Upgrading from Laptop - 3D Artist Build, need help on GPU and Case!

[AudreyStarlight]

Budget (including currency): $2000+ USD (can go a bit higher if necessary)

Country: USA

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: Zbrush, Blender, Photoshop, Twitch Streaming

Other details (existing parts lists, whether any peripherals are needed, what you're upgrading from, when you're going to buy, what resolution and refresh rate you want to play at, etc): 

Hi all, I'm revising this from a few weeks ago after doing a lot more research. I am upgrading from a Microsoft Surface book (1st gen, base config) that just does not give me the power I need for 3D modeling as full-time work. This is my first time going from a laptop to PC but I am working on much heavier things now than I was with the Microsoft laptop. I have a lot of the parts figured out, but I'd like some help filling in the gaps.

CPU: Will try hard to go for the 5900X as I'm focused the most on the CPU in this build. I'm hoping missing out won't take me into January. That's my biggest concern right now.

GPU: What I know the least about. I am not playing any heavy games, but I am 3D modeling so I see the need for something fairly decent for anti-aliasing and 3d rotation work. People also talk about '4k-gaming'. I apologize for my ignorance but would this also affect just a 4k monitor for drawing/3d modeling work a lot, or is it really just for gaming FPS? What about for streaming? I'm not sure how powerful I need. Is a 2060 Super, better? is a 2060 fine? I know the prices are higher than they should be right now, which is quite frustrating

CASE: I'm very artsy aesthetic-driven (rainbow unicorn puke, as I've noticed it called here) and I was set on the Lancool II but the Gamer's Nexus review seriously throws me off. Thermals I can live with-ish but noise I want to avoid as much as possible. I was looking at the Phanteks EvolvX which I think has better thermals/noise but is also a bit older. Does that matter much for cases? I love how the lancool ii is a bit smaller in form and the RGB is part of the case and not the fans, but I'm willing to switch to a case where the rgb is masked enough that it doesn't just look like three fans in a row rgb. I know, seriously not the important part of the pc but the looks matter to me  Is the EvolvX better for noise and thermals than the Lancool II? Any other cases I should look at instead? 

 

Current list: (Note: GPU and CPU will be switched out, I just needed a price placeholder.

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD Ryzen 9 3900X 3.8 GHz 12-Core Processor	$429.99 @ Newegg
CPU Cooler	Scythe FUMA 2 51.17 CFM CPU Cooler	$59.99 @ Amazon
Motherboard	MSI MAG X570 TOMAHAWK WIFI ATX AM4 Motherboard	$284.00 @ Amazon
Memory	G.Skill Trident Z Royal 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3600 CL16 Memory	$199.99 @ Newegg
Storage	Sabrent Rocket 512 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive	$69.98 @ Amazon
Storage	Sabrent Rocket 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive	$149.97 @ Amazon
Video Card	MSI GeForce RTX 2060 6 GB GAMING Video Card	$549.79 @ Amazon
Case	Lian Li LANCOOL II-W ATX Mid Tower Case	$99.99 @ Adorama
Power Supply	Corsair RMx (2018) 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply	$144.99 @ Best Buy
Custom	Lian Li LAN2-2X Side diffused LEDs Strip for LANCOOL II	$15.99
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	$2004.68
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-11-02 08:13 EST-0500

Thanks so much for any help! 

[jaslion]

That 2060 super is beyond overpriced. Why the 2 ssds?

 

Basically the very best you can do right now is wait a bit. Amd is coming out with their new gpu's in 2 weeks and a couple days of which the cheapest is supposed to be 20$ more than the 2060 super you listed here but almost double as fast.

 

If you cannot wait for those cards then just don't get this gpu and order yourself a used rx470/570 or rx480/580 for the time being as that 2060 super is just overpriced beyond belief. All these cards are easily found under 100 and these cards are totally fine for 1080p gaming + streaming. The difference in viewport performance will be little compared to the super. Where you will notice a difference is in the lack of ray tracing acceleration in blender when viewing with materials on but I do see this as a ok tradeoff as well you will be able to get twice the card for the money later than be stuck with a card which main features is raytracing but can't actually play any games with it on and still get above 60 fps without dropping the resolution. Also for gaming a 2060 super is not a 4k card at all. Fine for work not for gaming but so is the rx480/580

 

The case you chose has poor airflow and that is not recommended. Look at the corsair h500 mesh plenty of rainbow puke but silent and great airflow :p.

