Announcement

**Morne** · 13-07-2011, 01:58 AM

I have more or less same spec pc for past month. Except I have ATI 6990 with 4GB onboard and loving it. Also I have 2 Kingston SSD drives in raid 0 and no old mechanical drives.

**RE:FORM_STUDIOS** · 13-07-2011, 04:36 AM

Is the 2600k that much faster than the i5 2500k at similar OC speeds to be worth the premium? It's about 35% more expensive for around 15% increase in multithreaded performance (negligable difference in single threaded operations).
http://www.anandtech.com/show/4083/t...2100-tested/17

**Morne** · 13-07-2011, 05:51 AM

dont forget, you specifically need to look at mutlithreaded RENDER benchmarks. Not some game benchmark

**PixelJockey** · 13-07-2011, 11:00 AM

I looked at SSD for the boot drive but they are so expensive for any decent capacity that I decided to stick with a mechanical drive. And I wasn't comfortable with their reliability. I'm sure my next workstation in three years will be SSD.

True, the 2500k is definitely the best price/performance CPU but I don't mind spending a bit more for a little more performance. Compared to the first generation AMD dual core cpu I purchased way back when, these CPUs are a bargain.

**beestee** · 13-07-2011, 11:10 AM

Have you worked on a machine with an SSD system drive before? You might be suprised how much of a difference it makes in performance, probably a lot more difference than the 2500K vs 2600K will make. Good deals pop up pretty often, you just have to shop around a little and keep your eyes peeled.

**Franx** · 13-07-2011, 12:22 PM

Originally posted by beestee View Post

Have you worked on a machine with an SSD system drive before? You might be suprised how much of a difference it makes in performance, probably a lot more difference than the 2500K vs 2600K will make. Good deals pop up pretty often, you just have to shop around a little and keep your eyes peeled.

Totally agree. And all you really need is around 120gb, which is plenty for Windows and applications installs. PCIe SSD's are still way too expensive but a standard 120gb sata3 drive goes for about 300 USD.

**PixelJockey** · 13-07-2011, 03:36 PM

Okay. I added a 120GB OCZ Vertex 3 for the OS/app drive. Amazon had it for $240.

**PixelJockey** · 20-07-2011, 04:12 PM

Thank you, thank you, thank you DVP3D, Beestee and Franx. At the last minute I added a 120GB SSD drive (OCZ Vertex2)... I am a believer now. What a difference. Just wish I could have afforded a 240GB drive, but I was pushing my budget for this build.

New workstation is about 400% faster than my old one. 9 minutes vs 40 minutes for a test scene.

**PIXELBOX_SRO** · 21-07-2011, 02:35 AM

its just so much shame that you cant stick more RAM with sandybridges than 16 as there are only 4 slots of memory and the CPU supports only dual channel.....wonder why they did that.... :-/

**beestee** · 21-07-2011, 06:56 AM

Originally posted by PIXELBOX_SRO View Post

its just so much shame that you cant stick more RAM with sandybridges than 16 as there are only 4 slots of memory and the CPU supports only dual channel.....wonder why they did that.... :-/

Check the specs on some of the 1155 mobos:

They are evidently anticipating support for 8GB modules.

Also, the 1155 socket and current generation of Sandy Bridge processors are not technically considered professional/enterprise/extreme/whatever level. The true successor to the much beloved 1366 socket is the upcoming 2011 socket, and will be compatible with a new generation of Sandy Bridge processors. This technology is not expected to be available until the end of this year or the beginning of next...which is probably in line with the eventual release of the first 8GB single RAM modules.

I personally feel that 16GB is very reasonable...I've worked with 8GB for years now and only reached it's limits with some error prone Max 2010 files.

Announcement

New workstation specs

New workstation specs

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment