Is it better to go for 2 Xeon x5650's or 1 x5690 for now ?

[sithlord3k]

Morning guys,

I was thinking about with going Quadro FX card at first too, but then after researching and reading alot of messages on the CG forums, I saw that people were saying that the GTX580 was a good card to use as it's comparable in most areas with most of the Quadro cards (lower than the 4000 I think). I think there was a fairly even split between people saying to others to go for a GTX card (470,480,580), and between people saying to go for a Quadro.

Regarding the Processors, after a lot of research I think I'm going to build an i7 beast with a gtx 580, and then take CooperXS's suggestion and build a render farm. I'll use my Q6660 rig to start with and add in a dual Xeon x5645 later on.

The only thing I have to think about now is whether it's worth paying extra for an i7 990X over an i7 2600k, and if I wait for 2 months, will that make any difference (hoping that Ivy bridge may be released in Sep.)

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Morning guys,

I was thinking about with going Quadro FX card at first too, but then after researching and reading alot of messages on the CG forums, I saw that people were saying that the GTX580 was a good card to use as it's comparable in most areas with most of the Quadro cards (lower than the 4000 I think). I think there was a fairly even split between people saying to others to go for a GTX card (470,480,580), and between people saying to go for a Quadro.

Regarding the Processors, after a lot of research I think I'm going to build an i7 beast with a gtx 580, and then take CooperXS's suggestion and build a render farm. I'll use my Q6660 rig to start with and add in a dual Xeon x5645 later on.

The only thing I have to think about now is whether it's worth paying extra for an i7 990X over an i7 2600k, and if I wait for 2 months, will that make any difference (hoping that Ivy bridge may be released in Sep.)

What software are you using??

Model building does not really take advantage of more than 4 cores and it is rendering which takes advantage of more cores. Also,you really should look at the new FireGL cards too as the newer generation cards are much faster than the older ones(again dependent on what software you use).

Ivy Bridge is being released next year and it is Sandy Bridge E which may arrive this year. Bulldozer is being released this year and most likely the 8 core will be faster than a six core socket 1366 Core i7.

[sithlord3k]

Max, Maya, AE and PS mainly.

I was looking at a review comparison between the 990X and the 2600K, and IIRC the 990X outperformed the 2600K by 9% in rendering and generally in Max and Maya.

[Platinum]

This might sound silly, but can you oc the 5645 using the stock cooler ?

I'm not sure if Xeons-EP even come with stock cooler

AFAIK you cant use the stock Xeon coolers on the SR2 anyhow as the mounting holes for the coolers are spaced for S1366 coolers so that overclockers can stick large heatsinks on them.

[sithlord3k]

I've just seen the i7 980 on Scan for only £431. I'm thinking that this is better than paying an extra £300 for the 990x and getting similar results to the 990 (in terms of my uses).

Can anyone tell me if I will be losing any significant advantages by going with the 980 (in terms of 3D work ?)

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

I've just seen the i7 980 on Scan for only £431. I'm thinking that this is better than paying an extra £300 for the 990x and getting similar results to the 990 (in terms of my uses).

Can anyone tell me if I will be losing any significant advantages by going with the 980 (in terms of 3D work ?)

If you are using separate machines for the actual rendering, a Core i5 2500K ends up being a better choice for the model building.

Look at the results for 3D visualisation:

http://ixbtlabs.com/articles3/cpu/in...ga1155-p2.html

For actual rendering more threads is useful.

In fact for your budget you could end getting a Core i5 based machine for the model building and a Core i7 980X based machine as a render master.

[sithlord3k]

Yeah, but the thing is, that this rig will be used for some gaming too, which is why I was thinking that the 980 seems like a steal at £430ish.
Also, the render machine isnt something that I'll have time to setup (and get a quadro for) until at least Jan. So, for the time being I need a good all round rig, which is why I'd prefer more cores/threads for rendering at the mo.
I'm not sure how my Q6600 and ATi 4850 will fair as a rendering machine.

[watercooled]

2500/2600 are normally faster than 980/990 for gaming.

[sithlord3k]

2500/2600 are normally faster than 980/990 for gaming.

I know, but the extra threads/cores of the 980 will come in hand for the Rendering and some other 3D work wont they...?
I'm not looking for the best /fastest gaming rig, but something that is one notch below, but also more orientated around my 3D work. I believe that a 980 rig offes me the balance I'm looking for (leaning more towards the 3D stuff), although if you disagree I'm more than happy to listen.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

For gaming a Core i7 2600K will be faster and also it does seem even a GTX580 will be slower than a dedicated AMD or Nvidia card for most work too. I would consider the dedicated cards very important for actual model building TBH than for the actual rendering machines. I wouldn't put all your eggs into an Nvidia basket though as you really should check out the newer AMD cards. They tend to be better value overall.

