Help me with my first build (Photoshop, Blender, UE)

[tetrahedronaut]

Budget (including currency): ~3000€ (~1500 without GPU)

Country: Germany

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: Mainly workstation for Adobe Suite (mostly Photoshop) and 3D (mostly Blender). Somewhat decent performance in Unreal engine would be a big bonus, too. Switching from consoles, I’d like to run games like The Division2, RDR2, Horizon, etc. VR games eventually.

Other details: Have already purchased an RTX 3090 FE and a Strix B550 MOBO. Also bringing along a 4k and a 1080p monitor + 1080p screen tablet. No need for additional peripherals at the moment and I have a windows license.

 

Hi all!

I’m currently in the process of finally replacing my old iMac and switching back to PC after 10+ years, so I’m moderately clueless and would like to hear all your opinions. I’m a concept artist by trade, which usually means “make something cool, but faaaast” so my main concern is for Photoshop and Blender to go ZOOM ZOOM, even with large files/large scenes. A decent performance in unreal would be super cool, but not essential. And games of course, as mentioned above, but business before pleasure
 

Here’s the preliminary part list I’ve put together: https://de.pcpartpicker.com/list/btrZkX

If you think I’d be overpaying for something or have any other opinions, please share. As I mentioned, I’m very inexperienced, so all input is welcome. I’d be lying if I said aesthetics are not important to me, so I don’t mind paying a little more, but performance should come first. Atm what I’m having most trouble with is picking out CPU cooling. Also, would you guys recommend the 5900 for the CPU or the 5800? I guess it would mostly make a difference for Unreal…? Also, please suggest anything I might be missing, e.g. case fans - not sure how many, what kind? NVME heatsink?

Sorry for all the rambling and questions, I’m very excited and I appreciate any help I get Thanks!

 

[Somerandomtechyboi]

24 minutes ago, tetrahedronaut said:

Here’s the preliminary part list I’ve put together: https://de.pcpartpicker.com/list/btrZkX

Uhh do you intend on overclocking cpu? Cause aio is overkill and mb is aimed at overclocking?

 

Cpu overclocking is dead so dont bother, just overclock rams instead so power bills dont go through the roof

[Rauten]

For Photoshop the 5800X will do; however, Blender does like them cores quite a bit, so switching to the 5900X could be very useful for that.

12 minutes ago, Somerandomtechyboi said:

Uhh do you intend on overclocking cpu? Cause aio is overkill and mb is aimed at overclocking?

Yep, it does feel kinda overkill.

 

That being said, if you do go up to the 5900X and just want to play it safe, they are very strong pieces of hardware. A 360 AiO will keep basically anything cool, and that motherboard has so much VRM it'll handle anything you throw at it without issue.

 

Oh, and...

15 minutes ago, Somerandomtechyboi said:

Cpu overclocking is dead so dont bother

100% agree, specially for Ryzen. Just activate Precision Boost Overdrive (BIOS setting, also known as PBO) and call it a day.

 

46 minutes ago, tetrahedronaut said:

case fans - not sure how many, what kind? NVME heatsink?

 

If you stick with an AiO, you probably won't need case fans - the case comes with 2, plus however many come with the AiO, should be just fine.
If you swtich to an air cooler (I do not recommend - not because of performance, but because of aesthetics. You indicate that aesthetics matter to you) then you might need to add a couple fans.

NVME heatsinks come included with the motherboard, don't they? Should be the long metallic pieces I see in the pictures, one above the first PCIe 16x slot and another under the second PCIe 16x slot.

[maartendc]

1 hour ago, tetrahedronaut said:

Here’s the preliminary part list I’ve put together: https://de.pcpartpicker.com/list/btrZkX

If you think I’d be overpaying for something or have any other opinions, please share. As I mentioned, I’m very inexperienced, so all input is welcome. I’d be lying if I said aesthetics are not important to me, so I don’t mind paying a little more, but performance should come first. Atm what I’m having most trouble with is picking out CPU cooling. Also, would you guys recommend the 5900 for the CPU or the 5800? I guess it would mostly make a difference for Unreal…? Also, please suggest anything I might be missing, e.g. case fans - not sure how many, what kind? NVME heatsink?

Sorry for all the rambling and questions, I’m very excited and I appreciate any help I get Thanks!

 

Most of your parts seem fine, and GPU was already purchased, but...

 

If I could just give one piece of advice, it would be: get the 5900X for sure. Blender rendering will benefit from 5900X extra cores. I would even suggest considering the 5950X, since it is a workhorse type of build. Adobe Suite is mostly single core dependent (Photoshop), so you won't see much benefit there. So depending on how much of your workflow / time depends on Blender Rendering, I would go either 5900X or 5950X. Getting a 5800X, especially considering the total of your budget, seems underpowered to me. You could have saved money elsewhere without sacrificing performance.

