Workstation Part Recommendations

[TheKameo]

Hi, I am a bit new to the forums, but have been watching Linus for years. I keep up to date on tech and when I built my first pc I was happy to follow along with his videos with minimal complications. I am set to graduate in the next few months and will be entering the games industry shortly afterwards. 

 

Current Build:---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Intel 6700k 4.0Ghz

Corsair 32GB RAM 3200

Asus z-170A MB

Nvidia GTX 1080ti

Aim:--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I am looking to build a workstation class tower that is capable of running programs that relate to my field. The main programs that I currently use, and will continue to use are Autodesk Maya, Substance Designer, Substance Painter, Unreal Engine 4, ZBrush 20xx, Houdini, and the Adobe Suite. The main issues with my current build stem from age and the increasing demands from the programs that I use.

 

Concerns:--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

 

RAM:

Ram is a big concern for me, as Substance Designer can grab 20GB in a heartbeat, and using 2-5 programs at the same time is a requirement for efficient workflow. The current workstations that we use have 128GB and I have seen Houdini Take up 120GB for a simulation. Zbrush benefits heavily from strong ram speed and total amount. 

 

Processor:

 

Another concern is having a strong processor for building lighting. Unreal's Lightmass is currently a CPU bound process and can be "farmed out" across a network. I will not have that luxury for a home machine, so I would need a strong base clock and large number of cores to help speed up my work. I have been looking at threadripper as a possible choice, but due to the uncertainty on the Intel side I have been somewhat deadlocked as to which side to pick. 

 

GPU:

 

If I were to go with a Quadro, I would blow my budget almost immediately. Most of the time a regular gaming card does the trick just fine. Most of the programs listed above support CUDA acceleration, and Nvidia has been my choice for several years now. I would likely go with an RTX 2080ti to get strong clock speeds, and get the bigger VRAM to facilitate my workload. I want to go for the 2080ti due to the raytracing support, but by the time I go to make this machine Nvidia will likely release the 30xx series cards.

 

Storage:---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Strong storage options including a "scratch" disk help the programs I use to quickly dump large amounts of data, or cache what is currently being worked on. A 500GB SSD is enough. I would like to upgrade to a 1-2TB SSD for main storage.

 

Peripherals/Monitors:----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

I currently have a ROG Swift 1440p 165Hz display that serves me well, but I would like to look into purchasing a separate 4K display with strong color accuracy.

 

Budget: --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The budget for the system is between $3-5k USD

 

 

 

 

[LIGISTX]

3 minutes ago, TheKameo said:

Hi, I am a bit new to the forums, but have been watching Linus for years. I keep up to date on tech and when I built my first pc I was happy to follow along with his videos with minimal complications. I am set to graduate in the next few months and will be entering the games industry shortly afterwards. 

 

Current Build:---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Intel 6700k 4.0Ghz

Corsair 32GB RAM 3200

Asus z-170A MB

Nvidia GTX 1080ti

Aim:--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I am looking to build a workstation class tower that is capable of running programs that relate to my field. The main programs that I currently use, and will continue to use are Autodesk Maya, Substance Designer, Substance Painter, Unreal Engine 4, ZBrush 20xx, Houdini, and the Adobe Suite. The main issues with my current build stem from age and the increasing demands from the programs that I use.

 

Concerns:--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

 

RAM:

Ram is a big concern for me, as Substance Designer can grab 20GB in a heartbeat, and using 2-5 programs at the same time is a requirement for efficient workflow. The current workstations that we use have 128GB and I have seen Houdini Take up 120GB for a simulation. Zbrush benefits heavily from strong ram speed and total amount. 

 

Processor:

 

Another concern is having a strong processor for building lighting. Unreal's Lightmass is currently a CPU bound process and can be "farmed out" across a network. I will not have that luxury for a home machine, so I would need a strong base clock and large number of cores to help speed up my work. I have been looking at threadripper as a possible choice, but due to the uncertainty on the Intel side I have been somewhat deadlocked as to which side to pick. 

 

GPU:

 

If I were to go with a Quadro, I would blow my budget almost immediately. Most of the time a regular gaming card does the trick just fine. Most of the programs listed above support CUDA acceleration, and Nvidia has been my choice for several years now. I would likely go with an RTX 2080ti to get strong clock speeds, and get the bigger VRAM to facilitate my workload. I want to go for the 2080ti due to the raytracing support, but by the time I go to make this machine Nvidia will likely release the 30xx series cards.

