Mid-High end Workstation Reccomendations?

[Tomasu]

I am planning a new PC build. For mostly software development with some low/mid-range gaming use, and very occasional CAD and photo/video work.

 

My typical development use case involves HARD CORE compile and archiving jobs using a TON of ram and disk space (hundreds of GBs depending on the number of checkouts/builds I need to keep). So basically I need lots of CPU (threads and hz), RAM, IOPS and a decent amount of storage space. GPU is not critical, but something I won't have to upgrade for a while would be nice. Budget is flexible. After all its primarily a business expense. I can probably put 2-3k CAD into it. Maybe more if it makes sense to do so. Going stupid overkill on mobo or gpu doesn't really make sense to me at this point (for various reasons, like the zen2 chips redlining their performance and not being able to overclock manually very much at all, any GOOD VRM will do). Thinking about going with a 360mm AIO like the Corsair H150i, or even a custom loop kit with flexible tubes (need something not too annoying to maintain, hardline tubes would likely get in the way)

 

Also relevant, I mostly use Linux. Some gaming in windows and very occasionally some windows only programs like Fusion 360.

 

So far I'm leaning towards the following:

 

MB: ASRock Taichi x570

CPU: AMD R9 3950x

SSD: 1TB AORUS Gen4 or 1TB Corsair MP600 (potentially 2 of them, depending on what I can get)

RAM: 4x16GB (64GB) 3600Mhz DDR4 (so far leaning on the G.Skill Ripjaws V, or Trident Z Neo)

GPU Option 1: RX 5700

GPU Option 2: Keep using my R9 390 (it's "ok").

Case: Anything decent looking with support for a 360mm radiator, and good airflow.

PSU: 800W+ Gold preferred.

  I do have a couple PSU's sitting around like a Corsair HX850, and Seasonic 1200W I bought a while back for a mining rig I sold within months of buying it.

Monitor Option 1: Keep my existing 3x 24" 1080p setup (it's pretty jank. old cheap benq with a cracked corner, oldish cheap samsung with no vesa mount so its arm mount is really jank, and a dell was given to be by a friend.)

Monitor Option 2: 1x or 2x some kind of 2k or 4k 24"+ (really would love more vertical space over 1080p, but can make do with keeping my existing monitors for a while)

 

I have existing basic peripherals I can reuse.

 

My existing system is as follows:

MB: Asus 970 Pro Gaming/Aura

CPU: AMD FX 8320 (OC to 4.4Ghz)

RAM: 4x 8GB (32GB) Kingston 1866mhz DDR3

GPU: AMD R9 390

Case: Corsair Obsidian 550D

Storage:

 - Sandisk X300 512GB 2.5" SATA

 - Samsung 850 Evo 250GB 2.5" SATA

 - Samsung 860 Evo 1TB 2.5" SATA

 - Kingston HyperX 3K 250GB 2.5" SATA

 - Samsung 970 Evo 500GB M.2 NVME

PSU: Seasonic X850

Misc: Razer Blackwidow Stealth 2016 Keyboard. cheap logitech wired mouse.

 

Thanks for any input!

[Origami Cactus]

I would build a threadripper system if you use a lot of ram, it has quad channel instead of dual.

Also 3rd gen threadripper is coming out soon.

[brob]

You will have to wait to get real pricing and independent benchmarks for the 3950X.

 

Use one of your existing psu.

 

Unless you really feel a need for a gpu upgrade the R9 390 will do a decent job.

 

For this sort of build I'm a believer in lots of high speed storage. I also think a single large display area facilitates work.

 

Note the use of a 2x32GB memory kit. While it gives up a bit of speed, it allows for an upgrade to 128GB should that ever prove desirable.

 

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 3900X 3.8 GHz 12-Core Processor  ($678.99 @ Mike's Computer Shop) 
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D15 82.5 CFM CPU Cooler  ($99.95 @ Newegg Canada Marketplace) 
Motherboard: Asus PRIME X570-PRO ATX AM4 Motherboard  ($318.50 @ Vuugo) 
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 64 GB (2 x 32 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory  ($500.00) 
Storage: Corsair MP600 Force Series Gen4 2 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive  ($570.99 @ Newegg Canada) 
Video Card: MSI Radeon R9 390 8 GB Video Card  (Purchased For $0.00) 
Case: Fractal Design Meshify S2 ATX Mid Tower Case  ($201.59 @ Amazon Canada) 
Power Supply: Corsair Professional 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply  (Purchased For $0.00) 
Monitor: LG 32UD59-B 32.0" 3840x2160 60 Hz Monitor  ($407.99 @ Vuugo) 
Total: $2778.01
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-08-25 14:01 EDT-0400

[Tomasu]

29 minutes ago, Origami Cactus said:

I would build a threadripper system if you use a lot of ram, it has quad channel instead of dual.

Also 3rd gen threadripper is coming out soon.

