PC Build for Cinema 4D + Redshift

[hannahmacca]

Hi I'm looking to get a PC built for motion and 3D work, with my limited knowledge of what goes on inside a pc, I've asked around for what's best and selected the following spec. I've been told to get as many Cudas as you can and to make sure you've got enough cooling. I personally would like a quiet machine too. I've maxed out my budget (really i was trying to get closer to £2k).
What do you think of this? Does anything conflict? Could I do with tweaking things here and there? Is there anything unessessary? Is it sufficient for 3D rendering. Thanks in advance for any advice you have

Case
FRACTAL POP SILENT CASE TG (BLACK)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i9 24-Core Processor i9-14900F (Up to 5.8 GHz) 36MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® PRO WS W680-ACE (LGA1700, DDR5, PCIe 5.0)
Memory (RAM)
64GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR5 5600MHz CL40 (2 x 32GB)
Graphics Card
16GB MSI GEFORCE RTX 5080 SHADOW 3X OC - HDMI, 3 x DP
1st M.2 SSD Drive
2TB PCS PCIe M.2 SSD (3500 MB/R, 3100 MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 850W RMx SERIES™ ATX 3.1, MODULAR, CYBENETICS GOLD
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
ONBOARD 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
Trusted Platform Module (TPM)
Asus TPM-SPI
Operating System
Windows 11 Professional 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence

 

[TonyCarter]

The GPU is going to use most of your budget unfortunately, so if you go big on the GPU you'll have to go relatively low on the rest of the build...which is never a good move...unfortunately GPU prices are terrible at the moment (e.g. £1200+ for a 5080) and likely to rise with Twump's tariff war.

A newer AMD 9950X CPUs will probably be faster, cooler, quieter than any Intel i7/i9 CPU, and I'd stay away from any PCS-branded component as they are intended for budget builds...not for something that will spend hours upon hours rendering.

But I don't think you'll get a rendering machine with decent cooler, SSD, PSU, CPU and GPU for £2000 - it's basically a 4K gaming build, which we're currently configuring at around the £3k mark. (£1700 is barely 1080p budget now, with something like a RTX4060).

 

[hannahmacca]

The GPU is going to use most of your budget unfortunately, so if you go big on the GPU you'll have to go relatively low on the rest of the build...which is never a good move...unfortunately GPU prices are terrible at the moment (e.g. £1200+ for a 5080) and likely to rise with Twump's tariff war.

A newer AMD 9950X CPUs will probably be faster, cooler, quieter than any Intel i7/i9 CPU, and I'd stay away from any PCS-branded component as they are intended for budget builds...not for something that will spend hours upon hours rendering.

But I don't think you'll get a rendering machine with decent cooler, SSD, PSU, CPU and GPU for £2000 - it's basically a 4K gaming build, which we're currently configuring at around the £3k mark. (£1700 is barely 1080p budget now, with something like a RTX4060).

Many thanks for you insight!

 

[TonyCarter]

This is about the lowest I could get whilst keeping the case (for quietness) and GPU (for rendering).

Case
FRACTAL POP SILENT CASE TG (BLACK)
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 7 9700X Eight Core CPU (3.8GHz-5.5GHz/40MB CACHE/AM5) - about the most efficient (so less heat generated), and fastest single core clocks of the Ryzen 7 AM5 CPUs - you can get faster if you spend another £200 on the Ryzen 9...but I don't know if the extra cores are useful to you if it's mostly a GPU workload
Motherboard
GIGABYTE X870E AORUS ELITE WIFI7 (AM5, DDR5, M.2 PCIe 5.0, Wi-Fi 7) - non-workstation motherboard, but latest spec / connectivity
Memory (RAM)
64GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR5 6000MHz CL30 (2 x 32GB) - faster frequency and latency
Graphics Card
16GB MSI GEFORCE RTX 5080 SHADOW 3X OC - HDMI, 3 x DP
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB SOLIDIGM P44 PRO GEN 4 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 7000MB/sR, 6500MB/sW) - fast primary SSD for OS, apps only
1st M.2 SSD Drive
2TB CORSAIR CORE XT MP600 NVMe PCIe M.2 SSD (up to 5000 MB/R, 4400 MB/W) - secondary SSD for projects/assets
Power Supply
CORSAIR 1000W RMx SERIES™ ATX 3.1, MODULAR, CYBENETICS GOLD - more headroom to run it the most efficient operating range, so produces less heat and won't need to turn on its fan
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 - the lowest of the premium (i.e. non-PCS) coolers available, but a quiet case has less airflow, so you need something decent
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
Windows 11 Professional 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence
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 8 to 10 working days
Price: £2,792.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am5-pc/XgEnSMkmZJ/

