new build for GPU rendering

[David Szieber]

I am going to be studying game art from this september and i saved up for a build to help with my studies and future carrier. the main focus would be GPU rendering with redshift, but i would also want to be working on the computer. The softwares i will be using are Maya, Zbrush, Substance, 3dsmax, and possibly Unity or Unreal. As i am starting out, i don't yet know what will be the final use case for me but i figured aiming for quicker render times would help out the most. Ohh and also of course occasional gaming.

The build i got from the pcbuilder tool was suggesting a Ryzen TR2920x with an Aorus x399 Pro, 3x 2070's and 64gb ram.
As this seems like a very strong and capable build, i am a bit concerned about the processor being outdated and i am afraid that soon it would become slow and it would cost me a fortune to replace it with a new one. Also another concern about this build is that i am not sure how it would perform in tasks like animation or a more compex effect simulation.

The other build i have in mind for a similar price range would be a Ryzen 9 3900x with a rog strix x570-e gaming board and a 2080 ti. This would be a much more versatile build i imagine, but render times would suffer opposed to the other one.

Let me know what you think i should do, or your thoughts about these builds. Also i am planning to wait until the new line of Gpu's/cpu's drop for the price of these ones to drop, or to choose one from there, but either way, the main dilemma here would be wether it is better to have multiple gpus with an older not so verrsatile cpu or a more balanced but single gpu build.

Thank you very much for taking the time and effort!
-David

 

[Alex Glawion]

Hey David,
The PC Builder suggest a 2nd gen TR and a bunch of GPUs mainly because you probably selected the specialized gpu rendering purpose. In this category the PC Builder tool will try to maximize the gpu render performance as much as possible.

If you'd like to get more of an allrounder build, then yes that maximization of gpu render performance might not be the best choice.

A 3900X can too drive 2 GPUs, so you could get 3900x + 2x 2080 for example. Or even 3 GPUS with the Asus WS Ace x570 Motherboard that supports more pcielanes.

That kinf od cpu in a workstation build would give you more active work performance / smoothness in your apps but would still allow you to have a bunch of gpus for great gpu rendering. Of course the high-end of this spectrum would be to get a 3rd gen Threadripper like the 3960X and 4 GPUs, but that costs a lot.