• Some users have recently had their accounts hijacked. It seems that the now defunct EVGA forums might have compromised your password there and seems many are using the same PW here. We would suggest you UPDATE YOUR PASSWORD and TURN ON 2FA for your account here to further secure it. None of the compromised accounts had 2FA turned on.
    Once you have enabled 2FA, your account will be updated soon to show a badge, letting other members know that you use 2FA to protect your account. This should be beneficial for everyone that uses FSFT.

Help building HIGH-END Workstation

T

TechJeff

Limp Gawd
Joined
Mar 25, 2009
Messages
185
1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc

This will be a HIGH-END Workstation PC. The main use will be for 3D art and Adobe software such as Photoshop, After Effects, Cinema 4D, Maya, ZBrush, etc. It will be used as my primary work computer for rendering, with two additional computers I already have as part of the render "farm".

I will also use it for some games at times, but gaming is not my priority.



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

$6,000



3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.


USA



4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. The word "Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need.

CPU
Motherboard
32GB of RAM (the best)
1200 watt Gold or Platinum Power Supply
nVidia graphics card GTX 680 or better (must have "CUDA" for my software).
DVD Burner/Blu-Ray
256GB or better SSD
2TB Hard Drive
LARGE case that supports E-ATX and perhaps HPTX.
Corsair H100 cooling or better.
Mechanical Keyboard - Blue or Brown switches.



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

NONE



6) Will you be overclocking?

YES



7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?

24 inch 1280X1020 Professional Graphics monitor with full Adobe and Pantone color reproduction measured at 100%



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

NOW



9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Onboard video (as a backup or main GPU)? UEFI? etc.

UEFI
USB 3.0
eSATA
Thunderbolt (for future use)
SLI



10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If so, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?

YES. Windows 7 64 bit

 
Oh this will be a fun build indeed, however I think we can put together two rigs with that price range and easily meet his requirements. Think he'd give the other to me??
 
Barebone Supermicro SuperServer 7047GR-TRF - 4U/Tower GPU Server - 1620W Redundant
Processor 2 x Six-Core Intel® Xeon® Processor E5-2640 2.50GHz 15MB Cache (95W)
Memory 8 x 4GB PC3-12800 1600MHz DDR3 ECC Registered DIMM
Hard Drive 2.0TB SATA 7200RPM - 3.5" - Western Digital RE4 WD2003FYYS
300GB Intel® 320 Series 2.5" SATA Solid State Drive (MLC) (Kit)
5.25" Bay LG 12x Blu-Ray Disc Rewriter and DVD/CD Rewriter with M-Disc (SATA)
Video Card PNY NVIDIA® GeForce GTX 680 2GB GDDR5 (2xDVI, 1xHDMI, 1xDP)
Operating System No Windows Operating System (Hardware Warranty Only, No Software Support)
Warranty Supermicro One Year Warranty with Advanced Parts Replacement and Three Year Labor

With the ability to upgrade to 3 more 680 GTX's if needed. No USB 3 or Thunderbolt.

Cost: 6034 so just over the budget.
 
Last edited:
Danny Bui said:
Oh this is will be fun. :)


Are you plannin on triple GTX 680 SLI or something?

Stick with the Crucial m4, Corsair Performance Pro, Plextor M3, Samsung 830 or Intel 520 series SSDs if you want a reliable SSD.
Click to expand...

Need lots of "CUDA" cores for my software so either a GTX 690 or maybe duel factory super clocked 680 in SLI.

A lot of good reviews on the Samsung 830 models and seems like they have some nice prices right now too.
 
I think you are looking at gaming cards when you should be looking at workstation cards. Big difference...You should consider the Nvidia Quadro 6000 which will be much better for graphic design and 3D art than a gaming card. The only this is it retails for around $4,000.
 
