High-end VFX workstation build AM4/AM5 or even Intel?

[TheAmazingHobbit]

Budget (including currency): UP TO 3500€

Country: Germany

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: Programs: Foundry NukeX, Blender, Autodesk Maya & Arnold, Substance Painter, Syntheyes, DaVinci Resolve, Adobe Creative Cloud, Unreal Engine          Workloads: Image processing, 3D-Rendering (GPU & CPU)

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): 

Hey everyone! My current machine (i7-4770k, 16GB DDR3, 1070Ti) served me well for more than 10 years, however I recently started working from home and realized, that it isn't up to the task anymore. Because this machine has lasted me such a long time (and it has been used almost daily since I got it), I'd love to ideally buy a machine that'll last the next 5 years (with maybe a GPU upgrade).

 

At work I have been using an AMD 5900X with 128GB RAM and a 3080Ti. I regularly max out RAM and CPU-usage and when rendering in Blender also max out the GPU.

I figured, since I don't plan on upgrading for quite a while, AM4 might still last me long enough, while being somewhat power efficient and "cheap" now. (I read that the new AM5 chips can use >250watts?!)

 

The parts I have been looking at are:

CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 5950X ~420€

CPU cooler: Noctua NH-D15 ~120€

Motherboard: Asus TUF Gaming X570-Plus (WI-FI) ~ 210€

RAM: Corsair Vengeance LPX 128GB Kit DDR4-3600 CL16 ~285€

GPU: USED Nvidia RTX 3090 ~900€

SSD A (OS&Software): Samsung 980 Pro M.2 2TB ~130€

SSD B (Project Data/Files): Samsung 980 Pro M.2 2TB ~130€

PSU: Corsair HX1200 1200W ~250€

Case: Fractal Design Define 7 ~155€

Total: ~2600€

 

I'm not sure if the motherboard is a bad choice in this configuration and also if the RAM might be mismatched with the infinity fabric frequency/if the timings of this kit even make sense in this build. Also the PSU might be totally overkill, my reasoning of putting it in here was for future upgrade-ability of the GPU and maybe even using my 1070Ti to accelerate rendering. (If possible)

Also I'm not sure if going AM5 or even Intel and spending a bit more on CPU/RAM or even GPU might be better for workloads in the future. I'm somewhat hesitant as the newer gen CPUs pull tons of power which has recently become a lot more expensive per kw/h where I live.

 

I'm open to all suggestions and corrections! Everything is fair game up to 3500€. :)

Thanks in advance and have a nice day!

[HypixelBedwars]

if youre budget allows it i would get a 13900 or a new 7000 series AMD Ryzen 7 or 9 

[WereCat]

Why would you spend that much money on AM4? 

If you're going to throw over 200€ just on a motherboard then you may as well just go AM5. 

 

Ryzen 9 7900 (non X) is more efficient and on par with 5950X and costs the same. 

 

And avoid Corsair Vengeance if you can, many people have issues with it on Ryzen. At least on AM4, idk if they managed to make it work better on AM5. 

[TheAmazingHobbit]

10 minutes ago, HypixelBedwars said:

if youre budget allows it i would get a 13900 or a new 7000 series AMD Ryzen 7 or 9 

 

5 minutes ago, WereCat said:

Why would you spend that much money on AM4? 

If you're going to throw over 200€ just on a motherboard then you may as well just go AM5. 

 

Ryzen 9 7900 (non X) is more efficient and on par with 5950X and costs the same. 

 

And avoid Corsair Vengeance if you can, many people have issues with it on Ryzen. At least on AM4, idk if they managed to make it work better on AM5. 

Wouldn't it be an issue to find a RAM kit with 128gb ddr5? I read that many people have trouble even finding working motherboard/RAM combinations with that capacity. I also heard that the newer ddr5 kits have horrible timings and the few decent ones cost as much as 500€+?
If possible, could you recommend a motherboard+ram+cpu combination?

