AMD Ryzen Threadripper 1950X 16-Core/32-Thread Processor 3.40 GHz
270-275 FPS
See exact build here: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/mdHr4C and read thoughts and suggestions prior buying and building the pc.
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Hi all.
My current system is starting to become a bottleneck for my production and I'm looking to build something somewhat powerful to help cut down on rendering time.
The workstation will mainly be used for KeyShot, Photoshop, After Effects and MODO.
So far I've put this together: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/2dmfQV
The cost is approximately what I have budgettet for.
Any thoughts on the setup? It's almost 15 years since I built my first computer, so I'm a bit rusty with all this technical stuff :)
Anything that you would have picked differently?
Do you have experience with something similar?
Thanks for the help!
Best,
I was int he same boat 1 year ago when I left my job and went freelance. I walked into the local computer part place and gave them my budget of $2500 and told them to build something around the GTX1080 which just came out. I was going to be doing a lot of GPU rendering at the time. The nerds came crawling up and over the shelves and from underneath the displays to watch someone build a system with the budget that large, the guy said normally people start to complain about spending more the $600 on a PC build!
But, like you I knew next to nothing. It appears that nowadays, compared to 10 years ago, its pretty much all plug n play. Especially with sites like PC Parts picker that check for card clearances, compatibility, PSU requirements, etc. No guessing, just pick your specs and go with it. Being a mac guy for the past 15 years, I had never built a windows PC, i had repaired and beefed up countless Macs though. My 13 year old son and I built the PC and got windows up and running within 2 hours. It was crazy, like a big boy lego kit. Every thing just fit together. Was really fun. The process of loading drivers and other software took another couple hours, but I really didn't have any problems.
I would say, I would do different is build as much of the mother board (CPU, cooler, ram, etc) outside the case. I mounted my board first then proceeded to have to remove it twice because of routing cables, and whoops forgot to put the thermal paste on the CPU. Lesson learned.
I don't know much about the particular parts you picked, but I would really take a minute to research the warranties of the major parts. I had my motherboard die about 1 month ago, and it had a good warranty, Gigabyte repaired it and I had it back within 2 weeks. But, I was close to just buying another one since I had work waiting.
The other thing is that with those CPU's, I think you might have 4 channels of RAM slots available, and you would want to populate those 4 channels with one stick each, so you might be better off getting 4 sticks of 16 GB rather than the 2 of 32. I could be wrong on that , but from what I read that's the preferred way of doing it. I have 4 sticks of 8GB and works pretty well. I don't overclock or anything either, so I have air coolers as well.
have fun and keep us posted!
Would the "AMD RYZEN Threadripper 1950X 16-Core /32" be a better/faster choice?
VS shows it being ahead of the Xeon... https://versus.com/en/amd-ryzen-threadripper-1950x-vs-intel-xeon-e5-2660-v4
Not sure if you are wanting to stay all Intel or are OK with AMD?
The Threadripper is about $400 less per CPU, you could almost go to three CPU's at that price if they would fit in the case.
I'm no expert, but have been building a budget gaming rig for my son on PCpartspicker (not that I can afford the Threadripper), it's just how I became aware of it.
Thanks for the insight and history, Matt!
I'll keep your assembly tips in mind and have an extra look on warranties and that RAM thing. Wether it is better to go with 4x16 instead of 2x32. Thanks for the heads-up. PC Part Picker is indeed super handy.
Thanks, Robb!
I've been looking a lot on the Threadripper 1950x. Not tied into any brand here.
The thing is that I want (and think I have budget) for something faster than what one Threadripper 1950x can give me. From what I've understand (and what pcpartpicker allows me to do) it is not possible to have two Threadrippers running in one setup. Can someone confirm or bust this?
Having two Threadripper 1950x's would be optimal I think.
