TR 1950X Build for 2850€

[Solomon Online]

What do you think of this build? Can you suggest cheaper components for same performance? https://de.pcpartpicker.com/user/SolomonOnline/saved/#view=mVXCyc

 

I reconsidered my build that I posted a few weeks ago. I will start to use Houdini and thus need a strong MC build. I render over CPU with Corona/VRay.

 

Do you agree that 1920X doesn't make sense because all the other parts would be the same and thus the 1950X is the better investment?

Do you recommend another case? I can't really decide between the:

• BeQuiet PureBase600, SilentBase800
• Fractal Define C, S, R6
• Silverstone KL07
• Carbide 400Q
• Cooler Master Cosmos SE (How much louder will it be without silent case design?)
• Design-wise I'd choose the Cosmos SE, but performance and quiet has priority.

Do you suggest 3200 RAM?

I will wait for 1180, thus the slower GPU.

I'll also update to TR2 upon release. Will I need to update other parts of the build?

 

 

Many thanks,

Solomon

 

[just_bob]

I would agree 1950X is the better investment. GPU is the least important component when it comes to Houdini, unless you can afford a Quadro. While some nodes do allow OpenCL utilization, giving the GPU a chance to help out with computing, it requires a lot of VRAM and gaming cards don't really provide much in that area. So GPU is mostly for viewport rendering and considering you're getting TR, there is no point of using GPU for rendering. I use 1070 (8GB VRAM) and I don't intend on changing that one for a while. I would reconsider your RAM choice since using playback in real time often means shoving several gigabytes of data into RAM per each frame. I am still trying to figure out how detrimental RAM speeds can be for the CPU when it comes to Zen architecture aswell.

[Ordinarily_Greater]

14 hours ago, Solomon Online said:

What do you think of this build? Can you suggest cheaper components for same performance? https://de.pcpartpicker.com/user/SolomonOnline/saved/#view=mVXCyc

 

Do you agree that 1920X doesn't make sense because all the other parts would be the same and thus the 1950X is the better investment?

Do you recommend another case? I was considering the Silverstone KL07 for design reasons.

Do you suggest 3200 RAM?

I'll also update to TR2 upon release. Will I need to update other parts of the build?

 

Answer to those questions

1. no, since you are saving about 200 euros while losing 4 cores. while it will still hold up till the 24 core TR is released

2. fractal design define R6, it's better than the define S

3. yes since it will help the CPU also

4. maybe the GPU also

better list with a better GPU so you will just need to update the processor

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Threadripper 1920X 3.5GHz 12-Core Processor  (€579.00 @ ARLT) 
CPU Cooler: Noctua - NH-U14S TR4-SP3 140.2 CFM CPU Cooler  (€79.90 @ Amazon Deutschland) 
Motherboard: Asus - PRIME X399-A EATX TR4 Motherboard  (€312.99 @ Amazon Deutschland) 
Memory: Corsair - Vengeance RGB 64GB (4 x 16GB) DDR4-2666 Memory  (€743.14 @ Amazon Deutschland) 
Storage: Samsung - 970 Pro 512GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive  (€215.08 @ Mindfactory) 
Video Card: Zotac - GeForce GTX 1080 8GB AMP! Extreme Video Card  (€618.95 @ Amazon Deutschland) 
Case: Fractal Design - Define R6 Gunmetal TG ATX Mid Tower Case  (€149.00 @ ARLT) 
Power Supply: SeaSonic - FOCUS Plus Gold 750W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  (€96.59 @ Amazon Deutschland) 
Total: €2794.65
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-06-17 06:43 CEST+0200

 

 

Edited June 17, 2018 by Ordinarily_Greater
cheaper Graphics Card

[Solomon Online]

9 hours ago, Ordinarily_Greater said:

Answer to those questions

1. no, since you are saving about 200 euros while losing 4 cores. while it will still hold up till the 24 core TR is released

