Workstation build

[Nem]

Looking for some critique of my new workstation build:

 

http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/user/nem2k/saved/XJLFf7

 

Does it all work together? Is there anything that you would change around?

 

My budget is $2500 (CAD) for the parts listed in the link - this must include both tax and shipping costs (to vancouver, canada). There is no cpu cooler in the list because I have a custom water loop planned. So $2500 for the machine minus the cpu cooling

 

Water cooling loop can be found here if it helps: http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/227245-water-cooling-loop-critique/

 

I will be using this mostly as a compositing and video workstation, with some 3D modelling/texturing at times. Programs include Nuke (primarily), Zbrush, Maya and Mari

 

The goal is to try to minimize rendering times and maximize viewport performance

 

All parts (cpu, gpu, ram) will be overclocked. Would prefer to stick with the i7 series instead of going xeon. And I will be reusing the SSD in my current computer as a cache/swap drive (on top of the SSD and HDD in the list above)

 

A few questions I have:

 

1. Is the 750w PSU enough to power this machine?

2. Are the quiet edition Corsair fans enough for cooling? CPU will be cooled via water

3. Should I jump back a gpu generation and grab a 6gb card to handle larger texture files? workstation cards are out of the question as they eat heavily into my budget (none of my programs are particularly gpu intensive anyway)

4. When do you expect DDR4 prices to begin dropping a bit? Are we looking at a few weeks or a few months?

[OfficialJsP]

NVM didn't read the full post

 

You need to add a CPU cooler the i7-5820K dose not come with a stock cooler

[Archangel1994]

1. 750 is enough to run 2 graphics cards so you're completely fine on that.

2. They are enough but if you want higher performance then Noctua fans are better, albeit more expensive and uglier

3. No real need unless you make things with crazy big textures

4. DDR4 prices are expected to drop with the release of skylake since that's probably when DDR4 will be available for consumer chipsets like the Z97 equivalent for Skylake

[FlashingKool_Z]

There is no cpu cooler in the list because I have a custom water loop planned. So $2500 for the machine minus the cpu cooling

 

 

You need to add a CPU cooler the i7-5820K dose not come with a stock cooler

You should read

[virtualTune]

how much do you plan on spending on cooling?

 

Stay away from EVO drives. buy MX from Crucial instead. no need for a black HDD. buy a barracuda if you want storage for a low price. I assume you have a NAS otherwise 1TB won't cut it. I don't recommend the RM series. Mine gets really hot when the fan isn't spinning. 

Depending on the rendering engine you use, it will either be heavily CPU or GPU intensive. Since you said, you applications don't use the GPU much, the 6-core is the better option. I have the performance Edition SP120s and in idle they are just as quiet. My guess is DDR4 won't drop until next year. 

[Hatsune Miku 「 」]

how much do you plan on spending on cooling?

 

Stay away from EVO drives. buy MX from Crucial instead. no need for a black HDD. buy a barracuda if you want storage for a low price. I assume you have a NAS otherwise 1TB won't cut it. I don't recommend the RM series. Mine gets really hot when the fan isn't spinning. 

Depending on the rendering engine you use, it will either be heavily CPU or GPU intensive. Since you said, you applications don't use the GPU much, the 6-core is the better option. I have the performance Edition SP120s and in idle they are just as quiet. My guess is DDR4 won't drop until next year. 

What is wrong with Samsung EVO drives?

[virtualTune]

What is wrong with Samsung EVO drives?

http://www.overclock.net/t/1507897/samsung-840-evo-read-speed-drops-on-old-written-data-in-the-drive

 

Although it seems that a few days ago Samsung announced a new firmware that will supposedly fix the problem. If that is true, then EVO is of course just as viable again. 

[Hatsune Miku 「 」]

http://www.overclock.net/t/1507897/samsung-840-evo-read-speed-drops-on-old-written-data-in-the-drive

 

Although it seems that a few days ago Samsung announced a new firmware that will supposedly fix the problem. If that is true, then EVO is of course just as viable again. 

There was a bug? Sorry if I hadn't notice. Been using my EVO drives in RAID since I got them so I couldn't tell much less notice. Been getting GB/s reads and writes.

[virtualTune]

There was a bug? Sorry if I hadn't notice. Been using my EVO drives in RAID since I got them so I couldn't tell much less notice. Been getting GB/s reads and writes.

good for you. But yeah, there IS still a bug and until they have officially fixed it, I can not recommend the drives. I too have one ^^

[Nem]

how much do you plan on spending on cooling?

