CAD/Rendering/2D/Gaming build input please.

[ChickenShwarma]

Hi guys,
I’m ready to pull the trigger on a new build. I put together a list of parts from Newegg, and wanted to run it by the folks here to see if I’m missing any opportunities.
The new PC will be used for 3D CAD work with Rhino 3D/Vray, and 2D graphics work on Adobe CS Suites. I’ll also play variety of games like Battlefield series, Crysis series, Mass Effect series, etc.
I’m somewhat flexible with the budget, my goal is to make this system last, or be upgradeable for the next 5 years. With that said, my current wish-list components add up to $1500.
I will be buying the components from Newegg, and I prefer Intel CPU, but I am flexible on rest.
From my current machine, I will be salvaging the following parts: Antec TPQ-850 power supply, Samsung DVD burner, WD 500gb HDD, and two Dell 2408 monitors.
I intend to do light CPU OC with hsf, but no water.
As for screen resolution, 1920x1200 for most, but I’m also interested in Eyefinity, if and when I can grab another matching 24” monitor on eBay.

I’d like to solidify my plan and start ordering some time this week.
The current wishlist parts are:
Lian Li PC-9F ATX case
MSI P67A-GD65 (B3) mobo
Intel i7 2600k
Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus
XFX HD-687A-ZDFC Radeon HD 6870 1GB (Two of these for CF)
Corsair XMS3 8gb DDR3 1333
Intel 320 Series 160gb SSD
Windows 7 OEM

I’d appreciate any input.

Thanks,

 

[LOL_Wut_Axel]

Hi guys,
I’m ready to pull the trigger on a new build. I put together a list of parts from Newegg, and wanted to run it by the folks here to see if I’m missing any opportunities.
The new PC will be used for 3D CAD work with Rhino 3D/Vray, and 2D graphics work on Adobe CS Suites. I’ll also play variety of games like Battlefield series, Crysis series, Mass Effect series, etc.
I’m somewhat flexible with the budget, my goal is to make this system last, or be upgradeable for the next 5 years. With that said, my current wish-list components add up to $1500.
I will be buying the components from Newegg, and I prefer Intel CPU, but I am flexible on rest.
From my current machine, I will be salvaging the following parts: Antec TPQ-850 power supply, Samsung DVD burner, WD 500gb HDD, and two Dell 2408 monitors.
I intend to do light CPU OC with hsf, but no water.
As for screen resolution, 1920x1200 for most, but I’m also interested in Eyefinity, if and when I can grab another matching 24” monitor on eBay.

I’d like to solidify my plan and start ordering some time this week.
The current wishlist parts are:
Lian Li PC-9F ATX case
MSI P67A-GD65 (B3) mobo
Intel i7 2600k
Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus
XFX HD-687A-ZDFC Radeon HD 6870 1GB (Two of these for CF)
Corsair XMS3 8gb DDR2 1333
Intel 320 Series 160gb SSD
Windows 7 OEM

I’d appreciate any input.

Thanks,

The main things I'd recommend you look into are those I bolded out. If you want to go P67 and want a high-end board, I recommend you get the AsRock P67 Extreme4 Gen3. It's the same as the Extreme4 except for support for PCIe 3.0 and a much better color scheme. It's also inexpensive at $160.

The heatsink, if you're willing to buy from Amazon, I recommend you get the Corsair A50 instead. It's cheaper and has higher heat dissipation while making less noise. It also looks better, if that's something you're considering.

You can't use DDR2 RAM with Nehalem and Sandy Bridge, so you need to get dual-channel DDR3 instead. For good price/performance it's a good idea to get DDR3 1600MHz CAS 9, like this Kingston HyperX 8GB kit. Sandy Bridge will run fine with 1.65V RAM, but this can reach 1600MHz on 1.6V if you're worried about it.


As for the SSD, the Intel 320 isn't particularly fast, which is why I only recommend it up to about 80GB capacities. At this price range it makes more sense to get something high performance like the Crucial M4 128GB.

 

[mfenn]

My comments:
- Case: Pricier than necessary, but you knew that
- Mobo: I'd just grab the Z68 Pro3, see below
- CPU: Fine
- HSF: Fine, but as Axel said, the CAFA50 is $20 AR.
- GPU: Would not bother Crossfiring midrange GPUs, especially for a workstation. I'd get a GTX 570 instead so that you can take advantage of CUDA acceleration.
- RAM: Typo? RAM speed doesn't really matter for Sandy Bridge, so I would get some $45 DDR3 1333 1.5V and call it a day.
- SSD : Good

 

[ChickenShwarma]

Thanks for the input guys, I appreciate it.

RAM was typo, I meant DDR3. This is the one that I have considering to be exact:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820145315

The Corsair A50 definitely looks cleaner. I was thinking about the Cooler Master since it's a proven product, but I might have to read up more on the Corsair.

Thanks for the SSD recommendation. The Crucial looks fantastic, but I'm a bit concerned about the size. I imagine I do not want to fill up that 128gb drive to have it running efficiently. How much room should I keep it free?

The ASRock mobo looks pretty bad-ass. If Newegg can get the board in this week, I will grab the board. Do you guys have any information on how to OC on this board?

Thanks for the info guys!

 

[mfenn]

Regarding the RAM, there is no reason to pay $55 for DDR3 1333, especially not 1.65V stuff. Grab the G.Skill instead.

For a reasonable Sandy Bridge OC, you pretty much just go into the BIOS and set the multiplier to 45. There's really not much else you need to do, maybe turn off Turbo.

 

[Michael Meio]

I agree on the observations about the GPU, memory and MoBo.

Please, keep in mind some of the software you've mention can take advantage of CUDA enabled GPU's, so go NVIDIA.
If you are working with big models, maybe you should consider the GPU to have more memory. My personal fav is GTX 560 2GB. EVGA has a good one with beefy warranty. It doesn't has to be TI model or superclocked. You may prefer stability.
I'd definetly go with a good Z68 MoBo. There are plenty of excellent choices.
And go with 1600 memory to make it good.. If you are doing intensive rendering, keep in mind that CPU and Memory will handle that. The more, the merrier. Although I don't know how many faces a model should have to take over 16GB of RAM, still more memory is a good thing but 8GB will do.

Try not to get crazy with Overclocking. Some CPU intensive operations may heat up the turf.

Good Luck!

 

[ChickenShwarma]

Thanks for the input, I have parts coming in real soon!