Building a new system ...

[ejgodwin]

Having gotten my feet wet in Blender as well as Terragen, now it's time to consider a new system. Blender & TG3 are a great combination; problem is, my old AMD just ain't cuttin' it, so I've come up with the following build. (I already own all the hard drives and peripherals I'll need.)  http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3oaFU

I built it around the Nvidia GTX 770 to support Blender's CUDA requirements, and a big enough power supply in case I ever added a second card. But since Terragen doesn't use GPU processing except for the 3D Preview, how does it rate? Appreciate any advice you might have.

Thanks.

[archonforest]

Rate? The VGA card u planning?

[ejgodwin]

Rate? The VGA card u planning?

"Rate" as in "opinion": CPU, RAM, MOBO, everything except the GPU (since TG3 doesn't use it for rendering).  For example, I currently have an old 4-core 2.8GHz AMD, but is has no processor cache to speak of, so I know an I5 is a good step up from that. But would I be better off plunking down the cash for an 8-core, or could I just set up a render farm with my old AMD and get close to the same performance?

[ejgodwin]

Sorry, I meant to specify and AMD 8 core vs an Intel 4-core. There is no 8-core Intel I can find on the site, and the 6-cores are insanely expensive.

[Oshyan]

I'd say go for an i7 instead of the i5, that will give you a bit more performance for both apps. It's not terribly more expensive:
http://www.amazon.com/Intel-I7-4771-1150-Processor-BX80646I74771/dp/B00EUTW24E/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1396996448&sr=8-8&keywords=core+i7

And a 6 core, while double the CPU price of the i5, will definitely give you some great performance. Even at ~$560 it's a pretty good deal if you're seriously into 3D. Keep in mind that this is the previous generation of CPU (socket 2011, so would affect your motherboard choice), which is why it's a bit cheaper, but it is still a fantastic processor. It would mainly just affect your upgradeability in the future. But if you're starting out with a 6 core CPU, you're pretty much at the top of the range anyway...
http://www.amazon.com/Intel-i7-4930K-Technology-Processors-BX80633I74930K/dp/B00EMHM622/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1396996448&sr=8-6&keywords=core+i7

Also you ought to be able to get a Platinum or at least Gold certified power supply for around that price, maybe $20 more. e.g.:
http://www.amazon.com/Corsair-80PLUS-Gold-Certified-Power-Supply/dp/B00EB7UITQ/ref=sr_1_1?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1396997113&sr=1-1&keywords=power+supply+gold
or
http://www.amazon.com/Rosewill-Platinum-Certified-Supply-FORTRESS-750/dp/B008G9MX48/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1396996952&sr=8-1&keywords=power+supply+750w+platinum
http://www.amazon.com/Rosewill-CAPSTONE-Certified-ATX12V-CAPSTONE-750/dp/B006BCKHIQ/ref=sr_1_3?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1396997204&sr=1-3&keywords=power+supply+gold
(Rosewill are often rebranded top-of-the-line PSUs like Silverstone, Seasonic, Kingwin, etc.)

- Oshyan

[ejgodwin]

EDIT:
So, based on Oshyan's advice (thank you!), here are 2 configs. (I kept all at Amazon prices for comparison.)

http://pcpartpicker.com/user/ejgodwin/saved/4jiZ --  i7 4770k @ $1275.66
http://pcpartpicker.com/user/ejgodwin/saved/4jFj   --  i7 4930k @ $1651.93

That last one sure looks like a screamer, but I'm not sure if it's worth the extra $370 bucks. The biggest difference is twice the RAM bandwidth and limit, as well as higher max RAM speed: http://ark.intel.com/compare/77780,75123. But the 4930 also runs quite a bit hotter (130w vs 84w max, 105w vs 68w typical), and with Terragen cranking for hours I'm wondering if I would need to add the expense of a liquid-cooled system.

From a pure performance standpoint, looking at this link: http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/core-i7-4960x-4930k-4820k_7.html, it performs better using 3DS Max, but I don't know if that software utilizes GPU rendering or not.

[ejgodwin]

One last question. I'm pretty sure I'm going to get the i7 4830K 6-core, but I'm wondering if I can put off buying ram until later, and use what I have (24GB). The only concern is that it's 1333Mhz, and I'm wondering if it would be a major bottleneck. The higher bandwidth should make up for that, I would think.

Nope. Going with 2400 ram. Time to kick ass or chew bubble gum.

http://pcpartpicker.com/user/ejgodwin/saved/4jYy

[Oshyan]

Any Intel CPU you get should do fine on air cooling unless you're overclocking.

- Oshyan