Digital Art Zone

Hi guys. I’m no computer tech .  More of a computer short circuit expert.

So I need the help of those in the know here. I need comments and suggestions with regards to a build I’m planning to purchase… here’s the basics…

Casing : Cooler Master HAF-X   ( It’s for gaming but I like the look and the included fans. )

CPU : Intel i7-3930K Six-Core

Mobo : ASUS Sabertooth X79 Intel X79

GPU : NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 2GB 16X PCIe 3.0 Video Card

Cooling : Asetek 510LC Liquid Cooling System

MEM : 16GB (4GBx4) Corsair DDR3/1600MHz (for a start… upgrade later if desired)

HD : 120GB x1 SSD Corsair Force GT Series SATA-III (for OS)

DataDrive : 2TB x2 Western Digital Caviar Black SATA-III (for files and scratch disk)

PSU : 1000w Cooler Master Silent Pro Gold 80 Plus Power Supply

OS :Microsoft® Windows 7 Professional (64-bit Edition)

Apps used : Photoshop , Corel Draw , Poser , Daz Studio , Hexagon and video/audio editing software .  Bryce , C4d and 3dmax might be installed as well for learning purposes.

I’m unsure of the Mobo and GPU. Are they good choices?

Is Sabertooth a good choice? Its an 8-slot . Would a 4 -slot be better? What is a good alternative.

Will GTX 680 suffice or NVIDIA Quadro series be better?

In case of budget constraints, I may go for 3770K or a 3820. Which is better? Will the other components match with the lower grade CPU?

I’m not into gaming.  I do graphic design , with 3d rendering and modeling as a hobby and will take up video/sound editing soon.

Any help on this is much appreciated coz it’s driving me batty…. lol

it looks like a killer computer

whats your processor speed in Ghz.  anything over a 3.3ghz is very good. 6 core is better than 8 for spooling if your a gamer.
any Nvida GTX graphic card are the bomb for gpu support. I would also recommend the real vision 3d monitor for gaming but you will need.the glasses for it also.  An pen and touch screen is recommended for future upgrades .. which is a good feature if you planing on getting windows 8 later on. mine is a Samsung.  But there are many better ones at a higher price though.
Sabertooth x58 to x78 mother broads are of very good quality and PC world magazine recommends them.

everything else you have listed looks great and I think you will be very happy with it.
where are you planning on buying your computer. I got mine at IbuyPower.com they have very good support for the computers they build and sell. plus they sell all the parts for future upgrade to the computers they build.

Mobo and GPU look great, very nice rig you have listed there, do you have quote for all this?

I’d go with AMD at the moment.  High end spec offers diminishing returns. You can put together 2 (possibly 3)  8 core AMD machines as a networked render farm, for the same money as the Inel spec.

That aside I’d go for 2x8 gig ram and for 2 gig graphics an HD7850.  And I wouldn’t go with liquid cooling. Arctic Cooling Freezer 13 is quiet, good value and efficient.

The Antec Three Hundred II is a good case.  Solid build, great air flow and large dust filter.

Those are Fantastic System Spec’s, That will handle any 3D you throw at it. I’m on a much lower PC i7 2600 3.4GH quad with NVIDIA GeForce GTX 550 Ti 1Mb only 8Gb ram and it rocks. Nothing has give any trouble yet. VUE, DS4.5Pro, High end games nothing.

I would also go with an AMD. I personally have had much better luck with them than Intel over the years and they have nicer prices too.

I’m a little concerned you will run short on hard drive space if that’s the only drive you install. An SSD would be great for your working drive but you might want to get a large SATA for storage. My Poser library folder system alone is 155Gb (yeah, it needs to be seriously cleaned out of old stuff) and that doesn’t count scene files or rendered images or other things I’ve created…

My current specs are quite similar to your proposed specs except that I have three internal SATA hard drives and three externals (just bought a new portable external so I can move lots of work files between my PC and notebook even though the second external isn’t full up just yet; I just needed a portable one).