If you plan on doing ray-tracing the gaming cards (GTX 680/690) will have waiting and be a waste your time and money. They aren't meant for design work, just gaming. The quadro series are workstation cards designed specifically for design not gaming.

http://www.nvidia.com/object/optix.html
 
My knowledge in this is surely outdated but there was a time when the workstation cards were not much more than re-labels (and a slightly different BIOS) of the gaming cards. Did this change? Are Quadros fundamentally different now?
 
Newegg Total=$5,898.88

Corsair Obsidian Series 800D
Seagate Constellation ES ST2000NM0011 2TB
CORSAIR Professional Series Gold AX1200 (CMPSU-1200AX)
Das Keyboard DASK3PROMS1
StarTech 1 Port PCI Express eSATA II Controller Card
StarTech 2 Port PCI Express SuperSpeed USB 3.0 Card Adapter Model PEXUSB3S2
SUPERMICRO X9SRA Single Socket R (LGA 2011)
PNY VCQ5000-PB Quadro 5000 2.5GB 320-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready Workstation Video Card
Wintec 32GB (4 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM ECC Registered DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Server Memory Model 3RSL160011R5H-32GQ
CORSAIR H100
ASUS Black 12X BD-R 2X BD-RE 16X DVD+R 12X DVD-RAM 8X BD-ROM 8MB Cache SATA Blu-ray Burner BW-12B1ST/BLK/G/AS
Xeon E5-2687W
Kingston SSDNow KC100 Series 240GB 2.5" SATA III Enterprise Solid State Disk
 
chx said:
My knowledge in this is surely outdated but there was a time when the workstation cards were not much more than re-labels (and a slightly different BIOS) of the gaming cards. Did this change? Are Quadros fundamentally different now?
Click to expand...

You should check this out before you decide b/w the Quadro series and geforce series...I had a friend in engineering and he said they used quadro series for modelling.

http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=221812
 
psy81 said:
I think you are looking at gaming cards when you should be looking at workstation cards. Big difference...You should consider the Nvidia Quadro 6000 which will be much better for graphic design and 3D art than a gaming card. The only this is it retails for around $4,000.
Click to expand...

You are correct, I would LOVE an nVidia Quadro 6000 for my use. But my budget simply won't allow that much and I have to balance out the rest.

In fact, if I was going that high-end, I would also go full out and do a duel Xeon 2690 CPU config that would also be $4,200 for just the 2 CPUs.

That would put me at around $8,200 for just the CPUs and graphics card alone, which is not at all within my budget. Nice thought and wish I could get one of those Quadro cards, but I must have CUDA and the 690 or duel 680 superclocked in SLI is my best option otherwise.
 
Listen. Read this and understand it: YOU DO NOT WANT 6xx SERIES CARDS FOR CUDA. They are absolutely and positively crippled in compute functions. Google if you really doubt me, but I'm not leading you astray.
 
Q1DM6 said:
Listen. Read this and understand it: YOU DO NOT WANT 6xx SERIES CARDS FOR CUDA. They are absolutely and positively crippled in compute functions. Google if you really doubt me, but I'm not leading you astray.
Click to expand...

I really don't appreciate the condescending tone, assuming I have not read about this and therefore have no understanding about CUDA or the 6xx cards. First, I use PRO 3D software on a near daily basis so I do stay pretty well informed. Second, you are stating facts that are overblown and not as bad as what it seems. Yes, the 6.xx series is not as good at rendering as the nVidia Quadro line, but as stated prior, those cost a good $4,000 or so for the top line models. Also, the 6.xx series is NOT "crippled", they just don't have quite as good of performance. One of those reasons is due to the difference in drivers between the Quadro and 6.xx series, not just the hardware.

