Build Advice High end graphics workstation recommendations

Well all, some may have remembered me asking about game engine design awhile back etc etc, long story short, my team is going with a middleware engine and I'm coming to the conclusion, as the main level design guy as well as the idea man, that I have nowhere near the power I need to build the terrain for our game in any sort of reasonable amount of time.
So I'm looking for a new machine, 95% of the tools I'm using are multi threaded and 64 bit, so I'm looking at possibly a six core amd with 24 gigs of ddr3, however I'm open to multiple cpu setups etc.
Basically, I've never built anything like this before, and I'm in need of a workstation powerhouse, not necessarily a gaming machine.

So any and all recommendations please

P.s. I'm in the us, so if your linking from websites please use us distributors >.>
P.s.s Also, while I'm willing to spend some money, I'm not rich, and were doing everything out of our own pocket, so... dont link me a 20 grand workstation please so as cheap as possible with 4core+ and at least 16 gigs. I'm not sure how dual cpu boards work, never had one, but if you can do it like sli, ie one cpu in, then throw in another when you can afford it that would be a definite plus

Noob

 

so no ones got any recommendations? No one uses or builds these for work or anything?

 

A i7 980x? (that would set you back an average of 1 grand + a bit

its a 6 Core and is the king of the hyper threaded mountain.

Off course, you could go for a Xeon CPU instead.

BTW, Dual Socket Motherboards cost a hell of a lot, but if youre willing to drop another grand, then check out the EVGA SR2 Classified Motherboard (Xeon CPU Limited). Its cheaper than the X58 UD9 that isnt even Dual Socket but the Xeon CPUs cost quite a bit.

So if it were me....

Build 1

CPU: i7 980x
GPU: ATI Radeon 5xxx GPU. (If you can afford it, get 2 or 3)
RAM: Dominator/Dominator GT.
Motherboard: ASUS P6X58D-E /Gigabyte UD3R (The ASUS Mobo is slightly more expensive but has better features and yet still a reasonably low price)
PSU: Not sure but get one with at least 1000W so you have plenty of room

someone else fill in the rest

 

ya, If I go intel it would be xeons on a dual cpu board, simply because the cost of the 980x is ridiculous. 6 core I'd more likely go the amd's 200 dollar 6 core. I'm looking at 1 grand for the necessary ram as it is, another grand on a processor is a bit too much for me, but 6-700 for a pair of xeons.

 

Built an FEA workstation for a friend a while ago. Here's my recommendation:

Motherboard. Yup, that's right, the SR2. Why? It's actually a cheaper option to fill it with 24GB than trying to fit 24GB into most other boards in a triple channel configuration.

CPU x 2. You'll have eight physical cores at a decent speed without paying the ridiculous premium for faster chips.

2x this RAM. Bog standard DDR3.

2xcooler. Luckily, it looks as though the board will fit standard coolers. The Noctua is actually quite small compared to other coolers and will almost definitely fit without hindrance.

Case. Fuggit, may as well get a good case.

Graphics is a difficult one. Since you're designing, you want as much GPU memory as you can get in one card.A 2GB 5870 will do but it may be worth considering a Quadro FX 5800, especially if you really don't mind an additional £2000+ .

120GB PCI-E SSD. Boot drive and temporary working space.

[2x these for Main Drive. RAID1 two 2TB harddrives - loads of space and redundancy - with server class reliability.

1000W PSU Because it gives you loads of room to add more.


Comes out at £3155 (with an ATI card). You could swap the motherboard for this but the SR2 will let you overclock - nice!

 

although the AMD X6 is quite cheap, the i7 980x simply blows it out of the water in terms of heavily threaded applications. And also Dominator Ram doesnt cost too much, i did a quick check and theyre selling it for $419 (this is 12 GB Dominator GT Ram so you can expect great quality) (6 x 2GB DDR3 1866) on Newegg.com. You might want to check that out.

