i7 for rendering/3d/glory

A

Attean

Gawd
Joined
Oct 24, 2004
Messages
697
Hey guys a buddy of mine is still waiting for approval on his account but has a fantastic build going up in the near future and needs your help, so he asked me to put this up for him:

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
I don't game much these days, but it's still an important point as I do work in Unreal Ed and whichever other engines/editors are current. My main focus will be 3D applications foremost and rendering additionally. My most commonly used programs (in an approximate order of importance) are:
- Modo (doesn't support GPU rendering as far as I know, will mostly be using for modeling as I'm unfamiliar with the renderer)
- Zbrush/Mudbox
- 3DS Max (only use it for rendering, mostly with VRay)
- Maya
- Photoshop
- Unreal Ed/Other editors and games in general
- Miscellaneous 3D apps

I've been told to go with an nVidia card because of CUDA and general 3D driver support, but I haven't kept up so I really don't know what's best for it.

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
Preferably under $1,500 with ~24" monitor including tax and shipping, but as you'll see I'm closer to $1,700 with my current build. So let's say $1,500 with room to wiggle up to $1,750 with tax and shipping.

3) Where do you live?
San Francisco, CA

4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. Please be very specific.
Everything, including mouse, keyboard, and mouse pad! Not going to invest in great speakers any time soon, so on-board sound is fine.

5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
Not re-using anything.

6) Will you be overclocking?
Probably not because I'm lazy, but someone's trying to talk me into it.

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

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
Within the next week or so, but not huge rush.

9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? etc.
I've been told most 3D programs don't make use of Crossfire/SLI, so I don't think I have much need for it. Would like enough slots for 12 gigs of whatever ram you guys recommend.

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

(Probably) final build:

Monitor 1
$449 - Dell 24" Ultrasharp 2408WFP

Monitor 2
$169.99 - Asus 22" VW224U Black

Case
$54.95 - Antec Three Hundred

CPU/Video Card Combo
$518.98 ($288.99 + $249.99 - $20) - Intel Core i7 290 2.66GHz + EVGA GeForce GTX 275 896MB

Mother Board
$209.99 - Asus P6T SE

Power Supply
$109.99 - PC Power & Cooling S75CF 750W

RAM
$179.98 ($89.99x2) - 2x G.SKILL 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3

Hard Drives
$149.98 ($74.99x2) WD Caviar Black 640GB 7200RPM 32MB Cache

Mouse
$39.99 Logitech MX518

Mouse Pad
$13.99 XTRAC Ripper

Keyboard
$6.99 LITE-ON Black Standard Keyboard

Tax - $181.53 :(
Shipping - $19.36

Total - $2,132.29
 
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I'm the friend of Attean's who'll be building this for myself, just got my account activated.

My main concerns are with the video card and PSU, but of course any suggestions are much appreciated.

Thanks in advance to anyone willing to help!
 
The build, as a whole, looks fine But is the above total before or after mail-in rebate amounts are included? If after, take them out; MIR don't translate into instant savings at checkout.

Also, for what you want to do, you may want to consider spending a bit more for a monitor that uses a better quality *VA or *IPS panel. Most 24" monitors under $400 use a TN panel, which offers fast frame rates (which is good for gaming) at a cost to accurate color reproduction (which is bad for the tasks that you have in mind). Check out the Displays forum for monitor recommendations.

If you don't need all of the features that the P6T Deluxe V2 has, you can drop down to the "plain" P6T. NewEgg even has a combo deal with it and the Core i7 920.

If you plan on overclocking, either now or at some point in the future, I suggest that you also include a good aftermarket CPU cooler with this build. The ones that we recommend often are the Xigmatek Dark Knight 1283V, the Noctua NH-U12P SE1366, the Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme 1366RT, and the Cooler Master V8.
 
You need to invest in a better LCD monitor especially considering what you will be doing on the computer. That S2409W I see those at Best Buy and I don't like the 16:9 aspect ratio. Plus, 6bit TN panel with poor view angles. It looks too narrow and not enough height and lower res at 1920 x 1080. It's ok if you plan on watching movies or play console games on it. But, you need an 8bit panel 16:10 aspect lcd monitor with 1920 x 1200 res. You should cut some cost down on your computer and focus more on a better monitor. Consider the Dell 2408WFP 24" Ultrasharp or HP LP2475w monitor. I agree that you do not need the Asus P6T Deluxe board. It's nice and a great board but a waste if you aren't fully utilizing all its features. The RAM is cheap after rebates but, I hate rebates and just want to pay upfront a cheaper price. Look at the A-Data 6GB DDR3 1600 RAM for $83 w/free shipping. I would do something like this:

