9k budget to make the best workstation for 3ds/vray for still renderings - ADVICES

[Mat]

Hello everybody, I'm a Mac user that used to work with c4d. Now I've decided to switch to a PC and to start using 3ds and vray.
My core business is still renderings in the architecture world, and I'm a bit confused if I should concentrate my budget over CPU, GPU or both.

Any help here? have fun suggesting what would you do with this budget

 

[Ronin]

Why the confusion? If you use GPU rendering then GPU, if you use CPU rendering then CPU
Less than 9k (pre-inflated Corona prices) will get you the best of both worlds though. Unless you want to go Threadripper direction.

For mainstream, get AMD AM4 socket then get 5950X and 2-3 RTX3090s (depending on MOBO).

What I would get-

MOBO- Asus X570 Dark Hero- $500
CPU- Ryzen 5950X- $900
GPU- 2 x RTX 3090 = $3000 (normal price)
RAM- G.Skill Ripjaws, DDR4-3600, DIMM 288 = $500/$900 for 64GB/128GB
PSU- Corsair AX1600i, 1600W or Dark Power Pro 12,1500W- $500
CASE- Fractal Meshify 2XL - $200
CPU cooler- Noctua NH-D15 Chromax - $100
_______________________________________________________________

Total- $6100, with current situation the 2 GPUs cost will take you to 9-12k lol

Good luck

 

[Jerry James]

Hello everybody, I'm a Mac user that used to work with c4d. Now I've decided to switch to a PC and to start using 3ds and vray.
My core business is still renderings in the architecture world, and I'm a bit confused if I should concentrate my budget over CPU, GPU or both.

Any help here? have fun suggesting what would you do with this budget

As @Ronin said, with a 9K budget, you're free to not compromise on anything. The only change I would make to his suggestions would be the motherboard. Grab the ASUS Pro WS X570-ACE motherboard and you're good to go. Everything else is spot on.

PS. Add another fan to that Noctua NH-D15 for a push-pull configuration to get better airflow (if there's enough space remaining; it's a huge heatsink). A 360mm AIO is another option you can look into.

 

[Mat]

As @Ronin said, with a 9K budget, you're free to not compromise on anything. The only change I would make to his suggestions would be the motherboard. Grab the ASUS Pro WS X570-ACE motherboard and you're good to go. Everything else is spot on.

PS. Add another fan to that Noctua NH-D15 for a push-pull configuration to get better airflow (if there's enough space remaining; it's a huge heatsink). A 360mm AIO is another option you can look into.

Thank you @Ronin and thank you @Jerry James.

I was actually more into CPU and investing into a threadripper 3990x. What would be a fair GPU to pair, that would allow me to eventually try GPU Rendering in the meantime?

the reason why I'm asking is because I never tried rendering with GPU, I'm curious about it but I don't really know differences and benefits.

Thanks a lot!

 

[Ronin]

As @Ronin said, with a 9K budget, you're free to not compromise on anything. The only change I would make to his suggestions would be the motherboard. Grab the ASUS Pro WS X570-ACE motherboard and you're good to go. Everything else is spot on.

PS. Add another fan to that Noctua NH-D15 for a push-pull configuration to get better airflow (if there's enough space remaining; it's a huge heatsink). A 360mm AIO is another option you can look into.

Apparently the second fan only makes 1 to 2°C difference, but on my current old PC with the same Noctua, I use 2 fans too. Psychologically for me 2 is always better than 1 On my new WIP PC I have new Noctua on order but the second fan I will take from my "to be decommissioned"old PC.

Regarding the MOBO, I went with Asus Dark Hero instead of ASUS Pro WS X570-ACE because, I realized that I won't be able to get 3 GPUs and most likely will end up with just 1 RTX3090/3080 or max 2 (one day). Plus it was not 5xxx series ready out of the box, and it needs Bios flashing, I was nervous about flashing without a CPU in the socket ;-)

What truly attracted me to Dark Hero was the easy dynamic OC switcher on ALL cores, exclusively to this MOBO. Capacitors etc are of the highest quality too and power stages rated for 90A.

 

[Ronin]

Thank you @Ronin and thank you @Jerry James.

I was actually more into CPU and investing into a threadripper 3990x. What would be a fair GPU to pair, that would allow me to eventually try GPU Rendering in the meantime?

the reason why I'm asking is because I never tried rendering with GPU, I'm curious about it but I don't really know differences and benefits.

Thanks a lot!

The 3990x is an older gen, 5950x from my understanding is much faster on per core basis but as 3990x has many more cores, it wins on that basis. The new gen of Threadripper are not released yet.

GPU rendering is normally a lot faster, assuming your GPU has enough RAM to hold the scene and if your renderer supports GPU rendering.
GPU render engine don't support everything CPU engines do.