Spec components for about $1000 workstation?

[Scott Miller]

OK, so what I have and can reuse is a great case, 850W power supply and drives and a Quadro 4800

What I would need is CPU, Motherboard RAM and boot SSD and maybe another GPU.

I would prefer to use the I7 3730 6 Core, which I know will consume about $550 of my budget.

What would you recommend for the other 3 critical components, realizing balance is of course the key to a post/editing rig (And I own 3D Max, and use it of various projects, but it will run happily on any of the gear you choose)

And trying to keep these components as close to $1000 as possible. I know, silly, but perhaps instead of a $400 motherboard there is an option closer to sub $200.

32Gb RAM I assume is required from my prowling the threads.

If I have missed a thread covering something similar then pointing me in the direction of my oversight is also graciously accepted.Thanks as always,Scott

 

[Jeff Kilgroe]

You can get a few of good i7 desktop motherboards in the $200 range. The ASUS AsRock series are decent. In this price range, the compromise is PCIe slots... By the time you start looking at boards with 4 or more slots, the price seems to creep north of $300.

The unfortunate casualty in all this is your Quadro 4800. You will probably ahve to upgrade it... The 4800 isn't fully supported for CUDA or much of the newer stuff these days. It's a few generations behind -- a cousin of the GTX285 -- and has been discontinued for, uh, years. The card will of course work just fine for a video card. So as long as you don't need the latest OpenGL features, high performance texture pipeline support or CUDA, it's still just fine.

32GB is a decent amount of RAM for a workstation like this. I'd go that route. Anyway, you can definitely get a system put together with your existing components and additional budget. It just may not be the system you're hoping to get.

Maybe something like the ASUS AsRock X79 Extreme board -- about $244 at NewEgg and it has 5 PCIe 3.0 slots.
They also have a kit of 4 x 8GB G.Skill Trident X PC319200 (2400MHz) RAM for $280

 

[Scott Miller]

Thank you!

Which variant of the AsRock? There seems to be two close together, and oddly the cheaper on on NewEgg seems better spec'd

ASRock X79 Extreme6 LGA 2011 Intel X79 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard $195... 8 mem slots, 3 PCIe

vs

ASRock X79 EXTREME7 LGA 2011 Intel X79 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard $245... 6 mem slots, but 5 PCIe

I will not be running a RedRocket.... so should I really be concerned about the PCIe difference?

And which CUDA card is the sweet spot price wise? And would I keep the Quadro 4800 in the machine and the new CUDA as well. or eBay the Quadro?

As always, thank you for the vast knowledge base you share.