Buying a new computer?

[solo]

Hey guys,

Are you at the point of buying a new computer (desktop) and need something powerful for a multitude of tasks from Sketchup, video processing, Rendering and post processing?
If so I'm assuming you want all that at a good price right?

So, I am thinking why not buy one in a group and get a bulk discount.

Unfortunately at the moment this only applies to folks in the USA.

This is what I believe will be an all encompassing rig:

Single CPU Rendering Machine


System Assembled Computer System with Operating System Loaded.
- Assembled and tested


12 Month Warranty, 3 Year Tech Support.

Antec 302 Mid-tower case, USB 3.0,
COOLER MASTER Silent Pro 850W ATX12V v2.3 / EPS12V v2.92 SLI Ready 80 PLUS
BRONZE Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply

Intel Extreme DX79SR Desktop Motherboard - Intel X79 Express Chipset - Socket R
LGA-2011

Intel i7 3930k socket 2011 CPU, 6-core (12 rendering threads), 3.2Ghz

GELID Solutions Tranquillo CC-TranQ-01-A 120mm Hydro Dynamic CPU Cooler
LGA 2011 Bracket Kit for Gelid Tranquillo & GX-7

Overclock CPU to 4.0GHz - Stress test for 36 hours before shipping.

Corsair 32 GB (4 x 8 GB) - DDR3 SDRAM - 1866 MHz DDR3-1866/PC3-15000 - Non-ECC -
Unbuffered - 240-pin DIMM

Western Digital Caviar Black WD1002FAEX 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s
3.5" Internal Hard Drive

EVGA GeForce GTX 680 Graphic Card - 1019 MHz Core - 4 GB GDDR5 SDRAM -
PCI-Express 3.0 x16

DVD/RW, LG, reads DVD, CD Writes DVD, CD

Microsoft Windows 7 Professional 64bit
Install all purchased components, install operating system


I believe this will be an awesome and fast machine, so what would you pay for this?

[solo]

Feel free to discuss if you would like something changed, I would add a 128 gb SSD drive as primary and the 1TB as secondary.

[sonder]

I'm late. I just purchased one from "Origin" computers. Best machine I've ever had. I have similar specs:

Full tower case with 5 120mm fans Bitfenix shinobi XL
Asus P9X79 WS MB
Origin Frostbyte 360 sealed liquid cooling
64 gb ram
Intel i7 3930 clocked 4.2-4.4
EVGA GTX 680 4 gb
180 gb SSD
1 TB 7200 rpm drive
850 W Corsair Power supply
Bluray
multi card reader
The best customer service I've ever experienced - Lifetime 24/7 US based
Windows 7 64 bit pro ultimate

So fairly close specs - I paid $3,600.

[Dave R]

I'm planning to build a new machine this spring. Or I was. Maybe this would be the ticket for me.

I'd want a bigger SSD than you listed, Pete. And at least two HDs.

So what's the story here?

[d12dozr]

SSD's are coming down in price - I'd want at least a 256 GB SSD - the rest looks good.

[solo]

So what's the story here?

Quite simple, if I can get enough folks intereasted I can negotiate a better price based on quantity.


I agree with the bigger SSD drive, and how about a 2TB 2nd drive?

Now the GPU is a top one, so if you'd like to go one step down to say a GTX660TI 3GB (I have one and they are awesome for Lumion and Thea GPU) Then we could lower the price even further.

[sonder]

Go for the 680 4gb. It is incredible, even running (3) 47" LED's at 1080P. It is well worth the money.

[Dave R]

I guess I'd be in.

[solo]

I guess I'd be in.

[Dave R]

Ballpark price?

[d12dozr]

If it comes in ~$2K, I'd go for it. I don't need the bigger graphics card or extra HD though.

[solo]

For the top mentioned rig it's around $2500 that's completely built, tested and clocked with warranty and support. However lets wait and see what we can finally put together, optimize even better and who knows if we have the numbers we could get a better price.

[solo]

If it comes in ~$2K, I'd go for it. I don't need the bigger graphics card or extra HD though.

Well that should doable I believe.

[l_breault]

I would more than likely be in.

[CJRyan]

I'd be interested, I'm always up for a newer box.

I'd add a third 2 T HD and raid. Also a card reader, but that's not a deal breaker.

