Workstation for 3d Environment Game Artist

[Ash88mph]

Hi !
It's been a couple of years since I assembled my last desktop PC and although I try to follow the hardware market and the related news I don't feel confident enough to pick the components myself, so I would kindly ask you for suggestions to help me build the best PC for my needs. I already searched the forums for some other builds posted by other users but I couldn’t find any specific case similar to mine, so I preferred to create my own request. 😅

I work as 3d Environment Game Artist and I am looking to build a new PC to be able to work (first and foremost) but also play some games on the side.

I already own two HP Z27n G2 monitors (https://support.hp.com/ro-en/document/c05822916) that are not gaming monitors but rather graphic/artist monitors. I run the monitors at 1440p and so when gaming I would like to use the same 1440p resolution, hoping to get stable 60 fps.
Question: could my monitors be a bottleneck while gaming because of the low refresh rate? Should I consider to change them?

I am flexible for the budget, meaning: I want to get a performant machine but at the same time I don't need to overdo it.
So if there is a cheaper solution that allow to achieve similar performance I am fine with it.
But at the same time if it make sense to invest a little more money to get better performance/components I will gladly conside it.

• Budget: between 2000 and 3000 € (between 1800 - 2600 £)
  
  
• Location: Spain (Europe) > my plan would be to order on the Spanish website of PC Specialist.
  
  
• Primary Use: Work (3d environment game art and game development), specifically: 3d modeling (high poly with ZBrush and low poly with Maya), UV mapping (Maya), texturing (Substance Painter/Designer and Photoshop) and in engine work (environment layout and set dressing, lighting, blueprints, shaders/materials/VFX creation). Sometimes I also need to record in game footage to create video trailers of the environments I work on, so the machine should be able to handle the recording of the raw footage with a stable framerate as well as allowing to render edited videos afterwards (with editing software like Adobe Premiere).
  
  
• Software Used for Work: Unreal Engine (the project I am working on uses UE4, but my personal projects I use UE5), Maya, ZBrush, Substance Designer, Substance Painter, Photoshop, Marmoset Toolbag.
  
  
• Secondary Use: Gaming, specifically I play a lot of multiplayer, MMO and open world games, like: Overwatch, World of Warcraft, Genshin Impact, Elden Ring, Spiderman, Horizon Zero Dawn/Forbidden West, Days Gone, etc.
  
  
• Peripherals Not Required: I already own 2 monitors (as explained above), keyboard and mouse as well as an external DAC that I use as sound card (https://www.fiio.com/e10k)

---

Below you can find notes about various components/features that I would like to have.

• Hard Disks: I usually set up my PC with 3 hard disks, 1 for the OS, 1 for Software (where I keep both work software and games) and 1 for data (where I keep work data/projects as well as video tutorial to study). So generally speaking I use a 512 GB for Disk 1 (OS), 1 or 2 TB for Disk 2 (Software and games) and 3 or 4 TB for Disk 3 (data). Of course I would like the first 2 drives (and in particular the second one where I install software and games) to be pretty fast: on my current laptop I have M2 SSD disks (Samsung) and I am pretty happy with the performance. So I would like something as fast.
  
  
• USB Ports: I would like to have a good amount of USB ports (3.0 mostly but also some 2.0 would be nice to have for things like my old Wacom graphic tablet). I don’t have a specific number in mind, but I would say at least 6/8 usb ports would be nice to have.
  
  
• Power supply: I don’t have any particular preference here (feel free to advice on this one). The only thing that I would like are modular cables, meaning that I can remove the cables that I don’t need. In the last desktop PC, I assembled a couple of years ago I used a great Corsair power supply but I had so many unused cables running around the case … (I secured them using cable zips, but the case ventilation was definitely worst because of all those unused cables lying around).
  
  
• Cooling: I live in a warm place, so keeping the PC cool during the warm months (in particular) is kind of important to me (also trying to keep the noise under control). So this time I was thinking to give liquid cooling a go (for both CPU and GPU), but I am not sure if it worth it or still better to go with air cooling.
  
  
• RGB Lighting/Aesthetics: I don't care about RGB lighting nor aesthetics at all. I prefer to spend my budget on quality components and performance rather than on the aesthetics. I don’t mind having some RGB lighting but having too many lights actually bothers me a bit.
  
  
• Case: I don’t have any preference about the size of the case: as long as it allow to fit all the components in it with ease I am fine. As stated above aesthetics are secondary to me. For the case I am more interested in good materials, smart assembly/disassembly of the components, good air flow/ventilation (or anyways that allow the machine to run cool and well) and maybe prevent dust to get in (not the top priority but would be nice).

