[SOLVED] Need help in assessing this setup - ~2K USD budget.

[koti74]

I need to upgrade my 7 year old PC to be able to work comfortably with 4K/60 in Adobe Premiere, large files in Photoshop, throw 4K content onto my TV and most importantly I need this system to be as quiet as possible. I don't care about overclocking or RGB, this system will most likely not see a single game running on it (I will be getting a PS5 when it comes out)

After a few days of research I came out with the following setup, please let me know if you see anything which might cause an issue or could be tweeked/enhanced without spending more money:

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/HKyMNq

 

[Burke_a_lot]

Everything you have selected will work but I have a few questions.

Are you against running a AIO water cooler?
I reckon a H55 with a single low db fan would be better.

Also reason for duel M.2 storage?
2 Ironwolf 3.5's would be better for integrity and cheaper.

Large SSD reason?
A small SSD just for OS or a small M.2 would suffice.

And any funds saved above I would strongly stay clear of G.Skill memory. I have rebuilt 3 systems this year, for clients, with G.Skill memory failure. But that's just my experience.

 

[Flayed]

I would swap the 2400Mhz ram for 3200Mhz ram and the cooler for Noctua d15

 

[koti74]

Everything you have selected will work but I have a few questions.

Are you against running a AIO water cooler?
I reckon a H55 with a single low db fan would be better.

Also reason for duel M.2 storage?
2 Ironwolf 3.5's would be better for integrity and cheaper.

Large SSD reason?
A small SSD just for OS or a small M.2 would suffice.

And any funds saved above I would strongly stay clear of G.Skill memory. I have rebuilt 3 systems this year, for clients, with G.Skill memory failure. But that's just my experience.

I have absolutely no experience with water cooling, I just read/watched some reviews and that Dark Rock 4 Pro along with the Noctua D15 seem to be the best air choice. Frankly, I'm a bit worried to go AiO cooling but thats probably just my ignorance as I have zero experience with this. The H55 is which brand ?
I need dual M.2 storage for a simple reason - separate super fast drive for Adobe Premiere cache. The 2Tb SSD is there because I've had enough of the sound and poor speed of a mechanical drive, I want as little lag as possible (just a fad) Which memory would you recommend? This is where I'm lagging knowledge too, I have no idea what would work best with the R9 3900X and that Tomahawk MoBo?

 

[koti74]

I would swap the 2400Mhz ram for 3200Mhz ram and the cooler for Noctua d15

Yes, I'm considering the Noctua D15 as well, initially I had that one in the setup but switched to the Dark Rock Pro 4 after seeing some youtube comparison. Which RAM would you recommend ?

 

[USAFRet]

Also reason for duel M.2 storage?
2 Ironwolf 3.5's would be better for integrity and cheaper.

Large SSD reason?
A small SSD just for OS or a small M.2 would suffice.

Given a rational budget, there is little reason to not go SSD only.
Many systems are like that, mine included.

Now...one may quibble about 2x 970 EVO Plus, instead of 1x and a less expensive Intel 660p or similar.
But all solid state can be a very good idea.

Save spinning drives for LARGE needs, like the NAS box and backups.

 

[Flayed]

Yes, I'm considering the Noctua D15 as well, initially I had that one in the setup but switched to the Dark Rock Pro 4 after seeing some youtube comparison. Which RAM would you recommend ?

Heh well contrary to the previous poster I would buy G Skill ram

 

[Burke_a_lot]

I have absolutely no experience with water cooling, I just read/watched some reviews and that Dark Rock 4 Pro along with the Noctua D15 seem to be the best air choice. Frankly, I'm a bit worried to go AiO cooling but thats probably just my ignorance as I have zero experience with this. The H55 is which brand ?
I need dual M.2 storage for a simple reason - separate super fast drive for Adobe Premiere cache. The 2Tb SSD is there because I've had enough of the sound and poor speed of a mechanical drive, I want as little lag as possible (just a fad) Which memory would you recommend? This is where I'm lagging knowledge too, I have no idea what would work best with the R9 3900X and that Tomahawk MoBo?

Fair enough. Your build is very unique (from what I normally work with)
The H55 is a entry Corsair AIO liquid cooler. But your air cooler is more than enough. See how is goes. Most coolers you can change the fans out so don't be afraid to intstall a low db fan or reduce fan rpm (if it's not running hot)
CMK32GX4M2L3200C16 would be my pick for memory.

Everything looks good regardless. Good luck with the build!

 

[koti74]

Unique in this context doesn't sound too well, its probably because I don't know what I'm doing. I did a lot of overclocking on a Riva TNT and a Celeron CPU (using a Peltier module) but that was in the late 1990's 😉
I added the "CMK32GX4M2L3200C16" to my setup alongside "F4-3200C16D-32GVK" as I can't yet decide, need to do more research.

 

[Deleted member 14196]

It looks good mate

 

[koti74]

Thank you all for your input, I've modified the initial list acording to your recommendations. Looks like I'm getting closer to finaly configuring my perfect setup.

 

[Deleted member 14196]

I would get the 3950 X

 

[koti74]

I would get the 3950 X

From whatI’ve seen in the benchmarks, the perfomance increase between 3900x vs 3950x in Adobe Premiere is miniscule compared to the price difference. Maybe games can take advantage of the 4 extra cores but I wont be playing at all.

 

[Flayed]

I don't think there are any games that utilise 12 cores never mind 16. The hardware comes first I guess.

 

[King Dranzer]

I highly recommend holding off the purchase till new hardware is out. Few months away, it will be worth the wait. Specially if spending that high.

 

[King Dranzer]

But if you are in a hurry and want it now. Intel will be better for Photoshop. Go for Ryzen if you will also be doing Video editing.

