First build - 3D modeling 1 200 USD

[Mikolas_]

Hi,
I need new PC for my bachelors degree thesis: lots of Blender stuff, I can do final renders at schools pc farm (4K, 8K), but I have to be able to render previews in reasonable resolution and time. Yes I do play games, but I don’t need to have all settings ultra… And I do some After Effects work (not much)

I insist on nVidia GPU and Intel CPU (openGL development - library dependencies…)
This is what i have so far:
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/2ybvmG

EDIT: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/n3jyyc // alternative version after some changes from your comments - this costs 1250 USD where I live...

i5-4690
gtx760
8GB RAM

256GB SSD
1TB HDD

Gigabite Z97X Gaming 3 motherboard

Would you, pc build masters, pick different parts for the build?

Additional info for those, who don’t mind reading a bit more:

My budget is about 1200 USD. I could spend a bit more, I just don’t like to overkill when buying tech stuff. I’d much rather upgrade my pc after a year or so with more memory, more storage or better gpu, it it would be worth it.

I was thinking about the new gtx970, but gtx760 looks already pretty powerfull to me and I’m not sure about the extra money.

I’m also not a big fan of overclocking (invest in better collers etc, why not to buy better in component in the first place?), but if you convince me it’s worth it, then sure, why not.

Thanks for all you thoughts and replies,
Mikolas

[MrKickkiller]

If not overclocking, get another motherboard.

Your cpu does not overclock and you do not want to overclock, but why would you buy an overclocking ready motherboard?

 

I would pick from this motherboard list: http://pcpartpicker.com/parts/motherboard/#c=100&s=24

 

 

Don't know much about rendering but wouldn't it benefit from higher amounts of VRAM?

Seeing as you wanna render previews or images in 4K i would suggest getting a higher amount of VRAM, perhaps 4gb?

Maybe you could use the money you save on the mobo into investing in better computing performance.

 

My suggestion:

 

[PCPartPicker part list](http://pcpartpicker.com/p/Fqr6mG) / [Price breakdown by merchant](http://pcpartpicker.com/p/Fqr6mG/by_merchant/)

 

Type | Item | Price

 

CPU** | [intel Core i5-4690 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/intel-cpu-bx80646i54690) | $219.99 @ NCIX US 

CPU Cooler** | [Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/cooler-master-cpu-cooler-rr212e20pkr2) | $29.98 @ OutletPC 

Motherboard** | [Asus H97-PLUS ATX LGA1150 Motherboard](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/asus-motherboard-h97plus) | $89.34 @ SuperBiiz 

Memory** | [Kingston Fury Black Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/kingston-memory-hx316c10fbk28) | $68.85 @ SuperBiiz 

Storage** | [samsung 840 EVO 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/samsung-internal-hard-drive-mz7te250bw) | $109.99 @ Amazon 

Storage** | [Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/western-digital-internal-hard-drive-wd10ezex) | $48.49 @ OutletPC 

Video Card** | [Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 4GB WINDFORCE Video Card](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/gigabyte-video-card-gvn970g1gaming4gd) | $354.98 @ NCIX US 

Case** | [NZXT S340 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/nzxt-case-cas340wb1) | $64.99 @ Micro Center 

Power Supply** | [Corsair RM 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/corsair-power-supply-cp9020054ww) | $79.99 @ Newegg 

Operating System** | [Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit)](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/microsoft-os-wn700615) | $86.43 @ SuperBiiz 

Total:

 | Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available | $1153.03

 

 

The extra money you have left can be used for additional storage, better NIC?, fans etc

[SeanBond]

 

If not overclocking, get another motherboard.

Your cpu does not overclock and you do not want to overclock, but why would you buy an overclocking ready motherboard?

 

I would pick from this motherboard list: http://pcpartpicker.com/parts/motherboard/#c=100&s=24

 

 

Don't know much about rendering but wouldn't it benefit from higher amounts of VRAM?

Seeing as you wanna render previews or images in 4K i would suggest getting a higher amount of VRAM, perhaps 4gb?

Maybe you could use the money you save on the mobo into investing in better computing performance.

