An artsy Workstation Rig looking for few good man!

cemster

n00b
Joined
Jul 31, 2012
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1) What will you be doing with this PC?
The work load of the Rig will be VIDEO/AUDIO production with as many virtual and physical OSs as machinely possible... I will also have at least three monitors..

2) What's your budget?
I have no budget per say. I astimate arround 5 G.

3) Which country do you live in?
I live in Tırkey. Having said that, the parts that are not available here, I will be getting them in California...

4) What exact parts do you need for that budget?
CPU, Motherboard, Case, PSU, Water Cooling equipment, Pro Video card, HDDs & SSDs. Perhaps a raid card, & UPS.

6) Will you be overclocking?
Just Intel X79 automatic OC. Nothing pretentious...

7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?
I will be shooting in 1080i/p. ANd the size of the monitor should be 40" or larger..

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

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license
I will have many OSs including XP, Win7Pro, both 32 & 64bit.


Hello everyone..

This is going to be my first serious attempt to put a system together...
Although I wanted to make one for over ten years, I kept putting off my desire based on the worries of the upcoming Intel upgrades that were always in the horizon...
Yes! The technology was never good enough for me! :) Yes! It is a sickness but I am in control now...

Finally when I was ready, I realized that I was a bit outdated with my system knowledge... And when I say a bit, I mean enormously... Thus I began researching and researching finally to realize just the basics, the elementary.
That's why I am here today hopping that your expertise and wisdom would save me from frying myself... And when I say, frying, I mean hurting myself to a point that I can't tolerate anymore and become dysfunctional.

MY GOAL
I would like to build a VIDEO/AUDIO Workstation Rig that is mute! "0" DB is going to be my main objective... I will have multiple OSs and three moınitors

MOBO
ASUS P9X79 WS

CPU
INTEL i7-3960X

CASE
COOLER MASTER COSMOS II PURE BLACK ALUMINYUM FULL TOWER

PSU
At first I was planning to get a Koolance 1000W Liquid-Cooled Power Supply...
But 1000W wasn't going to cut it and unfortunately or fortunately 1200W &1600W models are discontinued so are1300W &1700W models. Not very assuring..

So I decided to get two PSUs...
If the Liquid-Cooled Fanless Power Supply is not a mistake of choice then I can get one Koolance 1000W and one Koolance 500W and call it a day...

The other attractive solution is a TWIN Corsair AX1200i Digital ATX Power Supply

The reason behind for two PSUs is the fanless operational capability of the Corsair unless a certain workload is reached. So two of them sharing the load, will reduce the PSU's need to ventilate... Obviously I will have to do some alterations to the case to accommodate the twin PSUs...

I also heard that Seasonic SSP-650RT Active PFC is pretty quiet as well.

GPU
QUADRO 4000 is the Video Guys' DIY 2012 top choice...

Now I know that I will not go with SLI.

Of course the best combination would be to have best of both of the worlds.
So maybe as a second GPU one of these ...

GForce GTX 580 3GB
GForce GTX 590
GForce GTX 670
GForce GTX 680

I am not going to pretend like I know much about GPUs except that I know I will not use SLI and I need a QUADRO card for serious HD video editing and some farming...

WATER COOLING
My obsession with Water cooling is not because of OC possibilities but because of less audibility and obviously better cooling capability it possesses...

For the water cooling scenarios, I realized that the most important issue for me, would be a long lasting WC system that would not need maintenance too often... And the second achievement should be the simplicity in doing so. Like carefree liquid filling and easy plug/unplug capabilities with the tubes and quick disconnects couplings.. So that I don't have to drain the system when I make any changes or replacements and upgrades and so forth so on...

Also ideally I would have love to build a WC system that the Pomp and reservoir units is placed outside of the Case. And preferably far enough from the machine so that I don't have to hear any of the fans...

Still, I presume I will have to have some fans in the case no matter what. At least to exhaust the heat that might accumulate in the case. If there is any way not to need any fan, PLEASE LET ME KNOW HOW...

FANS
So if it is a must, then I would love to have the most silent fans available to me... I checked many reviews and forums for that but I cannot get a clear view to figure out... So this is an area that I need your experience for sure...

That brings us to open loops versus stuff like Corsair H100 and alike... Now, I believe that I do want a real WC operation in my machine, unless that totally crashes with my little maintenance and longest longevity possible objectives... Having said that I did a lot of reading throughout the forums and various sources... So I have names! I have a few of them alright.. But do I feel I know what I need? Hardly... Here are some candidates for basic water cooling members... I have them purely because other people seem to like them, not because I have any idea... I only did a statistical work...

