Rendering workstation

[jaslion]

So I am looking into building a rendering workstation on the cheap to help assist my workflow.

 

I am a student who also does a secondary course related to 3D modeling and concept art. I am in need of a secondary system that can either be used to work on or be used to dump my to be rendered stuff on so I can keep working on my laptop. It also needs to be able to run vms and be a webserver from time to time for my other course I'm doing (network engineering). But that is a secondary purpose as my laptop is fulfilling that role or sometimes my raspberry pi.

 

I've been googling a lot and know for sure that a ryzen system is the best bang for the buck you can get when going new however I have also been looking into used options and some attractive options are available.

 

I've found plenty of 3930k, 4930k and such + a good x79 board (not the ones you can get new from aliexpress) for around the 200-250 euro mark. And 5820 + x99 boards for around the 250-300 euro mark. Most come with 8-16gb of ram which is quite nice.

These systems usually perform about the same as a ryzen 2600 which would usually come to a 320 ish euro build with 16gb of ram.

 

All I really need is a cpu, mobo and ram. I have everything else

Parts I have to reuse:

New seasonic s12II 520 and S12II 620

Hyper 212 evo

Bunch of random ssd's

Fair few cases

All the cables you could need

Gpu wise I will put a quadro k5000 I got back recently in there

 

I'm fairly certain the used options are not that good of an idea but any input is welcome.

Budget wise it's basically the cheaper the better as this is a secondary system.

[Zando_]

If you don't need straight RAM bandwidth, the X79 systems will be a better choice. I believe they don't have cut down PCIe options either (the 5820K has 28 PCIe lanes vs 40 for the higher chips, on some boards some slots just don't work, or run at half speed). 

As for the parts to reuse, eeeeeh might want a new PSU. I'll tag @LukeSavenije so he can have an aneurysm. 

[Juular]

Quote

New seasonic s12II 520 and S12II 620

Sigh ... bad PSUs. FFS Seasonic, stop selling these 10yo PSUs.

8 minutes ago, jaslion said:

These systems usually perform about the same as a ryzen 2600 which would usually come to a 320 ish euro build with 16gb of ram.

R5 2600 will be a bit faster actually and it's completely possible to make 250 EUR build with it.

 

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 2600 3.4 GHz 6-Core Processor  (€119.90 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Motherboard: ASRock B450M Pro4-F Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard  (€72.98 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory  (€57.90 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Total: €250.78
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-12-18 19:14 CET+0100

[jaslion]

Just now, Zando Bob said:

If you don't need straight RAM bandwidth, the X79 systems will be a better choice. I believe they don't have cut down PCIe options either (the 5820K has 28 PCIe lanes vs 40 for the higher chips, on some boards some slots just don't work, or run at half speed). 

As for the parts to reuse, eeeeeh might want a new PSU. I'll tag @LukeSavenije so he can have an aneurysm. 

I'm aware the seasonic's are from a time gone by and the 520 was just a testing psu to see if gpu's weren't defective in a cruddy test rig for when I did pc repair as a source of income. The 620 was a nice recent find still sealed in the box and working just fine it seems.

[jaslion]

2 minutes ago, Juular said:

Sigh ... bad PSUs. FFS Seasonic, stop selling these 10yo PSUs.

R5 2600 will be a bit faster actually and it's completely possible to make 250 EUR build with it.

 

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 2600 3.4 GHz 6-Core Processor  (€119.90 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Motherboard: ASRock B450M Pro4-F Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard  (€72.98 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory  (€57.90 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Total: €250.78
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-12-18 19:14 CET+0100

I forgot about amazon.de when making the list oops . That does pretty much settle it then compared to all the old stuff.

 

Edit: I've had those psu's for ages but unused and the 620 was still new in box and bought in like 2013 according to the invoice that was in the box

[Juular]

1 minute ago, jaslion said:

I forgot about amazon.de when making the list oops . That does pretty much settle it then compared to all the old stuff.

And you can get R7 2700 for 25 EUR more.

