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Workstation Build Help - 3D and Animation ~ 3000€

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andrevieira

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Hi there,
I'm building a new workstation as a 3D Generalist and Motion Designer. I need a balanced build, it's for a lot of different stuff (C4D, X-Particles, Octane, Houdini Vellum and Destruction, After Effects, Vfx, World Creator...)
Hopefully buying it during November, my budget is approximately 3000€

Here's what I have so far:

GPU: ASUS RTX 3080 TUF Gaming OC ~ 812€ or ASUS RTX 3070 TUF Gaming OC ~ 600€?? (one of these, depending on the availability)
CPU: AMD Ryzen 5950x ~ 830€
Memory: G.Skill Kit 32GB (2 x 16GB) DDR4 3600MHz Ripjaws V Black CL18 ~ 150€
Motherboard: Asus TUF Gaming X570-Plus (Wi-Fi) ~ 250€
SSD 1 (OS & Software): SSD Corsair Force MP600 1TB ~ 250€
SSD 2 (Work files): SSD Corsair Force MP600 1TB ~ 250€
HDD: Seagate Barracuda 4TB ~ 90€
Case: Phanteks P500A ~ 100€
Cooler: Noctua NH-D15 ~ 90€
Fans: 3x Noctua NF-P14S ~ 14€ each
PSU: Seasonic Focus GX-850W 80+ Gold ~ 130€

I'm mostly a noob, this is based on other builds, reviews, and what's available here (Portugal)

My main questions are:
  • Where am I being dumb? :D
  • Motherboard/Pcie4: I don't really understand the pcie4 lanes thing. Will I be able to make use of pcie4 on both sdds with this build? (Other options for the board are MSI MPG X570 GAMING EDGE WIFI ~ 210€ / Asus ROG Strix X570-E ~ 315€ / MSI MEG X570 Unify ~ 330€)
  • Ssd: I'm using ssd 1 for system, software and some games. And the ssd 2 for work files. That separation used to be good for performance, is that still relevant?
  • Memory: 32gb or 64gb, 3200mhz or 3600mhz? ...buying more 32gb later if needed?
  • Case: Is the Phanteks P500a enough if I want to add another gpu later? (Other options are Fractal Design Define 7 ~ 165€ / Fractal Design Define 7 XL ~ 210€ / Li Lancool II Mesh ~ 90€)

Any help will be much appreciated, thanks!!
André
 
Jerry James

Jerry James

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Well, to me the build has no apparent issues. The motherboard seems a bit more pricey than it should be though. Check for prices of the MSI X570 Tomahawk as well just to know. It's better than the TUF, so if it's available for a similar price, go for that instead.

1. Nope, no dumbness here :D
2. Yep, on an X570 motherboard you can make use of PCI-E 4.0 on all slots. However, with more budget boards like this one, running multi-GPU setups and also running full M.2 slots might be an issue down the line (2 generations or so later). If you're going single GPU for the considerable future, no issues here!
3. Aim for 3600 if you can get one for not too much of a premium over 3200Mhz. I'm not sure yet how important memory is with the Ryzen 5000 processors so stay tuned for our article on Zen 3 for details :)
4. No issues. Easily doable.
 
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andrevieira

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Well, to me the build has no apparent issues. The motherboard seems a bit more pricey than it should be though. Check for prices of the MSI X570 Tomahawk as well just to know. It's better than the TUF, so if it's available for a similar price, go for that instead.

1. Nope, no dumbness here :D
2. Yep, on an X570 motherboard you can make use of PCI-E 4.0 on all slots. However, with more budget boards like this one, running multi-GPU setups and also running full M.2 slots might be an issue down the line (2 generations or so later). If you're going single GPU for the considerable future, no issues here!
3. Aim for 3600 if you can get one for not too much of a premium over 3200Mhz. I'm not sure yet how important memory is with the Ryzen 5000 processors so stay tuned for our article on Zen 3 for details :)
4. No issues. Easily doable.


Thanks Jerry!! Super helpful!
The MSI MAG x570 Tomahawk is actually cheaper, 230€ on my local store! 👌
Follow up question: 😇
- What would you do different to make it more future proof? Specialy because of the GPU... the RTX 3090 it's too expensive, I don't think the 3080 will be available anytime soon, I'm hoping I can get the 3070 at least! So I might want to add another GPU later or replace it with a more powerful one.
 
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Jerry James

Jerry James

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- What would you do different to make it more future proof? Specialy because of the GPU... the RTX 3090 it's too expensive, I don't think the 3080 will be available anytime soon, I'm hoping I can get the 3070 at least! So I might want to add another GPU later or replace it with a more powerful one.

If you want your motherboard to not hold back even the most powerful GPUs a couple of generations down the line, I'd go with something like an MSI X570 Unify. It offers PCI-E 4.0 bifurcation, giving you x8/x8 slots instead of x16/x4 like on the Tomahawk. Keep in mind, I don't expect this to matter for at least two more GPU generations, and even then when you're going with top-of-the-line products.
 
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