Anyway,here is a useful article to read:

http://hothardware.com/Reviews/AMD-F...phics-/?page=5

A Quadro 5000 is around £1656 on Scan. The V7900 costs around £584 and the V8800 costs £978. The V4800 costs around £120.

I do know that there are some CUDA plug-ins which are meant to accelerate rendering though so perhaps maybe the rendering machine would be where the gaming card will be more use. With your £3000 budget you could build both machines. You could have a V7900 and a Core i5 2500K in one machine and a GTX580 and a Core i7 980X in another.

[sithlord3k]

What I'm currently looking at is:

intel i7 980
either the Coolermaster V8 or the V10 cpu cooler
Gigabyte G1 Sniper
24 GBs RAM
HP ZR24w S-IPS 24" monitor
240GB Sandforce SSD
2x 3TB Seagate HDDs
GTX 580 with 3GB RAM
Corsair 1200W PSU
NZXT Phantom Case

any info advice ?

[sithlord3k]

For gaming a Core i7 2600K will be faster and also it does seem even a GTX580 will be slower than a dedicated AMD or Nvidia card for most work too. I would consider the dedicated cards very important for actual model building TBH than for the actual rendering machines. I wouldn't put all your eggs into an Nvidia basket though as you really should check out the newer AMD cards. They tend to be better value overall.

Anyway,here is a useful article to read:

http://hothardware.com/Reviews/AMD-F...phics-/?page=5

A Quadro 5000 is around £1656 on Scan. The V7900 costs around £584 and the V8800 costs £978. The V4800 costs around £120.

I do know that there are some CUDA plug-ins which are meant to accelerate rendering though so perhaps maybe the rendering machine would be where the gaming card will be more use. With your £3000 budget you could build both machines. You could have a V7900 and a Core i5 2500K in one machine and a GTX580 and a Core i7 980X in another.

I didnt see this post until I posted. I'll have a read of the link you provided, thank you.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

What I'm currently looking at is:

intel i7 980
either the Coolermaster V8 or the V10 cpu cooler
Gigabyte G1 Sniper
24 GBs RAM
HP ZR24w S-IPS 24" monitor
240GB Sandforce SSD
2x 3TB Seagate HDDs
GTX 580 with 3GB RAM
Corsair 1200W PSU
NZXT Phantom Case

any info advice ?

The motherboard is a waste of money,the PSU also is OTT IMHO and I would get an Intel SSD too.

It might also worth considering one of 27" lower end Hazro IPS monitors too which are under £400 for the 8 bit version.

[sithlord3k]

The motherboard is a waste of money,the PSU also is OTT IMHO and I would get an Intel SSD too.

It might also worth considering one of 27" lower end Hazro IPS monitors too which are under £400 for the 8 bit version.

Man, that Hazro HZ27WC looks beautiful, and it's 27". Gotta buy it! Read the review at TFT central and it does sound really good. Only thing is that the WC version doesnt comes with a glass screen Edit: just realised that there are versions with glass available, but I haven't seen any for sale.

Do you have one ? If so, how do you find it ?

Also, you dont think that I'll need over 1000w for a gtx 580 ( and I will be getting another one hopefully at some point) and the rest of the stuff (inc possibly 6 hdds)

MOBO, would you suggest the rampage III extreme instead ?

Anything wrong with the Corsair SSD ? Seems to have great Read & Write speeds.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Man, that Hazro HZ27WC looks beautiful, and it's 27". Gotta buy it! Read the review at TFT central and it does sound really good. Only thing is that the WC version doesnt comes with a glass screen Edit: just realised that there are versions with glass available, but I haven't seen any for sale.

Do you have one ? If so, how do you find it ?

OcUK sell them:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/search...7&search=hazro

Also, you dont think that I'll need over 1000w for a gtx 580 ( and I will be getting another one hopefully at some point) and the rest of the stuff (inc possibly 6 hdds)

MOBO, would you suggest the rampage III extreme instead ?

Since,socket 1366 is soon to be EOL I wouldn't go too mad on the motherboard.

Both of these motherboards get decent reviews:

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/1giga...and-sata-6gb-s

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/asus-...-sata-raid-atx

This one looks decent for the price too:

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/asus-...-sata-raid-atx

Anything wrong with the Corsair SSD ? Seems to have great Read & Write speeds.

It is more to do with the long term reliability of Sandforce SSDs TBH. The Intel ones tend to have the lowest return rates.

If you have the budget then I would consider the following drive:

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/250gb...plus-free-game

The Crucial SSDs also seem to be relatively decent too and cost less:

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/cruci...-write-260mb-s

[sithlord3k]

So I guess the final detail is whether I can do with a 1000w PSU or should I go for the 1200W one ?