I have thought about it, but I'm not sure my main use case scales much beyond 16 cores, and so far 32GB ram is "enough" but I do find I run out sometimes. So 64GB (like 640k) should be enough. Also I don't just need lots of ram, I need /good/ IPC+Ghz on top of ram and cores. Not to mention the price premium of TR systems over Ryzen is a bit much. The premium of the 3950x over the 3900x is a bit of a stretch.

 

This machine is something I'm going to need by early/mid october for sure, so waiting too long for TR may not be an option.

 

But I will look into it a bit harder, just to see what I can wrangle. Hopefully theres enough information out about the TR 3 platform that i can make a semi informed decision. Eg. Motherboard pricing and features etc.

[Tomasu]

3 minutes ago, brob said:

You will have to wait to get real pricing and independent benchmarks for the 3950X.

 

Use one of your existing psu.

 

Unless you really feel a need for a gpu upgrade the R9 390 will do a decent job.

 

For this sort of build I'm a believer in lots of high speed storage. I also think a single large display area facilitates work.

 

Note the use of a 2x32GB memory kit. While it gives up a bit of speed, it allows for an upgrade to 128GB should that ever prove desirable.

 

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 3900X 3.8 GHz 12-Core Processor  ($678.99 @ Mike's Computer Shop) 
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D15 82.5 CFM CPU Cooler  ($99.95 @ Newegg Canada Marketplace) 
Motherboard: Asus PRIME X570-PRO ATX AM4 Motherboard  ($318.50 @ Vuugo) 
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 64 GB (2 x 32 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory  ($500.00) 
Storage: Corsair MP600 Force Series Gen4 2 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive  ($570.99 @ Newegg Canada) 
Video Card: MSI Radeon R9 390 8 GB Video Card  (Purchased For $0.00) 
Case: Fractal Design Meshify S2 ATX Mid Tower Case  ($201.59 @ Amazon Canada) 
Power Supply: Corsair Professional 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply  (Purchased For $0.00) 
Monitor: LG 32UD59-B 32.0" 3840x2160 60 Hz Monitor  ($407.99 @ Vuugo) 
Total: $2778.01
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-08-25 14:01 EDT-0400

Hm, thats not too bad at all. I am leaning towards an AIO or custom loop cooling due to how zen2 boosts better with lower temps.

 

I will be waiting to build till Sept/Oct to build just to see what the 3950x is like compared to the 3900x and other options. And maybe who knows, intel could release something breathtaking or TR 3 might be a contender. Also for money reasons, I won't have the full budget till probably Oct. So that's convenient.

[brob]

I tend to prefer air tower coolers these days as they can do as good a job cooling as most aio. They also have the advantage of being reasonably quiet with fewer failure points.

 

If you haven't seen it, https://www.techpowerup.com/review/amd-zen-2-memory-performance-scaling-benchmark/ provides hard data on performance at varous memory speeds.

[m777y]

 

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 3900X 3.8 GHz 12-Core Processor  ($678.99 @ Mike's Computer Shop) 
CPU Cooler: Scythe Mugen 5 Rev. B 51.17 CFM CPU Cooler  ($99.95 @ Newegg Canada Marketplace) 
Motherboard: Asus TUF GAMING X570-PLUS ATX AM4 Motherboard  ($234.99 @ Mike's Computer Shop) 
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory  ($199.99 @ Canada Computers) 
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory  ($199.99 @ Canada Computers) 
Storage: Samsung 970 Evo Plus 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive  ($289.99 @ Newegg Canada) 
Video Card: ASRock Radeon RX 5700 8 GB Video Card  ($437.50 @ Vuugo) 
Case: Cooler Master MasterBox NR600 (w/ODD) ATX Mid Tower Case  ($74.99 @ Memory Express) 
Power Supply: Corsair RM (2019) 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply  ($129.99 @ Newegg Canada) 
Monitor: LG 34UC80-B 34.0" 3440x1440 60 Hz Monitor  ($649.99 @ Mike's Computer Shop) 
Total: $2996.37
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-08-25 14:45 EDT-0400

 

[Tomasu]

Just now, brob said:

I tend to prefer air tower coolers these days as they can do as good a job cooling as most aio. They also have the advantage of being reasonably quiet with fewer failure points.

 

If you haven't seen it, https://www.techpowerup.com/review/amd-zen-2-memory-performance-scaling-benchmark/ provides hard data on performance at varous memory speeds.

I had seen some scaling benchmarks but I think I got blinders on at the 3600 speed being "the best" and forgot that it was only by a very small margin. So 3000-3200 looks to be fine.

 

I have tended to prefer air coolers as well. Esp given I had a couple failed AIOs from the same bad batch a while back. But the reviews I've seen on zen2 boosting says that a really good 360 AIO or a custom loop will be a fairly good boost over even the Noctua D15 (which I have in my current box, works great. really great. but its not quite enough to keep up with my OC at points, which is sad).

 

Of course I can always just go air to start and see if I even care afterwards.

[Tomasu]

Ok, TR 3 looks to be a bit too far out to think about. Probably a 2020 release. And TR 2's IPC and frequency is not as nice as zen2. Besides, a Ryzen 3950x compared to a TR 2950X is just better and will probably be a similar price.