How does this 3d modelling configuration look?

DS still has not updated their workstation configurations to use new hardware. Maybe they're waiting for the full line of sandy bridge xeons but they haven't updated the platform using the consumer chips.

I work in maya professionally for feature films and have used a ton of different hardware. I am currently building my own now (moved to New Zealand) and don't want to pay shipping for ds to build it. I have used maya, lightwave, motion builder, zbrush, photoshop professionally.

Comp parts are basically double the price here and I have amazing parts for less than your 5k budget ceiling.

Ill explain my decisions/opinions below based on 6 years in the industry.


Something is wrong with the configurator right now but the total comes out to around 3000 without graphics card - explained below


I left the case you chose. People may come on and tell you to get the hafx case but if you are worried about dust it may not be the best decision. We'll get to cooling below.

My new build has a 3930k cpu and its FAST. Mine isn't even over clocked yet.

Pro motherboard cause DS asks for it for stage 2 oc

32 gig ram - You'll be happy you did. Just get the ds certified 1600mhz as you won't notice the 2000mhz difference at all.

corsair 1050hx power supply. You've got a lotta hardware in there. While this is more than necessary, psu's lose efficiency over time and I like to have as much headroom as possible for a 5 year computer life if needed.

240 gig intel 520 ssd. New ssd line from intel that is getting good reviews and is FAST.
I would get 240 with your budget and have the piece of mind that you shouldn't run out of room. Only put your programs on here. When you use photoshop tell it to use your 2nd hd for the scratch disk.

2tb caviar black for 2nd hard drive for your data.

Graphic Card - Geforce cards don't cut it anymore for workstation apps. Nvidia has crippled the opengl drivers for them and they don't perform like they should. With your budget get a Quadro. Don't go AMD Firepro as their drivers are notoriously unstable.

This is the Quadro I am getting. Tell DS to use either this card instead of a geforce -

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814133324

Now this card runs hot, but it was designed that way. I know people with this card and they love it. The only other card I would recommend is the quadro 5000 but its a bit out of your budget. Also no modeling app I know of will utilize sli so unless you need to run more than two monitors stick with one card.

Depending on what program you use, you can check the website for what driver they recommend for optimal performance. I am going to try the Autodesk recommended driver for maya and the newest nvidia driver and see which one works best for my needs.

Either the noctua or h100 cooling solutions will be fine. DS seems to prefer the h100. People are on both sides of the fence on this, but I would get the h100 over the 80.

Zalmann fans are really loud. Stick with normal fans and upgrade them you need more performance, fans are super easy to replace.

Unless you have a high quality sound system or need the extra audio control don't bother with a sound card.

Get stage 2 oc on processor, but in the notes tell them NOT to go over 1.4, they will know what you are talking about.

Dont oc the video card.

Don't get os boost, windows is not going to bog down your system at all and you may find that you want to use a feature that they have turned off.

Get Win7 pro 64 bit.

Good luck




Edited by JStones - 16 Feb 2012 at 1:04am

In terms of raw pixel pushing power, yes, the 580 is more powerful hardware wise.  The difference is nvidia does not spend the time to develop their opengl drivers for the geforce cards anymore.  Let me try to break it down

Geforce cards:  Developed for gaming.  Not many games use opengl (stands for open graphics language) in their engines anymore, they use directx.  Since this is a gaming card nvidia does not spend the time and money to develop opengl drivers for their new gaming hardware.  In the past (I think it was the 200 series) they were still actively developing great opengl drivers for geforce cards but with recent versions they just give it the ability to run opengl without spending the time to make it run it fast.  This makes sense from a business perspective.  Drivers are what make the hardware able to utilize its full potential.


Quadro cards:  Modeling apps still use opengl to display polygons.  This makes sense as it is open source and hence is free unlike direct x.  Some do have the ability to use direct x shaders for game development, but that is not going to help with anything but texturing for games. 

Nvidia develops strong, fast opengl drivers for Quadro cards.  The reason quadros are more expensive is because they don't sell as many of them as geforce cards, so to make it worthwhile to them, they are have to charge more per card than with geforce.  You also will get much better technical support with a quadro.


Now, the question is. what level of use are you going to be doing.  You have a high budget but if you are a hobbyist modeler, you can certainly get by with a geforce 580.  I had a 480 in my old personal machine and could still do quality work.

I just finished up my new machine here today using a quadro 4000 and it is much much faster in maya than my older machine.  The whole machine is a massive upgrade as well but I do not regret the quadro at all.  The old machine was a first gen i7930 with 12 gigs of ram and a geforce 480.  Now I have a 3930k, 32gig ram, and a quadro 4000.  I was doing some testing and I brought out an old model which was about 500,000 polygons.  I then did a catmull clark subd operation (which I remember choked my last system) and I was spinning around it and sculpting it with little lag.  I am going to play around with different drivers to get even better performance but it already flies.


To sum it up, with your budget I would get the quadro if you are serious about modeling.  There is a reason no big studios use geforce cards.  They spend a lot of money testing hardware and all come to the conclusion that quadro is the way to go...

I don't know when they are going to come out. I wouldn't worry about it though. Two of them (which is really the best reason to get xeon in a desktop) would put you over budget. You'd probably be looking at a 6-8k machine at that point depending on which ones you chose.

A 3930k is going to be plenty fast, especially so after ds over clocks it. Mine isn't oc'd and its plenty fast enough.   I don't have the best air cooler (not the same availability in new zealand as in the states) so I won't be able to push it too far but I may give 4.1 or 4.2 a go. I don't remember what model it is but its not as beefy as the a70 or noctuas.

FYI....Just noticed that DS doesn't list the A70 in configs.  The A50 has replaced as the default cooler, even in the ODE 1.

Yep, the trend is obvious.   Glad I got my A70 when I did.     On the plus side, configure help we give will be easier. Just plug in the H80/100's. No explaining.