Workstation

[imthewalrus]

Hello guys, so I am trying to build a workstation for my brother that works a lot using Adobe suite and Maya. 

 

Our budget is 1900 dollars for everything (including monitor and OS). We do have some spare hard drives that is why I only included one. What would you guys improve, or change? 

 

 

ASUS 24X DVD Burner - $19.99

 

Corsair Obsidian Series 350D  - $99.99

 

Western Digital WD Green WD20EZRX 2TB  - $89.99

 

ASUS VE247H 1080p Black 23.6" - $159.99

 

EVGA 03G-P4-2781-KR GeForce GTX 780 3GB - $519.99

 

SeaSonic G Series SSR-550RM 550W - $79.99

 

2 x ADATA XPG V2 16GB (2 x 8GB) - $289.98

 

ASUS VANGUARD B85 LGA 1150 - $99.99

 

Microsoft Windows 7 Professional SP1 64-bit - $139.99

 

Cooler Master Hyper T4 - $29.99

 

Combo: Intel core I7 4770 + Samsung 840 EVO lll 120 GB - $387.98

 

Price: $1900.87

[TheNinjaNextDor]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

 

CPU:  Intel Core i7-4770K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($309.99 @ NCIX US) 

CPU Cooler:  Corsair H100i 77.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler  ($104.99 @ Newegg) 

Motherboard:  Gigabyte GA-Z87X-UD4H ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($159.99 @ Micro Center) 

Memory:  Corsair Vengeance LP 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory  ($159.99 @ Amazon) 

Storage:  Samsung 840 EVO 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk  ($78.99 @ Newegg) 

Storage:  Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($54.98 @ OutletPC) 

Video Card:  EVGA GeForce GTX 780 3GB Video Card  ($499.99 @ NCIX US) 

Case:  Fractal Design Define R4 w/Window (Black Pearl) ATX Mid Tower Case  ($84.99 @ Micro Center) 

Power Supply:  EVGA SuperNOVA 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($79.50 @ Amazon) 

Operating System:  Microsoft Windows 8.1 Pro - 64-bit (OEM) (64-bit)  ($129.99 @ Best Buy) 

Monitor:  AOC i2369V 60Hz 23.0" Monitor  ($148.62 @ TigerDirect) 

Total: $1812.02

(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)

(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-04-18 22:12 EDT-0400)

 

I didn't see he needed a monitor.

[TheSLSAMG]

Change case to Cooler Master N200, get a better motherboard, screw the aftermarket CPU cooler and done.

 

Oh yeah, get a nice IPS monitor.

[imthewalrus]

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

 

CPU:  Intel Core i7-4770K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($309.99 @ NCIX US) 

CPU Cooler:  Corsair H100i 77.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler  ($104.99 @ Newegg) 

 

Memory:  Corsair Vengeance LP 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory  ($159.99 @ Amazon) 

 

Total: $1812.02

(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)

(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-04-18 22:12 EDT-0400)

 

I didn't see he needed a monitor.

 

 

 

That looks awesome! But the prob is that we wanted 32 GB of ram. We also do not plan to overclock as this is just an office build. 

 

 

Change case to Cooler Master N200, get a better motherboard, screw the aftermarket CPU cooler and done.

 

Oh yeah, get a nice IPS monitor.

 

You are probably right, but what is bad with the vanguard motherboard? We chose it because it had a 5 year warranty.

[TheNinjaNextDor]

That looks awesome! But the prob is that we wanted 32 GB of ram. We also do not plan to overclock as this is just an office build. 

 

 

 

You are probably right, but what is bad with the vanguard motherboard? We chose it because it had a 5 year warranty.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

 

CPU:  Intel Core i7-4770K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($309.99 @ NCIX US) 

CPU Cooler:  Noctua NH-U14S 55.0 CFM CPU Cooler  ($54.92 @ NCIX US) 

Motherboard:  Gigabyte GA-Z87X-UD4H ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($159.99 @ Micro Center) 

Memory:  Corsair Vengeance 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($325.98 @ Newegg) 

Storage:  Samsung 840 EVO 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk  ($78.99 @ Newegg) 

Storage:  Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($54.98 @ OutletPC) 

Video Card:  EVGA GeForce GTX 780 3GB Video Card  ($499.99 @ NCIX US) 

Case:  Fractal Design Define R4 w/Window (Black Pearl) ATX Mid Tower Case  ($84.99 @ Micro Center) 

Power Supply:  EVGA SuperNOVA 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($79.50 @ Amazon) 

Operating System:  Microsoft Windows 8.1 - 64-bit (OEM) (64-bit)  ($94.99 @ Best Buy) 

Monitor:  AOC i2369V 60Hz 23.0" Monitor  ($148.62 @ TigerDirect) 

Total: $1892.94

(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)

(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-04-18 22:19 EDT-0400)

 

There was no reason to not use a K processor when I could get everything he wanted. You can OC if you want to (I would recommend it)

[TheSLSAMG]

That looks awesome! But the prob is that we wanted 32 GB of ram. We also do not plan to overclock as this is just an office build. 

 

 

 

You are probably right, but what is bad with the vanguard motherboard? We chose it because it had a 5 year warranty.

