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Ultra portable workstation advice

kpreg
By kpreg
in New Builds and Planning
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Hello everyone,

 

I build the rig in my signature a little over 4 years ago. A lot of curious choices, I know, but the time has come for me to finally upgrade. Since my last build, I've gotten heavily involved in video production. I actually upgraded to 32gb of ram about 2 years ago, which has helped considerably, but the old i7 and 970 sli cards simply aren't doing it anymore. I really haven't looked at PC parts in over 4 years, besides the ram I got as an upgrade. What vaulted me back into the PC world was reading an article about AMD's showing at computex this year. Over the past few weeks, I've been catching myself up on the options available now. Honestly, if you would have told me AMD was crushing intel PPD when I built my last rig, I would have laughed in your face. Lots of very surprising things have happened!

 

So, let me tell you what the goals of this new computer are:

 

- Minimalist, compact, and portable

- High core count for low rendering/encoding times

- Powerful GPU for quick preview rendering in Premiere

- reliable + low maintenance

- loads of built-in redundant storage for storing all my video files

- can comfortably drive my 4k monitor 

Here is my list so far

 

PCPartPicker Part List
Type Item Price
CPU AMD - Threadripper 2950X 3.5 GHz 16-Core Processor $799.99 @ Amazon
CPU Cooler Noctua - NH-U9 TR4-SP3 46.44 CFM CPU Cooler $69.90 @ Amazon
Motherboard ASRock - X399M Taichi Micro ATX TR4 Motherboard $328.74 @ Amazon
Memory G.Skill - Ripjaws V Series 64 GB (4 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory $304.99 @ Newegg
Storage Intel - 660p Series 1 TB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive $99.99 @ B&H
Storage Seagate - BarraCuda 5 TB 2.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive $216.99 @ SuperBiiz
Storage Seagate - BarraCuda 5 TB 2.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive $216.99 @ SuperBiiz
Video Card Zotac - GeForce RTX 2080 8 GB GAMING AMP Video Card $699.99 @ Newegg
Power Supply Corsair - SF 750 W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully Modular SFX Power Supply $179.99 @ Amazon
Custom Cerberus $260.00
  Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts  
  Total $3177.57
  Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-06-05 13:42 EDT-0400  

Now, I have a few key questions.

 

1) Would anyone recommend upgrading to the 2080ti? I'm not really looking to do an insane amount of gaming - only the occasional game or two. A lot of what I have read seems to suggest the CPU is more valuable for my editing workflow than a more powerful GPU.

2) I have heard a few things about threadripper - namely that it likes low CAS latency, high speed ram. I currently have 3200 mhz ram CL 16 memory; is CL 14 worth the cost?

3) cooling - obviously the major compromise I'm making by choosing the Slinger Cerberus is temperatures. I also really want air cooling - this machine will be moved around a lot, and I don't want to worry about leaks. However, the U9 TR4 variant seems to be the only cooler that can fit in the Cerberus (148mm CPU cooler height limit). Is there any way or place that I can shop by cooler height to see if I have any other options? Do you think that the cooling on the U9 will be sufficient? I'm also planning to have 5 total case fans; 2 on the bottom, one on the front, one on the top, and one on the back to keep air moving.

 

Honestly, I have so many questions on this build that I really don't even know what to ask!

 

I greatly appreciate any feedback or criticism on any part or the build as a whole.

 

Thanks in advance!

4790k @ 4.6 (1.25 adaptive) // 2x GTX 970 stock clocks/voltage // Dominator Platnium 4x4 16G //Maximus Formula VII // WD Black1TB + 128GB 850 PRO // RM1000 // NZXT H440 // Razer Blackwidow Ultimate 2013 (MX Blue) // Corsair M95 + Steelseries QCK // Razer Adaro DJ // AOC I2757FH

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I'd spring for a nicer SSD:

https://www.newegg.com/samsung-970-pro-1tb/p/N82E16820147694?Description=Samsing 970pro&cm_re=Samsing_970pro-_-20-147-694-_-Product

 

It's worth it (IMO), even if you step down to 512GB.

 

Screwdriver specs: Long, pointy. Turns things. Some kind of metal.

