Building first VFX work machine. Looking for some feedback

[DosKarlos]

Case	LIAN LI LANCOOL II BEHUIZING VOOR GAMING​
Processor (CPU)	AMD Ryzen 9 3950X CPU 16 core
Motherboard	ASUS® ROG STRIX X570-F GAMING (USB 3.2 Gen 2, PCIe 4.0) - ARGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)	64GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3000MHz (2 x 32GB)
Graphics Card	10GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3080 - HDMI, DP
1st Storage Drive	8TB SEAGATE IRONWOLF PRO 3.5", 7200RPM, 256MB CACHE
1st M.2 SSD Drive	1TB SAMSUNG 970 EVO PLUS M.2, PCle NVMe (max 3500 MB/R, 3300 MB/W)
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive	NOT REQUIRED
Power Supply	CORSAIR 850W W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable	1 x 1 Metre EU Power Cable
Processor Cooling	Noctua NH-U 14S ultra-quiet CPU cooler
Thermal Paste	ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND
Extra Case Fans	2 x 120 mm Black Case Fan
Sound Card	ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking	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

Hi all,
I'm planning to buy my first own build and this is what I was thinking about.
I have a few questions but first want to say that I will use this PC for my professional and personal work as a visual effects artist. For my work, I use programs like Maya, Houdini, Zbrush and I will need it to make renders a lot as well.

My first doubt was about the motherboard. I think I made an okay decision but any advice on it would be great.
Stupid question perhaps, is there a way to get more HDMI ports? I have two screens which I want to connect to my computer.

My second question was about the wifi, Some motherboards have Wifi but I noticed that none of the pcspecialist has one right?
Because I would like to have wifi and the option to use the cable.
But by selecting the 'WIRELESS INTEL® Wi-Fi 6 AX200 2,400Mbps/5GHz, 300Mbps/2.4GHz PCI-E CARD + BT 5.0' at the wireless/wired network section I lose the option to the cable right? There will be no Ethernet port then.
Any advice on how I can have both an ethernet port as build-in Wifi?

Third question:
Cooling is super important but I hear not very good stories about the liquid coolers, so I actually want to avoid those.
My choice came out on the 'Noctua NH-U 14S ultra-quiet CPU cooler' but will that be enough to cool everything when the machine has to work on heavy 3D stuff?
And suggestions are welcome !!

Any other advice is welcome!

 

[SpyderTracks]

My first doubt was about the motherboard. I think I made an okay decision but any advice on it would be great.

Personally, on that CPU I'd step up to the Hero board for the VRM capabilities.

Stupid question perhaps, is there a way to get more HDMI ports? I have two screens which I want to connect to my computer.

You can fit up to 4 monitors on that GPU. You can't change what kind of ports it has, but you can just use a DP to HDMI cable if you only have HDMI on the other display. I've added 2 of them to the build simply as they've run out of the single cables.

My second question was about the wifi, Some motherboards have Wifi but I noticed that none of the pcspecialist has one right?
Because I would like to have wifi and the option to use the cable.

None of the motherboards PCS supply have inbuilt wifi. The LAN port is part of the motherboard and on all motherboards, that will still be there if you choose a wifi card as well.

Cooling is super important but I hear not very good stories about the liquid coolers, so I actually want to avoid those.

Those are probably old stories from many years ago. AIO coolers these days are extremely good, and on that CPU, absolutely necessary to maintain boost clocks. You'd want the H115i Platinum on that CPU.

You can also lower the paste as the H115i comes with high quality paste pre applied.

I would suggest a much better case on that build, something like the Corsair Crystal 570X or upwards really.

I'd also suggest upping the M2 drive to the Samsung 980 Pro, it's substantially faster.

It may also be worth added a small scratch drive, like a 250Gb SATA SSD.


Case

CORSAIR CRYSTAL SERIES 680X RGB GAMING CASE

Processor (CPU)

AMD Ryzen 9 3950X 16 Core CPU (3.5GHz-4.7GHz/73MB CACHE/AM4) Placeholder, change to 5950X when available on 5/11

Motherboard

ASUS® CROSSHAIR VIII HERO (DDR4, PCIe 4.0, CrossFireX/SLI) - RGB Ready!

Memory (RAM)

64GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3200MHz (4 x 16GB) 3200MHz is the sweetspot for Ryzen, this may change with the 5000 cpu's

Graphics Card

10GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3080 - HDMI, DP

1st Storage Drive

8TB SEAGATE IRONWOLF PRO 3.5", 7200 RPM 256MB CACHE

1st Storage Drive

256GB PCS 2.5" SSD, SATA 6 Gb (500MB/R, 400MB/W) Added as a basic scratch drive

1st M.2 SSD Drive

500GB SAMSUNG 980 PRO M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 6900MB/R, 5000MB/W) Placeholder, change to 1Tb when available on 1/11

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 Cooler comes pre applied with high quality paste

Sound Card

ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)

Wireless/Wired Networking

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

Microsoft® Edge (Windows 10 Only)

Monitor Cables

2 x 2m DisplayPort Adapter Cable - DP to HDMI

Warranty

3 Year Gold Warranty (2 Year Collect & Return, 2 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)

Delivery

STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)

Build Time

Standard Build - Approximately 10 to 12 working days

Price: £3,162.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure:

PCSPECIALIST - Configure the AMD Am4 Gen3 PC to your ideal requirements.