 

My suggestion:

[PCPartPicker part list](http://pcpartpicker.com/p/Fqr6mG) / [Price breakdown by merchant](http://pcpartpicker.com/p/Fqr6mG/by_merchant/)

 

Type|Item|Price

:----|:----|:----

**CPU** | [intel Core i5-4690 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/intel-cpu-bx80646i54690) | $219.99 @ NCIX US 

**CPU Cooler** | [Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/cooler-master-cpu-cooler-rr212e20pkr2) | $29.98 @ OutletPC 

**Motherboard** | [Asus H97-PLUS ATX LGA1150 Motherboard](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/asus-motherboard-h97plus) | $89.34 @ SuperBiiz 

**Memory** | [Kingston Fury Black Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/kingston-memory-hx316c10fbk28) | $68.85 @ SuperBiiz 

**Storage** | [samsung 840 EVO 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/samsung-internal-hard-drive-mz7te250bw) | $109.99 @ Amazon 

**Storage** | [Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/western-digital-internal-hard-drive-wd10ezex) | $48.49 @ OutletPC 

**Video Card** | [Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 4GB WINDFORCE Video Card](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/gigabyte-video-card-gvn970g1gaming4gd) | $354.98 @ NCIX US 

**Case** | [NZXT S340 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/nzxt-case-cas340wb1) | $64.99 @ Micro Center 

**Power Supply** | [Corsair RM 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/corsair-power-supply-cp9020054ww) | $79.99 @ Newegg 

**Operating System** | [Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit)](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/microsoft-os-wn700615) | $86.43 @ SuperBiiz 

 | | **Total**

 | Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available | $1153.03

 | Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-11-27 06:10 EST-0500 |

 

I am with you completely until the corsair RM series. You can get a evga g2 750w for less than that after rebate and that will BLOW the RM series out of the water. The RM series is okay. But MASSIVELY overpriced. Get the evga super nova g2 instead. It's a much better psu for less and for the rest of this build this guy knows what he is talking about. It's awesome.

[MrKickkiller]

I am with you completely until the corsair RM series. You can get a evga g2 750w for less than that after rebate and that will BLOW the RM series out of the water. The RM series is okay. But MASSIVELY overpriced. Get the evga super nova g2 instead. It's a much better psu for less and for the rest of this build this guy knows what he is talking about. It's awesome.

 

 

Yeah I kinda love Corsair.

SORRY!

 

I have a Corsair obsidian 750d and an AX860i, i know overpriced but looks good and is silent as f***

@SeanBond : You are free to repost this with a better PSU.

 

As to the post: Shame i didn't have the budget for putting an GTX 980.

Why 980? The motherboard doesn't support sli so the option of 1 GTX 970 now and 1 later was not an option.

[SeanBond]

Yeah I kinda love Corsair.

SORRY!

 

I have a Corsair obsidian 750d and an AX860i, i know overpriced but looks good and is silent as f***

Evga g2 has eco mode that turns off the fan completely. I am not sure with my build it has ever turned on. The AXI is a great power supply no doubt. But it's massively more expensive than the g2 series but with roughly the same quality. I could never recommend it. The p2 matches the platinum rating as well. Still cheaper. The only benefit to the AXi is the software. But the warranty of 10 years on the evga's outweighs it still in my opinion.

[Deli]

GTX760 is a re-brand GTX670. The GTX6xx series is not good for running Blender. Before the GTX780(Ti), the best GPU for Blender is GTX580. GTX780(Ti) is also good. But two GTX750 Ti are faster than one GTX Titan Black. When running Blender, the program will use both GPUs simutaneously, even without SLI. A single GTX750 Ti is faster than a GTX760 in this case.

 

Not sure about the new GTX970 and 980.

[MrKickkiller]

GTX760 is a re-brand GTX670. The GTX6xx series is not good for running Blender. Before the GTX780(Ti), the best GPU for Blender is GTX580. GTX780(Ti) is also good. But two GTX750 Ti are faster than one GTX Titan Black. When running Blender, the program will use both GPUs simutaneously, even without SLI.

 

What would be the outcome of the furious battle between 1 GTX 970 and 2 GTX 750ti?

[natelliot123]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($299.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D14 65.0 CFM CPU Cooler  ($67.75 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97X-UD3H-BK ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($99.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws Z Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-2400 Memory  ($63.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial M500 M.2 240GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive  ($114.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 3TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($89.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 4GB WINDFORCE Video Card  ($354.98 @ NCIX US)
Case: NZXT S340 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case  ($64.99 @ Micro Center)
Power Supply: Corsair CSM 450W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1156.66
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-11-27 07:30 EST-0500

[Dezz]

Why not to try Xeon E3 - 1321v3?

