2015 Upgrade

[AlexanderMorou]

Hello,

I originally built a system in late 2010 and after five years it's starting to show its age.

I'm a (remote) Junior Programmer where I work and I do a lot of (personal) research based programming. My current system has about 12GB of ram and lately just doing my job has started to show signs of issue (system memory limitations as I have my personal account running in the background and I have about five instances of Visual Studio open due to multi-solution structure of the multiple-tier software I develop: client, various server services, dependent libraries, et al)

I've built the basics of the hardware I need with PC Hound, but I thought it would be a good idea to get some insight from people who live in the realm of frequent hardware refreshes:

1) What will you be doing with this PC?
- Work PC
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
- $3,600 max with taxes, I don't believe New Egg charges my region taxes, but I could be wrong.
3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.
- USA - Dodge City, KS
4) What exact parts do you need for that budget?
Please refer to the following PC Hound Page, the parts are re-listed here for convenience:

1. Processor - Intel Core i7-5960X
2. Motherboard - EVGA X99 Classified (151-HE-E999-KR)
3. Memory - HyperX 64GB (8 x 8GB) FURY
4. Video Card - EVGA GeForce GTX TITAN X 12G-P4-2990-KR
5. Power Supply - CORSAIR 1200W AXi series AX1200i

5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing?

1. Optical Drive - Generic DVD Burner - Used for installing the OS
2. Case - Lian Li Armor Suit Full Tower
3. SSD - Two Intel 160GB Drives (X25-M Mainstream) - One Samsung 1TB 840 EVO drive (circa 2014)

6) Will you be overclocking?
- Absolutely not - While I like the idea of getting something done a little quicker, I can't have the system fail because I wanted to play around and push it too hard. I can't afford a second upgrade because I was too aggressive (I'm aggressive by nature, based on how I gamble.)
7) What is the max resolution of your monitor; what size is it?
- 2560x1600 - 30" HP ZR30W
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
- Late May 2015
9) What features do you need in a motherboard?
- It's a work/personal system so it needs to be stable above all else, a game or two might be nice. I won't be overclocking so a board that is crazy about such features might be a bit much. I can't afford workstation level hardware, the premium buy-in is a bit much for my budget.
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license?
- Windows 7 Ultimate - 64-bit - I plan on skipping 8.1 due to the changes the OS took on seeming somewhat experimental, 10 might have them hammered out, as the screenshots look a little closer to something useable.

Refer to my signature for my current build from 2010, with the exception that the 'EVGA GTX 480 SC is three GTX 580's in SLI (which is ... a waste for me, ergo single card, too many troubles getting it to stabilize, not worth the hassle given the remote area I'm in, too long for turn-arounds if hardware issues occur for RMA.)

If there's any new hardware on the forefront, I'd be interested in knowing what's up-and-coming that might be available during the build phase. There's more disinformation on the internet than useful information it seems.

If I've missed anything obvious, please clue me in, I tend to be detail oriented, but I have a nutty professor streak where I miss the dead obvious.

 

[Killa|3yte]

You say you can't afford workstation level hardware, but you throw in a 5960x, Titan X, and a 1200i. Alrighty then.

With a budget of $3,600, you should be able to fulfill your needs and wants.

The only thing wrong with your current build is that you don't need a 1200w PSU. Don't worry, you're not the first person to do this. The PSU should be well matched to the amount of power that will be drawn. A 1200w PSU doesn't operate very efficiently when it's serving up 400w, which is about what your system is going to draw. A 760i is what you need.

Don't let me dissuade you from building a beefcake system. I know that feeling. That said, a couple of thoughts:

- Do you really need 64GB RAM? I just built a 64GB system, but that's because I actually had real-world use cases where I knew the usage was in the 40 and 50s (pro audio apps). Would 32 do the trick? That's still a lot of RAM.

- You indicated a couple of times that you're concerned about budget. A 5960x is more of a "money is not a factor" choice. Same thing with the Titan X. That's an odd choice since you said "a game or two might be nice". Get a 5930 or 5820 and grab a 980 to go with it. Your system will cost over $1,000 less and still be a really, really fast and high-end computer. I just got a Titan X, but I'm having a mid-life crisis.

