PC build for Cinema 4d – choice of AM5 MoBo and CPU – USB4 benefits?

[Aspirantas]

Hi all,

I'm coming from a Mac background and have started reading into the "PC-tech" side of things for a while now. Still have a few open questions, which I hope you'll have the patience to explain to me.

I'd describe myself as an enthusiast Cinema 4d user. Love the software and occasionally (not full-time) use it for freelance work. Mainly 4-6k stills (print ads / Photoshop compositing) using a GPU render engine. Hardly any animations (for now), but who knows...
I read through your excellent guide for building a Cinema4d-PC, the only thing I'll probably do differently is to go for AM5 instead of AM4 as a certain amount of upgradeability over the next few years is important to me. I don't mind buying used, for example a second GPU at some point.
As a freekance long-term "bang for the buck" is important to me and ideally, this build will serve me many years.

It's my first PC build, and for sentimental reasons I will use my old G5 Mac case as a chassis. (I have access to a laser cutter, which will help convert the G5 case to ATX mounting points).

For setup/parts, this is what I've got in mind:

• X670E Motherboard (maybe the Asus ProArt Creator – open to advice though)
• AMD Ryzen 7 7700X or AMD Ryzen 9 7900X
• Nvidia 3060ti (I already own this / use it under Bootcamp Windows via eGPU on my 2018 MacMini)
• 2x16 gb Corsair Vengeance DDR5 6400MHz CL32
• 2tb Samsung 970 or 980 SSD (Windows System, C4d libraries, work files etc... the "main hard drive");
• 4tb SATA SSD (slower/cheaper) for storing old project files, which I still need access to (once a week or so)
• 1tb NVMe SSD (Linux install... never used Linux but would like to see/learn. Since I have a spare M.2 slot: why not
• 1200w Power Supply (overkill for now, but can handle overclocking CPU and up to Nvidia 3090ti)

The two things I'm not entirely certain about are the motherboard and processor. (And maybe get a lower wattage power supply... they're not that expensive to upgrade later. Second GPU if I ever get one might need something even stronger, so better wait?).
I appreciate this build doesn't make much use of PCI 5.0 for now. But again: I'm looking at 5-6 years from now / don't want to do another build anytime soon.

Questions:

1. Is it worth going for a X670E board, or would a B650E also be an option?
2. Looking at Cinema 4d viewport work: AMD Ryzen 7 7700X or AMD Ryzen 9 7900X?
   (Are the new C4d versions still "single core hungry", or has Maxon started to support Multicore for viewport? I remember reading something about this a while ago...)
3. The Asus ProArt X670E Creator has 2 TB ports – wondering what to use them for / if they're worth it. Then again, the cheaper ASRock X670E PG Lightning apparently isn't that great. Any other options?
   Since I already own an Akitio Node eGPU enclosure (Thunderbolt 3): can I make use of the Asus' TB port? Maybe add an old Nvidia 1080 or 2080 whenever I need more render power? Or would TB3 be too much of a bottleneck?
4. TB port again: Apparently this can be used to create network connections. Would this work between PC and Mac, too?

Many thanks for you help / ideas / input on this!

 

[Aspirantas]

One other question:
Are the non-X CPU versions (Ryzen 7700 and Ryzen 7900) worth considering?
According to some reviews, they're using considerably less power whilst running not much slower than their X counterparts.
(Not sure if this is the case for single-core though – 3.7 GHz vs 4.7 GHz on the 7900(X) is about 20%)

 

[Jerry James]

Is it worth going for a X670E board, or would a B650E also be an option?

Depends on what you need from your board. This might help narrow it down - https://www.cgdirector.com/best-am5-motherboards/

Are the new C4d versions still "single core hungry"

Yes, still very much so. Viewports, being extremely real-time-calculation-based, aren’t the ideal application for multiple cores. But you wouldn’t notice any discernible difference with any modern CPU unless you work with very complex, large scenes.

Or would TB3 be too much of a bottleneck?

For rendering, yes it would be a bottleneck compared to PCIe. But how much of a bottleneck depends on the nature of your work and scene sizes, etc.
You could just directly add your older GPUs to your motherboard in the new system?

Apparently this can be used to create network connections.

Yep. You can get Thunderbolt hubs with
network interfaces. But most modern boards will already have fast (2.5G or higher) interfaces so not too sure how you’d leverage it.

Are the non-X CPU versions (Ryzen 7700 and Ryzen 7900) worth considering?

Definitely. Completely up to you and your work as it boils down to budget etc.

 

[Aspirantas]

Many thanks for your answers, much appreciated!