First build -TL:DR want opinions, no idea on what graphics card I need, primarily to be a workstation

[Ashification]

Hi All,

 

New to the PC building world. I have binged a ton of LTT vids and after some research thought hitting up the forum might be a good reference point.

I've been using my laptop as my daily driver since college and now for work but would like to move to a desktop.

I've always wanted to build my own PC and thought now I have the time and the funds and a good reason..... why not!!!

 

Important: I want to ideally have a PC that I can build on and add to in time to come so I dont want to limit myself too much on some aspects

Usage:  I am a maker and developer so coding and 3D printing will be the primary function of this workstation

Budget (including currency): Can be flexible but would like to keep it close to the €2000 mark but willing to pay for longevity and quality (the below is in dollars and equates totals at €2045 and some change)

Country: Ireland

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: Running Solid works (for POC parts and creating designs for 3D printing), VM ware, visual studios and other IDEs, (Machine learning and AI processing in the future potentially)

Other details:

• Peripherals:
  • Purchase needed? No
  • Outputs: Will need to be able to connect to 3 HDMI monitors.
• What you're upgrading from: Dell Inspiron 13 7373 Laptop, Intel Core i7-8550U (4 core, 8 threads, 1.8GHz, Not over clocked), 8GB RAM, 200GB SSD
• When you're going to buy? Ideally I want to start building end of May/June
• What resolution and refresh rate you want to play at:  4K resolution, not really a gamer so will primarily be a workstation so open on advice for refresh rates.
• Case: I'm set on the case for its size and aesthetic, I am limited to 37cm/14.5" High x 30cm/11.8" wide x 52cm/20.4" deep space to place it in hence the case selection

 

Existing parts lists,

See below list I've put together off of what I think I need but very open to alternative suggestions.

 

 

Component		Selection		Price
CPU			AMD Ryzen 9 3900X 3.8 GHz 12-Core Processor	$484.99	Buy
CPU Cooler			Corsair iCUE H100i ELITE CAPELLIX 75 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler	$159.99	Buy
Thermal Compound			Cooler Master IC ESSENTIAL E1 3.75 g Thermal Paste	$6.99	Buy
Motherboard			Gigabyte B550M AORUS PRO-P Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard	$144.99	Buy
Memory			Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory	$109.99	Buy
Storage			Western Digital Blue 2 TB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive	$215.70	Buy
Video Card			MSI Radeon RX 580 8 GB ARMOR OC Video Card	$767.35	Buy
Case			Corsair Crystal 280X RGB MicroATX Mid Tower Case	$174.99	Buy
Power Supply			Corsair RMx (2018) 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply	$237.00	Buy
Operating System			Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit	$108.78	Buy
Case Fan			Corsair LL120 63 CFM 120 mm Fan	$39.99	Buy
Total:				$2450.76

Edited April 16, 2021 by Ashification
Adding in some contextual points to some of the specs selected and future usage

[curiousmind34]

One thing, make sure to go for the NVME SN550 over the SATA III Western Digital Blue, the SN550 is faster and around the same price

[Ashification]

1 minute ago, curiousmind34 said:

One thing, make sure to go for the NVME SN550 over the SATA III Western Digital Blue, the SN550 is faster and around the same price

Thanks these are the kinda points I'm looking for and want to hear

[Haraikomono]

Id gotta say aside from the ssd, everything looks good (ofc the price for gpu is meh, but cant avoid it)

 

But I gotta say, your presentation of your Build is looking really good, and its pleasant to go through the components

[Vishera]

4 minutes ago, Ashification said:

Running Solid works, VM ware, visual studios and other IDEs, (Machine learning and AI processing in the future potentially)

For these workloads  the build you listed won't cut it,the RAM is not enough,the GPU is weak for those workloads and overpriced.

It's a really bad time to build a PC,there is a huge shortage of GPUs now days.

[curiousmind34]

Just now, Vishera said:

 

It's a really bad time to build a PC,there is a huge shortage of GPUs now days.

Honestly if you are getting an rx 580 for 800 you might as well get  a prebuilt

[Vishera]

Just now, curiousmind34 said:

Honestly if you are getting an rx 580 for 800 you might as well get  a prebuilt

For the workloads that OP use a prebuilt won't be enough,they always skimp on motherboards,and these workloads will stress those VRMs.

And not to talk about that the RAM they provide will be less than recommended for these workloads (These workloads like lots of RAM).