Monitor - Dell 24" 2408WFP Ultrasharp 1920x1200 res monitor - $480
Case - Antec 300 case for $55 w/free shipping
Cpu/Mobo (Combo) - Intel Core i7 920 + Asus P6T for $495
Ram - A-Data 6gig DDR3 1600 for $83 w/free shipping
Video/Power Supply (Combo) - EVGA Geforce GTX 260 + Antec Earthwatts 500 for $235
HDD - 2 x WD 6400AAKS @$70/each both for $140
Mouse - Logitech MX518 for $40
Mousepad - XTRAC PADS Ripper Optical Mouse pad for $14.00
Keyboard - LITE-ON SK-1688U/B for $7.00

Total: $1,549.00 before shipping & taxes



Monitor - Dell 24" 2408WFP Ultrasharp 1920x1200 res monitor - $480
Case - COOLER MASTER Elite 330 for $40 w/free shipping
Cpu/Mobo (Combo) - Intel Core i7 920 + Asus P6T for $495
Ram - A-Data 6gig DDR3 1600 for $83 w/free shipping
Video/Power Supply (Combo) - EVGA Geforce 9800 GTX+ + Antec Earthwatts 500 for $178
HDD - 2 x WD 6400AAKS @$70/each both for $140
Mouse - Logitech MX518 for $40
Mousepad - XTRAC PADS Ripper Optical Mouse pad for $14.00
Keyboard - LITE-ON SK-1688U/B for $7.00

Total: $1,477.00 before shipping & taxes
 
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Yup, that price is after mail-in rebates, add $90 without them so the total will actually be $1,726.96 at checkout. Can't edit the first post but maybe Attean will be so kind.

Thanks to both of you for the points about the display, I'll read through the Displays forum and check out the two that you suggested. One thing about that is I have a really hard time working with a single monitor, when I'm modeling I'm generally glancing over at reference every 30 seconds and it's always nice to keep tools on a second monitor. I have an old 19" LCD that I'm hoping still works but I'm not optimistic, if it doesn't I'll probably have to borrow a monitor from work in the meantime, but I was hoping to not spend much on the new one so I can get another sometime in the near future.

I know you get what you pay for, It just kills me that I could get two of these for almost the same price as one of the ones you suggested and multiple displays is pretty high up on my productivity list. I'll pine about it for a while and see what happens.

Changed the mobo+cpu to the package you suggested, thanks a ton.

If I do go with a more expensive monitor I might just drop back down to a core 2 quad system to save some money. Could get the price down quite a bit.

Edit: oops, didn't see your suggested build. Thanks for that, will definitely consider it.
 
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Would that Earthwatts 500 be able to handle this system you think HardwareGuru? I know it's really efficient but that seems close to its limit...
 
An hour later and HG is still editing his post, lol. Ahh, he added linkage. HG... get crimson (or some editor that can do macros). ;)

Attean said:
Would that Earthwatts 500 be able to handle this system you think HardwareGuru? I know it's really efficient but that seems close to its limit...
Click to expand...

Definitely. That system will probably pull around 325W or less at full load. If you have a Fry's near you, the Neopower version is on sale for $30.
 
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Thanks guys, I'll check my old 19" tonight and see if it'll work as a second display. If it does, I'll probably go with HG's first build unless someone wants to fight him about it!
 
2 x Dell 24" 2408WFP monitors dude. I love the look of the Dell Ultrasharps. We're running 2 x 20" Ultrasharps and 2 x 24" Ultrasharps displays at work and they look great. I just purchased 13 x Dell 24s recently for our software engineers to run dual display also. If you have to, drop down to an AMD Sempron LE single core cpu if you have to to get 2 x 24" Dell Ultrasharps or 2 x 24" HP LP2475W displays. LoL just kidding! hehe
 
Haha, you guys are awesome but making this much harder than it would have been if I remained ignorant.
 
A few things to point out:

1. I would go with 2 of these 6GB G.Skill DDR3 1600 kits. No rebates to hassle with and lower voltage (1.5v) than the other kits. The difference in timings won't make any real-world difference.
2. I also agree about looking into a better (IPS) monitor for the tasks mentioned.
3. I would choose the Western Digital 640GB Caviar Black over the Blue drives. Larger cache and slightly faster speeds. Not a huge difference overall, but the difference in price isn't too big either.
4. For the power supply, I'd go with the Corsair 750TX ($111 AR) or PC Power & Cooling 750W ($95 AR). If looking to upgrade in the future (and possibly add a second video card), consider the Corsair TX850.
 
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Also, the black drives have 5yr warranty as opposed to the 3yr warranty of the blue Caviars from WD.
 
Okay, I'm thinking about ordering tonight so I get the stuff early next week.

