Animator/Modellers PC Build Help

[velentry]

Hi there,

Since working on 3D modelling software such as Maya and ZBrush i have come a cropper when taking projects home from work to finish off or perfect as in the things wont open up so i am looking at building my first desktop computer i have around £1400 to play with i have got a list from ebuyers but am unsure whether A: it will work together and B: whether i am optimising the amount of power i can get for my money.

The list i have is:

1 x Asus P6TD Deluxe X58 Socket 1366 8 Channel Audio ATX Motherboard
1 x Intel Core i7 950 3.06GHz Socket 1366 8MB Cache Retail Boxed Processor
1 x Casecom 6788 Black Mid Tower Case with Full Black Interior/Exterior 120mm Blue LED Front Fan - No PSU
1 x Sapphire HD 5770 1GB GDDR5 Dual DVI HDMI DisplayPort HDCP PCI-E Graphics Card
1 x Zalman CNPS10X Extreme Ultra Quiet Socket 1156, 1366, 775, AM3, AM2+, 939, 754 Tower Processor Cooler
1 x Seagate 750GB Hard Drive SATAII 7200rpm 32MB Cache - OEM
1 x OCZ 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3 2000MHz Gold Memory Kit CL10(10-10-10-30) 1.65V
1 x Samsung SH-S223 22X DVD±RW/RAM/DL Serial ATA Black Bare Drive - OEM
1 x Creative Sound Blaster Audigy SE 7.1 OEM PCI Soundcard
1 x Arctic Power 700W PSU - With PCI-E, 4x SATA, 20+4, ATX12V, 8pin +12V Connectors - Retail Boxed
1 x Acer X203 20" Widescreen LCD Monitor 1600x900 50,000:1 (Dynamic) 5ms VGA - Black
1 x XTune Shiny Black 2.0 Speakers - 2W RMS - USB Powered
1 x TRUST CLASSIC LINE KEYBOARD UK - EN - USB
1 x Blue LED 3 Button Optical Scroll Mouse - USB

This all came to £1277.82

I am not really bothered about the sound card since i have no real need for precision sound along with the CD drive but i was looking to get as much Ram and Processor power as i possibly could. Any advice would be greatly appreciated it is really bewildering looking at all the different extensions on motherboards or processors and just looking at them and going well if the top is 400 and the bottom is 100 pound ill get the 200 - 300 pound one

Any help and advice would be greatly appreciated

King Regards

James

 

[Slaymate]

Get the i7 920 instead of the i7 950, it has plenty of power for your needs right now and later when you need more power it will easily overclock to the same speed or greater than the 950.

The X58 mobo has HD 7.1 Sound. It sounds pretty good, you should try it out before buying a sound card.

The Zalman Heatsink is way overpriced for it's cooling ability. This is simularly priced and will perform much better. And if your not going to overclock at all then the stock heatsink will work fine.
Newegg.com - Noctua NH-U12P SE2 120mm SSO CPU Cooler - CPU Fans & Heatsinks

This is a good budget heatsink.
Newegg.com - Sunbeam CR-CCTF 120 mm Core-Contact Freezer CPU Cooler W/TX-2 - CPU Fans & Heatsinks
You'll need to order the X58 LGA1366 retention bracket also.
Newegg.com - Sunbeam CR-LGA1366 LGA 1366 Core I7 Socket Retention Bracket Set - CPU Fans & Heatsinks

I've never heard of an Arctic Power psu. Buy a good brand name power supply. A cheap no-name unit can cause instability and if it blows it can take other components out with it. This will handle everything fine.
Newegg.com - CORSAIR CMPSU-650TX 650W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply - Power Supplies
If you want more power for a possible dual video card setup later then get this.
Newegg.com - CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply - Power Supplies

And unless your planning on a massive overclock you don't need the OCZ DDR3 2000 memory. Get the OCZ Gold DDR3 1600 instead.
Newegg.com - OCZ Gold 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Low Voltage Desktop Memory Model OCZ3G1600LV6GK - Desktop Memory

You should look for a larger Monitor for what your doing. I do AutoCAD everyday so with that in mind I think you should get a 24" that is capable of 1900x1200. Something like this.
Newegg.com - SAMSUNG 2433BW High Glossy Black 24" 5ms Widescreen LCD Monitor 300 cd/m2 DC 20000:1(1000:1) - LCD Monitors

And you'll also appreciate a better video card. An ATI 5850 or 5870.
Newegg.com - XFX HD-585A-ZNFC Radeon HD 5850 (Cypress Pro) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card w/ATI Eyefinity - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards
or
Newegg.com - XFX HD-587A-ZNF9 Radeon HD 5870 (Cypress XT) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card w/ATI Eyefinity - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards

 

[velentry]

wow loads of things to look at cheers for the advice ill have a look into them tonight after work

 

[velentry]

heya again,

sorry for the stupid question but when you say stock heatsink do you mean that the processor will come with one as a standard?

also

would there be a strong difference in processing power if i was to downgrade the cpu to the i7 920?

 

[Slaymate]

Yes, the cpu will come with a stock heatsink that is "adequate" for normal operation.

Will there be a strong difference. No, not really. The i7 920 is a very powerful cpu, in many cases it's the exact same cpu as the more expensive models only it's been branded different. It's really just a matter of supply and demand. When they make the cpu's they sort them by quality, so to speak. The very best ones are eligible to become i7 975's and the lower quality cpu's become i7 960's, 950's or 920's. But if the shelves are full of the more expensive cpu's they brand them as the model they need the most. And guess what the best seller is, the i7 920.

 

[Muffin Man]

plus, you could easily OC a 920 to match and exceed 950 speeds. just save your money, you wont regret it

 

[velentry]

heya again,

i have bought and fitted all the parts as far as i know everything runs fine except i cant install windows 7 for some reason the DVD drive is refusing to read just that dvd it can read all the other ones such as bios update for motherboard

so far i havent installed a drop of anything on my computer i was under the impression that i should install windows 7 first then work my way through all the CD's that came with the parts is this correct?

 

[velentry]

ignore that i disabled the reading of a mysterious floppy drive that doesnt exist and made it do a non quick boot and seemed to read the disk now not sure why but who cares finally got windows working have a feeling it was something to do with the floppy drive though

 

[velentry]

hmm ok just seem to be stuck at a blue screen with clouds and some sort of plant upside the mouse moves im right in thinking i should leave it just incase it is installing?

 

[velentry]

got through that im going to go with the saying patience is a virtue overall though if everything is working then this is a very quiet computer infact quieter then my laptop by miles the loudest part is the dvd drive which im not bothered about it was cheap and im never going to use it

i ended up taking your advice slay and downsizing the RAM plus with the option to upgrade to a potential of 24g ram i can easily upgrade at any time

the cpu is the 920 was half the price, plus the motherboard i have bought has its own over clocking system in windows from the look of the manual but in the motherboard so it shouldn't be to difficult to get the equivalent of the 950.

Must say though thanks for the advice on the parts have got one question though the chassis came with what could only be described as florescent green runners with 2 pins in them i have no idea what they where for and didn't need them to assemble the computer was just wandering if anyone knew what they could be?