3D Sculpting, Modeling and Rendering rig (with maybe gaming as an afterthought)

[Falconius]

Hi, I'm looking to build a new system that can handle sculpting programs with ease, and also handle millions of polygons in Blender better.  Main programs that will be used are 3D Coat, and Blender (and Cycles Render engine in Blender).  Often I do very large scale scenes in Blender with thousands of objects, which invariably leads to huge amounts of polygons.

I'm in Israel, but Canadian pricing can work for me as well as I'll probably compare in any case.  Was thinking something around 2,000-2,500 CAD or around 6,000-6,500 NIS.  Mostly I'm looking for good performance per dollar, but also a system that will see me down the years fairly well.  I'm running two monitors at 1080, am looking to upgrade one in the future to 4k, but not immediately, so I'm not including any peripherals in the build cost.  And other than an SSD, I've got regular hard drive storage covered.

Currently I'm running a five year old system with 16 GB DDR3 of ram, an Intel i5 3570, and a Geforce GTX 660, on an ASUS P8Z77-V Motherboard.  I'm thinking of going for a Ryzen 7 1700(x?), and a Vega 56 (or perhaps a GTX 1080 but the performance per dollar isn't great so it would need justification). Not sure if more than 16GB of ram is necessary, I've only ever run into issues with 3D coat wanting more virtual memory, and that may be me just accidentally going beyond the specs of the function. I'm not really sure if I plan to overclock or not, but if I did it would not be to a very significant degree, stability is a far more attractive to me.

Here's where I'm at so far (prices in NIS):
AMD Ryzen 1700 ------------------ 1390 (the 7 1700x is 1610 and might very well be worth it)

(an array of MB options, I have no idea really what makes one better than another anymore)

?Asus Prime b350-Plus ---------------- 500
?MSI B350 Tomahawk -----------------580
?Gigabyte GA-AB350 Gaming 3 ----- 530

Sapphire Radeon RX Vega56 8GB ----- 2480
Corsair Vengeance LPX 2x8GB DDR4 2400Mhz----775
(Could get higher Mhz like 3000 or 3200 for reasonable price, but I've been looking around and Ryzen doesn't seem to be able to handle above 2600Mhz?)
WD Green WDS240G1G0B 240 GB SSD M.2 ----- 445

Corsair Hydro H45 ----------------------- 260

Sharkoon TF5 Case----------------------------- 295

Power supply I really don't know, something around 500-600w?  Which will cost somewhere between 200-500 NIS.

Totals out at around 6,505 NIS

[Lennart van de Merwe]

I suggest you get the following:

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/wFMtPs 

 

Whatever you do, DO NOT BUY VEGA 56.

 

[Falconius]

Thanks for the reply Lennart.

 

Originally I was thinking a 1070 but the Vega 56 appears to be a better card, pushing my build up to a 1080 is an option, but will add a fair bit to the price.  The card you suggest cost 3885 NIS, the lowest 1080 with 11GB is the Gigabyte GTX 1080 Ti Gaming OC Black 11GB and still 3750 NIS.  I can get an Asus GTX 1080 TURBO 8GB for 2925 NIS.  Do you reckon the 11GB is worth the extra price?

I'm curious why you suggest an Intel 8700k instead of the AMD Ryzen 7 1700 or 1700x?  What are the advantages to the Intel chip? (the intel chip is a comparable price to the 1700x, so that's not a problem), does the extra speed make up for the lower core count?

[brob]

@Falconius

 

The optimal cpu & gpu depend on your workflow. It appears that most, if not all of the rendering is being done using gpu. That being the case an Intel cpu and more gpu resources would be the way to go. 

 

I believe Blender /. Cycles Render has a preference for Nvidia gpu. If  you do a lot of rendering, you might consider dedicating a low-end gpu for display and a much more powerful gpu for rendering.

[Falconius]

@brob
 

Thanks Brob

 

With the current computer I'm using I've been using the CPU for rendering in Blender because the GTX 660 I have only has 2GB memory and it would often run out and drop the render.  If I can render on the GPU that is probably preferable.  But I haven't used a high end computer for this stuff so don't know what the actual work flow would be.  That is why I've been assuming having lots of cores and lots of threads would be more important.  Been looking at the 8700k benchmarks and reviews and it does look like a better chip.  Then the big question becomes is it important to go for the 11GB memory on the GPU?

[Falconius]

Alright after editing the lists I've come up with an AMD option and an Intel option.

 

The Intel List: https://pcpartpicker.com/user/Falconius/saved/4MhKZL
That comes out at around 7,745 NIS
 

The AMD List: https://pcpartpicker.com/user/Falconius/saved/rbMwVn
Which comes to around 7,380 NIS, considering dropping down to a Ryzen 7 1700
Edit: Dropped it down to a 1700, which lets me scratch the cooler as well dropping the price down to 6,835 NIS

[brob]

8 hours ago, Falconius said:

....  Then the big question becomes is it important to go for the 11GB memory on the GPU?

 

Depends on the size of scenes being rendered. I believe that currently an entire scene must fit in gpu memory.

[Falconius]

The 1080 ti's are really tempting, but I really can't justify going up to the ti 11GB GPU's, it'd cost another 800-900 NIS over the 1080 8gb ones, which if I was going to spend I'd rather go into buying the 8700k chip, board, and cooler.

 

I've been considering the 8700 chip as well but they don't have them in stock here and it is still a price difference of 500-800 NIS over the Ryzen 7 1700.  And the 8700 is locked, whereas from what I hear I can easily boost the Ryzen 7 1700 to 3.7 Mhz on all cores.  It's not top of the line of course, but to me it seems quite respectable and for the price very good.

Here's my refined list.

