Moving back to Windows (from Mac Studio), any comments on this parts list?

[EnzioArdesch]

Budget (including currency): Not really a limit, just want to pay for performance

Country: Netherlands (EU)

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for:

Work: Lightroom/PhotoShop with 50 megapixel RAW's. Usually culling about 1200-1500 a day, and exporting about 200-300 full resolution images (not all at once, about 15-20 at a time). All with a as short as possible turn around. 

Games: Mostly the current CoD and Battlefield, and games like Cities Skylines 2 and Farming Simulator. (At 4K)

Other details: 

I have been using the 'original' Mac Studio with a maxed M1 Ultra and 128GB memory since its introduction, but I desperately need to switch back to good old Windows. I don't have any old parts. I will be using a 4K main monitor, and run a old 1080p for nothing but security camera's, some TV series or YouTube in the background. I have not made a decision on the 4K monitor, but since it has to have great sRGB coverage I don't expect more than 120hz.

 

I picked the following list, and would appreciate any comment. For as far as I can see there are no compatibility problems, and am mainly wondering if anyone spots any bottlenecks or any bad matches. 

 

MOBO: Asus ROG MAXIMUS Z790 DARK HERO

MOBO: Asus ROG STRIX Z790-E GAMING WIFI II

CPU: Intel Core i9 14900K

M.2: Samsung 990 PRO 4TB M.2 SSD
GPU: Asus GeForce RTX 4090 ROG-STRIX OC Edition

RAM: Corsair DDR5 Dominator Titanium 4x32GB (128GB) 6600MT/s CL32

RAM: Corsair DDR5 Dominator Titanium 2x48GB (96GB) 6600MT/s CL32

 

CASE: Corsair 5000D Airflow

CASE: Corsair 7000D Airflow

PSU: Corsair HX1500i (2023/ATX3.0)

AIO (CPU): Corsair iCUE LINK H150i RGB 

AIO (CPU): Corsair iCUE LINK H170i RGB (420mm)

CASE FANS: Corsair iCUE LINK QX120 RGB 120mm PWM Fans Starter Kit + Corsair iCUE LINK QX120 RGB 120mm PWM Fan + Corsair iCUE LINK Cable 2x200mm

CASE FANS: 2 x Corsair iCUE LINK QX140 RGB 140mm PWM Fans Starter Kit (4 total fans)

 

AIO would be mounted on top of case as an exhaust. With three fans on the front of the case as intake, and one on the back as exhaust.

 

Local store shopping cart with current (local) prices:

https://www.megekko.nl/wl/QBNY258K 

[igormp]

1 minute ago, EnzioArdesch said:

RAM: Corsair DDR5 Dominator Titanium 4x32GB (128GB) 6600MT/s CL32

 

Be aware that you won't be able to reach the rated XMP speeds with 128gb, specially in intel. Better to try to go for 4800~5600MHz 48GB sticks, for some reason those have better compatibility. AMD also has a tad bit better support for higher density sticks, but it's far from perfect still.

 

In case you don't actually need all of those 128gb, you could try to go for 64 or 96gb with only 2 sticks, those should be easier to run at xmp.

[Crunchy Dragon]

2 minutes ago, igormp said:

Be aware that you won't be able to reach the rated XMP speeds with 128gb, specially in intel. Better to try to go for 4800~5600MHz 48GB sticks, for some reason those have better compatibility. AMD also has a tad bit better support for higher density sticks, but it's far from perfect still.

 

In case you don't actually need all of those 128gb, you could try to go for 64 or 96gb with only 2 sticks, those should be easier to run at xmp.

I'd be curious to know how much it actually matters to get the highest possible speed out of DDR5, which is already hilariously fast compared to DDR4. I get that it's rated for a certain speed, I'm just wondering how much it matters performance-wise to actually run the rated speed as opposed to whatever the default is for DDR5.

 

Lightroom loves to eat RAM, so I definitely understand wanting more of it.

[BlackDragon1971]

Hmm... The Corsair 5000D Airflow case is a solid choice. I'd consider a Lian Li 011 Dynamic offering as a 2nd choice. Maybe one of the 011 EVO units. I like my 011 Dynamic Razer Edition, though it's a few years old now.... the extra space around the motherboard for AIOs and watercooling is worth it for me. I lack lots of 3.5" HDD capacity with mine, but the EVO offerings fix that

It's a side consideration over the Corsair 5000D Airflow.... just putting my personal preference from use of a Lian Li 011 Dynamic. Yours may be different. That's not to detract from the 5000D Airflow.

