Workstation Build Help

[BigWorm]

Trying to put together a new workstation for myself. I will be using the system for software development using Visual Studio. It will also be used for Lightroom, Photoshop, VM Workstation (to spin up test machines) and all around daily personal use. I don't plan on playing games on this guy. Must intense game I ever played is Company of Hereos, but haven't played that in a while. First thing I am struggling with is the CPU and Motherboard choice. I can't decide to go with LGA 1150 or LGA 2011. I would love if Haswell-E was out, but that is not tell the end of the year and I would like something now to upgrade my old i7-920.

Through Microcenter I can get either one of these options for pretty much the same price.

Option 1: i7-4770k & Asus Z87-WS
Option 2: i7-4820k & Asus X79-DELUXE

I plan to get a 30" main monitor, plus 2 extra side monitors for productivity, but not sure what yet. Maybe some 27" 1440p monitors.

Any thoughts or other suggests?

Thanks,
Ernie

 

[Lost-Benji]

From the listing and OP, I would say your only looking at another desktop system...


My advice at this stage, don't get caught up in the CPU generation hype. The S2011 has a lott more to offer than the baby 1150 ever will, if you're serious about a decent little WS that will haul ass, 1150 is a WOFTAM.


GIGABYTE - Motherboard - Socket 2011 - GA-X79S-UP5-WIFI (rev. 1.0)
Quad, Hex, Oct and even the mighty 10 core CPU.
Throw in a couple of Video cards or one big 770 or 780.
Solid 850W PSU
Some SSD love
Throw in 8 SATA or SAS in RAID-10 for nice big scratch drive.

 

[BigWorm]

I have been doing some more research and I agree to forget the 1150 and go to 2011. Now the problem is deciding on a board. I would easily jump on the GA-X79S-UP5, but that has been discontinued. I can get the GA-X79-UP4 but that does not have SAS on board.

The other board I have been thinking about is the P9X79 WS. The Gigabyte is almost $200 cheaper though.

 

[Lost-Benji]

The GB board is still around, just need to look closer. The Asus board is actually older and I have used one for a client. Worked well once the BIOS was sorted (Asus are a big offender at overly bloated BIOS's and EFI's that are too touchy). System was built as a CAD WS but the client ended up playing game more than doing CAD.