CPU BLOCKS
Enzotech Sapphire
Heatkiller 3.0 LT

PUMPS
MCP655
Laing DDC 3.25

Swiftech MCR-320 Drive Rev3 Series Heat Exchanger w/ Pump and Reservoir... ???

RADS
Hardware Labs Black Ice GT Xtreme 360mm

And there is also a Radiator/Pump/Reservoir combos like:
Aquacomputer Airplex Modularity System 240 Radiator / Pump / Reservoir Combo - Copper Fins - D5 Pump
Aquacomputer Airplex Modularity System 360 Radiator / Pump / Reservoir Combo - Copper Fins - D5 Pump
Aquacomputer Airplex Modularity System 420 Radiator / Pump / Reservoir Combo - Copper Fins - Eheim Compact 600/12V Pump

So at the moment I have no idea what kind of capacity my rig will require...
BUT
Incidentally I want a loop for everything... For GPU, PSU, RAM!, MOBO... North, south, east, west... Perhaps in the end consequently for my ass too!

So this is another poor areas of my knowledge... I can add that I don't care for beauty aspect of the system. I don't want it to be ugly as hell but if that's what it takes, so be it... You know clamps for hoses and so forth so on...

CHIPSET BLOCKS
HEATKILLER MB Chipset Cooling Kit ASUS-P9X79 Nickel
http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/hembchcokita.html

MOTHERBOARD HEATSINKS
Zalman ZM-NBF47

RAM BLOCKS
RAM-33 Water Block (Memory)
http://koolance.com/ram-33-memory-water-block

GeIL EVO Cyclone Memory Cooler

Also I was advised not to put a complex water loop together until a system has been thoroughly tested. Always spend a week or so on air cooling before starting to add water blocks. So that means Fans! Lots of them probably! We will see about that...

I apologize for not being very professional in terms of preparing this list. This was best I could do... That's a lot of question to ask and again I apologize for that but desperate times need desperate measurements... And boy am I desperate?!...

Thank you for even reading it through... Seriously if you made this far, yet there is hope for me :))

I appreciate your efforts to help and thank you for your willingness to put up with my idiocrasy before hand...

Cheers...
 
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If you aren't doing serious overclocking, why spend the money on watercooling? You may be thinking it will be silent, but the fact is some radiators need a certain amount of air flow over them to work right and they aren't always any quieter than a high end air cooling setup. Some operate fine with less air flow but they won't perform as well, but they'll end up quiet. I'll let the guys who keep up with that better than I do address that.

Motherboard and processor choice is fairly solid. However, you might be better served with a dual socket board and two Xeon CPUs. They can handle more virtualization and some video editing applications can make use of them. Not to mention applications like Photoshop CS6 and Adobe Premiere running side by side can both eat up a lot of resources. Especially if you've got VMs on the box.

Something like this: http://usa.asus.com/Motherboards/Intel_Socket_2011/Z9PED8_WS/

Or this: http://www.supermicro.com/products/motherboard/Xeon/C600/X9DAE.cfm

The case you've chosen doesn't support dual power supplies. Do all the cutting you like, all you'll end up with is a junked $300 case. If you really want dual PSUs, you need a case that supports that. A single PSU like the AX1200 is more than sufficient for a build like this. Biggest PSU power hog are GPUs and you'll only be running one. Usually in builds the PSU isn't the thing that makes the most noise. Not by a long shot.

Secondly, there is no point to running something like a GTX 680 along side a Quadro 4000. I am also uncertain if there are any GPU blocks for Quadro series cards. So you may not be able to use anything like an EK full cover block. You may have to go with a more generic solution to accomplish that if you are still dead set on water cooling.

Water cooling the RAM isn't remotely necessary. Again if you aren't overclocking then there is no point to it. You are pissing away money by doing that. That's fine if you want to go all out, but understand you aren't getting anything by doing it and you'll make things needlessly complicated.
 
Pretty much everything Dan said.

I appreciate your invitation to comment, but I have to admit I do little to no Video Encoding / Editing, so I am not strong there.

I second his take that for your particular workload you may be better served by a dual (or even single) socket XEON board and CPU.

The reason I say this is that you appear interested in VM's. While most Core series consumer desktop CPU's support Intel's VT-D, it can be really tough to get a consumer motherboard to support it. If you go XEON pretty much anything recent will support it properly.

