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Sub 2000€ MicroATX Workstation Build (Monitor included)

Gioffa
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I'm helping a friend getting his workstation, must be a microATX build due to space constraints. Budget must be sub 2000 euro

 

BUDGET LOCATION: Budget must be sub-2000 euro, location is EU, my source of prices is this comparison tool: https://geizhals.eu/ ,my primary merchant is https://www.mindfactory.de

 

USAGE: 

  • Maya: he is using Maya 2015-2016, Mental Ray as rendering engine. Mostly 3D modeling and some particles dynamics simulation
  • The Foundry Mari: this is used for texturing 
  • The Foundry Nuke: check CG render passes and slap-comp, video encoding tools as well.
  • Gaming: mostly sporadic at 1440p with no expectations

REQUIREMENTS:

  • Mental Ray, like V-ray and Arnold are CPU only renderers. More cores the better (Mental Ray has a 98% multicore scaling efficiency). Caching particles geometry use lots of RAM, right now his 16GB machine is topping out and the caching process will crash.
  • Mari: More GPU intensive tool, require lots of GPU on-board memory, as all the textures are loaded full res into memory while working. Right now 4GB is a bottleneck  even with moderate-decent quality textures.
  • Nuke: quite an agnostic piece of software require less CPU cores but higher clock speed, will benefit from fast SSD while reading massive multi-layer 16bit float EXR sequences. Require Nvidia GPU even if this feature is not really important, Nuke GPU usage is  extremely limited, is almost a CPU only application, sometimes runs single thread as well. 

PART LIST:

TOTAL: € 1.902,80

              € 1.917,15

              € 1.952,01

              

 

 

 

My Thoughts:

Motherboard lacks USB 3.1 like newer Skylake ones, but has Thunderbolt support and possible PCIe SSD upgrade route using M.2 slot.

I know Maya ViewPort performance would benefit from and even low-end professional GPU https://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/AutoDesk-Maya-2014-Professional-GPU-Acceleration-509/ due to driver optimization; BUT lots of on board memory is a much-needed feature. At 399 euro price point only Quadro k1200 or FirePro w5100, both extremely good for modeling; but then will not stand during heavy texturing in Mari. Nuke will benefit form using a PCIe SSD but is out of budget for now.

Any suggestion one CASE-PSU-COOLER combo? Is 750watt to overkill? Is it safe going to a cheaper 650w or even 550w?

 

Any opinion is much appreciated.

 

Cheers!

 

 

 

Edited by Gioffa
EDIT 1:Changes PSU and Cooler, EDIT2: Changed cooler, SSD and no OS
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Posted

I don't have an answer(sorry), but I just wanted to commend you on this post. Best I've ever seen. How long did this take you?

Hope this helps...

 

-Delta

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Are you saying how long to make the post?

 

Quite a lot actually. When I first submitted the forum gave me back an error and I had to restart all over again. Such a pain.

 

Cheers

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3 minutes ago, Gioffa said:

Are you saying how long to make the post?

 

Quite a lot actually. When I first submitted the forum gave me back an error and I had to restart all over again. Such a pain.

 

Cheers

#PcPartpicker

My life

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#PcPartpicker

sucks in EU. Amazon in Europe sucks for PC parts. We still need to dig the web looking for a cheap merchant. And every country is different. That's why I use https://geizhals.eu/ 

Can we please go back on topic? 

 Cheers

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10 minutes ago, Gioffa said:

Are you saying how long to make the post?

 

Quite a lot actually. When I first submitted the forum gave me back an error and I had to restart all over again. Such a pain.

 

Cheers

A GTX 1080?

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I would also get a bit better cooler if you overclock

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The monitor must be 1440p, in this way applications Viewports are bigger. These professional software are cluttered with tools bars and my friend cannot run a multiple screen setup right now

 

Cheers

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1 minute ago, Gioffa said:

The monitor must be 1440p, in this way applications Viewports are bigger. These professional software are cluttered with tools bars and my friend cannot run a multiple screen setup right now

 

Cheers

Also quote people so they know

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5 minutes ago, deXxterlab97 said:

A GTX 1080?

1080 is at least 599 from Inno3D brand (is it any good?) I would need do squeeze some budget for other components.

 

Noctua NH-D14I more keen into changing PSU with a 650 Watt EVGA SuperNOVA  at 83 euro and getting a better cooler like the Noctua NH-D14 at 69 euro

 

Cheers

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1 minute ago, Gioffa said:

1080 is at least 599 from Inno3D brand (is it any good?) I would need do squeeze some budget for other components.

 

Noctua NH-D14I more keen into changing PSU with a 650 Watt EVGA SuperNOVA  at 83 euro and getting a better cooler like the Noctua NH-D14 at 69 euro

 

Cheers

Yeah you can do that. DH14 is a nice cooler

 

Inno3d is not bad. They make good gpu. Unless your friend is fine with games running 1440p at 30fps-60fps

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7 hours ago, deXxterlab97 said:

Yeah you can do that. DH14 is a nice cooler

 

Inno3d is not bad. They make good gpu. Unless your friend is fine with games running 1440p at 30fps-60fps

 
 
 
 

As I was saying gaming is probably the last thing he will do on this PC.

 

Cooler + Motherboard , on Noctua website it says:

Possible compatibility issues with video cards that have large protruding components at the back. Please see FAQ.

 

I think to be safe i should get something smaller.

 

What do you suggest? http://noctua.at/en/nh-d15s this one will fit better the SFF of the build? Could you suggest something maybe cheaper?

 

Cheers

 

 

 

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Mi idea is to save something more into the CPU Cooler in order to get motherboard with USB 3.1 like the Asus X99-M WS

 

What do you think?

 

Cheers

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So far I've changed:

 

Removed OS

 

Replaced cooler with Noctua NH-D15S due to possible incompatibility with the bigger one and the first PCIe slot. 

 

Replaced Crucial RAM with Corsair LPX

 

Replaced Crucial 250SSD with Samsung 500GB ssd

 

I was thinking to add a frontal case intake fan to maintain positive air pressure. What do you think?

 

Cheers

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