[HypixelBedwars]

Also GPUs arent as improtant for video editing as people say they are. You still want one thats capable of the job though. RTX 3090 is a little bit overkill for video editing although VFX is different and I dont have as much experience with that. A RTX 4060 Ti or 4070 would be good as they are cheaper than a 3090 and the 4070s offer similar performance to RTX 3090. 

[TheAmazingHobbit]

1 minute ago, HypixelBedwars said:

Also GPUs arent as improtant for video editing as people say they are. You still want one thats capable of the job though. RTX 3090 is a little bit overkill for video editing although VFX is different and I dont have as much experience with that. A RTX 4060 Ti or 4070 would be good as they are cheaper than a 3090 and the 4070s offer similar performance to RTX 3090. 

Yeah for most video editing those choices would be fine, however when GPU-rendering the VRAM mainly does come in handy, which is why I thought a used 3090 with 24GB VRAM would be good. On my current machine at work with a 3080Ti (12GB) I regularly max out the VRAM.

[brob]

The motherboard lists the memory kit on its QVL 1, 2, and 4 slots. 

 

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 7950X 4.5 GHz 16-Core Processor  (€547.98 @ Mindfactory) 
CPU Cooler: ARCTIC Liquid Freezer II 360 Rev. 2 56.33 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler  (€99.90 @ Alza) 
Motherboard: Asus ProArt X670E-CREATOR WIFI ATX AM5 Motherboard  (€451.90 @ Alza) 
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 192 GB (4 x 48 GB) DDR5-5200 CL38 Memory  (€580.99 @ Galaxus) 
Storage: Samsung 990 Pro 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive  (€140.38 @ Amazon Deutschland) 
Storage: Samsung 990 Pro 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive  (€140.38 @ Amazon Deutschland) 
Video Card: NVIDIA Founders Edition GeForce RTX 3090 24 GB Video Card  (€900.00) 
Case: Fractal Design Meshify 2 XL ATX Full Tower Case  (€189.60 @ Galaxus) 
Power Supply: Corsair RM1000e (2023) 1000 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply  (€134.90 @ Amazon Deutschland) 
Total: €3186.03
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2023-09-28 00:58 CEST+0200

[TheAmazingHobbit]

12 minutes ago, brob said:

The motherboard lists the memory kit on its QVL 1, 2, and 4 slots. 

 

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 7950X 4.5 GHz 16-Core Processor  (€547.98 @ Mindfactory) 
CPU Cooler: ARCTIC Liquid Freezer II 360 Rev. 2 56.33 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler  (€99.90 @ Alza) 
Motherboard: Asus ProArt X670E-CREATOR WIFI ATX AM5 Motherboard  (€451.90 @ Alza) 
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 192 GB (4 x 48 GB) DDR5-5200 CL38 Memory  (€580.99 @ Galaxus) 
Storage: Samsung 990 Pro 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive  (€140.38 @ Amazon Deutschland) 
Storage: Samsung 990 Pro 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive  (€140.38 @ Amazon Deutschland) 
Video Card: NVIDIA Founders Edition GeForce RTX 3090 24 GB Video Card  (€900.00) 
Case: Fractal Design Meshify 2 XL ATX Full Tower Case  (€189.60 @ Galaxus) 
Power Supply: Corsair RM1000e (2023) 1000 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply  (€134.90 @ Amazon Deutschland) 
Total: €3186.03
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2023-09-28 00:58 CEST+0200

Oh thank you! Wow, that truly is an insane amount of RAM, weird that there are no 128gb kits on the QVL. In this case wouldn't it be advantageous to use PCIe 5.0 nvme ssds? Also I'm wondering if the liquid cooler would be a good choice for a system long-term, I had an AIO on my 4770k which had a pump failure after 4 years - I think that used to be an issue with "cheaper" AIOs?
And if I understand it correctly, the 7950X can be put onto a lower power-use setting, but I couldn't find any reliable benchmarks comparing it with the 5950x in performance vs power usage. Do you know how the 7950x holds up in that department?