 

[koti74]

I highly recommend holding off the purchase till new hardware is out. Few months away, it will be worth the wait. Specially if spending that high.

That is my plan exactly, I will wait until October/November. I will be doing a lot of video editing (Adobe Premiere)

 

[cryoburner]

I need dual M.2 storage for a simple reason - separate super fast drive for Adobe Premiere cache.

Now...one may quibble about 2x 970 EVO Plus, instead of 1x and a less expensive Intel 660p or similar.

While I don't know of the exact needs of a Premiere cache drive, I'm not sure a 660p would be an ideal option for that. For most typical usage scenarios a 660p can work well, but it can run into some limitations that can potentially affect performance in write-heavy scenarios.

The drive utilizes QLC flash memory, which is rather slow to write to, but treats a portion of that memory as a fast SLC cache, which under most typical usage scenarios works well, acting as a fast-performing buffer that holds the written data until it can be rewritten to its final location elsewhere on the drive. The size of the cache area depends on how much free space the drive has though. When less than a quarter full, the 2TB model apparently uses 280GB for the fast cache, but that works its way down to around 152GB when half full, 50GB when two-thirds full, and just 24GB when over three-quarters full. There's a graph on this page depicting that...

https://www.anandtech.com/show/13078/the-intel-ssd-660p-ssd-review-qlc-nand-arrives

So, if a program like Premiere were to write more than the cache could hold within a relatively short period, you might see the drive's write performance slow down to the native write speed of its QLC memory, which is more like the performance of a slow platter-based hard drive, until it has a chance recover and clear part of the cache again.

Write endurance could potentially be a concern too, if you happened to be writing hundreds of GB to the drive every single day, though the large capacity of the 2TB model of the 660p allows for a fairly reasonable 400TBW of endurance.

 

[King Dranzer]

That is my plan exactly, I will wait until October/November. I will be doing a lot of video editing (Adobe Premiere)

Then Ryzen 4000 will most probably be out by then.

 

[USAFRet]

While I don't know of the exact needs of a Premiere cache drive, I'm not sure a 660p would be an ideal option for that. For most typical usage scenarios a 660p can work well, but it can run into some limitations that can potentially affect performance in write-heavy scenarios.

The drive utilizes QLC flash memory, which is rather slow to write to, but treats a portion of that memory as a fast SLC cache, which under most typical usage scenarios works well, acting as a fast-performing buffer that holds the written data until it can be rewritten to its final location elsewhere on the drive. The size of the cache area depends on how much free space the drive has though. When less than a quarter full, the 2TB model apparently uses 280GB for the fast cache, but that works its way down to around 152GB when half full, 50GB when two-thirds full, and just 24GB when over three-quarters full. There's a graph on this page depicting that...

https://www.anandtech.com/show/13078/the-intel-ssd-660p-ssd-review-qlc-nand-arrives

So, if a program like Premiere were to write more than the cache could hold within a relatively short period, you might see the drive's write performance slow down to the native write speed of its QLC memory, which is more like the performance of a slow platter-based hard drive, until it has a chance recover and clear part of the cache again.

Write endurance could potentially be a concern too, if you happened to be writing hundreds of GB to the drive every single day, though the large capacity of the 2TB model of the 660p allows for a fairly reasonable 400TBW of endurance.

The Premier cache doesn't work like that.
It is for "helper files" and a database.
It does NOT write the whole project back and forth to that space.
https://helpx.adobe.com/premiere-pro/kb/clear-cache.html

The 660p will be just fine.

 

[Flayed]

I was looking at a WD Blue SN550 for a relatively inexpensive NVME drive. Might be worth considering over a 660p

 

[koti74]

While I don't know of the exact needs of a Premiere cache drive, I'm not sure a 660p would be an ideal option for that. For most typical usage scenarios a 660p can work well, but it can run into some limitations that can potentially affect performance in write-heavy scenarios.

The drive utilizes QLC flash memory, which is rather slow to write to, but treats a portion of that memory as a fast SLC cache, which under most typical usage scenarios works well, acting as a fast-performing buffer that holds the written data until it can be rewritten to its final location elsewhere on the drive. The size of the cache area depends on how much free space the drive has though. When less than a quarter full, the 2TB model apparently uses 280GB for the fast cache, but that works its way down to around 152GB when half full, 50GB when two-thirds full, and just 24GB when over three-quarters full. There's a graph on this page depicting that...

https://www.anandtech.com/show/13078/the-intel-ssd-660p-ssd-review-qlc-nand-arrives

So, if a program like Premiere were to write more than the cache could hold within a relatively short period, you might see the drive's write performance slow down to the native write speed of its QLC memory, which is more like the performance of a slow platter-based hard drive, until it has a chance recover and clear part of the cache again.

Write endurance could potentially be a concern too, if you happened to be writing hundreds of GB to the drive every single day, though the large capacity of the 2TB model of the 660p allows for a fairly reasonable 400TBW of endurance.

Thank you for posting this, it was an interesting read.

The Premier cache doesn't work like that.
It is for "helper files" and a database.
It does NOT write the whole project back and forth to that space.
https://helpx.adobe.com/premiere-pro/kb/clear-cache.html

The 660p will be just fine.

I'm equaly sure that the Intel 660p will be perfectly enough for my use of Adobe Premiere as I'm sure that I will be getting a Samsung 970 Evo instead. I'm changing PC's every several years so I might as well get the very best drives, when looking at those sweet Samsung 970 Evo specs I just can't say no to it, I might be having a thing for those NVME M.2 drives, I come from a world long time ago when I had to park my 20MB HDD before turning it off.