---

Below I go into doubts that I have about specific things, namely RAM, Graphic Card, CPU and Operating System

• Doubts - RAM: I am not sure if it’s better to go with DDR4 or DDR5 and why: can you please advise on this? I assume that in any case I want to have 2 sticks of 16 GB each in dual channel to be able to get to 32 GB of ram overall. 64 GB seems overkill, but there would be any point in having so much memory? (just for my knowledge)
  
  
• Doubts - Graphic Card: I am really confused which graphic card should I get. I haven’t used a Radeon card in the last 15 years: I only used Nvidia cards because they were always superior. However, I know that things are changing. I try to explain below what I understand about the current situation (I don’t assume to be right, so feel free to correct any dumb stuff I said below).
  NVIDIA
  From the information I managed to gather so far, this generation of Nvidia (series 4) seems to be less performant than the previous generations (like series 1 and series 3). The series 4 cards tend to have less memory than the AMD Radeon cards and rely more on DLSS 3. Nvidia seems to do much better than Radeon with raytracing but at the same time the use of raytracing (both in Unreal Engine and in games) seems to be still limited, so I am not sure if it worth to invest in an Nvidia card just because of raytracing alone. Overall Nvidia cards are more expensive than AMD Radeon cards. I also understand that the 4090 is a monster but I cannot afford to pay 1700 /1800 € for a graphic card.
  AMD RADEON
  I am extremely confused about the Radeon VGA, probably because of the naming: they seem all the same to me. From what I heard, in rasterization Radeon cards performs generally better than Nvidia cards, but they start losing performance when enabling raytracing (both in Unreal Engine and in games). At the same time Radeon cards are generally cheaper than the Nvidia counterparts, making them extremely appealing.
  So between Nvidia and AMD who provide the best performance taking into account my specific needs explained above? And specifically which graphic card would be best for my needs?
  
  
• Doubts - CPU: As for the graphic card, even for CPU I am extremely confused which one should I buy between Intel and AMD for my specific needs and why. I understand to carefully choose the right CPU depending on the GPU to avoid they bottleneck each other, but I am not sure how to do the choice.
  
  
• Doubts - Operating System: I am undecided if to stick to Windows 10 pro (that I have been using for many years and I know like the palm of my hand) or if to go with Window 11 (that I tried a couple of months ago on my work PC, but I felt was pretty different as interface and menus and confused me a lot). I heard that Windows 11 have done many improvements to performance, but I am not sure how much is true and if the improvements worth the confusion generated by a new/different OS that I will need to get used to.

I hope I have been specific enough to provide you enough information to help me out.
Forgive me for the wall of text and thanks in advance for any help/tips you will be able to give me!

 

[David689]

I note you haven't had a reply yet.
Have a look at these threads and maybe have a go at specifying a build and people more knowledgeable than I will probably comment on it. I think they will need to know which monitor it will be used with.

How to Post Your Specification to the Forum - Check this Spec

Just a first note, if you've been provided this link, don't amend your first post as it won't update the queue, please add an additional comment to the thread, that way it will go back to the front of the queue. Otherwise we don't know it's been updated. When creating a forum post looking to...

www.pcspecialist.co.uk

Check this spec!

Post any machine builds you are contemplating here for community feedback on your choices.

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Quick note to prospective buyers

We've had a few people recently who've gone ahead and ordered without getting advice and then come on after receiving it posting and asking what can be tweaked.... I know most of you will have some idea of components and their use and pairing, but for those that don't, seriously, get some...

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(edited for spelling)

 

[Ash88mph]

Thank you for the feedback David, I will.

 

[SpyderTracks]

Thank you for the feedback David, I will.

Sorry we missed this, I'm away from my computer just for a little bit, will draw something up

Thanks for all the info though, makes it far easier to recommend something well suited to your needs.

 

[Ash88mph]

No worries Spyder and thanks for the reply !
I am in no rush so take your time, and many thanks in advance for your help !

 

[SpyderTracks]

Question: could my monitors be a bottleneck while gaming because of the low refresh rate? Should I consider to change them?

Yes, definitely, they wouldn't be a great experience, for both refresh rate and screen tearing due to no adaptive refresh sync to the GPU. I wouldn't get rid of them though, just add a separate monitor dedicated for gaming. We can recommend some at a decent cost at 1440p again.