 

Main rig: 

i9-7900x | Asus X299-Prime | 4x8GB G-Skill TridentZ @3300MHz | Samsung 970 Evo 500GB | Intel 5400S 1TB | Corsair HX1200

 

unRAID server:

Xeon  E5-1630v4 |  Asus X99-E WS | 4x8GB G-Skill DDR4 @2400MHz | Samsung 960 EVO 250GB cache drive | 12TB spinning rust | Corsair RM750X

 

FreeNAS server:

AMD something-or-other | Asus prebuilt sadness | 8GB DDR3-1600 | 9TB magnetic storage | Potential fire threat

 

HTPC:

i7-4790 | GTX1650 | Dell Sadness | 12GB DDR3-1600 | Samsung 860 250GB | 1TB magnetic storage | James Loudspeaker SPL3 x2 | Corsair SF450

 

 

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1 minute ago, Lord Mirdalan said:

I'd spring for a nicer SSD:

https://www.newegg.com/samsung-970-pro-1tb/p/N82E16820147694?Description=Samsing 970pro&cm_re=Samsing_970pro-_-20-147-694-_-Product

 

It's worth it (IMO), even if you step down to 512GB.

 

ha! the 660p was the result of me sorting my lowest cost per GB on pcpartpicker. I heard it was quite slow though. I'll revise with the 970! thanks.

4790k @ 4.6 (1.25 adaptive) // 2x GTX 970 stock clocks/voltage // Dominator Platnium 4x4 16G //Maximus Formula VII // WD Black1TB + 128GB 850 PRO // RM1000 // NZXT H440 // Razer Blackwidow Ultimate 2013 (MX Blue) // Corsair M95 + Steelseries QCK // Razer Adaro DJ // AOC I2757FH

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I would factor in a bigger set of hard drives (8tb?)

i7 6700k, GTX 1080, Crucial MX 300, Maximus VII Hero, WD Blue, 16 GB RAM

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On 6/5/2019 at 2:02 PM, kpreg said:

ha! the 660p was the result of me sorting my lowest cost per GB on pcpartpicker. I heard it was quite slow though. I'll revise with the 970! thanks.

I think that if you want "ultra", step up to an rtx 2080 ti, and a 2990wx.

I lurk 

HP Spectre x360 13t late 2019
Core i5 1035g4
8gb ram
256GB NVME SSD
HP 24mh FHD Monitor 

OnePlus 5
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Steelseries Rival 3

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Come to think of it, have you considered an all-in-one liquid cooler? It would minimize the strain placed on the motherboard, since it's going to be used on the go.

 

Edit: Scrolled up, read post again, felt like idiot.

Screwdriver specs: Long, pointy. Turns things. Some kind of metal.

 

Main rig: 

i9-7900x | Asus X299-Prime | 4x8GB G-Skill TridentZ @3300MHz | Samsung 970 Evo 500GB | Intel 5400S 1TB | Corsair HX1200

 

unRAID server:

Xeon  E5-1630v4 |  Asus X99-E WS | 4x8GB G-Skill DDR4 @2400MHz | Samsung 960 EVO 250GB cache drive | 12TB spinning rust | Corsair RM750X

 

FreeNAS server:

AMD something-or-other | Asus prebuilt sadness | 8GB DDR3-1600 | 9TB magnetic storage | Potential fire threat

 

HTPC:

i7-4790 | GTX1650 | Dell Sadness | 12GB DDR3-1600 | Samsung 860 250GB | 1TB magnetic storage | James Loudspeaker SPL3 x2 | Corsair SF450

 

 

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Posted

Get the corsair MP510 1TB SSD. At most its 5% worse, has longer TBW, and almost half the cost of a 970 evo.

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6 minutes ago, Boinbo said:

I think that if you want "ultra", step up to an rtx 2080 ti, and a 2990wx.

I really wanted to go with the 2990wx, but the temps seemed prohibitive for the size of system I want. I also heard about some odd memory issues due to the quad-die arrangement, but am totally open to reconsidering. Thanks!

 

5 minutes ago, Lord Mirdalan said:

Come to think of it, have you considered an all-in-one liquid cooler? It would minimize the strain placed on the motherboard, since it's going to be used on the go.

 

Edit: Scrolled up, read post again, felt like idiot.

