A build for 3D use

M

MoiAst

Member
Hello guys,

this is my first thread here. I hope you can help me in my decision.

I'm a 3D Artist and I intend to buy a Custom Build here on PCSpecialist. Main use will be 3D mostly (no gaming) such us: modelling, realistic simulaions (such us fluids, cloths, particles), rendering (GPU and CPU) and so on (The software I use mostly are: Houdini FX, Maya, Nuke, Premiere Pro, After Effects). I therefore need something that can handle high workload, is valid for a long time and, above all, that allows me to work fluidly (I often have very small deadlines).

This is the build I have in mind:

Case
CORSAIR CRYSTAL SERIES 680X RGB GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3970X 32 Core CPU (3.7GHz - 4.5GHz, 147MB CACHE)
Motherboard
Gigabyte TRX40 AORUS PRO Wi-Fi 6: ATX, USB 3.2 - ARGB Ready
Memory (RAM)
64GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3600MHz (8 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
24GB ASUS ROG STRIX GEFORCE RTX 3090 - HDMI, DP
1st Storage Drive
6TB SEAGATE IRONWOLF PRO 3.5", 7200 RPM 256MB CACHE
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB SAMSUNG 980 PRO M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 7000MB/R, 5000MB/W)
Memory Card Reader
USB 3.0 EXTERNAL SD/MICRO SD CARD READER
Power Supply
CORSAIR 1000W RMi SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre European Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
CoolerMaster MasterLiquid ML360 RGB TR4 High Performance Liquid Cooler
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT (Wi-Fi NOT INCLUDED)
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KUK-00001]
Operating System Language
Italy/Italia - Italian Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Microsoft® Edge (Windows 10 Only)
Warranty
3 Year Platinum Warranty (3 Year Collect & Return, 3 Year Parts, 3 Year labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 23 to 25 working days

Price: £5,390.00 including VAT and Delivery

PCSPECIALIST - Top Spec Custom PCs & Laptops Built to Order

Manufacturer of performance custom computers and laptops. Customise your ideal gaming PC or laptop using our advanced configurator.
www.pcspecialist.co.uk www.pcspecialist.co.uk

What do you think about it? Would you change something?
 
Last edited:
RobSas

RobSas

Bronze Level Poster
Your configuration looks good.

I have similar uses for my PC recently delivered from PCS in December - I use Blender, Unreal Engine, World Creator, Adobe and just started with Nuke Community Edition.
The RTX 3090 is an amazingly fast card and well suited to your workload.

Memory: 64GB is great but I opted for 128GB which has really helped some of the large scene / high-poly assets in the Blender viewport as very few have proxy viewport objects available. You could always upgrade your RAM later.

Storage: Would you consider a 3 drive configuration? My rig is configured as follows:
1 for OS and Applications
1 for projects and active work
1 for applications cache and projects/assets archiving (Blender and Adobe cache allow to point your cache elsewhere. My cache folder is currently 200GB)

Lastly, I couldn't see any benefit with the NVidia RTX Studio driver so use the game driver instead.
 
Last edited:
M

MoiAst

Member
RobSas said:
Your configuration looks good.

I have similar uses for my PC recently delivered from PCS in December - I use Blender, Unreal Engine, World Creator, Adobe and just started with Nuke Community Edition.
The RTX 3090 is an amazingly fast card and well suited to your workload.

Memory: 64GB is great but I opted for 128GB which has really helped some of the large scene / high-poly assets in the Blender viewport as very few have proxy viewport objects available. You could always upgrade your RAM later.

Storage: Would you consider a 3 drive configuration? Mine rig is configured as follows:
1 for OS and Applications
1 for projects and active work
1 for applications cache and projects/assets archiving (Blender and Adobe cache allow to point your cache elsewhere. My cache folder is currently 200GB)

Lastly, I couldn't see any benefit with the NVidia RTX Studio driver so use the game driver instead.
Click to expand...

Many thanks for your reply. Very helpful!

I thought the same regarding the RAM, but the only option on PCSpecialist is 128GB 2666MHz at the moment. I'd love to keep 3600 as frequency with a Threadripper. So as you suggest, maybe I'll update it later.


As for Storage, yours is great advice. I was thinking to have a Linux partition in M2 Drive in order to have a good reading/writing speed. My first option was a 2TB M2 Drive (so I can use 1TB with Win and 1TB with Linux). But maybe it will helpfull having two M2 Drives (Win and Linux) and a HDD as storage. What do you think?
 
RobSas

RobSas

Bronze Level Poster
I have little Linux knowledge but aware that in the VFX world it can offer improvements in reading / writing speed so your idea sounds good.

Personally, I went for 2 x M.2 drives and 1 x SSD - each 2TB.

I didn't want platter HDDs due to its reduced read/write speed as compared to SSD or M.2; this would definitely cause a bottleneck in your data pipes regardless of the OS.

I thought large and fast M.2 drives were essential as I render out frames in OpenEXR format and individual frames can run to around 50MB.
Also, baking OpenVDB caches for clouds/smoke/explosions and fluid sims can also chomp into large amounts of disk space.

My advice would be to thoroughly research the availability of stable Linux drivers, not just the GPU but for all the other devices in your new rig. Blender for example has a specific Optix Denoiser algorithm which is wholly dependent on the Nvidia driver.

