A good build for professional rendering?

Nov 18, 2018
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Hey everyone

I'm trying to build a PC for work, but I'm pretty new at this. A guy in the office does renders for us (I'm an architect), and he told me he needs a monster of a machine. I'm trying to figure out the best possible build for my money.

Here's what he suggested:

1. CPU:: Threadripper 2950X
2. Cooler:: Corsair H115
3. Mother Board:: ASUS PRIME X399-A
4. RAM:: 32GB DDR4 2666MHz Kingston or Adata Flame (16X2)
5. HDD:: Seagate Barracuda Sata 6 GB/s 1TB
6. SSD:: Kingston Sata 3 A400 240GB
7. GPU:: RTX 2080 8gb
8. PSU:: Corsair 850w 80+ Bronze
9. Case:: Eagle Mirror Plus

Now, I'm thinking I definitely would change the PSU for a Seasonic Focus Plus 850W 80+ Gold. And maybe the machine would benefit greatly if we got an m.2 SSD (the SAMSUNG 970 PRO M.2 2280, for example?). But I'm not sure.

Also, is everything compatible? I heard the Corsair H115 might need some kind of adapter to fit into that Mobo, and I don't know if the case's big enough. Also, wouldn't a 2666MHz RAM (instead of a 3200MHz) bottleneck the whole thing? We need this to generate renders as quickly as possible.

Looking for any suggestions and advice. Thank you very much!
 


This is the build I would recommend.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Threadripper 2950X 3.5 GHz 16-Core Processor ($865.49 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Corsair - H115i PRO 55.4 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($139.69 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: ASRock - X399 Taichi ATX TR4 Motherboard ($269.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill - Trident Z 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($269.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung - 860 Evo 500 GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive ($97.89 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Seagate - BarraCuda Pro 6 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($219.99 @ Adorama)
Storage: Seagate - BarraCuda Pro 6 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($219.99 @ Adorama)
Video Card: PNY - Quadro P4000 8 GB Video Card ($749.99 @ B&H)
Power Supply: SeaSonic - FOCUS Plus Gold 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($93.62 @ B&H)
Operating System: Microsoft - Windows 10 Pro OEM 64-bit ($124.79 @ OutletPC)
Wireless Network Adapter: Asus - PCE-AC51 PCI-Express x1 802.11a/b/g/n/ac Wi-Fi Adapter ($29.89 @ OutletPC)
Total: $3081.32
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-11-19 04:45 EST-0500

The case you picked doesn't seem to support EATX form factors from what I could sum up from its website in Spanish or Portuguese - I couldn't tell. So I changed it to a ATX form factor.

I recommended 3200Mhz of RAM as Ryzen CPUs greatly rely on RAM for performance and as of now, 3200Mhz is the optimal choice.

As for the GPU, if you're an architect, I would much rather recommend a Quadro P4000 instead of an RTX. I imagine that you will be using 3D software such as CAD or AutoDesk. I understand as an architect you will need the measurements to be precise to the millimeter. GTX cards and other gaming-oriented GPUs lack a precision driver, which can only be found in Quadro and Titan cards, which will allow your work to benefit from precise measurements as well as crystal clear lines when working on models. Even the 2080Ti will often show blurred lines when working on 3D software as they lack this precision driver.

As for M.2 you will greatly benefit from its speeds. Not only Windows will boot in 10 seconds instead of 2-3 minutes, all your software will work more seamlessly. At the very least you can opt for a standard SSD and not an M.2 SSD. And with enough space to install all the required software on it.

Let me know what you think of this build.
 
Nov 18, 2018
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Thank you, that's a great answer!

One thing though, you didn't list your recommended case. However, I do believe the Eagle Warrior supports ATX; the thing is I'm not so sure it will allow me to install liquid cooling.
 


Yes, the case supports ATX boards, but the ASUS PRIME X399-A is an EATX, which is large than an ATX board. As for your 280 rad, I couldn't find info about the case online, I would suggest you try and find some Youtube videos of people using it and checking whether they are using 280 rads or not. You can find the dimension of the Corsair H115 here:
https://www.corsair.com/us/en/Categories/Products/Liquid-Cooling/Dual-Radiator-Liquid-Coolers/Hydro-Series%E2%84%A2-H115i-280mm-Extreme-Performance-Liquid-CPU-Cooler/p/CW-9060027-WW
 

spikeysonic

Prominent
Jul 23, 2018
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Looking for similar... and in the I9-9900x or AMD 1950x argument, the I( route has a montherboard the Asus Sage which has 7 pci slots but the I 9 has 44 as opposed to the Threadripper 64. What advantages do the I9s have?... Everyone Ive seen says go for the Quadro 4000 however they are brinign in a new RTX quadro 4000 so it could be an idea to wait a bit, either that should be a lot better or it may force down your PBY 4000 quadro price. Also whats the difference between nvida and PNY quadros... you sould try PCspecialist.co.uk whihc has a very to easy to use configuration in their amd thread ripper and custom workstation areas and so far seem cheapest... though I am still looking around and wonderign about black firday etc.

Like you looking for a worksation, I9-9900 i hear is better for single threat AMD better for mutil thread, whihc does your software need?
 
I imagine the RTX won't come cheap. Plus in my experience, it's not always a good idea to buy the first generation of a new product as it's often premature.

The good thing with Intel CPUs is that usually their single core speed is better than their AMD counterpart. Usually most programs use single core and since this is better on Intel, it's usually faster. But most of the time, it's not faster by much, at this point the CPUs are so good that it won't make much of a difference. Where it does though is the rendering times. This is why I would recommend AMD. Also because developpers are trying to improve multi-threaded performance as this is the future for all CPUs. All CPUs will have more and more cores in the future so the programs are trying to keep up.
 

spikeysonic

Prominent
Jul 23, 2018
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Thanks julian... was wonderign about the how much better is I9... partly as with the AMD I could afford a PNY 4000 quadro rather than the PNY 2000 plus double the 16 mb ram to 32... (would gettign ram speed higher than 2666 help?) so wonderign would that make up for any Intel single core advantage? and is it just a speed thing or could amd have any other issues or I9 advantages othet than speed. Someone said AMD run much hotter

 
Nov 18, 2018
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Gotcha. I actually did some research and found another case that meets our requirements, the Phanteks Enthoo Pro Full Tower. It does get far more expensive, but then most EATX cases do.
 
Nov 18, 2018
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Also, my renderist will be using softwares for real-time renders. Specifically, he'll mostly use Lumion and Corona. As far as I can tell, those programs benefit much more from an RTX than from a Quadro, am I correct? At least they claim so in their page. That's the main reason we're leaning towards the 2080.
 
Here is the list:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Threadripper 1950X 3.4 GHz 16-Core Processor ($449.99 @ Newegg Business)
CPU Cooler: Corsair - H115i PRO 55.4 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($99.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock - X399 Taichi ATX TR4 Motherboard ($239.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws V Series 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($226.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung - 970 Evo 500 GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive ($116.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Seagate - Barracuda 3 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($84.89 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: PNY - Quadro P5000 16 GB Video Card ($1700.00 @ Amazon)
Case: Phanteks - Enthoo Pro ATX Full Tower Case ($99.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Corsair - RMx 1000 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($99.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $3118.82
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-11-23 03:50 EST-0500

There is minimal performance gain going from 1950X to 2950X even with OC while the price difference is huge. Included Quadro P5000 which is extremely good in performance. Perfect build for around your budget. Also included NVMe SSD for faster read and write speeds which will effect your file transfer and read times greatly(specially when working with large files).