Overclocked system for 3D rendering?

[shocksalot]

Hey im a student studying 3D animation and VFX, mostly use Maya / Zbrush / Nukex. Im looking for a new pc to support these rather demanding applications and to handle extreme render times.

My question is this: should i invest in an overclocked quad core system (i7 2600k) or a non overlocked 6 core system (i7 970)?

Budget of £1500 give or take a 100

The system needs to have a ton of RAM (either 16 or 24gb) and a cpu that can handle long render times (24 hours +)

Also im thinking a Nvidia GTX560 will be sufficent (as the CUDA cores help towards certain plugins)

Please share your thoughts.

 

[pcdan]

little tip you dont really need to go for an overclocked unless you want to plus with the hyperthreading in 2600 u get 8 cpus in that i7 2600 either way. i think the six cores has it to but not to sure. it also depends if u wanna spit out 400-600 on the six core when 2600 is just over 200. dont think maya takes advantage of cuda as what ive seen in another thrad but nukex does i think.
16gb should be enough unless you want the 24gb. 8 might even be fine if you dont want to do other stuff while your rendering.

the 2nd gen i7 are on near enough same performance on with the 1st gen 6 cores which ive seen someone say in another thread

 

[Rakk]

Remember if you plan to get 24GB of memory you will need Win7 Professional (or higher) rather than Home Premium to be able to use it all.

 

[Gorman]

With that much RAM i would give overclocking a very wide berth