 

Stay away from EVO drives. buy MX from Crucial instead. no need for a black HDD. buy a barracuda if you want storage for a low price. I assume you have a NAS otherwise 1TB won't cut it. I don't recommend the RM series. Mine gets really hot when the fan isn't spinning. 

Depending on the rendering engine you use, it will either be heavily CPU or GPU intensive. Since you said, you applications don't use the GPU much, the 6-core is the better option. I have the performance Edition SP120s and in idle they are just as quiet. My guess is DDR4 won't drop until next year. 

 

thanks for letting me know about the EVO. Think I'll dump that for something else

 

1. Whats the difference between the crucial MX and the M500/550 series?

 

2. Any thoughts on the kingston V300 drives? These are the cheapest drives I can find right now (weekly special at ncix)

 

3. A lot of people have recommended the black series WD drives, whats the reason for not needing one in my case?

 

4. The reason I was OK going for a 0 rpm PSU was because the heat from my cpu wont get dumped into the case as it will get pulled straight out via the radiator, which would allow for the psu to get a little hot. What other recommendations do you have for a psu in the same price range? I was thinking of going for the AX series but wasn't sure I'd need the extra efficiency given they cost more

 

5. How loud are the performance edition SP120 under load compared to the quiet?

[virtualTune]

1. Whats the difference between the crucial MX and the M500/550 series?

M500 has 250MB/s write speed and 256MB cache. MX100 has 350MB/s and M550 has 500MB/s and both have 512MB cache. M550 is a good chunk more expensive though.

 

2. Any thoughts on the kingston V300 drives? These are the cheapest drives I can find right now (weekly special at ncix)

For the MX100 series the MTBF is 1.5M hours vs the 1M of the Kingston. Also the Crucial has significantly more Random writes and reads. If you don't care about that because you will buy an m.2 in a year anyways, the the V300 is a fine choice.

3. A lot of people have recommended the black series WD drives, whats the reason for not needing one in my case?

My bad! Totally mixed up with another model. I assume you have a NAS though, since that 1TB is gonna be full in no time.

 

4. The reason I was OK going for a 0 rpm PSU was because the heat from my cpu wont get dumped into the case as it will get pulled straight out via the radiator, which would allow for the psu to get a little hot. What other recommendations do you have for a psu in the same price range? I was thinking of going for the AX series but wasn't sure I'd need the extra efficiency given they cost more

No need for AX in a workstation. I assume since you are buying a Graphite series case, that you want to show off your setup as well. Cables can be tricky to hide, especially with such a large window. Corsair PSUs have cables that are rather difficult for cable management (@Windspeed36 can tell you more on that). I suggest the 750W EVGA SuperNOVA (Modular).

 

5. How loud are the performance edition SP120 under load compared to the quiet?

It depends on how high you want to OC. Since you are using it as a workstation, you will hardly care wether you are at 4.5GHz or >4.7GHz. At 6V you can hear them a little, at 8V they are definitely audible, at 12V it's lift-off. When I do over night rendering I keep my CPU at a cool 4.3GHz and run the fans at ~7V.

Can't comment on the noise of the quiet edition. However if you don't care for that extra 100 or 200 MHz then I think the quiet edition should be your first choice. I specifically bought these for 5GHz OCs. Otherwise I would have bought Quiet edition as well. (Keep in mind, there is always Noctua )

Hope I could help!

[Nem]

thanks for the reply

 

Ive changed a few things around. Still undecided about the boot drive, will have to think on that for a few days. But yes, most of the video files will be on network/external storage of some sort, and the 1TB drive is just used for random stuff

 

I took a look at the EVGA psu and i love it! Definitely throwing that in there, and will save me some money as well

 

Regarding RAM: DDR4 is pretty expensive right now (as expected) so I only have a few options. Is it better to get 2400 with CAS 16? Or 2133 CAS 15? Are value sticks like the Gskill value series and Corsair Ballistix sport easily overclockable to over 2400?

[jezza39]

Do you have a spare LGA2011 compatible cooler for the initial POST test before you throw the rig under water? (I.e the initial build outside the case to test the new parts). You wouldn't want to put together an entire loop and build to find a part is DOA. 

 

If not, just grab the intel one for like $15. Otherwise all good!