Need complete PC for Animation & Multimedia student @ 80k (No Gaming)

[Naxal]

Hello,

My sister has taken admission in some animation institute and she would be in need of a PC. Our budget for her is at around 80k MAX (upper ceiling).

Primary use would be for animation, photo editing and visual editing / effects software works. I am mentioning few,

Adobe Photoshop™, Adobe After Effects™, Adobe Premiere™, Adobe Sound Booth™, Autodesk 3dsmax™, Autodesk Maya™, Autodesk Mudbox™, Eyeon Fusion™, Apple Final Cut Pro™, Autodesk Matchmover™, Pixologic ZBrush™, Mental Ray™, Eyeon Fusion™, PFTrack™ & Real Flow™, etc

She is not much into gaming rather loves music and movies and her institute has asked for some pen tool for paint brush software which I have no idea about

I have a configuration in my mind, which I have been creating after reading this forum and taking some advice from my friends, so I am open for suggestion to replace any of these product selected.

Processor Intel Core i7 3770 (3rd GEN) FCLGA1155 @ Rs. 20,000
CPU Cooler Please Suggest @ Rs. 2,000
Motherboard ASUS P8Z77-V Motherboard @ Rs. 16,200
RAM DDR3 (8x2) 16 GB 1600 MHz Corsair Vengeance @ Rs. 7,600
HDD WD Caviar Green 1 TB HDD Model -> WD10EARX @ Rs. 5,200
Graphics Card Sapphire AMD/ATI HD 7770 1 GB GDDR5 @ Rs. 10,600
DVD RW Please Suggest (Any I guess) @ Rs. 1,000
Power Supply Corsair VS450 @ Rs. 2,600
Cabinet Cooler Master @ Rs. 2,500
Display Dell 24 inch LED - ST2420L @ Rs. 14,000
Sound 2.1 (Creative or Altec) @ Rs. 2,500
Keyboard Mourse Microsoft Combo @ Rs. 1000
Paint Brush Tool Please suggest @ 2500
UPS Any local one @ Rs. 1500/-

Total @ 94,000/-

Now, I have few question for configuration, since I have to get it close to 80k.

• Since we wont be over clocking, I was hoping to cut down in the Motherboard by selecting some model (please suggest) which can be able to extract full out of the configuration and its features but at lower price point..
• We will be running the PC a lot and that too for next 3 to 4 years, do we require a better cooler than intel stock cooler or can we cut down costing by sticking to intel stock cooler ? There will be no AC and the rooms are quite hot in summer also..
• What grapics card should we take which will satisfy our need also can we run like laptops where computer will use the Intel HD4000 (onboard GPU) + this card together ?? Looking to cut down some costing here too if possible since no gaming..
• Suggest a display, larger one but with good quality..
• No AMD Please (personal choice strictly)
• Please provide some idea about pen tool needed for drawing also..

Thanks in advance for your time to read and help

 

[Phenomenal]

I am new to this yet I can tell you one thing : GO for a better rated PSU like 600+ W.Your config is pretty nice,make sure it gets enough power!

 

[vkl]

^^The PSU is absolutely fine for the config.
i7 3770 TDP=77W hd7770 TDP=80W

corsair VS450 is enough.

 

[coldhart]

8.5k is nothing but waste on mouse & keyboard
Keyboard & mouse (wired)
Logitech Gaming Mouse G300 - 1443
Logitech Gaming Keyboard G110 - 3687
(this mouse & keyboard is also overkill since its not gaming system)
this combo will save ~3k
then go for MSI N560GTX Twin Frozr II-OC Graphic Card - 13,800.00

if ur going for cheaper keyboard & mouse combo around 1k then go for either of following cards (better gpu is always better than stylish mouse & keyboard)
MSI R7850 Power Edition 2GD5-OC Card - 16900
MSI R7850 Twin Frozr 2GD5-OC Graphic Card - 16200
SAPPHIRE HD7850 2GB GDDR5 PCI-E Graphic Card - 16750
Asus AMD Radeon HD7850-DC2-2GD5 - 17900

if ur going for 7850 then buy
Corsair Enthusiast Series TX650 V2 SMPS - 5980
or
Corsair Builder Series CX600 V2 Power Supply - 4000

if u have no intention of Overclocking then there is no point in spending 16k on mobo go for
Gigabyte GA-Z77MX-D3H Motherboard - 9500
or
ASRock Z77 Extreme4 Motherboards - 10500
it will save 6k then u might afford
HIS AMD H787Q2G2M 2 GB GDDR5 Graphic Card - 24274 (very powerful gpu with excellent cooling tech)
HIS AMD H787Q2G2M 2 GB GDDR5 Graphic Card

go for apc ups for such awesome config around 800 or 1000 va will be sufficient for ur system

around 2.5 k u will get NZXT Gamma MID TOWER Black interior chassis or NZXT Source 210 Elite Mid Tower White Cabinet but can't say for sure whether 9 or 10 inch gpu can fix in those or not.