There's nothing inherently wrong with it, but I have not been fond of ASUS' boards personally (but to be fair, there is nothing wrong with the Vanguard.)

 

As for other stuff, some people don't see the whole workstation aspect of it and instead stay in the gamer mindset. Your initial build with my changes will be a better machine for doing what your brother needs to do.

[CoolBeans]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i7-4770K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($309.99 @ NCIX US)

CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.98 @ OutletPC)

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z87X-HD3 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($126.49 @ Newegg)

Memory: G.Skill Sniper 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($74.99 @ Newegg)

Storage: A-Data Premier Pro SP900 128GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($69.99 @ TigerDirect)

Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($54.98 @ OutletPC)

Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 780 3GB Video Card (2-Way SLI) ($469.99 @ Newegg)

Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 780 3GB Video Card (2-Way SLI) ($469.99 @ Newegg)

Case: Fractal Design Arc Midi R2 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($109.99 @ NCIX US)

Power Supply: SeaSonic M12II 850W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($109.99 @ Amazon)

Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($89.98 @ OutletPC)

Total: $1916.36

(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)

(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-04-18 22:22 EDT-0400)

[IdeaStormer]

He's going to need a lot more disk space and fast disk space.

 

On the cheap two 1TB's in RAID 0 and then a 4TB for long term storage unless he has a NAS already.

The SSD is fine for OS and apps but will be filled up fast if he's doing serious Maya work so should not be used for Maya work. If he can afford it a 1TB range SSD for his instant work/editing but that's going to go fast if he builds a ton of Maya scenes and other editing scenarios. So a fast RAID 0 setup will help out with that.

 

Do a RAID 0 with 4 1TB drives for even more stabler speed and space if the budget allows. Then upwards (more drives in RAID 0) if again budget allows, assuming he has enough backup space for that.

 

After you build it and if you don't have fast storage it will be his first complaint no matter what Video Card or CPU you get because everything he creates will need to be written to the drive and that's a lot when it comes to Maya.

[imthewalrus]

He's going to need a lot more disk space and fast disk space.

 

On the cheap two 1TB's in RAID 0 and then a 4TB for long term storage unless he has a NAS already.

The SSD is fine for OS and apps but will be filled up fast if he's doing serious Maya work so should not be used for Maya work. If he can afford it a 1TB range SSD for his instant work/editing but that's going to go fast if he builds a ton of Maya scenes and other editing scenarios. So a fast RAID 0 setup will help out with that.

 

Do a RAID 0 with 4 1TB drives for even more stabler speed and space if the budget allows. Then upwards (more drives in RAID 0) if again budget allows, assuming he has enough backup space for that.

 

After you build it and if you don't have fast storage it will be his first complaint no matter what Video Card or CPU you get because everything he creates will need to be written to the drive and that's a lot when it comes to Maya.

 

 

We are planning to get a NAS in the future however that is out of this current budget. We do have some WD Red 3 TB drives laying around from a previous computer like I mentioned in the OP. However I do have a question, cant you just use another drive instead of the SSD for the scenes and scenarios?

[IdeaStormer]

We are planning to get a NAS in the future however that is out of this current budget. We do have some WD Red 3 TB drives laying around from a previous computer like I mentioned in the OP. However I do have a question, cant you just use another drive instead of the SSD for the scenes and scenarios?

 

Well then set up a RAID 0 of a few of those drive for his work/scratch space for his editing/scene builds.

[brob]

Hello guys, so I am trying to build a workstation for my brother that works a lot using Adobe suite and Maya. 

 

Our budget is 1900 dollars for everything (including monitor and OS). We do have some spare hard drives that is why I only included one. What would you guys improve, or change? 

. . .

 

If not overclocking the stock cooler will do a good job. I'm not a fan of WD Green drives. A bigger ssd is a good idea. As is a better monitor. There is no real need for Windows 8.1 Professional.

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU:  Intel Xeon E3-1240 V3 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($267.98 @ SuperBiiz)

Motherboard:  Asus H87M-PRO Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($122.55 @ Newegg)

Memory:  Crucial Ballistix Sport 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($259.99 @ Newegg)

Storage:  Kingston SSDNow V300 Series 240GB 2.5" Solid State Disk  ($99.99 @ TigerDirect)

Storage:  Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($82.99 @ NCIX US)

Video Card:  EVGA GeForce GTX 780 3GB Video Card  ($499.99 @ Newegg)

Case:  Cooler Master N200 MicroATX Mid Tower Case  ($45.99 @ NCIX US)

Power Supply:  SeaSonic G 550W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($79.99 @ Amazon)

Optical Drive:  Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer  ($14.99 @ Amazon)

Operating System:  Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit)  ($89.98 @ OutletPC)

Monitor:  Asus PA248Q 24.1" Monitor  ($287.78 @ Amazon)

Total: $1852.22

(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)

(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-04-19 01:54 EDT-0400)

[imthewalrus]

If not overclocking the stock cooler will do a good job. I'm not a fan of WD Green drives. A bigger ssd is a good idea. As is a better monitor. There is no real need for Windows 8.1 Professional.

 

Total: $1852.22

(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)

(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-04-19 01:54 EDT-0400)

 

 

Thank you if we do i think this is something similar to what we are going to go with.