2. fractal design define R6, it's better than the define S

3. yes since it will help the CPU also

4. maybe the GPU also

better list with a better GPU so you will just need to update the processor

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Threadripper 1920X 3.5GHz 12-Core Processor  (€579.00 @ ARLT) 
CPU Cooler: Noctua - NH-U14S TR4-SP3 140.2 CFM CPU Cooler  (€79.90 @ Amazon Deutschland) 
Motherboard: Asus - PRIME X399-A EATX TR4 Motherboard  (€312.99 @ Amazon Deutschland) 
Memory: Corsair - Vengeance RGB 64GB (4 x 16GB) DDR4-2666 Memory  (€743.14 @ Amazon Deutschland) 
Storage: Samsung - 970 Pro 512GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive  (€215.08 @ Mindfactory) 
Video Card: Zotac - GeForce GTX 1080 8GB AMP! Extreme Video Card  (€618.95 @ Amazon Deutschland) 
Case: Fractal Design - Define R6 Gunmetal TG ATX Mid Tower Case  (€149.00 @ ARLT) 
Power Supply: SeaSonic - FOCUS Plus Gold 750W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  (€96.59 @ Amazon Deutschland) 
Total: €2794.65
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-06-17 06:43 CEST+0200

 

 

Thanks for the comments.

 

1. CPU: As I plan to resell, I guess the 1950 sells better? Do you disagree again?
2. Case: Why is it better for almost double the price a.k.a. why do you choose it over the other options?
3. GPU: Why do you suggest the Zotac? (I choose the Asus - GeForce GTX 1070 Ti 8GB ROG STRIX Video Card because it's quieter.)
4. Cooling: I will temporarily OC and people suggested me to AIO. I did watch GamersNexus Review, but considering hours of renderings, do you still suggest Fan Cooling?
5. MBD: Why do you suggest the Asus? (I choose the MSI - X399 GAMING PRO CARBON AC ATX TR4 Motherboard because it has more phases, thus better performance/durability.)
6. RAM: Why do you suggest the Corsair RAM? My local pc specialist suggest the Kingston RAM because it works well with TR. Also, I plan on upgrading to 96 and maybe 128. And didnt you agree on the 3200, but chose 2666?

 

Many thanks

[Solomon Online]

20 hours ago, just_bob said:

I would agree 1950X is the better investment. GPU is the least important component when it comes to Houdini, unless you can afford a Quadro. While some nodes do allow OpenCL utilization, giving the GPU a chance to help out with computing, it requires a lot of VRAM and gaming cards don't really provide much in that area. So GPU is mostly for viewport rendering and considering you're getting TR, there is no point of using GPU for rendering. I use 1070 (8GB VRAM) and I don't intend on changing that one for a while. I would reconsider your RAM choice since using playback in real time often means shoving several gigabytes of data into RAM per each frame. I am still trying to figure out how detrimental RAM speeds can be for the CPU when it comes to Zen architecture aswell.

What RAM do you suggest? I am even thinking to start with 32GB and then if my computations get more intense, I'll stock up. I mean, 32GB won't throttle for renderings, right?

 

Could you also elaborate a bit on the RAM subject... I not a technician and really want to make a good choice that I can update incrementally like 32, 64, 96, 128 over time.

 

Many thanks

[Solomon Online]

It would be nice if also someone else can comment on my case choice.

 

• BeQuiet PureBase600, SilentBase800
• Fractal Define C, S, R6
• Silverstone KL07
• Carbide 400Q
• Cooler Master Cosmos SE (How much louder will it be without silent case design?)

Design-wise I'd choose the Cosmos SE, but performance and quiet have priority.

[Ordinarily_Greater]

27 minutes ago, Solomon Online said:

Thanks for the comments.

 

1. CPU: As I plan to resell, I guess the 1950 sells better? Do you disagree again?
2. Case: Why is it better for almost double the price a.k.a. why do you choose it over the other options?
3. GPU: Why do you suggest the Zotac? (I choose the Asus - GeForce GTX 1070 Ti 8GB ROG STRIX Video Card because it's quieter.)
4. Cooling: I will temporarily OC and people suggested me to AIO. I did watch GamersNexus Review, but considering hours of renderings, do you still suggest Fan Cooling?
5. MBD: Why do you suggest the Asus? (I choose the MSI - X399 GAMING PRO CARBON AC ATX TR4 Motherboard because it has more phases, thus better performance/durability.)
6. RAM: Why do you suggest the Corsair RAM? My local pc specialist suggest the Kingston RAM because it works well with TR. Also, I plan on upgrading to 96 and maybe 128. And didnt you agree on the 3200, but chose 2666?