 

[hannahmacca]

This is about the lowest I could get whilst keeping the case (for quietness) and GPU (for rendering).

Case
FRACTAL POP SILENT CASE TG (BLACK)
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 7 9700X Eight Core CPU (3.8GHz-5.5GHz/40MB CACHE/AM5) - about the most efficient (so less heat generated), and fastest single core clocks of the Ryzen 7 AM5 CPUs - you can get faster if you spend another £200 on the Ryzen 9...but I don't know if the extra cores are useful to you if it's mostly a GPU workload
Motherboard
GIGABYTE X870E AORUS ELITE WIFI7 (AM5, DDR5, M.2 PCIe 5.0, Wi-Fi 7) - non-workstation motherboard, but latest spec / connectivity
Memory (RAM)
64GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR5 6000MHz CL30 (2 x 32GB) - faster frequency and latency
Graphics Card
16GB MSI GEFORCE RTX 5080 SHADOW 3X OC - HDMI, 3 x DP
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB SOLIDIGM P44 PRO GEN 4 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 7000MB/sR, 6500MB/sW) - fast primary SSD for OS, apps only
1st M.2 SSD Drive
2TB CORSAIR CORE XT MP600 NVMe PCIe M.2 SSD (up to 5000 MB/R, 4400 MB/W) - secondary SSD for projects/assets
Power Supply
CORSAIR 1000W RMx SERIES™ ATX 3.1, MODULAR, CYBENETICS GOLD - more headroom to run it the most efficient operating range, so produces less heat and won't need to turn on its fan
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 - the lowest of the premium (i.e. non-PCS) coolers available, but a quiet case has less airflow, so you need something decent
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
Windows 11 Professional 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence
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 8 to 10 working days
Price: £2,792.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am5-pc/XgEnSMkmZJ/

Thank you so much Tony for taking the time to help with my PC build! Your suggestions were really helpful and I appreciate you finding ways to keep it quiet and cost-effective.


I've tried to match most of your suggested components, but I'm still unsure about the CPU choice. While I'll primarily use this for Cinema 4D with Redshift rendering, I also do quite a lot of work in After Effects.


I was told by someone else that After Effects works better with more CPU cores like in the Intel i9 I originally had in my list. With the Intel CPU and other components, the build is coming in around £3,109, which is higher than your quoted £2,792.


Do you think the AMD processor you suggested would still work well enough for After Effects, or would the Intel be worth paying extra for? I'm not very technical so I'm finding it hard to judge if the price difference is worth it for my work.


Thanks again for all your help - it's made this whole process much easier to understand!

---
This is the spec - somethings I couldn't match to yours as it didn't show in the dropdowns:
Case
FRACTAL POP SILENT CASE TG (BLACK)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i9 24-Core Processor i9-14900F (Up to 5.8 GHz) 36MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® PRO WS W680-ACE (LGA1700, DDR5, PCIe 5.0)
Memory (RAM)
64GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR5 5600MHz CL40 (2 x 32GB)
Graphics Card
16GB MSI GEFORCE RTX 5080 SHADOW 3X OC - HDMI, 3 x DP
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB SOLIDIGM P44 PRO GEN 4 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 7000MB/sR, 6500MB/sW)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
2TB CORSAIR CORE XT MP600 NVMe PCIe M.2 SSD (up to 5000 MB/R, 4400 MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 1000W RMx SERIES™ ATX 3.1, MODULAR, CYBENETICS GOLD
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead, 1.0mm Core)
Processor Cooling
CORSAIR ICUE LINK TITAN 240 RX RGB 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
ONBOARD 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
Trusted Platform Module (TPM)
Asus TPM-SPI
Operating System
Windows 11 Professional 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence
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
Google Chrome™
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (6 Month 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: £3,109.00 including VAT and Delivery

