Student - I'm looking for a new PC and need some help!

Immanu'EL Segol

Hi,
Ok well my old rig is getting kinda sluggish, so lately I was looking in to getting a new computer for my work and studies.
The programs I use are Maya, Photoshop, Mudbox, Zbrush, marmoset toolbag 2, Xnormal. I do not wish to play any hard core games on my system maybe just some Tf2 and Red orchestra.

The first option I was looking at was the Dell Precision T3610:

http://www.dell.com/us/business/p/precision-t3610-workstation/pd?oc=cap3610w7p0088t&model_id=precision-t3610-workstation

The second option was to build my own PC:

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K Haswell Box
GPU: Gigabyte Radeon R9 270X OC GV-R927XOC-2G ( I never had a problem with AMD so I think I will just stay with there products)
Motherboard: Asus Z87-PRO
Hard Drive: 1TB 3.5inch Serial ATA (7.200 Rpm) Hard Drive
Ram: 16GB

I know I have allot of components missing but im only trying to give you guys an idea of what im aiming for.

So here are some questions I have:
1) Is there anything pre-built that has better specs than the Dell Precision T3610 (Pleas keep in mind that my bugget is below 3000$)?

2) Do I really need that Xeon CPU and a professional GPU for my studies ?

3) Is there any better configuration you guys can think of under 3000$?

4) Will the Dell Precision T3610 be able to support two 1080p (1920x1080) while delivering the same performance that it would supply on a single monitor?

5) Im not looking for a laptop because I really want to utilize two monitors, but if you guys know of any laptop that is really really great and worth it then pleas post it

Im sorry about all the questions this is the first time im building a PC for serious usage and not just gaming.

Thank you so much !
Sincerely,
Immanu'EL Segol

ZacD

Your always better off building your own, you don't need a professional work station gpu so I wouldn't go with that Dell.

No and no, but Xeons can save you money in certain situations if you aren't over clocking your CPU. For $1500+ you should be getting a 6 core cpu.

Yes, 6 core processor, mid range GPU, 256 gig SSD, should be easily possible for under $1500.

Yes, any modern dedicated GPU will.

You can easily get a laptop that supports 2 displays, but there's a lot of other things to worry about when picking a laptop.

EarthQuake

Yeah don't spend over $1500. Anything over that and the price curve is out of whack, you'll pay a disproportionate amount for a slight gain in performance for the high end CPU and GPU. If you have more money to burn, put it into a nice 24 or 27 inch IPS screen with good color accuracy.

You do not need a professional GPU. A Xeon can actually be comparable in price and performance to an i7 with the biggest difference being the i7 has built in graphics. You certainly don't need a high end $1000 xeon (these are meant for servers etc).

Laptops are always a compromise. If you want something small and light with good battery life, it will be underpowered compared to a desktop. If you want something fast and powerful, it will be huge, heavy, and have bad battery life (so there is little difference vs a desktop pc).

4790 is a good choice. R9 270X is a good value but a little mid range, ok if you intend to buy a new GPU in 2 years or so. Otherwise, get a R9 290 or a GTX 770 ( would recommend nvidia for a workstation as there tends to be less issues with drivers and more support, like cuda, for dev apps).

Definitely get a 240/256GB SSD.

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EarthQuake

Haha yeah, thats actually not a bad idea, as the suggestions always tend to be the same. Would be a pain keeping it updated when new hardware comes out though.

Theres also this: http://www.logicalincrements.com/ but its not really targeted to game developers.

ZacD

EarthQuake wrote: »

Haha yeah, thats actually not a bad idea, as the suggestions always tend to be the same. Would be a pain keeping it updated when new hardware comes out though.

Theres also this: http://www.logicalincrements.com/ but its not really targeted to game developers.

We'd basically use logical increments but with a few notes.
Suggest you at least spend around $600
Spend about the same amount on your CPU and GPU depending a bit on your toolset
If your spending close to $1000 you probably want 16 gigs of ram.
Nvidia is the safer GPU choice right now, and worth it if anything you use has CUDA support.

Immanu'EL Segol

Thank you! so much for the suggestions people . You guys really helped me out !

Immanu'EL Segol

I all so think that we should keep this thread open because lately i have been seeing lot of people asking these types of questions and there rarely is a place with "real life answers" most of the answers that I have seen where telling me to go buy a pro workstation so yeah