True that AMD have for most part offered more bang per buck over the past decade, the only exception being around 2006 when the affordable Intel core duo wiped the floor with AMDs X2 range for a little while.
I also remember the days of those fault prone Athlon XPs and dodgy VIA chipsets (shudder) Back then I had a collegue who used to proclaim that AMD stood for ‘Another Mash-up Desktop” AMD have come such a long way since then
The next time I do a build, I will probably go back to AMD too.

If you need to economize get 2x4GB ram and salvage a used video card and keep the rest
my ASUS x58 i7 970 .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) w 6x4Gbs of ram rips
I would not buy ram in less than 4GB sticks

The new intel sandy extreme is pretty good.  I just went with dual socket E5 2630 processors and ssd and a large sata storage drive.  The operating system is on one ssd, the apps are loaded to the second ssd (larger) and the third drive is a 7200 rpm platter.

DS4 uses all the cores and threads.

Your choice of the gtx680 is fine for Octane and Reality methinks.  I’m considering one myself, haven’t tried it yet.  It won’t benefit that much for DS or Poser.

Bryce won’t use the cores, at least on my system it doesn’t. 3 or 4 cores is about it.

If you go with two sockets, be careful that you don’t cheap out.  There are a lot of dual socket systems that won’t work well.  Asus Z9 is a good board. 

If you go with a single processor, that I7 is an attractive CPU for the money.

I, too, have had better results with AMD in the past.  I don’t know about modern technology.  I agree that some of the features of Intel are just not helpful.  Raw processor speed/cores/math crunching is what it takes for a good render machine. Maybe AMD still delivers that but Inten definitely does.

Wow…. sorry for the late reply guys. Caught up in my own world here… lol…

Ivy… it’s a 3.2 , I believe.  I’m not into gaming but I do intend to have multiple display for the system. See how it goes once its here. I’m having it assembled by a friend who owns a shop. Too bad he doesn’t have all the parts. which is why I have to search other shops for it.

DogZ… presently with all accesories loaded without monitor and mouse… it’s slightly over $3,100.00 . “Another Mash-up Desktop” ,,, LOL.. I like that…

Rayman 29 ....  AMD is great but I prefer Intel. AZTEC? yes, I saw that somewhere here. I’ll give it a look see, thanks.

Jaderail… A good friend has that system except he uses a 540. And he loves it.  Does mostly Photoshop and Corel work with it… not into 3d.

LizzieP .....  I have 3 drives there-  1 SSD for OS , 1 for files and 1 for scratch.  I intend to get a NETGEAR RND2000 ReadyNAS Duo V2 . But that will come later once I’ve settled down with whatever I decide to get.

JamesS… for a start I’m having 4 4gbs sticks but I wonder if G.SKILL Ripjaws are good.

EricofSD ..... I’m drooling over the 3960X but with its matching hardware will blow my wallet to kingdom come… lol… dream on….  I’m not savvy on these things but I read PS and my other CAD apps will use all the cores. I’m also considering the GIGABYTE X79 or ASUS Rampage IV ...  a bit more pricey than the Sabre but I haven’t finalized my build choices.

Thanks for all of your comments, guys.

Anyone got a thought for the NVIDIA Quadro series? Is it a better choice than the GeforceGT series?  And the G.SKILL Ripjaws RAM?

Your the boss of your build.  Bang for buck can be far less important in the reality of use.

Am retiring my Pentium4 after years of faithful service.  A real slow grind most especially when doing architectural projects with AutoCad 2000. Got to keep up with technology.

Thanks for mentioning the Aztec300.  Got to look for it this weekend.

I’d maybe go down to a 660 Ti for your GPU.

DaveyW - 06 September 2012 11:14 AM

I’d maybe go down to a 660 Ti for your GPU.

That’s a 3 gbs card.

Here’s a question… will it matter if I get a higher rate (3gb) ? Wouldn’t 2gbs do as well?

Thats ‘Antec’ 300.

The 660 Ti is generally a 2 Gb card and I hadn’t heard of a 3 Gb version until now.

I’d go with the 2 Gb version as there is no real advantage to getting the 3 Gb version.