[brob]

1 hour ago, TheAmazingHobbit said:

Oh thank you! Wow, that truly is an insane amount of RAM, weird that there are no 128gb kits on the QVL. In this case wouldn't it be advantageous to use PCIe 5.0 nvme ssds? Also I'm wondering if the liquid cooler would be a good choice for a system long-term, I had an AIO on my 4770k which had a pump failure after 4 years - I think that used to be an issue with "cheaper" AIOs?
And if I understand it correctly, the 7950X can be put onto a lower power-use setting, but I couldn't find any reliable benchmarks comparing it with the 5950x in performance vs power usage. Do you know how the 7950x holds up in that department?

 

Have you seen https://www.anandtech.com/show/17641/lighter-touch-cpu-power-scaling-13900k-7950x. It presents some data on undervolting.

 

The OP indicated CPU rendering which was the principal reason for picking the 7950X and an AIO. If you want an air tower the venerable NH-D15 would be a good choice. The AK620 has very similar performance and is less expensive. Another option would be the Assassin IV. 

 

If you do decide to go with air, the Meshify 2 or Torrent would be good choices. The Meshify 2 XL was chosen to easily accommodate the AIO top mounted.

 

 

[Kinda Bottlenecked]

PCPartPicker Part List: https://de.pcpartpicker.com/list/hVg2VW

CPU: Intel Core i9-13900F 2 GHz 24-Core Processor  (€590.99 @ Cyberport) 
CPU Cooler: Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE ARGB 66.17 CFM CPU Cooler  (€38.29 @ Amazon Deutschland) 
Motherboard: Gigabyte B760 DS3H AX ATX LGA1700 Motherboard  (€154.48 @ Galaxus) 
Memory: Corsair Vengeance RGB 192 GB (4 x 48 GB) DDR5-5200 CL38 Memory  (€576.99 @ Galaxus) 
Storage: Intel 670p 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 3.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive  (€91.89 @ Galaxus) 
Storage: Western Digital Black SN850X 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive  (€119.90 @ Galaxus) 
Video Card: Inno3D X3 OC GeForce RTX 4090 24 GB Video Card  (€1626.99 @ notebooksbilliger.de) 
Case: Fractal Design Pop XL Air ATX Full Tower Case  (€104.29 @ Galaxus) 
Power Supply: Thermaltake Toughpower GF3 TT Premium 1650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply  (€219.90 @ Amazon Deutschland) 
Total: €3523.72
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2023-09-28 05:34 CEST+0200

 

If you can spend up to 3500, why not get a 4090? The 4090 will render faster than anything out now. Curious to know why you're using  CPU + GPU rendering since as  far as I'm aware that rarely leads to increased performance compared to just using the GPU in blender. Power consumption from loading the CPU is wasteful. Especially now in Cycles X. 

 

You can fit a second GPU in there down the line if you so wish for even faster rendering. 

 

 

[TheAmazingHobbit]

5 hours ago, brob said:

 

Have you seen https://www.anandtech.com/show/17641/lighter-touch-cpu-power-scaling-13900k-7950x. It presents some data on undervolting.

 

The OP indicated CPU rendering which was the principal reason for picking the 7950X and an AIO. If you want an air tower the venerable NH-D15 would be a good choice. The AK620 has very similar performance and is less expensive. Another option would be the Assassin IV. 

 

If you do decide to go with air, the Meshify 2 or Torrent would be good choices. The Meshify 2 XL was chosen to easily accommodate the AIO top mounted.

 

 

The 7950X with the 105 watt eco mode seems to be a reasonable choice then! Thanks for the link to the comparison! Yes, I will be using this system for CPU rendering, however this will only be of secondary importance after Blender GPU Rendering. I think it’s more important that the system performs reasonably well compared to the absolute top of the line while being efficient about the power it uses. This system will be running long hours at max CPU/GPU usage so power consumption is a big concern.

