Need input for 3D workstation

[LainVonDark]

Hello!

 

I am planning a new build, and its intended use is for 3D sculpting, painting and rendering. My budget is very flexible, but I want to avoid spending money unnecessarily. I have no experience with workstation-class components, and have been out of the loop of PC building for about 6 years so I could definitely use some help in order to make the most efficient choices possible. The main software that I use is as follows:

 

ZBrush - CPU and RAM intensive

MARI - CPU, GPU and RAM intensive

Keyshot - CPU renderer

VRay - CPU renderer

Nvidia I-Ray - GPU renderer

 

What I want out of it is a computer that is fast in terms of CPU rendering, that won't have RAM issues ever under almost any workload, and that is reasonably fast in the GPU rendering domain. I have looked around and took some ideas for some of the components, but I have a lot of gaps to fill, and if you guys can help me decide on what parts I should go for, I would appreciate it.

 

CPU:

 

The highest core-count solution without blowing thousands over thousands of dollars on top of the line Xeons I found was dual E5-2630 v4s. This would total up to 20 cores/40 threads, and I imagine it would meet my requirements, however, I have no idea if it is the most cost-efficient solution for this level of performance or not. I am also curious as to how the 6900K preforms compared to Xeons around its price point (or dual xeon solutions, such as the dual 2630v4s)

 

RAM:

 

I tend to push many polygons in Zbrush, and my MARI projects tend to be very heavy, so I would imagine 64gb would be the sweet spot. I do not require ECC memory, but I don't know which sticks I should go for.

 

Motherboard:

 

Absolutely no idea, especially if it ends up being a dual Xeon build.

 

GPU:

 

MARI hogs a LOT of VRam at high resolutions, but I am not going to blow money on Quadro cards. Torn between a single 1070, dual 1070s, or a 1080Ti. At which point will it become a waste? I would only go for dual 1070s if MARI can add the Vram of both cards together.

 

Storage:

 

Mandatory SSD anywhere from 512gb to 1TB, as fast as possible, without going for top of the line PCI-e SSDs. I would also need 2 to 4TB of HDD storage.

 

Power Supply:

 

I am leaning towards a Corsair PSU, but the wattage will depend on how the build turns out, obviously. I have a 6 year old AX1200 supply that has seen a lot of use at low wattages, but has never really been pushed very far, do you think I should keep it, in spite of its age, or simply go for a new one?

 

Case:

 

I might need some suggestions if it ends up being a dual socket motherboard. Otherwise, feel free to suggest your current favorite.

 

Cooling:

 

If it ends up being a 6900K build, I will watercool the entire machine. If it's a Xeon build, I will air-cool it, but how does one cool Xeons without going overboard?

 

 

That is pretty much it, so if you have some suggestions, throw them at me and we can start figuring some stuff out!

 

Thank you!

 

 

 

 

[Electronics Wizardy]

9 minutes ago, LainVonDark said:

have a 6 year old AX1200 supply that has seen a lot of use at low wattages, but has never really been pushed very far, do you think I should keep it, in spite of its age, or simply go for a new one?

Id keep it, it should be fine.

 

9 minutes ago, LainVonDark said:

but how does one cool Xeons without going overboard?

There pretty low power chips, a basic air cooler like a hyper 212 will be more than enough.

 

10 minutes ago, LainVonDark said:

Torn between a single 1070, dual 1070s, or a 1080Ti. At which point will it become a waste? I would only go for dual 1070s if MARI can add the Vram of both cards together.

For modeling, you can only use 1 gpu at once.

 

Your vram is one card, so if you need more than 8gb go with a 1080ti.

 

Id probably get a 1070, unless you do lots of gpu rendering or need the extra vram(idk how much you use, but 8gb should be able to handle a lot)

 

12 minutes ago, LainVonDark said:

The highest core-count solution without blowing thousands over thousands of dollars on top of the line Xeons I found was dual E5-2630 v4s. This would total up to 20 cores/40 threads, and I imagine it would meet my requirements, however, I have no idea if it is the most cost-efficient solution for this level of performance or not. I am also curious as to how the 6900K preforms compared to Xeons around its price point (or dual xeon solutions, such as the dual 2630v4s)

 

Those 2630v4's will be about as fast as you can get for rendering for that price. Other options would be a 6950(and could be faster if you want to oc, or a e5 2690 v4) you would save a lot on the motherboard cost with single socket, and get a better single threaded performance which modelling likes.

 

Look at cinebench number, there almost perfect at showing estimated performance for your use.

 

The dual 2630 v4  will get about 3200 points

the 6950x will get about 2000(but can be oced)

the e5 2690 v4 will get about 2500

 

for comaprison(aka how much spending 2k on a cpu will really get you), you are getting a good amout more power than the chips like the 6900k.

 

a r7 1800x is about 1400 points and 500 bucks

6900k is about 1400 points and 1000 bucks

[zMeul]

well, you answered your own questions

the alternative to 6900K would be a AMD Ryzen .. but not so when it comes to RAM usage, Ryzen for now only supports dual-channel - plus the fact that AMD still has a lot to fix and tweak

a 6900K on X99 would be a quad channel

 

as for the mobo, it would not matter as long as it fills your I/O needs

 

if the SW is capable, get two GTX1070s

[TVwazhere]

AMD just released Ryzen which is their new CPU. Their flagship chip, the 1800X performs within margin of error to 5% less than the 6900K at only $499, half the cost of a 6900k. I think most people would recommend this to you at this time.

 

RAM and SSD is currently almost twice as expensive as it was nine months ago. If you remember the video of the Chinese factory exploding, that was a chip manufacturer that made the ram modules. (My memory of this might be a bit skewed but im like 90% sure thats correct) Nevertheless you should be able to get 64gb no problem. 

 

If you dont want a PCI-E SSD, get an 850 Evo SSD of your capacity choosing.

 

GPU's. Vram does not stack. If you get two 1070's, you still only have 8GB Vram to use, so if you need more get the 1080ti  I'd get the 1080ti, but thats just me

 

PSU should be fine

 

Most mid towers should be good. (Fractal Design R 5 for watercooling and hard drive support)

 

I'd get a water cooled system regardless, H100i v2 or nzxt kraken x62

[zMeul]

14 minutes ago, TVwazhere said:

GPU's. Vram does not stack. If you get two 1070's, you still only have 8GB Vram to use, so if you need more get the 1080ti

not true, he won't be using them in SLI but as distinct CUDA  compute units

[TVwazhere]

2 minutes ago, zMeul said:

not true, he won't be using them in SLI but as distinct CUDA  compute units

Touche good sir! Edited!

[LainVonDark]

Alright, thank you very much for your replies!

 

As far as dual socket boards go, the main player I see going around is the Asus Z10PE-D8 WS. Is it the best option or are there any other alternatives?

 

In terms of RAM sticks, is there anything I should be looking out for, besides high clocks and low CAS? Any specific recommendations?

 

Also.. somewhat of a weird question, but do you have any idea on what currently available keyboards have 18 macro keys? I have a very old G510 that has served me very well but is sort of at the end of its life, and I am intending to replace it with something else. And yes, I do in fact use all of those keys..