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**Dariusz Makowski (Dadal)** · 06-09-2010, 09:49 AM

HI.

DONT NEVER BUY PREMADE-WORKSTATION.

Get xeon 4/6 core 2.5+ ghz
Get 24 gb ram
get 1 ssd for windows
and 2 tb for store
get this mobo probably http://www.evga.com/products/moreInf...%20Family&sw=5 it will alow you to OVERCLOCK cpu.
It also will let u get GPU rendering once its possible.

get some random 8800+gtx graphic card untill gpu rendering is avaible.

What are you gonna do on it anyway ?

Where are you based anyway ?

**tarontis** · 06-09-2010, 09:56 AM

Yea that seems pretty over priced for what your getting...

If you don't feel comfortable building yourself I would go with Dell over HP, although they can be very expensive as well

But there are a few smaller private companies based around this area that can make a custom spec for you for half that price. Just have a shop around

**leehumphries** · 06-09-2010, 01:07 PM

Hi...Just to add onto this thread.

I have been after a decent workstation for years... I originally purchased a custom built quad core 6850 wont mention the company - PC specialists (there u go)

....I had 8 gb ram Quadro 1700 etc.Had nothing put problems and after 15 months died slowly...I eventually spent £3500 on a BOXX...Even tho i have had a replacement machine recently thru them for a random problem i can highly recommend them..They are built superbly and i think Chaos support them but could be proved incorrect..
They are designed for what Arch Viz guys need...Even tho with a 2.26 - 12gb ram FX 3800 i still have a few little issues but i think this is more 3ds Max 2011 than the machine...

So highly recomm'd...Just be careful purchasing a machine that states all the numbers u dream of for a great price as this IMPO means it wont last forever ..

**prorender** · 06-09-2010, 01:36 PM

Hi,

you are asking for a configuration of your computer system regarding on price/power.
We are specialised for render servers and professional workstations. Please visit our website www.comsyspro.de or www.prorender.de for further informations. We are situated in Germany and Switzerland.

We can also give you consulting and give you a list of components with that you can create your own workstation. Please write us a personal message if you are interested.

Regards
Daniel Krüger

www.comsyspro.de
www.prorender.de

**Saulman** · 07-09-2010, 03:04 AM

Originally posted by DADAL View Post

HI.

DONT NEVER BUY PREMADE-WORKSTATION.

To be honest, I wouldn't want to build my own machine. Both my knowledge and time are pretty limited at the moment. It's taking up enough of my time just trying to reseach what's the best, let alone put one together.

Why not buy a pre-built workstation? I'm currently on a Dell Precision T7500 and though it's a little slow, it's very stable and I've had no problems with it before. Are you just talking about cost?

Originally posted by DADAL View Post

What are you gonna do on it anyway ?

Where are you based anyway ?

I'll be using it for my own personal use. Vray mostly. Some private work but mainly R & D. I'm based in Manchester though my home is nearer Yorkshire.

Originally posted by tarontis

If you don't feel comfortable building yourself I would go with Dell over HP, although they can be very expensive as well

I've priced up the Dell equivalent and it doesn't come close on price, I'm afraid. You just don't get as much for your money.

Originally posted by prorender

you are asking for a configuration of your computer system regarding on price/power.
We are specialised for render servers and professional workstations. Please visit our website www.comsyspro.de or www.prorender.de for further informations. We are situated in Germany and Switzerland.

Thanks for the offer but I would be a little uncomfortable sourcing a machine from outside the UK, should anything go wrong.

If anyone has any links and recommendations for places that do custom builds, I'd be very grateful.

**Brian Bradley** · 07-09-2010, 03:50 AM

Originally posted by Saulman View Post

I'll be using it for my own personal use. Vray mostly. Some private work but mainly R & D. I'm based in Manchester though my home is nearer Yorkshire.

Hey More Manchester users!