If you really feel you need more than 6 cores, do as Dan suggests and go with a dual socket Xeon E5 board (and compatible CPU's, not all CPU's are dual core compatible)

If - on the other hand - you do anything that benefits from per-thread performance (like if you ever plan on playing games) I would recommend sticking with the single CPU Xeon E5's like the E5-1660 which gives you 6 cores + HT and a max turbo of 3.9Ghz. The dual socket models have much lower core clocks and max turbo figures.

Another option which gives you 8 cores and only sacrifices max turbo by 100Mhz is the Xeon e5-2690, but the base clock goes down to 2.9Ghz from the 1660's 3.3Ghz.
 
I know that this might be anti-[H], but have you looked at getting a workstation from one of the big vendors? I'm saying this because if your livelyhood depends on it, you should consider the warranty and repairs benefits that it offers. This is especially worrying if you say you will be getting parts from California when you are based in Turkey. Check the HP Z820, the current "king" of workstations, and the _lowest_ level of warranty is next business day on site repair, for any malfunction.

Othwerwise, you will want to go with more cores (dual Xeon) to reduce rendering times, get a GPU that has certified drivers for the software you will be using. What software will you use? it makes a difference with the choice of GPU.

If you do build your own:

- look at the Noctuna NH D14 is quieter than a WC setup, if you go with it be sure to get the version for 2011 sockets and check your RAM for compatibility as the fan is huge and not all RAM fits underneath it.

- 3930K instead of 3960X

- Do you need the added features of the WS board?

- I don't know anything about your case with regards to sound isolation, but look at the 550D, it might be better
 
Check the HP Z820, the current "king" of workstations, and the _lowest_ level of warranty is next business day on site repair, for any malfunction.

Just to give a reference point, my HP Z800 at work cost nearly $9k less than one year ago. Dual Xeon 5690's, 48GB ram, Quadro 2000, 300GB Raptor.
He would easily go beyond his $5k estimate. Perhaps it would be $6k with a single Xeon and the Quadro 4000
 
Thank you all for your input.

@Dan_D
In the beginning I had INTEL E5-2687W & Asus Z9PE-D8 WS in my mind. But those are priced out of this world in Turkey and if I get them from US and anything goes wrong with them and I need to replace them I will have a serious problem since I can not use mail (custom taxes) and I don't have luxury to go back and forth more than once a year really...
So that's why I settled for i7...

There is a GPU WC Block for Quadro 4000
Fermi Quadro 4000 GPU/VGA water cooling block
But I get what you're saying especially for ram...
I have seen a COSMOS II that was modified for two PSU. So I am certain that it works. I wish I could get MAGNUM TH10 but that would be just to much to bring from US.

@Zarathustra
Any Xeon is painful with the reasons I explained.. But what you're saying about VMs are scary..
So to make it sure do you absolutely think that a i73960X or a 3930K will not be sufficient for VMs?

@jest
if I get the HPZ820 I will not have warranty due to the Ocean in between the lands:)
If you mean added features such as bluetooth and wifi and stuff like that, then not really..
And the Asus board does require bigger case than 550D unfortunately...
 
Thank you all for your input.

@Dan_D
In the beginning I had INTEL E5-2687W & Asus Z9PE-D8 WS in my mind. But those are priced out of this world in Turkey and if I get them from US and anything goes wrong with them and I need to replace them I will have a serious problem since I can not use mail (custom taxes) and I don't have luxury to go back and forth more than once a year really...
So that's why I settled for i7...

There is a GPU WC Block for Quadro 4000
Fermi Quadro 4000 GPU/VGA water cooling block
But I get what you're saying especially for ram...
I have seen a COSMOS II that was modified for two PSU. So I am certain that it works. I wish I could get MAGNUM TH10 but that would be just to much to bring from US.

@Zarathustra
Any Xeon is painful with the reasons I explained.. But what you're saying about VMs are scary..
So to make it sure do you absolutely think that a i73960X or a 3930K will not be sufficient for VMs?

@jest
if I get the HPZ820 I will not have warranty due to the Ocean in between lands:)
If you mean added features such as bluetooth and wifi and stuff like that not really..
And the Asus board does require bigger case than 550D unfortunately...

You don't need two PSUs. The PSU doesn't make all that much noise in the grand scheme of things.
 
Thank you all for your input.

@jest
if I get the HPZ820 I will not have warranty due to the Ocean in between the lands:)
If you mean added features such as bluetooth and wifi and stuff like that, then not really..
And the Asus board does require bigger case than 550D unfortunately...

Too bad about the case. My recommendation for the Z820 came off getting it locally.

Also are you really planning on doing sensitive graphics/video work in a VM? I've never heard of anyone doing so and it sounds interesting. Any experience/issues with it?
 
