leasing or not, your opinions????

[voltron7]

I'm in the same boat. Built a dual quad about 5 years ago and paid over 4500$, and that was with mid-end 2.3ghz cpus and 8gb of ECC ram. The higher clocked cpu were just out of my reach. So 5 years down the road, needles to say that it badbly fell behind performance wise. Cant even get that type of ram anymore (found some on Ebay, 600$ for 8gb). So as of now, I think I'm just going to go for a single socket build, problably the 3930K, overclock it to 4.8ghz, stuff 32 gb of ram inside, with a top tier geforce, all of this for around 2000$. Abuse it for 2 years, then retire it to the render queue, and build another top performing, consumer system. So about the same investment, but taking better advantage of the latest tech.

That is similar to me, so building one is looking more and more appealing...thanks for input

[ior=0]

Building your own is pretty straight forward, although daunting the first time.
1. Buy a quality case, that is quiet - these are great cases. http://www.fractal-design.com/?view=...tegory=2&prod=
2. Decide which CPU you want (i7 is a good choice and available in 6-core now)
3. Get a motherboard suitable for the chosen CPU (I like Gigabyte, but others are just as good)
4. Get a cooler for the CPU
5. Buy a good power supply (scrimping here will not doubt result in BSOD and untold misery) Corsair make excellent ones.
6. Buy as much RAM as you can, normally in dual or triple kits, depending on MB spec. It is still dirt cheap so buy loads.
7. Stick in a graphics card, don't bother with quadros or the like, unless you're heavily into CAD apps, but even then it's probably not worth it.
8. Stick in one or more Hard Disks (depending on whether you are using RAID or not) and a CD/DVD reader/writer.
9. All the above components fit into easily recognised corresponding slots/cables on the mother board, so if you've ever played with LEGO or done a jigsaw you are qualified to stick the bits in...carefully
10 Turn it in on (fingers cross it POSTS - if not check you seated the RAM properly) and then install Windows. Win7 is a breeze to install compared to previous versions.
First one should take you a very enjoyable half a day.

[voltron7]

@Simon

Thanks for the checklist and info, it is a big help...I am comfortable adding drives/cards/etc. even power supplies (now) but have always been intimidated to try it from scratch!
So far, I am leaning more and more toward trying my own build, as the pros for leasing are falling far behind ATM.
As far as RAM is concerned, does ECC/non-ECC matter that much? I've never really gotten a straight answer on this...

Thanks again to everyone for all the helpful comments!

[Dariusz Makowski (Dadal)]

Yes ECC matter. They do help they do protect ur files. But at the end u can find a way to not have to use them and still be fine.

As to case - DO noy buy any "Silent" crap cases. At the end u will have to take off ur side and blow fan 100% on cpu to just coll it down ! Get xigmatec elysium and stick as many fans as u want at 140/120mm + 1k RPM. U wont hear a thing and it will be coll(I dunno how is it coll or cool lol)

ECC and NON ECC OC that same. It's the size of bank and price thats different. I had ECC-REG in past still has them. B4 u buy ram make sure ur mother board (EVGA - since they cover in warranty Overclocking etc etc) can use ECC + CPU. i7 cant use ECC as far as I remember.

B4 u start buying pick ur motherboard, and then check vendor certified list of hardware that u can use with this motherboard...

Thanks, bye.

[Morne]

ECC is mainly used on SERVERS. I don't think the extra cost for ECC is worth it for a workstation as I don't see it making that much difference on a workstation.
As for the "silent" cases. They all start out like that, but run it for couple of months and it will sound just like any other case, due to dust buildup on the fans due to static etc.
You'll have to take apart the fans and wash it nicely every 2 or 3 months to keep that supposedly "silent" feel or sound

If you want to keep things cool, sticking in more fans will make it more noisy. Maybe try liquid cooling

[Dariusz Makowski (Dadal)]

ECC is mainly used on SERVERS. I don't think the extra cost for ECC is worth it for a workstation as I don't see it making that much difference on a workstation.
As for the "silent" cases. They all start out like that, but run it for couple of months and it will sound just like any other case, due to dust buildup on the fans due to static etc.
You'll have to take apart the fans and wash it nicely every 2 or 3 months to keep that supposedly "silent" feel or sound

If you want to keep things cool, sticking in more fans will make it more noisy. Maybe try liquid cooling

It wont if u run 120mm fans at 1k rpms. Under 18-20db u cant really hear the noise.

