As luck would have it, I just built a 3D rendering server for the company, and have been doing some load-testing. I also build desktops. From what I've seen:
1. Get an i7- the fastest one you can. Renders tend to be CPU-heavy, and CattyNebulart is right- AMD can't compare with Intel at the high end of the curve. The i7 3770K is modern, fast, and should do as nicely as anything else under $1000.
2. RAM isn't THAT big a deal yet. Rhino renders with Flamingo have been solidly in the 2.7-3.5GB range at work. The biggest CAD file I've ever seen there (on Solidworks; we also use AutoCAD, but performance on that has been less demanding) barely breaks 8GB. You could survive using 8GB, but 16 is a good idea. Were I future-proofing, I'd leave myself room to expand to 32GB, but I don't see it being necessary for several years.
3. NVIDIA is a good choice, and I can personally attest to the power and quality of the 600-series. Still, I've not heard of a good CUDA solution for 3D work yet, so focus more on good RAM and great CPU performance.
4. Splurge on the mobo. Full stop. A good Intel chipset will give you faster/more/(more channels for) RAM, PCIe 3.0 (future-proofing again), and all sorts of other goodies. Thunderbolt, especially- a 10Gbit/sec hard drive connection would do LOVELY THINGS for rendering performance. Any mobo worth its salt will have gigabit Ethernet, so wired connection is no problem. Wireless is an extra- wired is standard.
5. Buy nothing slower than 7200 RPM, drive-wise, and I agree about SATA III. An SSD might be handy as a boot/program drive, but remember that the lifespan of an SSD is not just related to the amount of write cycles you do on it, but shackled to that metric with bonds of neutronium. Running multi-GB files into and out of it regularly will wear them out surprisingly fast... and you WILL be doing lots of file transfers. With an SSD, you get to pick between low cost, high speed, and (by HDD standards) moderate storage.
6. As for noise, a good case will do a lot for that. Mine is a full tower, with six 120mm fans- it's not quite whisper-quiet at idle, but close. Maybe 1.2 whispers. Thing is, the multiple big fans make it as loud as a room tower fan on medium when it hits load, and that's not too bad.
Questions are appreciated, and so are civil arguments. There are lots of ways to do a machine right- this is just what I've seen at work/done myself.
My Unitarian Jihad Name is: Brother Atom Bomb of Courteous Debate. Get yours.
I've been writing a bit.
1. Get an i7- the fastest one you can. Renders tend to be CPU-heavy, and CattyNebulart is right- AMD can't compare with Intel at the high end of the curve. The i7 3770K is modern, fast, and should do as nicely as anything else under $1000.
2. RAM isn't THAT big a deal yet. Rhino renders with Flamingo have been solidly in the 2.7-3.5GB range at work. The biggest CAD file I've ever seen there (on Solidworks; we also use AutoCAD, but performance on that has been less demanding) barely breaks 8GB. You could survive using 8GB, but 16 is a good idea. Were I future-proofing, I'd leave myself room to expand to 32GB, but I don't see it being necessary for several years.
3. NVIDIA is a good choice, and I can personally attest to the power and quality of the 600-series. Still, I've not heard of a good CUDA solution for 3D work yet, so focus more on good RAM and great CPU performance.
4. Splurge on the mobo. Full stop. A good Intel chipset will give you faster/more/(more channels for) RAM, PCIe 3.0 (future-proofing again), and all sorts of other goodies. Thunderbolt, especially- a 10Gbit/sec hard drive connection would do LOVELY THINGS for rendering performance. Any mobo worth its salt will have gigabit Ethernet, so wired connection is no problem. Wireless is an extra- wired is standard.
5. Buy nothing slower than 7200 RPM, drive-wise, and I agree about SATA III. An SSD might be handy as a boot/program drive, but remember that the lifespan of an SSD is not just related to the amount of write cycles you do on it, but shackled to that metric with bonds of neutronium. Running multi-GB files into and out of it regularly will wear them out surprisingly fast... and you WILL be doing lots of file transfers. With an SSD, you get to pick between low cost, high speed, and (by HDD standards) moderate storage.
6. As for noise, a good case will do a lot for that. Mine is a full tower, with six 120mm fans- it's not quite whisper-quiet at idle, but close. Maybe 1.2 whispers. Thing is, the multiple big fans make it as loud as a room tower fan on medium when it hits load, and that's not too bad.
Questions are appreciated, and so are civil arguments. There are lots of ways to do a machine right- this is just what I've seen at work/done myself.
My Unitarian Jihad Name is: Brother Atom Bomb of Courteous Debate. Get yours.
I've been writing a bit.