Advice on setup

[Hubert Kot]

Hi I'm not great with computer building and would appreciate some advice before I purchase. The pc is primarily built for CAD (Solidworks) models, needs to handle up to 50~ part assemblies. Also for rendering in Keyshot, and with the addition of GPU rendering I wanted to go for a slightly better graphics card ( Or would CPU rendering be faster anyway?). The build was around the £2.2K mark, I could get a better CPU , GPU with a budget of approx £3k but since the build is mostly for uni thought this build could do the job fine?

Any advice on what you would change? Will the build cope or should I change anything?

Case
CORSAIR 4000D AIRFLOW TEMPERED GLASS GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 9 5950X 16 Core CPU (3.4GHz-4.9GHz/72MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF GAMING B550-PLUS (DDR4, USB 3.2, 6Gb/s) - ARGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3000MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3060 Ti - HDMI, DP
1st Storage Drive
2TB PCS 2.5" SSD, SATA 6 Gb (520MB/R, 470MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 550W TXm SERIES™ SEMI-MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
STANDARD AMD CPU COOLER
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
LED Lighting
50cm Red LED Strip
Extra Case Fans
1x 120mm Thermaltake TOUGHFAN 12 Case Fan
Sound Card
ONBOARD 8 CHANNEL (7.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT (Wi-Fi NOT INCLUDED)
Wireless Network Card
WIRELESS 802.11N 300Mbps/2.4GHz PCI-E CARD
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 6 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
United Kingdom - English 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
BullGuard™ Internet Security - Free 90 Day License inc. Gamer Mode
Browser
Microsoft® Edge (Windows 10 Only)
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 15 to 18 working days
Price: £2,290.00 including VAT and Delivery

 

[Bigfoot]

For that CPU you need the ROG Strix X570 or the Crosshair motherboard. You really need the H115i Platinum cooler.. RAM should be at least 3200MHz. Primary drive should be M.2, rather than a SATA SSD. The PSU could be upgraded to the fully modular RM or RMx 850W to run quieter and provide greater scope for future GPU upgrades. The AX200 is a better WiFi card and includes BT as a bonus. You should drop Bullguard, as it has been reported to cause problems. Also, the Silver warranty is only £5 more.

 

[Citrus_9]

I'll repeat same as above. RAM >3200. Only one storage? Emmm... No. M.2 for OS and SSD for gaming. PSU at least 850W, RMx preferably. I'd suggest a better cooler, but you haven't included a link to your specs so cannot check the alternatives for you as I'm too lazy to copy everything...

Up Wifi to AX. Drop antivirus.

After amendments it will be a sweet candy at home...

 

[Tom_P]

Depending on how big your Solidworks models are you may benefit from more RAM (as well as increasing the speed to 3200). The 2x8GB you have is a good start, and you can easily double to 32GB yourself further down the line - alternatively you could start off now with 2x16GB and then add in additional RAM later if needed (to get to 64GB), although for Uni work I expect that's overkill.

As above have said, a higher quality PSU would be good (RMx series) - overspeccing the PSU gives you more space for future upgrades, and will also run more efficiently, be quieter and be more reliable if it's not being overstressed. The X570 board would be advisable with the CPU you have as it has better quality power delivery to the CPU. B550 would probably be fine (the VRMs are a lot closer in quality to the X570 series than the old B450 ones were), but X570 is better.

GPU vs CPU rendering I'm not too clear on to be honest, have you linked into it online, see what others have said for your use cases?

Also as Citrus said - add in an M.2 drive for your OS (say 512GB) and then use the SATA SSD for your bulk file storage - the M.2 is much faster so will give you a smoother experience if you put your OS on there.

 

[Hubert Kot]

You need to look into your various applications and see whether they are GPU or CPU bound or if you can change between the 2. However, a GPU is much easier to replace than a CPU so I'd go with the better CPU unless a better GPU is going to make a noticeable difference.

If you want to go with the 5950x, then this is the spec I'd recommend...it is more expensive by a fair amount but it is adding in the higher level components needed as well as some other parts like an Ultra-fast primary drive. Have also added in 32GB RAM as that will be useful. If you want to reduce the cost, you could always drop down to the 5900x which would save £260 or so:

Case
CORSAIR 4000D AIRFLOW TEMPERED GLASS GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 9 5950X 16 Core CPU (3.4GHz-4.9GHz/72MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® ROG STRIX X570-F GAMING (USB 3.2 Gen 2, PCIe 4.0) - ARGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3060 Ti - HDMI, DP
1st Storage Drive
2TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 256MB CACHE
1st M.2 SSD Drive
500GB SAMSUNG 980 PRO M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 6900MB/R, 5000MB/W)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB PCS PCIe M.2 SSD (2000 MB/R, 1100 MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 850W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
Corsair H100i RGB PLATINUM Hydro Series High Performance CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT (Wi-Fi NOT INCLUDED)
Wireless Network Card
WIRELESS INTEL® Wi-Fi 6 AX200 2,400Mbps/5GHz, 300Mbps/2.4GHz PCI-E CARD + BT 5.0
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
United Kingdom - English 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
Firefox™
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 15 to 18 working days
Price: £2,681.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/MBhhPzQbde/

Thankyou so much !