@Zarathustra
Any Xeon is painful with the reasons I explained.. But what you're saying about VMs are scary..
So to make it sure do you absolutely think that a i73960X or a 3930K will not be sufficient for VMs?

It will be able to run VM's either way. All that is required in order to ruin VM's is VT-x and I don't believe there is a current CPU/Mobo combo out there that lacks this.

VT-d is trickier though. If you don't have full VT-d compatibility (CPU, Motherboard AND BIOS), you will not be able to use Direct I/O Mapping, which depending on your intended usage scenario may or may not be an issue.

You can read a little more about this here.

Essentially, without VT-d (generic term is IOMMU) you can not pass through hardware directly to your guest OS. Instead it has to go through the traditional route of host middleware.

Some Examples:


Ethernet adapter:

Without VT-d:
- VM guest uses virtual network provided by host.

With VT-d
- VM guest can use NIC as if it were connected to the guest directly, installing drivers for it in the guest OS.

Video Card:

Without VT-d:
All graphics go through the VM console on the host.

With VT-d:
Extra video card can be assigned directly to the guest OS, drivers installed in guest OS, and guest OS will display directly to video card output.

It can also be used for any number of hardware peripherals, like storage controllers, USB controllers, etc. etc. so they are directly connected to the guest, and no longer need to be emulated through the host.

In all cases where VT-d/IOMMU are used, it is usually faster, as there is no emulation layer in between, and you may be able to accomplish things you can't without VT-d/IOMMU.

If this is an important feature for you, then you need VT-d. If it isn't, then you might as well go with a non-Xeon SB-e CPU.
 
Just a FYI, a zero DB system is simply not possible. A low DB system is possible but not a zero DB unless you're going fully passive with everything and are using low power parts.

As Dan_D pointed out, ZERO reason for you to get dual PSUs. Nothing, and I mean NOTHING, you're doing or have mentioned remotely requires more than a 650W to 750W PSU let alone two 1200W PSUs. If you stick with a single GPU config, I highly recommend the Seasonic X-650 Gold 650W PSU. Very quiet and of high quality.

Considering that this is your first serious attempt at a new PC, I'd would recommend avoiding water cooling considering how complex it is sometimes. Not to mention that, as Dan_D noted, custom water cooling isn't actually that much quieter than high-end air-cooling HSF like the Noctua NH-D14 mentioned by jest.

Case wise, IMO, the Coolermaster Comsmos II isn't a good choice for the money since the Silverstone RV02 and Silverstone FT03 cases are quieter and provide better stock cooling than the Cosmos while being significantly cheaper. Combine the FT02 with the Noctua NH-D14 HSF with the right fans and you're already half-way to a very quiet PC.

GPU wise, stick with a single Quadro 4000.
 
dump the water cooling

pick a properly sized power supply

Pick another case (like Danny's suggestions).


fan suggestion: Gentle Typhoon AP14
 
Okay thank you again for your inputs.. I feel less of an orphan now...
And everybody who stopped by, I appreciate it...

@Dan_D
Yes. I also understand the inessentiality of the double PSUs... The main reason for dual PSUs was to split the load in between so that individual fans wouldn't need to spin so much since they would be sharing the load. I didn't think I needed that much of power...
So, to be specific what do you think of Koolance 1000W Liquid-Cooled Power Supply? It's fanless and has a closed loop... I hear what you are saying about the grand scheme of things but I've heard some serious noise produced by heavy working PSUs in the past... I gave up on Ram and MOBO cooling and I will stick with CPU & GPU cooling. However if the Koolance is an reliable option, why not.. Also even though it is expensive and has more power than I need but other than these aspects whayt do you think about Corsair AX1200i Digital ATX Power Supply? Unless a certain workload is reached like %40, fans wont spin at all on Corsair...

@Zarathustra
Thank you for the info about the intel vt-x / vt-d... That was pretty educational.. Unfortunately although I'm not fully certain it seems like Asus P9X79 WS was not in the list of vt-d support list... And i7-3900 series were in the list but not tested on any VM platforms?! So I don't know what that means really...

So the question I have in my mind is which is better, vt-x or vt-d? Because I couldn't quiet figure out the difference...
Also what do you think of E5-2687W?

@jest
Also are you really planning on doing sensitive graphics/video work in a VM? Any experience/issues with it?
I was not per say planing on doing any sensitive work with it. I rather want to do some experimentation..

@Danny Bui
ASUS P9X79 WS motherboard is a "CEB" form factor motherboard so non of those cases will do for me. Besides they are not available here...