PCPartPicker part list: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/T98Gr7
 

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 7 1700 3.0GHz 8-Core Processor  ($284.99 @ Amazon) 
Motherboard: Asus - PRIME B350-PLUS ATX AM4 Motherboard  ($93.88 @ OutletPC) 
Memory: Corsair - Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory  ($184.88 @ OutletPC) 
Storage: Samsung - 850 EVO-Series 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($148.88 @ OutletPC) 
Video Card: Asus - GeForce GTX 1080 8GB STRIX Video Card  ($625.89 @ B&H) 
Case: SHARKOON - TG5 ATX Mid Tower Case  ($79.99 @ Newegg Marketplace) 
Power Supply: Antec - High Current Gamer 520W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($79.99 @ Amazon) 
Total: $1498.50
 

[brob]

3 hours ago, Falconius said:

The 1080 ti's are really tempting, but I really can't justify going up to the ti 11GB GPU's, it'd cost another 800-900 NIS over the 1080 8gb ones, which if I was going to spend I'd rather go into buying the 8700k chip, board, and cooler.

 

I've been considering the 8700 chip as well but they don't have them in stock here and it is still a price difference of 500-800 NIS over the Ryzen 7 1700.  And the 8700 is locked, whereas from what I hear I can easily boost the Ryzen 7 1700 to 3.7 Mhz on all cores.  It's not top of the line of course, but to me it seems quite respectable and for the price very good.

Here's my refined list.

PCPartPicker part list: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/T98Gr7
 

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 7 1700 3.0GHz 8-Core Processor  ($284.99 @ Amazon) 
Motherboard: Asus - PRIME B350-PLUS ATX AM4 Motherboard  ($93.88 @ OutletPC) 
Memory: Corsair - Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory  ($184.88 @ OutletPC) 
Storage: Samsung - 850 EVO-Series 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($148.88 @ OutletPC) 
Video Card: Asus - GeForce GTX 1080 8GB STRIX Video Card  ($625.89 @ B&H) 
Case: SHARKOON - TG5 ATX Mid Tower Case  ($79.99 @ Newegg Marketplace) 
Power Supply: Antec - High Current Gamer 520W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($79.99 @ Amazon) 
Total: $1498.50
 

Any chance you can get faster memory, something around DDR4-3000 or DDR4-3200? It makes a significant difference with  Ryzen cpu performance, especially when overclocking.

[Falconius]

Yeah.  I forgot to take a second look at the memory.  Unfortunately I got antsy and already pulled the trigger .  That would've been a good idea for 100 more NIS though.  Maybe if and when I take a look at expanding the memory in the future.  Thanks for the help Brob.

This is what I went with, and it got me within my budget in terms of CAD (after converting from the NIS price it ended up 2,502 CAD (yes it is a 700 Canadian dollar difference with what I could've had the system for in North America )):

PCPartPicker part list: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/TTRcJV
 

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 7 1700 3.0GHz 8-Core Processor  ($284.99 @ Amazon) 
Motherboard: Asus - PRIME B350-PLUS ATX AM4 Motherboard  ($93.88 @ OutletPC) 
Memory: Corsair - Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory  ($184.88 @ OutletPC) 
Storage: Samsung - 850 EVO-Series 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($148.88 @ OutletPC) 
Video Card: Gigabyte - GeForce GTX 1080 8GB G1 Gaming Video Card  ($559.99 @ Amazon) 
Case: SHARKOON - TG5 ATX Mid Tower Case  ($79.99 @ Newegg Marketplace) 
Power Supply: Antec - High Current Gamer 520W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($79.99 @ Amazon) 
Total: $1432.60
 

[Falconius]

@brob Thanks again Brob, I was able to call and change the order to get 3000mhz RAM instead (and bonus it was actually cheaper for RGB than plain :)).  I really appreciate that catch.

[Tom Cat]

 

@FalconiusThe vega 56  is not good, I hate to be blunt but a  1070ti for example is much better. AMD cards always under preform to what AMD claims. Even Luke says this in the latest WAN show. I would honestly not buy a AMD GPU, the creator himself even left Radeon, that doesn't boad well for a product(s) reputation. That me your better of going with a 1070 or something along those lines.

On 11/7/2017 at 9:21 AM, Lennart van de Merwe said:

I suggest you get the following:

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/wFMtPs 

 

Whatever you do, DO NOT BUY VEGA 56.

 

 

On 11/7/2017 at 9:51 AM, Falconius said:

Thanks for the reply Lennart.

 

Originally I was thinking a 1070 but the Vega 56 appears to be a better card, pushing my build up to a 1080 is an option, but will add a fair bit to the price.  The card you suggest cost 3885 NIS, the lowest 1080 with 11GB is the Gigabyte GTX 1080 Ti Gaming OC Black 11GB and still 3750 NIS.  I can get an Asus GTX 1080 TURBO 8GB for 2925 NIS.  Do you reckon the 11GB is worth the extra price?

I'm curious why you suggest an Intel 8700k instead of the AMD Ryzen 7 1700 or 1700x?  What are the advantages to the Intel chip? (the intel chip is a comparable price to the 1700x, so that's not a problem), does the extra speed make up for the lower core count?

@Falconius There are many advantages to an Intel chip, In almost all gaming applications the I7 8700k will outperform the R7. But for video editing it all depends on the software, However it has been proven the the 8700k will out preform the R7 in video editing most of the time. Psychical the ryzen chips used outdated pins, while Intel chips use pads. I know that for AMD the pads are on the motherboard and visa versa for Intel but if a pin breaks of an R7 your down $300, if you break a pin on an Intel motherboard your only down $150. Yes this such a little thing, but it's smart business moves like this that make Intel stand out. Intel also supports Optane memory, a device that will speed up your hard drive, a feature that is extremely useful for video editing. So at the end of the day I would go with Intel, you wont regret it. I hope this helped.