Let's Build: The cheapest, quietest, high performance Daz/Octane/Reality PC possible!
posecast
Posts: 386
Hi guys. I am building a new PC, strictly for Daz/Octane/Reality/Luxus.
My goals:
- (relatively) low cost
- high performance
- quiet
- small
An impossible list to be sure -- usually exceptions have to be made.
Currently I am running an Asus Maximus Hero VI mother board, i5 4670k, 32gb ddr 3, and a 980ti and 770. It is decent performance. But that PC is three years old and working solidly, so now is the time to build a replacement. Invariably, I have to build a new pc once failures begin to occur. Not this time!
First priority is the case. I am open to suggestions. I would like to stick to around $100, but $150 is acceptable if it is a ten year case. There are some good options from Phanteks, Corsair (carbide), and fractal.
Please throw in your suggestions! Once the case is solved, we can get to the really fun stuff! Motherboards, Processors, RAM, and Video Cards!
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Comments
a bar fridge for the case
Ha! Love it. Seriously, I am looking at the Phanteks 400ps and a Fractal for around the same price. I would LOVE to get a Be Quiet! case, they are silent, but they are expensive.
its not so silly with a rack of Titans and/or your CPU cooking away rendering.
"It's not impossible; I used to bulls-eye wamp rats with my T-16 back home. They're not much bigger than two meters." :D
Yes, good fans are going to be necessary. I am thinking of two 1080 and a 1060 for display. I think the heat will be less than with a double 980ti plus 770 system.
..I would get a full tower case as it allows for more "breathing room" inside and better access for upgrading/servicing components. I currently have an Antec P-193 which is all steel construction has 6 fans, (including a side panel 240mm one where the GPU is), and shielded area for the PSU. Sadly it is no longer being produced. Though branded a "mid tower" it is pretty big.
The one I am considering for my next build is this one:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811352029
if I had to build a brand new PC for super cheap, I'd go the second hand way:
- dual xeon from a server for CPU render
- i7 5280/5930 with 2 or 3 maxwell graphic cards, wich depends on you need: titan x 12GB or 980ti 6GB. you can get a titan for 350eur
...Dual Xeon 8 core E55690 CPUs 128 GB DDR3 memory in quad channel mode. Forget GPU rendering unless you can get W7 or 8.1 as W10 "reserves" a noticable portion of your VRAM.
For GPU rendering in Reality/Lux you are better off with an AMD card as their OpenCL development is better than Nvidia's.
but still leaves a large chunk unclaimed, dependinmg on card configuration and - I believe -display settings. Not necessarily "forget", more "be aware that you will have less GPU RAM than the specs would suggest" - the user will have to weight up whether the speed gain on scenes that do fit into the available GPU RAM will justify the cost.
I love my Fractal R5 Blackout case. I have some extra fans, Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO, graphics card with fans, etc. Tons of space, pretty modular... I don't have the most max components as some, but a decent setup. And it is SO quiet you can't hear that it's on. And I can render forever and everything stays nice and cool. Elegant, too. So worth every penny and more imo.
...it is still a much more significant chunk of VRAM than W7 or 8.1 reserves. On one thread it was measured at something like 22% of 6 GB and that percentage increases the more VRAM a card has. In comparison W7's footprint (without the Aero UI) is almost negligible.
..Indeed an excellent case for the price. Clean and professional looking.
Here's the case I currently have, very quiet and been so for the last 4 years. A pity it is no longer available or I'd get another one for the new system:
Never cared for the ones with the side window and all the goofy interior lights (one doesn't drive a car around with a glass bonnet on it to show off the motor), or those heavily "sculpted" cases that look like they could transform into a Decepticon when your back was turned.
Totally agree. I chose the Fractal R5 Blackout without a window. I don't want to show or see inside, plus I'd think it would make a difference in the sound level. It's so nice to have a virtually silent machine after the constant roar of my last rig.
https://smile.amazon.com/Fractal-Design-Computer-Case-FD-CA-DEF-R5-BKO/dp/B00X13ZC9M/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1481317473&sr=8-1&keywords=fractal+r5+blackout
I find it amusing what people consider to be "low cost". One of your graphics cards costs more than my entire budget for building my current computer, lol.