Have you checked out workstationspecialists.com? Seem to have some decent specs and reveiws for their stuff! To be honest our experience with Dell stuff has been so good that I would take less specwise just to have the build quality and reliability. (Although I know others have had the opposite experience with Dell!!)

Regards
Bri

**robdeja** · 07-09-2010, 03:50 AM

Just to put another option out there and confuse you...

..it might be worth considering going for a fast i7 over the dual xeons. I've found that some of the faster i7 cpus are equivalent to the slower dual xeon setups. Going with i7 would allow you to spend the saved cash on more ram, bigger SSD, better GFX card, etc..

We have always used expensive dual Xeons with mid-range Quadros in the studio but bought a cheaper i7 system with a fast gaming nVidia gfx card for some motion gfx (AE) work, I was surprised to find that it performed equally as good as the Xeons and felt much quicker to work with inside of Max due to the higher cpu core speed (a lot of Max functions are still not multi-threaded) and fluid viewport navigation.

I used scan.co.uk for the customised i7 build and their customer service is excellent, they are also very good with warranty/returns.

ps. check out the Intel i7 970 6-core @ 3.2ghz. Scan now offer this as an option in their custom builds.

**Dariusz Makowski (Dadal)** · 07-09-2010, 03:57 AM

Hi Saulman

Well Pre-Made workstation are called ''proffestional''. Just by having that status they are 50-100% more expensive ! For home based user I strongly dont advise u to go anywhere near those companys... as for actualy Proffesional then yes... their next day fix support and 24/7 should be usefull if it actually work... I dont know I never try them and never will.

Wish u were closer to Norwich I could build it up for you... :/

About Quick comparison let me throw this quickle (prices are from scan but u can find it cheaper! )

£500 - Motherboard: http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/EVGA-...ATA3-USB3-HPTX - U can overclock on it, USB 3.0 and have lots of PCIE for future GPU based renders
£850 - CPU 2.5 ghz xeon- http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Intel...che-80W-Retail
£222 - Ram 12 GB(and u can upgrade to 24 later, im not sure if its 100% compatible..still researching this motherboard) - http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/12GB-...-9-24-XMP-160V
£210 - PSU - http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/1250W...eakPower-1500W
£60¬ - 2x Cooler
£100¬ - Case
£40¬ - DVD writer / £100+for blue-ray
Graphic Card, I'll advice to either go nvidia gtx 480 or W8(w8 is good now :P) and see how does Vray GPU will perform and buy the best 1 then...

And there we go £1982 round up to £2000 with thermal pasts and junk... and £500 left for graphics card and HDD's U could get SSD + store and so on depends on u...

And on top of it u can OC this system ! So 2.5 ghz xeon overclock to 3.0/3.5 or even 4 and u have a lot more power and computing that u will EVER get from Pre-Build workstations... Dell/Hp/etc will never let OC CPU. Only Boxxx but box pricing is well... interesting...

Find some1 in Manchester that could just put the parts together I bet u would just have to give him like 100£ and hell do it for u !

Btw. robdeja@ Now go run to get that EVGA motherboard and go OC XEONS! ^_^ Let the heat buuurrnn

**Brian Bradley** · 07-09-2010, 04:09 AM

Speaking as someone who for Years built and maintained his own systems, the problem with putting a machine together 'from parts'
is that not ALL components play well together! In some configurations you can end up getting performance that falls a long way short
of the expected performance rating. You can even end up with situations where untested combinations of components can introduce
a Massive amount of inherant system instabillity! (Then when Max/Vray keeps crashing there ensues LOTS of screaming about the
appaling quality of the software!!)
Not naysaying the idea, but 'sometimes' the extra price can definately be worth it. (IMHO)