PCSpecialist is an award winning manufacturer of high quality custom PCs. Configure the AMD Am4 Gen3 PC to your ideal requirements.

www.pcspecialist.co.uk

 

[DosKarlos]

Personally, on that CPU I'd step up to the Hero board for the VRM capabilities.


You can fit up to 4 monitors on that GPU. You can't change what kind of ports it has, but you can just use a DP to HDMI cable if you only have HDMI on the other display. I've added 2 of them to the build simply as they've run out of the single cables.


None of the motherboards PCS supply have inbuilt wifi. The LAN port is part of the motherboard and on all motherboards, that will still be there if you choose a wifi card as well.


Those are probably old stories from many years ago. AIO coolers these days are extremely good, and on that CPU, absolutely necessary to maintain boost clocks. You'd want the H115i Platinum on that CPU.

You can also lower the paste as the H115i comes with high quality paste pre applied.

I would suggest a much better case on that build, something like the Corsair Crystal 570X or upwards really.

I'd also suggest upping the M2 drive to the Samsung 980 Pro, it's substantially faster.

It may also be worth added a small scratch drive, like a 250Gb SATA SSD.


Case

CORSAIR CRYSTAL SERIES 680X RGB GAMING CASE

Processor (CPU)

AMD Ryzen 9 3950X 16 Core CPU (3.5GHz-4.7GHz/73MB CACHE/AM4) Placeholder, change to 5950X when available on 5/11

Motherboard

ASUS® CROSSHAIR VIII HERO (DDR4, PCIe 4.0, CrossFireX/SLI) - RGB Ready!

Memory (RAM)

64GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3200MHz (4 x 16GB) 3200MHz is the sweetspot for Ryzen, this may change with the 5000 cpu's

Graphics Card

10GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3080 - HDMI, DP

1st Storage Drive

8TB SEAGATE IRONWOLF PRO 3.5", 7200 RPM 256MB CACHE

1st Storage Drive

256GB PCS 2.5" SSD, SATA 6 Gb (500MB/R, 400MB/W) Added as a basic scratch drive

1st M.2 SSD Drive

500GB SAMSUNG 980 PRO M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 6900MB/R, 5000MB/W) Placeholder, change to 1Tb when available on 1/11

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 Cooler comes pre applied with high quality paste

Sound Card

ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)

Wireless/Wired Networking

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

Microsoft® Edge (Windows 10 Only)

Monitor Cables

2 x 2m DisplayPort Adapter Cable - DP to HDMI

Warranty

3 Year Gold Warranty (2 Year Collect & Return, 2 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)

Delivery

STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)

Build Time

Standard Build - Approximately 10 to 12 working days

Price: £3,162.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure:

PCSPECIALIST - Configure the AMD Am4 Gen3 PC to your ideal requirements.

PCSpecialist is an award winning manufacturer of high quality custom PCs. Configure the AMD Am4 Gen3 PC to your ideal requirements.

www.pcspecialist.co.uk

Wow thank you very much !!! This is really helpful !!

The changes you made make complete sense. I will take what you selected for me

I will wait for sure till next week so I can have the 1tb m.2 ssd drive.
I'm doubting a little bit if I should go for the Ryzen 5950 CPU. I tried to find as much as possible info on it and compared it at:

AMD Ryzen 9 3950X vs AMD Ryzen 9 5950X: Wat is het verschil?

Wat is het verschil tussen AMD Ryzen 9 5950X en AMD Ryzen 9 3950X ? Zoek uit welke beter is en wat hun algemene prestatie is in de CPU rangschikking.

versus.com

And it didn't really convince me to take the 'risk' because there is so much still unknown about it.
Could you tell me what convinces you about it to take it?

Thanks already for all the info you gave me!!

 

[SpyderTracks]

Wow thank you very much !!! This is really helpful !!

The changes you made make complete sense. I will take what you selected for me

I will wait for sure till next week so I can have the 1tb m.2 ssd drive.
I'm doubting a little bit if I should go for the Ryzen 5950 CPU. I tried to find as much as possible info on it and compared it at:

AMD Ryzen 9 3950X vs AMD Ryzen 9 5950X: Wat is het verschil?

Wat is het verschil tussen AMD Ryzen 9 5950X en AMD Ryzen 9 3950X ? Zoek uit welke beter is en wat hun algemene prestatie is in de CPU rangschikking.

versus.com

And it didn't really convince me to take the 'risk' because there is so much still unknown about it.
Could you tell me what convinces you about it to take it?

Thanks already for all the info you gave me!!

About 20% general performance uplift and SIGNIFICANT single core uplift.

It's a significantly better processor for not much more money. Also much lower latency.

Obviously wait for 3rd party reveiws for confirmation, but that's what we're estimating.

AMD Ryzen 9 5950X outpaces Intel Core i9-10900K by up to 20% in leaked single-core tests, Ryzen 5 5600X is ahead too

Initial benchmark leaks of the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X show excellent leads in single-core performance over the Intel Core i9-10900K in PassMark and Geekbench 5. The scores seem to indicate anywhere between 16 to 20% benefits in single-core applications for the Ryzen 9 5950X. Even the Ryzen 5 5600X...

www.notebookcheck.net