Graphic rendering rig? $2k budget.

[dizmo]

A friend of mine is trying to help his brother piece together a new build.

He's a video game graphic designer, so there will be a lot of character rendering and things of that nature.

Obviously there will also be some video gameage, though I don't know to what extent. I don't think he plays that heavily.

 

I don't honestly know a great deal when it comes to rendering and stuff like that. I assume this will do better with a higher core processor, and if it's like Photoshop it'll love the RAM as well.

 

My main question with this rig is in regards to storage. Obviously there will be an SSD for the operating system/games, but what do you guys use on rendering rigs for mass storage? Do you just write the projects to an SSD over and over again, or do you use a mechanical disk?

 

Anyway, this is what I've come up with build wise so far.

 

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-5820K 3.3GHz 6-Core Processor  ($481.28 @ DirectCanada)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Seidon 240M 86.2 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler  ($98.98 @ Newegg Canada)
Motherboard: Asus X99-A ATX LGA2011-3 Motherboard  ($299.88 @ Canada Computers)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws Series 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory  ($305.98 @ Newegg Canada)
Video Card: MSI Radeon R9 390 8GB Video Card  ($451.98 @ Newegg Canada)
Power Supply: EVGA 750W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($144.21 @ shopRBC)
Total: $1782.31
 

I chose this water cooler as it's one of the "quieter" ones but if the Corsair or Swiftech ones are miles better I'll swap in one of those. They're the same price.
 

 

 

[Deletive]

What software is he using? 

[dizmo]

What software is he using? 

I think it varies depending on the company he's working for.

I'll have to ask my buddy.

[EliasNM]

The build is fine, now when it comes to software you should obviously put it on an SSD, when he pre-renders scenes do place those caches on an HDD, I personally do that, Adobe has options as well as other software including Autodesk, since those are industry standard I'm guessing that's what he is using.

[dizmo]

What software is he using? 

Right now he uses Maya?

 

The build is fine, now when it comes to software you should obviously put it on an SSD, when he pre-renders scenes do place those caches on an HDD, I personally do that, Adobe has options as well as other software including Autodesk, since those are industry standard I'm guessing that's what he is using.

Yeah, programs on the SSD for sure. I put a 60GB SSD on my friends Photoshop build and it sometimes spills out of the RAM into it. Though I imagine these would be much larger files.

 

2TB sufficient or would you aim for something closer to 3?

[spartaman64]

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/cooling/2014/05/01/noctua-nh-d15-review/2

noctua dh15 for the cooler

<--- noctua fanboy

[EliasNM]

Right now he uses Maya?

 

Yeah, programs on the SSD for sure. I put a 60GB SSD on my friends Photoshop build and it sometimes spills out of the RAM into it. Though I imagine these would be much larger files.

 

2TB sufficient or would you aim for something closer to 3?

2TB is fine, in my case for 2TB is 2 weeks worth of caches if I'm not working with particles, so that should do, otherwise clear the cache every month or so depending on how much he renders. 3TB or more is perfectly fine and will last longer if he needs to access those caches later on the month.

[dizmo]

2TB is fine, in my case for 2TB is 2 weeks worth of caches if I'm not working with particles, so that should do, otherwise clear the cache every month or so depending on how much he renders. 3TB or more is perfectly fine and will last longer if he needs to access those caches later on the month.

Yeah, I'd assume he has some sort of external storage solution.

Though he's not at all tech savvy so who knows.

[Deletive]

Right now he uses Maya?

 

Yeah, programs on the SSD for sure. I put a 60GB SSD on my friends Photoshop build and it sometimes spills out of the RAM into it. Though I imagine these would be much larger files.

 

2TB sufficient or would you aim for something closer to 3?

okay then the build looks pretty good. Maya likes AMD cards from what i've noticed

[dizmo]

okay then the build looks pretty good. Maya likes AMD cards from what i've noticed

Haha, that's just in there for budget restrictions.

I had a 980Ti in there at first...then I noticed I had the country set as US <_<

Good to know though.

[dizmo]

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/cooling/2014/05/01/noctua-nh-d15-review/2

noctua dh15 for the cooler

<--- noctua fanboy

Haha, I had a C class Noctua in my old build. Even it was overkill.

Unfortunately at more than the water cooler I don't think it makes a lot of sense.

[spartaman64]

Haha, I had a C class Noctua in my old build. Even it was overkill.

Unfortunately at more than the water cooler I don't think it makes a lot of sense.

but it performs a bit cooler and much quieter

[dizmo]

@Deletive @EliasNM

 

How's this look for a final build? A little over but my buddy will likely just end up buying him the SSD for an early bday gift or something.

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-5820K 3.3GHz 6-Core Processor  ($481.28 @ DirectCanada)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Seidon 240M 86.2 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler  ($98.98 @ Newegg Canada)
Motherboard: Asus X99-A ATX LGA2011-3 Motherboard  ($299.88 @ Canada Computers)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws Series 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory  ($305.98 @ Newegg Canada)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($128.75 @ shopRBC)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($59.75 @ Vuugo)
Storage: Western Digital BLACK SERIES 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($149.98 @ DirectCanada)
Video Card: MSI Radeon R9 390 8GB Video Card  ($451.98 @ Newegg Canada)
Power Supply: EVGA 750W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($144.21 @ shopRBC)
Total: $2120.79
 

SSD - OS/Programs

WD Blue - Games/Mass storage

WD Black - Work load

[spartaman64]

@Deletive @EliasNM

 

How's this look for a final build? A little over but my buddy will likely just end up buying him the SSD for an early bday gift or something.

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-5820K 3.3GHz 6-Core Processor  ($481.28 @ DirectCanada)

CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Seidon 240M 86.2 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler  ($98.98 @ Newegg Canada)

Motherboard: Asus X99-A ATX LGA2011-3 Motherboard  ($299.88 @ Canada Computers)

Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws Series 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory  ($305.98 @ Newegg Canada)

Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($128.75 @ shopRBC)

Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($59.75 @ Vuugo)

Storage: Western Digital BLACK SERIES 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($149.98 @ DirectCanada)

Video Card: MSI Radeon R9 390 8GB Video Card  ($451.98 @ Newegg Canada)

Power Supply: EVGA 750W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($144.21 @ shopRBC)

Total: $2120.79

 

SSD - OS/Programs

WD Blue - Games/Mass storage

WD Black - Work load

dont you need a case?

[dizmo]

dont you need a case?

I think he's just reusing the one he currently has.

[EliasNM]

~snip

Looks fine with me, though picking up a 3TB and partitioning it to do the job of 2 HDD is also an option to cut the cost depending on the cost of a 3TB HDD. Here is one in your country.

[dizmo]

Looks fine with me, though picking up a 3TB and partitioning it to do the job of 2 HDD is also an option to cut the cost depending on the cost of a 3TB HDD. Here is one in your country.

I thought about that as well but I think separate drives is a better idea.

The Green is also a very low power, slower drive. I assume the 7200rpm units are better for writing.

[EliasNM]

I thought about that as well but I think separate drives is a better idea.

The Green is also a very low power, slower drive. I assume the 7200rpm units are better for writing.

Your other options are to get a few My passports for cache and get the 1TB or 2TB, though for money saving sake the 1TB is fine, this time I didn't check prices but just a week ago I picked up 3 1TB my passports for 150USD.