Hi Esben;
Why not talk to the folks at BOXX Technologies? As you know, I have a 32 core BOXX, about five years old. It came in at about double your budget, but that was then. The main thing is that they spec against the latest and greatest technology, and build to your exact needs, rather than generic. They're great to work with, and their build spec sheet would certainly help on your decisions. Also, it's fully warranted, a big deal with a big investment. Also, look into their RenderPro solutions.
Bill G
Quote from: Speedster on October 04, 2017, 07:45:33 AM
Hi Esben;
Why not talk to the folks at BOXX Technologies? As you know, I have a 32 core BOXX, about five years old. It came in at about double your budget, but that was then. The main thing is that they spec against the latest and greatest technology, and build to your exact needs, rather than generic. They're great to work with, and their build spec sheet would certainly help on your decisions. Also, it's fully warranted, a big deal with a big investment. Also, look into their RenderPro solutions.
Bill G
Thanks for the suggestion, Bill.
I had a look at their system a while ago, but got the impression that they only shipped to US and Canada. Might have changed since.
From what I've seen so far I can get an significant amount of extra power by building it myself, which is why I haven't looked into it any further. The warranty is a big advantage, though. Will have a look again, thanks!
Hey Esben
With that budget, it might be worhtwile looking at AMD Epyc as well.
http://www.amd.com/en/products/epyc-7000-series-2-socket-models
These CPUs are not released yet (as far as I know), but should be available anytime soon.
These server/workstation CPUs have the same pedigree as Threadripper and should offer excellent performance with very competitive pricing.
Definitely worth checking out.
Dries
Also, would definitely do watercooling, and pick a NVMe SSD (e.g. Samsung 960 PRO NVMe M.2).
And I would do a different memory configuration as well, like 4 x 16 GB.
Dries
hello Esben,
no matter what you decide on, my suggestion would be to go for a prefab machine with a decent warranty and insurance!
I run my office for roughly twenty years and have a few years more work experience on my shoulder and I can tell you that I worked through quite a few machines!
there is nothing worse than having trouble with the hardware when you are in the middle of a project and time is pressing!
I had that more than just a few times!
when I have trouble I call the hotline and I have a replacement within 24h max!
on the expensive machines I even have a same-day-insurance
and I can tell you, this saved my butt for more than once!
I am sure you can get the machines I have quite a bit cheaper, but I sure do not have the time to run a diagnosis on what part failed and how I can fix this!
it is a different thing, when you set up a machine for your own use and when you want to run a business with it in my eyes!
this would be my two cents!
cheers
designgestalt
Wow, I was wondering when the Threadripper chips would be doubled up. Its very early, and it appears that supermicro is the only ones with a motherboard out there, the rest are slated for q4 which could be soon, or 2 months away. That would be a killer machine, but also, its all new tech. So, how long wil they last? are they durable? Xeons have proven themselves to be fairly bulletproof, so there is that to consider as well.
The worst part of building my own machine was trusting what the sensors were telling me. I rarely hear my fans spin up which means they either don't need to or they aren't being controlled correctly. But I have the temp monitor window open most of the time I'm doing hardcore stuff, and they all seem to stay in line. Gigabyte has some great utilities to control temps and issue alerts if they go beyond the set parameters. My case is huge, and has 3 fans in the case and one on the CPU cooler, so I think I'm good :)
if your thinking of possibly overclocking it then you really will need to water cool it. That's what we do with ours and it runs pretty silently and faultlessly after a few initial hiccups due to faulty CPUs replaced under warranty
also, just one SSD is not enough for a workstation that really will get worked on heavily IMHO. Seriously consider 2 SSDs in RAID 1.
Myself, being a dual OS user, but long time Mac user, OC'ing scares the bejeezus out of me. Too many horror stories in the early days of cooking CPU's because of a bubble in the WC pipe somewhere, or bumping the voltage a bit too high. I know its probably gotten a lot better, and I know a lot of the CPUs have internal thermal throttling now to prevent that sort of runaway damage, but yeah, still makes my skin crawl.
