HELP! Building a new workstation rig from outside the US

[j.ssuarez]

I am a Digital Designer, and I've been working with a Apple computers for more than 5 years now. It's time to invest in a new more powerful computer, and I don't live in the US, so I've been researching computer building companies like Xidax, Origin PC, etc.

Xidax seems to offer the best deal, specially because of the Lifetime Parts Warranty and their customer service has been great so far. They've helped me with my build and answered all my questions.

I wanted to ask around if anyone has any reviews or experience with this company, specially because I am ordering from another country I want to make sure I make a good investment.

NOTE: This is intended as a workstation build, NOT a gaming rig. I use the Adobe Suite and mostly work creating motion graphics, video editing and 3D (I use C4D+Octane Render but still have to use C4D's render from time to time). Also, I am NOT considering building the rig myself for a main reason, and that is that I live in Venezuela, and having parts (or anything for that matter) shipped here is already very expensive, a huge hassle (shipping and mail don't work here anywhere near as good as they do in the US). So ordering all the parts, have em shipped all the way here and then having a part not working correctly or something go wrong, I can't just return the part because that would mean more money spent in International Shipping, plus more time to wait, and more hassle, so I decided to go with a company that can build the computer for me, test it and guarantee that it will work as soon as I plug it in.

Here's the build that I am planning to buy:

MSI Z179 Krait ATX

Intel Quad Core™ i7-6700 Processor - Liquid Cooled

32 GB DDR4 RAM

Corsair 750W PSU

24x Asus DVD-RW combo

PCI-Express Wireless-N Adapter

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980ti 6GB - Overclocked

240Gb SSD + 1TB HDD (x2 in Raid 1)

Windows 10 Home Premium 64 bit

FREE Rise of Tomb Raider Game

FREE Lifetime Support

_______________________________________

$2,634 Total 

 

Keep in mind that a build made at Origin PC with 16Gb of ram and a GTX 970 came to about $2,800 so this is still a better machine and at a better price. I was suggested to make a Xeon based system in another forum, but to my understanding those are WAY more expensive and apparently Xidax doesn't offer Xeon based systems, OriginPC does, but they start at more than $2,500 and my budget (including shipping) is $3,000.

Of course I want this system to be future proof, as I would like to be able to upgrade this to better CPU's/GPU's/RAM as time goes by and technologies advance, but I am talking in a few years.

Here's the link to the configuration I have going at Xidax > https://www.xidax.com/desktops/x-6/?saveconfig=86160, feel free to edit anything, and to save the configuration just hit the button at the top, enter your email and then copy that link from your email and paste it here.

I really appreciate any help from anyone on this!

Thanks!

[techguru]

Just now, Meet_Nomad said:

I am a Digital Designer, and I've been working with a Apple computers for more than 5 years now. It's time to invest in a new more powerful computer, and I don't live in the US, so I've been researching computer building companies like Xidax, Origin PC, etc.

Xidax seems to offer the best deal, specially because of the Lifetime Parts Warranty and their customer service has been great so far. They've helped me with my build and answered all my questions.

I wanted to ask around if anyone has any reviews or experience with this company, specially because I am ordering from another country I want to make sure I make a good investment.

NOTE: This is intended as a workstation build, NOT a gaming rig. I use the Adobe Suite and mostly work creating motion graphics, video editing and 3D (I use C4D+Octane Render but still have to use C4D's render from time to time). Also, I am NOT considering building the rig myself for a main reason, and that is that I live in Venezuela, and having parts (or anything for that matter) shipped here is already very expensive, a huge hassle (shipping and mail don't work here anywhere near as good as they do in the US). So ordering all the parts, have em shipped all the way here and then having a part not working correctly or something go wrong, I can't just return the part because that would mean more money spent in International Shipping, plus more time to wait, and more hassle, so I decided to go with a company that can build the computer for me, test it and guarantee that it will work as soon as I plug it in.

Here's the build that I am planning to buy:

MSI Z179 Krait ATX

Intel Quad Core™ i7-6700 Processor - Liquid Cooled

32 GB DDR4 RAM

Corsair 750W PSU

24x Asus DVD-RW combo

PCI-Express Wireless-N Adapter

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980ti 6GB - Overclocked

240Gb SSD + 1TB HDD (x2 in Raid 1)

Windows 10 Home Premium 64 bit

FREE Rise of Tomb Raider Game

FREE Lifetime Support

_______________________________________

$2,634 Total 

 

Keep in mind that a build made at Origin PC with 16Gb of ram and a GTX 970 came to about $2,800 so this is still a better machine and at a better price. I was suggested to make a Xeon based system in another forum, but to my understanding those are WAY more expensive and apparently Xidax doesn't offer Xeon based systems, OriginPC does, but they start at more than $2,500 and my budget (including shipping) is $3,000.

