build a new work machine, render machine or both?

#1

'm a self employed Architectural 3D Visualiser, I use 3DS MAX and Vray plus photoshop and a few other graphic tools.

I have £2500 - £3000 to spend, I’m not sure if I should split that into one work machine and one machine for rendering or just one decent work station.

I mainly work on still images, I occasionally do animations so am I better off using EC2 for the odd animation and just spend my money on a decent work station that I can also render still images from also?

What’s the best set up for me and what sort of hardware should I be looking at.

Thanks in advance.

#2

More details needed. Do you have monitors already? keyboard, mouse? Old harddrives etc.

#3

I already have two monitors, keyboard and mouse. Everything else I would need to get new.

#4

Using whichever online builder site you prefer (scan.co.uk, overclockers.oc.uk etc) I would aim for this:

msi x99 motherboard (whichever is cheapest, “x99 S”, “Gaming 7” etc)
intel i7 5960
32 gigs ram (make sure you use 8 gig sticks, any speed is fine)
geforce 980
cpu water cooler (just make sure it fits the case you pick, eg corsair h110 + any corsair case)
samsung 840 PRO 512 gig ssd (make sure its the pro edition)

+whatever optical and harddrives you need