This would be my suggestion, and I'll put notes where I can, then I'll answer your specific questions separately:

Carcasa
CARCASA DE JUEGO DE CRISTAL TEMPLADO CON FLUJO DE AIRE CORSAIR 4000D Very capable case, forgoes RGB for strong airflow and solid construction
Procesador (CPU)
Procesador de 16 núcleos AMD Ryzen 9 7950X (4.5 GHz-5.7 GHz/80 MB DE CACHÉ/AM5) The king for productivity, operates at far lower temps than Intels equivalents, and you'd be able to upgrade this to one in about 4 generations time if you wanted, so it's futureproof as well
Placa base
ASUS® ROG STRIX X670E-A GAMING WIFI (WIFI 6E, DDR5, PCIe 5.0) Very strong motherboard, and has masses of USB's, will answer that separately
Memoria (RAM)
32 GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR5 5600 MHz (2 x 16 GB) If it were me, I'd order with 8Gb of basic RAM, and then source your own 32Gb 6400MHz elsewhere. Ryzen appreciates high frequencies and for your uses you'd benefit from faster RAM than PCS currently supply.
Tarjeta gráfica
12 GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 4070 - HDMI, DP, LHR Restricted by budget, will go more into this later
Soporte de tarjeta gráfica
NINGUNO (SOPORTE INCLUIDO COMO ESTÁNDAR EN 4070 Ti Y ARRIBA)
1ª Unidad M.2 SSD
1 TB SOLIDIGM P44 PRO GEN 4 NVMe PCIe M.2 SSD (hasta 7000 MB/sR, 6500 MB/sW) Very reliable and FAST M2 SSD's, a really clear winner
1ª Unidad M.2 SSD
2 TB SOLIDIGM P44 PRO GEN 4 NVMe PCIe M.2 SSD (hasta 7000 MB/sR, 6500 MB/sW)
1er Disco duro
SEAGATE IRONWOLF PRO 3,5" DE 4 TB, 7200 RPM Y 128 MB DE CACHÉ This is the NAS level drive which means far higher endurance, designed for always on drive setups.
Fuente de alimentación
CORSAIR 1200 W HX SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® PLATINO, ULTRASILENCIOSO Gives you flexibility for GPU upgrades in the future
Cable de alimentación
1,5 metros de cable de alimentación europeo (cable tipo C13; núcleo de 1,0 mm)
Refrigeración procesador
Refrigerador CPU alto rendimiento serie CORSAIR iCUE H115i ELITE CAPELLIX XT RGB Solid AIO cooler, it's a closed loop watercooler, so no maintenance required, very reliable and can be monitored by software for pump and fan speeds and temps
Pasta térmica
PASTA TÉRMICA ESTÁNDAR PARA UNA REFRIGERACIÓN SUFICIENTE Cooler comes pre applied with high quality paste
Tarjeta de sonido
6 CANALES INTEGRADOS (5.1) AUDIO ALTA DEF. (DE SERIE)
Tarjeta de red
PUERTO LAN DE 2.5Gbe
Opciones USB/Thunderbolt
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x PUERTOS USB 2.0 @ PANEL TRASERO + MIN. 2 PUERTOS FRONTALES This is a generic showing minimum, will list the actual board features below
Sistema operativo
Windows 11 Home de 64 bits - incl. licencia individual [KUK-00003] Windows 10 goes out of support in just over a year, so not worth getting. Windows 11 is really easy to use, the search actually works, plus they're about to implement ChatGPT into the OS itself.
Idioma Sistema operativo
España - Español
Medios de recuperación de Windows
NO ES NECESARIO SOPORTE DE RECUPERACIÓN
Software de Office
Prueba GRATUITA de 30 días de Microsoft 365® (Sistema operativo obligatorio)
Antivirus
SIN SOFTWARE ANTIVIRUS
Navegador
Microsoft® Edge
Garantía
Garantía Oro 3 años (3 años recogida y devolución, 3 años componentes, 3 años mano de obra)
Entrega
ENTREGA EN 3 DÍAS A ESPAÑA
Tiempo de compilación
Montaje estándar: entre 8 a 10 días laborables
Precio: 3.006,00 € IVA y envío incluidos

URL única para volver a configurar: https://www.pcspecialist.es/configuraciones-guardadas/amd-am5-pc/y0SvwFTeFE/

 

[SpyderTracks]

The motherboard is a really strong contender which will support future high end CPU's also. AMD have promised support through 2025 which likely means 2 more generations at least, but given their history, it will likely be 4 generations supported. The VRM's on this board are hugely overdesigned which means it will happily support future top tier chips.

This is the backplate of the motherboard.

On top of this, you'd also have 2 x USB 3 and 1 x USB C on the front of the case.

