High-End PC for Rendering in Cinema4d and After Effects/Nuke

[DanielHawkins480]

Hi all, just thinking about pulling the trigger on this build - it's a hell of a lot of money but I'm using it for work every day and the rendering speeds are going to be so much faster with the Threadripper. Please take a look and let me know if I've made any obvious mistakes - I know a lot about animation but not much about PCs so any and all help is very welcome! Cheers, Dan.


Case
BE QUIET! DARK BASE PRO 900 REV. 2 FULL TOWER GAMING CASE
Overclocked CPU
Overclocked AMD Threadripper 3970X 32 Core (3.7GHz @ up to 4.3GHz)
Motherboard
ASUS® ROG ZENITH II EXTREME (DDR4, Wi-Fi 6, CrossFireX/SLI) - RGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
64GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3600MHz (8 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
11GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 2080 Ti - HDMI, 3x DP GeForce - RTX VR Ready!
2nd Graphics Card
11GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 2080 Ti - HDMI, 3x DP GeForce - RTX VR Ready!
1st Storage Drive
4TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 5400RPM, 256MB CACHE
1st M.2 SSD Drive
250GB SAMSUNG 970 EVO PLUS M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3500MB/R, 2300MB/W)
2nd M.2 SSD Drive
500GB SAMSUNG 970 EVO PLUS M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3500MB/R, 3200MB/W)
3rd M.2 SSD Drive
2TB SAMSUNG 970 EVO PLUS M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3500MB/R, 3300MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 1200W HX SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® PLATINUM, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Braided Power Supply Cables
CORSAIR Premium Individually Sleeved PSU Cable Kit Pro - Blue/Black
Processor Cooling
CoolerMaster MasterLiquid ML360 RGB TR4 High Performance Liquid Cooler
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND
Extra Case Fans
3x Corsair LL120 RGB LED Fan + Controller Kit
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT (Wi-Fi NOT INCLUDED)
USB/Thunderbolt Options
2 PORT (1 x TYPE A, 1 x TYPE C) USB 3.1 PCI-E CARD + STANDARD USB PORTS
Operating System
Windows 10 Professional 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [MUP-00003]
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® Office® 365 (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
BullGuard™ Internet Security - Free 90 Day License inc. Gamer Mode
Browser
Firefox™
Keyboard & Mouse
Razer® Black Widow Elite Gaming Keyboard
Mouse
CORSAIR WIRELESS MOUSE IRONCLAW RGB
Speakers
LOGITECH Z200 2.0 SPEAKERS - 10W
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)

 

[Deleted member 103489]

specs look great.

I am also using cinema 4d..what rendering platform do you use.. the standard or do you use redshift octane etc

I am using octane and get most benefit from my gpu.. with x2 2080ti these will work a treat.

threadripper will be incredible for work like after effects etc but these appsdo like to chew on ram.. 64gb is a great amount and you should never really run into problems with this.

But for the MHz on ram it does no benefit whatsoever you could get 3000mhz and it would perform exactly the same maybe minor difference but not for you to probably notice... this is why imo I would have got x2 32gb sticks at 3000mhz and therefor you can upgrade ram in the future to let’s say 128gb or more if needed.

Other than that great build and very future proof.

 

[DanielHawkins480]

Jamie, thanks so much for your response. Yeah, rendering in Octane most of the time myself as well. Thanks for the advice on RAM, will definitely look into that. Again, really appreciate you taking the time to look over the build

 

[Scott]

It looks absolutely fantastic. I'm a little confused with the M2 storage configuration though. The 250GB drive seems like a waste of an M2 slot to me. Is this just to house the OS and software? Is the rest for storage and cache?

Out of curiosity, are the Firecudas not an option? They are even faster again, which will make a difference.

I don't think I would go with that case though. It looks very closed off. Either the Corsair 680X or the Corsair 500D SE would be my recommendation.

 

[DanielHawkins480]

Hey Scott, thanks for the feedback, much appreciated! My thinking with the M2 drives is to have the OS on the smallest drive, then use the 500GB drive for cacheing previews in After Effects (something that you're doing constantly when animating that can really slow you down). Then on the 2TB I'd store all the files I currently need for the project I'm working on (I do a lot of compositing so sometimes you have many dozens or even hundreds of Gbs of video files to work with. Then once the project is finished I can store most of the files on external drives that are usually provided by the production company I'm working with. The Firecudas were the faster M2 drives, right? I don't know why I didn't go for those, I wasn't sure how much difference they'd make - like with RAM, I was advised that the bottleneck caused by other components meant that 128Gb or 256Gb of RAM, though possible, wasn't really worth it. Do you think the Firecudas are worth the extra cash?

