Threadripper 2950x machine for 4k Video, 3D Modelling & GPU Rendering

[jotoenne]

Hi folks,

after approx. 4 years i need a new machine. I need it for video (and photo) editing (in 4K) with Adobe tools, 3D Modelling with Cinema 4d and GPU Rendering with Redshift render engine. And the occasional gaming (very rarely, little newborn at home, not much time). This is the current list i am planning on buying:

 

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/grJVyX

 

I am pretty much fixed on the Threadripper 2950x. Thought about getting a 2080ti, but they are just soooo expensive. I am planning on later updating with a second rtx 2080 for faster rendering. The M2 SSD is for Windows and Software, normal SSD for Storage.

Max. Budget is 4000€ (=4500$), current cost is about 3700€. I am planning of using this for a couple of years, don't want to upgrade all the time.

 

Any thoughts on it or compatibility issues? Help is appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[Morgan MLGman]

I'd change is the PSU to this one to save some money: https://pcpartpicker.com/product/f7L7YJ/corsair-hx-platinum-1200w-80-platinum-certified-fully-modular-atx-power-supply-cp-9020140-na
and the CPU cooler to this one: https://pcpartpicker.com/product/brVD4D/corsair-h150i-pro-473-cfm-liquid-cpu-cooler-cw-9060031-ww

 

Both components should be better value for money, the CPU cooler in terms of performance too.

Also, usually for GPU-intensive professional applications I'd recommend a Vega 64 instead of the 2080 (it's a lot cheaper: https://pcpartpicker.com/product/dCndnQ/sapphire-radeon-rx-vega-64-8-gb-video-card-21275-03-20g ) but the Redshift render engine only supports Nvidia GPU acceleration.

[Princess Luna]

Actually you shouldn't go Threadripper but with the i9 9900K instead if you can afford this kind of hardware, the Intel i9 9900K will outperform the TR 2950X on all of Adobe software, even on Premiere Pro rendering thanks to the iGPU hardware acceleration.

 

Cinema 4D most features like deformers, generators and cloners also can only work off single core, making the i9 have superior performance when it really matters your actual editing work.

 

The RTX 2080 Ti for GPU acceleration though is a great alternative as it seems it's the fastest single GPU solution for RedShift.

 

https://www.cgdirector.com/redshift-benchmark-results/

[r2724r16]

17 minutes ago, jotoenne said:

I need it for video (and photo) editing (in 4K) with Adobe tools, 3D Modelling with Cinema 4d and GPU Rendering with Redshift render engine. And the occasional gaming (very rarely, little newborn at home, not much time).

Then get a 9900K, it is superior to the 2950x for most (if not all) Abobe CC applications and gaming. 

[Princess Luna]

1 minute ago, r2724r16 said:

Then get a 9900K, it is superior to the 2950x for most (if not all) Abobe CC applications and gaming. 

You can say all, the thing is redshift only cares about the GPU, both Adobe and Cinema4d editing will take far more benefit on the i9's faster cores while 16threads should be sufficient for the multi-tasking.

 

So as much as one wants to favour AMD we're really talking about the i9 9900K giving superior performance for less costs.

[Princess Luna]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i9-9900K 3.6 GHz 8-Core Processor  ($549.99 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Noctua - NH-D15 82.5 CFM CPU Cooler  ($84.43 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Gigabyte - Z390 AORUS MASTER ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($288.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair - Vengeance LPX 32 GB (4 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory  ($269.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Intel - 760p Series 1 TB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive  ($296.06 @ Amazon)
Storage: Crucial - MX500 2 TB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($289.99 @ Adorama)
Video Card: Asus - GeForce RTX 2080 Ti 11 GB Dual OC Video Card  ($1318.89 @ B&H)
Case: Cooler Master - MasterCase H500 ATX Mid Tower Case  ($107.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair - HX Platinum 750 W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($109.89 @ OutletPC)
Total: $3316.21
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-12-04 07:19 EST-0500

 

Here this build would be the most awesome workstation for your needs possible, with room to add another GPU down the line.

[mariushm]

Sadly I'd have to agree the Intel would be a bit better at those particular applications. Threadripper makes sense for the flexibility and the extra pci-e lanes, but you're not taking advantage of those (you went with a 2 TB SATA drive when you have 2 or 3 m.2 slots on the motherboard which all support pci-e x4)

 

If you're thinking you're going to use other applications in the future, then threadripper would be great. 

 

I'd suggest going with a cheaper 512 ish GB m.2/sata drive for your operating system alone (can be slower kind like the evo), and then go with 2 x 2 TB m.2 pci-e x4 or something like that if you're gonna render stuff with loads of textures, basically if you think you're gonna need fast read speeds.

 

And if you go with threadripper, it may make sense to you to pick ECC memory since Threadripper supports it while 9900k doesn't (as far as I remember, may be wrong), but 2666 mhz ECC unbuffered DDR4 is a bit expensive (~180$ for a 16 GB stick)

 

[Settlerteo]

47 minutes ago, jotoenne said:

Hi folks,

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/grJVyX

 

I am pretty much fixed on the Threadripper 2950x. Thought about getting a 2080ti, but they are just soooo expensive. 