No, you do raise a good point. I hadn't considered the strain on the motherboard; can't decide if leakage or motherboard strain is a bigger risk. I may end up doing a few mods to brace the air cooler within the case. Thank you!

 

4 minutes ago, Firewrath9 said:

Get the corsair MP510 1TB SSD. At most its 5% worse, has longer TBW, and almost half the cost of a 970 evo.

Interesting, the cost/benefit seems to be higher than the 970 here. I hadn't even considered TBW. I do want this build to last nearly as long as my last one; do you know of any ultra high-TBW ssds?

4790k @ 4.6 (1.25 adaptive) // 2x GTX 970 stock clocks/voltage // Dominator Platnium 4x4 16G //Maximus Formula VII // WD Black1TB + 128GB 850 PRO // RM1000 // NZXT H440 // Razer Blackwidow Ultimate 2013 (MX Blue) // Corsair M95 + Steelseries QCK // Razer Adaro DJ // AOC I2757FH

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Don't be so quick to throw out old man Intel! I would look at an i9-9900K.

 

 

 
 
 
www.youtube.com/watch?v=LeFsX6TM2aU ; (summary begins at 8:24)
 

https://www.pugetsystems.com/recommended/Recommended-Systems-for-Adobe-Premiere-Pro-CC-143/Hardware-Recommendations

 

 

Something else to look at in a  case:

 

www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxjOylCtpBs

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5 minutes ago, Bearmann said:

Don't be so quick to throw out old man Intel! I would look at an i9-9900K.

 

 

 
 
 
www.youtube.com/watch?v=LeFsX6TM2aU ; (summary begins at 8:24)
 

https://www.pugetsystems.com/recommended/Recommended-Systems-for-Adobe-Premiere-Pro-CC-143/Hardware-Recommendations

 

 

Something else to look at in a  case:

 

www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxjOylCtpBs

Thank you for these videos!!! I'll give all of them a watch. It seems that Threadripper wasn't the absolute intel killer I thought it was.

4790k @ 4.6 (1.25 adaptive) // 2x GTX 970 stock clocks/voltage // Dominator Platnium 4x4 16G //Maximus Formula VII // WD Black1TB + 128GB 850 PRO // RM1000 // NZXT H440 // Razer Blackwidow Ultimate 2013 (MX Blue) // Corsair M95 + Steelseries QCK // Razer Adaro DJ // AOC I2757FH

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1 hour ago, kpreg said:

Thank you for these videos!!! I'll give all of them a watch. It seems that Threadripper wasn't the absolute intel killer I thought it was.

You're very welcome! ?

 

I thought I read that you were using Adobe Premier, but now I don't see it.I may have confused your post with another one. If you are are using Da Vinci Resolve then an AMD CPU and a high end GPU would be a good choice.

 

https://www.pugetsystems.com/recommended/Recommended-Systems-for-DaVinci-Resolve-187/Hardware-Recommendations

 

Are you in the USA? Do you live near a Micro Center?

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2 hours ago, kpreg said:

Interesting, the cost/benefit seems to be higher than the 970 here. I hadn't even considered TBW. I do want this build to last nearly as long as my last one; do you know of any ultra high-TBW ssds?

after QLC, TBW is perfectly fine unless you are completely rewriting 1TB every day for 5 years (what the corsair is rated for), but if you will use it as a scratch disk, optane is a good but expensive option. It has support for around 10 complete drive writes per day

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Worked on an alternative build for you to consider. The smaller SSD is for the C-drive and programs.The larger SX8200 Pro is very fast and is for actively working with videos and for some data storage if desired. I changed your HDD to 7500 RPM which will be slightly faster than the 5400 and is for long term storage. Didn't know if you wanted two for these for redundancy. The MB has only 4 SATA ports but has upgraded audio with a 1200 codec. Another nice board is the Gigabyte one with 6 SATA ports but regular audio. Will need to check the manuals to see if any of the SATA ports are disabled when the M.2 slots are used- it didn't mention it it in the specs, but need to make sure. The MSI Gaming cards are usually very quiet. The CPU will be doing most of the work in Premier Pro. Need to check the GPU length for that case, too.