The GTX 680 specs on the NVida site suggest that it supports 4 monitors, is that 4 independent monitors, or are some mirrored? I currently have a GTX 550Ti, and although I thought it did it does not.

Chris

[solo]

I'd be interested, I'm always up for a newer box.

I'd add a third 2 T HD and raid. Also a card reader, but that's not a deal breaker.

The GTX 680 specs on the NVida site suggest that it supports 4 monitors, is that 4 independent monitors, or are some mirrored? I currently have a GTX 550Ti, and although I thought it did it does not.

Chris

I believe it does, 2 HDMI and 2 DVI.

[Box]

You might want to verify that, I have a nice big Nvidia on my tower, it has two lovely DVIs and an HDMI port, but will only run two at a time. Looks to me like you'd get three out of that one, but I've often been known to be wrong.

[sonder]

It will run 4. It has an HDMI, Display port, DVI-I and DVI-D, You can run one continuous screen across all 4, Run 4 independent, or mix and match as you like. It is also very large, so I would personally be cautious with a mid tower.

[solo]

Nice setup you have there, just wondering, how is Sketchup over three screens? I'd get whiplash. I use SU on a 27" and Internet, photo-shop, etc on the other 27" monitor, never tried to stretch over more than one before.

[pbacot]

That's killer, Nick. but maybe the speakers are too small?

[sonder]

Those little speakers sound amazing. The are Klipsch THX with a powered sub! They also look tiny against the three 47" screens.

As for the whiplash. It's really not bad. What I love is the peripheral affect when you are modeling. Definitely immerses you into the model.

[solo]

The new Crysis 3 would be a pleasure on your rig and monitors, drool.

[maxhouserocks]

hello all, i have not been active here but always appreciative of the hard work and collective knowledge. I found out about this thread from Pete on another forum.

I may be looking to buy one or two high end machines in the very near future. i was looking at ORIGIN PC because i had a great experience with them previously. How does this company you are looking to purchase from compare with ORIGIN PC quality?

If the price is cheaper, and quality similar, i would be very interested in what you can negotiate and how we can participate.

Would there be any possibility of spec'ing out with GTX Titan 6gb cards?

Thanks,
Bob

http://www.rachristman.blogspot.com
http://www.linkedin.com/in/rachristman

[solo]

Hey Robert,

I do not want to post the company name as that will be advertising on open forum, however I can say that I have done my homework on them from following all the feedback and reviews from clients and peers of mine that have purchased from them and it is stellar, not a complaint only praise. I also looked at Origin PC as well as Cyberpower before making this decision and contacting them directly, in fact we talked yesterday and they are giving me another setup and price today or tomorrow, the plan is if we can get enough people to buy then they can do a bulk build as they would if a company purchased 10 machines, so we would benefit in the costs and get a bulk order discount. This company builds machines for specific and tailored needs, our needs are modeling and rendering so they will optimize for just that. (no third party crap software like HP, a lean clean monster machine)

Regarding the Titan card, as sweet as it seems I'd only touch that after second driver release (when bugs are sorted out) secondly it's a limited release, not sure you can or will be able to get your hands on one easily, but I can ask.

[solo]

What I also plan to do is to document the purchase from delivery to production with photo's of when it arrives, how it was packed, what all is in the bundle, to connection, benchmarking, running temps etc,

That way serving as a resource for everyone who needs a good machine at a good price in future as we get too many questions about computers on this forum so we can now just link to that thread.

[maxhouserocks]

Understood. That sounds good to me. Count me in for 2 please. If the info comes in as being preferable to OriginPC, i will certainly trust your research and recommendation.

You have any idea of a timeline yet?

Thanks,
Bob

[solo]

I'm guessing that if we can get the numbers next week we can go for it, as soon as we got the confirmations, I'll let y'all know all the details and we can go from there, because we are purchasing as a group there will be a promo code, something like Solo or Pete that we can order with, there will also be an opportunity to make changes to your machine if you want with them directly.

I'm only doing this because I desperately need a new top of the line machine and too damned broke to pay full price and do not want to compromise on quality or speed, so if I can get a deal based on quantity so can everyone was my thinking.

[solo]

Good news guys,

I got the new configuration and it's brilliant and the price is unbeatable for the high end machine it is.

Details to follow.

[l_breault]

Looking forward to hearing the details.

[dereknunez]

I'm very interested in this too. My laptop is killing my productivity.