As for case, I just went for one that looked large enough and I liked the idea of it being not too loud, so the 'BeQuiet!' brand made sense - I'll look into the cases you recommended there though, thank you

Cheers, Dan.

 

[Scott]

I would definitely go for firecuda given your uses. If your projects are large, they certainly sound it, then there is definitely merit for 128gb RAM. You want to use 4 sticks if possible too... rather than 8. You want to maximise the channel use but minimise the slots. Where did you get the advice? Was it people in the animation industry?

For the cache drive I would stick with the evo or bump it up to a 1tb firecuda.... the 500gb option doesnt have as fast writes as the evo.

My selection would be 500gb evo for primary
1tb firecuda for cache
2tb firecuda for fast storage

250gb isnt a lot nowadays unfortunately.

If you want a fairly large, fairly quiet but absolutely fantastic for airflow case..... look at the fractal define R7. That's for quiet but excellent, if silence is secondary the corsairs will make a difference to promote airflow.

 

[SpyderTracks]

God, that’s an epic build, would echo @Scott advice on drives though, but lovely otherwise.

 

[DanielHawkins480]

Thank you again Scott for the advice, I will get on that for sure

 

[DanielHawkins480]

Okay, interesting - when going through the PC Specialist site to update the components for a new quote, it's telling me that the ASUS® ROG ZENITH II EXTREME Motherboard is too large to fit into either the Corsair 680X case or the Fractal Define R7 - would you suggest a different motherboard or a different case? Other than that, I have swapped the 64Gb 3600MHz RAM for 128Gb 3200MHz, but there is no option for this to come in 4x32Gb, only 8x16Gb unfortunately :/

 

[Scott]

Could you go to "post to forum" and then share the hyperlink with me? Just so that I can go in and have a play. It may be a limitation with the chipset.

I know that the high end Threadripper boards are large but I had no idea they wouldn't fit the 680X. That's nuts haha.

Would like a play around with your configuration though if you're happy to share

 

[DanielHawkins480]

Hey Scott, sure thing - this is actually the one I've just being playing with. Let me know what you think. I switched the motherboard from the extreme to the alpha and that seems to work fine. It's a few hundred quid more expensive but the Corsair 680X case is cheaper than the BeQuiet! 900 Rev 2, so it kind of works out. Here's the link anyway: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-x399-overclocked/3YcUvqAvnh/


Case
CORSAIR CRYSTAL SERIES 680X RGB GAMING CASE
Overclocked CPU
Overclocked AMD Threadripper 3970X 32 Core (3.7GHz @ up to 4.3GHz)
Motherboard
ASUS® ROG ZENITH II EXTREME ALPHA (DDR4, Wi-Fi 6, CrossFireX/SLI) - RGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
128GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3200MHz (8 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
11GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 2080 Ti - HDMI, 3x DP GeForce - RTX VR Ready!
2nd Graphics Card
11GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 2080 Ti - HDMI, 3x DP GeForce - RTX VR Ready!
1st Storage Drive
4TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 5400RPM, 256MB CACHE
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB SEAGATE FIRECUDA 520 GEN 4 PCIe NVMe (up to 5000MB/R, 4400MB/W)
2nd M.2 SSD Drive
2TB SEAGATE FIRECUDA 520 GEN 4 PCIe NVMe (up to 5000MB/R, 4400MB/W)
3rd M.2 SSD Drive
500GB SAMSUNG 970 EVO PLUS M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3500MB/R, 3200MB/W)
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
NOT REQUIRED
Power Supply
CORSAIR 1200W HX SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® PLATINUM, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Braided Power Supply Cables
CORSAIR Premium Individually Sleeved PSU Cable Kit Pro - Blue/Black
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)
Wireless/Wired Networking
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT (Wi-Fi NOT INCLUDED)
USB/Thunderbolt Options
2 PORT (1 x TYPE A, 1 x TYPE C) USB 3.1 PCI-E CARD + STANDARD USB PORTS
Operating System
Windows 10 Professional 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [MUP-00003]
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® Office® 365 (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
BullGuard™ Internet Security - Free 90 Day License inc. Gamer Mode
Browser
Firefox™
Keyboard & Mouse
Razer® Black Widow Elite Gaming Keyboard
Mouse
CORSAIR WIRELESS MOUSE IRONCLAW RGB
Speakers
LOGITECH Z200 2.0 SPEAKERS - 10W
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)

 

[Scott]

I'm guessing this is there or there-abouts....

