Hi!
I was hoping for some advice on my proposed Intel workstation below.
I try to do my research but im not super hardware literate so I worry ill make sub optimal or just plain bad choices.
Im not tied to an i9 solution and am considering Threadripper and dual Xeon systems (W-2135?). But the aim is to find a simple and stable performance balance between single core (for creation) and multi thread (for testing and output). My needs fall 50/50 down this line.
The work I require this performance for is creating complex scenes and animations in 3DS Max and rendering them in Vray (for now) on the CPU.
The Spec:
Components I already own *..
*PSU: Corsair HX850
*SSD: WD 500GB Blue
*HDD: Seagate 1TB FireCuda
*GPU: EVGA GeForce 1070
Components to acquire.
CPU: i9 7960X (32 Thread) - £1500
MB: ASUS Core-X TUF X299 Mk2 - £200
RAM: (room to add more?) 2 x 16GB Corsair Vengeance DDR4 - £330
SSD: (alternative to above) M.2 SATA WD 500GB Blue - £125
Cooling: Corsair H115i AIO 280mm - £130
Totals: £2285
I appreciate the 7960X Is an expensive processor. But, as mentioned above, the goal is for a balance between single and multi thread performance. The big i7s are quick but limited cores for rendering. the high core Xeons are brutes, but often lack the IPC to make working on projects a success. I also felt TR might fall down here as well.
I do use a separate render farm and plan to create another in the future as its showing its age. But for testing on big projects its often better to keep it locally and I still need the performance to actually create the projects.
My questions are essentially:
1: Is this a good idea or is there a better way?
2: Are there any alterations to particular components that would make it better for the same money or cheaper for the same performance?
3: ANY advice on cooling. I understand it can be an issue, though there will be no OC carried out.
Thank you in advance for reading any of this and any advice you might be able to offer!