[SorryBella]

3 hours ago, EnzioArdesch said:

AIO (CPU): Corsair iCUE LINK H150i RGB 

CASE FANS: Corsair iCUE LINK QX120 RGB 120mm PWM Fans Starter Kit + Corsair iCUE LINK QX120 RGB 120mm PWM Fan + Corsair iCUE LINK Cable 2x200mm

Going to keep copy pasting this until the community made an adapter for this ecosystem:

Quote

I'm personally very much against giving this system the money it don't deserve. Corsair as is is already a bad buy for pure RGB setup due to its iCUE color limitation, but at least their current connectors are actually purchasable on the open market and thus adapters are a plenty for going from icue to standard ARGB and vice versa. Meanwhile QX doesn't have this as of this writing, at all. And honestly? Most likely not going to be with how much these proprietary connectors and controllers cost to develop. Id rather buy a standard ARGB based setup and eat the pain of cable management (which is genuinely, not as bad as marketers want you to think it is) to have a more easily changed or expanded setup that is cheaper, than having slightly easier cable management and then locked into an inherently inferior system that will cost you a lot.

3 hours ago, igormp said:

you could try to go for 64 or 96gb with only 2 sticks, those should be easier to run at xmp.

Beyond that +1. Yeah, i understand that Lr and Ps is a massive RAM hog and doesnt scale the GPU on most tasks, but DDR5 just isnt mature enough for it. If you need the raw capacity DDR4 is still your choice, and thankfully the 14th gen still have DDR4 support.

[brob]

Consider a 4x48GB memory kit that is on the motherboard memory QVL.

 

Consider a less expensive motherboard.

 

Consider a 420 AIO. Modern CPU can use all available cooling to maximize performance.

 

Consider an ATX 3.0 PSU that provides native support for 12VHPWR connections.

 

PCPartPicker Part List

 

CPU: Intel Core i9-14900K 3.2 GHz 24-Core Processor (€669.00 @ Azerty) 

CPU Cooler: ARCTIC Liquid Freezer II 420 A-RGB 68.9 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler (€127.84 @ Amazon Netherlands) 

Motherboard: Asus ROG STRIX Z790-E GAMING WIFI II ATX LGA1700 Motherboard (€602.95 @ Megekko) 

Memory: Corsair Vengeance 192 GB (4 x 48 GB) DDR5-5200 CL38 Memory (€741.83 @ Azerty) 

Storage: Samsung 990 Pro 4 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive (€312.95 @ Azerty) 

Video Card: Asus ROG STRIX GAMING OC GeForce RTX 4090 24 GB Video Card (€2299.00 @ Megekko) 

Case: Fractal Design Meshify 2 XL ATX Full Tower Case (€209.00 @ Amazon Netherlands) 

Power Supply: MSI MEG Ai1300P PCIE5 1300 W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply (€359.00 @ Amazon Netherlands) 

Total: €5321.57

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2023-11-03 09:59 CET+0100

[EnzioArdesch]

16 hours ago, igormp said:

Be aware that you won't be able to reach the rated XMP speeds with 128gb, specially in intel. Better to try to go for 4800~5600MHz 48GB sticks, for some reason those have better compatibility. AMD also has a tad bit better support for higher density sticks, but it's far from perfect still.

 

In case you don't actually need all of those 128gb, you could try to go for 64 or 96gb with only 2 sticks, those should be easier to run at xmp.

12 hours ago, SorryBella said:

Beyond that +1. Yeah, i understand that Lr and Ps is a massive RAM hog and doesnt scale the GPU on most tasks, but DDR5 just isnt mature enough for it. If you need the raw capacity DDR4 is still your choice, and thankfully the 14th gen still have DDR4 support.

I have made an edit to the proposed list:

RAM: Corsair DDR5 Dominator Titanium 4x32GB (128GB) 6600MT/s CL32

RAM: Corsair DDR5 Dominator Titanium 4x16GB (64GB) 7200MT/s CL34 (2 kits of 2 sticks, kit with 4 sticks doesn't seem to exist)

 

With dedicated GPU memory Lightroom and PhotoShop don't seem to ever take more than 35-40GB at max rendering; according to Reddit at least. Which would make 64GB plenty. Do you think this configuration would be stable at 7200?

 

There also are 24GB sticks at the same 7200MT/s, but those are CL36. Would those be stable at a 96GB configuration and be just as fast?

[EnzioArdesch]

7 hours ago, brob said:

Consider a 4x48GB memory kit that is on the motherboard memory QVL.

I have made an edit to the proposed list:

RAM: Corsair DDR5 Dominator Titanium 4x32GB (128GB) 6600MT/s CL32

RAM: Corsair DDR5 Dominator Titanium 4x16GB (64GB) 7200MT/s CL34 (2 kits of 2 sticks, kit with 4 sticks doesn't seem to exist)

I would rather have less memory and more speed, than slower but more memory.

There also are 24GB sticks at the same 7200MT/s, but those are CL36. Would those be stable at a 96GB configuration and be just as fast?

7 hours ago, brob said:

Consider a less expensive motherboard.

I have made an edit to the proposed list:

MOBO: Asus ROG MAXIMUS Z790 DARK HERO

MOBO: Asus ROG STRIX Z790-E GAMING WIFI II

The updated version of the Strix Gaming did not seem to be available yet, but the store says they can order it. For as far as I see deduce it has the same practical upgrades as the Dark Hero.

7 hours ago, brob said:

Consider a 420 AIO. Modern CPU can use all available cooling to maximize performance.

