Help! $3800 Virtual Reality Development Rig

[Denny_Cloudhead]

Hey there! Denny here from www.cloudheadgames.com on Vancouver Island. We've been building games in Virtual Reality since 2013, with some success even...lol!

 

We've built our own systems in the past and we've also had great partners at MainGear to help us build when things were busy. Since the recent Covid crisis, it's been difficult and or impossible to have pre-mades shipped here so we're back to building our own. Anyway, I was hoping that this fine group of mega-smart people could help me spec out a new development machine! Here are the details...

Budget & Location

* $3800 Can move in either direction if necessary
* We are Vancouver Island based and require parts either direct from Van Island or Vancouver to circumvent Covid shipping issues

Aim

* Video Game production (Specifically VR production driving stereo views at a rock solid 120 fps)
* Primarily used in Unity development but often used for other applications including video & photo editing

* Gaming in general but often trying everything VR has to offer, whenever possible

 

Ryzen Threadripper VS Intel i9

 

* Probably the biggest debate/consideration is whether or not to go for insane multi-core capabilities from AMD or to stick with a stable Intel powerhouse. The reason its a hard call is that while Threadripper might be great for rendering tasks (light baking in Unity for example), it's not necessary great at driving pure frame performance when testing 120fps gameplay in an unstable environment.
* So who wins for game development when we do all of the above? WHAT DO I DO??? HELP ME GOD PLEASE HELP ME!

 

Graphics Card

* Obviously targeting the best Nvidia framework cards we can afford within budget (RTX 2080 Super bla bla) while making sure that the base computer is a general powerhouse. 

Storage

 

* Fast, fast, fast please. Read/Write times become critical when accessing large projects in Unity

* 1-TB M.2 for the main drive and at least 2TB for the backup SSD, maybe a gigantic mechanical backup would be helpful to archive as well.

 

Ram

* 32 is nice but 64 is better (not sure it squeeks in with this budget though  )

 

Case & Cooling

 

* We like pretty cases that are minimalist but show off components. Always been a fan of NZXT, or Phanteks cases or even super spartan Thermaltake Core P5 thats mostly glass!
* Cooling, CPU RGB watercooled 2-3 fan. Extra addressable RGB fans

Everything Else

* I'm always in the weeds on Motherboards but I do know it needs a metric ton of USB slots because we are often dealing with experimental hardware. Fast board is obviously better.
* PSU, extras, whatever they need to be!
* No need for monitors or peripherals. We've got all of that covered in spades.

HUGE thank you for any advice to any of the above! You've made my small world a better place and made some developers very happy

Cheers!

Edited April 17, 2020 by Denny_Cloudhead
Forgot Ram because I am tired

[Happycowdance]

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD Ryzen 9 3950X 3.5 GHz 16-Core Processor	$1009.00 @ Canada Computers
CPU Cooler	be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 4 50.5 CFM CPU Cooler	$109.99 @ Canada Computers
Motherboard	ASRock X570 Pro4 ATX AM4 Motherboard	$214.68 @ Vuugo
Memory	G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory	$189.99 @ Newegg Canada
Memory	G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory	$189.99 @ Newegg Canada
Storage	Crucial P1 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive	$149.75 @ Vuugo
Storage	Crucial P1 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive	$149.75 @ Vuugo
Video Card	Gigabyte GeForce RTX 2080 Ti 11 GB GAMING OC Video Card	$1549.00 @ Canada Computers
Case	Fractal Design Meshify C ATX Mid Tower Case	$122.41 @ Vuugo
Power Supply	Corsair RM (2019) 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply	$169.99 @ Amazon Canada
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total (before mail-in rebates)	$3954.55
	Mail-in rebates	-$100.00
	Total	$3854.55
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-04-16 22:16 EDT-0400

im assuming you guys have a server or something to back up projects onto so I went with to nvme's in raid for super fast speeds

if you need more usb ports you can get usb splitters off of amazon or something

[YT_DomDaBomb20]

