PC specs for Big Data/Deep Learning

[rk1103]

Hi all,

Ive just taken the plunge and want to purchase a high spec PC for Data Science (mainly Deep Learning and Distributed computing).
Looking at the previous threads and advice given by some more experienced people on here - i've come up with the following specs. I need significant storage/RAM and around 16 cores and also the latest GPU - hence gone with RTX 2080 Ti. However, the main things I'm concerned about are the case (if it provides sufficient airflow) and cooling. Ive gone with a Noctua option rather than liquid as I do not have much experience with liquid coolers. I would have gone with the Corsair H115i PRO Cooler w/ PCS Ultra Quiet Fans option if I had more experience with liquid coolers and how often these need to be maintained/ replaced etc and would this be done by PC Specialists ? For my specs, is the liquid option recommended or would Noctua suffice ?

I have a budget between 2.5 - 3.3K but ideally would like to get my current spec costs closer to 3/3.1 K if possible - any suggestions on alternative cheaper options for any of the specs ? Could i go less than 850 W power supply ? Also, please let me know if any of the existing specs are not suitable.

Thanks in advance
Ryan

Case
FRACTAL MESHIFY C BLACK GAMING CASE (Window)
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 9 3950X 16 Core CPU (3.5GHz-4.7GHz/73MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® ROG STRIX X570-F GAMING (USB 3.2 Gen 2, PCIe 4.0) - RGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
64GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3000MHz (4 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
11GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 2080 Ti - HDMI, 3x DP GeForce - RTX VR Ready!
1st Storage Drive
6TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 5400RPM, 256MB CACHE
1st M.2 SSD Drive
2TB SAMSUNG 970 EVO PLUS M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3500MB/R, 3300MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 850W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
Noctua NH-U14S Ultra Quiet Performance CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND
LED Lighting
50cm RGB LED Strip
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
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 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 20 working days
Price: £3,377.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/9QbPb2CaZZ/

 

[rk1103]

Thanks for the suggestions - I've updated the specs now and also removed thermal paste - i'm assuming cooling should be sufficient now ?
Do i need to select extra case fans as well ?

Regarding my application - i got some inspiration from these previous posts if that helps, which seem to have a similar use case

Deep Learning PC - Feedback welcome

Processor (CPU) AMD Ryzen 7 3700X Eight Core CPU (3.6GHz-4.4GHz/36MB CACHE/AM4) Motherboard ASUS® ROG STRIX X570-F GAMING (USB 3.2 Gen 2, PCIe 4.0) - RGB Ready! Memory (RAM) 32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3000MHz (2 x 16GB) Graphics Card 8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 2060 SUPER - HDMI, DP - VR Ready! 1st...

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Proposed PC build for data science

Hi all: I am building this machine for doing data science side project, to have decent computational power in a data science competitions such as Kaggle, and also to be competitive on deep learning competition. So I have the following questions: Ubuntu installation: I am buying without an...

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New spec advice

Hi, I'm actually looking for something similar. A multi GPU machine primarlily for deep learning. I've read on those posts: https://blog.slavv.com/picking-a-gpu-for-deep-learning-3d4795c273b9 that what would be good to have is 16PCIe lanes. "To have 16 PCIe lanes available for 3 or 4 GPUs...

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- but still would like some clarification before purchasing as some of those posts were some time ago

Case
FRACTAL MESHIFY C BLACK GAMING CASE (Window)
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 9 3950X 16 Core CPU (3.5GHz-4.7GHz/73MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® ROG STRIX X570-F GAMING (USB 3.2 Gen 2, PCIe 4.0) - RGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
64GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3000MHz (4 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
11GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 2080 Ti - HDMI, 3x DP GeForce - RTX VR Ready!
1st Storage Drive
6TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 5400RPM, 256MB CACHE
1st M.2 SSD Drive
2TB SAMSUNG 970 EVO PLUS M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3500MB/R, 3300MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 850W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
Corsair H115i RGB PLATINUM Hydro Series High Performance CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
LED Lighting
50cm RGB LED Strip
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
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
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
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 20 working days
Price: £3,443.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/2A!FMYzFQQ/

 

[Scott]

There's not a lot left to tweak to be honest but I would consider the storage aspect of it all. Would the software you are using not greatly benefit from a scrach/cache drive? I believe most of them often do. To that end I was have a smaller primary drive and a larger secondary drive for any storage and cache requirements.