But now that I've seen the Epyc specs, seems pretty promising for a render node or a workstation. Here at work, we have one NR setup that is slower than our local workstations. Its nice to offload, but if we would get a dual CPU Epyc setup, man that would be fun. Would be very tempting to remote in and use it for setup work too. Just think how fast that would region render cloudy plastic LED's with area lights behind them? Makes me giddy :)
Build your own and stay away from boxx they are WAY overpriced. Everything is just plug and play these days. You can build a PC in two hours and if you are retarded and can't push stuff into slots because thats all it is and plugging in some cables well you can youtube how to build a computer.
1. who cares about warranty? Most parts are 3 years or more.
2. Even if a part failed that was out of warranty the amount of money thats being saved by building it yourself would most likely offset the cost of just buying another part.
3. When is the last time ANYONE had to rma a cpu? Really
If anything is going to fail it is going to be memory or the motherboard. But newegg and amazon offer warranties outside of what the manufacture offer so you can always go stupid with it. Shit you can also save big by buying CPU that are pulled from servers on ebay
Just my 2 cents
Thank you all for your 2 cents!
I've gained some really valuable insights and perspectives that helps me to take a more enlightened choice.
I definitely see the benefit of buying something prefab in the sense that it should be more reliable and if it stops working (within the period of warranty) I have someone else to take care of it.
On the other hand, by building one myself I can get quite some more power for the money vs. the risk of spending a lot of hours troubleshooting if it stops working.
I've decided to take the 'risk' of still building my own setup, but to go with Threadripper 1950x instead of the intel E5's due to the amount of power vs. price. I know it is not good if it breaks down in the middle of a tight deadline, but I dare to rely on the render farms out there to save me, should it happen. It will anyway take at least a day or two to get a prefab replaced and I would have to use a render farm (or someone else's workstation) anyways. Also, for the money I save (compared to the first setup), I plan to build another Threadripper system to work as additional render power (over network rendering) and as a backup workstation.
This is the setup I plan to build: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/pwP3LD
Again, thank you all for you inputs. Much appreciated!
I'll keep you updated on the build and post benchmark here. Hopefully in 2-3 weeks.
Best,
I endorse this build. :)
Should be great, Esben.
Dries
If you are going into with Threadripper, Enermax has an AIO with a IHS base plate that matches the area: http://www.enermax.co.uk/cpu-coolers/liqtech-tr4/. Noctua also have a air cooler with a large plate also: http://noctua.at/en/nh-u14s-tr4-sp3
So it will be down to reliability of pump against fan noise.
I just going to post about the air coolers.
http://noctua.at/en/noctua-presents-cpu-coolers-for-amd-s-ryzen-threadripper-x399-and-epyc-platforms
seems like you beat me to it. Not sure how long that pump is going to last. For TR i would go custom loop or air. I do how ever like the aio that is linked above.
I think any cooler on this AMD page should be fine.
http://www.amd.com/en/thermal-solutions-threadripper
This includes Corsair H115i.
Dries
Buy a refurbished HP Z840 dual processor machine with the slowest possible cpu's then buy two E5-2696v4's to replace those cpu's. Make sure you buy the dual processor machine because you then get the 2nd cpu cooler and all of the necessary fans.
You can stay within your budget and have 88 cores. This will be an amazing KeyShot or any other multi-thread machine. However single thread programs such as SolidWorks will not run as well at the 2.20GHz.
Our machine with this setup runs at 447 fps in KS.
Quote from: Esben Oxholm on October 07, 2017, 04:50:50 AM
Thank you all for your 2 cents!
I've gained some really valuable insights and perspectives that helps me to take a more enlightened choice.
I definitely see the benefit of buying something prefab in the sense that it should be more reliable and if it stops working (within the period of warranty) I have someone else to take care of it.
On the other hand, by building one myself I can get quite some more power for the money vs. the risk of spending a lot of hours troubleshooting if it stops working.
