Author Topic: Workstation - 3ds Max and Corona (rendering / animation)  (Read 2966 times)

2018-11-16, 16:50:11

Oxygen

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Hello everyone,

We would like to have your help / feedback regarding a new workstation essencially to work on 3ds Max and Corona (rendering and animation).

Here is the setup:

CPU: AMD Ryzen Threadripper 2990WX 32-core 3.0GHz c/ Turbo 4.2GHz 64MB SktTR4
Motherboard: Asus ROG Zenith Extreme
Graphics: Asus GeForce RTX 2080 Dual 8GB OC
RAM: Corsair Vengeance LPX 128GB (8x16GB) DDR4-3200MHz CL16 Black
PSU: Seasonic PRIME 1300W Gold Full Modular
Cooling: Noctua NH-U14S TR4-SP3
Thermal paste: Noctua NT-H1
ATX Mid Tower: Fractal Design Define R6 Blackout
SSD: Samsung 970 Pro 1TB MLC V-NAND NVMe
HDD: Seagate Barracuda Pro 10TB 7200RPM 256MB SATA III
Drives: Asus DRW-24D5MT 24X DVD±RW SATA Black Bulk
Fans: Noctua 1500RPM 140mm NF-A14 PWM (x4)
+
Mice: SteelSeries Rival 310
Keyboard: Logitech G413 Carbon
Mousepad: SteelSeries QcK Heavy XXL


Budget: ~6000EUR
Purchase date: December 2018
Lifetime: around 5-6 years


Thank you!

2018-11-16, 20:15:53
Reply #1

Juraj

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No issue with anything, will work well :- ).

I would suggest though, to either go for MSI MEG, or Gigabyte Aorus Xtreme. These really are the only two good boards for 2990WX (for any other CPU, the rest is also great). Zenith would be ok board, but not with its price.
Since you are going for U14S, Aorus Xtreme might be the better choice as you won't be overclocking. More phases and better cooling of them are well worth it for 2990WX.

I also personally don't like much 2080 RTX. It has weaker NV-Link bandwidth than 2080ti, so in future, if you would like to add second gpu and connect them for memory pooling (for GPU rendering), the performance will be much worse.
At same time, the price is on level of older 1080ti, which has 11GB Vram, a lot more for viewport&denoising with Optix.
Yes it's more "current" but 2080 doesn't have enough raw performance to use RTX cores for anything (and DLSS is only for select gaming). For workstation use, it's vastly inferior to 1080ti. For gaming it's a tie. For GPU rendering, it's better...but then I would go all the way with overpriced 2080ti.

Your memory as of now, will not run at 3200MHz, but it might theoretically in future as chipset updates will rollout with newer bios. The current stable frequency for 2990WX memory is 2933.

But the above is personal opinion, as you have it right now, it's a good build.
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2018-11-18, 17:22:20
Reply #2

Oxygen

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Thanks for your feedback and expertise @Juraj Talcik!

Our comments / questions below:

01. Motherboard: Yes, based on some reviews, it seems that the MSI MEG X399 Creation it’s slightly better than the Asus ROG Zenith Extreme. Some people say that others models such as ASUS Prime X399-A, Asus ROG Strix X399-E Gaming or even MSI X399 Pro Carbon AC are good enough, but currently we’re more inclined towards the MSI MEG instead of the Gigabyte Aorus Xtreme or the Asus ROG Zenith Extreme ;) Do you think that is a smart choice? or should we reconsider the Gigabyte Aorus Xtreme?

02. Graphics: Ok, we’ll replace the 2080 by a Asus ROG Strix GeForce GTX 1080 Ti 11GB, since the 2080ti it’s overpriced. Maybe in the future add another 1080ti or even replace it by a “cheaper” 2080ti.

03. RAM: Do you recommend to pick the 3000MHz version instead? We have some doubts between the Corsair Vengeance LPX, G.SKILL Ripjaws V or the G.SKILL Trident Z models. Probably, the performance it’s similar.

04. PSU: Between the Seasonic PRIME 1300W Gold Full Modular and the Corsair HX1200 Full Modular, what do you recommend? We know that the Corsair has the “platinum” efficiency, but the Seasonic has more voltage and 12 years of warranty (instead of 10 years). Other people say that 850W or 1000W are enough, but we want to have some margin for example adding two GPU’s in the future.

05. Cooling: Besides, the Noctua NH-U14S TR4-SP3 do you recommend other cooling solution? We’re also replacing the Define R6 default fans by 4 x Noctua 1500RPM 140mm NF-A14 PWM. Basically, we want a good balance between cooling performance and noise level (the lowest possible).

Thanks!

2018-11-19, 11:30:52
Reply #3

Juraj

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Prime x399-A, Pro Carbon AC,etc.. and basically all other are good boards. For the whole range of Threadrippers except for 2990WX. 2990WX should really be considered a separate category, it's 250W CPU in stock settings.
MSI MEG is not slightly better, it's three times better board. It has 19 Phases compared to 8 phases. That is "slightly" ? :- ). But biggest benefit of that is when overclocking, MSI MEG can take 2990WX into 700W territory, but with air-cooling, you will stay at stock. And thus Aorus will be better choice as it gives you 10Gbit nic on board and 4 dual-slot GPU slots if you ever decide for GPU rendering.

No other boards really need to be considered. MEG for overclocking, Aorus Extreme for features.

I am big fan of Seasonic and Prime series is the best on market, and I almost never see a reason to go elsewhere. Corsair HX series is also extremely high quality so it doesn't matter which one you'll go with. This really is personal preference at this point.

Outside of Noctua U14, there is also Silver Arrow TR4. The performance is extremely close, but Silver Arrow might be slightly better (it has more heatpipes and larger heatsink).
Outside of Liqtech II, no other AIO water coolers cover full heatspreader, so their performance is same or worse than Air cooling. Liqtech is superior, but it might still have leaking issues. You will have to get second revision..of second generation. Quite a hassle :- ) But if you have patience to check with Enermax which serial number is save to use and then try to get such version, it would work.

The only other choice is custom water loop. It comes with price of 500+ Euro. In the big thread are pictures of mine rig ( https://forum.corona-renderer.com/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=21416.0;attach=91055;image ) and Peter's ( https://forum.corona-renderer.com/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=21416.0;attach=91755;image ). Mine is on MEG, his is on Aorus.
Please follow my new Instagram for latest projects, tips&tricks, short video tutorials and free models
Behance  Probably best updated portfolio of my work
lysfaere.com Please check the new stuff!

2018-11-20, 11:52:47
Reply #4

Oxygen

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Great! Thanks for your help and feedback Juraj.