Looking for advice on a build for digital art please

[jercan]

hi,
budget is approx £1800. Pc will be used primarily for digital art using photoshop/clip studio and blender, with some light gaming. currently using a Wacom cintiq pro 4K and a 1080p asus monitor. i want to add 1-2 m.2 ssds and 2.5” sdd. Hope to upgrade to a second 4K monitor as soon as I find a buyer for one of my kidneys, post pc purchase.
thanks!

Case
FRACTAL NORTH TG GAMING CASE (WHITE)
Promotional Item
Get a discount code for 20% off select peripherals at Corsair.com
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 9 7900X 12 Core CPU (4.7GHz-5.6GHz/76MB CACHE/AM5)
Motherboard
GIGABYTE X870E AORUS ELITE WIFI7 (AM5, DDR5, M.2 PCIe 5.0, Wi-Fi 7)
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE RGB DDR5 5200MHz CL40 (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
12GB ZOTAC GEFORCE RTX 5070 SOLID OC - HDMI, 3 x DP
1st M.2 SSD Drive
2TB SAMSUNG 990 EVO PLUS M.2, PCIe 4.0 & 5.0 NVMe (up to 7250MB/R, 6300MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 750W CX SERIES™ CX-750 POWER SUPPLY
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
PCS FrostFlow 150 Series High Performance CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Extra Case Fans
3 x PCS ARGB LED Fan + Controller Kit
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
ONBOARD 2.5Gbe LAN PORT
Wireless Network Card
NONE OR ONBOARD Wi-Fi (MOTHERBOARD DEPENDENT)
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
NO RECOVERY MEDIA REQUIRED
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Firefox™
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 8 to 10 working days
Price (Ex VAT)
£1,570.83
Price
£1,885.00

PCSPECIALIST - Configure the AMD Am5 PC to your ideal requirements.

PCSpecialist is an award-winning manufacturer of high quality custom PCs & Laptops. Configure the AMD Am5 PC to your ideal requirements.

www.pcspecialist.co.uk

 

[SpyderTracks]

Apologies we missed this. I've rebalanced quite a bit, you're on the money with the processor, although the 7900 actually replaced the 7900x and is far more efficient with pretty much the same output.

To get it anywhere near budget though, I've had to only apply one system drive, will outline optimal drive setup in a separate post, you may well have some drives you can transfer over

Case
CORSAIR FRAME 4000D RS ARGB MODULAR - A miracle of a case and a bit cheaper, this is about as futureproof as you can get in case design, usually only found in cases costing over 3 x the price
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 9 7900 12 Core CPU (4.0GHz-5.4GHz/76MB CACHE/AM5) - Replaced the 7900x, far more efficient but performs very much the same, also around the same performance as the 9900x
Motherboard
GIGABYTE X870E AORUS ELITE WIFI7 (AM5, DDR5, M.2 PCIe 5.0, Wi-Fi 7) - Superb motherboard, very fully featured for the budget
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR5 6000MHz CL30 (1 x 32GB) - optimal speed for Ryzen, 5200MHz would give you around a 10% loss in performance on the system
Graphics Card
12GB ZOTAC GEFORCE RTX 5070 SOLID OC - HDMI, 3 x DP - agree, for your use, has to be nvidia, this is the best fit for the budget
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB SOLIDIGM P44 PRO GEN 4 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 7000MB/sR, 6500MB/sW) - better endurance and reliability than the samsung, don't need larger than this for an OS drive, more below
Power Supply
CORSAIR 1000W RMx SERIES™ ATX 3.1, MODULAR, CYBENETICS GOLD - gives you some headroom for GPU Upgrades, your budget and needs may change, with AI accelerators rapidly gaining ground, you want to be prepared to slot in anything down the line
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead, 1.0mm Core)
Processor Cooling
CORSAIR NAUTILUS 240 RS ARGB HIGH PERFORMANCE CPU COOLER - Modern CPU's really need an AIO to reach available boost clocks
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
ONBOARD 2.5Gbe LAN PORT
Wireless Network Card
NONE OR ONBOARD Wi-Fi (MOTHERBOARD DEPENDENT)
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
NO RECOVERY MEDIA REQUIRED
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Firefox™
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 8 to 10 working days
Price: £1,899.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am5-pc/7FetqS4z4C/

 

[SpyderTracks]

Optimal drive config

Primary fastest OS drive - fastest NVME SSD
Secondary live projects drive - fast NVME SSD
Cache drive - small NVME, even a SATA SSD is beneficial, maybe 512Gb or whatever is better value
Storage drive to store projects - 7200rpm HDD, still optimal for long term storage as SSD's fail catastrophically whereas HDD's fail sector by sector and you have often months of warning to swap them out and copy off all your stuff.

 

[jercan]

Apologies we missed this. I've rebalanced quite a bit, you're on the money with the processor, although the 7900 actually replaced the 7900x and is far more efficient with pretty much the same output.