There don’t seem to be any ram kits with 128gb available for the 7950X or am I mistaken? Spending 500€+ just on the RAM seems to be a bit much I guess. This is probably because these memory chips are the bleeding edge of what’s available right now? I guess I’d rather go with something tried and true than overpaying for the newest and fanciest system.

[TheAmazingHobbit]

2 hours ago, Kinda Bottlenecked said:

PCPartPicker Part List: https://de.pcpartpicker.com/list/hVg2VW

CPU: Intel Core i9-13900F 2 GHz 24-Core Processor  (€590.99 @ Cyberport) 
CPU Cooler: Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE ARGB 66.17 CFM CPU Cooler  (€38.29 @ Amazon Deutschland) 
Motherboard: Gigabyte B760 DS3H AX ATX LGA1700 Motherboard  (€154.48 @ Galaxus) 
Memory: Corsair Vengeance RGB 192 GB (4 x 48 GB) DDR5-5200 CL38 Memory  (€576.99 @ Galaxus) 
Storage: Intel 670p 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 3.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive  (€91.89 @ Galaxus) 
Storage: Western Digital Black SN850X 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive  (€119.90 @ Galaxus) 
Video Card: Inno3D X3 OC GeForce RTX 4090 24 GB Video Card  (€1626.99 @ notebooksbilliger.de) 
Case: Fractal Design Pop XL Air ATX Full Tower Case  (€104.29 @ Galaxus) 
Power Supply: Thermaltake Toughpower GF3 TT Premium 1650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply  (€219.90 @ Amazon Deutschland) 
Total: €3523.72
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2023-09-28 05:34 CEST+0200

 

If you can spend up to 3500, why not get a 4090? The 4090 will render faster than anything out now. Curious to know why you're using  CPU + GPU rendering since as  far as I'm aware that rarely leads to increased performance compared to just using the GPU in blender. Power consumption from loading the CPU is wasteful. Especially now in Cycles X. 

 

You can fit a second GPU in there down the line if you so wish for even faster rendering. 

 

 

Hey thank you for compiling that list! One of my considerations of not choosing to build an intel system has been the absurd power usage of the newer generation CPUs. Do you know any good resources for data on how this chip performs on lower power? (Limited powertargets?) Also this is somewhat anecdotal but I have had the opportunity to test a more recent intel i9 (probably a 12900k if I remember correctly) which absolutely failed (like 70% performance of a 5900x, I don’t have actual numbers but it felt really slow compared to my main workstation) when using nuke (compositing software). My only explanation on why this chip performs like this was, that the newly introduced efficiency cores didn’t play ball with the software workload. I’m unsure if this could have been dealt with through software or if this is just how the newer intel chips react to this specific workload.

If you have any info on this I’d love to know more!

 

Now my reasoning for choosing the older 3090 over the newer 4090 is again power draw. I haven’t yet found a good comparison of performance/watt for these cards. If you have insight on that please let me know. I don’t mind not having the fastest system possible if I can get a somewhat energy efficient system with last gens top-of-the-line performance.

 

Would love to hear your thoughts on this!

[Kinda Bottlenecked]

6 hours ago, TheAmazingHobbit said:

Hey thank you for compiling that list! One of my considerations of not choosing to build an intel system has been the absurd power usage of the newer generation CPUs. Do you know any good resources for data on how this chip performs on lower power? (Limited powertargets?) Also this is somewhat anecdotal but I have had the opportunity to test a more recent intel i9 (probably a 12900k if I remember correctly) which absolutely failed (like 70% performance of a 5900x, I don’t have actual numbers but it felt really slow compared to my main workstation) when using nuke (compositing software). My only explanation on why this chip performs like this was, that the newly introduced efficiency cores didn’t play ball with the software workload. I’m unsure if this could have been dealt with through software or if this is just how the newer intel chips react to this specific workload.