Any particular reason for a 6TB storage drive as well? Seems rather large for an internal drive (all eggs in one basket so to speak).

I've switched the RAM out for 2x32, this is a better option.

Case
FRACTAL MESHIFY C BLACK GAMING CASE (Window)
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 9 3950X 16 Core CPU (3.5GHz-4.7GHz/73MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® ROG STRIX X570-F GAMING (USB 3.2 Gen 2, PCIe 4.0) - RGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
64GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3000MHz (2 x 32GB)
Graphics Card
11GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 2080 Ti - HDMI, 3x DP GeForce - RTX VR Ready!
1st Storage Drive
6TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 5400RPM, 256MB CACHE
1st M.2 SSD Drive
500GB SAMSUNG 970 EVO PLUS M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3500MB/R, 3200MB/W)
2nd M.2 SSD Drive
1TB SEAGATE FIRECUDA 520 GEN 4 PCIe NVMe (up to 5000MB/R, 4400MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 750W RM SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
Corsair H115i RGB PLATINUM Hydro Series High Performance CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
LED Lighting
50cm RGB LED Strip
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
WIRELESS INTEL® Wi-Fi 6 AX200 2,400Mbps/5GHz, 300Mbps/2.4GHz PCI-E CARD + BT 5.0
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
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 20 working days
Price: £3,353.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/WNW2HrAnZq/

 

[rk1103]

Thanks for the suggestions @Scott - the reason i chose 6TB storage was because some of my experimental datasets may be of the order of few TBs and thought I would be better to have more storage for piece of mind (also i've seen a lot of posts on here selecting 6TB so thought it was the recommended option) although i could drop down to 4TB SATA and keep some of my data in the cloud if Im struggling for space.
I'm not familiar with scrach drive - is this for faster read/write operations or if data is too large to fit in RAM ? Yeh i would benefit from that for my use case.

Actually, would it be worth waiting till the NVIDIA 3000 series comes out (next month ?) Im guessing an RTX 3080 be cheaper than a RTX 2080 Ti (rather than downgrading this to 2080 Super - actually im not clear how much benefit RTX 2080 Ti provides over 2080 super with it being over £300 costlier ) ?

The other bit i wasn't clear about was the warranty - if i understand correctly - 3 yr labour does not cover the cost of damaged parts e.g. GPU, cooling, liquid leakage etc ? The silver warranty covers the cost of replacing any parts, any number of times ?
Would you suggest upgrading to a platinum warranty or 2 yr warranty ? The main costs i'm concerned about are the GPU and damage due to cooler malfunctioning or leakage - have people reported issues with these after a 1 yr period ?


Ive updated the specs with both your suggestions - and downgraded to 4TB storage - seems 750 W RMx power supply is out of stock - i'm guessing RM should be an ok alternative.

Case
FRACTAL MESHIFY C BLACK GAMING CASE (Window)
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 9 3950X 16 Core CPU (3.5GHz-4.7GHz/73MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® ROG STRIX X570-F GAMING (USB 3.2 Gen 2, PCIe 4.0) - RGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
64GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3000MHz (2 x 32GB)
Graphics Card
11GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 2080 Ti - HDMI, 3x DP GeForce - RTX VR Ready!
1st Storage Drive
4TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 5400RPM, 256MB CACHE
1st M.2 SSD Drive
500GB SAMSUNG 970 EVO PLUS M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3500MB/R, 3200MB/W)
2nd M.2 SSD Drive
1TB SEAGATE FIRECUDA 520 GEN 4 PCIe NVMe (up to 5000MB/R, 4400MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 750W RM SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
Corsair H115i RGB PLATINUM Hydro Series High Performance CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
LED Lighting
50cm RGB LED Strip
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
WIRELESS INTEL® Wi-Fi 6 AX200 2,400Mbps/5GHz, 300Mbps/2.4GHz PCI-E CARD + BT 5.0
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
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 20 working days
Price: £3,322.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/BUjpQPCvt6/

 

[SpyderTracks]

3000 series are due to be announced within a month and released in september if all goes well.