wd green is very slow drive if u r planning it to use as a boot drive & above all they have very high failure rate either go for wd blue 1tb or wait for wd red series(better for nas & raid or data dumping & have 3 years warranty) other wise go for seagate 1tb drive but they have head parking issue which can be solved by installing new firmware but currently they have 1year warranty so can't say for sure about reliability even though i myself using four seagate drive which i bought in 2k10

 

[Naxal]

@ColdHart

Keyboard Price was a typing mistake.. I was writting it a 1k for basic one I guess, apology..

about grfx card

Gaming is not at all a need for the computer. Since now days many of the apps I know like PhotoShop is also depended on GPU hence looking for a GPU just enough powerful to make those apps which are GPU hungry to work at their level best with the said card..

 

[vkl]

@Naxal
For display take Dell UltraSharp U2311H.It is an IPS monitor,better suited for your works.
For cost cutting you can opt for i7 2600+ Intel DH67CL.The performance difference between i7 3770 and 2600 is very less.The advantage with i7 3770k is that
you can use 1600MHz ram with it,has faster quick sync(intel's video transcoding engine) and a bit better cpu performance.If you go with ivy bridge i7 then get a H77 motherboard like
ASUS P8H77-MLE for 7.5k or Gigabyte GA-H77-DS3H for 6.8k.As you won't be overclocking no need to go for z77 motherboard.
For cpu cooler get cm hyper 212 evo for 2.1k.Intel stock cooler is not good enough.
As you won't be gaming take a professional card.Sapphire AMD/ATI FirePro V4800 1 GB GDDR5 would be much better for your tasks.
For cabinet - CM 311plus or nzxt source 210elite.

Originally posted by Naxal
What grapics card should we take which will satisfy our need also can we run like laptops where computer will use the Intel HD4000 (onboard GPU) + this card together ?? Looking to cut down some costing here too if possible since no gaming.

You can use dGPU and IGP in the computer with the help of lucid logix virtu.For that you need a mobo that supports lucid logix virtu.For tasks or things where dGPU is not required it will use theivy/sandy IGP and when a GPU intensive task takes place it will switch to dGPU.

 

[Naxal]

If you go with ivy bridge i7 then get a H77 motherboard like ASUS P8H77-MLE for 7.5k or Gigabyte GA-H77-DS3H for 6.8k. As you won't be overclocking no need to go for z77 motherboard.

Any Intel option to chose from ??

You can use dGPU and IGP in the computer with the help of lucid logix virtu.For that you need a mobo that supports lucid logix virtu.For tasks or things where dGPU is not required it will use theivy/sandy IGP and when a GPU intensive task takes place it will switch to dGPU.

Are those boards which you have suggested comes with this feature ??

Also will this ATI V4800 FirePro supports this dual GPU switching options ??

Its an entry level card as per ATI website, do you think it would be better option compare to ATI HD7770 for my need off course !!

 

[vkl]

^^Yes the suggested boards have Lucid Virtu support.

Firepro and quadro cards are might not be supported.As per official statement by Lucid the following cards are supported:
Nvidia cards GF 4xx/5xx/6xx series
AMD HD5xxx/HD6xxx/HD7xxx series
So firepro and quadro cards might not be supported.

V4800 at that price point is better suited for the workloads you have mentioned.Even a firepro v3900 is a nice choice.
The problem with some cards which are not professional is the driver.
They might simply not work for an application or in some application the performance is too poor.
HD 7000 series has good compute capabilities though.Still in professional apps it might not be constant i.e it may not work at all in some scenarios.
FirePro V3900: Entry-Level Workstation Graphics
You can see in some benches the performance of gaming cards is too low compared to pro cards except for Ensight.
Though things might have changed with hd7750 as with newer drivers it might work well.HD 7770 has good compute for a gaming card though.
The problem is not many firepro cards are available in India.

You can go with a gaming card for surety to be able to use lucid virtu if quick sync is important to you.In that case go for atleast an hd 7850.It' compute performance is much higher.
Nvidia gaming cards are crippled in compute.Simply not good enough,be it 500 series or 600 series.In apps like Maya hd 7850 would beat some of nvidia's professional cards.
So if you want both quick sync and compute performance go for hd7850 at least.

 

[Mario]

Going by the application list mentioned in your first post, not sure why you would select a TN monitor. Get Dell U2410 and a hardware calibrator.