Price as i5 and also has hyper-threading (4cores, 8threads).

So basically i7 without integrated graphics (which I suppose you won't use as you're going to buy GTX760) that can't be overclocked (you said that you don't want to do that).

- first check if the mobo will support Xeon

 

*Correct me if I'm not right*

[Mikolas_]

Thanks for you replies

Soooo I'm gonna start with the power suply...
Evga G2 costs 3 times more, then the power suply I picked... I know sh*t about power suply, but that seems like a bit too much. (about the same for the Corsair)

I'm from Czech republic, our currency is currently not doing good.... so gtx970 does not cost +-350USD but over 420USD and the same goes for all the components
i5-4690 is about 270 USD in here.. So thats probably why you included the 970 and still fit in the budget

I agree with the motherboard change to  ASUS H97-PLUS - Intel H97, only difference between z97 and h97 is overclocking support and the splitting of PCI-E lines right?
 

 

I am with you completely until the corsair RM series. You can get a evga g2 750w for less than that after rebate and that will BLOW the RM series out of the water. The RM series is okay. But MASSIVELY overpriced. Get the evga super nova g2 instead. It's a much better psu for less and for the rest of this build this guy knows what he is talking about. It's awesome.

 

 

 

If not overclocking, get another motherboard.

Your cpu does not overclock and you do not want to overclock, but why would you buy an overclocking ready motherboard?

 

I would pick from this motherboard list: http://pcpartpicker.com/parts/motherboard/#c=100&s=24

 

 

Don't know much about rendering but wouldn't it benefit from higher amounts of VRAM?

Seeing as you wanna render previews or images in 4K i would suggest getting a higher amount of VRAM, perhaps 4gb?

Maybe you could use the money you save on the mobo into investing in better computing performance.

 

My suggestion:

 

[PCPartPicker part list](http://pcpartpicker.com/p/Fqr6mG) / [Price breakdown by merchant](http://pcpartpicker.com/p/Fqr6mG/by_merchant/)

 

Type | Item | Price

 

CPU** | [intel Core i5-4690 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/intel-cpu-bx80646i54690) | $219.99 @ NCIX US 

CPU Cooler** | [Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/cooler-master-cpu-cooler-rr212e20pkr2) | $29.98 @ OutletPC 

Motherboard** | [Asus H97-PLUS ATX LGA1150 Motherboard](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/asus-motherboard-h97plus) | $89.34 @ SuperBiiz 

Memory** | [Kingston Fury Black Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/kingston-memory-hx316c10fbk28) | $68.85 @ SuperBiiz 

Storage** | [samsung 840 EVO 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/samsung-internal-hard-drive-mz7te250bw) | $109.99 @ Amazon 

Storage** | [Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/western-digital-internal-hard-drive-wd10ezex) | $48.49 @ OutletPC 

Video Card** | [Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 4GB WINDFORCE Video Card](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/gigabyte-video-card-gvn970g1gaming4gd) | $354.98 @ NCIX US 

Case** | [NZXT S340 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/nzxt-case-cas340wb1) | $64.99 @ Micro Center 

Power Supply** | [Corsair RM 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/corsair-power-supply-cp9020054ww) | $79.99 @ Newegg 

Operating System** | [Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit)](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/microsoft-os-wn700615) | $86.43 @ SuperBiiz 

Total:

 | Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available | $1153.03

 

 

The extra money you have left can be used for additional storage, better NIC?, fans etc

 

[Mikolas_]

Why not to try Xeon E3 - 1321v3?

Price as i5 and also has hyper-threading (4cores, 8threads).

So basically i7 without integrated graphics (which I suppose you won't use as you're going to buy GTX760) that can't be overclocked (you said that you don't want to do that).

- first check if the mobo will support Xeon

 

*Correct me if I'm not right*

Hmm cool idea, it costs about 35USD more here, but 8 threads And yeah, that integrated i5 GPU is a total waste for me.

I'm gonna think about that change

[SeanBond]

Thanks for you replies

Soooo I'm gonna start with the power suply...

Evga G2 costs 3 times more, then the power suply I picked... I know sh*t about power suply, but that seems like a bit too much. (about the same for the Corsair)

I'm from Czech republic, our currency is currently not doing good.... so gtx970 does not cost +-350USD but over 420USD and the same goes for all the components

i5-4690 is about 270 USD in here.. So thats probably why you included the 970 and still fit in the budget

I agree with the motherboard change to  ASUS H97-PLUS - Intel H97, only difference between z97 and h97 is overclocking support and the splitting of PCI-E lines right?