The problem with silent cases is that they have very bad airflow and very little fanse - I know I did had 2 of them in past. At the end u just end up taking all apart so that cpu can actually get some fresh air to coll down components...

ECC matters - all the corrupted save errors, crashes, etc etc dont happen as often on ECC reg as it does on non-ecc reg...

[Morne]

ECC matters - all the corrupted save errors, crashes, etc etc dont happen as often on ECC reg as it does on non-ecc reg...

Most of my machines have been non-ECC. Some of my max scenes are 500mb. I usually save in increments. Last time I had save crashes was on Max 5 (when my files was much smaller)
But maybe I've just been lucky.

[voltron7]

@DADAL and Morne,

Thanks guys, this is great! I was actually planning to go liquid cooling, as even my one's fans eventually become noisy, and cleaning fans is a PITA.
LOL, I also have had to take side panel off case some times...
I have a cosmos case now that I really like...http://www.coolermaster-usa.com/prod...roduct_id=2700
I was thinking of getting another, but they do seem pricey and i'm not sure if they can take liquid cooling system...
I think I will go for non-ECC since this won't be a server...I also save incrementally.

Thanks again

[Dariusz Makowski (Dadal)]

I had this excat same case! What a piece of wrrrrrrrrrrr........ I threw it out of the second floor window at the end =D

In any case GL on building ur epic rig, dont rush it !

[voltron7]

@ DADAL,

LOL, that must have been quite fun! What was wrong with it for you? Noise? Maybe my wimpy system doesn't bring out the case's problems?!

I have about 2 weeks to plot something up, thanks again!

[Franx]

Have a look at Corsair and Silverstone cases...

[voltron7]

@Franx,

Well I like the Corsair 600T so far, but they all seem good, this is actually part of the building that I am least certain about what is most important.
Is it just price and looks, or is aluminum better than plastic for any reason?
Also liking the Silverstone PS07...
Thanks for both suggestions

[Morne]

My current case is an Antec case. People raved about it in the reviews as being super silent etc etc. It has aluminium panels and all the bells and whistles. You can manually adjust fan speeds on low, medium or fast. It has 3 fans. I must say that on low when I just built that system, it was "silent"(ish). But I was paranoid about heat so set it to medium. It's been a while and I got tired of cleaning the fans. Now it sounds pretty much like any other case. My cheapo Coolermaster case has a lot of perforations on top and on the side panels and only 1 fan, and I never cleaned it and it is way more silent than my expensive Antec case.

[voltron7]

Thanks for the insight Morne.
For non-performance reasons, I am mostly concerned with:

-Noise
-Liquid cooling compatibility
-As few fans as possible
-Ease of cleaning

One of mine has the large fan on the side panel and it gets dirty very quickly...cleaned more times than can recall.
The other one (Cosmos) has little visible openings in the case and is still quite clean inside...never cleaned yet.

[Franx]

Thanks for the insight Morne.
For non-performance reasons, I am mostly concerned with:

-Noise
-Liquid cooling compatibility
-As few fans as possible
-Ease of cleaning

One of mine has the large fan on the side panel and it gets dirty very quickly...cleaned more times than can recall.
The other one (Cosmos) has little visible openings in the case and is still quite clean inside...never cleaned yet.

I dont know where your computer is located but moving it from the floor up on a table will drastically reduce dust buildup.
As far as fans are concerned, I tend to favor as many as possible and good airflow, especially if you do a lot of rendering. I think I have 9 total in my Silverstone case. Keep in mind that fan noise is not additive. Every fan you put in a box will only add around 3 db (per fan). So it would basically be as noisy as your loudest fan is. And about ease of cleaning, well once the case is loaded with components and cables, it becomes a hassle to clean, no matter what. The only thing I can see to make that task easier is to have some huge case, like the Enermax Fulmo or Corsair 800D.