$2000-$3000 - Motion Graphics/VFX/3D Workstation - No Gaming
 

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Approximate Purchase Date: August 2012

Budget Range: ~2000-3000

System Usage from Most to Least Important: 2D & 3D Motion Graphics (C4D, CS5), VFX (Particles, Smoke, Flame [3dsMax, Krakatoa, Softimage), Video Editing, Modeling

Parts Not Required: keyboard, mouse, monitors, speakers, OS, software

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: No preference

Country: U.S.

Parts Preferences: No Preference

Overclocking: No experience in this area. I’ll rely on the community for their advice.

SLI or Crossfire: No experience in this area. I’ll rely on the community for their advice.

Monitor Resolution: 1920x1080

Additional Comments: Would be nice if it was rather quiet. NO GAMING.

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Greetings everyone,

I’m Nathan, a recent graphic design graduate and looking to start full time freelancing by the end of August. I work with computers on a daily basis, and have for many years now but yet don’t really know anything about what goes on under the hood, but I’ve always wanted to learn the parts and eventually be able to build my own computer. I’ve been coming to this site every day for the past couple months learning as much as I can for my newest and first build. I’d definitely like to tell myself I’ve learned a lot, especially from this thread:

tomshardware.com "high-end personal workstation guidance"

but there are still many things that just go right over my head so I’m hoping by starting this thread a couple months before my purchase deadline, I’ll be able to have every part worked out.

A little more about myself to give some insight what I see myself using this computer for in the near and distant future. With a degree in graphic design, I’m quite familiar with the Adobe CS, especially photoshop, illustrator, indesign, etc. The final two years of my college career, I landed a gig working in an animation department specializing in sports graphics. There I was introduced to motions graphics, which I had had no prior experience with. The main program being After Effects and I eventually went on to learn C4D. I definitely enjoy motion graphics over print design, and that’s what I see myself spending the majority of my time on in the future. Learning C4D threw me into a whole new world of 3D, which is still quite new to me, but I definitely plan on pursuing 3D much more (continuing within C4D as well as starting on 3dsMax). Along with 3D, I’m a sucker for particles, physics, smoke, explosions, etc so I would definitely like to be able to do some of that type of work too. As an example:

Krakatoa Particles – I contacted the artist asking what is most important in a computer for the type of work he does, and he said “the amount of cores and also RAM, and wouldn’t get anything less than 32gb”
**on youtube search Entering The Stronghold | Audio Visual Animation HD!**

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Questions:

1. High-End Workstation or Low/Med Workstation + small render farm
What are the justifications for either one here? The high-end workstation will render faster, but I won’t be able to use it while rendering, and with a low/med workstation + small render farm I’d be able to continue working while projects render, though rendering at a slower pace? With the type of programs listed above, would I benefit from having a small render farm, or would I be better off with a single workstation?
I’m sure many of you have read about the helmer render farm. helmer.sfe.se
From first glance, this seems like a very doable, cost effective solution if one wanted a render farm. Would it make more sense to start with just a high-end workstation and then in the future if I see fit, start up a farm?

2. Sandy or Ivy Bridge
If I remember correctly, Ivy Bridge will be coming out in June. So there will probably be a price drop in the sandy bridge line. What is the advice on this one? Go for the new ivy bridge? With what I’d like to accomplish with this computer benefit from Ivy Bridge?

3. Quadro vs. GTX 680
In the ‘high personal workstation guidance’ forum I posted, it seems like the consensus is that the quadro is overpriced, and doesn’t have much if any benefits for this type of work. Would the GTX 680 suite this type of work better? Would I benefit at all by doubling my GPU or would that only matter if I were considering over 2 monitors?

What I’m hoping to gain from this post:
- Advice on parts to purchase
- Answers to the questions asked
- Advice on anything I missed which I’m sure there is much

I greatly appreciate everyone’s help

Thanks,
Nathan