Having said that, if you are definitely going down the Xeon Route, then 2 4 core CPUs should be just fine. Newegg stocks E5420 CPUs (12 mb L2 cache, 2.5 Ghz and built on 45nm tech) for $352.99 dollars per CPU so that will set you back a $700 and summat dollars, well below the price of one i7 980x.

hope that helps.

and yes, get a SR-2 if youre heading down that route

NOTE: The SR-2 is MASSIVE!!!!!! you will either have to mod your case or get MountainMods to custom build one to your requirements (this will set you back a Grand or 2-3 >.<)

MEC Edit: That W3540 seems a better deal than the original CPU i stated but its not out yet so youre gonna have to work out the price through currency conversion.

All of this will probably be quite expensive but if you want a nice rig, this is it. Ill calculate the costs in a future post

 

Pete J - did you use those CPUs in your mates machine? The 3000-series Xeons only have a single QPI link so won't work properly in a dual-processor motherboard.

Instead, you'll need a 5500 or 5600-series Xeon.

 

Wasn't it mentioned in the EVGA article recently that Intel twists the CPUs for the Dual Xeon boards, so the first QPI link goes to the second CPU, rather than the chipset?

I think you once mentioned in a CPC column that the Xeons have a far better naming system than the consumer i7s do. 3XXX for single CPU, 5XXX for dual, and 7XXX for quad.

 

Remember AMD sells hex core CPUs for cheap

 

Indeed - that's another reason why those CPUs won't work. As my column (that you remembered stated) - the clue is in the name (unlike Intel's badly named desktop CPUs).

True - but they were slaughtered by Intel's quad-core Xeons more than year ago, let alone Intel's current 6-core Xeons.

 

Clock for clock, last I did the numbers a 980X is a little better than an equivalently priced dual-Xeon system, but only just. It does mean you don't need a massive motherboard/case/cooling/power, though.

Unless you're going for the latest FirePro, nVidia cards tend to do better in general with OpenGL for 3D work.

 

http://www.boxxtech.com/

http://www.armari.com/overview.asp?selCat=NVIDIA+Tesla

basically if your looking for a number cruncher your gonna have to spend some serious wad. Of your doing lots of openGL/gfx work your gonna have to look at a Quadro or FireGL.

GL

 

Something like this should do you:

Code:

System :	Supermicro GPU Workstation or 4U.Dual Xeon 5500 + Quad GPU Workstation (Black)
CPU :	Dual Intel Xeon® X5680 Processor, 3.33GHz (Six-Core/12 thread SMT)
Memory :	96GB DDR3-1066 ECC Registered SDRAM (12 x 8GB Module (Supermicro)s)
Graphics :	2 x NVIDIA Quadroplex 2200 D2 Graphics subsystem (PCI-E x16)
Video Option :	2 x NVIDIA Tesla S2050 1U Computing System (x16 PCI-Express)
Hard drive :	2 x OCZ Vertex 2 Extended - 480GB SSD SATA II 2.5" Hard Disk
Additional Drives :	24 x 2 x OCZ Vertex 2 Extended - 480GB SSD SATA II 2.5" Hard Disk
CD/DVD Drive :	LG Super Multi Blue Blu-ray 10x Disc Rewriter Drive (Retail)
2nd CD/DVD Drive :	LG Super Multi Blue Blu-ray 10x Disc Rewriter Drive (Retail)
IDE Cards :	3Ware 9650SE-8LPML PCI-e SATA II Low Profile 8-Port Raid Controller
SCSI card :	LSI MegaRAID 9260-8i 8-Port SAS2 (6Gb/s) PCIe2 x8 RAID Adapter
USB Card :	Asus U3S6 2x port SATA 6Gb, 2x port USB3 PCIe2 x4
Firewire Card :	Belkin F5U602ea FireWire/USB 2.0 Combo Card
Controller Option :	LSI MegaRAID Battery Backup Unit (LSIiBBU07)
Network :	Myricom Myri-10G 10 Gigabit Dual Port PCIe2 x8 Adapter (standard + LP I/O plate)
Modem :	D-Link DIR-824 Wireless-N Quadband Router (requires ADSL modem for broadband)
Sound :	On-board Sound. High Definition 7.1 Channel Audio, built onto the motherboard
Speakers :	Logitech Z-5500 Digital 5.1 THX Speakers (Silver+Black)
Monitor :	HP DreamColor LP2480zx 24" 30bit Colour Professional Monitor (silver/carbon black)
2nd Monitor :	HP DreamColor LP2480zx 24" 30bit Colour Professional Monitor (silver/carbon black)
Keyboard :	Microsoft Wireless Entertainment Desktop 8000 (Silver)
Mouse :	Logitech MX Air Rechargeable Cordless Air Mouse
Web Cam :	Logitech QuickCam Pro 9000 (Black and Silver)
O/S :	Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate 64Bit (OEM)
Office Software :	Microsoft Office 2007 Professional (OEM)
Anti Virus :	Avast Antivirus 5 Professional with 1 Year License & updates - Windows O/S
Warranty :	Three Year Return to base Supermicro Server Warranty
Carriage :	PC System Carriage for Saturday Pre 12.00. (Mainland UK only, Next day service)
 