To get it anywhere near budget though, I've had to only apply one system drive, will outline optimal drive setup in a separate post, you may well have some drives you can transfer over

Case
CORSAIR FRAME 4000D RS ARGB MODULAR - A miracle of a case and a bit cheaper, this is about as futureproof as you can get in case design, usually only found in cases costing over 3 x the price
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 9 7900 12 Core CPU (4.0GHz-5.4GHz/76MB CACHE/AM5) - Replaced the 7900x, far more efficient but performs very much the same, also around the same performance as the 9900x
Motherboard
GIGABYTE X870E AORUS ELITE WIFI7 (AM5, DDR5, M.2 PCIe 5.0, Wi-Fi 7) - Superb motherboard, very fully featured for the budget
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR5 6000MHz CL30 (1 x 32GB) - optimal speed for Ryzen, 5200MHz would give you around a 10% loss in performance on the system
Graphics Card
12GB ZOTAC GEFORCE RTX 5070 SOLID OC - HDMI, 3 x DP - agree, for your use, has to be nvidia, this is the best fit for the budget
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB SOLIDIGM P44 PRO GEN 4 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 7000MB/sR, 6500MB/sW) - better endurance and reliability than the samsung, don't need larger than this for an OS drive, more below
Power Supply
CORSAIR 1000W RMx SERIES™ ATX 3.1, MODULAR, CYBENETICS GOLD - gives you some headroom for GPU Upgrades, your budget and needs may change, with AI accelerators rapidly gaining ground, you want to be prepared to slot in anything down the line
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead, 1.0mm Core)
Processor Cooling
CORSAIR NAUTILUS 240 RS ARGB HIGH PERFORMANCE CPU COOLER - Modern CPU's really need an AIO to reach available boost clocks
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
ONBOARD 2.5Gbe LAN PORT
Wireless Network Card
NONE OR ONBOARD Wi-Fi (MOTHERBOARD DEPENDENT)
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
NO RECOVERY MEDIA REQUIRED
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Firefox™
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 8 to 10 working days
Price: £1,899.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am5-pc/7FetqS4z4C/

Wow ! Thanks!That actually clears up quite a few queries I had over the parts! One last question if you can spare a minute to answer:
I have a few m.2 drives that I want to put into this system. Do I need to worry about the secondary m.2 drives sharing bandwidth with the gpu? From what reading I have done it seems common. Is this a concern or even noticeable with the gigabyte x870e aurora elite?

Thanks again for the feedback!

 

[jercan]

Optimal drive config

Primary fastest OS drive - fastest NVME SSD
Secondary live projects drive - fast NVME SSD
Cache drive - small NVME, even a SATA SSD is beneficial, maybe 512Gb or whatever is better value
Storage drive to store projects - 7200rpm HDD, still optimal for long term storage as SSD's fail catastrophically whereas HDD's fail sector by sector and you have often months of warning to swap them out and copy off all your stuff.

Really useful thanks!

 

[SpyderTracks]

The point of the drives are that you can expand it to an optimal layout as you go forward, they’re extremely easy to fit and won’t affect your warranty in any way doing it yourself

I have a few m.2 drives that I want to put into this system. Do I need to worry about the secondary m.2 drives sharing bandwidth with the gpu? From what reading I have done it seems common. Is this a concern or even noticeable with the gigabyte x870e aurora elite?

Very good question, let me check any PCIe lane sharing on that board

 

[SpyderTracks]

I have a few m.2 drives that I want to put into this system. Do I need to worry about the secondary m.2 drives sharing bandwidth with the gpu? From what reading I have done it seems common. Is this a concern or even noticeable with the gigabyte x870e aurora elite?

Superb video outlining the exact PCIe sharing on that board

So TLDR, if you want uninterrupted supply that doesn't limit the GPU PCIe slot, this is personally how I'd have it configured with reasoning:

GPU - PCIe2 - although this is only a PCIe gen 4 lane, that won't bottleneck the GPU in any way at all, even the 5090 only loses UP TO 2% performance being in Gen 4 vs Gen 5

Have confirmed the Zotac 5070 is a 2 slot card, so should fit ok in that slot

Gen 5 SSD - M2A - Independent controller from the CPU - Full x4 availability
Gen 5 SSD - M2B - Full x4 availability (taken from the PCIe1 Gen 5 lane)
Gen 5 SSD - M2C - same as above
Gen 4 SSD - M2D - Independent controller from the chipset link - Full x4 availability.

If you were to put the GPU in the primary Gen 5 PCIe1 that would then bring it down to x8 rather than x16 if you were to populate either of the M2C or M2D slots. That will likely have more of an impact than Gen 5 vs Gen 4 for the GPU

 

[SpyderTracks]

Also, the 4000d Frame can fit 2 x 120mm fans on the bottom under where the GPU would be, it all depends if there's space once the GPU is fitted.

There are specialist fans like the Arctic P12 Slim which are only 15mm thick

There's also the Corsair AF120 Slim which are also 15mm thick

They're both PWM fans so adjustable automatically by motherboard controller

Even if there isn't, the PSU cage has airflow, so the GPU would get some flow from below from the PSU, plus venting from the front fans of course.

 

[jercan]

Superb video outlining the exact PCIe sharing on that board

So TLDR, if you want uninterrupted supply that doesn't limit the GPU PCIe slot, this is personally how I'd have it configured with reasoning:

GPU - PCIe2 - although this is only a PCIe gen 4 lane, that won't bottleneck the GPU in any way at all, even the 5090 only loses UP TO 2% performance being in Gen 4 vs Gen 5

Have confirmed the Zotac 5070 is a 2 slot card, so should fit ok in that slot

Gen 5 SSD - M2A - Independent controller from the CPU - Full x4 availability
Gen 5 SSD - M2B - Full x4 availability (taken from the PCIe1 Gen 5 lane)
Gen 5 SSD - M2C - same as above
Gen 4 SSD - M2D - Independent controller from the chipset link - Full x4 availability.

If you were to put the GPU in the primary Gen 5 PCIe1 that would then bring it down to x8 rather than x16 if you were to populate either of the M2C or M2D slots. That will likely have more of an impact than Gen 5 vs Gen 4 for the GPU

That’s exactly what I needed. Thanks so much for the help!