 

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD Ryzen 9 3900X 3.8 GHz 12-Core Processor	$429.99 @ Newegg
CPU Cooler	Scythe FUMA 2 51.17 CFM CPU Cooler	$59.99 @ Amazon
Motherboard	MSI MAG B550 TOMAHAWK ATX AM4 Motherboard	$179.99 @ Amazon
Memory	G.Skill Trident Z Royal 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3600 CL16 Memory	$199.99 @ Newegg
Storage	ADATA XPG SX8200 Pro 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive	$129.99 @ Amazon
Case	Cooler Master MasterCase H500 ATX Mid Tower Case	$84.99 @ Newegg
Power Supply	Corsair RMx (2018) 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply	$144.99 @ Best Buy
Custom	Lian Li LAN2-2X Side diffused LEDs Strip for LANCOOL II	$15.99
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total (before mail-in rebates)	$1265.92
	Mail-in rebates	-$20.00
	Total	$1245.92
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-11-02 08:38 EST-0500

 

No gpu but the amd rx6800 should be 570$ which means the system is still cheaper and well performance stays the same/is better. If it needs to be bought right now this instant one of the used cards I mentioned will easily bridge you the gap.

 

[SupaKomputa]

You don't need 2 SSD, the best combo is 1 ssd for OS and the other for storage (as large as possible). So for $150 you can get 4TB HDD.

As for GPU, large Video Memory is better for your use case. Get at least 8GB vram.

[AudreyStarlight]

1 hour ago, jaslion said:

That 2060 super is beyond overpriced. Why the 2 ssds?

 

Basically the very best you can do right now is wait a bit. Amd is coming out with their new gpu's in 2 weeks and a couple days of which the cheapest is supposed to be 20$ more than the 2060 super you listed here but almost double as fast.

 

The case you chose has poor airflow and that is not recommended. Look at the corsair h500 mesh plenty of rainbow puke but silent and great airflow :p.

 

Thank you for the help! 
I have the two SSDs so I can separate huge important files and running programs/holding video recordings, which I've heard is more ideal than one large SSD. I'm paranoid to trust HDDs from what I've heard regarding failures and would pay for that sense of security. 

I agree the 2060 does seem overpriced. I can wait for the AMDs, but if I'm unable to grab any due to stock shortage I'll take your suggestion. 
Just wondering, this was the graphics on the surface book; I'm not great with numbers but how would you say this stacks up? Just to get an idea of the difference

Surface Book: i5: Intel® HD graphics 520;

i5/i7: NVIDIA® GeForce® dGPU with 1GB GDDR5 memory

As for the case I'll still have to look around more I suppose haha. I'm more leaning visually towards the ones where the front rgb isn't just all visible showing the fans in a row, but I know that makes it harder to find ones with good airflow. Hence why I was looking at the EvolvX, Rosewill prism, Thermaltake versa, that kind of appearance (Yeah I know it's usually the type found on cheap gamer budget pre-builts). I greatly like the idea of the hinge side panels; if I can find a case with that I'm much more interested than the screws.

 

[AudreyStarlight]

1 hour ago, SupaKomputa said:

You don't need 2 SSD, the best combo is 1 ssd for OS and the other for storage (as large as possible). So for $150 you can get 4TB HDD.

As for GPU, large Video Memory is better for your use case. Get at least 8GB vram.

I'll keep in mind about the 8gb Ram, thank you! 
I've heard a lot of things about HDD failures though and have experienced them with external storages (Orange LaCie for art school, dead, and it was a common occurrence for the students as told by the IT there). I'm paranoid about that risk and I feel like the SSD would be more secure?

[SupaKomputa]

1 minute ago, AudreyStarlight said:

I'm paranoid about that risk and I feel like the SSD would be more secure?

NO, all drive will fail eventually even SSD.

Drive failure in SSD is sudden and quick, and probably with no symptoms.

