Motion Designer Build - Help!

[granicarious]

Hi All!

This is a first time PC build for me, I'm learning a lot about all the components and it's all very exciting but also very daunting. I'm looking for second opinions on my build as I'm an absolute beginner. I've always worked in house therefore never learnt much about PCs, just focussed on learning the trade! I intend on going freelance soon therefore I need a PC to do future work with.

I am a Motion Designer so I use animation software like Cinema 4D, After Effects, Illustrator, Photoshop. In 3D I render in Octane and Redshift therefore I require a decent GPU. However I also work heavily in After Effects which I believe requires a fast CPU clock speed so I need to find some sort of balance between the two.

I'm not interested in the gaming side of things therefore I don't need fancy monitors. I do have a spare monitor from work I intend to use.

I have a budget of £1500 (and I'm pushing it with the below). Therefore if you can help me get it down that'd be great.

In my head I don't need the most powerful build possible because I can improve it in the future when I can afford it as it's just a starting point - is this the right way to think of it?

Any help and advise would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Here's a stab at a configuration:

Case
CORSAIR CARBIDE SERIES™ 275R MID TOWER GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 9 3900X 12 Core CPU (3.8GHz-4.6GHz/70MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® PRIME B450-PLUS (DDR4, USB 3.1, 6Gb/s) - RGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
64GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3200MHz (4 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
12GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3060 - HDMI, DP
1st Storage Drive
512GB PCS 2.5" SSD, SATA 6 Gb (520MB/R, 450MB/W)
1st Storage Drive
1TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 64MB CACHE
Power Supply
CORSAIR 550W CV SERIES™ CV-550 POWER SUPPLY
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
PCS FrostFlow 100 V3 Series High Performance CPU Cooler (AMD)
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Extra Case Fans
1x 120mm Black Case Fan (configured to extract from rear/roof)
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT
Wireless Network Card
WIRELESS 802.11N 300Mbps/2.4GHz PCI-E CARD
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KUK-00001]
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
BullGuard™ Internet Security - Free 90 Day License inc. Gamer Mode
Browser
Microsoft® Edge (Windows 10 Only)
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 - Approximately 18 to 21 working days
Price: £1,592.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/bKvgG0dJzV/

 

[sck451]

The problem you have here is that your budget isn't big enough to get everything that you want. Your case, motherboard, power supply and cooling are all below what you want for the other components you have selected (CPU and RAM in particular: the graphics card is a good shout). So I'd suggest rebalancing it with more money on the fundamentals, which will give a stronger build that you can also upgrade in the medium-term if you wish.

Here's a build with some comments, just £18 more than your original.

Case
CORSAIR 4000D AIRFLOW TEMPERED GLASS GAMING CASE A much better case with better cooling
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 5 5600X Six Core CPU (3.7GHz-4.6GHz/35MB CACHE/AM4) Half the cores, but the single-core speed is much faster. Also, the 3900X would require more budget to go on cooling and ideally motherboard
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF GAMING B550-PLUS WiFi (DDR4, USB 3.2, 6Gb/s) - ARGB Ready! Relatively inexpensive and a good match for the 5600X
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 16GB) By all means make it 64GB if you really need it, but it might be better to stick with 32 and upgrade down the line if necessary
Graphics Card
12GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3060 - HDMI, DP
1st Storage Drive
1TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 64MB CACHE For bulk storage
1st M.2 SSD Drive
500GB SEAGATE FIRECUDA 530 GEN 4 PCIe NVMe (up to 7000MB/R, 3000MB/W) For the operating system and applications -- M.2 drives are far faster than conventional SATA SSDs like the one you had selected
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB INTEL® 670p M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 3500MB/sR | 2500MB/sW) For current projects
Power Supply
CORSAIR 750W TXm SERIES™ SEMI-MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET A much more powerful, quiet and efficient power supply. If you can stretch to the RMx model, that would be even better
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
CoolerMaster Hyper 212 (120mm) Fan CPU Cooler Black Edition A cheap but good cooler for the 5600X. A CPU upgrade would necessitate much more money to go on cooling.
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
Wireless Network Card
NOT REQUIRED Built into the motherboard instead
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KUK-00001]
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10 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 It's only a free trial, and you're better off with the free Windows Defender instead
Browser
Microsoft® Edge (Windows 10 Only)
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 18 to 21 working days
Price: £1,610.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/7amcB8VGqm/

 

[granicarious]

Thanks for your quick response. I already prefer your suggestions.