Thanks.

 

I really like your picking except of the GPU. I think your best option in terms of value/performance for what you do is a Radeon Pro WX 8200. A very powerful card for editing, modeling and rendering, which you can also use for gaming with the appropriate drivers.

[Taf the Ghost]

Wouldn't a couple of 1080 Ti be the best approach for a GPU render box?

[Taf the Ghost]

One thing to note, he specifically mentioned Cinema4D. This is what Cinebench R15 actually tests.

 

https://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/Cinema-4D-AMD-Threadripper-2990WX-Performance-1217/

 

If that's a heavy part of his workload, Threadripper is a monster there.

[jotoenne]

@Taf the Ghost first i wanted to get 1080ti, but they are not availabe anymore here in germany, nowhere.

 

Regarding going with the i9 9900k instead of 2950x:

Won't i run into problems regarding PCIe lanes? The 9900k only has 16, right? If i ever want to get a second GPU, this won't be enough, or am i wrong?

[Princess Luna]

49 minutes ago, jotoenne said:

@Taf the Ghost first i wanted to get 1080ti, but they are not availabe anymore here in germany, nowhere.

 

Regarding going with the i9 9900k instead of 2950x:

Won't i run into problems regarding PCIe lanes? The 9900k only has 16, right? If i ever want to get a second GPU, this won't be enough, or am i wrong?

It's fine if 2 GPU is all the expansion cards you're going for then there's nothing to be worried since 8x -8x is still sufficient.

 

57 minutes ago, Taf the Ghost said:

.

Cinema4d will run too much slower on actually editing and content creation, as how I said above all it's tools are single threaded, the only time the TR will beat the i9 is on the final rendering when OP doesn't even have to be present, so for his time of editing having the most responsive system is more desirable.

 

Don't mix things up, Cinebench uses cinema4d for it's benchmark but thats it.

 

And the other rendering going on in Adobe and redshift will perform better on the i9 thanks to the iGPU hardware aceleratio / quicksync.

2 hours ago, Settlerteo said:

Radeon Pro WX 8200. 

This is a terrible advise to OP when you realize that both applications OP will use GPU acceleration are coded for nVidia.

 

RedShift does not work with AMD at all and Adobe Heavily prefers CUDA over OpenCL which is what AMD cards will use.

[brob]

1 hour ago, jotoenne said:

@Taf the Ghost first i wanted to get 1080ti, but they are not availabe anymore here in germany, nowhere.

 

Regarding going with the i9 9900k instead of 2950x:

Won't i run into problems regarding PCIe lanes? The 9900k only has 16, right? If i ever want to get a second GPU, this won't be enough, or am i wrong?

 

The z390 chipset has 24 PCIe 3.0 lanes bringing the total on that platform to 40.

 

Unless one plans on more than 2-3 gpu, there is little point in worrying about PCIe lanes.

 

The OP motherboard has a header for front panel a USB type-C connector. You should probably consider getting the usb-C version of the Define 6.

 

I too would suggest the i9-9900K for an optimal user experience. I also think that an RTX 2080 Ti is worth the investment to improve gpu rendering times.

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i9-9900K 3.6 GHz 8-Core Processor  (€587.90 @ Alza) 
CPU Cooler: be quiet! - Dark Rock Pro 4 50.5 CFM CPU Cooler  (€72.89 @ Aquatuning) 
Motherboard: ASRock - Z390 Phantom Gaming 9 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  (€294.00 @ Amazon Deutschland) 
Memory: Corsair - Vengeance LPX 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory  (€259.00 @ Amazon Deutschland) 
Storage: Samsung - 970 Pro 1 TB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive  (€350.99 @ Amazon Deutschland) 
Storage: Samsung - 860 Pro 2 TB 2.5" Solid State Drive  (€687.94 @ Mindfactory) 
Video Card: Gigabyte - GeForce RTX 2080 Ti 11 GB WINDFORCE OC Video Card  (€1257.94 @ Mindfactory) 
Case: Fractal Design - Define R6 USB-C Black ATX Mid Tower Case  (€129.99 @ Amazon Deutschland) 
Power Supply: SeaSonic - FOCUS Plus Gold 1000 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  (€153.04 @ Amazon Deutschland) 
Total: €3793.69
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-12-04 16:47 CET+0100

[Settlerteo]

16 hours ago, Princess Cadence said:

This is a terrible advise to OP when you realize that both applications OP will use GPU acceleration are coded for nVidia.

 

RedShift does not work with AMD at all and Adobe Heavily prefers CUDA over OpenCL which is what AMD cards will use.

Well, you can use GPU acceleration with AMD too and the i really don't think my advise was terrible, because this card is directed exactly for these kind of workloads. I would also advise a quadro card but i don't know if they have gaming drivers for them.