Unfortunately Quadro series can only support two monitors, I'd like to have at least three...
So inevitably I do have to get an extra Video card...
I wish I could be able to use FirePro V7900 along with a Quadro, since FirePro supports up to four display. But it is highly unlikely that they would sit together without any disputes!

There are options like to leave Quadro unconnected to external displays and is only used for processing, while another GPU can handle displays. So one card for CUDA and one for GUI... Not to mention, I will be using two more cards from Blackmagicdesign. DeckLink 4K and DeckLink HD Extreme 3D.. Which will be drawing power specially Quadro 4000 consumes a lots of power... So this is still an uncharted territory for me yet.

Thank you all for your time again..
cheers
 
So the question I have in my mind is which is better, vt-x or vt-d? Because I couldn't quiet figure out the difference...

They are not mutually exclusive.

Almost all systems have VT-x these days. You more or less need this for running any VM's at all.

VT-d is an addition on top of VT-x that in addition to allowing VM's to run, also allows you to direct map the hardware.

If you don't think you will be doing direct hardware sharing, then you have no need for VT-d.

Also what do you think of E5-2687W?

Seems like a really nice chip (albeit rather expensive)

At a base clock of 3.1Ghz and 8 cores, should allow well multithreaded rendering tasks to perfom very well.

At a max turbo of 3.8 Ghz, I can't think of any games or other few threaded applications that wouldn't run well.

At $1980 just for the CPU though, I can't help but wonder if it is worth it or not.

I thought my CPU was crazy expensive at $600.
 
If you are so concerned with redundancy of the system and being able to replace parts, with a budget of 5K (or more) you could easily put together a couple 2600k/3770k rigs. Why run virtual, when you could just run physical.
 
Have you thought about looking into getting an AMD Firepro card instead of a Quadro card?

As long as the software you are going to be using supports it, you will get a whole lot more card for your money.
 
@Dan_D
Yes. I also understand the inessentiality of the double PSUs... The main reason for dual PSUs was to split the load in between so that individual fans wouldn't need to spin so much since they would be sharing the load. I didn't think I needed that much of power...
So, to be specific what do you think of Koolance 1000W Liquid-Cooled Power Supply?
I'm not Dan_D but again you don't need more than a 650W PSU, even if you're aiming for low noise. In any case, that PSU is relatively old now and is outperformed by newer PSU platforms.
Also even though it is expensive and has more power than I need but other than these aspects whayt do you think about Corsair AX1200i Digital ATX Power Supply? Unless a certain workload is reached like %40, fans wont spin at all on Corsair...
Good PSU but again, you don't need it, even for a low noise setup.

Just to repeat again: You don't need more than a solid 650W PSU for your planned setup.

@Danny Bui
ASUS P9X79 WS motherboard is a "CEB" form factor motherboard so non of those cases will do for me. Besides they are not available here...
Damn.
Unfortunately Quadro series can only support two monitors, I'd like to have at least three...
So inevitably I do have to get an extra Video card...
I wish I could be able to use FirePro V7900 along with a Quadro, since FirePro supports up to four display. But it is highly unlikely that they would sit together without any disputes!
If you're using Windows 7 and above, you shouldn't have any issues. Also note that you have to install two video card drivers no matter what since the Nvidia Quadro and GeForce drivers are completely different. Not to mention the difference between AMD's Firepro and Radeon drivers. Also an anecdotal: I'm currently using a Nvidia GeForce video card and an AMD Radeon video card right now in my system without issue.

There are options like to leave Quadro unconnected to external displays and is only used for processing, while another GPU can handle displays. So one card for CUDA and one for GUI... Not to mention, I will be using two more cards from Blackmagicdesign. DeckLink 4K and DeckLink HD Extreme 3D.. Which will be drawing power specially Quadro 4000 consumes a lots of power... So this is still an uncharted territory for me yet.
Not entirely sure applications lets you switch GPUs like for rendering/GUI. Also, the Quadro 4000 doesn't draw lots of power. It's relatively light compared to other GPUs on the market.
 
I agree. There is no need to go with a Koolance or any other 1Kw+ PSU.
 
I apologize for the delay in response.. I had severe issues... And thank you for responds..

I'm not Dan_D
Well I know that... I meant that comment for Dan_D not for you... :cool:
If you're using Windows 7 and above, you shouldn't have any issues. Also note that you have to install two video card drivers no matter what since the Nvidia Quadro and GeForce drivers are completely different. Not to mention the difference between AMD's Firepro and Radeon drivers. Also an anecdotal: I'm currently using a Nvidia GeForce video card and an AMD Radeon video card right now in my system without issue.
Well I'll be using many OSs... I've heard that if you install Quadro drivers first and then GeForce it wouldn't overwrite the first drivers.. When you do it the other way around ends up with overwriting issues...