If you have any info on this I’d love to know more!

 

The PC that had the intel chip might be running windows 10 or missing some updates. The new version of windows is more optimized for E cores in that regard. Blender had some issues with E cores as well.

 

Snappiness of the system can be affected by many different things. I don't really notice too much of a difference between my intel and amd cpus. Here's and AMD build. If it does turnout that the particular workflow feels better on AMD then that's the way it is. 

 

PCPartPicker Part List: https://de.pcpartpicker.com/list/TvG7Xk

CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 7950X 4.5 GHz 16-Core Processor  (€556.97 @ Amazon Deutschland) 
CPU Cooler: Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE ARGB 66.17 CFM CPU Cooler  (€38.29 @ Amazon Deutschland) 
Motherboard: Gigabyte B650 GAMING X AX ATX AM5 Motherboard  (€188.90 @ Alza) 
Memory: Corsair Vengeance RGB 192 GB (4 x 48 GB) DDR5-5200 CL38 Memory  (€576.99 @ Galaxus) 
Storage: Intel 670p 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 3.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive  (€91.89 @ Galaxus) 
Storage: Western Digital Black SN850X 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive  (€119.90 @ Galaxus) 
Video Card: Inno3D X3 OC GeForce RTX 4090 24 GB Video Card  (€1626.99 @ notebooksbilliger.de) 
Case: Fractal Design Pop XL Air ATX Full Tower Case  (€104.29 @ Galaxus) 
Power Supply: Thermaltake Toughpower GF3 TT Premium 1650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply  (€219.90 @ Amazon Deutschland) 
Total: €3524.12
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2023-09-28 14:54 CEST+0200

 

 

6 hours ago, TheAmazingHobbit said:

Now my reasoning for choosing the older 3090 over the newer 4090 is again power draw. I haven’t yet found a good comparison of performance/watt for these cards. If you have insight on that please let me know. I don’t mind not having the fastest system possible if I can get a somewhat energy efficient system with last gens top-of-the-line performance.

 

Would love to hear your thoughts on this!

 

There isn't anyone calculating performance for that but you can always assemble your own data from what's out there.

 

Blender has a public benchmark with loads of data: https://opendata.blender.org/benchmarks/query/?compute_type=OPTIX&compute_type=CUDA&compute_type=HIP&compute_type=METAL&compute_type=ONEAPI&group_by=device_name&blender_version=3.6.0

 

And we can easily find power consumption charts like this:

Spoiler

 

4090: 13085.78/483=  27.09 points per watt

3090:   6252.67/366=   17.08 points per watt

 

We can see that the 4090 has more points of performance per watt. Although the 4090 needs more power than the 3090 the rendering performance in blender is  doubled. You'll be using more power when you render with the 4090 but very likely consume less overall power because you can render so much faster. 

 

 

[TheAmazingHobbit]

27 minutes ago, Kinda Bottlenecked said:

 

The PC that had the intel chip might be running windows 10 or missing some updates. The new version of windows is more optimized for E cores in that regard. Blender had some issues with E cores as well.

 

Snappiness of the system can be affected by many different things. I don't really notice too much of a difference between my intel and amd cpus. Here's and AMD build. If it does turnout that the particular workflow feels better on AMD then that's the way it is. 

