Advice on High End Build

[BradS550]

Hi all and happy holidays!

I'm in the market for a high end rig for 3D artwork. I use Blender, Substance painter, Davinci Resolve and GIMP for creating 3D models and animations and post processing. I would be grateful if a professional could take a look at the following to see if the components harmonise well or if there is a potential for bottlenecking/incompatibility problems etc.

My budget is around £2.9k (I'm aware the following spec exceeds that, but I'm willing to spend a bit more if the performance benefits are worth it). I have 2 4k IPS monitors

Thanks in advance

Brad

Case
CORSAIR 4000D AIRFLOW TEMPERED GLASS GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 9 7950X 16 Core CPU (4.5GHz-5.7GHz/80MB CACHE/AM5)
Motherboard
GIGABYTE B650 GAMING X AX : DDR5, USB 3.2 - ARGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR5 5200MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
24GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 4090 - HDMI, DP
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB SEAGATE FIRECUDA 530 GEN 4 PCIe NVMe (up to 7300MB/R, 6000MB/W)
1st Storage Drive
2TB PCS 2.5" SSD, SATA 6 Gb (520MB/R, 470MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 1000W HXi SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS PLATINUM, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead, 1.0mm Core)
Processor Cooling
PCS FrostFlow 200 Series High Performance CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Windows 11 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KUK-00003]
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10/11 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
Norton 360 inc. Game Optimizer - Free 90 Day License
Browser
Microsoft® Edge
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Subject to stock availability on pre-order products
Price: £3,124.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am5-pc/RBK0N0u4Jc/

 

[MicKor]

Not for 3k the 4090 is huge and only fits in 1 case with the liquid cooling

Case
CORSAIR iCUE 5000T RGB MID TOWER GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 9 7950X 16 Core CPU (4.5GHz-5.7GHz/80MB CACHE/AM5)
Motherboard
ASUS® ROG STRIX X670E-E GAMING WIFI (WIFI 6E, DDR5, PCIe 5.0) - ARGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR5 6000MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
24GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 4090 - HDMI, DP
1st M.2 SSD Drive
512GB SOLIDIGM P41+ GEN 4 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 3500MB/sR, 1625MB/sW)
1st Storage Drive
2TB Samsung 870 QVO 2.5" SSD, SATA 6Gb/s (up to 560MB/sR | 530MB/sW)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 1200W HX SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® PLATINUM, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead, 1.0mm Core)
Processor Cooling
Corsair iCUE H115i ELITE CAPELLIX RGB Hydro Series High Performance CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Windows 11 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KUK-00003]
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10/11 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
Norton 360 inc. Game Optimizer - Free 90 Day License
Browser
Microsoft® Edge
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Subject to stock availability on pre-order products
Price: £3,770.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am5-pc/UQ!E0vV!bU/

 

[BradS550]

Sorry i don't understand what you mean by "not for 3k".

Tbh I'd prefer to not use liquid cooling. Would fans be a better option? If so, which ones?

 

[MicKor]

Sorry i don't understand what you mean by "not for 3k".

Tbh I'd prefer to not use liquid cooling. Would fans be a better option? If so, which ones?

Hi not for £3000 u won't get a decent high end build with a 4090.
Maybe u can use fans for cooling the beast 4090 and high end cpu. But liquid cooling be much efficient

 

[TonyCarter]

A 'tower' air cooler won't be enough for that sort of build. One of these...

However, I believe when MicKor says 'liquid cooling' he means one of these AIO closed-loop cooling solutions...

...rather than one of these open-loop 'liquid series' cooling solutions...

 

[MicKor]

Well I ment the one I suggested if ur have better solution post it

 

[TonyCarter]

Well I ment the one I suggested if ur have better solution post it

I was agreeing with your AIO choice, but just showing the OP what the difference was between the 3 types of cooling...as just mentioning 'liquid cooling' has the risk of causing confusion.

Although I'd not recommend a slow boot SSD, you may as well go for the 2-3x faster Samsung 980 Pro instead. Also a 2TB SATA SSD these days, when a 2TB m.2 NVMe Solidigm one is much faster and at a lower price. Swapping both would probable be cost-neutral.

 

[BradS550]

I won't get a high end build for £3000?! What more would i need to spend and on what components?

Hi not for £3000 u won't get a decent high end build with a 4090.
Maybe u can use fans for cooling the beast 4090 and high end cpu. But liquid cooling be much efficient

 

[BradS550]

I was agreeing with your AIO choice, but just showing the OP what the difference was between the 3 types of cooling...as just mentioning 'liquid cooling' has the risk of causing confusion.

Although I'd not recommend a slow boot SSD, you may as well go for the 2-3x faster Samsung 980 Pro instead. Also a 2TB SATA SSD these days, when a 2TB m.2 NVMe Solidigm one is much faster and at a lower price. Swapping both would probable be cost-neutral.