Now I am also considering a GTX card. Like 680 or 690... Apparently they have four displays and CUDA as well as OpenCL... Could you tell me which GeForce card are using?
 
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Now I am also considering a GTX card. Like 680 or 690... Apparently they have four displays and CUDA as well as OpenG... Could you tell me which GeForce card are using?
All of the GT 6xx video cards out now supports quad displays. With that said, unless you have no remaining PCI-E slots available on the motherboard, it's a bit overkill to buy even the $300 GTX 660 Ti let alone the other more expensive models just for quad displays. From a cost to performance standpoint, you could easily get two video cards for $50 apiece, put them in the PC and there's 4 to 6 display capability right there.

EDIT: I have to ask: How exactly are you setting up your "many OSes" setup? I.e what virtualization software are you using, what's gonna be your host OS, which OS will be running your video/audio software etc.
 
Well if I all needed was multiple screens life would have been much easier... But... and that's a big but, I need lots of CUDA processing as well..

My main OS is Win7 Pro 64Bit.. This is the OS that will handle production aspect of workload...
And tell you the truth, I have no idea about what virtualization software I will be using...

I have searched but could not find a comparison table for brands... As far as GTX 680 or GTX 690 goes..
As far as I can tell there are five manufacturers. 1) Nvidia 2) Gainward 3) ASUS 4) EVGA 5) Palitbut
I can not tel which is the better choice... I kind of know that I am prone to the GTX 690 4 GB...

P.S. Incidentally I've had a typo: "Could you tell me which GeForce card are YOU using along with which Radeon ?"

cheers
 
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Well if I all needed was multiple screens life would have been much easier... But... and that's a big but, I need lot's pd CUDA processing as well..
Well what specific apps will you be using that requires/uses extensive amount of CUDA? And are you planning on gaming at all?
My main OS is Win7 Pro 64Bit.. This is the OS that will handle production aspect of workload...
And I have no idea about what virtualization software I am gonna use...
Well, why are you planning on using multiple virtual machines then?
I have searched but could not find a comparison table for brands... As far as GTX 680 or GTX 690 goes..
As far as I can tell there are five manufacturers. 1) Nvidia 2) Gainward 3) ASUS 4) EVGA 5) Palitbut
I can not tel which is the better choice... I kind of know that I am prone to the GTX 690 4 GB...
In addition, did you mean those are the only manufacturers available in your country? I ask because there's a lot more manufacturers than that for Nvidia GPUs. AFAIK, no CUDA application right now actually takes advantage of the extra GPU on the GTX 690 4GB. Just like with your 1000W PSU idea, the GTX 690 is also a useless purchase for you since you're not gaming.
 
Well what specific apps will you be using that requires/uses extensive amount of CUDA? And are you planning on gaming at all?

Well, why are you planning on using multiple virtual machines then?

In addition, did you mean those are the only manufacturers available in your country? I ask because there's a lot more manufacturers than that for Nvidia GPUs. AFAIK, no CUDA application right now actually takes advantage of the extra GPU on the GTX 690 4GB. Just like with your 1000W PSU idea, the GTX 690 is also a useless purchase for you since you're not gaming.

Not only that, but previous gen GPU's (400 &500 series) actually perform better in GPGPU type workloads than the new Kepler/600 series.

They are intentionally trying to move the serious GPGPU crowd to their Tesla series of cards rather than consumer GPU's.
 
Hello again,
Well, why are you planning on using multiple virtual machines then?
Well, first of I would like to experience different OSs.. I have lot's XP 32 software that I would like to use in it's native domain.
Also for security purposes I like to have a decoy OS and/or a taster OS.. (you know like kings use to have a taster for poison and stuff) I just don't know about the software options yet, that's all... I am sure once I set the system up, I can get familiar with the available options out there...

Well what specific apps will you be using that requires/uses extensive amount of CUDA? And are you planning on gaming at all?
As I mentioned before, mainly CS6... And yes, if I may...

In addition, did you mean those are the only manufacturers available in your country? I ask because there's a lot more manufacturers than that for Nvidia GPUs. AFAIK, no CUDA application right now actually takes advantage of the extra GPU on the GTX 690 4GB. Just like with your 1000W PSU idea, the GTX 690 is also a useless purchase for you since you're not gaming.
Extra GPU power is very good for rendering and also will come handy for DaVinci Resolve...
Not to mention that as I stated before, I don't mind to have a superb gaming experience if and when I wanted to... (I feel left out of that part of the world!)