 

[Dangman]

Yes saying "I can't afford workstation level hardware" with a $3600 budget is like saying "I can't afford a Lamborghini so I'll buy this Ferrari instead".

Here's a system to start:
$1800 - Intel Xeon E5-2680 v3 12 Core CPU
$270 - Supermicro MBD-X10SRL-F Intel C612 ATX Motherboard
$450 - Kingston KVR21R15S4K4/32 4 x 8GB DDR4 2133 RAM
$550 - eVGA 04G-P4-2983-KR GeForce GTX 980 Superclocked ACX 2.0 4GB PCI-E Video Card
$122 - eVGA SuperNOVA 750 G2 220-G2-0750-XR 750W Modular PSU
-----
Total: $3192 shipped

 

[AlexanderMorou]

The choice for 64 GB of ram was due to the personal programming I'm doing. LL(*) with path prediction, I plan on expanding situations where there are lexical ambiguities by unifying their identities and predicting beyond that point to isolate the actual parse path. The program that would result would in theory have a very deep understanding of the language itself. There are limitations, but that's a topic for another day.

One aspect I didn't mention is I'm also interested in getting into 3D modeling, which is what the Titan X is for, the workstation equivalent is about 3 grand if I recall correctly.

I've encountered situations where the data sets are large and I can't calculate the estimated overhead because it's an indeterminate type of problem (the space requirements for the problem due to the path evaluation.)

I'll review the E5-2680 v3 and post back.

 

[Dangman]

One aspect I didn't mention is I'm also interested in getting into 3D modeling, which is what the Titan X is for, the workstation equivalent is about 3 grand if I recall correctly.

What kind of 3D modeling? Which program? That's going to influence which card you should get.

The workstation equivalent is $5000. However, depending on which 3D program you're talking about, a $400 Quadro card would actually outperform the Titan X.

I'll review the E5-2680 v3 and post back.

Do note that the E5-2680 v3 is going to perform worse than the 5960X in games on account of the lower clock speed. But for the multi-threaded use you've described, the E5-2680 v3 is better.

 

[AlexanderMorou]

From what I've been reviewing of the Xeon Processor, it's kind of a monster.

It is only barely outpaced by the i7 chip on single threaded performance.

The programs I'm interested in are Maya and CRYENGINE 3 Dev Kit.

 

[Dangman]

From what I've been reviewing of the Xeon Processor, it's kind of a monster.

It is only barely outpaced by the i7 chip on single threaded performance.

The programs I'm interested in are Maya and CRYENGINE 3 Dev Kit.

Indeed it is.

Well here's the thing: At least with the older versions of Maya, you basically needed Quadro cards to get high performance. But obviously since they're Quadro cards, they're not that great for gaming.

It looks like with Cryengine, you can use any GeForce card and be set. If you're planning on doing more Cryengine work and want to play games, then you're better off with a Geforce card like the GTX 980.

 

[AlexanderMorou]

Ended up saving up and going an entirely different route.

It'll be a few weeks but I used a group that builds Workstations that don't charge an arm and a leg (compared to bigger name brands.)

Specs follow:
Motherboard: SuperMicro X10DAI
Processors: Dual Intel® Xeon™ E5-2680 v3 2.5/3.3GHz 12C/24T
Memory: 128GB DDR4-2133 ECC Registered (8x16GB)
Video Card: EVGA GTX 980 TI
SSD: Samsung 850-EVO SSD 500GB
Run of the Mill Optical Drive
Windows 10 Pro 64-bit
Processor Coolers: Gelid Tranquillo (x2)
Case: CoolerMaster® HAF X
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA G2 1300

It did, however, come in at over twice my original price point.

But I'm confident it'll last me the next five years and handle anything I can throw at it.

 

[Dangman]

The only huge issue to me is the case: I actually have that case and I don't think it's worth getting unless it's $120 or less. The quality doesn't match the price you're paying.

 

[AlexanderMorou]

I think it's around $93 for the case. Their case selection was limited, but I'm not buying it to look pretty, just to be functional and give me the power when I need it.

Some processes take upwards of ten hours right now and I hope to decrease that by a lot!

 

[AlexanderMorou]

I think that'll work for now. O_O;