And yes, they're expected to be a 40% performance improvement over the current cards, it's a pretty major increase.

 

[rk1103]

Thanks @Nursemorph and @SpyderTracks - that was very helpful - think ill go with the platinum then - think ill just have to bite the bullet with regards to cost ---- at the end of the day i want a kit which will last for 8-10 yrs or so and this is my first ever high spec desktop with GPU. Ive updated the specs with the 850 W RMx power supply as well.

Whooaa 40% is huge performance jump for 3000 series ! Sep is a bit too far away but I'm almost tempted to wait till then. If thats the case, Im assuming it would be a straight swap between the RTX2080 Ti graphics card and 3000 series - I wouldn't need to change any of the other specs below right ?

Case
FRACTAL MESHIFY C BLACK GAMING CASE (Window)
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 9 3950X 16 Core CPU (3.5GHz-4.7GHz/73MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® ROG STRIX X570-F GAMING (USB 3.2 Gen 2, PCIe 4.0) - RGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
64GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3000MHz (2 x 32GB)
Graphics Card
11GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 2080 Ti - HDMI, 3x DP GeForce - RTX VR Ready!
1st Storage Drive
4TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 5400RPM, 256MB CACHE
1st M.2 SSD Drive
500GB SAMSUNG 970 EVO PLUS M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3500MB/R, 3200MB/W)
2nd M.2 SSD Drive
1TB SEAGATE FIRECUDA 520 GEN 4 PCIe NVMe (up to 5000MB/R, 4400MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 850W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
Corsair H115i RGB PLATINUM Hydro Series High Performance CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
LED Lighting
50cm RGB LED Strip
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
WIRELESS INTEL® Wi-Fi 6 AX200 2,400Mbps/5GHz, 300Mbps/2.4GHz PCI-E CARD + BT 5.0
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
Browser
Microsoft® Edge (Windows 10 Only)
Warranty
3 Year Platinum Warranty (3 Year Collect & Return, 3 Year Parts, 3 Year labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 18 to 20 working days
Price: £3,482.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/yX4nQeVFJA/

 

[Scott]

In your shoes I would go with the silver warranty and the 2080 super.

This is purely personal so you definitely need to consider your own path. My experience has led me down the path of thinking that gremlins in electicals show themselves in 3-6 months. If it breaks after a year..... I probably broke it. Now, that's not hard and fast.... it's just my experience and everyone's is different.

The difference in the 2080ti and the 2080 as far as price goes is huge..... performance, theres a gap but not enough with the next gen around the corner. I would buy now, reap the benefits of the high end system, save the £300+ and simply buy either the 3080 or the 3080ti as and when. I would then sell my 2080 super for a tidy sum and laugh all the way to the bank. It's going to cost you money, but it's a sound investment.

 

[SpyderTracks]

If thats the case, Im assuming it would be a straight swap between the RTX2080 Ti graphics card and 3000 series - I wouldn't need to change any of the other specs below right ?

Yes, the only requirement is a powerful enough PSU, an 850W as you have should be more than enough if they're in stock. But other than that it's just pull the old card out, plug in the new one and connect to the power cables from the PSU, and that's it. You won't even have to upgrade the drivers as they're the same set.

I'd echo @Scott advice above RE: get a 2080 Super now, then sell it when you're ready to grab a 3000 series.

 

[rk1103]

Thanks ! that sounds like a good idea regarding the GPU ...... thanks for all the advice and suggestions !