[TVwazhere]

Personally I'd switch out your case, as the 280x is gonna choke out your RAD. Since you seem heavily invested into Corsair, look into either the Corsair 220T or the 4000D Airflow; both of which will offer the kind of heat dissipation you expect in a workstation PC. 

[Ashification]

12 minutes ago, Vishera said:

For these workloads  the build you listed won't cut it,the RAM is not enough,the GPU is weak for those workloads and overpriced.

It's a really bad time to build a PC,there is a huge shortage of GPUs now days.

Hi Vishera,

Yeah I did come across the issue of parts shortages alright (not ot mention all the most recent build vids on YT bring it up)
RAM I was kinda dabbling a bit with going for 16gb/ 32gb to start with with the full intention of upgrading in the future but I agree might just eek the budget out to get the 32 to start with.

As for GPU its kinda an unavoidable issue for now so I'm willing to take the hit on cost. I've no experience/Idea when it comes to picking one as Ive never really had to think about it and everything's always been integrated that Ive used. so have you any suggestions on what would be good? again upgrading in the future if the "ideal" one isnt on the market now
 

[SaltyPretzel]

I wanted to chime in because I saw listed above someone had mentioned SolidWorks. Not sure if that's what you are going for @Ashification but if you are then I'd recommend a higher core clock CPU.  We use professional OC'ed intel core i7/i9 K editions with AIO coolers pushing 5.2/5.3ghz on 8th and 9th gen intel CPUs for our SolidWorks machines.  If you're gaming then any CPU within 2 years is plenty for everyone but the extreme enthusiasts. 

[Ashification]

7 minutes ago, TVwazhere said:

Personally I'd switch out your case, as the 280x is gonna choke out your RAD. Since you seem heavily invested into Corsair, look into either the Corsair 220T or the 4000D Airflow; both of which will offer the kind of heat dissipation you expect in a workstation PC. 

Thanks for your comment,

The reason I went with the 280x was for its dimensions firstly, aesthetic second.
I'm restricted to a space of  37cm/14.5" High x 30cm/11.8" wide x 52cm/20.4" deep. Its mainly the height that's killing me with so many other cool cases out there   

When you say choke out the RAD what are you referring to exactly? I'm imagining your just referring to the heat dissipation is going to be bad by comparison to more spacious builds ?

[Ashification]

4 minutes ago, SaltyPretzel said:

I wanted to chime in because I saw listed above someone had mentioned SolidWorks. Not sure if that's what you are going for @Ashification but if you are then I'd recommend a higher core clock CPU.  We use professional OC'ed intel core i7/i9 K editions with AIO coolers pushing 5.2/5.3ghz on 8th and 9th gen intel CPUs for our SolidWorks machines.  If you're gaming then any CPU within 2 years is plenty for everyone but the extreme enthusiasts. 

Thanks,

yeah I'm currently running solid works on my laptop (as mentioned in my initial post) for context its more for part design and 3D printing than intense detail rendering (a caveat Ill add to the initial post) but good to know for future proofing! as it could be a case Ill get tasked with more CPU intensive stuff like that.

[Vishera]

42 minutes ago, Ashification said:

As for GPU its kinda an unavoidable issue for now so I'm willing to take the hit on cost. I've no experience/Idea when it comes to picking one as Ive never really had to think about it and everything's always been integrated that Ive used. so have you any suggestions on what would be good?

This GPU is much better and cheaper too: https://www.ebay.ie/itm/254931296793

 

Here are better parts that fit the workloads you are using:

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU Cooler	Noctua NH-D15S 82.52 CFM CPU Cooler	€99.85 @ Komplett
Thermal Compound	Arctic Silver 5 High-Density Polysynthetic Silver 3.5 g Thermal Paste	€9.93 @ Custompc
Motherboard	ASRock B550M Pro4 Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard	€123.63 @ Custompc
Memory	Crucial Ballistix 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3000 CL15 Memory	€206.32 @ Custompc
Storage	Western Digital Blue 1 TB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive	€122.29 @ Custompc
Storage	Toshiba P300 3 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive	€80.29 @ Custompc
Case	Cooler Master MasterBox MB511 ARGB ATX Mid Tower Case	€133.28 @ Custompc
Case Fan	Noctua F12 PWM 54.97 CFM 120 mm Fan	€31.85 @ Komplett
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	€807.44
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2021-04-16 22:24 IST+0100

*Add the NF12 fan to the NH-D15s.

