Spec for Stable Diffusion and other AI work

[phoebus]

I've been looking to upgrade my device to improve work on Stable Diffusion and Natural Language processing related to AI/ML.

I think the 4080 Nvidia offers the best balance of latest performance with cost (although I use that term lightly), any comments on the below as I want it to last a few years, the current one I'm upgrading lasted me 6 years. THanks

Case
COOLERMASTER MASTERBOX K500 ARGB GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i7 16-Core Processor i7-13700 (Up to 5.2 GHz) 30MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® PRIME Z790-P (DDR5, LGA1700, USB 3.2, PCIe 5.0) - ARGB Ready
Memory (RAM)
64GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR5 5200MHz (2 x 32GB)
Graphics Card
16GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 4080 - HDMI, DP, LHR
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB SOLIDIGM P41+ GEN 4 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 4125MB/sR, 2950MB/sW)
1st Storage Drive
2TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 256MB CACHE
Power Supply
CORSAIR 850W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead, 1.0mm Core)
Processor Cooling
PCS FrostFlow 200 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
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 11 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KUK-00003]
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10/11 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
Norton 360 inc. Game Optimizer - Free 90 Day License
Browser
Microsoft® Edge
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 12 to 15 working days
Welcome Book
PCSpecialist Welcome Book - United Kingdom & Republic of Ireland
Logo Branding
PCSpecialist Logo


Price: £2,772.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/intel-z790-ddr5-pc/KxP7wHTGRh/

 

[phoebus]

Thanks @CountingDown I thought the URL was just for me, I've edited and posted the link and price.

Ideally I'd like to keep it under £3k but it's not a hard budget as I'd rather get something that is future proof for 3-4 years. And ideally have power button on the top due to where it would be kept.

It will be connected to a 4K TV rather than a monitor so while games will be played on it, that wouldn't be its main purpose. And if and when VR becomes cheaper in a couple of years I may wish to connect to a VR setup but headsets will probably be stand alone anyway.

 

[phoebus]

Thanks @CountingDown I appreciate that, my biggest unknowns were around the motherboard and cooler so that's helpful. I hadn't realised I had left off the C&R so definitely worth the fiver!

While the main alternative use for GPUs is (was?) crypto mining the same principle of crunching numbers can be used to crunch and produce lots of data and produce analysis of text and images, which is what I hope this will get me!

 

[Steveyg]

Well you sent me down a rabbit hole of Stable Diffusion and what it even is, it seems pretty much everything is dependant on the GPU and that VRAM is king. So basically we want the fastest GPU with the highest amount of VRAM. Let's see if I can put together some ungodly mess for this but definitely worth getting a second opinion because like I said I'm only reading about this this afternoon. Give me a couple minutes

 

[Steveyg]

This sent my eye twitching for some reason

Case
LIAN LI LANCOOL 215 GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 5 7600 Six Core CPU (4.0GHz-5.2GHz/38MB CACHE/AM5)
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF GAMING B650-PLUS (DDR5, USB 3.2, 6Gb/s) - ARGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR5 6000MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
24GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 4090 - HDMI, DP
1st M.2 SSD Drive
500GB SAMSUNG 980 PRO M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 6900MB/R, 5000MB/W)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
2TB SOLIDIGM P41+ GEN 4 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 4125MB/sR, 3325MB/sW)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 1000W RMx SERIES™ - MODULAR 80 PLUS GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead, 1.0mm Core)
Processor Cooling
PCS FrostFlow 200 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
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Windows 11 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KUK-00003]
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10/11 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 12 to 15 working days
Price: £2,975.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am5-pc/S!Y7ANUtjn/

 

[phoebus]

Interesting @Steveyg I've not used an AMD processor before so the only reason I went Intel as it's what I know. I assume that they can do the same thing pretty much?
Yes it is all about the GPU when it comes to Stable Diffusion (and text analysis). Though it can get hot so I may upgrade the cooler.

 

[Scott]

The best bang for buck would be the 3090Ti but I see that it's no longer available from PCS. The 4080 would be slightly more powerfull but the vRAM on the 3090Ti makes it a far better choice. The 4090 would be the equivalent but it's very expensive.

The CPU is a bit more of an afterthought but I still wouldn't cut the cloth too much. At the £3k budget level I would want a one size fits all personally. Below is what I would choose.

The 4080 below is £1200. You could pick up a 3090Ti for less than £1k second hand, if you wanted to get inside budget.

Case
CORSAIR iCUE 5000X RGB MID TOWER GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 9 7900X3D 12 Core CPU (4.4GHz-5.6GHz/140MB w/ 3D V-CACHE/AM5)
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF GAMING X670E-PLUS WIFI (DDR5, PCIe 5.0) - RGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR5 6000MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
16GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 4080 - HDMI, DP, LHR
1st M.2 SSD Drive
500GB SAMSUNG 980 PRO M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 6900MB/R, 5000MB/W)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
2TB SOLIDIGM P41+ GEN 4 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 4125MB/sR, 3325MB/sW)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 1200W HX SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® PLATINUM, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead, 1.0mm Core)
Processor Cooling
CORSAIR iCUE H115i ELITE CAPELLIX RGB 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
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Windows 11 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KUK-00003]
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10/11 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 12 to 15 working days
Price: £3,228.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am5-pc/qbfz7nJ!bb/

 

[Steveyg]

Interesting @Steveyg I've not used an AMD processor before so the only reason I went Intel as it's what I know. I assume that they can do the same thing pretty much?
Yes it is all about the GPU when it comes to Stable Diffusion (and text analysis). Though it can get hot so I may upgrade the cooler.

Yeah the case is going to affect GPU temps more than anything so getting a good case should be paramount, I'd recommend the Corsair 5000D/5000X or the Fractal Meshyfy 2 personally

@Scott build is much more sensible

As for AMD vs Intel there's no practical difference in them for the end user but performance differences are very slight at the different levels. So the budget generally dictates which one to go for. The past few years it's been tit for tat with which one has the edge in performance but AMD seem to be the ones making strides with Intel just about keeping up so we tend to favour AMD

 

[phoebus]

Thanks all, well it gives me a lot to think about and thanks for helping. Maybe I should push up the budget a bit then but I have a few options to look at. I may play about with Steve's and I'll look and see how much of a difference a 4090 has compared with a 4080. It does have the higher RAM and that does make quite a bit of difference so I may have to stretch beyond my original price.

 

[Steveyg]

Thanks all, well it gives me a lot to think about and thanks for helping. Maybe I should push up the budget a bit then but I have a few options to look at. I may play about with Steve's and I'll look and see how much of a difference a 4090 has compared with a 4080. It does have the higher RAM and that does make quite a bit of difference so I may have to stretch beyond my original price.

Definitely look into sourcing a 3090Ti yourself and ordering without a GPU as well, this could help off set a lot of cost and still get the massive amount of VRAM that's required. It's a really good option too because the cost of the 4090 is eye watering

 

[phoebus]

Yes, I had been holding off in the faint hope of a decrease but it doesn't look like prices are going down any time soon. I looked at how much I paid for my 1060 back in the day and it was a little bit less