Doubts - RAM: I am not sure if it’s better to go with DDR4 or DDR5 and why: can you please advise on this? I assume that in any case I want to have 2 sticks of 16 GB each in dual channel to be able to get to 32 GB of ram overall. 64 GB seems overkill, but there would be any point in having so much memory? (just for my knowledge)

I would definitely go with DDR5, current AMD chips only support it. Intel is a bust really with crazy high operating temps that can't effectively be cooled, as well as ludicrous power draw. As said though, I would order the above with the basic 8Gb RAM, and then source your own 2 x 16Gb DDR5 6400MHz RAM from elsewhere. There is currrently a bug on Asus boards that make it sometimes unstable above 5600MHz, but that should be temporary and updated by a BIOS fix in the future

Doubts - Graphic Card: I am really confused which graphic card should I get. I haven’t used a Radeon card in the last 15 years: I only used Nvidia cards because they were always superior. However, I know that things are changing. I try to explain below what I understand about the current situation (I don’t assume to be right, so feel free to correct any dumb stuff I said below).
NVIDIA
From the information I managed to gather so far, this generation of Nvidia (series 4) seems to be less performant than the previous generations (like series 1 and series 3). The series 4 cards tend to have less memory than the AMD Radeon cards and rely more on DLSS 3. Nvidia seems to do much better than Radeon with raytracing but at the same time the use of raytracing (both in Unreal Engine and in games) seems to be still limited, so I am not sure if it worth to invest in an Nvidia card just because of raytracing alone. Overall Nvidia cards are more expensive than AMD Radeon cards. I also understand that the 4090 is a monster but I cannot afford to pay 1700 /1800 € for a graphic card.
AMD RADEON
I am extremely confused about the Radeon VGA, probably because of the naming: they seem all the same to me. From what I heard, in rasterization Radeon cards performs generally better than Nvidia cards, but they start losing performance when enabling raytracing (both in Unreal Engine and in games). At the same time Radeon cards are generally cheaper than the Nvidia counterparts, making them extremely appealing.
So between Nvidia and AMD who provide the best performance taking into account my specific needs explained above? And specifically which graphic card would be best for my needs?

You're pretty spot on in your summary, but for your uses, Cuda cores are what really improve performance for your workflow, and this is where NVidia are far stronger, this will speed up any animation processes, adding effects, or pure rendering. I've added the 4070 purely as limited by budget, but it's got 12Gb VRAM which is acceptable for your uses. Even though AMD have higher rasterisation performance, with CUDA hardware acceleration enabled, the NVidia will work out better for you

Doubts - CPU: As for the graphic card, even for CPU I am extremely confused which one should I buy between Intel and AMD for my specific needs and why. I understand to carefully choose the right CPU depending on the GPU to avoid they bottleneck each other, but I am not sure how to do the choice.

7950x is a really strong CPU for both multithreaded workloads like you'll need for game generation, and also for gaming. I've put the bulk of the money into that as that will last you a long time without worrying it's holding you up.

Doubts - Operating System: I am undecided if to stick to Windows 10 pro (that I have been using for many years and I know like the palm of my hand) or if to go with Window 11 (that I tried a couple of months ago on my work PC, but I felt was pretty different as interface and menus and confused me a lot). I heard that Windows 11 have done many improvements to performance, but I am not sure how much is true and if the improvements worth the confusion generated by a new/different OS that I will need to get used to.

Definitely Windows 11, it works far better, is very stable now with most bugs ironed out as of around March this year. Windows 10 is out of support in October next year anyway. Windows 11 will also soon be integrating ChatGPT called "Copilot" which will be able to automate a lot of processes. But the search actually works in Windows 11, you don't have to navigate confusing menus anymore, just type whatever you need into search, and once Copilot is integrated it will only get easier. Also, no need for pro unless you're joining the PC to a domain, it's not like previous version of windows where Pro added loads more features.

 

[Ash88mph]

Hey Spyder, first of all thank you so much for the build and answering all my doubts: extremely helpful ! 😅
I have a couple of questions (not too many) about the build that you put together.

- First of all, I agree about the ram: I will order with the basic 8 GB kit as you suggested and get some faster ram somewhere else. Thanks for the tip !

- Thanks for the additional explanation about CUDA and why Nvidia is still the best for what I need. All crystal clear. 🙌

- About the CPU, I was already leaning towards AMD, since I heard really good things about their Ryzen CPU for the most part (and I heard bad things about Intel, as you confirmed).

- About Windows 11 I will trust you, since it doesn't make sense to stay on Windows 10 if in 1 year and a couple of months will be unsupported. I just hope the transition will be not too painful. 😂
But I think I will buy my copy of Windows somewhere else, because it seems unnecessary expensive. 😅

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Questions about the build (that mostly seems fine as it is):

1) GPU: I am not particularly fond of the 4070 and I was thinking to try to get the 4080 but I need to save some money somewhere else in the build. Maybe would be a good idea to order the GPU somewhere else as well to get a better price

2) Do I need such a big PSU? 1200W seems really a lot: here I am more worried about the power consumption and the power bill rather than the purchase price. 😂 Wouldn't and 850W PSU be enough for this build?