Of course I want this system to be future proof, as I would like to be able to upgrade this to better CPU's/GPU's/RAM as time goes by and technologies advance, but I am talking in a few years.

Here's the link to the configuration I have going at Xidax > https://www.xidax.com/desktops/x-6/?saveconfig=86160, feel free to edit anything, and to save the configuration just hit the button at the top, enter your email and then copy that link from your email and paste it here.

I really appreciate any help from anyone on this!

Thanks!

if you don't wanna build it..get us to get you a parts list

then have a local store put it together for you

[connorpiper]

One thing I have noticed is that the CPU is liquid cooled, but is the locked variant. Meaning that money on the cooler is going to waste on a locked CPU. 

As for the CPU, I would suggest the X99 platform with a 5820K. If you are video editing, the 6 cores 12 threads CPU will be much better for rendering times, and is cheaper than the 6700.

[j.ssuarez]

1 minute ago, connorpiper said:

One thing I have noticed is that the CPU is liquid cooled, but is the locked variant. Meaning that money on the cooler is going to waste on a locked CPU. 

As for the CPU, I would suggest the X99 platform with a 5820K. If you are video editing, the 6 cores 12 threads CPU will be much better for rendering times, and is cheaper than the 6700.

Thanks for the reply!

I don't think Xidax offers X99 platform, but like I said, X99 platform at OriginPC starts way above my budget limit. And yes, you are the second person that points that about the Liquid Cooled CPU, so I should just go with Fan Cooled?

Here's a screenshot of the price difference from the Intel Z170 and X99 platforms

 

[j.ssuarez]

5 minutes ago, techguru said:

if you don't wanna build it..get us to get you a parts list

then have a local store put it together for you

Thanks for the reply. Can you elaborate a bit more on how that works? 

 

[techguru]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-5820K 3.3GHz 6-Core Processor  ($374.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-U12S 55.0 CFM CPU Cooler  ($63.99 @ Amazon) 
Motherboard: Asus X99-A/USB 3.1 ATX LGA2011-3 Motherboard  ($251.99 @ NCIX US) 
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory  ($149.99 @ Newegg) 
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($154.78 @ OutletPC) 
Storage: Western Digital BLACK SERIES 3TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($149.89 @ OutletPC) 
Video Card: NVIDIA Quadro M4000 8GB Video Card  ($859.00 @ Newegg) 
Case: Corsair Vengeance C70 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case  ($109.99 @ Amazon) 
Power Supply: SeaSonic 660W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($126.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Total: $2241.61
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-02-01 23:58 EST-0500

[connorpiper]

5 minutes ago, Meet_Nomad said:

Thanks for the reply!

I don't think Xidax offers X99 platform, but like I said, X99 platform at OriginPC starts way above my budget limit. And yes, you are the second person that points that about the Liquid Cooled CPU, so I should just go with Fan Cooled?

Here's a screenshot of the price difference from the Intel Z170 and X99 platforms

 

 

Well, that is quite a rip off. The 5820K is currently $384 while the 6700K is $413. (6700K has 4 cores 8 threads)

The 6700 (Non-K) is locked, meaning that it will preform just the same on liquid nitrogen as it would on the stock cooler. It cannot go faster than it ships as. Whatever is the cheapest cooling option would work. 

[j.ssuarez]

1 minute ago, connorpiper said:

Well, that is quite a rip off. The 5820K is currently $384 while the 6700K is $413. (6700K has 4 cores 8 threads)

The 6700 (Non-K) is locked, meaning that it will preform just the same on liquid nitrogen as it would on the stock cooler. It cannot go faster than it chips as. Whatever is the cheapest cooling option would work. 

Yeah, the price difference is absurd honestly. Other than price, what do you think about performance on the system I have going on? you think its a good investment given that I reduce the price a bit with your suggestions?

