Also be careful of the lower-spec Xeon's as once you get down into the 6-core processors, you will find that an overclocked Core i7 4930K is actually more powerful (this is what I run) For maximum upgrade-ability you might consider a self build (as I have), however the reality I have found is that most of the time when you upgrade a processor, you frequently need to upgrade the motherboard as well, and also the RAM, and the cooler, etc - in other words, upgrade-ability should not be your first priority in choosing your system. Buy what works for you now. Forgot to say - if you're in the US, consider Boxx. I would build your own vs buying one.
/ / CPU: (£410.99 @ Aria PC) CPU Cooler: (£114.72 @ Scan.co.uk) Motherboard: (£186.72 @ Amazon UK) Memory: (£123.50 @ Amazon UK) Storage: (£85.03 @ Scan.co.uk) Storage: (£71.99 @ Aria PC) Video Card: (£772.02 @ Dabs) Case: (£62.90 @ Amazon UK) Power Supply: (£59.35 @ Amazon UK) Optical Drive: (£10.78 @ Scan.co.uk) Operating System: (£103.82 @ CCL Computers) Total: £2001.82 (Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.) (Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-03-12 13:32 GMT+0000). I would build your own vs buying one.
Thanks for the quick responses whyso, and snowcrtl. I'm in the UK started to look at these specs for DELL before the post I'll check out those brands now thou. And also this I7 version here but on second thought I'm not sure again does overclocking mean unresticting the limits of the spec not sure of that term. ~ck=dellSearch&isredir=true whyso - we generally model in google sketchup and render in vray but other programs may be in use in the office in the future. But generally it's just rendering time that will be an issue as we are always making alterations to our models ready for presenting close to the deadline. Why ddr3 2400?
Intel generally doesn't get much of a boost from anything past 1600. Also that ram doesn't meet the voltage requirements of the CPU. HDD in general have been hit and miss for awhile, regardless of size.