[SOLVED] Animation PC Build Suggestions

[mhawk12342]

Hey guys,

I'm trying to building a PC for some animation work but I don't really know what parts to look for. Some of the programs I will be using are Cinema 4D with x-ray particles, cycles4d and redshift, Zbrush, and After Effects. I'm looking for at least 32 gb of ram and the GPU needs to be Nvidia but the other parts I don't really know what to get. My budget is $2000.

 

[ArchitSahu]

Do you need peripherals, monitor etc? Are you going to be gaming?

Last I remember Adobe and all generally favoured Intel and Nvidia more, but I am pretty sure AMD is really good for the same tasks.

AMD:
PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 3950X 3.5 GHz 16-Core Processor ($737.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i PRO 75 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($139.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock X570 Phantom Gaming 4 ATX AM4 Motherboard ($143.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3600 Memory ($144.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial P1 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive ($109.99 @ B&H)
Storage: Toshiba X300 4 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($117.77 @ Newegg)
Video Card: MSI GeForce RTX 2070 8 GB TRI FROZR Video Card ($382.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Phanteks Eclipse P300A Mesh ATX Mid Tower Case ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: SeaSonic FOCUS 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($104.99 @ B&H)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit ($109.99 @ B&H)
Total: $2042.68
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-04-01 23:36 EDT-0400

$42 bucks over, but with a 1TB nvme SSD and a 4TB HDD for mass storage. A 16 core Ryzen processor and a RTX 2070 as well. 32 gigs of RAM at 3600 Mhz will help you. If you want to save some money, you can step the GPU down to a 2060 or pick 32 gig RAM kit at 3200 Mhz instead of 3600 Mhz like below (only changed the GPU in the following build to show you that costs can be cut):

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 3950X 3.5 GHz 16-Core Processor ($737.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i PRO 75 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($139.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock X570 Phantom Gaming 4 ATX AM4 Motherboard ($143.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3600 Memory ($144.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial P1 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive ($109.99 @ B&H)
Storage: Toshiba X300 4 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($117.77 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce RTX 2060 6 GB WINDFORCE OC Video Card ($339.99 @ B&H)
Case: Phanteks Eclipse P300A Mesh ATX Mid Tower Case ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: SeaSonic FOCUS 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($104.99 @ B&H)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit ($109.99 @ B&H)
Total: $1999.68
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-04-01 23:38 EDT-0400


Intel:
PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel Core i9-10940X 3.3 GHz 14-Core Processor ($799.99 @ Best Buy)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i PRO 75 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($139.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock X299 Extreme4 ATX LGA2066 Motherboard ($199.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3600 Memory ($144.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial P1 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive ($109.99 @ B&H)
Storage: Toshiba X300 4 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($117.77 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Asus GeForce RTX 2060 6 GB TUF OC Video Card ($299.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Phanteks Eclipse P300A Mesh ATX Mid Tower Case ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: SeaSonic FOCUS 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($104.99 @ B&H)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit ($109.99 @ B&H)
Total: $2077.68
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-04-01 23:41 EDT-0400

A 14 core processor from Intel (so 2 cores less than the AMD R9 3950x). Because of the higher prices of Intel Motherboards, I had to step the 2060 down to a cheaper model but it still is $77 bucks over. You can save more money by changing the GPU to a 1660Ti or a 1660 Super if you are sure you won't use the 2060 as much.

If you want a comparable intel build to the Ryzen build, the next biggest Intel processor is their 18 core variant, but that is much more expensive, as seen below:
PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel Core i9-10980XE 3 GHz 18-Core Processor ($999.99 @ Best Buy)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i PRO 75 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($139.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock X299 Extreme4 ATX LGA2066 Motherboard ($199.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3600 Memory ($144.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial P1 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive ($109.99 @ B&H)
Storage: Toshiba X300 4 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($117.77 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Asus GeForce RTX 2060 6 GB TUF OC Video Card ($299.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Phanteks Eclipse P300A Mesh ATX Mid Tower Case ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: SeaSonic FOCUS 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($104.99 @ B&H)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit ($109.99 @ B&H)
Total: $2277.68
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-04-01 23:44 EDT-0400


You should know that the X299 motherboards might need a BIOS update before putting in the Intel 10 series so keep that in mind. You can save more money by stepping it down to a i9 9th gen series and using a Z390 mobo instead.


Another idea might be to pick up a Threadripper CPU, and there can be two versions of this: taking a generation older CPU or the 3rd gen variant. Taking a 3rd gen variant is much more expensive.

2nd GenPCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Threadripper 2950X 3.5 GHz 16-Core Processor ($610.13 @ B&H)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Wraith Ripper 76.4 CFM CPU Cooler ($119.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Gigabyte X399 AORUS PRO ATX sTR4 Motherboard ($279.99 @ B&H)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3600 Memory ($144.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial P1 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive ($109.99 @ B&H)
Storage: Toshiba X300 4 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($117.77 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Asus GeForce RTX 2060 6 GB TUF OC Video Card ($299.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Phanteks Eclipse P300A Mesh ATX Mid Tower Case ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: SeaSonic FOCUS 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($104.99 @ B&H)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit ($109.99 @ B&H)
Total: $1947.82
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-04-01 23:51 EDT-0400

A 16 core processor (so same number as the AMD build at the top). Rest of the system is the same. You can swap out the 2060 for a 2070 if you want, but you will go $27 over like here. If you have a higher budget, you can swap out the CPU for this 24 core threadripper.

I have added a Windows OS copy to each build, so if you want, you can remove it and use Windows unactivated till you have enough money to buy a validation key. But for a $2k build, you might as well add in a Windows copy now itself instead of later.

 

[IDProG]

Try this one.

PCPartPicker Part List

Type|Item|Price
:----|:----|:----
CPU | AMD Ryzen 9 3950X 3.5 GHz 16-Core Processor | $737.99 @ Newegg
CPU Cooler | be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 4 50.5 CFM CPU Cooler | $86.46 @ B&H
Motherboard | Asus TUF GAMING X570-PLUS (WI-FI) ATX AM4 Motherboard | $189.99 @ Newegg
Memory | G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory | $139.99 @ Newegg
Storage | Samsung 970 Evo 500 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive | $99.99 @ B&H
Storage | Toshiba X300 4 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive | $117.77 @ Newegg
Video Card | EVGA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER 8 GB SC BLACK GAMING Video Card | $363.98 @ Newegg
Case | Fractal Design Meshify C ATX Mid Tower Case | $99.98 @ Newegg
Power Supply | EVGA SuperNOVA G1+ 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply | $108.97 @ Newegg
| Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts |
| Total (before mail-in rebates) | $1985.12
| Mail-in rebates | -$40.00
| Total | $1945.12
| Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-04-01 23:51 EDT-0400 |

NOTE: The build does not include Monitors, Peripherals, and OS. You can ask me to modify it if you need to have them in the budget.

This build is more than capable of animating at even 8K resolution with a 16 Core CPU and RTX 2060 Super.