3) About the CPU, what about the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X in comparison to the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X ?
Here I am trying to see where I can save to try to get a better GPU.

4) The AIO seems pretty cool but pretty expensive as well. Always with in mind to try to save where I can to get a better GPU, which less alternative AIO CPU cooler could I go for?

5) SSD: I never heard of these disks before so I did some digging and they seems really great (but also really expensive). With always the idea to save some money here and there to get a better GPU, which slightly cheaper alternatives could I consider? If it doesn't make sense, don't worry: they seem really great drives.

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NOTE: one thing that drive me nuts in the PC Specialist configurator is that I cannot see and compare the price of all the various components and I have to guess looking at the total. It makes it harder to decide which components to pick and where is possible to save. 😅
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Once again THANKS A LOT for your help: extremely appreciated ! 😄

 

[SpyderTracks]

1) GPU: I am not particularly fond of the 4070 and I was thinking to try to get the 4080 but I need to save some money somewhere else in the build. Maybe would be a good idea to order the GPU somewhere else as well to get a better price

That's certainly doable, if you can find the 4080 within budget then definitely go for it. You could reduce the CPU to the 7900x which is still a very strong processor which would give you a bit more to play with, but I wouldn't reduce any of the rest of the platform as that will start to cause compromises. That paired with a cheaper windows license and you're quite a bit further to a deal on a 4080. There have been more and more sudden sales on GPU's over the last few months, it's basically a way of them reducing price without admitting they're doing it because they're not selling so many.

2) Do I need such a big PSU? 1200W seems really a lot: here I am more worried about the power consumption and the power bill rather than the purchase price. 😂 Wouldn't and 850W PSU be enough for this build?

Not a chance. The size of PSU has no effect on power consumption, it's only how much power is available to the system. On modern GPU's you have to account for transient spiked up to twice the TDP, so on a 4080 say, you're looking at roughly 700w JUST FOR THE GPU, then factor in the CPU at 230W and you're only leaving yourself 250W for the rest of the components plus some headroom.

3) About the CPU, what about the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X in comparison to the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X ?
Here I am trying to see where I can save to try to get a better GPU.

Yes, it's certainly an option. I've checked as the other alternative would be the 7900 which is very similar but actually the cost is right around the same. But the 7900 is far more efficient at half the power draw so you could step down the cooler too.

4) The AIO seems pretty cool but pretty expensive as well. Always with in mind to try to save where I can to get a better GPU, which less alternative AIO CPU cooler could I go for?

There aren't any, that's the minimum for that CPU I'm afraid and also the 7900x. You could drop down to the H100i if you chose the 7900 though, then just apply a PBO overclock to the CPU to bring it up to the same performance as the 7900x.

5) SSD: I never heard of these disks before so I did some digging and they seems really great (but also really expensive). With always the idea to save some money here and there to get a better GPU, which slightly cheaper alternatives could I consider? If it doesn't make sense, don't worry: they seem really great drives.

You entering the realm of compromising areas where you'll start to produce performance bottlenecks. For the kind of work you're doing, you need reliable drives, the cheaper options are more prone to failure. I wouldn't recommend reducing them.

 

[Ash88mph]

That's certainly doable, if you can find the 4080 within budget then definitely go for it. You could reduce the CPU to the 7900x which is still a very strong processor which would give you a bit more to play with, but I wouldn't reduce any of the rest of the platform as that will start to cause compromises. That paired with a cheaper windows license and you're quite a bit further to a deal on a 4080. There have been more and more sudden sales on GPU's over the last few months, it's basically a way of them reducing price without admitting they're doing it because they're not selling so many.

Understood: I will try to find a decently priced 4080 (maybe it will take some time and patience). 😅
Yeah one of the reasons I am not in a rush to assemble the new system is because of the crazy GPU prices.
The 4080 atm sits around 1300 € minimum (this is the cheapest model I could find: until yesterday it was 1200 € ... today 1300 € 😖), that is a crazy amount of money for a GPU (I assembled many PC in the last 20+ years and I never paid a GPU more than 500 €): just the notion of have to spend twice as usual for a GPU drives me nuts.
Ideally I would like to wait for the next GPU generation (like Nvidia series 5) but I think is not gonna be before 1 year minimum (even 1 and 1/2) and I am not sure I can wait that long.

