"Future proof" high-end workstation (first pc build)

[spaceemotion]

Hi!

 

while I'm definitely no stranger to computers, I don't know enough about hardware specifics to be sure about the parts I've picked, as I'm more on the software side of things.

 

While usually a mac guy, which has more to do with my profession, the new Mac book Pros are just atrocious,

so I wanted to upgrade to a proper workstation now, my mid 2014 model is dying in this heat…

 

1. Buget & Location

Germany. Absolute max is 5k (I've held back money for a new computer for ~7 years now).

 

2. Aim

The aim is to create a system that can game well, but is mostly focused on being a very good workstation that I can use without the need for bigger upgrades within the next 5-6 years.

- can handle good CPU loads because of running multiple virtual machines, livestreaming, video and audio production (some of them at the same time)

- Enough amount of RAM. I was going for 32gb, but some say that 64gb are a minimum for what I want. 16 is just not going to cut it

- Great graphics, but not a dual graphics. one for now is enough

- Good system storage, with 500gb - 1TB for frequently used audio samples, plus internal HDDs for mass storage

- no fancy stuff like RGB, won't need it as it will be under my desk anyway

- Quiet, and mostly unnoticeable, even under medium workloads

 

3. Monitors

Don't need any. I already got two EIZOs

 

4. Peripherals

I actually prefer my external bluetooth Apple Keyboard as I have yet to find a mechanical keyboard that i like. Already got the MX Master for a mouse.

 

 

I'm here because I don't know if I'll run into any issues or missed anything on the list of part's that I've picked:

https://de.pcpartpicker.com/list/hZJTP3

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated, cheers!

 

Edit: I should probably say, that I'm limited to NVIDIA due to Adobe's CUDA integration, as well as Intel due to AMD not working with android development (yep, it sucks)

[Streetguru]

10 minutes ago, spaceemotion said:

 

And you're 100% sure a 1950X won't work? As it's half the price for the same core count

as it looks like that link has some solutions in it. Or the software will probably just be updated at some point?
 

PCPartPicker part list: https://de.pcpartpicker.com/list/CkcjJ8
Price breakdown by merchant: https://de.pcpartpicker.com/list/CkcjJ8/by_merchant/

CPU: AMD - Threadripper 1950X 3.4GHz 16-Core Processor  (€767.99 @ Amazon Deutschland)

 

[LienusLateTips]

Everything looks good, except change the PSU for something like a Whisper M or Straight Power 11. Those two are both much quieter and don't have protection issues.

[Zagna]

15 minutes ago, spaceemotion said:

Edit: I should probably say, that I'm limited to NVIDIA due to Adobe's CUDA integration, as well as Intel due to AMD not working with android development (yep, it sucks)

Things have changed since 4 years ago.

[J400]

I would say wait for 32 core threadripper. it's coming out in about a month, and would cost around the same as the 7960x. also zen chips work fine with android developement.

[spaceemotion]

11 minutes ago, Zagna said:

Things have changed since 4 years ago.

 

Thanks I did not know that! Seems like my info was a liiiittle out of date!

 

6 minutes ago, J400 said:

it's coming out in about a month,

I've had rather bad experience with fresh products, so I'll actually prefer the current one that has been battle-tested

 

12 minutes ago, LienusLateTips said:

Those two are both much quieter and don't have protection issues.

 wow, nice, thanks!

 

16 minutes ago, Streetguru said:

And you're 100% sure a 1950X won't work? As it's half the price for the same core count

as it looks like that link has some solutions in it. Or the software will probably just be updated at some point?
 

PCPartPicker part list: https://de.pcpartpicker.com/list/CkcjJ8
Price breakdown by merchant: https://de.pcpartpicker.com/list/CkcjJ8/by_merchant/

CPU: AMD - Threadripper 1950X 3.4GHz 16-Core Processor  (€767.99 @ Amazon Deutschland)

 

Thanks for the links! Looks like I'll go for a threadripper now, so those will come in handy.

[Streetguru]

5 minutes ago, spaceemotion said:

Thanks I did not know that! Seems like my info was a liiiittle out of date!

 

I've had rather bad experience with fresh products, so I'll actually prefer the current one that has been battle-tested

 

 wow, nice, thanks!

 

Thanks for the links! Looks like I'll go for a threadripper now, so those will come in handy.

Are you sure you need NVME? because a normal SSD is already pretty fast...

Same with the 1080ti, are you use a 1070ti won't be good enough?

Because next gen GPUs are coming soon enough.
 

PCPartPicker part list: https://de.pcpartpicker.com/list/BMZvbX
Price breakdown by merchant: https://de.pcpartpicker.com/list/BMZvbX/by_merchant/

CPU: AMD - Threadripper 1950X 3.4GHz 16-Core Processor  (€767.99 @ Amazon Deutschland)
CPU Cooler: Enermax - LIQTECH TR4 280 80.7 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler  (€134.90 @ Caseking)
Motherboard: ASRock - X399 Taichi ATX TR4 Motherboard  (€330.99 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Memory: G.Skill - Sniper X 64GB (4 x 16GB) DDR4-3200 Memory  (€655.59 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Storage: Western Digital - Blue 1TB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive  (€202.20 @ Mindfactory)
Video Card: Inno3D - GeForce GTX 1070 8GB iChill X4 Video Card  (€469.90 @ Caseking)
Case: Cooler Master - MasterCase MC500 ATX Mid Tower Case  (€87.21 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Power Supply: SeaSonic - FOCUS Plus Gold 1000W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  (€149.90 @ Caseking)
Total: €2798.68
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-07-20 22:31 CEST+0200

[spaceemotion]

9 minutes ago, Streetguru said:

Are you sure you need NVME? because a normal SSD is already pretty fast...

