I'm looking to build an affordable workstation that can effectively handle low to medium 3D work and rendering. This will be my secondary rig, as I intend to sell my main PC and reinvest in a more powerful setup later. I'm primarily using this machine for CAD work and low-poly modeling/rendering in Blender. My main PC will take on the heavier tasks.
So far, here's the build I've come up with:
- MOTHERBOARD: Asus Z9PA-D8
- CPU: Dual Xeon E5-2697 v2 (24 cores, 2.7GHz, 30MB L3 cache)
- GPU: NVIDIA Quadro RTX 4000 (8GB GDDR6)
- RAM: 64GB DDR3 ECC (4x16, 1600 MHz)
- Storage: 1TB SATA for OS and essential files + 2TB SATA for general use.
I've already purchased the motherboard and graphics card. I'm uncertain about the rest and would love to hear suggestions for any improvements without significantly increasing the cost.
3 Answers
You might want to consider switching to an X99 motherboard instead of the one you have. DDR4 is much better compared to DDR3, and you can find CPUs that outperform your current choice at similar prices. ECC DDR4 does cost a bit more, but it’s worth it for reliability.
Honestly, modern consumer parts will probably give you way better performance than those older workstation components. A 5600X CPU, for instance, could outperform your dual Xeon setup in single-threaded tasks, and it’d still deliver decent multi-threaded capability. If you ditch the old parts, you could easily create a faster, more efficient workstation.
I realize now that I jumped the gun with my motherboard purchase. Selling it off cheap might be the best bet so I can get modern hardware for not much more.
If you're considering used parts, check out eBay. You can find a lot of affordable options there. Just make sure to read the reviews on sellers before you buy!
I hear you, but I already bought the Z9PA-D8 motherboard on impulse. It was around $90, which I thought was a good deal at the time. Guess I just need to work with what I've got!