Most pro 3D software companies do in fact have more than several users running nVidia 680/690 cards just fine. Here is one example:

CPU: Intel i7 3930k @ 3,93 Ghz
VGA: Asus GTX 680 4 GB SLI
Driver: Nvidia GeForce 301.42 WHQL
Monitor: Apple 30� Cinema display @ 2560x1600
Mobo: Asus P9X79
RAM: 64 GB DDR3-1600 quad channel (8x8GB)
HD: RAID 0: 2x Intel SSD 60GB 520-series
OS: Windows 7 Professional 64-bit
3ds max 2013

Viewport maximized running 2560@1600
Shaded: 5.374
Realistic: 4.529
Wireframe: 2.852
Consistent colors: 4.791
Clay: 4.843

I ran the Luxmark 2.0 Open CL benchmark. These are the results on my AsUs GTX 680 2 GB (NOT OC'ed):
Room: 275
Sala: 605
Luxball HDR: 3925
Luxball: 689
Luxball Sky: 2358

These are just a few of the samples you can find from users running 6.xx cards. As you can see, they are quite capable indeed and NOT "crippled". They may not have the same benchmarks as the Quadro 4000 or 6000, but they are not meant to, especially for the price. The 6.xx series is a reliable card and you can certainly use them just fine with a high-end 3D workstation.
 
luxmark.png


Yeah it's really tearing it up there isn't it? Not once did I ever mention Quadro when I tried to help you.
:rolleyes:

Also:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/5699/nvidia-geforce-gtx-680-review/17

The 6xx series are horrible at compute. This is not even debatable. Yeah, I've been on cgtalk forums plenty, those people don't know their heads from their asses with hardware.
And really, they don't have to, they make plenty of money and do incredible work. Just saying "hey these other people are using it" doesn't justify it when overwhelmingly it gets handed by the 5xx series and in some benches utterly stomped by amd.
 
Last edited:
Guys, please keep it civil and respectful. If you can't remain calm nor civil or respectful, back away from this thread
 
Hey just trying to help, didn't want the guy spending $6000 and getting boned. He took something as offensive that was meant to be helpful.

Anyway I'm out. TechJeff I would examine your options more closely vs your software load, that's all.
 
It's a tough decision that only techjeff can make. If you're doing artsy stuff and photoshop than a quadro may not be the best choice. I think quadro line is when you need to render things with precision and accuracy so in his case a geforce card may meet his needs.
 
Danny Bui said:
Guys, please keep it civil and respectful. If you can't remain calm nor civil or respectful, back away from this thread
Click to expand...

I certainly don't have a problem, that's why I posted this to begin with. But when I get statements from a user like:

Yeah, I've been on cgtalk forums plenty, those people don't know their heads from their asses with hardware.
Click to expand...

That is certainly unprofessional to say the least. He is saying that people that are the ones using the high-end software like I do most of the time don't know what we are talking about. You can't make statements like that to people that know a hell of a lot more than someone with no professional skills with that software. People like me know these companies well and what people are using.

Also, I pointed out several times that I MUST have "CUDA" cores and it has to be nVidia without breaking the budget. If they took time to read that and knew what they were talking about, they would also find that many of those 3D companies do not recommend AMD at all, such as Vue due to issues with their software.

I really like the feedback and have used it for buying my SSD and LG drives already. Just wanting to get more input that's useful and so far, 99% of those people have been very good.
 
TechJeff said:
I really like the feedback and have used it for buying my SSD and LG drives already. Just wanting to get more input that's useful and so far, 99% of those people have been very good.
Click to expand...

So how much of your budget is left after buying the SD and LG drives?
 
Antec Eleven Hundred Black Super Mid Tower Computer Case
Model #:Eleven Hundred
Item #:N82E16811129178

$129.99 -$30.00 Instant $99.99

ASUS P9X79 LGA 2011 Intel X79 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard with UEFI BIOS
Model #:p9X79
Item #:N82E16813131804

$259.99

EVGA Signature 04G-P4-2692-KR GeForce GTX 690 4GB 512-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card
Model #:04G-P4-2692-KR
Item #:N82E16814130790