I am not insisting on any of these ideas of mine... These are not solid ideas anyway they are research ideas... I am just trying to figure out. The only way I know how is throw these ideas out there so that you can comment on them...

And I appreciate that you do so...
 
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Well, first of I would like to experience different OSs.. I have lot's XP 32 software that I would like to use in it's native domain. Also for security purposes I like to have a decoy OS and/or a taster OS.. (you know like kings use to have a taster for poison and stuff) I just don't know about the software options yet, that's all... I am sure once I set the system up, I can get familiar with the available options out there...
Ok, you have to figure out the options first before you get the system up as you have to figure out whether you want to go for a type 1 or type 2 hypervisor. Either type will require a change in hardware and have differing performance.
As I mentioned before, mainly CS6... And yes, if I may...
What matters more? Gaming or "VIDEO/AUDIO production"?
Extra GPU power is very good for rendering and also will come handy for DaVinci Resolve...
But the issue is whether or not that software takes advantage of dual GPUs solutions like the GTX 690? If you can't find confirmation of that, again no point in getting the GTX 690.

Honestly, if you're serious about virtualization and gaming, split that off into a seperate system. Virtualization and gaming does require a bit of resources which means less resources for your video/audio production. Not to mention slightly different hardware. If you split this planned PC into two seperate PCs, one gaming/host based virtualization and a straight up video/audio production PC, it'll simplify things.
 
Okay forget about I said I want to experiment with virtualization... I was being spoiled rat..
However I need to use few OSs in my production PC... Not to experiment but to utilize multiple options which will aid me immensely in facilitating my work flow...

As I researched the hypervisor types not so thoroughly, I got a bit confused .. Thanks to Zarathustra[H], I had came to grasp of the term VT...
I had learned that VT-d was not supported neither by Asus P9, (although I am not sure but) nor by Intel i7... So that leaves me with generic VT-x...
But now you're introducing the hypervisor types and I am again in a mist... :)

I couldn't find enough to understand what's goin' on here... But I found that there is a Type "0" as well,
yet I have no idea how to obtain and utilize any of these types or what is the PRACTICAL differences they represent to me... Even though I've read several pages that explained the differences!!!
Same with these different hardware requirements you mention for each type of hypervisor, no clue... At one point I will learned about them , I hope...

Having said that I've made some purchases..

So now, I proudly own:
ASUS P9X79WS
INTEL i7-3930K (looking forward to upgrade this with an 8 core i7 )
COOLER MASTER COSMOS II (the most expensive and mandatory item in my list...)
and I got an incredible deal on Corsair AX1200i 1200W Digital PSU
because I bought all the items above from the same place, they gave it to me for $245.00 instead of $370.00
So I didn't even hesitate when I ordered it... :)

So now I need to get hold of (8x8) 64GB Ram
And the ever ill at ease, the GPU Card... or cards..?!
And the rest is a piece of cake... I hope...

The CS6 does not support the dual GPU, yet... And although the gaming matters less to me, I remember you mentioned earlier on the thread that 690 has no value for me since I am not planning any serious gaming...
But what if I get 680? I'll have somewhat enough processing power for my workload and a solid gaming performance when I indulge myself... Would that be a worthy plan?

I wish I could split my ambitions into a two system but I don't think it is feasible at the moment...
I have very limited time to finish this project otherwise I'll be loosing a lots of money and opportunity, not to mention my credibility will be severely hurt as well...

So this is the situation at the moment. And thank you for sticking around for helping me out. I sure appreciate it...
 
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I think I'll walk away from this since you're apparently buying parts without asking for advice/look through anyway.

Yes that 1200W PSU was still a bad buy even at its discounted price.
 
WOW, you spent over $1K just on a PS, MB, and case?! :confused:

I dont blame Danny one bit. People are only trying to help so you get what you need and want without ripping yourself off.
If you needed a computer fast, you should of built one that you needed for work/gaming, then got an extra one(when time permitted) for playing with OS's, VM's and such.(Or use vmware workstation and just do it in a VM)
What about hard drives, SSD for boot and for your programs that could use the speed?
 
Well I am sorry for offending you guys... I had no intention to make you feel nonsignificant nor did I considered your input nonessential... I always expressed my gratitude and appreciation...

