Suggestions for a multi-use machine.

[Woeful Macabre]

Howdy all,

 

Ok, so, I'm looking to build a new machine soon and it has to be decently powerful for what I'm going to put it through. Two primary purposes for the machine are development and gaming - I would like it to handle both.

 

I heavily use Unreal Engine 4 - stock and custom editor(ARK: Survival Evolved), Autodesk Maya 2015 (Soon to include either Mudbox or ZBrush), Photoshop CS6, SpeedTree Modeler, Substance Live(Painter/Designer/B2M) and would like the room to be able to launch multiple VM's for game servers and testing - with the potential of having multiple servers and one or more of the applications listed above running at the same time.

 

Given what I do currently, what I plan to do and what I would like to do, I know that the key hardware requirements are going to be RAM, CPU horsepower and GPU strength.

 

I've recently been keeping my eye on development workstations that are getting replaced with newer machines, such as HP's Z800 workstation, and the viability of maxing them out in the above key areas. My concern there is though I would ultimately like to procure a GTX 1080 for its DirectX 12 benefits and sheer processing power when the prices settle a bit here in Australia, but if I opted to go with a refurbished Z800, even the Rev3 boards(which were made to support the X56xx series) don't have PCIe 3.0, so concerns arise about not being able to fully utilise a card like the 1080 in such an environment that could really make use of its power. Is this concern valid?

 

No real fixed budget at the moment, I'm more the kind of person who'll spend what it takes to get the job done, but given that going with an older - but still quite powerful - main system I expect I can get what I need for around $1700AUD (not including the 1080 obviously... that's a $1200 card alone here). I know of a refurbished-seller or two on eBay that sell the Z800's for about $1k-$1.2k depending on what's in them.

 

Current plan is a Z800 with an SSD for OS and general applications(maybe caching?), caviar black RAID array for application performance, Green RAID array for hard/long-term storage, GTX 1080, 64GB's RAM - 32GB absolute minimum and two six-core Xeon's. However, plans are always subject to change. Before I forget, I currently use two monitors - in addition to a 60" TV run through a surround system(so no sound card is required as it's handled via HDMI), plan to move to three monitors with the potential of acquiring a graphics/artist monitor(Wacom Cintiq most likely - not entirely sold on it yet) at some point down the line, potential is key!

 

I'd be retaining my caviar blacks & greens and my SSD so storage won't be a factor, but I would appreciate any recommendations if people have them about other potential setups that can do what I need - as it relates to the core components.

 

Any input is appreciated,

 

-WM

[ARikozuM]

I would take a look at Linus' "2 Gamers, 1 CPU" guide. Tone it down to a 980 Ti or two and you should have enough power for your needs and two or three players while you operate the primary machine. I used to use FreeNAS for my Steam server but UnRAID made things extremely easy.

[Woeful Macabre]

25 minutes ago, ARikozuM said:

I would take a look at Linus' "2 Gamers, 1 CPU" guide. Tone it down to a 980 Ti or two and you should have enough power for your needs and two or three players while you operate the primary machine. I used to use FreeNAS for my Steam server but UnRAID made things extremely easy.

I definitely appreciate the suggestion, but I don't really see the sense in wasting money. To explain, the 5960X(3GHz/8c/16th), as linked, is $1500-1700AUD for the CPU alone here, in addition to that motherboard being somewhere in the range of $500-550AUD, 32GB's would be roughly ~$200, so $2200-2450AUD approximately.

 

Whereas a Z800 with dual-X5680(3.33GHz/12c/24th)'s and 64GB's would be somewhere around $1500AUD - that's almost a disparity of $1k AUD - and for what benefits?

 

To be clear, these are genuinely honest questions. Is the difference between the two chipsets, PCIe 3.0 and DDR4 enough to justify such an increase? I said I don't have a budget limit, but I don't really spend money when I don't need to, hence the original plan to use older generation' high-end hardware.

 

-WM

[brob]

I would never build a raid array using WD Green drives. I have also seen numerous posts of issues with WD Blacks in raid arrays. Keep these drive separate.

 

I would suggest the biggest affordable ssd for a system drive so it can house o/s, applications, swap, and scratch. The speed is not really critical. Higher capacity will contribute more to overall performance than ssd read/write speeds.

 

Z800 use DDR3 memory and it may soon be difficult to find reasonably priced triple-channel memory kits of sufficient capacity. My experience is that VM deplete memory much faster than other resources.

[ARikozuM]

3 hours ago, Woeful Macabre said:

I definitely appreciate the suggestion, but I don't really see the sense in wasting money. To explain, the 5960X(3GHz/8c/16th), as linked, is $1500-1700AUD for the CPU alone here, in addition to that motherboard being somewhere in the range of $500-550AUD, 32GB's would be roughly ~$200, so $2200-2450AUD approximately.

 

Whereas a Z800 with dual-X5680(3.33GHz/12c/24th)'s and 64GB's would be somewhere around $1500AUD - that's almost a disparity of $1k AUD - and for what benefits?

 

To be clear, these are genuinely honest questions. Is the difference between the two chipsets, PCIe 3.0 and DDR4 enough to justify such an increase? I said I don't have a budget limit, but I don't really spend money when I don't need to, hence the original plan to use older generation' high-end hardware.

 

-WM

I didn't mean to use his build. I meant see how he did it. Use your own parts and make sure to check compatibility (doubly so for servers and workstations). I wouldn't use the Greens as brob said. The Blacks should be okay as long as you don't RAID them together, but I would recommend Red 2TB or any NAS drive. Otherwise I don't see PCIe 3.0 and DDR4 being necessary if you have the other parts. If you'd like me to send you a copy of my setup, I'd be glad to do so.