Fetchez La Vache
New member
This is the rig I built in July last year mainly as a workstation but also for some gaming (usually older games, I refuse to pay more than £5 for a game). Over the past year it has been great, I often prefer working on it as the single core performance and GTX is much better than the dual 6 core & Quadro (though now supplanted by a 980Ti) unit I use at work. It was build on a budget, hence the Xeon, smaller wattage PSU and 760.
Current specs are as follows:
Case - Coolermaster N200
Mobo - Gigabyte Z87 MX-D3H
CPU - Intel Xeon E3-1230v3
RAM - 16Gb Hyper X Fury 1600Mhz
GPU - EVGA GTX 760 4Gb
PSU - Coolermaster V550S
OS/Programe Drive - 250Gb Samsung 840 EVO
Games Drive - 120Gb Crucial M500
Backup Drive - 1Tb Seagate Barracuda
CPU Cooler - Xigmatek Dark Knight Nighthawk
Additional Cooling - Coolermaster Jetflo 120 blue
Silverstone cable extensions.
Over the next few months I will be looking at a number of updates to the components and some modding to the case to try and iron out the problems I have with it. So, in no particular order -
Water cooled GPU upgrade - The 760 has served me very well for both applications and gaming but the 4Gb memory feels very limiting in Iray (a GPU raytracing plugin for 3DS Max) and I often find I can't render large Archviz scenes that I am able to in Corona (the other render engine I use) which uses regular system memory. I haven't yet decided on a card(s), 6Gb 780's are like hens teeth, as are Titans and Titan Blacks that also seem to have held their price where available. I will probably wait to see that the next gen of Pascal architecture cards are like and if they are price prohibitive grab a 980Ti before they disappear.
AMD are developing Fire Render which uses code from Corona Render and will be fully compatible with materials, maps and lights so R9 390/390 X with their 8Gb memory would also be an option. Either way I want to water cool the cards, no only to reduce noise but they will likely be rendering for up t 24hrs at a time. I would be looking at a 240mm XSPX rad in the front, Monsoon fillings in blue and black to match the rest of the build. Matte black soft tubing. Can't decide on the pump/res setup.
I don't want to add a CPU block, I love love love that Xigmatek cooler and the maximum I have seen the CPU get up to even after 24hr of rendering is 50 degrees and will only add to the cost of everything.
This will probably mean a better PSU, which will likely be an EVGA G2 series, either 750 or 850W also with Cable mod black and blue replacement cables
Case Mod - Remove the hex airflow cutout on the intake of the case, it combines the the Jetflo fans create a horrible wind tunnel noise. I also want to add some acoustic foam.
Current specs are as follows:
Case - Coolermaster N200
Mobo - Gigabyte Z87 MX-D3H
CPU - Intel Xeon E3-1230v3
RAM - 16Gb Hyper X Fury 1600Mhz
GPU - EVGA GTX 760 4Gb
PSU - Coolermaster V550S
OS/Programe Drive - 250Gb Samsung 840 EVO
Games Drive - 120Gb Crucial M500
Backup Drive - 1Tb Seagate Barracuda
CPU Cooler - Xigmatek Dark Knight Nighthawk
Additional Cooling - Coolermaster Jetflo 120 blue
Silverstone cable extensions.
Over the next few months I will be looking at a number of updates to the components and some modding to the case to try and iron out the problems I have with it. So, in no particular order -
Water cooled GPU upgrade - The 760 has served me very well for both applications and gaming but the 4Gb memory feels very limiting in Iray (a GPU raytracing plugin for 3DS Max) and I often find I can't render large Archviz scenes that I am able to in Corona (the other render engine I use) which uses regular system memory. I haven't yet decided on a card(s), 6Gb 780's are like hens teeth, as are Titans and Titan Blacks that also seem to have held their price where available. I will probably wait to see that the next gen of Pascal architecture cards are like and if they are price prohibitive grab a 980Ti before they disappear.
AMD are developing Fire Render which uses code from Corona Render and will be fully compatible with materials, maps and lights so R9 390/390 X with their 8Gb memory would also be an option. Either way I want to water cool the cards, no only to reduce noise but they will likely be rendering for up t 24hrs at a time. I would be looking at a 240mm XSPX rad in the front, Monsoon fillings in blue and black to match the rest of the build. Matte black soft tubing. Can't decide on the pump/res setup.
I don't want to add a CPU block, I love love love that Xigmatek cooler and the maximum I have seen the CPU get up to even after 24hr of rendering is 50 degrees and will only add to the cost of everything.
This will probably mean a better PSU, which will likely be an EVGA G2 series, either 750 or 850W also with Cable mod black and blue replacement cables
Case Mod - Remove the hex airflow cutout on the intake of the case, it combines the the Jetflo fans create a horrible wind tunnel noise. I also want to add some acoustic foam.