$1,049.99 x3 $3,149.97

ENERMAX Platimax EPM1200EWT 1200W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS PLATINUM Certified Modular Power Supply
Model #:EPM1200EWT
Item #:N82E16817194096

$329.99

Intel Core i7-3820 Sandy Bridge-E 3.6GHz (3.8GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 2011 130W Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80619i73820
Model #:BX80619i73820
Item #:N82E16819115229
$299.99

G.SKILL Ripjaws Z Series 32GB (8 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9Q2-32GBZL
Model #:F3-12800CL9Q2-32GBZL
Item #:N82E16820231498

$189.99

Western Digital Caviar Black WD2002FAEX 2TB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
Model #:WD2002FAEX
Item #:N82E16822136792

$249.99 -$40.00 Instant $209.99

CORSAIR H100 (CWCH100) Extreme Performance Liquid CPU Cooler
Model #:CWCH100
Item #:N82E16835181017

$114.99

Subtotal: $4,654.90

Newegg Pricing, Did not know how much TechJeff still had out of his budget after he bought the SSD and LG drive. So I went with a good processor and lots of CUDA cores.
 
Last edited:
Danny Bui said:
So how much of your budget is left after buying the SD and LG drives?
Click to expand...

I spent $85 for the LG optical drive, $248 for a 256GB Samsung 830 and $179 for a 2GB WD Black HD. Total $512 from budget.

Now looking at keyboards, case and PSU for next items. Will post back what I get. Thanks.
 
How do CUDAs perform with SLI though? I'm in a different industry (finance) side, but I believe implementations using CUDA/GPUGPU etc were more difficult with SLI?

That being said -- would I be wrong here to suggest two machines?

It appears that you're spending approximately 3000 on video cards. Some of the performance benefits are a bit marginal at this point -- someone might want to do the numbers out on rendering performance wise, but would an earlier Quadro series (something you can get at 2k) still be a better decision?

IE. One computer that's using 6xx series (2 of them) and another that has a Quaddro? I want to say that would probably still have a better impact than 3 6xx series (although, I don't have any benchmarks to know for certain).

And since we're going for all-in here, did anyone suggest either an Revodrive or to RAID0 the SSDs? (I understand the performance decline over time, but I believe the Intel RSTs come and fix that too)
 
shekkery said:
How do CUDAs perform with SLI though? I'm in a different industry (finance) side, but I believe implementations using CUDA/GPUGPU etc were more difficult with SLI?

That being said -- would I be wrong here to suggest two machines?

It appears that you're spending approximately 3000 on video cards. Some of the performance benefits are a bit marginal at this point -- someone might want to do the numbers out on rendering performance wise, but would an earlier Quadro series (something you can get at 2k) still be a better decision?

IE. One computer that's using 6xx series (2 of them) and another that has a Quaddro? I want to say that would probably still have a better impact than 3 6xx series (although, I don't have any benchmarks to know for certain).

And since we're going for all-in here, did anyone suggest either an Revodrive or to RAID0 the SSDs? (I understand the performance decline over time, but I believe the Intel RSTs come and fix that too)
Click to expand...

Without going into a lot of detail, it depends upon the software you are using as to what is best for video cards and configuration. I do NOT plan to spend anywhere close to $3,000 on my video cards alone. Otherwise, I would put another $1,000 with it and buy the Quadro 6000 card.

In terms of benefit, I know from the techs at several of the software companies their software does not need a workstation graphics card like the Quadro. In fact, there was a post in the users forum over at Cinema 4D that stated just the opposite. You can get very good results from gaming cards and sometimes even better than Quadro lines. They also state that at present, you won't see added benefit to cards like a GTX 690 or GTX 680 in SLI. What you will see the most benefit from is the amount of VRAM a card has and it's clock speed. At least two of the companies I work with say look for the "factory overclocked" versions for best support and special editions that have more standard memory. That's what helps the most.

Is there going to be a GTX 680 4GB version that is factory overclocked? I did a google search and found a few things, but no one has any info on when they will be out.

