Workstation Build Help

[YellowMenace]

My dad is going to be building a workstation aimed towards 3D modeling and rendering, and graphic design, and he asked for my help. He has a a budget I'm guessing around $1500 and so far I've got:

CPU: AMD FX-8350 4.0GHz (8 core)

MoBo: GIGABYTE GA-990FXA-UD3

RAM: 8GB DDR3 1866 (his programs are fairly old and not too bad)

HDD: 1TB WD Black

SSD: SAMSUNG 840 Pro Series 128GB

PSU: CORSAIR HX Series 750W

 

Now what I really need help with is the graphics card. (I'm terrible with workstation and professional graphics cards.) I've heard that "professional" graphics cards are now dated and that a modern desktop card can smoke it. With the price of everything else needed, the budget for a card is around $400. I've heard that most desktop graphics cards will do the job, but I'm not sure on what cards are good for things like OpenGL rendering, what will give the smoothest performance with 3D modeling and general graphics; AMD, ATI, or Nvidi; which cards to to look for, etc. I had in mind the Radeon 7950 3GB for $305, but I'm not too sure about it's performance with this kind of stuff.

 

What do you guys think of the build so far and what could be improved.

Do you guys think I should use this graphics card, if not what should be used? 

[crunzaty]

Me personally would have chosen a Intel CPU instead, for what i've understood is that the rendering and stuff is slightly faster with Intel ^^

 

Also i would go for a GTX 670 or an AMD 7950-7970 

[bradscoolio]

Make sure you clock the snot out that cpu!

 

Here's what I'd build with that money: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/17hWy

 

I'm actually pretty jealous, good luck :D

[YellowMenace]

Me personally would have chosen a Intel CPU instead, for what i've understood is that the rendering and stuff is slightly faster with Intel ^^

 

Also i would go for a GTX 670 or an AMD 7950-7970 

I was thinking of going Haswell, but the fact that the "affordable" ones are only quad-core and the temp they run while under load, made an 8-core processor for a fraction of the price that runs at 4GHz right out of the box more appealing.

 

Make sure you clock the snot out that cpu!

 

Here's what I'd build with that money: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/17hWy

 

I'm actually pretty jealous, good luck :D

I was wanting to go AMD so there'd be a possibility of Crossfiring in the future considering i'd be using an AMD chipset. Also the cost includes an OS.

[bradscoolio]

I was thinking of going Haswell, but the fact that the "affordable" ones are only quad-core and the temp they run while under load, made an 8-core processor for a fraction of the price that runs at 4GHz right out of the box more appealing.

 

I was wanting to go AMD so there'd be a possibility of Crossfiring in the future considering i'd be using an AMD chipset. Also the cost includes an OS.

 

Doesn't Nvidia have a multi-gpu solution?

[Tehodrakis]

I would, indeed go with a Nvidia card for the cuda cores, which can be really helpfull, but you should check that yourself as it depends on the type of work you dad does. But i think you decision to with an AMD core is ok, but keep it mind that Intel CPUs do tend to have a better productivity, but once again it dpends on the needs and they are also pricey.

In terms of video/graphic work i would compare the 8350 to a 3770(k) because of the number of cores/threads but the latter is 100 more and that might be too much for the marginal improvement.

 

Also keep in mind that an AMD plattform (motherboard) is generally less expensive wich can add to the cost.

 

Edit: And like bradscoolio sugegsted, i think that storage is relatively important for video work.

[tk421]

AMD CPUs, especially the 8-core variants, do very well in rendering, 3D modeling, etc.  That would be an excellent option.  Also, with the money, you save, you can put more into the GPU.  NVidia, with their CUDA cores, are great if you use programs that can utilize them.