[jaslion]

Just now, Juular said:

And you can get R7 2700 for 25 EUR more.

Thanks for the help. I'll get myself that then. I am now doubting the psu's but they should be fine right? I know they do not stack up to modern things but they aren't bad if I already have them right?

[Zando_]

2 minutes ago, jaslion said:

I'm aware the seasonic's are from a time gone by and the 520 was just a testing psu to see if gpu's weren't defective in a cruddy test rig for when I did pc repair as a source of income. The 620 was a nice recent find still sealed in the box and working just fine it seems.

Being new doesn't make it not bad though, the design is the issue. 

2 minutes ago, Juular said:

R5 2600 will be a bit faster actually and it's completely possible to make 250 EUR build with it.

If OP is willing to OC, these chips outdo the Zen+ Ryzens at the same core count (while having more PCIe lanes and in the case of X99, quad channel DDR4). So 6c i7s/Xeons beat the 2600, 8c Xeons/i7s beat the 2700X. Being as it's a workstation rig eeeeh OCing may not be the best idea. Although, Tech Yes City did run an OCed 1680v2 (lands between a 2700X and stock 9900K) as a main editing rig for a while. 

If you're looking to just slap it in a box and run it stock, the Ryzens are the better choice though. 

[jaslion]

1 minute ago, Zando Bob said:

Being new doesn't make it not bad though, the design is the issue. 

If OP is willing to OC, these chips outdo the Zen+ Ryzens at the same core count (while having more PCIe lanes and in the case of X99, quad channel DDR4). So 6c i7s/Xeons beat the 2600, 8c Xeons/i7s beat the 2700X. Being as it's a workstation rig eeeeh OCing may not be the best idea. Although, Tech Yes City did run an OCed 1680v2 (lands between a 2700X and stock 9900K) as a main editing rig for a while. 

If you're looking to just slap it in a box and run it stock, the Ryzens are the better choice though. 

I'm not afraid to oc (my little brother bought my old 2600k which has been at 5.2ghz for about 6 years now and still going at it.

Since I can just get new for the price of the used x99 rigs I'm going to be going with the new stuff and if I want to I can get a used cpu years later if I need the upgrade. I'm one of those people that do not upgrade until the system really really really does not cut it anymore and starts to influence my workflow.

[Juular]

1 minute ago, Zando Bob said:

If OP is willing to OC, these chips outdo the Zen+ Ryzens at the same core count

Agree but they ain't gonna OC well on CM Hyper 212.

3 minutes ago, jaslion said:

Thanks for the help. I'll get myself that then. I am now doubting the psu's but they should be fine right? I know they do not stack up to modern things but they aren't bad if I already have them right?

It's okay for a PC without dGPU but with that GPU you have it's advisable to get some modern unit.

[jaslion]

2 minutes ago, Juular said:

Agree but they ain't gonna OC well on CM Hyper 212.

It's okay for a PC without dGPU but with that GPU you have it's advisable to get some modern unit.

Did something go wrong with the s12II series I'm not aware of? They used to be highly recommended and now they sound like bad psu's? Should I maybe recommend my lil brother to replace his S12II 620 then in the i7 2600k + gtx 970 system? It's been fine for 4 years now but if they are indeed bad would it be recommended that I then too replace them?

 

Sorry if it's off topic but now I kinda worry that I put in bad psu's in systems when they were highly recommended as a budget option years ago.

[Juular]

13 minutes ago, jaslion said:

They used to be highly recommended and now they sound like bad psu's?

They're still getting 'highly recommended' by the masses, just because it's Seasonic, and they still gladly sell it lol. It was a good unit almost ten years ago, now it's not. The reason for this is that it's group regulated which is a big no-no with any post-Haswell CPUs (4-gen), it would be relatively okay for Sandy\Ivy Bridge tho (2\3-gen) with not too power-hungry GPU (which Quadro K5000 barely qualifies for tho).

[LukeSavenije]

35 minutes ago, Zando Bob said:

Being new doesn't make it not bad though, the design is the issue. 

to sum it up

 

group regulation

 

no 12v uvp