For the SSD question, I am not sure about doing a RAID 0 with them. I have the budget considering the graphics cards won't be an issue, but have read there are down sides to doing this. You lose TRIM support and few other things I don't recall. Is this true of current SSDs like the Samsung 830. Don't want to waste money if can save some on my budget.
 
For your case I would go with the Rosewill BLACKHAWK-ULTRA. It's affordable, supports ATX, E-ATX, XL-ATX, HPTX, supports dual PSU, lots of fans and has lots rubber grommets for cable management and looks good in my opinion.
 
TechJeff said:
Is there going to be a GTX 680 4GB version that is factory overclocked? I did a google search and found a few things, but no one has any info on when they will be out.)
Click to expand...
You know just as much as we do: No solid info has come out yet. Besides, you can always OC the card yoruself. Hell the 4GB GTX 680 cards aren't even out yet.
TechJeff said:
For the SSD question, I am not sure about doing a RAID 0 with them. I have the budget considering the graphics cards won't be an issue, but have read there are down sides to doing this. You lose TRIM support and few other things I don't recall. Is this true of current SSDs like the Samsung 830. Don't want to waste money if can save some on my budget.
Click to expand...
Still true.
shekkery said:
And since we're going for all-in here, did anyone suggest either an Revodrive or to RAID0 the SSDs? (I understand the performance decline over time, but I believe the Intel RSTs come and fix that too)
Click to expand...
Definietly no the RevoDrive since it's overpriced and it's Sandforce based. Not to mention OCZ's poor customer support.


Anyway here's a prelim build:
$1270 - 2 x Intel Xeon E5-2630 CPU
$610 - Asus Z9PE-D8 WS Dual LGA 2011 Intel C602 SSI EEB Motherboard
$528 - eVGA SuperClocked 02G-P4-2682-KR GTX 680 2GB PCI-E Video Card
$300 - Corsair AX1200 1200W Modular PSU
$144 - Silverstone RV03B-WA ATX case
---
Total: $2852
 
As an Amazon Associate, HardForum may earn from qualifying purchases.
Danny Bui said:
You know just as much as we do: No solid info has come out yet. Besides, you can always OC the card yoruself. Hell the 4GB GTX 680 cards aren't even out yet.

Still true.

Definietly no the RevoDrive since it's overpriced and it's Sandforce based. Not to mention OCZ's poor customer support.


Anyway here's a prelim build:
$1270 - 2 x Intel Xeon E5-2630 CPU
$610 - Asus Z9PE-D8 WS Dual LGA 2011 Intel C602 SSI EEB Motherboard
$528 - eVGA SuperClocked 02G-P4-2682-KR GTX 680 2GB PCI-E Video Card
$300 - Corsair AX1200 1200W Modular PSU
$144 - Silverstone RV03B-WA ATX case
---
Total: $2852
Click to expand...

What other cases would fit the SSI EEB form factor? Even the case you mentioned above did not specifically mention the form factor size. I looked it up on Wiki and Google from what I can tell you should be OK to use it in any case that is current and supports EATX form factor. I would like to look at some other case options and considering the new Switch 810 case which has great reviews and room for water cooling.

Thanks.
 
As an Amazon Associate, HardForum may earn from qualifying purchases.
Thought everyone following would like to know that I got confirmation from NZXT their new "Switch 810" will indeed support EEB motherboards just fine. In fact, the tech in his response said the motherboard try had several design holes for different board sizes and the EEB was one of them. Therefore, it won't be a problem lining it up perfect.

So, after doing some LONG research for a new case, I have decided based on the number of good reviews and feedback to go with the NZXT Switch 810 in the new "Special Edition Gunmetal" design. NOTE: this new color isn't all there is, as NZXT has corrected some of the early feedback users and reviews have pointed out. It's not a major update but does take care of some small things.

