Home Server / Remote Desktop

[kosheryosher]

Hi,

I'd like to setup a little home server / remote desktop. My main goal is to have a chunky CPU + Memory + HDD for 3D asset baking (Unreal Engine 4, 3ds Max, ZBrush, Photoshop) and distributed code builds (Visual Studio). Some of the things I'd like to consider for this configuration are:

+ Great cooling: a solid setup to support high loads at standard clock rates, e.g. baking lightmaps for 1h shouldn't put the system anywhere near the Kenny Loggins Danger Zone (KLDZ).
+ Keeping it quiet: as long as it doesn't skyrocket the price.
+ Lots of disk space: a multi-tier setup of NVMe, SSD and HDD for different use-cases. I already have an AWS backup machine so I don't need this to be failsafe.
+ Future-proofing: I'll probably upgrade the GPU at some point to the new RTX 30X0 cards so PCIe 4.0 would be good.

Here's what I've considered so far:

Case
PCS SPECTRUM RGB MID TOWER CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 9 3900 12 Core CPU (3.1GHz-4.3GHz/70MB CACHE/AM4) [lots of cores]
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF X570-PLUS GAMING (USB 3.2 Gen 2, PCIe 4.0, CrossFireX) - RGB Ready! [for PCIe 4.0]
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 16GB) [the more the better, baking eats up RAM quickly]
Graphics Card
8GB AMD RADEON™ RX 590 - HDMI, DP - DX® 12 [a solid mid-range for 1080p is fine]
1st Storage Drive
1TB Samsung 860 QVO 2.5" SSD, SATA 6Gb/s (up to 550MB/sR | 520MB/sW) [for UE4]
2nd Storage Drive
2TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 256MB CACHE [for Other stuff]
1st M.2 SSD Drive
512GB INTEL® 660p M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 1500MB/sR | 1000MB/sW) [for OS, VS, 3ds Max, PS]
Power Supply
CORSAIR 550W TXm SERIES™ SEMI-MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET [hopefully quiet and energy efficient]
Processor Cooling
CoolerMaster MasterLiquid Lite 240 High Performance Liquid Cooler [the CPU will be hit hard so this needs to be good]
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Extra Case Fans
1x 120mm Black Case Fan (configured to extract from rear/roof)
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 [I don't trust the mobo Wifi ]
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS

Price: £1,414.00 including VAT and Delivery

 

[kosheryosher]

I'll amend the spec here since updating the post above is not working.

The budget is around £1.5k, but I'm ok stretching it a little in favour of a longer lifespan like Nursemorph suggested:

Case
PCS SPECTRUM RGB MID TOWER CASE
PCS SR-819 RGB FULL TOWER CASE [to fit the Noctua cooler, bigger than the previous case]
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 9 3900 12 Core CPU (3.1GHz-4.3GHz/70MB CACHE/AM4) [lots of cores]
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF X570-PLUS GAMING (USB 3.2 Gen 2, PCIe 4.0, CrossFireX) - RGB Ready! [for PCIe 4.0]
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 16GB) [the more the better, baking eats up RAM quickly]
Graphics Card
8GB AMD RADEON™ RX 590 - HDMI, DP - DX® 12 [a solid mid-range for 1080p is fine]
1st Storage Drive
1TB Samsung 860 QVO 2.5" SSD, SATA 6Gb/s (up to 550MB/sR | 520MB/sW) [for UE4]
2nd Storage Drive
2TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 256MB CACHE [for other stuff]
1st M.2 SSD Drive
512GB INTEL® 660p M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 1500MB/sR | 1000MB/sW)
500GB SEAGATE FIRECUDA 520 GEN 4 PCIe NVMe (up to 5000MB/R, 2500MB/W) [for the OS, Visual Studio, ZBrush, 3ds Max, Photoshop]
Power Supply
CORSAIR 550W TXm SERIES™ SEMI-MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET [hopefully quiet and energy efficient]
Processor Cooling
CoolerMaster MasterLiquid Lite 240 High Performance Liquid Cooler
Noctua NH-U14S Ultra Quiet Performance CPU Cooler [the CPU will be hit hard so this needs to be good. Replacing the AIO since I keep reading about pump failures and sometimes leakage.]
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Extra Case Fans
2x 120mm Black Case Fan (configured to extract from rear/roof)
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 [I don't trust the mobo Wifi ]
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS

Price: £1,414.00 including VAT and Delivery
Price: £1,560.00 including VAT and Delivery

 

[Scott]

When copying in the spec if you could provide the link that's included at the bottom it makes it easier for us to go in and suggest changes.

You want a far better case,
I would probably opt for the 3900X over the 3900 but not sure if it fits the budget
For the GPU you want either the 1650 Super or the 1660 Super, depends on HZ of monitor
With the M2 drive the Evo is actually faster so I would choose that
You want the 750w RMx PSU, it runs nearly silent most of the time.
With the cooler you want the H100i RGB Platinum. There's no issue with pump failures and leaking, this is a game of Chinese Whispers. This cooler is almost silent and almost as good as it gets for cooling potential

If you include the link I can go in and have a nosy while considering budget

 

[kosheryosher]

Yep, can do:

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/9nZVqp9AcJ/

Also take into account power consumption: the 3900 has a TDP of 65W vs the 3900X at 105W, that's a pretty big gap for a machine that might be running for a long time.