 

I guess you are not in america I take it? The evga g2 is on sale for 70 dollars after rebate right now. Which is a steal. If you want to know how good a power supply is check johnny guru reviews before anyone else. 

[GangstaRas]

Hi,

I need new PC for my bachelors degree thesis: lots of Blender stuff, I can do final renders at schools pc farm (4K, 8K), but I have to be able to render previews in reasonable resolution and time. Yes I do play games, but I don’t need to have all settings ultra… And I do some After Effects work (not much)

I insist on nVidia GPU and Intel CPU (openGL development - library dependencies…)

This is what i have so far:

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/2ybvmG

EDIT: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/n3jyyc // alternative version after some changes from your comments - this costs 1250 USD where I live...

i5-4690

gtx760

8GB RAM

256GB SSD

1TB HDD

Gigabite Z97X Gaming 3 motherboard

Would you, pc build masters, pick different parts for the build?

Additional info for those, who don’t mind reading a bit more:

My budget is about 1200 USD. I could spend a bit more, I just don’t like to overkill when buying tech stuff. I’d much rather upgrade my pc after a year or so with more memory, more storage or better gpu, it it would be worth it.

I was thinking about the new gtx970, but gtx760 looks already pretty powerfull to me and I’m not sure about the extra money.

I’m also not a big fan of overclocking (invest in better collers etc, why not to buy better in component in the first place?), but if you convince me it’s worth it, then sure, why not.

Thanks for all you thoughts and replies,

Mikolas

as a Blender user myself, from my researching, this is one of those times you're going to need to go SLI and also use the newest NVIDIA GPUs for the best performance. The way how Blender scales is not really in the bigger chip but more in the CUDA compute version. So for example a 750 Ti would be able to be on par with a 760 even though its a much weaker card but the 750 Ti supports 5.0 CUDA computing rather than 3.0 of the 760. Also you are able to mix GPUs and have them work together in Blender, its not strict on SLI but what I haven't found out is if you get strange results in the render (eg. if you render with CPU + GPU, the squares rendered by the CPU will look different than the squares of the GPU and so the image won't look like smooth buttery good so Idk if mixing GPU versions will cause that too, I doubt it though) so yh, these are some things to consider. I'll soon make a build out of the budget

[GangstaRas]

This would serve you immensely well in Blender

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

 

CPU: Intel Core i5-4440 3.1GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($164.29 @ Amazon) 

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97X-SLI ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($88.99 @ Newegg) 

Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($54.99 @ Newegg) 

Storage: Corsair Force LS 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($84.99 @ Newegg) 

Storage: Seagate Barracuda ES 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($45.00 @ Amazon) 

Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 970 4GB STRIX Video Card (2-Way SLI)  ($334.98 @ NCIX US) 

Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 970 4GB STRIX Video Card (2-Way SLI)  ($334.98 @ NCIX US) 

Case: NZXT S340 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case  ($64.99 @ Micro Center) 

Power Supply: Corsair Builder 750W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($74.99 @ Newegg) 

Total: $1248.20

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-11-27 15:32 EST-0500

[brob]

Get an 8-thread Xeon (E3 1231 V3 or better). I would also suggest getting 2x8GB of memory. As nice as the M.2 ssd is, I would suggest going with a less expensive SATA 6Gb/s drive - the money is better spent on a better cpu and memory. Since blender can use the gpu for accelerating rendering, the most powerful gpu affordable is optimal.

[Dezz]

When you will be buying components, use heureka.cz and try to find lowest price but at some trustworthy shops. Maybe the shop have office in your city and you can also save on shipping (if you will buy components from different shops).

 

//edit there was asus 970 for 9000kč/325€ (already sold) at czc.cz

[Dezz]

 

This would serve you immensely well in Blender

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

 

CPU: Intel Core i5-4440 3.1GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($164.29 @ Amazon) 

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97X-SLI ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($88.99 @ Newegg) 

Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($54.99 @ Newegg) 

Storage: Corsair Force LS 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($84.99 @ Newegg) 

Storage: Seagate Barracuda ES 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($45.00 @ Amazon) 

Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 970 4GB STRIX Video Card (2-Way SLI)  ($334.98 @ NCIX US) 

Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 970 4GB STRIX Video Card (2-Way SLI)  ($334.98 @ NCIX US) 

Case: NZXT S340 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case  ($64.99 @ Micro Center) 

Power Supply: Corsair Builder 750W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($74.99 @ Newegg) 

Total: $1248.20

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-11-27 15:32 EST-0500

 

I'm not sure how exactly Blender works, I've read some page about using GPU for rendering, but wouldn't it be better for him to just take better CPU instead of 2 graphic cards? (does it support GPU rending with SLI configuration?)

