDCR240GB 2.5" 240GB SATA III - $220
EVGA 02G-P3-1559-KR GeForce GTX 550 Ti (Fermi) 2GB 192-bit GDDR5 - $170

plus case and PSU;

i'm not aware of any 1800W PSU on the market, so i'm wondering if this is a particular model and if there might be any compatibility issues (certainly not voltage issues). however if worse comes to worse a simple $60 PSU will do the trick.

now this build ought to get you a 4.5Ghz PC that will beat down ANY app existent on the market today.

 

[BamBamm]

You are joking, right??
1st this isn't meant to be a "gaming rig", there is a HUGE difference.
I mean no offense, but you don't understand what hardware is needed for this.
2nd I will need a MoBo with 2 to 8 processors & a dedicated GPU for CAD, such as a the NVIDIA Quadro or AMD FirePro.

 

[BamBamm]

I am thinking:
Intel® Xeon® Processor E5-2690 Platform
http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/benchmarks/workstation/xeon-e5-2600/xeon-e5-2600-dcc-specapc-3ds-max.html

Tyan S7050WGM4NR MoBo
http://www.tyan.com/product_SKU_spec.aspx?ProductType=MB&pid=749&SKU=600000281

RAM PC3-10600 (DDR3 1333) REG./ECC

Dual ATI FirePro™ V9800

What's you input?

 

[digdog]

you could safely do Maya on that rig :/ but if you want to spend five grand go ahead

FYI xeons are't all they used to be. also, windows 8 .. not.

you'll probably have more success here : http://www.devppl.com/forum/3d-studio-max-forum-vf82.html

 

[sk1939]

I am thinking:
Intel® Xeon® Processor E5-2690 Platform
http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/benchmarks/workstation/xeon-e5-2600/xeon-e5-2600-dcc-specapc-3ds-max.html

Tyan S7050WGM4NR MoBo
http://www.tyan.com/product_SKU_spec.aspx?ProductType=MB&pid=749&SKU=600000281

RAM PC3-10600 (DDR3 1333) REG./ECC

Dual ATI FirePro™ V9800

What's you input?

Remember that 3DS Max and Adobe Products are generally more GPU reliant than CPU, even when rendering, so you could downgrade your processor a bit.

The Tyan is decent, but sorely lacking in features, and would require additional expansion cards to get even basic I/O.

ECC is completely un-necessary for your purposes (most important on servers for failover in which case it is fully buffered, or for complex scientific equations where absolute accuracy to the millionth place is necessary). I have it in my workstation, but it had neither helped nor hindered anything. It also will not stop a blue screen from occurring.


The graphics card is far more important for what you are doing than the processor. Rendering and encoding is often offloaded to the GPU now. Additionally, I chose an nVidia over an AMD/ATI card because the latest Adobe CS versions do not support ANY ATI/AMD cards for GPU offloading, which is SIGNIFICANTLY faster than strictly CPU rendering, even with 16 cores available. If you had to choose between an 8 core Xeon and a lower graphics card, or a 4/6 core Xeon and the top of the line graphics, go with top of the line graphics.


Processors (2x Intel Xeon E5-2640):

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819117267

Motherboard (ASUS Z9PE-D8):

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131817

RAM (CORSAIR Vengeance 32GB):

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233263

Graphics (PNY Quadro 6000):

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814133347

 

[SSri]

I am thinking:
Intel® Xeon® Processor E5-2690 Platform
http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/benchmarks/workstation/xeon-e5-2600/xeon-e5-2600-dcc-specapc-3ds-max.html

Tyan S7050WGM4NR MoBo
http://www.tyan.com/product_SKU_spec.aspx?ProductType=MB&pid=749&SKU=600000281

RAM PC3-10600 (DDR3 1333) REG./ECC

Dual ATI FirePro™ V9800

What's you input?

Before you proceed further, please read these reviews at Tom's. I am sure you won't regret reading them as I believe it would help you decide.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/xeon-e5-2687w-benchmark-review,3149.html
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/render-farm-node,2340.html

Let's know your thoughts after reading these two reviews.

 

[BamBamm]

Remember that 3DS Max and Adobe Products are generally more GPU reliant than CPU, even when rendering, so you could downgrade your processor a bit.

Yes, I know this... That's why I chose to go with a double GPU, However I didn't know the ATI wasn't compatible with Adobe software... Thank you!

ECC is completely un-necessary for your purposes (most important on servers for failover in which case it is fully buffered, or for complex scientific equations where absolute accuracy to the millionth place is necessary). I have it in my workstation, but it had neither helped nor hindered anything. It also will not stop a blue screen from occurring.

Ok, thanks for the input on this as well!

I chose an nVidia over an AMD/ATI card because the latest Adobe CS versions do not support ANY ATI/AMD cards for GPU offloading... Very well... Thanks again for this, I was unaware of any issues. I will have to bring this up in class!


As far as an ASUS MoBo, I don't think I could own another one... One bad experience cost me allot of money!!

I need CPU power to be able to watch instructional videos while working, and running other software that is needed. Not all software I will be running will be GPU based. Yet still, I know GPU is needed more than CPU.

Thanks for this awesome reply!!!

 

[BamBamm]

Best answer selected by BamBamm.