 

I say you are overspending on other parts:

- case very expensive (although spending on a good quality case is never a waste since it can last)

- RAM very expensive,

- CPU cooler very expensive, and a Dark Rock Pro 4 should cool the 5950X quietly and effectively.

- SSD is overkill, you don't need a blistering fast SSD for rendering or Adobe Suite (except perhaps Adobe Premiere editing).

 

I would get this honestly, got rid of all the overspending, and will get you way better performance in Blender:

 

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 5950X 3.4 GHz 16-Core Processor  (€727.99 @ Mindfactory)
CPU Cooler: be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 4 50.5 CFM CPU Cooler  (€65.89 @ Caseking)
Motherboard: Asus Strix B550-XE Gaming WiFi ATX AM4 Motherboard  (Purchased For €170.00)
Memory: Team T-Create Expert 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3600 CL18 Memory  (€125.89 @ Alternate)
Storage: Crucial P5 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive  (€104.90 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 24 GB Founders Edition Video Card  (Purchased For €1550.00)
Case: Fractal Design Meshify C ATX Mid Tower Case  (€88.90 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Power Supply: Corsair RMx (2021) 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply  (€125.89 @ Caseking)
Total: €2959.46
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2021-11-17 14:30 CET+0100

[krakek]

20 minutes ago, maartendc said:

Most of your parts seem fine, and GPU was already purchased, but...

 

If I could just give one piece of advice, it would be: get the 5900X for sure. Blender rendering will benefit from 5900X extra cores. I would even suggest considering the 5950X, since it is a workhorse type of build. Adobe Suite is mostly single core dependent (Photoshop), so you won't see much benefit there. So depending on how much of your workflow / time depends on Blender Rendering, I would go either 5900X or 5950X. Getting a 5800X, especially considering the total of your budget, seems underpowered to me. You could have saved money elsewhere without sacrificing performance.

 

I say you are overspending on other parts:

- case very expensive (although spending on a good quality case is never a waste since it can last)

- RAM very expensive,

- CPU cooler very expensive, and a Dark Rock Pro 4 should cool the 5950X quietly and effectively.

- SSD is overkill, you don't need a blistering fast SSD for rendering or Adobe Suite (except perhaps Adobe Premiere editing).

 

I would get this honestly, got rid of all the overspending, and will get you way better performance in Blender:

 

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 5950X 3.4 GHz 16-Core Processor  (€727.99 @ Mindfactory)
CPU Cooler: be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 4 50.5 CFM CPU Cooler  (€65.89 @ Caseking)
Motherboard: Asus Strix B550-XE Gaming WiFi ATX AM4 Motherboard  (Purchased For €170.00)
Memory: Team T-Create Expert 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3600 CL18 Memory  (€125.89 @ Alternate)
Storage: Crucial P5 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive  (€104.90 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 24 GB Founders Edition Video Card  (Purchased For €1550.00)
Case: Fractal Design Meshify C ATX Mid Tower Case  (€88.90 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Power Supply: Corsair RMx (2021) 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply  (€125.89 @ Caseking)
Total: €2959.46
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2021-11-17 14:30 CET+0100

I am not sure the GPU would fit the case.

[Alder Lake]

1 hour ago, tetrahedronaut said:

Budget (including currency): ~3000€ (~1500 without GPU)

Country: Germany

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: Mainly workstation for Adobe Suite (mostly Photoshop) and 3D (mostly Blender). Somewhat decent performance in Unreal engine would be a big bonus, too. Switching from consoles, I’d like to run games like The Division2, RDR2, Horizon, etc. VR games eventually.

Other details: Have already purchased an RTX 3090 FE and a Strix B550 MOBO. Also bringing along a 4k and a 1080p monitor + 1080p screen tablet. No need for additional peripherals at the moment and I have a windows license.

 

Hi all!

I’m currently in the process of finally replacing my old iMac and switching back to PC after 10+ years, so I’m moderately clueless and would like to hear all your opinions. I’m a concept artist by trade, which usually means “make something cool, but faaaast” so my main concern is for Photoshop and Blender to go ZOOM ZOOM, even with large files/large scenes. A decent performance in unreal would be super cool, but not essential. And games of course, as mentioned above, but business before pleasure
 

Here’s the preliminary part list I’ve put together: https://de.pcpartpicker.com/list/btrZkX

If you think I’d be overpaying for something or have any other opinions, please share. As I mentioned, I’m very inexperienced, so all input is welcome. I’d be lying if I said aesthetics are not important to me, so I don’t mind paying a little more, but performance should come first. Atm what I’m having most trouble with is picking out CPU cooling. Also, would you guys recommend the 5900 for the CPU or the 5800? I guess it would mostly make a difference for Unreal…? Also, please suggest anything I might be missing, e.g. case fans - not sure how many, what kind? NVME heatsink?