 

Storage:---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Strong storage options including a "scratch" disk help the programs I use to quickly dump large amounts of data, or cache what is currently being worked on. A 500GB SSD is enough. I would like to upgrade to a 1-2TB SSD for main storage.

 

Peripherals/Monitors:----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

I currently have a ROG Swift 1440p 165Hz display that serves me well, but I would like to look into purchasing a separate 4K display with strong color accuracy.

 

Budget: --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The budget for the system is between $3-5k USD

 

 

 

 

Seems like your logic is solid. I would seriously look into threadripper as Intel won't have anything to go against that for a bit. If you can wait a while, sure, waiting always means faster, but if you want something relatively soon, thread ripper on Zen 2 will be your best option I think. It may not be the best in every situation, but the fact its much cheaper than equivalent Intel chips (like, way cheaper), you can spend the difference on a whack load of RAM since that seems to be a big need for your use case. 

 

In strictly GHz bound tests, Intel does typically still juuuust edge out Zen 2, but that doesn't so much transfer over to Xeon's simply because they are lower clocks than something like a 9900k which beats Ryzen with pure Ghz. Ghz for Ghz, AMD typically is faster. And that + the RAM needs as I stated, makes it hard to even think about Intel.

 

GPU's seem solid as well. 2080ti is a great option.

 

SSD's are relatively cheap, even FAST nvme ones. So that should be a relatively easy thing to determine once you have a final price figured out from the rest of the parts.

[skimmilk5]

Great OP! It's important to differentiate from a high end desktop versus a true workstation. Are you looking to build a thoroughbred workstation, or do you just want something that'll run the applications that you need to run well?

CPU: If you're looking to run a true workstation, you'll need to look into AMD Epyc or Intel Xeon. Epyc for workstations seems to be immature still (despite their massive advancements in server-side and consumer platforms), but platforms like the Epyc Rome 7262 or Epyc Rome 7232P might appeal to you for per-clock efficiency. However, AMD just has nothing in the area where Intel Xeon Scalable for workstations can offer. If you're looking for many, many CPU cores and don't necessarily care about workstation features, AMD Threadripper is a strong contender.

RAM: Again, this depends heavily on the type of workstation that you're trying to build. If you're trying to build a pure workstation, you'll almost certainly need ECC unbuffered RAM for the CPU that you choose. In this case, you'll probably be able to only get away with 64GB or so. If you're just building a kickass system, you can probably get away with somewhere between 128GB and 384GB for around the same price, for non-ECC sticks.

Motherboard: Unfortunately, it's really difficult to find true workstation motherboards. Server motherboards offer incredibly high degrees of stability and reliability in stressful situations where they're run in less-than-ideal datacenters with lots of heat on all sides and vibrations from whiny server fans, but are often lacking in features that we'd consider essential on desktops, like USB 3.0 or intuitive board layouts (remember, these boards are often specially for a specific buildout in a specfic chassis), not to mention that they are often ugly as hell (if that matters to you). That being said, they can offer features that make things much easier, like on-board 10Gbit networking with high-end Intel or even Mellanox chipsets. Many manufacturers expect you to make up those deficiencies with add-in cards, like USB cards, sound cards, or wireless networking. You'd almost certainly have to use a server-grade board (or overpay for a true workstation board) for a platform like Epyc or Xeon Scalable. Otherwise, you'd want to look for a consumer-grade board with solid power delivery features, enough PCIe slots to choke a small mammal, and good reviews and a good track record of stability and reliability.

GPU: Unfortunately, there aren't many options for workstation-grade graphics cards. AMD has nothing worth buying (sorry, AMD fans!), since the Radeon technologies group doesn't really deal in that market anymore. As a result, you're left with Nvidia Quadro. This is critically important for reliable 10-bit color output, increased reliability, and large amounts of VRAM. Additionally, if you'd like to use multiple cards on a tiled display, you can only get the Quadro Sync cards for, well, Quadro, to help with tiling tearing. If you don't really care about 10-bit color and don't have a need for the massive video memory, you can probably get away with a GeForce card or a consumer-grade Radeon card (sorry, I'm not up to date with Radeon's offerings).

SSD: You'll probably only be using your onboard storage as a fast scratch disk and for applications, not mass storage. You can get Samsung 970 EVO 1TB drives for under $200, a worthwhile investment. In the same vein, consider also picking up a 10Gbit card to connect to your networked storage solution.

