PC build for: Cinema 4D Animation, Redshift Rendering & After Effects Post Production

[Ivan Lüthi]

Hi
I'm a Motion Designer from Switzerland and I started working more and more in the 3D-world for a while now. My old PC is acting very slow on my latest Projects and Jobs. So therefore I decided to jump into the rabbit hole of computer hardware to buy a new fast workstation.

My application user behaviour: I'm doing a lot of animation and simulation stuff in C4D, I'm rendering with Redshift only and I'm using After Effects very often.

I read a lot of reviews here and there (mostly on CG director) and this is my PC setup conclusion:

CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 5950X (3.40GHz / 64 MB) - boxed
Power supply: Be quiet! Dark Power Pro 12 - 1200W
Case: Fractal Design Define 7 XL - Black
MB: MSI MEG X570 Unify
GPU: Gigabyte GeForce RTX 2080 Ti Turbo - 11GB (I'll start with 1 GPU, I guess I'll buy a 2nd one later)
Storage: Samsung 970 EVO NVMe M.2 - 1TB
Storage: WD Black - 6TB
CPU Cooler: Be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 4
RAM: Corsair Vengeance LPX, DDR4, 64GB (4 x 16GB), 3600MHz - Black
System: WIndows 10
Monitor: asus 32" PA329Q 4k (already in use)

I've also tried the Costum PC-Builder Tool from CGD but I can't see why that generator is recommending me CPUs from the previous generation with slower single core performance, even if I'm going to raise the price level. This is slightly confusing. I'm also not sure about my GPU choice, maybe there is a better option, 3090X Turbo? 2 x 2070 Turbo?

Advices or suggestions for modification are very welcome.

Cheers
Ivan

 

[MStein]

Hi Ivan. I've just uploaded a similar thread yesterday (not sooo similar). May I ask why did you choose the rtx 2080 instead of trying to find a 30 series? I understand that these are superior in performance with lower prices. Of course there's the stock situation but it might be worth to wait.
Are you planning to do any cpu rendering? If the answer is "no" maybe you could go for a lower core count cpu, as long as you keep a reasonable single core performance (which mostly depends on single core clocking speed) and save a few bucks. I'm pretty sure that Redshift renders on GPU exclusively.
That being said, I'm just learning so feel free to correct me at any point!

Cheers

 

[Ivan Lüthi]

Hi
Thanks for your input! I'm always rendering with redshift so there's no cpu renderign intended. But I've choosen the Ryzen 5950X because of his High Clock, this should be very useful for all my simulation tasks (dynamics, hair, x-particles). The higher the clock level the better (as far as I know).
I thought I've read somewhere that only 1 x 3090 card can be used on a X570 motherboard, but as I'm reading again those articles now maybe I'm wrong and there is the possibility to use 2 of them to accelerate redshift rendertime. Damn, now I'm completely confused again :-D

How does your Build look like?

Ivan

 

[MStein]

Oh. I didn't know that simulations beneffit from multi core performance. Good to know as I'm aiming to learn simulations I'll keep that in mind for the future.
Regarding the gpu, for what I've read I think that, if you get to find one (stock issues everywhere) 30 series have a better per dolar performance and also a better performance overall in the case of 3080 (10gb vram) and 3090 (24gb vram) than 2080ti gpus.
No idea about the motherboard and a multi 3090 setup. Let's wait for the experts opinion on that matter.
What I do know is that everybody recommends blower style designs for multi gpu builds in order to avoid overheating, And there are no blower style 30 series yet on the market

Spoiler: Off topic: My build

You can find the thread in this same section but it's definitely much lower budget and, after reading what you wrote, aimed for relatively different tasks

 

[Ivan Lüthi]

Oh. I didn't know that simulations beneffit from multi core performance. Good to know as I'm aiming to learn simulations I'll keep that in mind for the future.
Regarding the gpu, for what I've read I think that, if you get to find one (stock issues everywhere) 30 series have a better per dolar performance and also a better performance overall in the case of 3080 (10gb vram) and 3090 (24gb vram) than 2080ti gpus.
No idea about the motherboard and a multi 3090 setup. Let's wait for the experts opinion on that matter.
What I do know is that everybody recommends blower style designs for multi gpu builds in order to avoid overheating, And there are no blower style 30 series yet on the market

Spoiler: Off topic: My build

You can find the thread in this same section but it's definitely much lower budget and, after reading what you wrote, aimed for relatively different tasks

Oh I'm sorry for the confusion. Simulations in C4D are always a single task process. That means only 1 core of the cpu is being used. But the cores of the 5950X are very fast regarding the single core performance. Check the Cinebench comparison for CPUs here: https://www.cgdirector.com/cinebench-r20-scores-updated-results/
On the other hand you're right about the fans, blower style is recommended when using multiple GPUs. I thought there would be no 3090 cards with blower cooler, but I've just seen now there are some on the market since december!

But maybe we both are just guessing around, lets wait for an experts opinion before blowing a lot of money out of the window

 

[Alex Glawion]

Hey Ivan,
The PC-Builder uses Items that are in stock at major retailers, so that will probably be the problem. A lot of 5xxx series CPUs and 3xxx series GPUs are either crazily price inflated or out of stock entirely.

You are correct though. You'll need a CPU with as much single core performance as possible for your workloads. Sim, AE, and GPU all benefit from fast CPU cores. 5950X is the top CPU in this regard currently.

Because Redshift has great out-of-core memory capabilities, it does not slow down as much when you scene does not fit into the VRAM. A 3080 should be the best option for you. I would stay away from any 2xxx series GPUs as their value is bad after 3xxx have been released. Of course you'll need to find them in stock and at msrp.

For multi GPU setups, blower style is recommended, especially when tightly stacked.

Great build apart from the GPU. I see no issues!

Cheers,
Alex

 

[Ivan Lüthi]

Hey Alex

Thanks for your advice!
OK, that makes sense. The PC-Builder Tool is a great idea anyway. How about adding some additional sliders?
CPU Rendering <-> GPU Rendering / Application usage showed in a spider chart / Number of graphic cards / Storage size / etc.
With a few options more this would help so many professionals with a lack of hardware knowledge. Like me ;-) I would definitly pay for that!

I have some last questions:

1. I assume that there should be no problem to add an additional 3090 turbo later to the MSI Meg X570 Unify, right?
And will the PSU be strong enough (1200W) for a 2nd 3090 GPU? I've tried the PSU calculator from bequiet.com and the result was the stronger one with 1500W, would you go with this one or is 1200W enough power?

2. I've seen in the forum that people are adding a case fan to their list. I have a CPU cooler on my list but no such "case fan" I guess I need that too? Or can I go without one?

Many thanks in advance!
Ivan

 

[Alex Glawion]

Thanks for the suggestions, we will look into them!

1. Yes the Unify can run a second GPU at x8 pcies bandwidths, which is enough for the 3090 when rendering. 1200W should be enough for Rendering workloads, though at times peak power draw can go above that. If you want to be on the safe side, a 1500-1600W PSU would relieve you of any worries.

2. The case already comes with 3 fans which is more than enough, especially if you have blower style gpus, as those blow air out the back of the case.

 

[Ronin]

Ivan Lüthi, Did you manage to build your PC? Did you go with your original list?

 

[Ivan Lüthi]

Ivan Lüthi, Did you manage to build your PC? Did you go with your original list?

Not yet. I feel very unsecure about pressing on that buy button. It's so much money, unfortunately the price for a 3090 went 25% up in my country. That stuff is so expensive!