Not a chance. The size of PSU has no effect on power consumption, it's only how much power is available to the system. On modern GPU's you have to account for transient spiked up to twice the TDP, so on a 4080 say, you're looking at roughly 700w JUST FOR THE GPU, then factor in the CPU at 230W and you're only leaving yourself 250W for the rest of the components plus some headroom.

Ohhh I had no idea: I always believed PSU size will affect the power consumption (live and learn). 😅
I will go with a 1200W PSU then, to have enough headroom.

Yes, it's certainly an option. I've checked as the other alternative would be the 7900 which is very similar but actually the cost is right around the same. But the 7900 is far more efficient at half the power draw so you could step down the cooler too.

Got it: I will consider downgrading to a 7900X from the 7950X to get some additional budget for the GPU.

There aren't any, that's the minimum for that CPU I'm afraid and also the 7900x. You could drop down to the H100i if you chose the 7900 though, then just apply a PBO overclock to the CPU to bring it up to the same performance as the 7900x.

Oh I understand: then I will stick with the AIO you suggested (it seems pretty sick): I don't want to downgrade the CPU below a 7900X. 😅

You entering the realm of compromising areas where you'll start to produce performance bottlenecks. For the kind of work you're doing, you need reliable drives, the cheaper options are more prone to failure. I wouldn't recommend reducing them.

I understand: then I will stick with these SSD drives then.


Additional question
For storage/project files (Disk 3) why did you picked a SATA NAS drive rather than a SSD M2?
I guess for reliability and life longevity, but I wanted to ask to fully understand.

On my laptop (that I purchased 3 years ago here on CP Specialist) I have a Samsung SSD 970 EVO Plus 250 GB for Disk 1 (OS), a Samsung SSD 970 EVO Plus 500 GB for Disk 2 (software and games) and a Samsung 860 EVO 500 GB for Disk 3 (storage and project files), and I always get paranoid about the drive/s life longevity, how long the storage drive will last and if at some point in time will fail.

Maybe I am worrying for no reason, and these issue are a thing of the past (when the early SSD drives suffered of pretty short/unreliable life longevity), but I wanted to ask to be sure and understand. 😅


Once again thanks a lot for your help and the amazing information you provided so far ! 🤩

 

[SpyderTracks]

For storage/project files (Disk 3) why did you picked a SATA NAS drive rather than a SSD M2?
I guess for reliability and life longevity, but I wanted to ask to fully understand.

Reliability as you say, SSD's fail catastrophically, they're working one minute, the next they're completely dead and there's no way to get data off them. HDD's fail sector by sector, so even when you start getting bad sectors, you've usually got a few months before the drive fails, so it's easy to get the data onto a replacement drive. I have 6 or so WD Red drives in my system for storage, and they're superb drives, last forever, really reliable. I do a chkdsk on each drive every 6 months or so just to be sure there aren't bad sectors appearing. (Don't run a chkdsk /f on an SSD as it will reduce the lifespan of the SSD, silicon is very different to a spinning platter)

On my laptop (that I purchased 3 years ago here on CP Specialist) I have a Samsung SSD 970 EVO Plus 250 GB for Disk 1 (OS), a Samsung SSD 970 EVO Plus 500 GB for Disk 2 (software and games) and a Samsung 860 EVO 500 GB for Disk 3 (storage and project files), and I always get paranoid about the drive/s life longevity, how long the storage drive will last and if at some point in time will fail.

Samsung Evos are premium tier for speed and reliability, but they do sacrifice endurance and hence have lower IOPS (In and Out processes). IOPS are how many writes you can make to the drive before that silicon is "used". That was another reason to go with the SolidGM's over the Samsung 990 Pro's, one because they're cheaper while being almost the same speeds and have really high endurance. The SolidGM's are really enterprise grade drives rather than consumer level, perfect for workstation use.

You can check the current IOPS level of an SSD with something like CrystalDiskInfo (Standard Edition): https://crystalmark.info/en/software/crystaldiskinfo/

But SSD's now will really generally last way outside of a PC's lifetime, but they're still not as good as an HDD in that respect, they do have a finite lifetime whereas I'm still running HDD's from my first computer in the early 2000's.