 

Many thanks

1. ohh you are trying to resell, then the 1950X has better resell value than the 1920X because the 1950X is gonna be an alternative to those guys who wants a 16 core AMD CPU that couldn't afford the new 16 core threadripper 2. So i agree with the 1950X

2. because it has tempered glass, it is more modular than the Define S (the front panel can be pushed to the back of the case), and it is gonna be easier to work with because it is bigger it has more room to work (also it doesn't affect the total system price that much)

3. I was actually not choosing between asus or zotac, but between 1080 or a 1070 ti. the 1080 has GDDR5X memory instead of the GDDR5 found on the 1070ti which is faster than normal GDDR5. Zotac isn't bad either, i was going with this card because it is cheaper than most GTX 1080

4. The Noctua cooler will still be a good performer and you can check it out here. Also it only has one point of failure the Fans instead of radiator's pump, fan and built in reservoir

5. it's cheaper but it is also recommended by Linus in his threadripper build guide. you can go back with the MSI board again (nothing wrong i just changed it with something on par with the MSI board)

6. i just changed it up with a RGB kit but yea you can go back with the Kingston kit, I didn't know that Kingston works well with TR but there is nothing wrong with Kingston as well. But the options in Kingston's line of ram is more expensive than the corsair one, so i decided to go corsair at that time

 

so final changes to my version of the list

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Threadripper 1950X 3.4GHz 16-Core Processor  (€757.93 @ Amazon Deutschland) 
CPU Cooler: Noctua - NH-U14S TR4-SP3 140.2 CFM CPU Cooler  (€79.90 @ Amazon Deutschland) 
Motherboard: Asus - PRIME X399-A EATX TR4 Motherboard  (€312.99 @ Amazon Deutschland) 
Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws V Series 32GB (2 x 16GB) DDR4-3200 Memory  (€332.94 @ Mindfactory) 
Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws V Series 32GB (2 x 16GB) DDR4-3200 Memory  (€332.94 @ Mindfactory) 
Storage: Samsung - 970 Evo 500GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive  (€172.84 @ Amazon Deutschland) 
Video Card: Zotac - GeForce GTX 1080 8GB AMP! Extreme Video Card  (€618.95 @ Amazon Deutschland) 
Case: Fractal Design - Define R6 Gunmetal TG ATX Mid Tower Case  (€149.00 @ ARLT) 
Power Supply: SeaSonic - FOCUS Plus Gold 750W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  (€96.59 @ Amazon Deutschland) 
Total: €2854.08
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-06-17 16:27 CEST+0200

[Solomon Online]

2 hours ago, Ordinarily_Greater said:

1. ohh you are trying to resell, then the 1950X has better resell value than the 1920X because the 1950X is gonna be an alternative to those guys who wants a 16 core AMD CPU that couldn't afford the new 16 core threadripper 2. So i agree with the 1950X

2. because it has tempered glass, it is more modular than the Define S (the front panel can be pushed to the back of the case), and it is gonna be easier to work with because it is bigger it has more room to work (also it doesn't affect the total system price that much)

3. I was actually not choosing between asus or zotac, but between 1080 or a 1070 ti. the 1080 has GDDR5X memory instead of the GDDR5 found on the 1070ti which is faster than normal GDDR5. Zotac isn't bad either, i was going with this card because it is cheaper than most GTX 1080

4. The Noctua cooler will still be a good performer and you can check it out here. Also it only has one point of failure the Fans instead of radiator's pump, fan and built in reservoir

5. it's cheaper but it is also recommended by Linus in his threadripper build guide. you can go back with the MSI board again (nothing wrong i just changed it with something on par with the MSI board)

6. i just changed it up with a RGB kit but yea you can go back with the Kingston kit, I didn't know that Kingston works well with TR but there is nothing wrong with Kingston as well. But the options in Kingston's line of ram is more expensive than the corsair one, so i decided to go corsair at that time

