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Thoughts on this build

M

Mr. Jones

Guest
I'm looking to build a system that can handle animation rendering in Blender Cycles and some other programs like Substance Painter (my current computer can't even open it!) and possibly Marvelous Designer. Your PC Builder suggested the following as a GPU focused build:

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 3800X 3.9GHz 8-Core Processor ($329.99)
CPU Cooler: AMD Wraith Prism Cooler (Included with CPU) (-)
Motherboard: MSI B450 Tomahawk MAX ATX AM4 ($208.75)
GPU: Nvidia RTX 2060 Super 8GB - Asus Turbo ($409.99)
GPU #2: Nvidia RTX 2060 Super 8GB - Asus Turbo ($409.99)
Memory: 32GB (2 x 16GB) Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4-3200 C16 ($136.99)
Storage PCIe-SSD: Crucial P1 1TB, M.2 Solid State Drive ($104.99)
Power Supply: Corsair RMx Series RM750x 750W Power Supply ($134.99)
Case: Corsair Carbide Series 200R ATX Mid Tower Case ($129.99)

My questions are: Any issue with swapping out the Ryzen 7 for the Ryzen 9 3900x? Two RTX 2070 cards (regular, not super) would be better than the two RTX 2060 Super cards if the price difference is negligible, right? (I feel like that's a stupid question, but the difference between Super and not super isn't totally clear to me). I notice that the B450 motherboard maxes out at 64GB memory. In terms of future-proofing, would I be making a mistake not getting one that can handle 128GB, or by the time I needed to upgrade past 64GB will the whole system be obsolete anyway so it wouldn't matter? Last question is I'd like more storage space and I'm not very familiar with solid state drives or how M.2 works. If I bought a second of the Crucial P1 1TB drives will it fit in this configuration and would there be any issues with plugging in one of my old regular SATA HDs as well?

Thanks for your help and such an awesome and helpful site in general!
 
Alex Glawion

Alex Glawion

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Hey Mr. Jones,
Looks like a solid build! I would recommend going with a better Motherboard though if you do want to do some heavy gpu rendering on 2 gpus. The b450 Boards can throttle the second pcie slot quite a bit which isn't optimal.

So #1: For 2 GPUs go get a x570 Motherboard such as the MSI Unify, or x570 Tomahawk. You could even get a Motherboard that supports 3 GPUs -> Asus WS Ace x570.

You can easily get the 3900X instead of the 3800X, the Motherboards mentioned above all support it.

Yes two 2070 Super Cards are better than two 2060 Supers. You could also get a single 2080 Ti to start out, which is about as fast as two RTX 2070s.
That way you have more room for upgrades lateron.

There is something called high density Memory, which lets you install 4x32GB of Ram on a 4-ram-slot motherboard. This should be supported by all x570 Motherboards. If 128 is too expensive to start out, get 2x32gb now and another 2x32gb later.

You can use a bunch of sata hdds and sata ssds with just about any current motherboard, b450 or x570. As for m.2 nvme drives, I suggest you switch to the x570 Motherboard as your options for supported # of nvme drives is better there.

Let me know if you need any other help!
 
M

Mr. Jones

Guest
Alright, following your advice and some more research, I've arrived at something like this:

CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 3900X 3.8 GHz 12-Core Processor
CPU Cooler: AMD Wraith Prism Cooler (Included with CPU) (-)
Motherboard: MSI MEG X570 UNIFY ATX AM4 Motherboard
GPU #1: MSI GeForce RTX 2070 8 GB VENTUS GP
GPU #2: MSI GeForce RTX 2070 8 GB VENTUS GP
Memory: 64GB (2 x 32GB) Team T-FORCE VULCAN Z DDR4 3200 (PC4 25600) Intel XMP 2.0 Desktop Memory
Storage #1: Crucial P1 1TB, M.2 Solid State Drive
Storage #2: Crucial P1 1TB, M.2 Solid State Drive
Power Supply: Corsair RMx (2018) 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply
Case: Antec P7 Silent ATX Mid Tower Case

Does that look workable? Should I be okay for cooling with just the CPU fan and the two that come mounted in the case?

One final question is if you have any thoughts on the Dell U2719D monitor or better yet something in the $200-300 US range? I have an old Dell 2408WFP that has served me very well, so i guess I'm looking for something similar. I'll be using it mostly for modeling, texturing, and rendering out animation, so no gaming or anything like that.

Really appreciate all your help!

(In addition to Amazon, I'll probably be buying some of this through newegg.com. Do you guys have an affiliate link for them, so I can send some more commission your way?)
 
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Alex Glawion

Alex Glawion

CG Hardware Specialist @ CGDirector
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Build looks good to me! :)

As for Monitors within the 200-300$ Price range I like to recommend the BenQ PD2700, as it has pretty good color accuracy and comes with a 10bit Panel (through FRC, not true 10bit) which is excellent for that price range. The Dell U2719D is very similar but does not offer 10bit color at all.

Sure, go ahead and click through the links in my signature, thanks! :)
 
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