 

[Scott]

If you can stretch the budget to the aforementioned 3k then the below is what I would go with personally, minus the 3080 as I couldn't select the 3070 right now. The only issue is that the 3070 isn't due in stock until the 1st of May. I think for solidworks it would make quite the difference to your throughput (it's basically the last generation 2080Ti which was excellent). The only thing to consider would be your vRAM utilisation, you'll need to keep an eye on it and maybe even consider swallowing the cost of the soon to be released 3080Ti.

Anyway, some notes....

When pushing the 5950X hard you want the highest VRM capacity you can get, which is the HERO. You also need the best cooler in place for this chip, which is the H115i Platinum. I've bumped up the RAM to 3600Mhz as there may be a slight performance increase with the faster frequency (depends on the instruction usage).

Everything else is as recommended previously

Case
CORSAIR 4000D AIRFLOW TEMPERED GLASS GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 9 5950X 16 Core CPU (3.4GHz-4.9GHz/72MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® CROSSHAIR VIII HERO (DDR4, PCIe 4.0, CrossFireX/SLI) - RGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3600MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
10GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3080 - HDMI, DP
1st Storage Drive
2TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 256MB CACHE
1st M.2 SSD Drive
500GB SAMSUNG 980 PRO M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 6900MB/R, 5000MB/W)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB PCS PCIe M.2 SSD (2000 MB/R, 1100 MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 850W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
Corsair H115i RGB PLATINUM Hydro Series High Performance CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT (Wi-Fi NOT INCLUDED)
Wireless Network Card
WIRELESS INTEL® Wi-Fi 6 AX200 2,400Mbps/5GHz, 300Mbps/2.4GHz PCI-E CARD + BT 5.0
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
United Kingdom - English 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
Firefox™
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 15 to 18 working days
Price: £3,143.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/Q!3M3ncC2B/

 

[Scott]

Last I knew it was April. I was hoping that they were going to cut down the 3090 rather than increase the 3080.

It's such a good product but to not be able to cope with the demand is getting beyond a joke now

 

[Hubert Kot]

If you can stretch the budget to the aforementioned 3k then the below is what I would go with personally, minus the 3080 as I couldn't select the 3070 right now. The only issue is that the 3070 isn't due in stock until the 1st of May. I think for solidworks it would make quite the difference to your throughput (it's basically the last generation 2080Ti which was excellent). The only thing to consider would be your vRAM utilisation, you'll need to keep an eye on it and maybe even consider swallowing the cost of the soon to be released 3080Ti.

Anyway, some notes....

When pushing the 5950X hard you want the highest VRM capacity you can get, which is the HERO. You also need the best cooler in place for this chip, which is the H115i Platinum. I've bumped up the RAM to 3600Mhz as there may be a slight performance increase with the faster frequency (depends on the instruction usage).

Everything else is as recommended previously

Case
CORSAIR 4000D AIRFLOW TEMPERED GLASS GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 9 5950X 16 Core CPU (3.4GHz-4.9GHz/72MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® CROSSHAIR VIII HERO (DDR4, PCIe 4.0, CrossFireX/SLI) - RGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3600MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
10GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3080 - HDMI, DP
1st Storage Drive
2TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 256MB CACHE
1st M.2 SSD Drive
500GB SAMSUNG 980 PRO M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 6900MB/R, 5000MB/W)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB PCS PCIe M.2 SSD (2000 MB/R, 1100 MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 850W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
Corsair H115i RGB PLATINUM Hydro Series High Performance CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT (Wi-Fi NOT INCLUDED)
Wireless Network Card
WIRELESS INTEL® Wi-Fi 6 AX200 2,400Mbps/5GHz, 300Mbps/2.4GHz PCI-E CARD + BT 5.0
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
United Kingdom - English 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
Firefox™
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 15 to 18 working days
Price: £3,143.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/Q!3M3ncC2B/

Sounds great, financially I could definitely put that extra money in, my biggest concern is with the pre-order status on CPU/GPU. I dont know if I should go for a different build with in stock components, with working at home, I really need this in March - or ASAP. Dont really want to wait half a year for the build to arrive the opportunity cost would be too large with the client work i would have to reject (as well as uni ofc)