The H500M Mastercase is absolutely fantastic. I'm not a HUGE fan of the look, but boy it's a great case!

Case
COOLERMASTER MASTERCASE H500M GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3970X 32 Core CPU (3.7GHz - 4.5GHz, 147MB CACHE)
Motherboard
ASUS® ROG ZENITH II EXTREME (DDR4, Wi-Fi 6, CrossFireX/SLI) - RGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
128GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3000MHz (4 x 32GB)
Graphics Card
11GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 2080 Ti - HDMI, 3x DP GeForce - RTX VR Ready!
2nd Graphics Card
11GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 2080 Ti - HDMI, 3x DP GeForce - RTX VR Ready!
1st Storage Drive
3TB SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 64MB CACHE
1st M.2 SSD Drive
500GB SAMSUNG 970 EVO PLUS M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3500MB/R, 3200MB/W)
2nd M.2 SSD Drive
1TB SEAGATE FIRECUDA 520 GEN 4 PCIe NVMe (up to 5000MB/R, 4400MB/W)
3rd M.2 SSD Drive
2TB SEAGATE FIRECUDA 520 GEN 4 PCIe NVMe (up to 5000MB/R, 4400MB/W)
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
NOT REQUIRED
Power Supply
CORSAIR 1200W HX SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® PLATINUM, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
CoolerMaster MasterLiquid ML360 RGB TR4 High Performance Liquid Cooler
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
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
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
NO RECOVERY MEDIA REQUIRED
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft® Office® 365 (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Microsoft® Edge (Windows 10 Only)
Keyboard & Mouse
Razer® Black Widow Elite Gaming Keyboard
Mouse
CORSAIR WIRELESS MOUSE IRONCLAW RGB
Speakers
LOGITECH Z200 2.0 SPEAKERS - 10W
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 12 to 14 working days
Price: £6,810.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-trx40-pc/CMACggkEN3/

 

[DanielHawkins480]

So you would go for 4 x 32Gb 3000MHz RAM rather than 8x16Gb 3200MHz RAM. Out of interest, why is that so much better? Does the MHz speed not really matter?

 

[Scott]

I'll be honest.... I don't understand the difference with the Alpha. I would genuinely call PCS with regards to that and this particular case as it doesn't really make sense to me. You're at a level where I would absolutely demand perfection.

I'm like a kid in a sweet shop with this budget!

You don't want an overclocked build and I would slightly lower the RAM speed in order to get the 128GB across 4 slots... rather than 8. That being said. If/When you give them a call.... I would query the limitation with 4x32GB @ 3200Mhz.... I don't understand that limitation either.

All I will say is that you are at pioneering levels of a system here. You are VERY bespoke in this system. You need the utmost level of experience in discussion with such a build so take your time on the phone and address each point and make sure the people you speak to understand the level of understanding required.

We are there or there abouts with the highest spec I've ever made on here.

Queries include:

Why does the Alpha fit but the non-Alpha doesn't
Why no option for 4x32GB 3200Mhz

If you could give them a call and get some feedback on the above it would be great if you could feed back. Before going ahead, if you could post back your thoughts it would be good. I wouldn't want you to go ahead with such a build without being 10000% sure about it.

