PCFormat Forum Archive

Hi there,
This is my first time building a rig, and i needed some help/advice
This rig is actually for my girlfriend who is studying visual effects, 3D animation, modeling etc...
So what I have mapped out so for is the following, Oh and the budget is about R16k
CPU: Core i7 3930 (with intel boxed air cooling solution)
Mobo: Intel "Thorsby" X79
HDD: Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 1TB
GFX: Gigabyte nvidia GTX670 OC Edition
RAM: Corsair Vengeance 16GB (4x4GB) 1600MHz
PSU: XFX 750W Pro Series
Case: Zalman Z9 (not included in budget)

Now, some concerns i have with all of this (one of course being my first build and all) is the motherboard, RAM, and PSU.
Lets start with motherboard; I have heard mixed feelings with getting an Intel motherboard but noone seems to able to give me a straight answer. The motherboard that I have chosen seems to be the most reasonably priced LGA2011 motherboard i have seen, and thus i chose it. There seems to be almost no reviews for it online.
RAM; There is most certainly cheaper RAM i can get that is also 4x4GB 1600MHz, names like Kingston, Patriot etc. Why would i choose corsair over these ones? Does latency matter that much to warrant spending R300 more etc. (especially if this rig is only for seldom gaming)?
PSU; I know almost nothing about PSUs other than how much wattage ill need. How can i find out if this one has all the connectors/plugs that i need?

Thanks

The motherboard is fine. The gamers and overclockers here will tell you to look elsewhere, but for animation and design there is nothing wrong with an Intel board.

I don't see much reason to spend any more on RAM than is absolutely necessary for your purposes. Honestly, I'd settle for cheaper Kingston or Patriot RAM.

As long as you get a reputable PSU (i.e. not a no-name brand or Thermaltake) you should be good. (Okay, the Thermaltake may just be a personal opinion based on multiple bad experiences.) I'm sure the XFX will suit you fine, though I am personally unfamiliar with XFX's PSUs. I'm tempted to tell you to look at Corsair or Cooler Master rather, but I have no real reason to doubt the XFX.

^^
What he said.

Personally i'd go for another m/b but is personal preference.

You can check quality of the PSU by looking at its ratings and price (bronze, silver, gold, platinum ratings) - if its about R1k to R1.5k it is unlikely to suck.

Maybe throw in a SSD?

petrivanzyl wrote:Maybe throw in a SSD?

This would not hurt.

Thanks, shes not intending on overclocking at all so maybe the intel mb is alright.

petrivanzyl wrote: Personally i'd go for another m/b but is personal preference.

Why do you say that?

Id love to go for a solid state, but it its a bit tight with the budget already. Maybe in a few months a 64GB will be in order

Alpha_1 wrote:

petrivanzyl wrote: Personally i'd go for another m/b but is personal preference.

Why do you say that?

No reason. I just prefer ASUS, ASRock, Gigabyte, etc.

Those things on your list already add up to R16k? Seems steep, where did you get quotes? Have you tried www.rebeltech.co.za?

Stuart wrote:The motherboard is fine. The gamers and overclockers here will tell you to look elsewhere, but for animation and design there is nothing wrong with an Intel board.

Right you are, tell you to look elsewhere I shall.

That board costs around R2 - R2.5K, and as with most Intel motherboards its not exactly very good value for money. Rather basic actually. But then as Stu said for the purposes of this pc it is probably ok

but maybe have a look at this one:

http://www.rebeltech.co.za/index.php?ma ... ts_id=5337

The rest should be more than enough

Wow

I see all of those components listed does add up to R15k without the PSU and case (www.rebeltech.co.za):

Intel Core i7-3930K R 5,871
Intel DX79TO Thorsby R 2,393
Seagate Barracuda ST1000DM003, 1TB/1000GB R 793
GIGABYTE GV-N670OC-2GD, GTX670 R 5,031
Corsair CML16GX3M4A1600C9B, 16GB (4GB x 4) R 1,076

That's a pretty expensive CPU! I settled for i5-3570K and Z77 for my rig. But I guess this CPU and X79 would be better for rendering etc.

Ja, for these purposes I would not settle for i5. You could probably get a cheaper mobo.

THE_STIG wrote: but maybe have a look at this one:

http://www.rebeltech.co.za/index.php?ma ... ts_id=5337

looks like a nice m/b will give it a look thanks

I was even considering some gigabyte motherboards, but what threw me off was the price and since she isnt a heavy tech person, what more would she need other than a bare-minimum m/b

[Edit]
Found this PSU, any thoughts?
http://www.rebeltech.co.za/index.php?ma ... ts_id=1767

Yea gigabyte is rather pricy these days, and some of their boards are rather sparsely equipped for the price too which is why I look elsewhere now

True she does not need any fancy OC options, the board is probably fine

I'm actually thinking if your after cores you might go for AMD. I've heard that some varsities use AMD FX chips because the cores could be better used for multi tasking. How true that is I don't know. The other thing is that AMD radeon card are better at doing CG.

You pretty much have the cheapest of the socket 2011 listed. That is unfortunately the price of greatness. But going for a socket 2011 you will need to be prepared to cough up some extra cash. You could drop to a Z77 1155 board at R1300 and a i7 3770 for R3000. Don't know the impact of the change but is 2 more cores really worth that extra to you/her?

*edit*
i7 3930k does not come with air cooling. The chip was designed for overclocking so your looking at an extra cooler cost.