I tried to explain that I have a special case... I have limitations on what I can purchase in my region, I have very little time to put together this system for the job I am contracted to as an editor/producer...
It is not the title but the prestige of the job that is very important for me.. It is crucial that I am able to work on dailies in my studio/home environment, rather than a production house. There is no renting option available here,
so I have to get things done and build me rig, fast! When I started this thread I was already in a very tight schedule and I was thousands miles away from the realization of the system that I needed...
Thanks to generosity of the folks in Hardforum who know stuff, now I can see the view much better. And more importantly, I finally, after more than a decade;
made the commitment and got me some essential components on to build a nice rig...

The budget I have allowed me to make up for the negation of products availability... I had no choice in the matter of the case. There are no other options that were available to me...

With the Corsair I also did not have much of a choice to choose from either... Most available stuff were 500W Silver grade units with lot's of bad reviews.. There were a couple of tolerable 750W Gold grade units,
but they were about the same price range with the Corsair anyway. And units with a 1000W capacity were way more expensive than The Corsair... So what was I suppose to do here?!
And the only reason they gave me that deal, because I was buying the case no one else wants and they wanted to get rid off the case very badly! I presume that was a bad investment as far as they were concern! .
By the way there isn't a second one! That's it! I bought the only case there is in Turkey! The Corsair, they had three! Some one else bought the first one six months ago, so they have one left. One last unit in whole wide country...
See what I have to work with!

How about the Intel i7 3960X, I wanted very badly! But everybody said I should save some money and just get 3930K... I didn't think that was one of the sacrifices I wanted to make but I did...
That gave me room for possible future upgrades... I would have never switch to 3930K if it wasn't for advices I received...

Danny said that I wasn't taking his advices in consideration but he couldn't be more wrong. I came where I am right now by mostly his and also everybody else's knowledge...

But I have respect for how he feels, and I kinda felt like sad myself, so I didn't make an effort to explain myself. So thank you for giving me the opportunity to at least explain myself...


I need to be able to use VM within my work flow. Because I am use to work with some applications that requires Win x86.. Than I need Win 7 64Bit for CS6... If I can I would like to use some MACOS applications,
smal utilities to make things much easier and faster... So having VM in a separate machine (which I don't have) has no use to me at the moment... I don't have to or will have time to play games anyways...
I have four SSDs and many 720rpm 2,3 4 TB Seagate HDDs... When I say many I mean like 20TB worth. So I think I am good in that department... Perhaps I also need to get a dependable Raid Card as well..
Seems like the Video Card is the only thing left to worry about... And I believe GTX 680 4GB looks pretty good right now. Considering that I am lurking in all the Video related forums for a month now,
and GTX 680 is fastest GPU to work with After Effects at the moment.. And it is finally in Adobe's compatible card list. With Premiere Pro it is still not supported yet officially but it is used widely all around with no issues...
Also I am pretty sure new software upgrades on the way for much better hardware acceleration and support for GTX 680, and when that happens I will be a very happy cat having one with 4GB!...
Or a happy bird... Or a happy person in that matter...
But, this is still in debates...

Anyways in case my orphan state is an official one, I'd like to thank everybody who took time to help me out here to achieve what I needed to achieve... So thank you all very much...


No hard feelings I hope..
cheers
 
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Hello everyone,
First of I congratulate you all for a smooth transition to the 2013... One prophecy down three to go...

I wanted to inform you that I've completed my rig, and surprisingly enough it worked as soon as I finished wiring it...

I will post some pictures to conclude this sweet bitter journey shortly...
For now here is the final list.

Thank you all for your help and time...

FINAL RIG:

MOBO: ASUS P9X79 WS
CPU: INTEL i7 3930k
CPU COOLER: CORSAIR H100i
RAM: CORSAIR VENGEANCE 64 GB (8X8) 1600MHz
VGA: ZOTAC GTX 680 4GB
SSD: CORSAIR FORCE GT 480GB
BLUE RAY COMBO DRIVER:LG
PSU: CORSAİR AX1200i
CASE: COOLER MASTER COSMOS 2
 
I'd go with different RAM. Corsair Vengeance 8GB RAM modules such as CMZ16GX3M2A1600C10 have potential issues with X79 based motherboards. I had a lot of trouble with them on the Rampage IV Extreme. And using 8 DIMMs you'll have to reduce the clock speed to DDR3 1333MHz as well. So buying DDR3 1600MHz modules doesn't make a lot of sense.
 
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Hi Dan_D
I was not able to get G-Skill.. I had Kingston and Corsair so I picked Corsair. Started with 1333MHz but now it is running at 1600MHz and so far I'm pretty happy with it... I did do some stress tests and a semi huge rendering and they are holding alright..

And thank you for all of your inputs through out the process...
cheers
 
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