I have made an edit to the proposed list:

 

CASE: Corsair 5000D Airflow

CASE: Corsair 7000D Airflow

AIO (CPU): Corsair iCUE LINK H150i RGB 

AIO (CPU): Corsair iCUE LINK H170i RGB (420mm)

7 hours ago, brob said:

Consider an ATX 3.0 PSU that provides native support for 12VHPWR connections.

The 2023 model of the Corsair HX1500i is ATX3.0, and has the 12VHPWR connector. 

[SorryBella]

1 hour ago, EnzioArdesch said:

Do you think this configuration would be stable at 7200?

No the issue isnt with the capacity its the stick count. You can find 96GB stable at 7200, its just that 4 stick is massively straining for a dual channel IMC in a CPU.

[brob]

1 hour ago, EnzioArdesch said:

The 2023 model of the Corsair HX1500i is ATX3.0, and has the 12VHPWR connector. 

 

Yes, the HX1500i is ATX 3.0. It does not have a 12VHPWR connector. It comes with an adapter 2x8-pin to the 12+4 pin 12VHPWR connector. See https://www.corsair.com/ca/en/p/psu/cp-9020261-na/hx1500i-fully-modular-ultra-low-noise-platinum-atx-1500-watt-pc-power-supply-cp-9020261-na

 

I consider "native" support to be 12VHPWR sockets on the PSU.

 

1 hour ago, EnzioArdesch said:

There also are 24GB sticks at the same 7200MT/s, but those are CL36. Would those be stable at a 96GB configuration and be just as fast?

 

The issue is running 4 sticks stable. You would be inviting even more work getting two 2x24GB kits as the XMS data would likely not be useable. What speed and timings you would end up running stable with 2x2x24GB is not really predictable . . . well I'm pretty confident it wouldn't be at 7200MT/s CL36.

 

If you haven't seen it, https://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/impact-of-ddr5-speed-on-content-creation-performance-2023-update/#Photography provides some hard data on the effect of memory speeds in Photoshop. It is instructive.

 

[EnzioArdesch]

45 minutes ago, SorryBella said:

No the issue isnt with the capacity its the stick count. You can find 96GB stable at 7200, its just that 4 stick is massively straining for a dual channel IMC in a CPU.

16 minutes ago, brob said:

The issue is running 4 sticks stable. You would be inviting even more work getting two 2x24GB kits as the XMS data would likely not be useable. What speed and timings you would end up running stable with 2x2x24GB is not really predictable . . . well I'm pretty confident it wouldn't be at 7200MT/s CL36.

 

If you haven't seen it, https://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/impact-of-ddr5-speed-on-content-creation-performance-2023-update/#Photography provides some hard data on the effect of memory speeds in Photoshop. It is instructive.

How about this? (Assuming I can find one somewhere)

https://www.corsair.com/us/en/p/memory/cmp96gx5m2b6600c32/dominator-titanium-rgb-2x48gb-ddr5-dram-6600mt-s-cl32-intel-xmp-memory-kit-cmp96gx5m2b6600c32

[brob]

8 minutes ago, EnzioArdesch said:

How about this? (Assuming I can find one somewhere)

https://www.corsair.com/us/en/p/memory/cmp96gx5m2b6600c32/dominator-titanium-rgb-2x48gb-ddr5-dram-6600mt-s-cl32-intel-xmp-memory-kit-cmp96gx5m2b6600c32

 

Theoretically should work, but I have no experience with Dominator Titanium memory.

[EnzioArdesch]

6 hours ago, brob said:

Yes, the HX1500i is ATX 3.0. It does not have a 12VHPWR connector. It comes with an adapter 2x8-pin to the 12+4 pin 12VHPWR connector. See https://www.corsair.com/ca/en/p/psu/cp-9020261-na/hx1500i-fully-modular-ultra-low-noise-platinum-atx-1500-watt-pc-power-supply-cp-9020261-na

 

I consider "native" support to be 12VHPWR sockets on the PSU.

I understand what you mean.

 

But would using this kind of ""adapter cable"" really be a problem with this much overhead in wattage? My understanding is that the talking between PSU and GPU is only to communicatie if there is enough power availability.

 

I kinda like it that I could manage all fans via the Corsair software, with the added benefit the PSU usage can be monitored.

 

Otherwise I would consider a Seasonic Prime PX-1600 PSU, but that is a "dumb" PSU.

 

EDIT: 

Just got this response from Corsair.

Edited November 3, 2023 by EnzioArdesch
Added response from Corsair

[brob]

10 hours ago, EnzioArdesch said:

I understand what you mean.

 

But would using this kind of ""adapter cable"" really be a problem with this much overhead in wattage? My understanding is that the talking between PSU and GPU is only to communicatie if there is enough power availability.

 

I kinda like it that I could manage all fans via the Corsair software, with the added benefit the PSU usage can be monitored.

 

Otherwise I would consider a Seasonic Prime PX-1600 PSU, but that is a "dumb" PSU.

 

EDIT: 

Just got this response from Corsair.

 

Unless you plan on adding a second RTX 4090, a 1600W PSU strikes me as a needless overspend.