Thanks for the great feedback Tony. I've never seen these AIO cooling systems before.

In your opinion then, what would be worth swapping or adding to resolve the cooling issue? And would i need an AIO setup for both the gpu and cpu?

 

[MicKor]

I mean a high end build with a 4090 bro get one with a 3080.

 

[MicKor]

I would use

Case
CORSAIR iCUE 5000T RGB MID TOWER GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 9 7950X 16 Core CPU (4.5GHz-5.7GHz/80MB CACHE/AM5)
Motherboard
ASUS® ROG STRIX X670E-E GAMING WIFI (WIFI 6E, DDR5, PCIe 5.0) - ARGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR5 6000MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
24GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 4090 - HDMI, DP
1st M.2 SSD Drive
500GB SAMSUNG 970 EVO PLUS M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3500MB/R, 3200MB/W)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
2TB SEAGATE FIRECUDA 530 GEN 4 PCIe NVMe (up to 7300MB/R, 6900MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 1200W HX SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® PLATINUM, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead, 1.0mm Core)
Processor Cooling
Corsair iCUE H115i ELITE CAPELLIX RGB Hydro Series High Performance CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Windows 11 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KUK-00003]
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10/11 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
Norton 360 inc. Game Optimizer - Free 90 Day License
Browser
Microsoft® Edge
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Subject to stock availability on pre-order products
Price: £3,867.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am5-pc/Yv8mFGhpRS/

For the 4090 build

 

[BradS550]

Why the different mobo? Also i kind of feel like 32gb RAM is a bit excessive for what I'm using it for. Plus that's something that can be upgraded at a later date. Same with hard drive tbh. Priority for me is gpu (as I'm going to be using it for 3d artwork and rendering animations) and cpu.

And based on the calculations provided by pcs the total power draw is circa 850w (that's with a 20% buffer). Why would you use 1200w instead of 1000w?

thanks

 

[sck451]

I had a quick look at the mobos and this is the only real difference I could see.

B650 - 1 x PCIe 4.0 at x16, 2 x PCIe 3.0 at x1, and RAM up to 6400MHz

X670 - 2 x PCIe 5.0 at x16, 1 x PCIe 4.0 at x4, and RAM up to 5200MHz (6400MHz if overclocked), 1 extra M.2 socket (4 instead of 3)

I'm not confident when it comes to PCIe slots, but it looks like on this occasion they probably don't matter. The GPU will go in the best one available, and from what I could find online, it looks like the RTX 4090 is only uses 4.0 anyway, so the 5.0 would be running lower for it regardless. And since RAM is limited to 5200MHZ on the X670 (unless you're willing to overclock to 6400MHz, and I personally don't overclock out of caution), ultimately, the B650 is fine.


For RAM, 32GB is probably necessary if you're rendering stuff and doing other bits at the same time. I'd say it's worth going for the 6000MHz as well if you're sticking with a mobo that can support that high, it's about £50 more than the 32GB at 5200MHz.


1000w PSU is probably all you'll need.

It's a while host of things. DDR5-6000 will be fine on the X670 board. There are feature differences as you mention (also a whole host more USB connectivity!) but the more significant thing for this kind of build is the power delivery and cooling. It isn't necessarily the case that X670 will be better than B650 (there's nothing in the specs about this) but in practice an X670 board will have more robust power delivery and cooling. Probably the B650 board will be adequate (AMD are actually very good at ensuring their partners do a decent job of this, far better than Intel), but for the 7950X I would absolutely go for the more robust board.

(Also with PCIe 5, the next generation of cards may well make full use of the extra bandwidth or features, so it may still be useful for this kind of top-end system.)

 

[BradS550]

I had a quick look at the mobos and this is the only real difference I could see.

B650 - 1 x PCIe 4.0 at x16, 2 x PCIe 3.0 at x1, and RAM up to 6400MHz

X670 - 2 x PCIe 5.0 at x16, 1 x PCIe 4.0 at x4, and RAM up to 5200MHz (6400MHz if overclocked), 1 extra M.2 socket (4 instead of 3)

I'm not confident when it comes to PCIe slots, but it looks like on this occasion they probably don't matter. The GPU will go in the best one available, and from what I could find online, it looks like the RTX 4090 is only uses 4.0 anyway, so the 5.0 would be running lower for it regardless. And since RAM is limited to 5200MHZ on the X670 (unless you're willing to overclock to 6400MHz, and I personally don't overclock out of caution), ultimately, the B650 is fine.


For RAM, 32GB is probably necessary if you're rendering stuff and doing other bits at the same time. I'd say it's worth going for the 6000MHz as well if you're sticking with a mobo that can support that high, it's about £50 more than the 32GB at 5200MHz.


1000w PSU is probably all you'll need.