Regards
Bri

**Saulman** · 07-09-2010, 05:02 AM

Originally posted by Brian Bradley View Post

Speaking as someone who for Years built and maintained his own systems, the problem with putting a machine together 'from parts'
is that not ALL components play well together! In some configurations you can end up getting performance that falls a long way short
of the expected performance rating. You can even end up with situations where untested combinations of components can introduce
a Massive amount of inherant system instabillity! (Then when Max/Vray keeps crashing there ensues LOTS of screaming about the
appaling quality of the software!!)
Not naysaying the idea, but 'sometimes' the extra price can definately be worth it. (IMHO)

Regards
Bri

This is my major worry about building my own. I simply do not have the knowledge required to deal with any problems, should anything go wrong. I don't want to spend the next few months googling what's wrong with my system. I have never built my own pc and though I'm pretty sure it's not rocket science, I suspect that there are obvious shoolboy errors that are just waiting to be made.

The reason I decided on the Z600 was because of this review...........

http://www.cgchannel.com/2009/10/hp-...tation-review/

The reason I decided on the duel Xeons over the Core i7 was because of this benchmark test..........

http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?...20+%40+2.40GHz

I really do appreciate everybodys help and advice and may yet decide to get someone local to build me a custom workstation, but the price would need to be considerably lower than the Z600 to convince me. One thing's for sure, I don't have the time, knowledge or balls to do it myself.

**dlparisi** · 07-09-2010, 05:37 AM

Originally posted by Saulman View Post

The reason I decided on the duel Xeons over the Core i7 was because of this benchmark test..........

http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?...20+%40+2.40GHz

The i7 970 single cpu actually scores higher on cpumark than those dual processor xeons - 10,221 vs. 9,841 (http://www.cpubenchmark.net/high_end_cpus.html#). Some of the newer xeons do go higher though but at increased cost.

**Saulman** · 07-09-2010, 06:17 AM

Bugger. I didn't notice that. I clicked on the processor link and immediately thought (wrongly) that it was rating against the best i7.
What about the issue of 6 cores v's 8 cores. Is there a difference in rendering speed? Are 16 buckets better than 12 or does this make little or no difference?

**Saulman** · 07-09-2010, 06:25 AM

OK chaps, I've just done a quick spec on pcspecialist.................your comments would be greatly appreciated.....

Case
STYLISH PIANO BLACK ENIGMA CASE + 2 FRONT USB
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Processor Extreme Edition i7-980X (3.33GHz) 6.4GTs/12MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® P6T WS PROFESSIONAL: NEW ERA CORE i7 WORKSTATION
Memory (RAM)
24GB SAMSUNG DDR3 TRI-DDR3 1333MHz (6 X 4GB)
Graphics Card
PNY QUADRO FX1800 768MB GDDR3, CUDA ENABLED - 2 x DP, 1 x DVI-I
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
80GB Intel® X25-M 2.5" SSD (34nm / upto 250MB/sR | 70MB/sW)***SPECIAL***
2nd Hard Disk
1TB SERIAL ATA 3-Gb/s HARD DRIVE WITH 16MB CACHE (7,200rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Memory Card Reader
INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (READS XD, MS, CF, SD, etc)
Power Supply & Case Cooling
350W Dual Rail PSU + 120mm Case Fan
Processor Cooling
INTEL SOCKET LGA1366 STANDARD CPU COOLER
Sound Card
ONBOARD 8 CHANNEL (7.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Facilities
ONBOARD 10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT
USB Options
6 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL (MIN 2 FRONT PORTS) AS STANDARD
Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Professional 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£10

Office Software
FREE Microsoft® Office Starter 2010 (Limited functionality Word & Excel)
Anti-Virus
BULLGUARD INTERNET SECURITY - FREE 90 DAY TRIAL
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)

**Morne** · 07-09-2010, 07:17 AM

Originally posted by Saulman View Post

OK chaps, I've just done a quick spec on pcspecialist.................your comments would be greatly appreciated.....

350W Dual Rail PSU + 120mm Case Fan

Ouch! That won't work
You need a much higher W PSU than 350. Maybe look at a 750W or a 1000W

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