Thanks for the new suggestions, I don't think I'll be upgrading soon so I'll probably stick with the video card/power supply combo HG suggested because it's a good bit cheaper. The OCZ RAM in my initial build is $87.99 before rebate right now (with promo code EMCLRPL53) and I don't mind dealing with the rebate, so unless you guys think the A-Data or G.Skill stuff is better I'll probably stick with the OCZ. I switched out the hard drives for Caviar Blacks, thanks for that.

I was just about to say I am getting the Dell 24" 2408WFP for sure, but in a strange twist a friend of mine who I just mentioned I was building a new computer to has both the one I had in my initial build ($250) and the 2408WFP and actually prefers the cheaper one for the price. I was so close to pushing the order button, but now I'm confused! He also does 3D work and looks at monitors all day, so I trust his word, but I'm still torn. He claims that side-by-side they're barely different, but he hasn't done much calibration to either. Unfortunately he lives in L.A. so I can't check them out.

This will likely bother me for days.

Edit:
Comparing them directly in the cnet reviews (is this a bad thing to do? feel free to yell at me if it's necessary, I just didn't know where else to go to see comparative benchmarks), it looks like the 2408WFP is much brighter but the cheaper one (S2409W) has a better contrast ratio. My apartment is pretty dark so the brightness shouldn't be an issue. They say in overall performance the 2408WFP is slightly better, but it doesn't seem significant for the price. Unfortunately it doesn't look like they have any color reproduction benchmarks, so maybe that's where the cheaper one falls apart?
 
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Gator Face said:
Haha, you guys are awesome but making this much harder than it would have been if I remained ignorant.
Click to expand...

The hardest thing you'll have to deal with is figuring out the LCDs. Hardforum was a good start for me but I also found anandtech to be useful as well for the one thread they dedicate to LCDs I'm linking to.
 
mutantmagnet said:
The hardest thing you'll have to deal with is figuring out the LCDs. Hardforum was a good start for me but I also found anandtech to be useful as well for the one thread they dedicate to LCDs I'm linking to.
Click to expand...

That thread is intense, thank you.

Reading through, it does sound like I should be looking for something with an IPS panel, it's just hard to justify the cost when I've got someone telling me I'll like the cheaper one just fine. My mind's not made up one way or another, and hopefully I'm not offending any of you by not taking you strictly at your word, but I'm already spending more than I intended so I've got to weigh things out.

Thanks for the continued help, any other thoughts on this stuff would be great.

Edit:
I just pulled my old Medion 19" LCD out of the closet to see if it'd be viable to use as a second monitor for tools/reference. Just like it did years ago, the blue power light flashes and it gets recognized by my laptop when I plug it in but I don't get any picture. From what I remember, it'd have this problem but occasionally fix itself and work fine as long as I didn't turn it off again. Seems strange, as I don't think the panel is dead, it's just not turning on. Googled it quickly and it seems a bunch of people have had the same problem with this monitor, none that I've seen resolved. Would be great to get it working so I felt more comfortable spending more money on the new 24", otherwise I'll need to buy two of something in a relatively short time period.

I'll post in the Displays forum to see if anyone has any ideas, sorry to drag the problem over here. It's probably not worth it though, it's cheap and old, just wishful to take care of the second monitor issue!

And one more question, how is Dell's order turn-around? I've never ordered from them but the "usually ships in 1-2 weeks" or "2-4 weeks" thing for the monitors worries me. I'm used to newegg's quickness, will I likely need to wait a few weeks for Dell?

Edit Again:
Laaaame, both package deals ended (CPU+Mother Board and Video Card/Power Supply). Will need to re-fill those slots, guess I could just do the same components without the package discount, but that was at least $50.
 
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The A-Data and G.Skill kits have lower voltage, which is better for compatibility (in case you want to play it safe; lower voltage = lower heat).

The best thing to do with displays is check them out in-person, which is getting hard to do as many B&M's don't carry every model LCD.
 
Well that OCZ RAM is OOS. In addition, the G.Skill RAM that PC_User recommended is clocked higher and costs the same price.
 
Thanks Danny, G.Skill it is.

Still trying to work out the mother board, processor, power supply, and video card. The first 3 were suggested at some point in this thread, any thoughts on the video card? Will probably order today unless anyone thinks I should change something up.
 
Okay, final build unless anyone has any pointers. Went over budget by more than a bit, but I guess I'll live.

I stopped by Best Buy today to check out monitors (there aren't many places to do this in San Francisco, unfortunately), every monitor they had was a TN panel. Wasn't impressed with the Dell S2409W, I thought the Asus and Samsungs were both nicer. Decided to trust the consensus and go with the Dell Ultrasharp 2408WFP as my main monitor and a 22" Asus as secondary. The Asus was nice enough and It'll pretty much just be for reference images, tool pallets, web browsing, and other secondary tasks. If anyone has any final suggestions let me know, I'll be ordering in a few hours (I know I've said this before, but this time I'm for real!).