I've decided to take the 'risk' of still building my own setup, but to go with Threadripper 1950x instead of the intel E5's due to the amount of power vs. price. I know it is not good if it breaks down in the middle of a tight deadline, but I dare to rely on the render farms out there to save me, should it happen. It will anyway take at least a day or two to get a prefab replaced and I would have to use a render farm (or someone else's workstation) anyways. Also, for the money I save (compared to the first setup), I plan to build another Threadripper system to work as additional render power (over network rendering) and as a backup workstation.
This is the setup I plan to build: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/pwP3LD
Again, thank you all for you inputs. Much appreciated!
I'll keep you updated on the build and post benchmark here. Hopefully in 2-3 weeks.
Best,
wise man - not sure you need a 1,000W power supply but hey ho! just seen a friend 1950x running 303 FPS on camera benchmark
This is quite the thread... haven't been on the forum recently. You've spec'd out nearly the exact build I've been planning on myself. I figure 32 threads is plenty for local renderings and that anything larger can just be farmed out to a render farm.
The NZXT Kraken cooler is what I heard good things about... whatever you do, go with water cooling. I have that on my current build and it's great and more reliable.
Also, does your MOBO have any M.2 slots? If so, I'd consider trying to 'future-proof' your setup a bit by using a M.2 SSD which mounts directly to the MOBO as your boot/application drive = very fast. Then use your Evo SSD as your primary storage. Lastly, use some USB3 desktop large HDD for full-system backup.
The larger PSU is good incase you ever feel the need to toss another GPU in there for simulating in MODO (assuming that happens on the GPU)
I own a BOXX currently, but their upcharge is too much for me to justify going forward. Also, it'd be expensive to ship out to you... so like you, I'll be building my own system and extending my dollar a bit.
Going with the Threadripper is great for Overclocking too, something you should definitely do: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4a89kUVDpc (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4a89kUVDpc)
Good luck! Can't wait to see what you end up with. Making me jealous.
Thanks for all the suggestions above too!
I really appreciate the input. Hope it is okay I'm not answering them one by one :)
Here's what I ended up with: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/mdHr4C
Had some trouble with KeyShot crashing, but updating the BIOS to the newest version solved that.
Running at 270-275 FPS in the benchmark scene.
Feel free to ask questions if you have any!
So you are only halfway to your budget, what's the plan for the other half?
It would make sense to build the same machine again. Boom! ;D
Dries
Quote from: mattjgerard on October 23, 2017, 10:19:43 AM
So you are only halfway to your budget, what's the plan for the other half?
First of all I need a better monitor.
Then, a second build as Dries suggests if I feel I need the power :)
while we are about the monitor thing:
I dropped an espresso cup on my Wacom Cintiq 22HD Touch Screen, while it was lying flat on my desktop!
smashed the front glass and as usual it is not included in my office insurance!
2200€ !!
a repair would cost 600-800€ to replace the glass and 6 weeks delivery time !
should have rather bought your machine for this !
but I decided now to cancel all insurances at the end of the year...
they anyway always find a way out !!!
Quote from: designgestalt on October 23, 2017, 11:26:54 PM
while we are about the monitor thing:
I dropped an espresso cup on my Wacom Cintiq 22HD Touch Screen, while it was lying flat on my desktop!
smashed the front glass and as usual it is not included in my office insurance!
2200€ !!
a repair would cost 600-800€ to replace the glass and 6 weeks delivery time !
should have rather bought your machine for this !
but I decided now to cancel all insurances at the end of the year...
they anyway always find a way out !!!
Dang, that is a bad day at the office! And I thought I felt bad when I spilled my flavored water on my Logitech solar keyboard and it died. Guess I feel a little better now!
I have an old wacom Intuos 3 9x12 that I always tried to get into using. Lots of Cinema 4D guys use them, but I just couldn't be as productive with them as I could with a mouse. I used them to relieve my tendonitis when it flared, but then I realized that was because of the crappy mouse I was using. Not a problem anymore since switching to a decent mouse.