[TheKameo]

7 minutes ago, kimsejin5 said:

Great OP! It's important to differentiate from a high end desktop versus a true workstation. Are you looking to build a thoroughbred workstation, or do you just want something that'll run the applications that you need to run well?

CPU: If you're looking to run a true workstation, you'll need to look into AMD Epyc or Intel Xeon. Epyc for workstations seems to be immature still (despite their massive advancements in server-side and consumer platforms), but platforms like the Epyc Rome 7262 or Epyc Rome 7232P might appeal to you for per-clock efficiency. However, AMD just has nothing in the area where Intel Xeon Scalable for workstations can offer. If you're looking for many, many CPU cores and don't necessarily care about workstation features, AMD Threadripper is a strong contender.

RAM: Again, this depends heavily on the type of workstation that you're trying to build. If you're trying to build a pure workstation, you'll almost certainly need ECC unbuffered RAM for the CPU that you choose. In this case, you'll probably be able to only get away with 64GB or so. If you're just building a kickass system, you can probably get away with somewhere between 128GB and 384GB for around the same price, for non-ECC sticks.

Motherboard: Unfortunately, it's really difficult to find true workstation motherboards. Server motherboards offer incredibly high degrees of stability and reliability in stressful situations where they're run in less-than-ideal datacenters with lots of heat on all sides and vibrations from whiny server fans, but are often lacking in features that we'd consider essential on desktops, like USB 3.0 or intuitive board layouts (remember, these boards are often specially for a specific buildout in a specfic chassis), not to mention that they are often ugly as hell (if that matters to you). That being said, they can offer features that make things much easier, like on-board 10Gbit networking with high-end Intel or even Mellanox chipsets. Many manufacturers expect you to make up those deficiencies with add-in cards, like USB cards, sound cards, or wireless networking. You'd almost certainly have to use a server-grade board (or overpay for a true workstation board) for a platform like Epyc or Xeon Scalable. Otherwise, you'd want to look for a consumer-grade board with solid power delivery features, enough PCIe slots to choke a small mammal, and good reviews and a good track record of stability and reliability.

GPU: Unfortunately, there aren't many options for workstation-grade graphics cards. AMD has nothing worth buying (sorry, AMD fans!), since the Radeon technologies group doesn't really deal in that market anymore. As a result, you're left with Nvidia Quadro. This is critically important for reliable 10-bit color output, increased reliability, and large amounts of VRAM. Additionally, if you'd like to use multiple cards on a tiled display, you can only get the Quadro Sync cards for, well, Quadro, to help with tiling tearing. If you don't really care about 10-bit color and don't have a need for the massive video memory, you can probably get away with a GeForce card or a consumer-grade Radeon card (sorry, I'm not up to date with Radeon's offerings).

SSD: You'll probably only be using your onboard storage as a fast scratch disk and for applications, not mass storage. You can get Samsung 970 EVO 1TB drives for under $200, a worthwhile investment. In the same vein, consider also picking up a 10Gbit card to connect to your networked storage solution.

I am looking to build a computer that is capable of running like a workstation without workstation hardware. I know that there are areas like ECC memory support and overall reliability that justify that type of purchase but that is not what I am trying to build, nor do I have the budget for it. More often than not workstation hardware is rather temperamental when dealing with the software set I use, and the programs tend to prefer enthusiast parts over WS grade hardware. I don't plan on using it as a render farm machine which would warrant that level of hardware. Maya runs very reliably on my desktop, but on a HP workstation the performance can be abysmal at times. I do not have the IT experience to troubleshoot that level of hardware either so enthusiast grade seems to be the best route.

I had one more point to mention concerning RAM. Frequency can matter big time when it comes to zbrush, or running Designer. My professor went for 4133 when he built his pc about a year ago and he said it was a huge upgrade for Designer.

[skimmilk5]

I'd say, Threadripper with some fast memory on some well-built board from Asus will be perfectly adequate. (If I'm not mistaken, I think that even TR supports ECC...)

[skimmilk5]

ALSO also, consider getting a system from someone reputable, like Puget Systems. I'm a particular fan of Puget, since they do a really good job with testing and validation (regardless of the grade of the computer). Puget's job is to literally build workstations, and that they do well (especially compared to boutique "gaming" system builders like Origin or DigitalStorm)! I swear they're not paying me to say this, I just really like those folks!