*Power supplies are very expensive right now,I would not recommend buying one in the current state of the market.

*Case comes with ARGB fans.

[Vishera]

38 minutes ago, SaltyPretzel said:

I wanted to chime in because I saw listed above someone had mentioned SolidWorks. Not sure if that's what you are going for @Ashification but if you are then I'd recommend a higher core clock CPU.  We use professional OC'ed intel core i7/i9 K editions with AIO coolers pushing 5.2/5.3ghz on 8th and 9th gen intel CPUs for our SolidWorks machines.  If you're gaming then any CPU within 2 years is plenty for everyone but the extreme enthusiasts. 

It depends on the single core performance,not the clock speed.

[Skiiwee29]

1 hour ago, Ashification said:

Thanks for your comment,

The reason I went with the 280x was for its dimensions firstly, aesthetic second.
I'm restricted to a space of  37cm/14.5" High x 30cm/11.8" wide x 52cm/20.4" deep. Its mainly the height that's killing me with so many other cool cases out there   

When you say choke out the RAD what are you referring to exactly? I'm imagining your just referring to the heat dissipation is going to be bad by comparison to more spacious builds ?

I actually have a 280x for my wifes machine and am switching it out to a Phanteks P300a next week because its horrible for airflow even modded. I would get thermal shut downs as a result. 

[brob]

Simply converting US$ pricing to local currency is far from accurate. Use ie.pcpartpicker.com for Irish pricing.

 

There is a significant performance difference between Ryzen 3000 and 5000 cpu. If you haven't seen it yet, https://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/SOLIDWORKS-2020-SP5-AMD-Ryzen-5000-Series-CPU-Performance-2011/ has some hard data that may help with cpu selection.

 

The GTX 1660 Super appears to be available and not much more than the RX 580. It would be a better choice.

 

I'd suggest dropping the bling in favor of better performance. 

 

Given the space constraints consider going with the mini-ITX form factor and using a case like the Fractal Design Define Nano S, (w,h,d 203 x 330 x 400 mm).

 

Consider air tower cpu cooling. More reliable and tends to be a bit quieter at middling loads. 

 

There is no real need to buy thermal compound in a new build. New cpu cooler come with a tube or pre applied patch.

 

M.2 drives can be SATA III. (Easiest way to tell is two notches at the connecting end.) You will want to get an NVMe (1 notch) m.2 drive. Ideally one with decent performance. At the bottom of the PCPartPicker storage filter is an option for NVMe  only.

 

An 850W psu strikes me as overkill. An RMX650 would be more than enough.

 

It is a mistake to make purchase decisions on the basis of future expansion. By the time one is ready to upgrade the tech has typically advanced sufficiently to make a new system viable. In my experience there are really only a few exceptions. A motherboard with 4 memory slots rather than 2. A psu that is not cheap and has some extra capacity.

 

[Kaboom1]

You may be better served by a Quadro series or a Radeon Pro series graphics card
These are "pro" graphics cards
They aren't necessarily more expensive, but they seem to be better optimised for workstation tasks instead of gaming.
Though the RX 580 is gonna do you just fine for some modelling

 

Please note: nvidia seems to be quitting the "quadro" name https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quadro#Quadro_RTX/RTX_series

 

Additionaly, here are some solidworks benchmarks, though i can't make sense of what the various results mean, maybe someone else here can https://www.solidworks.com/sw/support/shareyourscore.htm

Lastly here is a(n outdated) video by LTT on the topic: 

 

[igormp]

On 4/16/2021 at 5:17 PM, Ashification said:

Machine learning and AI processing in the future potentially

Keep in mind that if you plan to do that soon, you'd need a Nvidia GPU no matter what, that 580 would be pretty much useless in that scenario.

Maybe try to grab a 1660 as others have already mentioned, or go for the 580 it it's the only option available, but keep in mind that you'll need to switch as soon as you start to work with ML.

 

As others have also mentioned already, go for 2x16gb instead of 2x8gb, if possible.

[Universes]

Since I don't know much about workstation and workloads, I'll comment on the upgradability aspect you mentioned. 

• A micro ATX motherboard and case limits your ability to upgrade a lot. You can't reuse the case with ATX motherboards later.
• I echo what others have said about RAM capacity as well. You'll want more RAM, so a 2x16Gb kit makes more sense for workload and upgradability.