 

[Scott]

I wouldn't pay too much attention to TDP to be honest, that's just the thermal design power..... how much cooling it takes to keep it optimum at the non-boost clocks. It's going to be 100W plus at full song. It's also a trade off in performance, the 3900X is going to do whatever you need to do it quicker...... and when it comes to actual cold hard cash, the difference is going to be minimal.

This clearly stretches your budget a little, but save for a 3950X or a Threadripper build (£££s) you won't get better

Case
FRACTAL MESHIFY C BLACK GAMING CASE (Window)
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 9 3900X 12 Core CPU (3.8GHz-4.6GHz/70MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF X570-PLUS GAMING (USB 3.2 Gen 2, PCIe 4.0, CrossFireX) - RGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
4GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1650 SUPER - HDMI
1st Storage Drive
1TB Samsung 860 QVO 2.5" SSD, SATA 6Gb/s (up to 550MB/sR | 520MB/sW)
2nd Storage Drive
2TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 256MB CACHE
1st 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 750W 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)
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
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
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)
Cable Management
3 x PCS 1.5M Zip Cable Tidy - Professional Cable Management
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: £1,630.00 including VAT and Delivery

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

 

[kosheryosher]

Thanks Scott. The TDP doesn't directly specify the power consumption but you can expect a similar difference to show up when measuring the power consumption, like this:

(from https://www.tomshardware.com/uk/reviews/amd-ryzen-9-3900-review-eco-mode)

They measure a 8.75% performance difference here. I understand that it's probably a binned 3900X but the difference in power consumption (less stress for the PSU too), temperature and price make it too difficult for me to justify the 3900X. I will only remote into the machine and continue working on my laptop while it's crunching in the background so small difference for long-running tasks is fine.

As for AIO vs Air Cooling, just typing in "corsair pump failure aio" throws up quite a few results and there's tons of open debate about reliability. Since I don't want to join those discussions on either side I'll stick to the Noctua air cooler for now. Might not look as pretty and eat up a RAM bank but I really don't care about that.

The GTX 1650 Super + PSU sound good, I'll take those over.

If you guys have any corrections on this or things to add that's always appreciated of course. Thanks!

 

[Scott]

50w though? That's nothing. I don't understand what you are quantifying that figure as. Is it the money? If it was ran hard 24/7 it would be about 15p per day. The actual difference is going to be negligeable. As for the PSU, the PSU can handle 300w+ without even turning the fan on so it's not a lot to worry about.

However, with the difference in cost between the chips it's a fair shout if you're not going to need the extra performance anyway.

Regarding the Water Vs Air, the water pump is no more likely to fail than any other electrical device. There were problems years ago with coolers leaking but that's been all but eradicated. I think there was a problem with one particular design, but again... it's been wiped out.

Have a look at hanging the weight of the noctua off a motherboard and the issues related to that. Also, have a look at long term heat soak problems when number crunching goes on for extended periods. If you are insistent on the air cooler I would advise taking the side panel off to promote cooling when it's under heavy use.

 

[kosheryosher]

Yeah, I estimated the power difference to come out at around £10 (1st year) + £60 for the upgrade which I was planning to put towards an RTX 30X0 later. I don't think I would notice the extra performance because I won't be jumping on it the second it finishes its work.

I'll have a think about the AIO. Is an upgrade to the H115i PRO + quiet fans worth it in terms of temps or noise?

For the case, what are the benefits of going for the Fractal over the cheaper Corsair iCue 220T, Lian Li or even the PCS Spectrum?

 

[SpyderTracks]

I'll have a think about the AIO. Is an upgrade to the H115i PRO + quiet fans worth it in terms of temps or noise?

The H115i Platinum would be the one to go for, it’s a newer model with a greatly improved pump and has ML fans (magnetic levitation) that are whisper quiet. Excellent cooler.

For the case, what are the benefits of going for the Fractal over the cheaper Corsair iCue 220T, Lian Li or even the PCS Spectrum?

The iCue fans run quite loud, wouldnt recommend that case. The Lian Li is a very capable case. I also wouldn’t recommend the spectrum, the PCS cases are more form over function. The Fractal is a decent case with a very discrete look, it’s worth the investment of it appeals.

 

[Scott]

I believe the Fractal is the only one that would take the H115i Platinum.

It also has a modified cooling plate from cool-it which is significantly better than the old one

 

[kosheryosher]

Okidoki, I'll take those over, throw out the Wifi card since the mobo seems to have an Intel 9260 and maybe reconsider leaving out the M2 drive and just have 2x 500GB 860 EVOs + Barracuda since I won't be needing the extra read speed until UE5 comes out, which is not until Q2 2021. I think that'll bring the price down to a range I'm happy with. Thanks!

One more question: can I open the case and install extra fans without voiding the PCS warranty?

 

[SpyderTracks]

I won't be needing the extra read speed until UE5 comes out, which is not until Q2 2021.

I can’t wait for UE5, gonna be a true game changed me thinks!