 

PCPartPicker Part List: https://de.pcpartpicker.com/list/TvG7Xk

CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 7950X 4.5 GHz 16-Core Processor  (€556.97 @ Amazon Deutschland) 
CPU Cooler: Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE ARGB 66.17 CFM CPU Cooler  (€38.29 @ Amazon Deutschland) 
Motherboard: Gigabyte B650 GAMING X AX ATX AM5 Motherboard  (€188.90 @ Alza) 
Memory: Corsair Vengeance RGB 192 GB (4 x 48 GB) DDR5-5200 CL38 Memory  (€576.99 @ Galaxus) 
Storage: Intel 670p 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 3.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive  (€91.89 @ Galaxus) 
Storage: Western Digital Black SN850X 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive  (€119.90 @ Galaxus) 
Video Card: Inno3D X3 OC GeForce RTX 4090 24 GB Video Card  (€1626.99 @ notebooksbilliger.de) 
Case: Fractal Design Pop XL Air ATX Full Tower Case  (€104.29 @ Galaxus) 
Power Supply: Thermaltake Toughpower GF3 TT Premium 1650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply  (€219.90 @ Amazon Deutschland) 
Total: €3524.12
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2023-09-28 14:54 CEST+0200

 

 

 

There isn't anyone calculating performance for that but you can always assemble your own data from what's out there.

 

Blender has a public benchmark with loads of data: https://opendata.blender.org/benchmarks/query/?compute_type=OPTIX&compute_type=CUDA&compute_type=HIP&compute_type=METAL&compute_type=ONEAPI&group_by=device_name&blender_version=3.6.0

 

And we can easily find power consumption charts like this:

  Reveal hidden contents

 

4090: 13085.78/483=  27.09 points per watt

3090:   6252.67/366=   17.08 points per watt

 

We can see that the 4090 has more points of performance per watt. Although the 4090 needs more power than the 3090 the rendering performance in blender is  doubled. You'll be using more power when you render with the 4090 but very likely consume less overall power because you can render so much faster. 

 

 

Thank you, this is very insightful! I was hoping on keeping windows 10, however at some point i will have to upgrade so when building a new rig its probably a smart time for the change.

I'm still at a loss about the RAM though - even on the AMD specsheet of the 7950x only 128 gigs of RAM are officially supported and with a 4090 in there I'm getting very very close to my upper budget limit. Also the SSDs seem to be a bit "cheap", I was thinking of getting at least 2 PCIe 4.0 ssds (one for the OS and software, the other for temp project data) or maybe even one PCIe 5.0 one for OS and software (in this case maybe only 1TB to save some money). I will be working with many different and sometimes very huge files (think 20GB photogrammetry data and Multilayer EXR (image frames which regularly get up to 1gb in size)) - Will a better SSD not be of bigger importance in such a system?

I'd rather not compromise on the core of the system to get a faster GPU in there. In this case I might go for a used 3090 now and in 1-2 years upgrade to a 4090 if need be? Or is that dumb?

[Kinda Bottlenecked]

2 hours ago, TheAmazingHobbit said:

Thank you, this is very insightful! I was hoping on keeping windows 10, however at some point i will have to upgrade so when building a new rig its probably a smart time for the change.

I'm still at a loss about the RAM though - even on the AMD specsheet of the 7950x only 128 gigs of RAM are officially supported and with a 4090 in there I'm getting very very close to my upper budget limit. Also the SSDs seem to be a bit "cheap", I was thinking of getting at least 2 PCIe 4.0 ssds (one for the OS and software, the other for temp project data) or maybe even one PCIe 5.0 one for OS and software (in this case maybe only 1TB to save some money). I will be working with many different and sometimes very huge files (think 20GB photogrammetry data and Multilayer EXR (image frames which regularly get up to 1gb in size)) - Will a better SSD not be of bigger importance in such a system?

I'd rather not compromise on the core of the system to get a faster GPU in there. In this case I might go for a used 3090 now and in 1-2 years upgrade to a 4090 if need be? Or is that dumb?

 

Not officially but many have gotten 192gb kits to work on the 7950x.

 

It'll depend on your workflow and only you can answer that. I've worked on fairly big EXR frames and even then my Sata SSD isn't the bottleneck in the system. You'll have to figure out what you're spending the most time waiting on in the process. If it is rendering then the GPU will make the most difference. You can get the 3090 now if its much cheaper but in 1-2 years a much faster gpu would have already been out so you should not be getting the 4090 then. 