 

[acewin]

Re: Need complete PC for Animation & Multimedia student @ 80k (No Gaming)

change Display Dell 24 inch LED - ST2420L @ Rs. 14,000 to U2412M or U2311H or U2311HM

also you seem tho have received higher price for ST2420L it shows to be 12.6 over SMC
DELL ST2420L 24" Full HD LED
Dell Ultra Sharp U2412M 24" Monitor

Get core i5 rather than core i7, though your budget is good you need not invest in core i7, until and unless you really want to reach your budget 90K, I will not comment on choice of GPU, IMO firepro or HD7xxx both will do fine. Your sis is gonna work on Maya and other anime tools, so certainly workstaion gfx are preferred for faster rendering. My friend's brother worked it out with dedicated GPU.
And pen tablet was the most used device many a time

have a look
*www.smcinternational.in/index.php?option=com_virtuemart&page=shop.browse&category_id=47&Itemid=190
preferabbly Wacom Bamboo Fun Pen and Touch CTH-661 buy this one which has larger space, no U2410 and extra 8K on monitor, and yes 2420TL you are thinking is TN panel which is fine but not suitable for animation works,
*www.smcinternational.in/index.php?...tegory_id=47&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=190

Wow I checked the benchmark links vki has posted; now really workstation GPU comes out with difference in performance for rendering and animations
and V4800 is shown as out of stock, it supports Microsoft DirectX v11, Open GL Optimization v4, AMD CrossFireX supported, no where it is said lucid virtu in its specs

I thought GPU switching is more of a mobo capability than GPU capability

Wow I checked the benchmark links vki has posted; now really workstation GPU comes out with difference in performance for rendering and animations
and V4800 is shown as out of stock, it supports Microsoft DirectX v11, Open GL Optimization v4, AMD CrossFireX supported, no where it is said lucid virtu in its specs

I thought GPU switching is more of a mobo capability than GPU capability

 

[Naxal]

Re: Need complete PC for Animation & Multimedia student @ 80k (No Gaming)

change Display Dell 24 inch LED - ST2420L @ Rs. 14,000 to U2412M or U2311H or U2311HM

also you seem tho have received higher price for ST2420L it shows to be 12.6 over SMC
DELL ST2420L 24" Full HD LED
Dell Ultra Sharp U2412M 24" Monitor

Can you please tell me the difference for both since price difference is huge for these similar size displays

wd green is very slow drive if u r planning it to use as a boot drive & above all they have very high failure rate either go for wd blue 1tb or wait for wd red series(better for nas & raid or data dumping & have 3 years warranty) other wise go for seagate 1tb drive but they have head parking issue which can be solved by installing new firmware but currently they have 1year warranty so can't say for sure about reliability even though i myself using four seagate drive which i bought in 2k10

The Green WD seems to be having 64MB Cache compare to Blue what you have said is having 16 MB Cache, more cache slower performance ??

 

[Mario]

Re: Need complete PC for Animation & Multimedia student @ 80k (No Gaming)

Can you please tell me the difference for both since price difference is huge for these similar size displays

Head over to TFT Central, Anandtech, HardForum etc. for reviews. ST series are TN panels while Ultrasharp series are IPS panels. For work which involves "honest" color reproduction (though I am not sure if it applies in your case, just guessing from the "Photoshop" in your app list) you want to go with a monitor that has a wide color gamut than one which has a standard gamut. There are some other factors to consider as well which you can find out by doing a little web research.

To cut to the chase, TN panels will suck in your case, IPS is the way to go (, especially since you also mentioned, movie-watching is going to be a priority on this monitor). There are various versions of IPS as well. Based on the choices listed here, you should be going with the U2410 (wide gamut) or the u2412m (standard gamut). Also get a hardware calibrator (or get a photographer friend who has one) to properly calibrate the monitor.

 

[havoknation]

@Naxal

IMO you should buy i5 3570 cpu and motherboard Asrock Z77 extreme 4 (10.4k) and get Corsair CX500 (4000Rs) psu as you are buying gpu also.

 

[acewin]

Re: Need complete PC for Animation & Multimedia student @ 80k (No Gaming)

mostly it is to color reproduction and color gamut as Mario said
U2410 based on IPS LCD and long running model priced around 27K I would say it is too much to ask, where as 23 inch panel because of their higher production are less costlier, U2412 is little more priced having almost similar specs, but theall the 3 I mentioned in my earlier post are LED panels, having lower power consumption and good color gamut.
Also all the Ultrasharp branding panels are really good panels used in professional places, one thing I like about them is stand provided with them. you can rotate panels

Also get SATA 3 drives which are much faster than SATA 2 whether it be WD green or any other drive.