Sorry for all the rambling and questions, I’m very excited and I appreciate any help I get Thanks!

 

I might recommend going 12th gen as it performs better than ryzen 9 and has support for DDR5 and PCIE 5, something AMD won't support until this time next year

 

if you hate intel that much (but why), then it looks like that's a good choice for an AMD-based build

[tetrahedronaut]

Yooo, thanks for all the replies!

1 hour ago, Somerandomtechyboi said:

Cpu overclocking is dead so dont bother

42 minutes ago, Rauten said:

100% agree, specially for Ryzen. Just activate Precision Boost Overdrive (BIOS setting, also known as PBO) and call it a day.

Haha ok, I believe you two. I agree it might be a bit overkill. Tbh I couldn't decide for the longest time on a mobo, but then because of the sale and the cashback I thought the price was pretty attractive and just pulled the trigger.
AIO was partly a decision due to people telling me Ryzen runs super hot and partly aesthetic reason. It's not really set it stone, air coolers are still on the table (also due to all your suggestions)
 

1 hour ago, Rauten said:

NVME heatsinks come included with the motherboard, don't they?

Aaah you're totally right, I've already forgotten about that! And thanks for the fan info!
 

41 minutes ago, maartendc said:

If I could just give one piece of advice, it would be: get the 5900X for sure. Blender rendering will benefit from 5900X extra cores. I would even suggest considering the 5950X, since it is a workhorse type of build.

Thanks so much for taking the time to come up with a list! And as both you and @Rauten suggested it, I'm probably upgrading the CPU and will refer to your list to trim the fat as needed

 

[Alder Lake]

25 minutes ago, tetrahedronaut said:

Yooo, thanks for all the replies!

Haha ok, I believe you two. I agree it might be a bit overkill. Tbh I couldn't decide for the longest time on a mobo, but then because of the sale and the cashback I thought the price was pretty attractive and just pulled the trigger.
AIO was partly a decision due to people telling me Ryzen runs super hot and partly aesthetic reason. It's not really set it stone, air coolers are still on the table (also due to all your suggestions)
 

Aaah you're totally right, I've already forgotten about that! And thanks for the fan info!
 

Thanks so much for taking the time to come up with a list! And as both you and @Rauten suggested it, I'm probably upgrading the CPU and will refer to your list to trim the fat as needed

 

is there a particular reason you're going ryzen?

[tetrahedronaut]

11 minutes ago, yesyes said:

is there a particular reason you're going ryzen?

I guess no one single reason in particular, I don't think I have any deep seated hate towards Intel as you suggested Nevertheless, you have a point with 12th gen. When I was starting to put this together 2-3 months ago (It took me this long to snag an msrp gpu) 12th gen wasnt out yet, so it wasn't really on the table. Plus, I purchased an amd mobo I'd like to keep for now. In any case, need PC ASAP, not quite comfortable to jump straight into alder lake atm.

 

1 hour ago, krakek said:

I am not sure the GPU would fit the case.

Hold up, that would suck so much. I guess I might be very picky, but I just low-key hate how most cases look. Thanks for the note, I'm gonna recheck!

[Alder Lake]

2 minutes ago, tetrahedronaut said:

I guess no one single reason in particular, I don't think I have any deep seated hate towards Intel as you suggested Nevertheless, you have a point with 12th gen. When I was starting to put this together 2-3 months ago (It took me this long to snag an msrp gpu) 12th gen wasnt out yet, so it wasn't really on the table. Plus, I purchased an amd mobo I'd like to keep for now. In any case, need PC ASAP, not quite comfortable to jump straight into alder lake atm.

 

Hold up, that would suck so much. I guess I might be very picky, but I just low-key hate how most cases look. Thanks for the note, I'm gonna recheck!

that's a good enough reason right there

[Derigueur]

5 hours ago, yesyes said:

I might recommend going 12th gen as it performs better than ryzen 9 and has support for DDR5 and PCIE 5, something AMD won't support until this time next year

 

if you hate intel that much (but why), then it looks like that's a good choice for an AMD-based build

I thought it has been noted that although Alder Lake performs better than Ryzen 9, it also runs a lot hotter as well and is more expensive due to the motherboards being quite expensive atm until there are B660 boards released? (Not an AMD fan boy lol)

[Derigueur]

6 hours ago, maartendc said:

Most of your parts seem fine, and GPU was already purchased, but...