 

so final changes to my version of the list

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Threadripper 1950X 3.4GHz 16-Core Processor  (€757.93 @ Amazon Deutschland) 
CPU Cooler: Noctua - NH-U14S TR4-SP3 140.2 CFM CPU Cooler  (€79.90 @ Amazon Deutschland) 
Motherboard: Asus - PRIME X399-A EATX TR4 Motherboard  (€312.99 @ Amazon Deutschland) 
Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws V Series 32GB (2 x 16GB) DDR4-3200 Memory  (€332.94 @ Mindfactory) 
Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws V Series 32GB (2 x 16GB) DDR4-3200 Memory  (€332.94 @ Mindfactory) 
Storage: Samsung - 970 Evo 500GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive  (€172.84 @ Amazon Deutschland) 
Video Card: Zotac - GeForce GTX 1080 8GB AMP! Extreme Video Card  (€618.95 @ Amazon Deutschland) 
Case: Fractal Design - Define R6 Gunmetal TG ATX Mid Tower Case  (€149.00 @ ARLT) 
Power Supply: SeaSonic - FOCUS Plus Gold 750W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  (€96.59 @ Amazon Deutschland) 
Total: €2854.08
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-06-17 16:27 CEST+0200

19

Thanks for the swift reply.

 

2. Case: I actually favor a small case size, if I don’t sacrifice airflow/cooling performance. I don't mind having less space for installing. I just plugged a fan power pin with chopsticks behind the AIO cooler fan, without removing the fan... haha.

 

3. GPU: Hm, I was considering the EVGA GeForce GTX 1080 SC2 GAMING ICX if 1080, but 1070Ti despite being a little slower has better value, when I calculated. What do you think, which GPU will have better resell value if I buy 1180? I would also consider a 1060 6GB, if it resells well since they have the same value as 1070Ti.

 

4.Cooling: I'm more cautious when it comes to cooling, so spending more money to ensure more headroom and quiet... you know. Also, the TR 2 supposedly even gets hotter. Still, recommend Fan?

 

5. RAM: Ya, when it becomes too technical I'm lost... I mean I can decide over 32 or 64 GB, but... I guess I have to go with whatever people suggest here...

 

 

 

[Ordinarily_Greater]

15 minutes ago, Solomon Online said:

Thanks for the swift reply.

 

2. Case: I actually favor a small case size, if I don’t sacrifice airflow/cooling performance. I don't mind having less space for installing. I just plugged a fan power pin with chopsticks behind the AIO cooler fan, without removing the fan... haha.

 

3. GPU: Hm, I was considering the EVGA GeForce GTX 1080 SC2 GAMING ICX if 1080, but 1070Ti despite being a little slower has better value, when I calculated. What do you think, which GPU will have better resell value if I buy 1180? I would also consider a 1060 6GB, if it resells well, since they have the same value as 1070Ti.

 

4.Cooling: I'm more cautious when it comes to cooling, so spending more money to ensure more headroom and quiet... you know. Still recommend Fan?

 

5. RAM: Ya, when it becomes too technical i'm lost... I mean I can decide over 32 or 64 GB, but... I guess I have to go with whatever people suggest here...

 

 

 

2. then a Meshify C will suit you better, just make sure that if you are getting the Meshify C you get an ATX motherboard. Because it only fits ATX boards. I would recommend this board if you want an alternative to the MSI board

https://pcpartpicker.com/product/kjmxFT/asrock-x399-taichi-atx-tr4-motherboard-x399-taichi

3. Actually the SC2 iCX doesn't look bad from value perspective, get the SC2. Resell value? 1080 of course because it is faster and because premium 1070 ti is priced closer to a 1080. Also you should take into consideration you can overclock far further than what you could on a 1070ti because it's locked to a certain megahertz on it's boost clock and can't be OC-ed from there

 

4. The U14S SP3/TR4 will be enough for that 1950X as watched in that video i linked before. and yes a pump noise also has to be considered

 

5. Get the G.skill ram, it's cheaper and is 3200MHz

also if you realized the first list i posted contains a 1920X CPU and a GTX 1080

which = 1920x1080....

