Scratch Disc

[joseph L.]

So... why I don't see any build taking advantage of scratch disc ? Thank U

 

[Alex Glawion]

Do you mean a seperate ssd for caches / swap file?

We do recommend that for footage-intensive workloads, like video editing or compositing. Thing is, with NVMe SSDs, in sequential workloads, the DMA becomes the bottleneck, as pcie4 nvme ssds saturate it. So, having two or more that are accessed simultaneously won't net you any extra performance. They'll bottleneck each other unless you have an HEDT or similar workstation-class PC with sufficient PCIe Lanes.

Then again, if you're running a Threadripper or Xeon, your priorities probably lie elsewhere (multi-core workloads), as they are notoriously bad for active / real-time workloads (single-core workloads).

You can circumvent the DMA and hook up an extra scratch disc through your CPU PCIe lanes, if you can get away with potentially bottlenecking your GPU (on mainstream platform).

Of course, if you're using only Sata SSDs or HDDs, then a scratch disc makes sense, absolutely. But the logical next step would be to get an nvme SSD for superior performance and not another ssd or HDD IMO.

 

[joseph L.]

Taichi X399

TR x2950 cpu

Noctua NH-D15

64Gb G.SKILL Flare 3200 (4)

Samsung 980 Pro 1Tb NVMe M.2 (OS)

Samsung 970 Pro (scratch disc)

WD Black 4Tb for storage

Nvidia 2080 ti gaming x trio

Thinking to upgrade to TR 2990 WS or Build a 5950x PC...

 

[Alex Glawion]

This'll depend entirely on your workloads. 2990WX is really only good if you're doing CPU Rendering or similar workloads. Is _very_ bad for active workloads like viewport interaction etc.

5950X is the much better choice for active work and it's about on par in multi-core performance with the 2990WX.

 

[joseph L.]

P Supply is a EVGA Supernova 1600P
This build is for Blender mainly. Video editing and image manipulation are second...
So, any ideas?

 

[Alex Glawion]

The 5950X will be the much better pick in my opinion. You'll have the same render performance (or maybe you're using cycles GPU?) but much higher viewport performance for modeling, animating, rigging, particle sim etc compared to the 2990WX.

And since one of your nvme ssds is only pcie3, you won't be bottlenecked, if at all.

 

[joseph L.]

So keeping my x2950 with two 2080ti just for rendering and build a new 5950X ?
Or just updating the MOBO and 5950X with the other parts and not just wasting $$$...?

 

[Alex Glawion]

Well, two PCs would be optimal of course. One for GPU rendering, the other for active work. But it'll add some major costs. You'll basically need an entirely new PC and a new GPU as well. GPUs are heavily price inflated right now.

It might not be worth it in the short term. Upgrading your PC, so new motherboard + CPU seems like the sensible choice to me at the moment. Choose a Motherboard such as the MSI Unify or Asus WS Ace x570 to make best use of your dual GPUs.

 

[joseph L.]

Weeks ago I bought G. Skill Ripjaws V 64Gb. 3600 MHz .Quad channel for the MOBO
So I'm going to use them on a MSI Unify with the 5950X.
I will use the 2080ti 'till price drop for a 3080 RTX

OK ?
Thank U for everything !


https://www.amazon.com/G-Skill-RipJ...K/dp/B0884TNHNC/ref=psdc_172500_t1_B08B87BM4K