Thanks for all the help guys, I'll post when I get it, here's the final build (pending last minute suggestions):

Monitor 1
$449 - Dell 24" Ultrasharp 2408WFP

Monitor 2
$169.99 - Asus 22" VW224U Black

Case
$54.95 - Antec Three Hundred

CPU/Video Card Combo
$518.98 ($288.99 + $249.99 - $20) - Intel Core i7 290 2.66GHz + EVGA GeForce GTX 275 896MB

Mother Board
$209.99 - Asus P6T SE

Power Supply
$109.99 - PC Power & Cooling S75CF 750W

RAM
$179.98 ($89.99x2) - 2x G.SKILL 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3

Hard Drives
$149.98 ($74.99x2) - 2x WD Caviar Black 640GB 7200RPM 32MB Cache

Mouse
$39.99 Logitech MX518

Mouse Pad
$13.99 XTRAC Ripper

Keyboard
$6.99 LITE-ON Black Standard Keyboard

Tax - $181.53 :(
Shipping - $19.36

Total - $2,132.29
 
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See if you can get some of those parts from Amazon.com to cut down on the tax charges. Amazon.com doesn't charge us CA residents tax :)
 
Looks like a good build. I didn't even know about the P6T SE until I saw it in your post. I guess ASUS recently released a $200 X58 board to compete with Gigabyte's EX58-UD3R and the MSI X58 Pro.

Good luck and have fun!
 
Will do!

Still going through Amazon to try to shave a few bucks off tax.

So far I'm getting the CPU, video card, and hard drives at Amazon, but not quite sure which video card. It's going to be a little cheaper to get the CPU + similar video card at Amazon even taking the package deal at Newegg into account, or I can slightly upgrade the card to a 280 for about $12 over what it would have been at Newegg.

What do you guys think, EVGA GTX 275 Superclocked 896MB for a little cheaper or BFG Tech NVIDIA GeForce GTX 280 1 GB (Edit: oops, just realized this card is through PC Universe, not Amazon. Will probably go with the 275) for a little more?

Can't find a better deal on RAM so far on Amazon, even accounting for no tax.

I know nothing about PSUs so I'm a little afraid to change what was already recommended for my build, will probably keep that.

Still going to order tonight, just need to figure out the details with Amazon now!
 
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1. The GTX 280 1GB can be had from Newegg for $300, but I think the 275 should be enough.

2. If you want to save a bit more (no tax) and get a different quality PSU, take a look at the Corsair TX750 for $115 with $10 rebate.

As for the RAM, Newegg has the best prices and selection. You won't find similar stuff on Amazon.
 
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Thank God you went for the 8 bit Dell 2408W Ultrasharp. You know, your friend may say he doesn't see a difference between the S2409W and 2408W Ultrasharp displays. But, I can tell a difference between a 6bit TN panel and an 8bit TN panel. I have both TN panels as well as P-MVA and S-PVA panels and when it comes to colors, I can tell the difference. The blacks just aren't that black especially when I play PC games. Also, the viewing angles is definitely noticeable. You will obviously see color shifting on a TN panel due to it's poor viewing angles. Plus, TN panels are known for having back light bleeding. 8bit panels do suffer backlight bleeding also but, I notice it more on TN panels.
 
Yeah, thanks for the recommendation, looking forward to checking it out.

Ordered everything except for the monitors. I'm going to call Dell in the morning and see if they'll cut me some sort of a deal if I buy one 2408WFP and one S2409W as a secondary. With tax the Asus was going to be close to $200 and the S2409W was on sale for that a few days ago. They probably won't budge, but I can say I'm only buying it if they give it to me for $199 -tax and shipping and see what happens. If they don't give me a deal I'll go with whatever 22-23" sounds the best for under $200.

I went with the GTX 280 1GB because it seemed like the right thing to do at the last minute. I think I ended up spending about $20 more going through amazon, but I got better stuff so it's okay!
 
This has been an interesting build. Went from ~800 with a limit at 1200-1300, then to 1500, and slowly crept toward $2000. I can totally relate. :) And it's alright, because I can honestly say you'll be blown away, coming from your old athlon 4000+.

Make sure you post pics!
 
Find out how long the backlights in those 2405FPW's last. If they last much longer than 4ys, go for it.
 
Yeah I went ahead and bought it. Went and saw it, everything seemed to be in perfect condition, no dead pixels or anything, and he took $180 for it. So that solves the second monitor issue! Hopefully it lasts a while.
 
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