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	Intel Core i9-9900KF 3.6 GHz 8-Core Processor	$670.50 @ Vuugo
CPU Cooler	be quiet! Pure Rock Slim 35.14 CFM CPU Cooler	$39.99 @ Canada Computers
Motherboard	MSI Z390-A PRO ATX LGA1151 Motherboard	$144.99 @ Memory Express
Memory	G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory	$189.99 @ Newegg Canada
Storage	Crucial P1 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive	$149.75 @ Vuugo
Storage	Samsung 860 QVO 2 TB 2.5" Solid State Drive	$294.15 @ Vuugo
Storage	Seagate BarraCuda 4 TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive	$116.49 @ Amazon Canada
Video Card	PNY Quadro RTX 4000 8 GB Video Card	$1260.50 @ Vuugo
Case	NZXT H510 Elite ATX Mid Tower Case	$229.99 @ Amazon Canada
Power Supply	Thermaltake Toughpower iRGB PLUS 1250 W 80+ Titanium Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply	$449.06 @ Amazon Canada
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	$3545.41
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-04-16 21:17 EDT-0400

Quadro is good for workstation raytracing, but for gaming...

 

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	Intel Core i9-9900KF 3.6 GHz 8-Core Processor	$670.50 @ Vuugo
CPU Cooler	be quiet! Pure Rock Slim 35.14 CFM CPU Cooler	$39.99 @ Canada Computers
Motherboard	MSI Z390-A PRO ATX LGA1151 Motherboard	$144.99 @ Memory Express
Memory	G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory	$189.99 @ Newegg Canada
Storage	Crucial P1 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive	$149.75 @ Vuugo
Storage	Samsung 860 QVO 2 TB 2.5" Solid State Drive	$294.15 @ Vuugo
Storage	Seagate BarraCuda 4 TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive	$116.49 @ Amazon Canada
Video Card	EVGA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti 11 GB Black Video Card	$1599.00 @ Canada Computers
Case	NZXT H510 Elite ATX Mid Tower Case	$229.99 @ Amazon Canada
Power Supply	Corsair RMx (2018) 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply	$194.99 @ Amazon Canada
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	$3629.84
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-04-16 21:21 EDT-0400

 

[Denny_Cloudhead]

Nice! These are terrific suggestions and there's definitely some good component picks in here. I'm still on the fence about Threadripper issues though. It will torment me for all time  Also, I know pure air cooling is perfectly fine but I still prefer the esthetic of AIO (those pure air coolers are ugly as sin).

Oh and I completely forgot to add ram because Im old and tired (edited). 64gb is closer to ideal but I dont know if the budget supports it.

[YT_DomDaBomb20]

12 minutes ago, Denny_Cloudhead said:

Nice! These are terrific suggestions and there's definitely some good component picks in here. I'm still on the fence about Threadripper issues though. It will torment me for all time  Also, I know pure air cooling is perfectly fine but I still prefer the esthetic of AIO (those pure air coolers are ugly as sin).

Oh and I completely forgot to add ram because Im old and tired (edited). 64gb is closer to ideal but I dont know if the budget supports it.

Are you seriously asking if we could squeeze 64gb of ram into an almost 4000$ build... lol

[YT_DomDaBomb20]

15 minutes ago, Denny_Cloudhead said:

Nice! These are terrific suggestions and there's definitely some good component picks in here. I'm still on the fence about Threadripper issues though. It will torment me for all time  Also, I know pure air cooling is perfectly fine but I still prefer the esthetic of AIO (those pure air coolers are ugly as sin).

Oh and I completely forgot to add ram because Im old and tired (edited). 64gb is closer to ideal but I dont know if the budget supports it.

For either of my two builds just double the kit I included or find a 32x2 kit I left over 100$ in both of my builds

 

This is a good kit https://www.newegg.com/oloy-64gb-288-pin-ddr4-sdram/p/N82E16820821212?Description=64gb ram&cm_re=64gb_ram-_-20-821-212-_-Product

[Happycowdance]

19 minutes ago, Denny_Cloudhead said:

 I'm still on the fence about Threadripper issues though. It will torment me for all time 

 do you have anything against the r9 I suggested which is basically turbos a bit slower (you can oc to fix this) than an i9 but has double the cores 

[Denny_Cloudhead]

22 minutes ago, Happycowdance said:

 do you have anything against the r9 I suggested which is basically turbos a bit slower (you can oc to fix this) than an i9 but has double the cores 

Yeah that makes sense for sure. I'm leaning there! Thank you!