 

 

[TheAmazingHobbit]

21 hours ago, Kinda Bottlenecked said:

 

Not officially but many have gotten 192gb kits to work on the 7950x.

 

It'll depend on your workflow and only you can answer that. I've worked on fairly big EXR frames and even then my Sata SSD isn't the bottleneck in the system. You'll have to figure out what you're spending the most time waiting on in the process. If it is rendering then the GPU will make the most difference. You can get the 3090 now if its much cheaper but in 1-2 years a much faster gpu would have already been out so you should not be getting the 4090 then. 

 

 

Right, yeah getting the 4090 in a few years isn't the smartest choice, I think I meant upgrading further down the line in general.

I tried assembling something I think might work? Given that the SSDs then will probably be fast enough I put in two 980 Pros, I heard these are reliable?

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/jLHvfy

The RAM isn't listed as a 128gb 4 dimm kit on pcpartpicker, however theres a 128gb kit listed on the motherboards QVL https://www.asus.com/de/motherboards-components/motherboards/tuf-gaming/tuf-gaming-x670e-plus-wifi/helpdesk_qvl_memory/?model2Name=TUF-GAMING-X670E-PLUS-WIFI

The noctua should be enough when using the CPU in 105 Watt mode, right? I don't particularly like all the RGB hardware stuff, but if it makes the pc significantly faster, cheaper and more efficient I'll consider them..

[TheAmazingHobbit]

So I've done some more research and it seems to be that case that 4 RAM sticks can be somewhat hit or miss depending on the BIOS version on the motherboard and also the controller on the CPU. So maybe in this case it might be better to opt for a 2x48GB Kit which can as an added side bonus run a faster memory clock instead of going for raw capacity? I could probably work with 96GB of RAM and keep one foot in the door to expand further down the line and get another (matching) kit to get 192GB although I'll then have to run 4 sticks at a lower speed, right?

 

In this case I could also go for a faster GPU with slightly less V-Ram, which I can probably work on, but also upgrade later.

 

Would this system be a sensible option? I have absolutely no idea if the mainboard and RAM are a good fit, I think (not 100% sure) that the RAM I chose is on the QVL.

 

https://de.pcpartpicker.com/list/w4bXyg

 

Thank you guys for bearing with me. I'm somewhat anxious spending this much money and maybe regretting it later if I have problems with the PC.

[brob]

1 hour ago, TheAmazingHobbit said:

So I've done some more research and it seems to be that case that 4 RAM sticks can be somewhat hit or miss depending on the BIOS version on the motherboard and also the controller on the CPU. So maybe in this case it might be better to opt for a 2x48GB Kit which can as an added side bonus run a faster memory clock instead of going for raw capacity? I could probably work with 96GB of RAM and keep one foot in the door to expand further down the line and get another (matching) kit to get 192GB although I'll then have to run 4 sticks at a lower speed, right?

 

In this case I could also go for a faster GPU with slightly less V-Ram, which I can probably work on, but also upgrade later.

 

Would this system be a sensible option? I have absolutely no idea if the mainboard and RAM are a good fit, I think (not 100% sure) that the RAM I chose is on the QVL.

 

https://de.pcpartpicker.com/list/w4bXyg

 

Thank you guys for bearing with me. I'm somewhat anxious spending this much money and maybe regretting it later if I have problems with the PC.

 

The memory kit is on the motherboard QVL. However, the modules are 44mm tall which will likely cause issues with the outer fan of the NH-D15.

 

Higher-end motherboards also have the non-RGB Vengeance kit (CMK96GX5M2B5600C40) on their memory QVL. There are also higher speed 2x48GB kits on these QVL.

 

The simplest solution is to change the CPU cooler to the NH-D15S. A slightly lower performance cooler with much better memory compatibility.

 

Consider changing to a better motherboard and using higher speed memory.