Cheers
 
Scott

Scott

Behold The Ford Mondeo
Moderator
The spec is absolutely spot on for your uses based on current tech. What I would say is that Threadripper 5000 should be coming out soon. With the difference in efficiency between the 3000 and 5000 series I would personally consider holding off.

The one thing I would add regardless would be a cache/scratch drive. Given the workloads you have, having an extra lane of storage traffic would make a big difference to throughput.

How soon do you need the build?
 
M

MoiAst

Member
Scott said:
The spec is absolutely spot on for your uses based on current tech. What I would say is that Threadripper 5000 should be coming out soon. With the difference in efficiency between the 3000 and 5000 series I would personally consider holding off.

The one thing I would add regardless would be a cache/scratch drive. Given the workloads you have, having an extra lane of storage traffic would make a big difference to throughput.

How soon do you need the build?
Click to expand...

Build is not urgent at the moment. Still waiting for 3090 availability and, maybe, for the new TIs (if they are going to release them). I think I can wait until April/May.

When Threadripper 5000 is going to be released?
 
Scott

Scott

Behold The Ford Mondeo
Moderator
Nothing is concrete but I think it's likely they will be revealed at the end of the month. If you're looking at April/May, I would hold your order off until March and see what the land looks like :)
 
RobSas

RobSas

Bronze Level Poster
tierenobre said:
Sorry, does this support go well with the weight of the heavy computer like his? I need one haha
Click to expand...
I bought exactly that item for my PCS PC and it's fine. It's a bit a precision job lowering the case onto the stand but once done, it's solid and doesn't move. Hopefully will reduce the dust accumulation on the case over time.

If you buy one just ensure the width and length of the stand can accommodate the case.

My case is Corsair Crystal Series 570x RGB Gaming Case with an RTX 3090, 850W PSU etc. Attached the best pic I could get under the desk lol.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_5063.JPG
    IMG_5063.JPG
    88.7 KB · Views: 170
Last edited:
T

tierenobre

Active member
RobSas said:
I bought exactly that item for my PCS PC and works fine. It's a bit a precision job lowering the case onto the stand but once done, it's solid and hopefully will reduce the dust.

If you buy one just ensure the width and length of the stand can accommodate the case.

My case is Corsair Crystal Series 570x RGB Gaming Case with an RTX 3090, 850W PSU etc. Attached the best pic I could get under the desk lol.
Click to expand...
It looks fine. I am waiting for my PC to arrive. The case is a Corsair obsidian 500D and I need to see if it will be right on top of my small table lol, in the last case I will need to accommodate it on the floor. Thanks for that tip.
 
Resistance100

Resistance100

Expert
Nursemorph said:
You sure? According to Corsair, the 680x will take a 330mm card...NVIDIA list the 3090 FE as 313mm :unsure:


If these dimensions are correct, it may be hit and miss fitting a 3090 into a 680x:

www.techpowerup.com

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 Specs

NVIDIA GA102, 1695 MHz, 10496 Cores, 328 TMUs, 112 ROPs, 24576 MB GDDR6X, 1219 MHz, 384 bit
www.techpowerup.com www.techpowerup.com
Click to expand...
Just googled 3090 size and first link said 336mm

www.techpowerup.com

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 Specs

NVIDIA GA102, 1695 MHz, 10496 Cores, 328 TMUs, 112 ROPs, 24576 MB GDDR6X, 1219 MHz, 384 bit
www.techpowerup.com www.techpowerup.com

If that size is wrong then theres every chance it will fit :)

I blame bad data for my size judging :ROFLMAO:
 
M

MoiAst

Member
I'm planning to buy a custom build from pcspecialist. The only problem is that basic 3090 is listed as "Not founder edition". So I can't understand if it does fit or not.

The size from official Nvidia webside is 313mm.
 

Attachments

  • size.png
    size.png
    26.5 KB · Views: 136
Resistance100

Resistance100

Expert
MoiAst said:
I'm planning to buy a custom build from pcspecialist. The only problem is that basic 3090 is listed as "Not founder edition". So I can't understand if it does fit or not.

The size from official Nvidia webside is 313mm.
Click to expand...
The case supports up to 330mm GPU's so as long as the one put in the system fits you're fine.

The Zotac one which some people on here got given is 318mm so would be fine. Will depend which one it is tho

www.zotac.com

ZOTAC GAMING GeForce RTX 3090 Trinity | ZOTAC

<p>Get Amplified with the ZOTAC GAMING GeForce RTX™ 30 Series based on the NVIDIA Ampere architecture. Built with enhanced RT Cores and Tensor Cores, new streaming multiprocessors, and superfast GDDR6X memory, the ZOTAC GAMING GeForce RTX 3090 Trinity gives rise to the amplified gaming...
www.zotac.com www.zotac.com
 
Scott

Scott

Behold The Ford Mondeo
Moderator
SpyderTracks said:
You can’t mix ML and LL fans on the same controller, so best to get LL
Click to expand...

Hold the phone..... why is this? I can't think of any reason why this would be the case :unsure: o_O

May require a bit of config but LED lights should be LED lights?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top