 

[Ash88mph]

Reliability as you say, SSD's fail catastrophically, they're working one minute, the next they're completely dead and there's no way to get data off them. HDD's fail sector by sector, so even when you start getting bad sectors, you've usually got a few months before the drive fails, so it's easy to get the data onto a replacement drive. I have 6 or so WD Red drives in my system for storage, and they're superb drives, last forever, really reliable. I do a chkdsk on each drive every 6 months or so just to be sure there aren't bad sectors appearing. (Don't run a chkdsk /f on an SSD as it will reduce the lifespan of the SSD, silicon is very different to a spinning platter)

Make perfect sense, and thanks for the explanation.
On my old Desktop (that I left back at my parents home 4 years ago) I use to have SSD for disk one and 2 (OS and software/games) and than I had 2 different WD SATA drives (I think Caviar Blue, but I am not 100% sure) for storage and project files: these disks were really old and I never got a problem.
Fun fact tough: on my old work PC, the the past year my storage SATA drive miserably failed (after only 1 year of use) one day with another (without any previous warning) and I lost everything. But I think it was a much cheaper WD Green. The only time in my life when a SATA disk failed. 🤦‍♂️

Samsung Evos are premium tier for speed and reliability, but they do sacrifice endurance and hence have lower IOPS (In and Out processes). IOPS are how many writes you can make to the drive before that silicon is "used". That was another reason to go with the SolidGM's over the Samsung 990 Pro's, one because they're cheaper while being almost the same speeds and have really high endurance. The SolidGM's are really enterprise grade drives rather than consumer level, perfect for workstation use.

You can check the current IOPS level of an SSD with something like CrystalDiskInfo (Standard Edition): https://crystalmark.info/en/software/crystaldiskinfo/

Yeah I should definitely check how much life I have left in my laptop SSD drives. Thanks for the link !

Maybe I should purchase an external SATA drive to use for Disk 3 (storage and project files), instead of keep using my current Samsung 860 EVO 500 GB. After 3 years of reading and writing I feel its "life span" is getting lower and lower every day. 🤔

But SSD's now will really generally last way outside of a PC's lifetime, but they're still not as good as an HDD in that respect, they do have a finite lifetime whereas I'm still running HDD's from my first computer in the early 2000's.

Yeah, for peace of mind (and especially because performance are comparable) I feel as well might be safer to stick with SATA drives for storage on a desktop PC.

 

[SpyderTracks]

But I think it was a much cheaper WD Green

As with anything there are tiers from budget to premium. Never touch WD blues or greens, they're very cheap drives and just not worth the money, very prone to failure. WD Black's or Reds are rhe only models worthwhile.

 

[Ash88mph]

Hey @SpyderTracks I have 4 additional questions, if you don't mind.

1) About the 6400 mhz RAM modules (and assuming to buy a AMD 7900X CPU).
I can't find any RAM with CAS Latency lower than 32, so I guess that's the best I can get right?

I looked on PC Part Picker and I found the following modules (in order of price):

• Corsair Vengeance 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-6400 CL32 (114 €)
• Corsair Vengeance RGB 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-6400 CL32 (138 €)
• G.Skill Trident Z5 RGB 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-6400 CL32 (138 €)
• G.Skill Trident Z 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-6400 CL32 (138 €)
• G.Skill Ripjaws S5 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-6400 CL32 (138 €)
• G.Skill Trident Z5 RGB 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-6400 CL32 (148 €)

Personally I would pick the first one (Corsair Vengeance 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-6400 CL32) that is the cheapest and doesn't have any RGB lighting. The price difference is about 24 €, so nothing crazy and I wouldn't mind going for the more expensive models if their performance is better.
Based on your knowledge/experience my choice is ok or should I go for the more expensive modules instead? (and why)

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2) Always about the RAM: should I only consider 6400 mhz RAM? Or can I also consider 6000 mhz RAM? (and why)

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3) I learned today that to work on my next projectI will need an SSD hard disk (of at least 2 TB).
So this means that I cannot get the Segate Ironwolf Pro that you suggested.
The only 2 suitable hard disk that I can see here on PCS are:

• 2 TB Samsung 870 QVO SSD 2.5", SATA 6 Gb/s (128 €)
• 4 TB Samsung 870 QVO SSD 2.5", SATA 6 Gb/s (284 €)

I think the 2 TB should be enough for the moment: but in case I wanted to get more memory it almost seems more efficient to get 2 x 2 TB hard disk rather than the 4 TB disk ( that costs 28 € more compared to buy two 2 TB disks).
What do you think?

[ ! ] As alternative I was thinking that I could just use 2 M.2 SSD disks:

• C:\ for OS and software
• D:\ for storage/data

And n this case I would get two 2TB SOLIDIGM P44 Pro GEN 4 NVMe that you suggested.
Do you think using one of these disks for storage would be ok?

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4) Graphic Cards: I am still debating with myself about which one to pick.
Overall I would like to get the 4800, but just this week become 100 € more expensive from other vendors, so I am beginning to consider the 4070 and/or the 4070 Ti.
At the moment the least expensive 4080 that I found on PC Part Picker is the Zotac GAMING Trinity GeForce RTX 4080 16 GB (that costs 1300 €), that from this review seems a pretty good card.