 

If I could just give one piece of advice, it would be: get the 5900X for sure. Blender rendering will benefit from 5900X extra cores. I would even suggest considering the 5950X, since it is a workhorse type of build. Adobe Suite is mostly single core dependent (Photoshop), so you won't see much benefit there. So depending on how much of your workflow / time depends on Blender Rendering, I would go either 5900X or 5950X. Getting a 5800X, especially considering the total of your budget, seems underpowered to me. You could have saved money elsewhere without sacrificing performance.

 

I say you are overspending on other parts:

- case very expensive (although spending on a good quality case is never a waste since it can last)

- RAM very expensive,

- CPU cooler very expensive, and a Dark Rock Pro 4 should cool the 5950X quietly and effectively.

- SSD is overkill, you don't need a blistering fast SSD for rendering or Adobe Suite (except perhaps Adobe Premiere editing).

 

I would get this honestly, got rid of all the overspending, and will get you way better performance in Blender:

 

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 5950X 3.4 GHz 16-Core Processor  (€727.99 @ Mindfactory)
CPU Cooler: be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 4 50.5 CFM CPU Cooler  (€65.89 @ Caseking)
Motherboard: Asus Strix B550-XE Gaming WiFi ATX AM4 Motherboard  (Purchased For €170.00)
Memory: Team T-Create Expert 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3600 CL18 Memory  (€125.89 @ Alternate)
Storage: Crucial P5 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive  (€104.90 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 24 GB Founders Edition Video Card  (Purchased For €1550.00)
Case: Fractal Design Meshify C ATX Mid Tower Case  (€88.90 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Power Supply: Corsair RMx (2021) 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply  (€125.89 @ Caseking)
Total: €2959.46
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2021-11-17 14:30 CET+0100

Is a blistering fast SSD more useful for gaming & what is the difference between what you have listed and what tetrahedronaut has listed in his OP

[maartendc]

47 minutes ago, Derigueur said:

Is a blistering fast SSD more useful for gaming & what is the difference between what you have listed and what tetrahedronaut has listed in his OP

No for gaming a really expensive SSD is useless as well. You don't notice any difference. The Crucial P5 is just a solid entry level SSD. Something like a WD Black or Samsung Pro series would be high end for people that need fast storage (video rendering for ex).

5 hours ago, tetrahedronaut said:

 

Hold up, that would suck so much. I guess I might be very picky, but I just low-key hate how most cases look. Thanks for the note, I'm gonna recheck!

No I think he was referring to the case I listed, which just barely fits the 3090 FE (2mm to spare). The case you listed should be fine for sure (max GPU length listed for the 5000D is 420mm and the 3090FE is 313mm.

 

Nice looking case the 5000D airflow BTW.

 

Good luck!

[maartendc]

1 hour ago, Derigueur said:

I thought it has been noted that although Alder Lake performs better than Ryzen 9, it also runs a lot hotter as well and is more expensive due to the motherboards being quite expensive atm until there are B660 boards released? (Not an AMD fan boy lol)

True, and it is not even that clear cut. The 12900K performs somewhere in between the 5900X and 5950X for productivity tasks, while drawing more power.

 

It is better for gaming though. So it really depends on what you want. For midrange I would go Intel currently (12600K or so), but for high end, you can go either Intel or AMD, you cannot go wrong really.

[Alder Lake]

17 hours ago, Derigueur said:

I thought it has been noted that although Alder Lake performs better than Ryzen 9, it also runs a lot hotter as well and is more expensive due to the motherboards being quite expensive atm until there are B660 boards released? (Not an AMD fan boy lol)

it does, but heat isn't really an issue and $3000 was more than enough to take advantage of alder lake

 

but if they already have an unused AMD board then they should just go AMD and make use of that $200

[Derigueur]

3 hours ago, yesyes said:

it does, but heat isn't really an issue and $3000 was more than enough to take advantage of alder lake

 

but if they already have an unused AMD board then they should just go AMD and make use of that $200

What about the heat isn't an issue? 

[Alder Lake]

1 minute ago, Derigueur said:

What about the heat isn't an issue? 

So long as it doesn't thermal throttle (which is easy to prevent), then it doesn't really matter what temp it runs at

 

just stick a NH-D15 on it and you're good

[Alder Lake]

9 minutes ago, Derigueur said:

What about the heat isn't an issue? 

and as for power usage

 

going from 105 watts to 241 watts will cost you ~$50 a year (assuming you use your PC 2,000 hours a year)

 

 

so that's kind of an overused, useless point used by what I would call, "AMD simps"