Case
CORSAIR CRYSTAL SERIES 680X RGB GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3970X 32 Core CPU (3.7GHz - 4.5GHz, 147MB CACHE)
Motherboard
ASUS® ROG ZENITH II EXTREME ALPHA (DDR4, Wi-Fi 6, CrossFireX/SLI) - RGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
128GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3000MHz (4 x 32GB)
Graphics Card
11GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 2080 Ti - HDMI, 3x DP GeForce - RTX VR Ready!
2nd Graphics Card
11GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 2080 Ti - HDMI, 3x DP GeForce - RTX VR Ready!
1st Storage Drive
3TB SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 64MB CACHE
1st M.2 SSD Drive
500GB SAMSUNG 970 EVO PLUS M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3500MB/R, 3200MB/W)
2nd M.2 SSD Drive
1TB SEAGATE FIRECUDA 520 GEN 4 PCIe NVMe (up to 5000MB/R, 4400MB/W)
3rd M.2 SSD Drive
2TB SEAGATE FIRECUDA 520 GEN 4 PCIe NVMe (up to 5000MB/R, 4400MB/W)
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
NOT REQUIRED
Power Supply
CORSAIR 1200W HX SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® PLATINUM, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
CoolerMaster MasterLiquid ML360 RGB TR4 High Performance Liquid Cooler
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
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
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
NO RECOVERY MEDIA REQUIRED
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft® Office® 365 (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Microsoft® Edge (Windows 10 Only)
Keyboard & Mouse
Razer® Black Widow Elite Gaming Keyboard
Mouse
CORSAIR WIRELESS MOUSE IRONCLAW RGB
Speakers
LOGITECH Z200 2.0 SPEAKERS - 10W
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 12 to 14 working days
Price: £6,958.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-trx40-pc/qxK2C66pg!/

 

[Scott]

So you would go for 4 x 32Gb 3000MHz RAM rather than 8x16Gb 3200MHz RAM. Out of interest, why is that so much better? Does the MHz speed not really matter?

It's an interesting point. To be honest it would need side by side comparison.

The thing is... you are using a memory controller to use the RAM. When using all 128GB, you are asking an AWFUL lot of the controller to manage 8 slots over 4 (there is no speed advantage to 8 over 4 when everything else is equal. The interesting quip is 3200 vs 3000.... what wins....

The end result is it's better to ask if you can have 4x32GB of 3200Mhz RAM and then you don't need to worry.

Personally, I would take the hit and go for 4x32GB regardless.... it leaves the door open for another 4X32GB down the line if you want more

Otherwise you're buying 8x32GB to upgrade.... not ideal.

 

[DanielHawkins480]

Interesting, thanks for explaining, very good to know

 

[Scott]

I was nosy and did a little research on the motherboard. It definitely needs some explaining from PCS themselves with regards to the fitment issues as both boards measure 310mm x 277mm ( E-ATX nothing unusual ). The only difference that I can see is the Alpha has an additional VRM cooling plate of sorts. This may be worth it with a high end chip such as your choosing...... but my point is it's an addition.... so why the hell would the non-addition not fit?

However... the Alpha motherboard is ITRO £950 which is the cost of an entire entry level 1080P PC system. Its spec list is insane and absolutely the stuff of dreams. The irony is..... so is the non-alpha

I know I'm re-iterating.... please understand you are at a level that probably has the least amount of in the hands experience with building so the configuration builder may not quite be accurate. It's VERY important when spending this sort of money that everything is absolutely catered to your needs. That's not to say the less budgeted systems are any different, they aren't.... it's just that there is FAR more experience with them and they are much better known.

I like accuracy

 

[Deleted member 103489]

Daniel speaking of octane render I wonder if 128gb of ram would solve the fog volume voxel size.. often I make the mistake on setting it to 1 and I always end up crashing cinema because I am out of ram.. makes me think just how much ram it really needs lol

I know the voxel you have to go higher but sometimes you end up putting it lower by mistake lol

 

[Scott]

Daniel speaking of octane render I wonder if 128gb of ram would solve the fog volume voxel size.. often I make the mistake on setting it to 1 and I always end up crashing cinema because I am out of ram.. makes me think just how much ram it really needs lol

I know the voxel you have to go higher but sometimes you end up putting it lower by mistake lol

Is that not a GPU RAM limitation in Octane?

I know another user opted to go for the Titan GPU, due to RAM limitations within the GPU itself.

The thing is, with Octane there are no REAL RAM limitations.... it's all about pre-determined configuration allocation limitations. If you go outwith them, it'll break. I love software like that to be honest. The user in control!

 

[Deleted member 103489]

Is that not a GPU RAM limitation in Octane?

I know another user opted to go for the Titan GPU, due to RAM limitations within the GPU itself.

The thing is, with Octane there are no REAL RAM limitations.... it's all about pre-determined configuration allocation limitations. If you go outwith them, it'll break. I love software like that to be honest. The user in control!

You know what Scott you are right something I should have actually known :-(

the scene does get saved in the vram so makes sense while the limitations get maxed out.

I am mistaken this because rendering your final scene requires the Ram

sorry to cause confusion Daniel if you do read this.
I don’t want to get this forum topic of track now.