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3D modeling and Rendering Build

K's_monster

K's_monster

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Hello Alex,

I am new to PC building but I started consuming all the info you have neatly laid out on the site and it has been very helpful. I am an engineering student at SJSU so the budget isn't to large but I am in dire need of an upgrade to my Surface Pro which can hardly run meshmixer.

With a budget of $1200 dollars

I'm looking to create a solid but simple rig that will handle some 3D modeling/rendering work on Maya and Mesh mixer as well as a good amount of modeling on Solidworks and potentially Fusion 360. I don't need this to be the best of the best considering my budget but hopefully have some upgradable components that will get me by for the next couple years until I can spend more on the components that matter. I also don't believe I will be taxing the computer to hard as I don't game or stream all to much its mostly for work and school.

Using your PC builder I found this build to match the simple specs I need.
My max budget is $1300 and I feel that I could spend a bit more to get a decent motherboard where as the rest of the components look great to me.
Any recommendation would be much appreciated!

CGDirector.com Parts List: https://www.cgdirector.com/pc-builder/?=6LFhB

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 3800X 3.9GHz 8-Core Processor ($339.99)
CPU Cooler: AMD Wraith Prism Cooler (Included with CPU) (-)
Motherboard: MSI B450 Tomahawk MAX ATX AM4 ($114.99)
GPU: Nvidia GTX 1660TI 6GB - Gigabyte Windforce ($279.99)
Memory: 32GB (2 x 16GB) Crucial Ballistix DDR4-3200 C16 ($109.99)
Storage PCIe-SSD: Crucial P1 1TB, M.2 Solid State Drive ($94.49)
Power Supply: Corsair CX Series CX450M 450W ATX 2.4 Power Supply ($69.99)
Case: Phanteks Enthoo Pro ATX Full Tower Case ($99.99)
Total: $1109.43
 
Jerry James

Jerry James

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I would change a couple of things with this build as we're still in the process of adding the newly-releasing Ryzen 5000 CPUs to our PC builder :) If you can wait a couple of weeks, I'd wait for benchmarks for professional applications to hit the web.

As it stands now, the build looks pretty balanced to me. Maybe needs a bit of a power supply bump to 550W for some future-proofing.
 
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K's_monster

K's_monster

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Hello Jerry,

Thank you for the advice I waited a couple days before ordering my CPU in the hopes that the prices would drop, they didnt but thats ok.

I ended up getting

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 3800X 3.9GHz 8-Core Processor
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-U12S SE-AM4
Motherboard : MSI X570 MPG Gaming Edge Wifi
GPU: Nvidia GTX 1660 6GB - Gigabyte Windforce
Memory: G.Skill 32GB (2x16GB) DDR4
Power Supply: EVGA 650 G3 Supernova
Case: Fractal Meshify C

I did however run into a couple problems
The first being the MOBO was out of date and i needed to Flash the BIOS to the newest version to get the board working with the new CPU.
This took a bit of time but it worked out in the end.

The last issue im facing is one i cant figure out.
I currently have a WD Blue M.2 2280 1TB for the memory, and I will install windows on this. However when I go to the BIOS I am unable to see the drive anywhere. I made sure to recheck the physical connection but i am unable to see the drive in the BIOS and i do not have another drive where i can install the OS on.

Any recommendation's would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you
 
Alex Glawion

Alex Glawion

CG Hardware Specialist @ CGDirector
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That's weird. Some things to check: Use the other M.2 port to see if that one works. Push the card in as far as it goes, might be a contact issue. See if you find some settings for M2 Bandwidth configuration, usually in Advanced\Onboard Devices Configuration and try different settgins here.

Hope this helps.
 
K's_monster

K's_monster

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Hello,
As a follow up, I found that the M.2 Drive from WD was an older 3 pin version that didn't seem to work with the board so I went to my local PC store to try out a WD Black 1TB NVME drive and it worked without any issue and I've been running my setup with little to no issue.

I feel a bit as though I've bottle necked my system by running a solid Ryzen 3700X and pairing it with a GeForce 1660. I am new to tuning and over clocking so I might be able to overclock it a bit to get a little more performance out of it but unsure where to start and if its worth the little extra i would get. I am not much of a gamer and I'm using it mostly to run large excel files and large files with Meshmixer and Solid Works.
any suggestions on good resources to learn the in's and out's of overclocking and tuning PC hardware to suit the needs of the user?

Thank you all for the help!
 
Alex Glawion

Alex Glawion

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Hello,
As a follow up, I found that the M.2 Drive from WD was an older 3 pin version that didn't seem to work with the board so I went to my local PC store to try out a WD Black 1TB NVME drive and it worked without any issue and I've been running my setup with little to no issue.

I feel a bit as though I've bottle necked my system by running a solid Ryzen 3700X and pairing it with a GeForce 1660. I am new to tuning and over clocking so I might be able to overclock it a bit to get a little more performance out of it but unsure where to start and if its worth the little extra i would get. I am not much of a gamer and I'm using it mostly to run large excel files and large files with Meshmixer and Solid Works.
any suggestions on good resources to learn the in's and out's of overclocking and tuning PC hardware to suit the needs of the user?

Thank you all for the help!
Oh that's good to know. Wonder why there is a 3-pin M.2 Drive available?

Head on over to the specialized Overclock Forum, as they will have much better info than what we can give you here, concerning this area: https://www.overclock.net/forums/
 
Jerry James

Jerry James

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I feel a bit as though I've bottle necked my system by running a solid Ryzen 3700X and pairing it with a GeForce 1660. I am new to tuning and over clocking so I might be able to overclock it a bit to get a little more performance out of it but unsure where to start and if its worth the little extra i would get. I am not much of a gamer and I'm using it mostly to run large excel files and large files with Meshmixer and Solid Works.
any suggestions on good resources to learn the in's and out's of overclocking and tuning PC hardware to suit the needs of the user?

Thank you all for the help!

Nah, not worth the trouble. Just make sure you have PBO enabled and that should get the most out of your processor. Same with the GPU, an OC won't really do much except increase system instability.

PS. You can find a few details in this forum thread as well - https://www.cgdirector.com/forum/threads/how-does-one-overclock.172/
 
Sass86oh

Sass86oh

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It was with a conflict the IRQ layout based what was installed or you might have your system come from the factory with its boot options set to raid or Intel rapid boost and if you found the area where it’s located in the BIOS changing the boot option to AHCI should have solved it. Or you just might have have had the pci lanes for the m.2 ports in the wrong configuration
 
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