new build - 3D work, tv/movies - minor gaming

I'm working on a new budget-ish build that I'm trying to make fairly quiet. My problem right now is that I'm not sure whether to sacrifice the card that I currently have listed, for a better CPU for rendering work (something with a higher number of cores). The computer will be used for 3D work primarily, so the card just needs to be able to handle meshes in 3dsmax, on a 1900x1200 display. Unfortunately, it's hard to find reviews of anything but the 3d specific cards that can give me an answer, so I turn to you guys.

I'll be using my old Antec SLK3000b case and Seasonic S12 430W psu for the build.

This is what I have so far:

CPU - AMD Dual-Core Athlon A64 X2 7750 (95W), 2700MHz, BOX, socket AM2+ (Kuma)
MB - GIGABYTE M720-US3 - nForce 720D
Mem - 4GB (KIT 2x2GB) DDR2 800MHz PC6400 CL5-5-5-18 CORSAIR TWINX XMS2
Vid card - SAPPHIRE HD 4670 Ultimate, 512MB DDR3 (1746MHz), ATI Radeon HD 4670
Fans - PC NOCTUA NF-S12-800 x 2
Heatsink - SCYTHE Ninja mini Low Noise Low Profile

So basically, I'm wondering if maybe I could drop the budget on the vid card for my uses, and invest in a CPU that would provide better render times. The system is pretty much what my budget allows for, so it's a little bit of a trade-off either way. Also, I think that if I go with an X3/X4 processor, I'd have to go with the Ninja 2 heatsink to keep temps and fan speeds down, but that doesn't change the price too much. My gaming will really be very very light, this is primarily a workstation/render station, but I do need the vid card to be good enough for fairly complicated meshes without too much choppiness.

Thanks!

Please answer the questions in the sticky titled "ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS FIRST!" so that we can help you better.

You'll have to do more research on the subject. From what I remember, even the lower end pro cards (FireGL/Quadro) will render better than consumer grade gamer cards (Radeon/GeForce series). There used to be hacked drivers to open up the FireGL and Quadro capabilities of the gamer cards, but its been a while since I've seen working versions for the newer GPUs; though, I'll admit, I haven't researched this topic in a while (no clients with these needs lately).

As far as stretching your money for the best bang for buck, you'll need to answer the questions in Danny's sticky thread.

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc

- browsing, movies/tv, some 3D design/rendering

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?

- ~$500 - $600

3) Where do you live?

- Czech Republic

4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. Please be very specific.

- CPU, RAM, mobo, vid card, fans, heatsink - backup case + PSU for old system

5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.

- Antec SLK3000b case + Seasonic S12 430w power supply

6) Will you be overclocking?

- no

7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?

- 24" or 26" lcd

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?

- within the month

9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? etc.

- the most basic mobo possible that will be stable. Possilbly with undervolting options.

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license?

- yes.

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Sorry for not answering the sticky, my bad.

enginurd: I'd like to have some gaming opportunities, but nothing too crazy, which is why I was looking at the 4670, which is a decent budget option. The final rendering process is fully CPU dependent and has nothing to do with the GPU except for displaying the image. I just need a vid card that would be good for mesh manipulation, but as I said, it's something that is hard to find benchmarks for.

the 4670 is a very decent card for some light gaming, my GF has one in her rig, and even at 1920*1080 it does just fine for a game of red alert 3 or the likes, so that is a good choice for a casual gamer imho, i wouldnt go much lower though, 1920*1080 is a whole lot of pixels..

why do you need that scythe though? the stock sink for todays AMDs isnt exactly great, but unless you plan on OCing a lot (and since you want undervolting, im guessing no), it will do just fine. Now going of the newegg price for the ninja mini ($40), dropping that from the build gets you a lot closer (not all the way, but close enough) to a x3 710, which will improve rendering power a great deal

i dont have acces to czech prices, but i think dropping the scythe would be a good start towards a faster cpu, to get the same savings, you would have to drop the 4670 for a 2400pro or something (going by local prices), which would make gaming a no-go instantly.

if you could live without games for a while, you could consider getting a mobo with integrated graphics, and just run of that for a while, then when you can save up some money, buy that 4670..

And a side note, you dont mention any hard drives, are you re-using one, or did i just ruin your budget?

Sorry, another mistake, I'll be reusing some drives for this machine.

That's not a bad idea regarding the cooler, most of my rendering would be overnight, so if it does decide to ramp up, I'll likely be in the other room anyways. Definitely something to consider. Dropping the cooler and using a stock cooler on the 710 would just be an increase of ~500CZK (about $25 or less). I just want it to be as quiet as possible, as much as possible, so was going for the cooler that I know is very good.

I think I'll probably stick with the 4670, I'm a street fighter addict, and the PC version could just steal my life from me.

I'm thinking about maybe moving up to this board:

GIGABYTE MA770-UD3

and also upgrading to the 710 Phenom. I can stretch my build a little bit, with the key being stability. Can anybody recomment a board in the same price range that has a good reputation for stability? It's very unlikely that I will be doing any overclocking.

If your 3D rendering apps run on openGL I would recommend nvidia over ATI. Also, not sure how prices compare with US over in czech republic but if possible I'd get the phenom II X4. The 4 cpu cores should speed up your rendering considerably over an X2.

robotlegs said:

If your 3D rendering apps run on openGL I would recommend nvidia over ATI. Also, not sure how prices compare with US over in czech republic but if possible I'd get the phenom II X4. The 4 cpu cores should speed up your rendering considerably over an X2.

Click to expand...

Thanks.

The Phenom II X4 810 is almost 3x the price of the 7750, while the 710 is about twice as much. I'm considering just upping my budget to the 710, but I may go all the way for the 810 at that point. Too many decisions.

Would it be worth it at this point in time to even think about getting the 710 as a viable option to unlock for 4 cores, or is this something that I missed the boat on?

Here is my most recent idea, let me know if there's anything you would change. Ideally, I'd like to order the parts tomorrow:

CORSAIR DIMM DDR2 4GB, 800Mhz, CL5, XMS2 (KIT 2x2GB)
BIOSTAR TA790GX 128M , AM2+, AMD790GX, DDR2, 7.1,VGA, 2xPCIe
SAPPHIRE Ultimate HD4670 512MB D3 750/1746MHz HDMI+DVI+VGA 2slotHeatP
SCYTHE SCNJ-2000 Ninja 2
AMD Phenom II TRIPLE X3 710 (2.6GHz, 7.5MB, socket AM3, 95W) Box
WESTERN DIGITAL WD Caviar Blue WD1600AAJS 160GB 7200RPM SATA-3G 8MB
2x NOCTUA NF-S12-800

Decided that I could use another HD just for a Windows partition. Also going with the Ninja as I may decide to overclock with the 710. Should I consider going for 4 cores, or wait until the prices drop?

Looks good to me.