Definitely for the system, but maybe not for the rest. I'd go for a 500gb 970 pro + 2tb ssd then + 4tb WD hdd (something I've not included in the original build).

 

10 minutes ago, Streetguru said:

Same with the 1080ti, are you use a 1070ti won't be good enough?

I actually wanted to buy a Vive around christmas, so I'd go for a bigger GPU right now and upgrade in 3-4 years or so.

 

 

For the rest of the parts; What's the difference between the Enermax and The Corsair H-Series? I'm still a newbie at this AIO stuff, I just read that it's supposed to be better than Air cooling for my kinds of workload.

[Streetguru]

1 minute ago, spaceemotion said:

 

For Threadripper you need a TR4 specific cooler to cover the entire IHS for the best performance.

 

either the 280 or 360 from Enermax is best, the 280 is quieter, the 360 cools a bit better.

A 1070ti is going to be perfectly fine for VR, just means dropping settings from Ultra to high on it. Worth it for half the price of the 1080ti IMO.

Should be expecting the 1180ti soon enough, probably 20% faster than a 1080ti at the same price point.
 

 

 

[Firewrath9]

57 minutes ago, spaceemotion said:

Hi!

 

while I'm definitely no stranger to computers, I don't know enough about hardware specifics to be sure about the parts I've picked, as I'm more on the software side of things.

 

While usually a mac guy, which has more to do with my profession, the new Mac book Pros are just atrocious,

so I wanted to upgrade to a proper workstation now, my mid 2014 model is dying in this heat…

 

1. Buget & Location

Germany. Absolute max is 5k (I've held back money for a new computer for ~7 years now).

 

2. Aim

The aim is to create a system that can game well, but is mostly focused on being a very good workstation that I can use without the need for bigger upgrades within the next 5-6 years.

- can handle good CPU loads because of running multiple virtual machines, livestreaming, video and audio production (some of them at the same time)

- Enough amount of RAM. I was going for 32gb, but some say that 64gb are a minimum for what I want. 16 is just not going to cut it

- Great graphics, but not a dual graphics. one for now is enough

- Good system storage, with 500gb - 1TB for frequently used audio samples, plus internal HDDs for mass storage

- no fancy stuff like RGB, won't need it as it will be under my desk anyway

- Quiet, and mostly unnoticeable, even under medium workloads

 

3. Monitors

Don't need any. I already got two EIZOs

 

4. Peripherals

I actually prefer my external bluetooth Apple Keyboard as I have yet to find a mechanical keyboard that i like. Already got the MX Master for a mouse.

 

 

I'm here because I don't know if I'll run into any issues or missed anything on the list of part's that I've picked:

https://de.pcpartpicker.com/list/hZJTP3

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated, cheers!

 

Edit: I should probably say, that I'm limited to NVIDIA due to Adobe's CUDA integration, as well as Intel due to AMD not working with android development (yep, it sucks)

quadro?

[spaceemotion]

2 minutes ago, Firewrath9 said:

quadro?

Sorry, what? Getting confused

[Firewrath9]

4 minutes ago, spaceemotion said:

Sorry, what? Getting confused

a quadro is Nvidia's Workstation level graphics cards. they sport ECC Vram. Here is the lineup.

p600  200$

p1000 320

p2000 450

p3000 600

p4000 800

p5000 2k

p6000 5k

GP100 7k

GV100 9k

 

a p1000 will beat a 1080 ti in certain situations.

 

[spaceemotion]

19 minutes ago, Firewrath9 said:

a quadro is Nvidia's Workstation level graphics cards. they sport ECC Vram. Here is the lineup.

p600  200$

p1000 320

p2000 450

p3000 600

p4000 800

p5000 2k

p6000 5k

GP100 7k

GV100 9k

 

a p1000 will beat a 1080 ti in certain situations.

 

 

Thanks for the tip! It does looks like the 1080ti outweighs the P4000 in the octane render benchmarks though, so I'll probably go for that one instead. I'm not into AutoCAD, rather gamedev + cinema 4d modelling. They also seem to have more CUDA cores, so there's that…

[Firewrath9]

2 minutes ago, spaceemotion said:

 

Thanks for the tip! It does looks like the 1080ti outweighs the P4000 in the octane render benchmarks though, so I'll probably go for that one instead. I'm not into AutoCAD, rather gamedev + cinema 4d modelling. They also seem to have more CUDA cores, so there's that…

ok!

[spaceemotion]

41 minutes ago, Streetguru said:

For Threadripper you need a TR4 specific cooler to cover the entire IHS for the best performance.