 

I'd also suggest switching to a smaller ATX 3.0 PSU with native support for the 12VHPWR GPU connector.

 

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 7950X 4.5 GHz 16-Core Processor  (€574.90 @ Amazon Deutschland) 
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D15S 82.52 CFM CPU Cooler  (€99.90 @ Amazon Deutschland) 
Motherboard: Asus ROG STRIX X670E-F GAMING WIFI ATX AM5 Motherboard  (€394.93 @ Galaxus) 
Memory: G.Skill Trident Z RGB 96 GB (2 x 48 GB) DDR5-6400 CL32 Memory  (€473.99 @ Alternate) 
Storage: Samsung 980 Pro 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive  (€128.99 @ Amazon Deutschland) 
Storage: Samsung 980 Pro 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive  (€128.99 @ Amazon Deutschland) 
Video Card: Asus TUF GAMING GeForce RTX 4080 16 GB Video Card  (€1287.57 @ Galaxus) 
Case: Fractal Design North ATX Mid Tower Case  (€119.89 @ Computeruniverse) 
Power Supply: Silverstone HELA 1200R 1200 W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply  (€282.39 @ Galaxus) 
Total: €3491.55
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2023-09-30 20:50 CEST+0200

[TheAmazingHobbit]

4 hours ago, brob said:

 

The memory kit is on the motherboard QVL. However, the modules are 44mm tall which will likely cause issues with the outer fan of the NH-D15.

 

Higher-end motherboards also have the non-RGB Vengeance kit (CMK96GX5M2B5600C40) on their memory QVL. There are also higher speed 2x48GB kits on these QVL.

 

The simplest solution is to change the CPU cooler to the NH-D15S. A slightly lower performance cooler with much better memory compatibility.

 

Consider changing to a better motherboard and using higher speed memory.

 

I'd also suggest switching to a smaller ATX 3.0 PSU with native support for the 12VHPWR GPU connector.

 

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 7950X 4.5 GHz 16-Core Processor  (€574.90 @ Amazon Deutschland) 
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D15S 82.52 CFM CPU Cooler  (€99.90 @ Amazon Deutschland) 
Motherboard: Asus ROG STRIX X670E-F GAMING WIFI ATX AM5 Motherboard  (€394.93 @ Galaxus) 
Memory: G.Skill Trident Z RGB 96 GB (2 x 48 GB) DDR5-6400 CL32 Memory  (€473.99 @ Alternate) 
Storage: Samsung 980 Pro 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive  (€128.99 @ Amazon Deutschland) 
Storage: Samsung 980 Pro 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive  (€128.99 @ Amazon Deutschland) 
Video Card: Asus TUF GAMING GeForce RTX 4080 16 GB Video Card  (€1287.57 @ Galaxus) 
Case: Fractal Design North ATX Mid Tower Case  (€119.89 @ Computeruniverse) 
Power Supply: Silverstone HELA 1200R 1200 W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply  (€282.39 @ Galaxus) 
Total: €3491.55
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2023-09-30 20:50 CEST+0200

Thanks a ton @brob! I think I'll be going with this configuration, I'll post an update when the build is done!

[TheAmazingHobbit]

@brob As promised, the finished build, I forgot to take a picture during assembly so I hope this'll do! No need to worry, the tempered glass protection film will be removed as soon as I finish setting everything up and cleaning up my workspace... So far, no hiccups, had to set the RAM speed in BIOS, but that was expected. I ended up ordering the Noctua NH-D15 instead of the NH-D15S and repurposed one of the fans as the top exhaust. The GPU install in the Fractal North was a bit tricky - I didn't check the fit before installing the CPU cooler and had to remove the NH-D15, place the 4080 in the case and reinstall the cooler before plugging the GPU into the motherboard. For a second I thought I really messed up, lol!

Thanks again to @HypixelBedwars @WereCat @Kinda Bottlenecked and of course @brob for all the valuable input and help!