HDD failure most of the time (at least in my experience) are gradual, meaning you can save it when you get the symptoms.

External storage failure sometimes is not related to the drive itself, most of the time it's the USB controller or bad port (from continuous replugging), and since it is external, the drive itself can have shock damage which is bad for HDD, but for static usage in a PC it is safer.

What ever the drive, the best operating procedure is to have backups, either real time (redundancy / RAID) or copies in another drive.

 

From a data rescue point of view, retrieving data from a broken SSD is close to impossible.

While with HDD, there are some ways to "fix" it as long as the data platter are intact.

[AudreyStarlight]

28 minutes ago, SupaKomputa said:

NO, all drive will fail eventually even SSD.

Drive failure in SSD is sudden and quick, and probably with no symptoms.

HDD failure most of the time (at least in my experience) are gradual, meaning you can save it when you get the symptoms.

External storage failure sometimes is not related to the drive itself, most of the time it's the USB controller or bad port (from continuous replugging), and since it is external, the drive itself can have shock damage which is bad for HDD, but for static usage in a PC it is safer.

What ever the drive, the best operating procedure is to have backups, either real time (redundancy / RAID) or copies in another drive.

 

From a data rescue point of view, retrieving data from a broken SSD is close to impossible.

While with HDD, there are some ways to "fix" it as long as the data platter are intact.

Understood, thank you for the explanation! After talking to my father he did say that is correct, so I'll switch that to an SSD for programs and HDD for storage. 
Do you have any recommendations for a good HDD? Seagate vs Western digital?

[TechChild]

3 hours ago, AudreyStarlight said:

Do you have any recommendations for a good HDD? Seagate vs Western digital?

Ah, the age old question "what is a 'good' HDD?". There are many nuances to this question, and will be dependent on what you think "good" is. It is going to be dependent primarily on the following:

1 - How much risk can I take with the data that I store on these drives? You can answer this question by considering what your reaction would be if you booted your PC and found out that the drives are gone. If you would be irate and have tremendous anxiety then you will want to go with a solution that is durable and has redundancy. If you would just shrug it off and go on with your life, then you can get away with something cheaper, albeit riskier.

2 - How much storage do I need? This basically boils down to a math problem. How much storage does an average client's project take on your system now, multiplied by the number of clients that you get per month, multiplied by the number of months you want to go without having to upgrade the storage + some extra headroom to allow for increases in the size of the files and hopefully growth in your business.

 

Were I in your position I would err on the side of extreme caution with the risk I took with this data, due to the fact that this computer would be my tool for paying the bills. "You get what you pay for" is a huge factor here. If it were my rig I would purchase 2 4tb Western Digital Black drives running in a Raid 1 configuration. Many would call this overkill, and I am sure there will be those who will disagree with me about it. Western Digital's "Black" line of drives are built to be durable and reliable drives that have great performance. However if you compare prices, a 4tb WD Black is about the same price as a Seagate Barracuda 8tb - 150 USD. There's a lot to be said for $/gb. But, this is ultimately up to you.

 

That being said, there are other ways to bring the price down yet still have security. Here are a couple of hybrid/budget options to what I outlined in the paragraph previously. of the above is running 2 Seagate "Barracuda" drives in Raid 1. Since Barracuda tends to be much cheaper than WD Black, you will get the data security of Raid 1, but with a lower price than "Black". Or you can do the same thing with WD "Blue" or "Green" drives. You would have to do some research as to which option makes the most sense for your needs.

 

A few links to aid you in your research:

- An explanation of the differences between the different colors of the WD drives: https://community.wd.com/t/drive-colors/222303

- An explanation between the different types of Seagate drives: https://www.bhphotovideo.com/explora/computers/buying-guide/seagate-which-drive-is-right-for-you

- An explanation of the different types of Raid Configurations: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_RAID_levels

 

After answering the above questions I would take a look at the following 4 options as a starting point and mess around with the capacity, until you find something that you like:

1 - Western Digital Black 4TB: https://www.amazon.com/Black-4TB-Performance-Hard-Drive/dp/B0792G331G/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=Western+Digital+Black+4TB&qid=1604345632&s=electronics&sr=1-2

