Workstation Configuration

[Black Phoenix]

Good Afternoon

I've been searching in the Internet and the most I look for, the most confused I became.

I want to build a workstation for Photoshop/Lightroom/Video Editing/Web Editing. with some use of a Wacom Drawing Table. I do not pretend to play games (I have a PS4 that does what I wanted for games).

I still prefer AMD CPUs (All my life I had CPUs from AMD, since the AMD 5X86, K6-3, Thunderbird, Athlon 64, Phenom and now I use a laptop with a AMD Turion X2) although I well aware that Intel has the upper hand now and I'm not opposed of using an Intel CPU.

So I came with 2 configurations for what I wanted to do - One Intel and one AMD:

Intel Workstation
- - - - - - - - -

Lian Li PC-A79B
Corsair AX1200i PSU
Intel Core i7-4820K
Asus Sabertooth X79
16GB Corsair Dominator Platinum DDR3 1866MHz (4x4GB) Kit
AMD FirePro W7000
Asus Xonar D2X/XDT PCI-e
Samsung 840 Pro 256GB SSD
Western Digital Black 2TB SATA III 64MB Hard Drive
OEM Blu Ray Drive
Corsair Hydro Series H100i
3x Dell 27" LED U2713HM


AMD Workstation
- - - - - - - - -
Lian Li PC-A79B
Corsair AX1200i PSU
AMD FX 9590
Asus Sabertooth 990FX R2.0
16GB Corsair Dominator Platinum DDR3 1866MHz (4x4GB) Kit
AMD FirePro W7000
Asus Xonar D2X/XDT PCI-e
Samsung 840 Pro 256GB SSD
Western Digital Black 2TB SATA III 64MB Hard Drive
OEM Blu Ray Drive
Corsair Hydro Series H100i
3x Dell 27" LED U2713HM


Basically most of the parts are common, the case can be this one or any case that have more that eight 5.25" bays (My first favourite PC case was the old CoolerMaster Stacker 810). They are missing the 3x 27" Chief K3F310B KONTOUR LCD stand from the list.

The first one is more expensive that the second one. Although both are core intensive (One is a four native/eight logical and the other eight native but with extra 1GHz of clock).

The money is not the problem but it's not a do-or-die situation, so I can wait for the work to finish. I only want to have the best price/equipment available, or do the same with less.

What is your opinion (Objective ones, not fan boy please. This is only an opinion, not a war for that is best).

[yojimbo197]

[QUOTE=Black Phoenix;5227245]Good Afternoon

Intel Workstation
- - - - - - - - -

Lian Li PC-A79B
Corsair AX1200i PSU
Intel Core i7-4820K
Asus Sabertooth X79
16GB Corsair Dominator Platinum DDR3 1866MHz (4x4GB) Kit
AMD FirePro W7000
Asus Xonar D2X/XDT PCI-e
Samsung 840 Pro 256GB SSD
Western Digital Black 2TB SATA III 64MB Hard Drive
OEM Blu Ray Drive
Corsair Hydro Series H100i
3x Dell 27" LED U2713HM

Instead of getting 27" U2713HM, I'd get 3 27" Monoprice CrystalPro's($650 vs $400 per monitor-TOtal savings $750)
Get the AMD FirePro W8000 instead of the W7000
If you aren't planning on adding more cards anytime soon, I'd get a lower wattage PSU, like a Seasonic 760W Plat or 850 Gold (Save about $150)
Use the Nanoxia NXDS6W White Steel ATX Super Tower Computer Case

[Black Phoenix]

[QUOTE=yojimbo197;5227302]

Good Afternoon

Intel Workstation
- - - - - - - - -

Lian Li PC-A79B
Corsair AX1200i PSU
Intel Core i7-4820K
Asus Sabertooth X79
16GB Corsair Dominator Platinum DDR3 1866MHz (4x4GB) Kit
AMD FirePro W7000
Asus Xonar D2X/XDT PCI-e
Samsung 840 Pro 256GB SSD
Western Digital Black 2TB SATA III 64MB Hard Drive
OEM Blu Ray Drive
Corsair Hydro Series H100i
3x Dell 27" LED U2713HM

Instead of getting 27" U2713HM, I'd get 3 27" Monoprice CrystalPro's($650 vs $400 per monitor-TOtal savings $750)
Get the AMD FirePro W8000 instead of the W7000
If you aren't planning on adding more cards anytime soon, I'd get a lower wattage PSU, like a Seasonic 760W Plat or 850 Gold (Save about $150)
Use the Nanoxia NXDS6W White Steel ATX Super Tower Computer Case

Thank you for your reply. I was thinking in the W8000 first before, but after had read in the internet a lot of reviews between the W7000 and the W8000 the best value/performance is the W7000. At least is what all the reviews says. If you have something to add about this issue, I'm all ears.