[j.ssuarez]

4 minutes ago, techguru said:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-5820K 3.3GHz 6-Core Processor  ($374.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-U12S 55.0 CFM CPU Cooler  ($63.99 @ Amazon) 
Motherboard: Asus X99-A/USB 3.1 ATX LGA2011-3 Motherboard  ($251.99 @ NCIX US) 
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory  ($149.99 @ Newegg) 
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($154.78 @ OutletPC) 
Storage: Western Digital BLACK SERIES 3TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($149.89 @ OutletPC) 
Video Card: NVIDIA Quadro M4000 8GB Video Card  ($859.00 @ Newegg) 
Case: Corsair Vengeance C70 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case  ($109.99 @ Amazon) 
Power Supply: SeaSonic 660W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($126.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Total: $2241.61
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-02-01 23:58 EST-0500

Cool, and then I just buy all this and send to who? Sorry, I am not really understanding how this works. This is my first time in this forum too.

[Marinatall_Ironside]

4 minutes ago, connorpiper said:

The 5820K is currently $384 while the 6700K is $413. (6700K has 4 cores 8 threads)

You know why the 6700K is more than $349 USD, right?

[brob]

Just now, Meet_Nomad said:

Cool, and then I just buy all this and send to who? Sorry, I am not really understanding how this works. This is my first time in this forum too.

A number of ways of doing this. Depending on where you live, you can take this list to a local computer store or two and get their estimates. Likely they will make suggestions for other parts if something is not available or locally much more expensive than something else. Come back here and post the estimate for feedback. Ideally you will end up with a really good system at the price you want.

[connorpiper]

7 minutes ago, Meet_Nomad said:

Yeah, the price difference is absurd honestly. Other than price, what do you think about performance on the system I have going on? you think its a good investment given that I reduce the price a bit with your suggestions?

It is a more gaming oriented computer than anything. It will work fine, and many people render on quad-core i7 CPUs. Just if you mostly do content creation, more cores does actually relate to a better experience, and the 5820K is going to out preform the 6700 (No matter how fast) when rending videos/3D objects/photos.

The system does allow for a GPU upgrade down the road. (The 980ti is the best gaming GPU currently) But a new CPU would require a new motherboard for it to be an upgrade. (Z170 maxes out with the 6700)

[connorpiper]

5 minutes ago, JurunceNK said:

You know why the 6700K is more than $349 USD, right?

The 14nm process increases IPC and decreases power consumption under load. But the 22nm process is still very powerful, and X99 CPUs had more 22nm transistors than the 1150 CPUs. 

Mostly it is high demand, high R&D, and the 14nm process is still so new and un-needed. 

[j.ssuarez]

1 minute ago, brob said:

A number of ways of doing this. Depending on where you live, you can take this list to a local computer store or two and get their estimates. Likely they will make suggestions for other parts if something is not available or locally much more expensive than something else. Come back here and post the estimate for feedback. Ideally you will end up with a really good system at the price you want.

Thanks for the reply. It's difficult to explain, but here things are not that advanced as other countries. There are no stores like that, and if there are, they sell outdated parts, I'm talking years. If I could build the system here in my country I would, but that's really out of the question, it's just not possible. Technology here is really not as advanced.

[Marinatall_Ironside]

3 minutes ago, connorpiper said:

The 14nm process increases IPC and decreases power consumption under load. But the 22nm process is still very powerful, and X99 CPUs had more 22nm transistors than the Z97 CPUs. 

Mostly it is high demand, high R&D, and the 14nm process is still so new and un-needed. 

Wrong! 14nm yields for the 6700K have been lackluster, causing this shortage of 6700K's we see here. Intel has a strict quality standard for all of their chips, binning each one accordingly and getting rid of really defective ones. And the ones that still work, but not quite to the 6700K that they make, they will either bin that as a mobile chip or as an i5.

Also when the i7 was up for pre-orders, they were selling for $349.99 on Amazon, the normal price for an i7 on the mainstream platform.

http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2015/12/14/intel-corps-desktop-skylake-shortage-is-disappoint.aspx

[connorpiper]

1 minute ago, JurunceNK said:

Wrong. 14nm yields for the 6700K have been lackluster, causing this shortage of 6700K's we see here. Intel has a strict quality standard for all of their chips, binning each one accordingly and getting rid of really defective ones. And the ones that still work, but not quite to the 6700K that they make, they will either bin that as a mobile chip or as an i5.

http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2015/12/14/intel-corps-desktop-skylake-shortage-is-disappoint.aspx

Where am I wrong? I addressed the high demand, and the 14nm process being quite new. 