What about the 4070 Ti?
But I am worried to have 12 GB or RAM vs 16 GB of RAM.

On the same website of the Zotac 4080 review I also find this article that compares the 4070 Ti vs the 4080 and it says that the 4070 Ti is overall better value for the money.
Also in this other article the 4070 Ti it's suggested as "best graphic card for most people".

I am not 100% convinced and I still don't like having 4 less GB of RAM compared to the 4080, but I also have to consider that I will save 400 € with a 4070 Ti compared to a 4080.

Also these reviews of the 4070 Ti are not encouraging:

I also watched this comparison video of the 4070 vs 4070 Ti and the reviewer still doesn't suggest to spend 200/250 € more for the Ti version:

However I think that Daniel Owen summarized the conundrum pretty well in these 2 passages from the same video:
Passage 1
Passage 2

After watching many videos and reading many articles I am starting to believe that probably going back to the 4070 or 4070 Ti would be probably the best choice for me right now (comparing what I need to work with how much make sense to spend).

What do you think and which one would you suggest and why?


Many thanks in advance for the help!

 

[SpyderTracks]

The 4070ti is probably the best value proposition AMONG THE 4000 series, BUT, it's still hugely overpriced and is not worth the money they're asking. But for your uses, I'd agree it's probably the best bet for your budget.

Regarding the RAM, I'm a huge GSkill fan, they do some really good DIMMS all round.

For speeds, you can go higher, but it starts being a trade off with stability, and you may have to start tinkering with manual RAM overclocks.

With regards to drives, the HDD is for storage, not live projects, projects should always be off an SSD, but I'd recommend an NVME personally. HDD's are still optimal for storage as they degrade sector by sector rather than all out failure like on an SSD where you have no warning.

So in an optimal setting you'd have

NVME - OS and programs
NVME - Live project files
HDD - Backup drive
NVME - dedicated games drive

 

[Ash88mph]

Hey Spyder, thank you for taking the time to reply and for the advice.

I ordered earlier today (before your reply) because I needed to assemble the new workstation as soon as possible, so I didn't have the time to wait for your reply.

However after doing a lot of research on my end in the meantime, I ended up ordering almost the same stuff you suggested.

• As GPU I went with a 4070, because I felt that spending 230 € + for 20% o less increase in performance was not worth it (here in Spain the 4070 sells around 640+ € while the 4070 Ti sells for at least 880+ € ). I purchased the 4070 Zotac Gaming model (one of the cheapest but still has good reviews).
• For the RAM I ended up ordering the G.Skill Trident Z5 Neo Series (AMD Expo) 6000 CL30-38-38-96 1.35 V: I was worried about stability and I found another user on PC Part Picker that used these RAMs with the same CPU and motherboard I picked and had no issues (and so I felt more reassured).
• For storage I went with the SSD you suggested for the C drive (OS/software) but as D drive (project files) I went with a WD-BLACK SN850X 4TB M.2 2280 PCIe Gen4 NVMe SSD. Later on I will add an HDD for storage (I will most likely order the SEAGATE IRONWOLF PRO 4 TB you suggested).

So overall I am happy that talking to you here I learned a lot of things, so I once again thanks because you helped me a lot. 🙏

Oh by the way apparently some bios fixes are about to come for AMD cpus with DDR5 RAM clocks:

 

[SpyderTracks]

Hey Spyder, thank you for taking the time to reply and for the advice.

I ordered earlier today (before your reply) because I needed to assemble the new workstation as soon as possible, so I didn't have the time to wait for your reply.

However after doing a lot of research on my end in the meantime, I ended up ordering almost the same stuff you suggested.

• As GPU I went with a 4070, because I felt that spèending 230 € + for 20% o less increase in perfromance was not worth it (here in Spain the 4070 sells around 640+ € while the 4070 Ti sells for at least 880+ € ). I purchased the 4070 Zotac Gaming model (one of the cheapest but still has good reviews).
• For the RAM I ended up ordering the G.Skill Trident Z5 Neo Series (AMD Expo) 6000 CL30-38-38-96 1.35 V: I was worride about stability and I found another user on PC Part Picker that used these with the same CPU and motherboard I picked and had no issues, (and so I felt more reassured).
• For the hard disks I went with the ones you suggested for the OS but as D drive (project files) I went with a WD-BLACK SN850X 4TB M.2 2280 PCIe Gen4 NVMe SSD. Later on I will add an HDD for storage (I will most likely order the SEAGATE IRONWOLF PRO 4 TB you suggested).

So overall I am happy that talking to you here I learned a lot of things and I once again to thank you because you helped me a lot. 🙏

Looks good