Please crit my 3D-and-some-2D workstation build.

[Kimon]

I’m building a mid-to-upper tier 3D / 2D workstation.

Although I’m primarily a Maya character rigger, I’m interested in doing more personal content production.

I want to be doing:
Modeling / anim / shading / GPU rendering in Maya & Redshift
Texturing in Substance Painter
Comping and more ‘design’-y 2D work in After Effects.

Below is what the wonderful CGD builder spat out when I gave it the "GPU rendering" option:

My immediate reaction was:

• Might be a little too GPU-heavy / CPU-light for After Effects, which is largely blind to the GPU.
• Some stuff I’ve read online seems to suggest that a single 2080Ti is better than multiple cheaper cards, although I’m not sure how that compares to THREE 2060s as quoted. In fact I’m stumped re: RTX configurations, although I assume I would need more than one if I want the option of working while rendering, and then combining them for overnight renders.

Any suggestions? Don’t mind if it stretches the budget above 3500 a bit.


CGDirector.com Parts List: https://www.cgdirector.com/pc-builder/?=da3Qf0c0Pce

CPU: AMD Threadripper 2920X 3.5GHz 12-Core Processor ($499.99)
CPU Cooler: be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 4 TR4 ($50.92)
Motherboard: Gigabyte X399 Aorus Pro ATX TR4 ($279.99)
GPU: Nvidia RTX 2060 Super 8GB - Asus Turbo ($475.84)
GPU #2: Nvidia RTX 2060 Super 8GB - Asus Turbo ($475.84)
GPU #3: Nvidia RTX 2060 Super 8GB - Asus Turbo ($475.84)
Memory: 64GB (4 x 16GB) Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4-3200 C16 ($289.99)
Storage PCIe-SSD: Samsung 970 EVO 1TB M.2 Solid State Drive ($146.25)
Power Supply: be quiet! Dark Power Pro 11 1200W ATX 2.4 Power Supply ($279.90)
Case: Phanteks Enthoo Pro ATX Full Tower Case ($149.98)
Total: $3124.54

 

[Alex Glawion]

Hey Kimon,
Yes, I agree, I'll have to add an option for more customization on the pc-builder tool. The GPU-Rendering category is heavily specialized towards best gpu rendering performance without regard to any of the other (active) workloads.

For GPU Rendering + Active Work + After Effects I'd suggest the following build which also includes 2x 2080tis.

CGDirector.com Parts List: https://www.cgdirector.com/pc-builder/?=Db1Sn0j0Fpe

CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 3950X 3.5GHz 16-Core Processor ($689.99)
CPU Cooler: be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 4 ($67.43)
Motherboard: MSI X570 Unify ATX AM4 ($432.88)
GPU: Nvidia RTX 2080TI 11GB - Gigabyte Turbo ($1239.99)
Memory: 64GB (4 x 16GB) G.Skill Trident Z Neo DDR4-3600 C16 ($359.99)
Storage PCIe-SSD: Samsung 970 EVO PLUS 2TB M.2 Solid State Drive ($349.99)
Power Supply: Seasonic Focus GM-650, 650W 80+ Gold Power Supply ($99.99)
Case: Phanteks Enthoo Pro ATX Full Tower Case ($149.98)
Total: $3390.24

For better GPU rendering performance in the future you can add another 2080Ti, though with a mainstream cpu such as the ryzen 3950x you'll only be able to drive 2 gpus max at x8 pcie-speeds. So that's a tradeoff if you're trying to build an active workstation that is also good at gpu rendering - you can't add as many gpus as in an HEDT PC which lets you add up to 4 gpus (With a Threadripper cpus), but then again wouldnt be as fast in active work.

 

[Kimon]

Hello there Alex,

Apologies for the lag in replying––work ate my life––and profuse thanks for your time and advice.

I’d like to keep my GPU options open, therefore I’d rather stick with a Threadripper, even if it means downgrading the RTX side of things.

What I will thus do is consult your––again––amazing bang-for-buck tables to look for lower-end TR and RTX models to massage the budget.

I could use with some advice / confirmation on the following assumptions or potentially erroneous info I've picked up online:

• I will need two GPUs if I want to interact with Maya while running GPU renders.
• If I were to mix a cheaper GTX (for active work) with an RTX (for rendering) it might disable the RTX feature altogether in certain scenarios
• If I were to mix a lower-tier RTX with a higher-tier one I will be bottlenecked by the lower-RTX’s VRAM––although this won’t be felt unless I render really big scenes.