[j.ssuarez]

11 minutes ago, connorpiper said:

It is a more gaming oriented computer than anything. It will work fine, and many people render on quad-core i7 CPUs. Just if you mostly do content creation, more cores does actually relate to a better experience, and the 5820K is going to out preform the 6700 (No matter how fast) when rending videos/3D objects/photos.

The system does allow for a GPU upgrade down the road. (The 980ti is the best gaming GPU currently) But a new CPU would require a new motherboard for it to be an upgrade. (The Z170 maxes out with the 6700)

Glad to hear all that. I am using Octane Render, which is a GPU based render engine, so having that GTX 980ti is a big plus for me. I honestly don't do that much 3D rendering from Cinema 4D. Most of my rendering for work goes to render farms either way thru the company I freelance for. 

So if this is a build that is in my budget and will perform great I think it's a good investment. If further down the road I want to upgrade to a more powerful CPU and have to buy a motherboard, that's fine, as long as I can still use my other parts, at least for a while.

What about for using After Effects, Video Editing in Premiere, Multitasking and dual monitors. Is the 32GB of RAM enough?

[techguru]

3 minutes ago, Meet_Nomad said:

Thanks for the reply. It's difficult to explain, but here things are not that advanced as other countries. There are no stores like that, and if there are, they sell outdated parts, I'm talking years. If I could build the system here in my country I would, but that's really out of the question, it's just not possible. Technology here is really not as advanced.

what country you in?

[connorpiper]

Just now, Meet_Nomad said:

Glad to hear all that. I am using Octane Render, which is a GPU based render engine, so having that GTX 980ti is a big plus for me. I honestly don't do that much 3D rendering from Cinema 4D. Most of my rendering for work goes to render farms either way thru the company I freelance for. 

So if this is a build that is in my budget and will perform great I think it's a good investment. If further down the road the want to upgrade to a more powerful CPU and have to buy a motherboard, that's fine, as long as I can still use my other parts, at least for a while.

What about for using After Effects, Video Editing in Premiere, Multitasking and dual monitors. Is the 32GB of RAM enough?

As I do not use those programs professionally, I do not know if 32GB RAM is enough. Though when I did a quick render with After Effects, it used 8GB. So I think 32 would be fine. It also depends on how many sticks they use. Because if they use high capacity ones, then there are slots to put more RAM into. 

[j.ssuarez]

2 minutes ago, techguru said:

what country you in?

Venezuela. Next to Colombia. (Most people don't know where Venezuela is)

[Marinatall_Ironside]

Just now, connorpiper said:

Where am I wrong? I addressed the high demand, and the 14nm process being quite new. 

You were right on high demand and lower power consumption, but you were wrong on the shortages of the chips that goes into the 6700K. Intel will only put a 14nm desktop chip if it meets their strict quality control for specific SKUs, and the 6700K SKU hasn't had that many, like what The Motley Fool said in the article per se.

[brob]

Just now, Meet_Nomad said:

Thanks for the reply. It's difficult to explain, but here things are not that advanced as other countries. There are no stores like that, and if there are, they sell outdated parts, I'm talking years. If I could build the system here in my country I would, but that's really out of the question, it's just not possible. Technology here is really not as advanced.

So, you intend to buy elsewhere and have the system shipped?

Where does the system need to be shipped?

 

[connorpiper]

1 minute ago, JurunceNK said:

You were right on high demand and lower power consumption, but you were wrong on the shortages of the chips that goes into the 6700K. Intel will only put a 14nm desktop chip if it meets their strict quality control for specific SKUs, and the 6700K SKU hasn't had that many, like what The Motley Fool said in the article per se.

I did not say there was a shortage of chips. The only supply related topic was the high demand. 

[techguru]

anyone know if NCIX ships to venuzuela?

 

nm

how about this place..they could put it together for you for a small fee

http://www.pcshopvzla.com/

 

also you don't need a store..just ask for someone in the computers section of the local classifieds

[j.ssuarez]

2 minutes ago, JurunceNK said:

You were right on high demand and lower power consumption, but you were wrong on the shortages of the chips that goes into the 6700K. Intel will only put a 14nm desktop chip if it meets their strict quality control for specific SKUs, and the 6700K SKU hasn't had that many, like what The Motley Fool said in the article per se.

Can you translate all that so I can understand it easily? Its like i'm reading chinese