AMD Ryzen 5 5600X Six Core CPU (3.7GHz-4.6GHz/35MB CACHE/AM4) - if you could educate me, how do you know this CPU has a faster core speed?

What are you looking for in cases, more fans that are included?

I like your choices for storage, sounds more effective. Is it usual practice to have 3 drives, could I start with 2 and get more when needed?

 

[Bigfoot]

Thanks for your quick response. I already prefer your suggestions.

AMD Ryzen 5 5600X Six Core CPU (3.7GHz-4.6GHz/35MB CACHE/AM4) - if you could educate me, how do you know this CPU has a faster core speed?

What are you looking for in cases, more fans that are included?

I like your choices for storage, sounds more effective. Is it usual practice to have 3 drives, could I start with 2 and get more when needed?

CPU speed is not just about clock speed, but also IPC (instructions per clock cycle). The latest AMD processors have higher IPC, so run faster at the same clock speed. Wits cases, the aim is to trecommend one with good airflow. The fans are part of it, but so is the case design. It is usual for us to recommend 3 drives. The fastest drive (500GB) is for OS and programs. The second m.2 is for current projects and the HDD is for general files that don’t need fast storage (this is cheap). You could leave out the 2nd m.2 drive and run projects from the HDD (it might need to be bigger), but this would run slower. You could then add a second m.2 when you have budget. You could save around £60 by replacing the Firecuda with a 500GB Intel 670p. This will run a bit slower, but probably won’t be that noticeable in real world performance.

 

[sck451]

Thanks for your quick response. I already prefer your suggestions.

AMD Ryzen 5 5600X Six Core CPU (3.7GHz-4.6GHz/35MB CACHE/AM4) - if you could educate me, how do you know this CPU has a faster core speed?

What are you looking for in cases, more fans that are included?

I like your choices for storage, sounds more effective. Is it usual practice to have 3 drives, could I start with 2 and get more when needed?

For the CPU, it's because the Zen 3 (that is, Ryzen 5000) chips all have approximately 20% more performance than the Zen 2 (Ryzen 3000) chips.

The only question then is how many you have: 12 in the 3900X or 6 in the 5600X. In single-core workloads, the 5600X wins by a healthy margin. In a multi-core workload, the 3900X is ahead (by around 40%). But you would then need to spend more on motherboard and cooler, which makes it prohibitive at your budget.

You can of course upgrade this system in the future with a better CPU. I'm not sure if there will be another set of chips that this motherboard supports, but it's totally conceivable that you could upgrade the CPU to say the 5900X on the second hand market in a couple of years (though you'd need a better cooler at the same time).

And yes, you could do that with the drive setup. I actually did so with my own build: I started with one SSD and a hard drive and added a second SSD later. Fitting it isn't hard, but making the configuration make sense (in terms of what drives you buy now and which later) is harder. I think it's much easier to do now if you can manage it.

If you do want to delay one of the drives, I'd get the Intel one for now and add the 500GB Firecuda later. You would at that point need to reinstall Windows, which is not difficult but a bit of a faff. Alternatively, go for something cheaper by downgrading the Firecuda to a Samsung 970 Evo Plus, which is slower but still really fast.

Finally with the case, it's partly about fans but more importantly about airflow. All the fans in the world will make little difference if they can't get at fresh air. The 275R has a practically solid front, so there's very little airflow, meaning very little cooling. The 4000D Airflow is much better.