Should I be wary of cheaper RTX boxes like the Zotacs?

Many thanks again for your help, and I apologise if some of my questions are a bit basic. I know a lot about rigging, but precious little about hardware.

Kimon

 

[Alex Glawion]

Hey Kimon,
You will still be able to interact with the 3d software (on just a single gpu) even while rendering, though of course it might be a bit slower. You wont be able to efficiently do preview renders or such things when doing actual renders on a different scene. Of course when you have 2 GPUs you can split that up.

If the render engine is coded properly you should be able to make full use of the RTX features when rendering just on the RTX gpu. Of course you'll have to select that single rtx gpu as the gpu you want to render with in the render settings, but that should take care of it.

Yes you'll be bottlenecked by the second gpu that has less VRAM (when rendering on both). If you are just using the second gpu to continue working in maya, then the reduced vram on that second gpu won't interfere with the first gpu.

You can get good and bad gpus in many of the top brands. Msi, Gigabyte, Asus, EVGA, Zotac all tend to be good brands, but every once in a while you can be unlucky. I've had excellent experiences with Asus, but some others might disagree.

 

[Kimon]

Hey Alex––

Cheers for this.

If the render engine is coded properly you should be able to make full use of the RTX features when rendering just on the RTX gpu

I gathered as much, but I was wondering what would happen if they're both rendering at once (say overnight).

Somebody told me I should avoid the 2920X as it’s been marked ‘end of life’ by AMD.

What are the implications of this?

If I go for the 2920X, will I have to make special provisions to ensure that the motherboard can support a 3 series TR in a later upgrade? (I haven’t wrapped my head around the ‘TRX socket’ thing.)

 

[Alex Glawion]

Yes if both are rendering the same frame (GTX and RTX) then you will only be able to use the GTX featureset and the lowest vram. You could just use a rendermanager such as thinkbox deadline (or maybe maya has something here?) that will let you render individual frames on each gpu. That way the RTX gpu can utilize its RTX code, and the gtx will run in gtx mode. (So basically rendering two frames at once, each gpu renders its own until the sequence is through)

The 2920X definitely is EOL and the TR4 Socket only supports first and second gen Threadripper GPUs. Third gen needs the sTRX4 socket, so you'll need a new motherboard for an upgrade.

The thing is, the current third gen Threadripper cpus start at a whopping 24 Cores which cost 1300$. So if you're building it for the HEDT features/gpu support and don't need those kinds of cores, I'd stay with the second gen now.

 

[Kimon]

Thank you,

I’m not super-confident about the ‘Deadline’ thing on a single box. I doubt Maya is clever enough to do per-frame GPU splits without a second instance running, with all the inherent overheads––but you've given me a worthwhile question for the Autodesk forums.

It sounds to me like, if I can’t afford to build a system based on a 3xxx series TR and two RTX cards, I will have to pick between one of these two compromises:

1. Build a TR4 / 2xxx system to leave more money for two RTX cards that can work together overnight.
   
   Pros: Guaranteed RTX throughput
   Cons: Future CPU upgrades will also require motherboard swap
   
   
2. Build a lower-end sTRX4 system with either a single RTX or some RTX / GTX combo
   
   Pros: Future-proofed for CPU upgrades
   Cons: Dual-GPU renders probably not a goer at all for now.

Since I’m new to GPU rendering, and I wanted some juice on the CPU side anyway, compromise #2 sounds more practical––even if it means I stick with a single GPU for now.

Your advice has been stellar, and I’m very close to leaving you in peace.

As a parting shot, could you tell me what I should look out for in an sTRX4 motherboard for compromise #2?

K

 

[Kimon]

How low can I go on a 3xxx TR?

 

[Alex Glawion]

Jup those are the options

The lowest 3rd gen Threadripper is the 3960X that costs 1300$.

Here's a TRX40 article which should answer all your questions (spoiler: they are all pretty strong and good motherboards, but also expensive... https://www.cgdirector.com/best-motherboards-amd-threadripper-cpus-3970x-3960x/)

 

[Kimon]

You're a diamond. Thank you so much, Alex.