Thanks for the advice Caboose; i had a look at some articles re. PCIe 5.0 and it looks like it's going to be a while before GPU manufactures really start utilising the 5.0 bandwidth so imo it's probably not worth 'future proofing' for. Sounds like SSD's will be the first to make use of this feature and program/file load speed is not really going to be an issue for me. You may have a fair point regarding the RAM situation. extra 800MHz for £50 seems like a bit of a drop in the ocean at this point💸

It's a while host of things. DDR5-6000 will be fine on the X670 board. There are feature differences as you mention (also a whole host more USB connectivity!) but the more significant thing for this kind of build is the power delivery and cooling. It isn't necessarily the case that X670 will be better than B650 (there's nothing in the specs about this) but in practice an X670 board will have more robust power delivery and cooling. Probably the B650 board will be adequate (AMD are actually very good at ensuring their partners do a decent job of this, far better than Intel), but for the 7950X I would absolutely go for the more robust board.

(Also with PCIe 5, the next generation of cards may well make full use of the extra bandwidth or features, so it may still be useful for this kind of top-end system.)

Hey sck451 - thanks for the comments. I'm interested to know what metric is used to measure robustness of a board or it's power delivery. Is this from personal experience/have you seen reports of the board failing on these two fronts? Also re. RAM clock speed - Am i correct in thinking that DDR5-6000mhz would be throttled to 5200mhz unless i overclocked it on the X670?

At this stage i'm leaning toward the B650

1. it's cheaper
2. PCIe 4.0 is fine (i'm not going to make use of the PCIe 5.0 interface on the X670)
3. it's got a slightly higher clock acceptance for RAM as standard

 

[BradS550]

I'm really not fussed about what the case looks like and it seems there is a lot of incompatibility with the cooling (AIO system), the RTX 4090 and the case. Can anyone weigh in on this? I was just going to go with the Prism-X....

 

[MrWilson]

For productivity workloads case choice matters more so than for gaming systems. You’re going to be putting your components towards their upper limits for long periods of time, as such you’re looking at a larger thermal output, and you need to have a good airflow case to look after your components. You’re planning to spec in some high end parts, it would not be wise to trap them all in a poor airflow case and essentially have them bake in there like an oven.

I tend to see 4 main factors to consider when looking at cases:
Airflow/Functionality
Cost
Aesthetics
Acoustics

To me, Airflow/Functionality has to be the most important factor you consider. No point buying a diamond encrusted case that is fully soundproofed if it’ll knacker your components in a few months.

 

[sck451]

Hey sck451 - thanks for the comments. I'm interested to know what metric is used to measure robustness of a board or it's power delivery. Is this from personal experience/have you seen reports of the board failing on these two fronts? Also re. RAM clock speed - Am i correct in thinking that DDR5-6000mhz would be throttled to 5200mhz unless i overclocked it on the X670?

At this stage i'm leaning toward the B650

1. it's cheaper
2. PCIe 4.0 is fine (i'm not going to make use of the PCIe 5.0 interface on the X670)
3. it's got a slightly higher clock acceptance for RAM as standard

Well, there are measures but I haven't seen any for this generation of B650 motherboards yet. If it's the same as B550, it's fine. It's not precisely about failure, more about whether the board is capable of delivering the power the chip needs for the period of time you need it without the VRMs overheating and causing throttling, or the power being inconsistent and causing throttling. The Gigabyte board is probably enough, but with the 7950X I would want something better to make sure I got the most from it.

Personally I'd be inclined either to go for the Tuf 650 board, which has superior power delivery and is actually a little cheaper, or more likely the Tuf X670E, which is only a little more in the broader context of this PC and has better power delivery again.

With the RAM, if PCS will sell it to you, it will work and will come working. It's technically overclocking, but in reality it's what it's designed for. (Have a look at AMD EXPO to see more about how this works.) When AMD sent these chips out for review, they sent them with X670E motherboards and DDR5-6000 RAM. It'll be fine. (You could also look at the Intel DDR4 configurator, where PCS will not sell you a 13th gen chip with DDR4-3600 memory because it's inconsistent. There is no such restriction here.)

 

[BradS550]

ok this is where i'm at now:

Case
CORSAIR 5000D AIRFLOW TEMPERED GLASS GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 9 7950X 16 Core CPU (4.5GHz-5.7GHz/80MB CACHE/AM5)
Motherboard
GIGABYTE B650 GAMING X AX : DDR5, USB 3.2 - ARGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR5 5200MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
24GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 4090 - HDMI, DP
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB SEAGATE FIRECUDA 530 GEN 4 PCIe NVMe (up to 7300MB/R, 6000MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 1000W RMx SERIES™ - MODULAR 80 PLUS GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Processor Cooling
PCS FrostFlow 240 Series RGB High Performance Liquid Cooler (AMD)
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Extra Case Fans
2x 120mm Black Case Fan
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Windows 11 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KUK-00003]
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10/11 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Google Chrome™
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 6 to 8 working days
Price: £3,249.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am5-pc/bNnSemf55j/

Thought?