Basically Xeon or i7 for 500 USD will be quiet good (500USD = - i5(160USD) - 1x970(340USD))

[MrKickkiller]

I tried once more to find the OP a build.

This time:

• Xeon
• 16gb of memory
• Strong Nvidia GPU
• Sli support
• 250 gb ssd
• Quality PSU (If you do not believe me, look at the rating on PCP)

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

 

CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1230 V3 3.3GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($234.98 @ SuperBiiz) 

CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler  ($26.99 @ NCIX US) 

Motherboard: ASRock Z97 Extreme3 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($111.95 @ SuperBiiz) 

Memory: Corsair Vengeance 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($140.99 @ NCIX US) 

Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($109.00 @ Amazon) 

Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($49.99 @ Amazon) 

Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB Superclocked ACX 2.0 Video Card  ($344.99 @ SuperBiiz) 

Case: Fractal Design Core 2300 ATX Full Tower Case  ($34.99 @ NCIX US) 

Power Supply: Corsair CX 600W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($49.99 @ NCIX US) 

Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit)  ($86.42 @ OutletPC) 

Total: $1190.29

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-11-28 04:28 EST-0500

[GangstaRas]

I'm not sure how exactly Blender works, I've read some page about using GPU for rendering, but wouldn't it be better for him to just take better CPU instead of 2 graphic cards? (does it support GPU rending with SLI configuration?)

Basically Xeon or i7 for 500 USD will be quiet good (500USD = - i5(160USD) - 1x970(340USD))

No, it would make his life a lot worse for Blender atleast, but the little time he spends in After Effects wud go up using stronger CPUs. Unless you're using CPU to do the final rendering of an image, if you have a CUDA capable GPU, you can pretty much be running on a Core 2 Duo and some Titans and still have the best experience Blender offers. Its one of those rare programs where the CPU's resources when punching in information is highly limited and underutilized (might be needed in some compositioning tasks that don't use GPU acceleration but I have yet to see such a task come my way atleast) IF you have GPU compute enabled and the more CUDA GPUs, whether the same kind in SLI or mixing and matching of like people who do dedicated Physx setups, every drop of GPU horsepower counts immensely in this program

[GangstaRas]

I'm not sure how exactly Blender works, I've read some page about using GPU for rendering, but wouldn't it be better for him to just take better CPU instead of 2 graphic cards? (does it support GPU rending with SLI configuration?)

Basically Xeon or i7 for 500 USD will be quiet good (500USD = - i5(160USD) - 1x970(340USD))

No, it would make his life a lot worse for Blender atleast, but the little time he spends in After Effects wud go up using stronger CPUs. Unless you're using CPU to do the final rendering of an image, if you have a CUDA capable GPU, you can pretty much be running on a Core 2 Duo and some Titans and still have the best experience Blender offers. Its one of those rare programs where the CPU's resources when punching in information is highly limited and underutilized (might be needed in some compositioning tasks that don't use GPU acceleration but I have yet to see such a task come my way atleast) IF you have GPU compute enabled and the more CUDA GPUs, whether the same kind in SLI or mixing and matching of like people who do dedicated Physx setups, every drop of GPU horsepower counts immensely in this program

[Dezz]

No, it would make his life a lot worse for Blender atleast, but the little time he spends in After Effects wud go up using stronger CPUs. Unless you're using CPU to do the final rendering of an image, if you have a CUDA capable GPU, you can pretty much be running on a Core 2 Duo and some Titans and still have the best experience Blender offers. Its one of those rare programs where the CPU's resources when punching in information is highly limited and underutilized (might be needed in some compositioning tasks that don't use GPU acceleration but I have yet to see such a task come my way atleast) IF you have GPU compute enabled and the more CUDA GPUs, whether the same kind in SLI or mixing and matching of like people who do dedicated Physx setups, every drop of GPU horsepower counts immensely in this program

In that case it's all right.