 

 

PCPartPicker Part List

 

CPU: Intel - Core i9-9900K 3.6 GHz 8-Core Processor  ($484.99 @ B&H)
CPU Cooler: be quiet! - Dark Rock TF 67.8 CFM Fluid Dynamic Bearing CPU Cooler  ($79.90 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: MSI - MPG Z390M GAMING EDGE AC Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($178.00 @ Amazon)

Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws V 64 GB (4 x 16 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory  ($271.48 @ Newegg)
Storage: ADATA - XPG SX8200 480 GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive  (Rakuten $59.49)
Storage: ADATA - XPG SX8200 Pro 1 TB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive  (Rakuten $127.49)
Storage: Seagate - BarraCuda Pro 6 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($218.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: MSI - GeForce RTX 2070 8 GB Video Card  ($484.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair - RMx (2018) 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply  ($83.98 @ Newegg)
Custom: Sliger Cerberus ($225.00)
Total: $2214.31
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-06-05 20:36 EDT-0400

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20 hours ago, Bearmann said:

Worked on an alternative build for you to consider. The smaller SSD is for the C-drive and programs.The larger SX8200 Pro is very fast and is for actively working with videos and for some data storage if desired. I changed your HDD to 7500 RPM which will be slightly faster than the 5400 and is for long term storage. Didn't know if you wanted two for these for redundancy. The MB has only 4 SATA ports but has upgraded audio with a 1200 codec. Another nice board is the Gigabyte one with 6 SATA ports but regular audio. Will need to check the manuals to see if any of the SATA ports are disabled when the M.2 slots are used- it didn't mention it it in the specs, but need to make sure. The MSI Gaming cards are usually very quiet. The CPU will be doing most of the work in Premier Pro. Need to check the GPU length for that case, too.

 

 

PCPartPicker Part List

 

CPU: Intel - Core i9-9900K 3.6 GHz 8-Core Processor  ($484.99 @ B&H)
CPU Cooler: be quiet! - Dark Rock TF 67.8 CFM Fluid Dynamic Bearing CPU Cooler  ($79.90 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: MSI - MPG Z390M GAMING EDGE AC Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($178.00 @ Amazon)

Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws V 64 GB (4 x 16 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory  ($271.48 @ Newegg)
Storage: ADATA - XPG SX8200 480 GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive  (Rakuten $59.49)
Storage: ADATA - XPG SX8200 Pro 1 TB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive  (Rakuten $127.49)
Storage: Seagate - BarraCuda Pro 6 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($218.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: MSI - GeForce RTX 2070 8 GB Video Card  ($484.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair - RMx (2018) 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply  ($83.98 @ Newegg)
Custom: Sliger Cerberus ($225.00)
Total: $2214.31
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-06-05 20:36 EDT-0400

Thanks a lot, really appreciate this. My main draw to the threadripper 2950x was the sharp reduction it would provide in rendering times, but I understand that Premiere and adobe CC, after watching the videos you sent, are optimized for lower core count. So I'll have to decide which is more meaningful in my workflow. Thank you so much!

4790k @ 4.6 (1.25 adaptive) // 2x GTX 970 stock clocks/voltage // Dominator Platnium 4x4 16G //Maximus Formula VII // WD Black1TB + 128GB 850 PRO // RM1000 // NZXT H440 // Razer Blackwidow Ultimate 2013 (MX Blue) // Corsair M95 + Steelseries QCK // Razer Adaro DJ // AOC I2757FH

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1 hour ago, kpreg said:

Thanks a lot, really appreciate this. My main draw to the threadripper 2950x was the sharp reduction it would provide in rendering times, but I understand that Premiere and adobe CC, after watching the videos you sent, are optimized for lower core count. So I'll have to decide which is more meaningful in my workflow. Thank you so much!

You're welcome! My understanding is that the Intel Quick Sync saves a lot of time and also there are less bugs working with the Adobe/Intel combination than with the AMD/Adobe combination. For years Adobe has optimized their software to work with an Intel/Nvidia combination, but with AMD now gaining strength, that may be something that changes in the future.

This previously provided clip is very comprehensive and like some of the other clips again mentions some issues with AMD bugs at the 7:10 mark:

 

youtube.com/watch?v=LeFsX6TM2aU&feature=youtu.be&t=428

 

There is also the upcoming i9-9900KS if you are interested:

https://www.anandtech.com/show/14402/intel-announces-5-ghz-all-core-turbo-cpu

 

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