Hardware advice

Stinkie

this looks quite pricey... are the hardware prices in Belgium that high?!?

Yes. Twenty-one percent VAT.

Thanks alot for the pointers, as I know b*gger all about these things. Pretty much all I know is don't want to spend more than €2500, and preferably less.

How's these?

pc_2.pdf

pc_3.pdf

numerobis

@unknownuser said:

Yes. Twenty-one percent VAT.

we have 19% here in germany so this can't be the difference...

I think this looks better now.

Here are some reviews of the cooler
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviewdb/Cooling/Air/Thermalright/
(Rev.A supports socket 2011)

I can't say much about Coolermaster PSUs or the case, I don't know who is building the PSU for them http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/psu-manufacturer-oem,2729-5.html. But i think it should be ok.

Regarding the graphics card the second config would be much better i think. The GTX 650 is even slower than a GTX 560. http://ht4u.net/reviews/2012/nvidia_geforce_gtx_650_gt_640_evga_test/index40.php
So i would say either the GTX 660 or 660 TI, or an "old" GTX 560, 560 TI (2GB), 570 TI (2,5GB) - depending on the price. And watch out for noisy coolers - i don't know the evga.

Kingston RAM is good, but i can't say how it is running on this board. But normally they should be compatible.

I don't know where you are storing your data. Maybe you would need an additional HDD of 1-2TB for it.
I have only two samsung 830 in my machine and no HDD, one with 256GB and one with 512GB. The system is fully watercooled and quiet so i didn't want to have any HDDs installed. I use a file server to store the data and the SSDs for System and temporary project files (one 100GB partition for Win7 and the rest for data).

I don't know if you can buy OEM (system builder) software in Belgium, but a OEM Win 7 x64 Pro would be much cheaper (~120€). You don't need the retail package. What you get is only useless microsoft support. And the Pro version is normally enough. Ultimate adds only (useless) stuff like Bitlocker or EFS.

andybot

in terms of comparing CPU performance - here is a page with performance benchmarks:
http://www.cpubenchmark.net/high_end_cpus.html

This is very useful as it lists the raw horsepower without having to think through any multithreading conversions, etc. The higher on the list, the faster the processing. There's also a useful speed/price ratio column.

Stinkie

Cool. Thanks, Andy.

I think I'm done. Numerobis: muchos gracias.

pc_4.pdf

Stinkie

@numerobis said:

You don't need the retail package.

That is great info. Much obliged.

Thanks for helping out. I might quite possibly go with the second configuration ('pc_3'). It looks fairly decent, and I like the price.

As for storing data, I like to use external HD's.

Edit: it turns out I can indeed order an OEM version of Windows.

numerobis

I would say this looks like a nice system...

and if you plan to overclock it... 4,2-4,3GHz should be possible with this cooler - for higher clocks at a reasonable noise level you would need water.

...one more point:
it seems that the difference in noise level isn't that big for the better GTX 660 cards.
But there are some who are more quiet, like one from Asus or Gigabyte

http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/evga_geforce_gtx_660_sc_review,9.html

.

Stinkie

That's good to know, though I've always bluntly assumed overclocking shortens your CPU's lifespan. If I'm wrong ... good news for me.

solo

Tom depending on where you buy your rig (unless you are doing your own build) you can get them to do the overclock for you, that way you get a warranty.

Stinkie

Yeah, I figured as much. Did you overclock your system?

solo

@unknownuser said:

Yeah, I figured as much. Did you overclock your system?

Nope, did not wanna mess with something that works fine.

Stinkie

Yeah ... I'm sure Numerobis is right, but I'm not overly comfortable with messing with my hardware either. However, the idea does have a certain lure. It might prove prudent, I think, if I consulted with the company I'm ordering my new machine from.

Anyway, thanks for your help, everyone. Especially you, Numerobis.

numerobis

if you don't overdo it in terms of voltage and temperature you will never notice a degradation of lifespan. Just stay within the save voltages (like below 1,3-1,35v vcore) and maybe 65-70°C core temp.
It is possible that this will shorten the lifespan too... but maybe from 15 years to 12 or 10... so you will never be able to experience this

michaliszissiou

Don't buy either, especially this MACPRO. It's old.
from a macpro happy user.
MacPros are in general very powerful but a 2008 model...
Some thoughts on general Ghz counts are for the birds actually.
Hyperthreading works perfectly, especially on xeons. To just count GHz is wrong. Count the speed of memory instead. Indicates the speed of motherboard in general.
On the other hand a dual Xeon (a new hypethreading one) can beat any i7. Especially on rendering. Of course, a proper OS is needed. A Linux 64bit or OSX 10.6.8 or later is the appropriate choice.
Try to have a good GPU. Nvidia or ATI, depends on your software. In general, ATIs are better under OGL. Nvidias have the CUDA though. A must under GPU based renderers.
Whatever display you use, ATIs will make it look much better. Video will be better.
Nvidias for CUDA only.
All these tested under 3dcoat, zbrush, blender-cycles, octane etc. Under sketchup, I doubt if there's any significant difference in performance.

Stinkie

@michaliszissiou said:

Don't buy either, especially this MACPRO. It's old.

You misunderstand, Michalis. I own that Mac Pro, and I'd like to replace it.

@michaliszissiou said:

A Linux 64bit or OSX 10.6.8 or later is the appropriate choice.

I'm fond of OSX, but truth be told, both Linux and OSX are niche products. Remember how long it took for a Mac version of VfSU to appear?

@michaliszissiou said:

Nvidias have the CUDA though. A must under GPU based renderers.

I know. Which is why I'll go with Nvidia.

Stinkie

Alea iacta est. Prepare to be bombarded with weird, gloomy renders.

Processor: Intel Core i7-3930K
GPU: Geforce GTX 660 Ti OC 3072 MB
Cooling: Thermalright Silver Arrow SB-E Extreme
PSU: Cooler Master Silent Pro MII
Case: Cooler Master HAF X 942-KKN1
HDD: Solid State Disk 2,5 inch SATA Samsung MZ-7PC256B/WW
MB: MSI X79A-GD65 (8D)Intel X79 Express, ATX, SLI, CrossFire, 5x PCIe x16
RAM: Kingston HyperX 32 GB DDR3-1600
OS: Microsoft Windows 7 Professional 64bit

solo

Great rig mate, I recently bought the exact same GPU (for Thea beta testing) and it works like a gem, trick is the extra ram and many Cuda cores.

Stinkie

I am really eager to find out how much unbiased rendering is sped up by the gpu -and what the gpu's ram can handle, in terms of geometry and texture maps.

numerobis

Nice system...

Stinkie

Thanks. It'll be sitting pretty on my desk in a week or two. The anticipation is killing me.

Thanks for your help, btw. Much appreciated.

Stinkie

Ordered. Will be here before the end of next week. Be afraid!