You have a point there. One of the hex core AMD's might be a good option but then I too dont know how much impact dropping a few cores makes if you go for an lga 1155 i5 cpu

I was initially looking at the 3820 but something swayed me
I feel going for 1155 socket isnt as future-friendly and since there there isnt much income, i want to get as much out of this budget as possible whilst staying on 2011 socket.

Anything good i should know when looking for a PSU other than ratings? (like connectors etc.) im almost positive with higher wattage PSUs (700+) i wont have a problem

Alpha_1 wrote:I was initially looking at the 3820 but something swayed me
Anything good i should know when looking for a PSU other than ratings? (like connectors etc.) im almost positive with higher wattage PSUs (700+) i wont have a problem

No, an ATX PSU should have the proper "connectors"

Alpha_1 wrote:I was initially looking at the 3820 but something swayed me
I feel going for 1155 socket isnt as future-friendly and since there there isnt much income, i want to get as much out of this budget as possible whilst staying on 2011 socket.

That right there. Intel will be replacing their socket 1155 Ivy Bridge CPUs next year. It still isn't clear if they are changing form factor again or if they are staying with the 1155. It is 2 years old and from the old i7 series you can assume they will change it again. If your going for an i7 3770 your paying half the price of the 3730k cpu. If you go for the MSI Z77-GD43 the board costs you R1300, also half the money. From a gaming standpoint its a smart move as you wont be seeing the difference that much while playing a game. I can't speak for 3D animation though.

I would recommend you reconsider the cheaper option especially if you take into account what you might need to spend should your cpu or board die when you have the more expensive 2011.

Very good ponts there. But another pro would be the quad channel memory. Ivy bridge E is apparently going to be lga2011 in 2013.
I will look into that though, thanks

Alpha_1 wrote:Anything good i should know when looking for a PSU other than ratings? (like connectors etc.) im almost positive with higher wattage PSUs (700+) i wont have a problem

dont be so sure, there are some 300W units being badged as 500w+ units floating about out there.....but as a general rule if it seems too cheap and you have never heard the name stay away

in terms of motherboards - i like Asus and Gigabyte BUT if i was building a system that needed stability first and foremost then i would go with the Intel motherboard 100 times out of 100

the asus just needs more work and messing around to get perfectly stable - while the intel i tried recently was flawless in that respect - the drivers installed in a painless manner and was just a one click solution and everything worked perfectly thereafter - when i swopped over to the asus it was a matter of installing each driver individually and you could miss a driver and then the functionality of the system was compromised till you realized that you needed a driver installed and this is what was causing the problems you experience

and then with the intel mobo everything just worked perfect from the get go - with the asus it was a matter of trying to figure out why my internet was not working or why some other stuff also wasnt working as advertised - and with some time and effort everything was rectified but with the intel mobo's this is time that you do not have to spend ie it was time that i did not have to spend which is why if i was given a choice i would go with the intel board each time unless i wanted to overclock

other peoples mileage may vary but it depends what you are after with your system - the aftermarket brands are better for people who love to tinker with hardware - for the guys who just want the machine to do work then i reckon the intel board is the way to go

Right, weighing in here.

CPU: Anything less than an i7 for a graphics design rig isn't going to cut it.
Motherboard: I can't fault your choice for Intel, for the purposes you're using it. Intel motherboards aren't gamer/overclocker friendly, but they're extremely stable. In this case, you want stability over the bells and whistles; this isn't a gamer/overclocker rig.
RAM: 16 GB will do you just fine. Personally, I'd go for 32 GB of slightly slower (and cheaper!) RAM for what you're planning on using the rig for, but I'm not sure if your budget would allow.
HDD: I strongly recommend an SSD for the OS and all the 3D rendering apps. Can keep the 1 TB drive for storing data.
GFX: Should be fine. The Quadro range of cards is more designed around graphics rendering stuff than mainstream gaming, but they're probably way out of your budget.
PSU: Whatever you do, don't skimp on this. >500W will be plenty; just make sure it's from a reputable manufacturer.
Case: This is way too subjective for me to give any useful advice.

Oh, ignore any rig-building advice from THE_STIG; for a non-gaming machine, he will almost always be wrong.

Ron2K wrote: Oh, ignore any rig-building advice from THE_STIG; for a non-gaming machine, he will almost always be wrong.

Ron2K wrote:Oh, ignore any rig-building advice from THE_STIG; for a non-gaming machine, he will almost always be wrong.

Oh really, so I am wrong in saying that a cheap no name PSU is a bad idea and that an Intel board will be fine for this purpose

On the CPU front I will admit that I dont know what is best for a workstation PC, I assume you want as many cores as possible but then maybe there is something else as well

Haha, you guys are great! Ill probably go with the corsair brand because it seems more reputable to me.
Any advice when building the rig, cause honestly, I am slightly worried that im going to screw something up...

[edit]
should i opt for a modular PSU?

yes, make sure you take off the plastic cap from the water cooler or fan before putting it onto the cpu.

Alpha_1 wrote:Haha, you guys are great! Ill probably go with the corsair brand because it seems more reputable to me.
Any advice when building the rig, cause honestly, I am slightly worried that im going to screw something up...

[edit]
should i opt for a modular PSU?

Don't use a butter knife as a screwdriver and RTFM

There is not much you could do wrong, everything will fit in its place. ie if it does not fit you are doing it wrong.

Modular psu, personally yes I would say. Helps with cable management a bit, if you dont need a whole string of 4 pin molex connectors you just leave that bit in the box. Far less cables lying about in the case making things a mess