[B][I][U]Price quoted online excluding VAT £130,080.91[/U][/I][/B]

 

Bargain, SOLD!

 

EPIC FAIL

bear in mind that he isnt looking for something that costs that much, if he was a billionaire, then i could spec something even more than that but u have to bear in mind he did say KEEP IT CHEAPISH

 

I'm pretty certain he was just joking...

 

Sorry for not replying sooner, I've been up in Northern Monkey land at a conference.

To be honest, I can't remember the CPU number - I'll find out on Monday.

Works fine though, whatever they are

 

Ok, Here is my shot at it.

CPU: 2 Xeon E5620 $780.00

MoBo: Supermicro MBD-X8DAH+-F-O $500.00

RAM: 4 Corsair XMS PC1333 $600

GFX: I am really not sure on this one because it will depend upon if your software is more OpenGL based, more friendly to CUDA, and some other things. If you could post more details about the program that you are using then I might have a better idea here

PSU: Corsair 850HX $190.00

Case: CM ACTS-840 $200.00

HDD: 3 Samsung F3 1TB $225.00 (These should be in a RAID 5 configuration)


Total: $2495.00 + GFX card

Now this is assuming you are working on a very demanding project. I can definitely spec a cheaper rig that isn't as powerful so if you don't need all the extra power.

 

Problem with workstation builds is that they cost £2-3 k upwards for performance that a desktop could do for under £1500 i930 overclocked isn't that far behind duel xeon

Even in workstation land there's very few 6core apps let alone 8.

I980 is the cheaper system and doesn't need a big case to store a nuke in to use

 

I think the EVGA board is probably overkill, it's an enthusiasts board that lets you push hardware that really intended for stability and reliability. And you pay a big premium for that.
I only have experience with Intel's dual socket boards, they are pretty solid but very middle of the road and not the easiest things to start off with. I have heard good things about Supermicro's 5500 line, and Tyan is usually pretty good.
You might also check out the previous generation as it should help keep costs down. The 5000 (blackford) and 5400 (seaburg) chipsets were aimed squarely at the workstation market, but you end up using the much maligned FB-DIMMs. You could look into a 5100 (San Clemente) chipset. It's aimed at the embedded market, but it takes cheaper LGA771 CPUS (I think you can get some Harpertowns pretty cheap) and uses ECC DDR2 rather than FB-DIMMs. I don't know who might make a system based around that, and you will be limited in the number of DIMMs you can put on one of those because it is DDR2. But I think you can get something that fits your budget.

Unfortunately, I don't know about what is available in an AMD flavor. I spend most of my time neck deep in Intel stuff, so that's what I know.