About the PSU, I was hoping to in a future add a second W7000 and more 3.5" Disks, in array to do a backup from my NAS server (a Synology 5 bay drive with 5 4TB WD RED in Raid 5). So it was to do a backup from the backup instead of buying another Synology for offside backup, so that's why I choose the 1200W PSU from Corsair.

About the displays, is not already decided, I was looking for that Dell IPS or the Asus IPS, or another brand. So I'm still looking for other manufactures. It need to have at least 100% sRBG colour scheme support.

About the Tower, is the same as the Displays, I'm still open for ideas, but I'm looking for a non steel tower (rust and others) and the most simple and discrete possible, since it's not going to have lights and big watercooling schemes or strange colours (It may have window but only because yes, not any other reason).

[OldChap]

The only comments I have are .......

1. re: ssd's

If you do a lot of disk intensive work then the retail version of the 840 pro is guaranteed for 73TB over 5 years or about 40GB/day

The 200GB (not 240) version of the seagate 600 pro has the same 5 year guarantee but this time for 520TB or about 280GB/day.

2. Taking a totally different view of how to build a workstation..... consider what you will spend on case, psu, motherboard and heatsinks and compare it to http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16816101678 more detail here http://www.supermicro.com/products/s...YS-7047A-T.cfm

Like I say a different idea completely but one which may appeal to you if the programs you use are capable of good multithreading. I have one which has 8 core es cpu's fitted. (try searching ebay for xeon es and then consider only the 2011 cpu's) Whilst it does not overclock it is already very capable and has the added benefits of hot swap if that might appeal to you. PM me if you wish to explore details further

I am just preferring Intel over amd because my experience with WCG has shown me that Intel is getting more work done in any given period.

[Black Phoenix]

The only comments I have are .......

1. re: ssd's

If you do a lot of disk intensive work then the retail version of the 840 pro is guaranteed for 73TB over 5 years or about 40GB/day

The 200GB (not 240) version of the seagate 600 pro has the same 5 year guarantee but this time for 520TB or about 280GB/day.

2. Taking a totally different view of how to build a workstation..... consider what you will spend on case, psu, motherboard and heatsinks and compare it to http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16816101678 more detail here http://www.supermicro.com/products/s...YS-7047A-T.cfm

Like I say a different idea completely but one which may appeal to you if the programs you use are capable of good multithreading. I have one which has 8 core es cpu's fitted. (try searching ebay for xeon es and then consider only the 2011 cpu's) Whilst it does not overclock it is already very capable and has the added benefits of hot swap if that might appeal to you. PM me if you wish to explore details further

I am just preferring Intel over amd because my experience with WCG has shown me that Intel is getting more work done in any given period.

Thank you for your reply.

Will not a dual Xeon workstation be a overkill? I know that it's a beast in terms of perfomance, but since I will not use any Solidworks/Maya/Catia or something around the same specs, will not be too much?

My first config I made before I start was with the ASUS Z9PE-D8 WS but after some consideration and get the feet on the ground, I discarded it.

Although I really wanted in a future to try a Xeon CPU in terms of workload performance, so I can simply change the Sabertooth for the P9X79-E WS instead that supports both i7 and Xeon CPUs, non ECC and ECC memory also.

About the SSD, really I did not know anything about that Seagate, but after some search it was probably a good substitute for the Samsung in terms of reliability.

For me the thing that I do not like in Intel is the way as they change the socket every time a great architecture is launched, instead of AMD that keeps using the same socket for a lot of years, and with an BIOS update the MB became compatible with recent CPUs (most of the time).

[OldChap]

My suggestions are just proffered to allow you to expand your horizons when thinking of this build. You now know how much extra you would pay and what to expect for that money.

SB xeons will run with normal memory if you want although your choice is more limited. They will also run with one processor if you so choose but you will loose a few features in so doing (pcie slots etc)

The Seagate ssd costs a bunch more too but with that it is easier to see what you get for the money.

Sorry if my post has made it more difficult rather than easier to choose ....You alone can weigh the pro's and con's of this build and just how good you need it to be.

[Black Phoenix]

Yeah, one thing is for certain, you do not had made my chooses easier. Your ideas, since you had experience as Cruncher, are very valid and I respect them... Unfortunately my two IBM x3550 and one x3650 are too loud (and the reason I had them it was because it looked bad for the company were I get them with 4 years of work were throwing them away) or I was also doing some crunching.

By the way, if you know someone that need 3 enterprise server (2x 1U and one 2U), just leave a PM).

[OldChap]

Post some details of them in WCG forum in case anyone is looking

[Black Phoenix]

As soon I have time I will upload some photos in the sale forum.