 

[TonyCarter]

No, the 9700X doesn’t have enough cores.

With After Effects, and other high-core CPU workloads the 9950X would be the go-to recommendation, as it has double the cores of the 9700X.

You’ll notice I’m still not recommending an i9 (or even an i7)…and that’s because they use 2-3x the power for the same performance…which means a lot more heat…which means more cooling…which means more noise, and requires a larger case with better airflow. Plus they’ve not got a good reputation at the moment due to failures…and the newer Core Ultra models (aka 15th gen, which are just 14th gen minus e-cores and lower power limits to stop them failing).

Intel 13th and 14th Gen confirmed defective

So there's been a lot of upset gathering steam on the inter webs with intermittent games crashes on Intel 13th and 14th gen. Workarounds range from underclocking to disabling ecores. BUT, there are a lot of people finding that simply disabling hyperthreading is a proper solution. The findings...

www.pcspecialist.co.uk

Here’s a comparison from a respectable benchmarking site for creative users…

Adobe After Effects: AMD Ryzen 9000 Series vs Intel Core 14th Gen

AMD's new Ryzen 9000 processors are here, but how do they compare to the previous generation Ryzen 7000 or Intel's Core 14th Gen processors in After Effects?

www.pugetsystems.com

AMD Ryzen 9000 Content Creation Review

Introduction Following some launch delays, AMD has now released their entire AMD Ryzen 9000 Series of processors. These CPUs are based on AMD’s new Zen 5

www.pugetsystems.com

Whilst the 14900K can perform very well in some scenarios, it is only doing so due to breaking its own power limit rules, and in some cases potentially damaging the CPU and/or motherboard.

It also shows that the 9700X isn’t far off in most instances, and is very good in the ‘Tracking’ benchmark.

Here’s the high-core version of an AMD build…

Case
FRACTAL DEFINE 7 BLACK QUIET MID-TOWER CASE - larger case to accommodate the larger cooler that the 9950X or i9 would need
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 9 9950X 16 Core CPU (4.3GHz-5.7GHz/80MB CACHE/AM5) - the non-gaming AMD king of the moment
Motherboard
GIGABYTE X870E AORUS ELITE WIFI7 (AM5, DDR5, M.2 PCIe 5.0, Wi-Fi 7)
Memory (RAM)
64GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR5 6000MHz CL30 (2 x 32GB)
Graphics Card
16GB MSI GEFORCE RTX 5080 SHADOW 3X OC - HDMI, 3 x DP
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB SOLIDIGM P44 PRO GEN 4 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 7000MB/sR, 6500MB/sW)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
2TB CORSAIR CORE XT MP600 NVMe PCIe M.2 SSD (up to 5000 MB/R, 4400 MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 1000W RMx SERIES™ ATX 3.1, MODULAR, CYBENETICS GOLD
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead, 1.0mm Core)
Processor Cooling
CORSAIR ICUE LINK TITAN 360 RX RGB HIGH PERFORMANCE CPU COOLER - larger cooler will easily keep the 9950X under control; bare minimum for the i9
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
Windows 11 Professional 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence
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 8 to 10 working days
Price: £3,121.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am5-pc/yH3qk0ts6p/

 

[hannahmacca]

Thanks so much Tony - for the suggestions and links... especially the heads up about the i7/i9s and the bench mark graphs for each program. I'm really happy, think I'm going to go for that build.