This case also gives plenty of room for water cooling. You can easily fit two Corsair H100 blocks in here top and bottom and have room for more fans/coolers. Will post back how it looks when I get it.

The Power Supply I decided on is the new Enermax MaxRevo 1350 Watt Gold model. Their Platnimax was $330 for the 1200 watt version and this was $320. So I opted for the Gold standard in a slighter higher wattage. That way if I decide to go with duel Xeon CPUs I will have extra room and can also do SLI later with no worries along with lots of water cooling.

Power Supply: $320
PC Case: $180

Total from budget so far: $1,012
 
Just finished rounding off the parts for those following this thread. I will post a final full list when I can but everything is listed in the posts.

Keyboard: CM Storm Trigger

Motherboard: Asus Z9PE-D8 WS Dual LGA 2011 Intel C602 SSI EEB Motherboard

CPU: 2 Intel Xeon 2687

Cooling: 2 Corsair H-100 water cooling units.

Memory: Corsair Dominator GT 32GB

Video Card: eVGA FTW+ 680 GTX 4GB edition, OC, with backplate.
 
I wouldn't bother Dominator RAM since they're never worth the extra costs. They're basically for e-peen at this point in time.
 
J Macker said:
Huh? Bah. At work right now I'm typing on an HP Z800 and it has 48GB of RAM. So how can 32GB be "the best" ??




What? That's a very odd resolution. What's the model of the LCD?
Click to expand...

Obviously, I meant "the best" ram for that size such as the most low latency, etc. NOT the amount of RAM.

If the monitor resolution was posted that size, then obviously that was a typo too. 1920X1200 is correct, but thanks anyway.
 
Danny Bui said:
I wouldn't bother Dominator RAM since they're never worth the extra costs. They're basically for e-peen at this point in time.
Click to expand...

I will disagree there with you on that. But everyone has their own likes which is why I went with this.
 
I ran a dual CPU system as my main rig from 2000 until this past April, and still deal with hardware at work.

I'd look at a Supermicro or Tyan board. Asus is a good brand for gaming & consumer boards, but when you start talking about servers and dual CPU workstations Supermicro and Tyan are better.

I'd also get registered ECC ram. 2 CPUs each with quad channel is going to be fast even with DDR3-1333, and reg'd ECC DDR3-1600 is easy to find. I'd rather have the extra stability than a wee bit more speed. Also, registered memory doesn't tend to cause issues if you fill up all the slots.
 
TechJeff said:
I will disagree there with you on that. But everyone has their own likes which is why I went with this.
Click to expand...

Not really something to disagree with. They provide absolutely no performance benefit over RAM that costs less and the heat spreaders on them really aren't needed. At this point, it's just for looks.

You aren't overclocking the RAM and even if you were, it wont really benefit you any, anyway. Especially with a Sandy Bridge or Ivy Bridge setup. So get the cheapest DDR3 1333 or 1600 RAM that you can. CAS Latency doesn't really effect the performance on Intel either. If this were an AMD build, it would be a little different.
 
Skillz said:
Not really something to disagree with. They provide absolutely no performance benefit over RAM that costs less and the heat spreaders on them really aren't needed. At this point, it's just for looks.

You aren't overclocking the RAM and even if you were, it wont really benefit you any, anyway. Especially with a Sandy Bridge or Ivy Bridge setup. So get the cheapest DDR3 1333 or 1600 RAM that you can. CAS Latency doesn't really effect the performance on Intel either. If this were an AMD build, it would be a little different.
Click to expand...

The parts are already done, but thanks for the info.

I do disagree and can confirm it does indeed matter for the memory and low latency. You NEVER want the cheapest RAM on a solid workstation. In fact, if you ask the tech support of the software I use for my rendering, you will find they all say look for ECC RAM with the lowest latency supported. It makes a nice difference if you look at the benchmarks done on the scores for things like CineBench, 3DMark, etc. The benchmarks show what you gain and the people writing the software recommend it too.
 