[Black Phoenix]

After a lot of fiddle, finally I've come with the final configuration for the Workstation in question:

Tower - Silverstone TJ11B-W;
PSU - Silverstone SST-ST1200-G Evolution;
CPU - Intel Core i7 4930K;
Cooler - Corsair Hydro Series H110;
MB - Asus P9X79-E WS;
RAM - Corsair Dominator Platinum 32GB (4x8GB) DDR3 2133 Mhz C9;
VGA - SAPPHIRE AMD FirePro W7000;
HDD - 2x Samsung 840 Series Pro 128GB in Raid0 for Windows/Apps; 2x WD Red 2TB in Raid1 for Backup;
BD-RW - LG 16x SATA Internal BD-RW ;
Audio - ASUS Xonar D2X/XDT - PCI-E;
LCD - 3x Dell UltraSharp U2713H;
LCD Support - KONTOUR Free Standing 3x1/2x1 Array K3F310B

Parts Already Owned:
KB/Mouse - Logitech G710+ / Logitech G500s;
Speakers - Logitech X-230 2.1
Drawing Table - Wacom Intuos Pro SE Medium / Wacom Pro Pen

Final Utilization for the Workstation - Drawing/Photo Editing/Video Editing/Website Development

Now it's just a question of searching for the cheapest in Europe for each part...

It maybe a little overkill for the use I need, but it's futureproof:

If needed upgrade the CPU to a Xeon, using the same non ECC memory (MB functionality if I'm not wrong);
If needed upgrade to dual W7000 or W9000 (from some workstation refurbished/recycle);
When necessary, 5x WD Red 2TB in Raid5 (mirroring of Synology NAS);

Thank you for all the help.

[Kingcarcas]

Off the cuff, does it really need 32GB? (I'm just a frugal person)
Definitely needs better speakers, Swan, KRK Rokit or some Audioengines If you want "futureproof" maybe a second CPU slot for more horsepower later?

[Black Phoenix]

To do that, I could change the Motherboard and then change to ECC memory instead of using the one here. An Xeon 26xxv2 is enough for it, and with that one I can use the memory already in the listing.
I was thinking in the Asus Z9PE-D8 WS but this one disables PCI-E slots if you do not have both CPUs installed. And it's not capable of using non ECC memory with a Xeon, as the P9X79-E WS.

As the speakers, this ones may be old in terms of wattage and power, but I do not prefer loud bass, but quality. For my use (some music playing while I'm working, some anime/movie screening) is more that enough.

The memory is because I use Adobe programs, and they are basically memory hogs, the more the best. Since I may use multiple instances of the same program, it helps to have a lot of headroom for it.

[OldChap]

To do that, I could change the Motherboard and then change to ECC memory instead of using the one here. An Xeon 26xxv2 is enough for it, and with that one I can use the memory already in the listing.
I was thinking in the Asus Z9PE-D8 WS but this one disables PCI-E slots TRUE if you do not have both CPUs installed. And it's not capable of using non ECC memory with a Xeon,TRUE WITH V2 NOT TRUE WITH SB as the P9X79-E WS.

As the speakers, this ones may be old in terms of wattage and power, but I do not prefer loud bass, but quality. For my use (some music playing while I'm working, some anime/movie screening) is more that enough.

The memory is because I use Adobe programs, and they are basically memory hogs, the more the best. Since I may use multiple instances of the same program, it helps to have a lot of headroom for it.

My experience is that SB xeons will run with ordinary ram but IB xeons REQUIRE ecc /reg ram. You may want to check qvl on memory before pulling trigger.

[Black Phoenix]

My experience is that SB xeons will run with ordinary ram but IB xeons REQUIRE ecc /reg ram. You may want to check qvl on memory before pulling trigger.

I've read and yes, it's true, non ECC only for the v1 26xx... v2 only supports ECC.

[Black Phoenix]

Another question... I've been reviewing some things and:

I wanted an All in One Watercooling solution instead of having Rads+Blocks+Pump+Fittings+Pipes+etc and more...

Although this TJ-11 tower have a small problem for the Corsair All in one that I choose: The length of the tubbing.

So instead I had arrive at this solution, without cutting anything:
Swiftech H2O-X20 Edge HD Series and using bigger tubbing and changing to compression fittings from barbs;
or
Swiftech H20-220 Elite with dual 120mm radiator, same thing as above;

For fitting the Rad in position, behind the PSU, this Silverstone Part:
RADSUPPORT09

Since I'm an Amateur in terms of Watercooling (to be honest never had assembled one). Is this idea valid?

Forget it, I've been searching and for the i7 in question, even in Turbo Mode, a Single AIO RAD with Push/Pull config keeps it cool.