Also I did not see earlier but what paint brush tool you are talking about. If you really need paint brush application you can find plenty in opensource or as free software.
And dear do not go for local UPS, because that is what protects system from shocks, get something decent

also if not wrong you need pen tablet as well included in same budget, if yes then I am correct go for core i5, core i7 is not something you want. In my understanding rendering is not always threaded, or rather say multiple core dependent, but they are more of GPU dependent, in case you do not have proper GPU it becomes proccy dependent

 

[vkl]

@Naxal
Stick to i7.The performance in those apps would be siginificantly better than an i5 2500/i5 3570k.Try getting hd7850 atleast if going for a gaming card.
i5=4C/4T
i7=4C/8T

As for swicthing support in lucid virtu it is upto Lucid to add the support for more graphic cards in its software.It has nothing to do with the motherboard vendors.


@ havoknation
He doesn't want to overclock.What makes you suggest an unlocked i5 with a z77 motherboard.It would be better he gets an i7 with a h67/h77 motherboard.
Look at the OP's workloads

 

[Naxal]

Thanks all for your replies..

I have re-done the config, please take a look and help me to finalize it.

Intel Core i7 3770 @ Rs. 20,000.00
Cooler Master Hyper @ Rs. 2,100.00
Intel Original DH77EB @ Rs. 7,200.00
DDR3 (8x2) 16 GB 1600 MHz Corsair Vengeance @ Rs. 7,200.00
ATI FirePro v4800 1GB GDDR5 @ Rs. 10,700.00
WD Green (64MB Buffer) 1 TB 7200RPM @ Rs. 5,200.00
Corsiar VS450 PSU @ Rs. 2,600.00
DVD RW @ Rs. 1,000.00
Cabinet Cooler Master @ Rs. 2,500.00
Dell U2412 24" IPS LED Display @ Rs. 20,000.00
Pen Tablet @ Rs. 4,500.00
Microsoft Combo KYB+MCE @ Rs. 1,000.00
Creative / Altek 2.1 @ Rs. 2,500.00
APC UPS @ Rs. 2,100.00

I still need another 5/6k cost savings at least.. Please suggest.. Personally I was thinking to switch to other brands for IPS based display, since dell is not always a value for money product

Please suggest..

Thanks..

 

[acewin]

that is why I said go for U2311H/U2312HM they would be priced 14K range, and my friend Dell is really VFM for IPS panel displays.
Also, IMHO increase the budget ratio for pen tablet, because anime folks need little bigger tablet for their drawings. as per what I see the panel in 4.5K range will be a 6 inch diagonaly where as 10K one is 9 inch diagonally, anit also comes with bundled software like Adobe® Photoshop® Elements 6 (Mac) / 7 (Win), Corel® Painter™ Essentials, which is not available in lower priced models.

 

[Naxal]

that is why I said go for U2311H/U2312HM they would be priced 14K range, and my friend Dell is really VFM for IPS panel displays.

Web prices are price in Kolkata retail dell stores are quite different by the way..

So any option apart from Dell ?? I will be trying Dell but i need option also, as if not found, will have to look for something else.

Also, IMHO increase the budget ratio for pen tablet, because anime folks need little bigger tablet for their drawings. as per what I see the panel in 4.5K range will be a 6 inch diagonaly where as 10K one is 9 inch diagonally, anit also comes with bundled software like Adobe® Photoshop® Elements 6 (Mac) / 7 (Win), Corel® Painter™ Essentials, which is not available in lower priced models.

How is the performance difference between them ??

Also please suggest some brands available in local Indian Retail Market ??

Secondly, not much interested in software licensing

 

[acewin]

Re: Need complete PC for Animation & Multimedia student @ 80k (No Gaming)

yes SMC, they will ship in with some shipping charges extra.
You will get pen tablets from iBall as well, it is not performance difference it is usability difference, these are touch screen devices. They are like slate you draw on them and it gets shown up in you computer that is where the drawings and visual imprints will get stored. Wacom is the best brand for pen tablets priced well and most sold, after which comes iBall i local market. that is why I said it will be the most used device initially, because initially they are taught sketching and different drawing techniques, if I am not wrong. so larger the touch area bigger sketches they can draw and store.

I have given links of SMC above

 

[Naxal]

Re: Need complete PC for Animation & Multimedia student @ 80k (No Gaming)

that is why I said it will be the most used device initially, because initially they are taught sketching and different drawing techniques, if I am not wrong

you are right..

But affording bigger one at 10k will again make me fail the budget

Also get SATA 3 drives which are much faster than SATA 2 whether it be WD green or any other drive.

I think this drive I mentioned is a SATA 3 drive, aint it ??