[Solomon Online]

17 minutes ago, Ordinarily_Greater said:

2. then a Meshify C will suit you better, just make sure that if you are getting the Meshify C you get an ATX motherboard. Because it only fits ATX boards. I would recommend this board if you want an alternative to the MSI board

https://pcpartpicker.com/product/kjmxFT/asrock-x399-taichi-atx-tr4-motherboard-x399-taichi

3. Actually the SC2 iCX doesn't look bad from value perspective, get the SC2. Resell value? 1080 of course because it is faster and because premium 1070 ti is priced closer to a 1080. Also you should take into consideration you can overclock far further than what you could on a 1070ti because it's locked to a certain megahertz on it's boost clock and can't be OC-ed from there

 

4. The U14S SP3/TR4 will be enough for that 1950X as watched in that video i linked before. and yes a pump noise also has to be considered

 

5. Get the G.skill ram, it's cheaper and is 3200MHz

also if you realized the first list i posted contains a 1920X CPU and a GTX 1080

which = 1920x1080....

2. Case: The Meshify C looks cool, but it's not insulated, right? I really prefer a quiet case.

3. MBD: I had the Taichi in mind, but it doesn't have good NVME cooling as far as I can tell.

4. GPU: Ya, well than its down to 1080, I guess.

 

1920x1080 haha : )

 

Thanks for everything man

[just_bob]

3 hours ago, Solomon Online said:

What RAM do you suggest? I am even thinking to start with 32GB and then if my computations get more intense, I'll stock up. I mean, 32GB won't throttle for renderings, right?

 

Could you also elaborate a bit on the RAM subject... I not a technician and really want to make a good choice that I can update incrementally like 32, 64, 96, 128 over time.

 

Many thanks

Don't underestimate Houdini's hunger for memory. I mean 32GB will serve you for a while, definitely, might even do a few jobs with that much. But I'm sure you are aware you are going bleeding edge with your PC while most Houdini users will say 32GB RAM is the minimum and 64GB the recommended spec these days. Don't take my word for it - check out sidefx forums.

 

At some point I was stuck with 16GB of RAM for a while and I didn't mind the 60+min render times on my FX-8350, but I did mind the 4 hour simulation time as soon as it had to use SSD for swap. Yes, that's 6 frames per day and we haven't even started rendering yet. Don't take these numbers seriously, it was a crappy PC, I'm just trying to make a point here.

 

There's a lot more variables in this equation, but in my experience, simulations eat up a lot more RAM than rendering does, but are faster to compute (provided they have enough memory). My point is - 64GB is the higher priority than the best CPU on the market. For my next build I'm doing i7 / r7 with 64GB of RAM because I just don't need TR, but do need that RAM. But if you are sure you will have the cash for that RAM when the times comes, TR makes perfect sense. TR is gonna chew through render times and is perfect fit for the render slave. When it comes to all the work that comes before rendering...Houdini's "multithreadiness" is on a node by node basis, some nodes are completely single threaded and will remain so, though a lot of nodes are getting multi threaded with each new update. Some guys over at sidefx forums did some simulation benchmarks on TR with varying results which might be interesting to look at. Sure, it's gonna be a lot better than an i7 / r7, but all that comes with diminishing returns, so don't expect linear improvements.

 

Every dimm slot you populate (and you're gonna need it) is gonna drop the max RAM speed down, so you sure don't wanna skimp on RAM speed, especially since Zen architecture seems so dependant on it. Also, while we're all gonna say it's fine shoving in another separate kit of RAM as long as they're the same, no one can 100% guarantee it. It's a tiny risk, but it's there.

 

tldr: If you are sure you will be able to afford a second RAM kit to populate those empty dimms when the time comes, then sure, 32GB for starters makes perfect sense. My research so far points out that 3200MHz CL14 RAM sticks (google "zen Samsung B-die" if you wanna know more) are the way to go, especially if going AMD route.

 

[Ordinarily_Greater]

2 minutes ago, Solomon Online said:

2. Case: The Meshify C looks cool, but it's not insulated, right? I really prefer a quiet case.

3. MBD: I had the Taichi in mind, but it doesn't have good NVME cooling as far as I can tell.

4. GPU: Ya, well than its down to 1080, I guess.

 

1920x1080 haha : )

 

Thanks for everything man

2. It's a silent optimized case as well so you are fine with it.

yea you are welcome, good luck on the build!