TechJeff said:
The parts are already done, but thanks for the info.

I do disagree and can confirm it does indeed matter for the memory and low latency. You NEVER want the cheapest RAM on a solid workstation. In fact, if you ask the tech support of the software I use for my rendering, you will find they all say look for ECC RAM with the lowest latency supported. It makes a nice difference if you look at the benchmarks done on the scores for things like CineBench, 3DMark, etc. The benchmarks show what you gain and the people writing the software recommend it too.
Click to expand...

Keyword is "benchmarks". We're talking about real world performance, not synthetic benchmarks here. It's been shown in real world apps that lower latency makes little to no noticeable difference. 1% at most.

There are RAM out there of similar noticeable quality that cost significantly less. In fact, you can get ECC RAM for the price of Dominator RAM.
 
Danny Bui said:
Keyword is "benchmarks". We're talking about real world performance, not synthetic benchmarks here. It's been shown in real world apps that lower latency makes little to no noticeable difference. 1% at most.

There are RAM out there of similar noticeable quality that cost significantly less. In fact, you can get ECC RAM for the price of Dominator RAM.
Click to expand...

I get what you are saying, but the reason I disagree is based on what the techs say at several of the software companies I use for rendering. They are the ones that know the software better than anyone else. What they say is if you look at the CPU cores being flooded during rendering, the threads filled up to max and also the memory in use, you can see a REAL performance difference with both ECC and lower latency memory.

This wasn't just "benchmarks" as you say, but coming from the software companies themselves about what you should look for to use with their software. Yes, you can get ECC memory for what Dominator prices are, but I need both ECC and the lowest latency according to them.
 
TechJeff said:
I get what you are saying, but the reason I disagree is based on what the techs say at several of the software companies I use for rendering. They are the ones that know the software better than anyone else. What they say is if you look at the CPU cores being flooded during rendering, the threads filled up to max and also the memory in use, you can see a REAL performance difference with both ECC and lower latency memory.

This wasn't just "benchmarks" as you say, but coming from the software companies themselves about what you should look for to use with their software. Yes, you can get ECC memory for what Dominator prices are, but I need both ECC and the lowest latency according to them.
Click to expand...
Here lies the problem: Where are the links, articles, reports, etc showing that there's a noticeable performance difference with both ECC and lower latency RAM with the exact software you're using? I'm talking about the actual software you're using, not the synthetic benchmarks you mentioned earlier (CineBench, 3DMark, etc). Are those techs you're talking about basing their recommendation on the actual software or the synthetic benchmarks that's might be related to that software? What platforms? (i.e Intel LGA 1366? Sandy Bridge? AMD Phenom? etc_

GPU companies do it all the time: They use synthetic benchmarks such as the 3DMark you mentioned earlier to show off their "high" real-world performance. RAM companies use synthetic benchmarks to demonstrate how fast their RAM are. Yet when real world tests are done, they rarely match what the synthetic benchmarks say. We get guys here on the forums all the time claiming that their CAS 7 RAM gave them a huge performance boost in gaming and video encoding but can only back it up with synthetic benchmarks and not the actual software itself.

So in other words, I'm a bit skeptical of what you've said so far. Here are the articles I've read which have formed the basis of my skepticism of claimed :
http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/memory/2011/01/11/the-best-memory-for-sandy-bridge/1
http://techreport.com/articles.x/20377
http://www.anandtech.com/show/4503/sandy-bridge-memory-scaling-choosing-the-best-ddr3

Just in case you're wondering why I'm making a big point of this: We get quite a few people every week who do much of the same work you've described albeit with a significantly lower budget and maybe not at the same time. Around here we try our best to make sure that OP gets the best performance possible from his budget. If there are articles showing that a specific setup/layout or piece of hardware helps immensely, it would be good to have them so that we can justify our recommendations to the OP. If there aren't any emperical data or proof to show, we're not going to recommend such configuration.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top