[Denny_Cloudhead]

29 minutes ago, YT_DomDaBomb20 said:

Are you seriously asking if we could squeeze 64gb of ram into an almost 4000$ build... lol

Yeah, I'm admittedly waaaaay too far out of the component loop to really know if I'm in the ballpark these days.

[Denny_Cloudhead]

@Happycowdance & @YT_DomDaBomb20 Do either of you have a VR setup at home (Quest, Oculus, Index, Vive, etc)? If so I'll send you some game keys for your wonderful assistance 

[Herman Mcpootis]

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 3950X 3.5 GHz 16-Core Processor  ($1009.00 @ Canada Computers) 
CPU Cooler: Scythe Ninja 5 43.03 CFM CPU Cooler  ($99.99 @ Amazon Canada) 
Motherboard: Asus TUF GAMING X570-PLUS ATX AM4 Motherboard  ($229.50 @ Vuugo) 
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V 64 GB (2 x 32 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory  ($390.99 @ Newegg Canada) 
Storage: HP EX950 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive  ($184.99 @ Newegg Canada) 
Storage: Seagate Barracuda Compute 3 TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($97.99 @ Newegg Canada) 
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce RTX 2080 Ti 11 GB GAMING OC Video Card  ($1549.00 @ Canada Computers) 
Case: Phanteks Eclipse P400A Digital ATX Mid Tower Case  ($109.99 @ Canada Computers) 
Power Supply: Gigabyte 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply  ($129.99 @ Canada Computers) 
Total: $3801.44
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-04-16 22:41 EDT-0400

[YT_DomDaBomb20]

16 hours ago, Denny_Cloudhead said:

@Happycowdance & @YT_DomDaBomb20 Do either of you have a VR setup at home (Quest, Oculus, Index, Vive, etc)? If so I'll send you some game keys for your wonderful assistance 

Unfortunately I don’t

[NubCak]

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 3950X 3.5 GHz 16-Core Processor  ($1079.00 @ Canada Computers) 
CPU Cooler: Deepcool GAMERSTORM CAPTAIN 360X WHITE 64.4 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler  ($158.99 @ Newegg Canada) 
Motherboard: Asus TUF GAMING X570-PLUS ATX AM4 Motherboard  ($229.50 @ Vuugo) 
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3600 Memory  ($215.99 @ Newegg Canada) 
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3600 Memory  ($215.99 @ Newegg Canada) 
Storage: ADATA XPG SX8200 Pro 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive  ($199.98 @ Amazon Canada) 
Storage: Samsung 860 QVO 2 TB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($294.15 @ Vuugo) 
Storage: Seagate BarraCuda 4 TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($116.75 @ Vuugo) 
Video Card: Palit GeForce RTX 2080 Ti 11 GB GamingPro OC Video Card  ($1599.00 @ Newegg Canada Marketplace) 
Case: In Win 303 ATX Mid Tower Case  ($109.99 @ Memory Express) 
Power Supply: Corsair RM (2019) 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply  ($169.99 @ Best Buy Canada) 
Total: $4389.33
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-04-17 17:20 EDT-0400

Over the budget very slightly, but there are several things you can remove to get closer to the budget:
4TB HDD can be removed, 32gbs of ram can be removed. 


A lot of these parts im currently using in my own rig, with just a slightly different flare.

It might be more expensive than some of the builds previously mentioned, but there are some key differences:

The Adata SX8200 Pro performs much better than the crucial. 
The ram is atleast certified for DDR4-3600, which means no risk of not getting it to run DOCP. 
For Ryzen 3000 series, 3600mhz is the sweet spot, as the infinity fabric performs best running 1:1 ratio with the ram without too much tweaking.