2 - Western Digital Blue 4TB: https://www.amazon.com/WD-Blue-4TB-Hard-Drive/dp/B013HNYV8I/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=Western+Digital+Blue+4TB&qid=1604345606&s=electronics&sr=1-1

3 - Seagate Barracuda Pro 4TB: https://www.amazon.com/Seagate-BarraCuda-3-5-Inch-Computers-ST4000DM006/dp/B01MSW4MNS/ref=sr_1_4?dchild=1&keywords=Seagate+Barracuda+Pro+4TB&qid=1604345554&s=electronics&sr=1-4

4 - Seagate Barracuda Non-Pro 4TB: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07D9C7SQH/ref=twister_B08M9YPM2Q?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

 

Please note that the Blue and Barracuda Non-Pro drives operate at ~5.5K RPM as opposed to the Pro and Black's ~7.2K RPM. Which means that the Black and Pro drives will load data quicker than the other two. But that may or may not be a problem for you.

 

Hopefully this helps. This isn't meant to be an exhaustive guide to what you should purchase. But consider it a starting tutorial. If something isn't clear just point it out and either I or the rest of the community will be more than happy to help sort it out.

Edited November 2, 2020 by TechChild
Clarification and correction of poor word choice

[jaslion]

4 hours ago, AudreyStarlight said:

Thank you for the help! 
I have the two SSDs so I can separate huge important files and running programs/holding video recordings, which I've heard is more ideal than one large SSD. I'm paranoid to trust HDDs from what I've heard regarding failures and would pay for that sense of security. 

I agree the 2060 does seem overpriced. I can wait for the AMDs, but if I'm unable to grab any due to stock shortage I'll take your suggestion. 
Just wondering, this was the graphics on the surface book; I'm not great with numbers but how would you say this stacks up? Just to get an idea of the difference

Surface Book: i5: Intel® HD graphics 520;

i5/i7: NVIDIA® GeForce® dGPU with 1GB GDDR5 memory

As for the case I'll still have to look around more I suppose haha. I'm more leaning visually towards the ones where the front rgb isn't just all visible showing the fans in a row, but I know that makes it harder to find ones with good airflow. Hence why I was looking at the EvolvX, Rosewill prism, Thermaltake versa, that kind of appearance (Yeah I know it's usually the type found on cheap gamer budget pre-builts). I greatly like the idea of the hinge side panels; if I can find a case with that I'm much more interested than the screws.

 

Hard to compare with the specs given. 1g ddr5 could be the 940m that was in the surface book 1. As a rough comparison a rx480/580 is about 5 times better and a rx 470 or 570 about 4 times (the 480 and 580 are basically the same card but the 500 series one has a little higher clockspeed same for the 470 570).

 

As for multiple ssds. Doesn't matter. All drives will fail. If you worry about that have a backup strategy and you'll be good. Just get one ssd and if you need more mass storage get a hdd.

 

Now for the cases you looked at:

 

Phanteks evlove x: worse airflow than the lancool II not recommended

Rosewill prism: As bad as the evolve. Also just straight up took the front panel of the fractal meshify c and instead of mesh made it solid. The meshify c is a decent case and does share the look of the prism but fixes the bad airflow issue.

Thermaltake versa: Random front mesh case. Used this for a bunch of systems 2 years or so ago. As long as you buy some fans for it to put in the front and replace the back one it's a solid case. But then again there are a lot like it that may be more your style

 

If you need to buy fans for a case just get some arctic p12's. Literally just like the noctua nf12 fans but you can buy 5 for the price of 1 noctua. For cases look for a front mesh case. Or a side unobstructed intake case like the lian li o11.

 

[SupaKomputa]

4 hours ago, AudreyStarlight said:

Do you have any recommendations for a good HDD? Seagate vs Western digital?

Statistically speaking, you can refer to backblaze (a hosting company) annual report.

These HDD have been used rigorously 24/7, in general 1% HDD will fail, most of the failure comes from Seagate & WD hdd, while their japanese counterpart (Toshiba or Hitachi) shows almost 0% especially with 4TB parts.

https://www.backblaze.com/b2/hard-drive-test-data.html

You can look up older stats as they use very high capacity parts these days.