As far as having a quiet computer, the fans are the primary source of noise. Instead of spending $150 on a case that claims to keep your computer quiet, I would suggest a $50-$60 case and spend the $90 you save on silent fans(they shouldn't cost that much). You can get the Corsair case you mentioned for under $60 at Best Buy. When your current computer wears out, keep the empty case for the next computer you build. Cases don't have moving parts, so they shouldn't wear out. The things I would look for in a case are:
1 - Full or mid tower for improved airflow
2 - The number of drive bays(at least 2 external and 3 internal 3.5" bays)
3 - At least 3-4 places to attach fans
4 - Ventilation grates in the side panel or top
Your ideal case sounds similar to the monster sitting under my desk. 5 external bays (4 5.25 inch, 1 3.5 inch), three fan locations, 5 internal drive bays. It sits 21 inches high and is about 20 years old.
...if you are not going the liquid cooling route 129$ for a case that can house up to 7 fans would be a good investment. I was on a tight budget when I built my system several years ago but the 179$ I paid for the P-193 with 6 fans (including that huge one by the GPU) was a very good investment.
The one thing in your favour today is memory as 32GB of DDR4 memory costs about half what I paid 4 years ago for the 12 GB of DDR3 1333 my system has.
One component I would not cut corners on is the PSU. If that goes it can take the entire system with it.
For my next build I am considering a system that is primarily geared towards CPU based rendering (hence the dual Xeons and 128GB of DDR3 memory) as I still work in 3DL/Carrara as well and create very involved scenes that will be rendered in large resolution for printing. To guarantee they would remain in VRAM for Iray, I would need to shell out a fair amount for a high memory card like a 12 GB Titan-X or even 16 GB Qaudro P5000.
kyoto kid's case is a bit more stylish than all the plain black monoliths on the market nowadays :) But what's that thingamabob on the side for?
I like small PCs, I just built one in a Fractal Design Core 500 case.
Could be an inlet air filter housing, as that's probably a good idea on these modern beasts.
As I recall it's a housing for a fan, or an optional fan, to cool the GPU. I bought an Antec case, but went for one which is very similar but with only one top fan and no side fan.
That does sound good to me, lol. The one drawback is that if someone is considering a solid state drive, they are almost all 2.5". You can buy adapters so they will fit in a 3.5" bay, but those cost around $30. I figure whatever you save on the case can be spent on better hardware or more content from DAZ...
I agree that you should not scrimp on the PSU, but I was just making suggestions for the case. You want to figure out the PSU once you have decided on all the other components and know how much power they will need.
Kyoto kid - unless you plan to use your old computer after you build your new one, you could just build your new one in your current case. Or transfer your old computer parts to a cheap case and use the case you like for the new one.
...that's where the 240mm fan to cool the GPU is It also has it's own dust filter
It's a known fact that DirectX 12 is only supported in Windows 10 and DirectX 12 allows for much improved parallel processing (aka faster rendering speeds) in utilizing whatever DirectX 12 compliant GPU one is using; so by avoiding Windows 10 one is ruling out utilizing the improved parallel processing made available with DirectX 12.
..If I can ever get the funds up to build the new one, I plan to use the existing system for music work.
More likely though I will expand the memory on my current system to the most it can support (24 GB) and possibly drop in a 3.3 GHz X5680 6 core Xeon to speed up the rendering a little more. No point in getting a newer GPU as the board only supports PCI 2.0.
Currently retired and on a fixed income.
The loss of VRAM from using Windows 10 likely more than offsets the performance gained from DirectX 12
No it won't, because the use of improved parallel processing techniques effectively increases access the remaining VRAM by the number of cores used to parallel process, thereby obliterating any small decrease in the amount of available VRAM.
Not when you consider how much VRAM is used by large scenes; if you hit the limit (lower by however much Windows has chosen to reserve) you are automatically kicked back to CPU rendering which as far as I know does not benefit from that.
I understand your situation, I am disabled and getting SSI so I have to pinch pennies to afford this hobby.
PCIe 3.0 cards will work in PCIe 2.0 slots. They won't be as effective as they would be in a PCIe 3.0 slot, but they will work. Obviously a 1080 in a 2.0 slot would be a little rediculous, but a 760 or 970 might be reasonable although not very effective for Iray.