Used older Dell Precision T5500 vs new i7 12gb ram 2gb graphics for 3D renderings and graphics

[alfabruce]

Hi All,

Im looking to buy a machine to do some fairly intensive digital concept art using photoshop or similar and 3D renderings using Blender and Rhino. I am trying to get an idea of which will be faster and more reliable. A new i7 with 12-16GB ram and maybe a SSD for the scratch disk plus 1TB main storage or a used Dell Precision T5500
Intel Xeon Quad X5647@2.93Ghz. The T5500 used to be considered blistering but is it still fast by todays standard. I can get the dell for around $800AUD compared to maybe $1400AUD for the new i7.

Ive had a good search through these forums and the new in general but Im a bit new to his game and fell likeIm comaring apples with sausages.

Cheers

Tim

 

[chulex67]

You would do much better with a new pc, that workstation is Old. Almost any Xeon cpu from the 1155 socket or 1150 socket, are on the same level as the Intel Xeon Quad X5647@2.93Ghz, in some cases the new cpus are better.

Why should you Build your own pc?
First of all you get to choose Quality Hardware components, that will last alot more than the prebuild workstations from dell,lenovo,etc.
Second, you get no restrictions if you want to upgrade later, you get to add more ram next year, add more hard drives, add another gpu, etc.
Third, When its time to upgrade again in 3 or 4 years, you will already have the Case, psu, HDDS, and Maybe Ram to Reuse and will let you to get even better Top of the Line Hardware.

 

[alfabruce]

Thanks Chulex

Yeah makes a lot of sense. Ill have a bit of a look around what others people are building for 3d renderings and graphics and see what I can put together. I spose the important things from what i know so far are hyperthreading, maybe a nice SSD to speed up photoshop and lots of RAM.

Anything else youd recommend?

Thanks again.

Tim

 

[chulex67]

Thanks Chulex

Yeah makes a lot of sense. Ill have a bit of a look around what others people are building for 3d renderings and graphics and see what I can put together. I spose the important things from what i know so far are hyperthreading, maybe a nice SSD to speed up photoshop and lots of RAM.

Anything else youd recommend?

Thanks again.

Tim

Well I Recommend something like this

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i7-4770 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($349.00 @ Mwave Australia)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H60 54.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($94.00 @ PLE Computers)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H87-D3H ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($129.00 @ PCCaseGear)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LP 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($134.95 @ Mwave Australia)
Storage: Samsung 840 Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($115.00 @ Mwave Australia)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($69.00 @ Mwave Australia)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 760 2GB Video Card ($309.00 @ PCCaseGear)
Case: NZXT Phantom (White) ATX Full Tower Case ($159.00 @ Scorptec)
Power Supply: Antec High Current Gamer 620W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($95.00 @ Mwave Australia)
Total: $1453.95
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-08-03 04:22 EST+1000)

I know that Rhino and Blender like Nvidia quadro cards but i dont see much gain in performance unless you jump to the quadro K5000, wich is at the 1600 usd price point.

 

[alfabruce]

Thanks again. That look like a great solution. Ill have to check out a few tutorials and get to it.
What would someone charge to put something like this together if I ran into problems. Can anyone recommend someon in Adelaide SOuth Australia?

THanks again.

 

[chulex67]

what would they charge? like 20 CAD, its not hard, but you should be watching when they put it togueter, so you can see they are not taking some stuff and replacing them.