 

either the 280 or 360 from Enermax is best, the 280 is quieter, the 360 cools a bit better.

A 1070ti is going to be perfectly fine for VR, just means dropping settings from Ultra to high on it. Worth it for half the price of the 1080ti IMO.

Should be expecting the 1180ti soon enough, probably 20% faster than a 1080ti at the same price point.

Alright, good to know about those coolers. I'd rather go for a couple db more than quieter one, we sometimes have 30° room temps in the summer haha

I'd be willing to pay the double price tag for now, there's no problem with that.

 

 

 

Okay, so here's my new config with the Threadripper, plenty of storage, and hopefully everything included: https://de.pcpartpicker.com/user/spaceemotion/saved/GFD3bv

Would I need extra case fans or are the ones provided enough (also in terms of loudness)?

[Streetguru]

3 minutes ago, spaceemotion said:

 

Case should be fine.

Could always look for the H500 from coolermaster if you want higher end cooling. Think the 280/360 mm AIO mounts in the front though

 

You can install windows for free without a key and it'll work fine.

 

 

[spaceemotion]

2 minutes ago, Streetguru said:

Case should be fine.

Could always look for the H500 from coolermaster if you want higher end cooling. Think the 280/360 mm AIO mounts in the front though

 

You can install windows for free without a key and it'll work fine.

I actually prefer the Fractal Design in terms of aesthetics  I think the cooler mounts in front on that one as well…

Didn't know about that windows thing, the times I've installed windows in a VM it always said it required a key, is it something Home-version specific, or is it also the case for the Pro version?

[Streetguru]

2 minutes ago, spaceemotion said:

I actually prefer the Fractal Design in terms of aesthetics  I think the cooler mounts in front on that one as well…

Didn't know about that windows thing, the times I've installed windows in a VM it always said it required a key, is it something Home-version specific, or is it also the case for the Pro version?

You just download the windows 10 media creation tool and hit the "I don't have a key" button on the bottom.

 

just get a water mark, and can't auto-hide your toolbar.

[spaceemotion]

11 minutes ago, Streetguru said:

just get a water mark, and can't auto-hide your toolbar.

Ah yeah that's a problem. I don't even have a desktop enabled on my mac, i love to keep everything as clean as possible

 

For the cooler; would I need some extra thermal paste or is the included one enough?

[Streetguru]

17 minutes ago, spaceemotion said:

Ah yeah that's a problem. I don't even have a desktop enabled on my mac, i love to keep everything as clean as possible

 

For the cooler; would I need some extra thermal paste or is the included one enough?

The stock paste will be fine but if you're spending that much you might want to grab some top end stuff anyways like Kryonaut, likely not going to be a huge difference though.

https://de.pcpartpicker.com/product/CRkwrH/thermal-grizzly-thermal-paste-tgk015r


https://www.kitguru.net/components/cooling/dominic-moass/thermal-paste-head-to-head-does-it-matter-which-brand-you-use/2/

[spaceemotion]

2 minutes ago, Streetguru said:

The stock paste will be fine but if you're spending that much you might want to grab some top end stuff anyways like Kryonaut, likely not going to be a huge difference though.

https://de.pcpartpicker.com/product/CRkwrH/thermal-grizzly-thermal-paste-tgk015r


https://www.kitguru.net/components/cooling/dominic-moass/thermal-paste-head-to-head-does-it-matter-which-brand-you-use/2/

Thought so, thanks!

[spaceemotion]

@Streetguru Alright, so I've done some research and it looks like a lot of people are complaining about leaks on the enermax AIO. As I want to be on the safe side on this, I opted to go for an Air cooled solution (also, because the enermax seems to be the only threadripper AIO out there).

 

Here's the new config that I've come up with: https://de.pcpartpicker.com/user/spaceemotion/saved/BMsYTW Would that work?

 

@LienusLateTips I've looked at a couple reviews and it looks like SilverStone that Streetguru picked scores better than the Whisper M, would that be correct?

 

As always, thanks for your help, really appreciated!

[LienusLateTips]

6 hours ago, spaceemotion said:

 

@LienusLateTips I've looked at a couple reviews and it looks like SilverStone that Streetguru picked scores better than the Whisper M, would that be correct?

 

As always, thanks for your help, really appreciated!

Yes, it performs similarly, but the Whisper M is much quieter over the Focus Plus Gold

[Streetguru]

7 hours ago, spaceemotion said:

 

Haven't had any issues with mine.

Just a few things to note, Threadripper 2 comes out in august, going to be a decent amount better due to lower voltages for the same clocks, and improved memory support.

 

and if you're going air don't forget about this thing.

 

[spaceemotion]

15 minutes ago, Streetguru said:

comes out in august,

Talking back with a good friend and a colleague of mine I actually did decide to wait for the TR2, also as I will be on vacation in a few weeks, so it most likely will be out when I come back home. Especially because our work will be SideFX-Houdini focused as it seems

 

Will have a look at that Air Cooler asap!

 

29 minutes ago, LienusLateTips said:

Yes, it performs similarly, but the Whisper M is much quieter over the Focus Plus Gold

Interesting, thanks!