Author Topic: workstation build 6-10k €  (Read 1779 times)

2023-01-09, 13:13:21

octavtirziu

  • Active Users
  • **
  • Posts: 73
  • instagram.com/octavtirziu/
    • View Profile
    • octavtirziu.com
Hi guys,

Looking to make a new workstation/rendering machine build for our office, with a 6-10K budget.

We have another machine with a 3990x which we are happy with but I am surprised that the price is even higher than 2 years ago when I did the build.
As I'm not very up to date with current processors I would like to know which cpu would you recomend to base a build on?

Thanks

2023-01-09, 20:52:20
Reply #1

Robwan

  • Active Users
  • **
  • Posts: 25
    • View Profile
Hi octavtirziu,

I just made a post actually because I am also confused by this. https://forum.corona-renderer.com/index.php?topic=39001.0

I used to be able to buy a 3990x build pre built beast (with an rtx 3090 + 128gb ram) for about £6k. But now for the same price I can only get a 5975wx equivalent build which as you will see in my post, it is inferior when it comes to render time (and that's all I care about really because these cpus can handle everything else I do).

I also note that the newest and greatest threadripper 5995wx seems to be only marginally better in render time that the 3990x and it would now cost me around just under £9k equivalent build!

Right now I am thinking it's best to just to buy all the parts separately (if you can find them) and build it yourself. In the uk I can do this for a similar price price as I used to be able to get a 3990x build for.

Would love to hear what others have to say about this and the best bang for buck these days when it comes down to raw render time as a work machine.
« Last Edit: 2023-01-09, 21:09:10 by Robin Walker »

2023-01-10, 10:32:17
Reply #2

octavtirziu

  • Active Users
  • **
  • Posts: 73
  • instagram.com/octavtirziu/
    • View Profile
    • octavtirziu.com
What seems frustrating is that one would expect the price of 3990x to drop two years later but is in fact even higher.
Reading the forums and seeing everyone talk about the 7950x i wonder if it's not worth it to make 2 workstations with 7950x for the price of one 5995x or 3990x.

2023-01-10, 11:38:25
Reply #3

Robwan

  • Active Users
  • **
  • Posts: 25
    • View Profile
This is definitely an avenue to look down. If we take the middle of the pack scores on Corona benchmark for both the 3990x and the 7950x it appears that the 7950x is about half the speed.....and it cost a fraction of the price haha.

The issue is ram though, it's ddr5, do the motherboards allows us to have 128gb yet with 7950x yet? Last time I checked it wasn't an option but I need to do more research. Also is the price higher? Defo worth considering this before hand.

Edit: Did a bit a digging and It appears 7950x does support 128gb ram but it's not common atm maybe. Because some of the vendors I use to configure a custom build pc only allow up to 64gb ram with a 7950x, but a general search on google shows people making their own builds with 128gb, but then I see debates about it either not being as stable or running slower.....who knows.

« Last Edit: 2023-01-10, 20:19:58 by Robin Walker »

2023-01-10, 12:00:50
Reply #4

Nejc Kilar

  • Corona Team
  • Active Users
  • ****
  • Posts: 1245
    • View Profile
    • My personal website
...

Would love to hear what others have to say about this and the best bang for buck these days when it comes down to raw render time as a work machine.

I am of the opinion that right now it might be best to wait. It is obviously a personal opinion but at the moment if you need more firepower than the 7950x / 13900k packs (which seems to be sitting between a 3970x and a 3960x) the only solution is the 5995wx which as we all know costs a lot. You do get an overkill platform with it, tons of PCI-E lanes, 6 or 7 slots, 2TB of memory support and all that jazz... But if you're purely going after rendering prowess yes, I think you can easily come to a conclusion it is potentially not worth it compared to a 3990x.

3990x however appears to be discontinued, the motherboards are an epic level find seemingly and so it is an option that is hard to recommend imho. Unless you can source the parts and are comfortable with using used & discontinued gear.

So why wait?

Intel is about to release its WS / HEDT parts soon and while it is suspected (by leakers) that these won't really be that much cheaper (and won't be faster than the top of the line TRs) it will still potentially be a step in the right direction because it might have a cascading effect on AMD's lineup. So hopefully at that point AMD will bring out more parts and Intel will at least have something semi-competitive at most price points. At the very least you might have a few more options for anything that might sit between a 5995wx and a 7950x. Plus of course there are the Zen 4 Threadrippers coming out but that is speculated (by leakers) to be towards the end of the year.

So thats just my 5 cents. I could very well be wrong and its the best time to buy now because stuff seemingly keeps getting more and more expensive lol :)
Nejc Kilar | chaos-corona.com
Educational Content Creator | contact us

2023-01-10, 14:07:26
Reply #5

jms.lwly

  • Active Users
  • **
  • Posts: 171
    • View Profile
    • jms.lwly studio
What seems frustrating is that one would expect the price of 3990x to drop two years later but is in fact even higher.
Reading the forums and seeing everyone talk about the 7950x i wonder if it's not worth it to make 2 workstations with 7950x for the price of one 5995x or 3990x.

Don't forget that multiple machines could also mean multiple licences (even for Render Nodes) - so factor that into your costs


2023-01-13, 07:50:12
Reply #6

octavtirziu

  • Active Users
  • **
  • Posts: 73
  • instagram.com/octavtirziu/
    • View Profile
    • octavtirziu.com

The issue is ram though, it's ddr5, do the motherboards allows us to have 128gb yet with 7950x yet? Last time I checked it wasn't an option but I need to do more research. Also is the price higher? Defo worth considering this before hand.


Wow I didn’t know about this issue. Less then 128gb is definitely a dealbreaker for me. Is this a thing with intels 13900k as well?


Thanks for your advice on waiting Nejc Kilar, but unfortunately I’m cant really wait right now, maybe at most one month and I don’t think anything can change in this time.



2023-01-13, 10:58:50
Reply #7

Nejc Kilar

  • Corona Team
  • Active Users
  • ****
  • Posts: 1245
    • View Profile
    • My personal website

The issue is ram though, it's ddr5, do the motherboards allows us to have 128gb yet with 7950x yet? Last time I checked it wasn't an option but I need to do more research. Also is the price higher? Defo worth considering this before hand.


Wow I didn’t know about this issue. Less then 128gb is definitely a dealbreaker for me. Is this a thing with intels 13900k as well?


Thanks for your advice on waiting Nejc Kilar, but unfortunately I’m cant really wait right now, maybe at most one month and I don’t think anything can change in this time.

I'm sort of guessing a bit here but if I recall correctly when the previous gen was introduced 128gb was doable too but it was wise to not opt for the fastest sticks on the planet. IIRC that was the main problem although I could be wrong. I've come across similar "opinions" that things might be the same now as well because the platform itself is supposed to support 128gb. Just probably not at DDR5-6400 speeds.
Nejc Kilar | chaos-corona.com
Educational Content Creator | contact us

2023-01-31, 10:10:15
Reply #8

Nejc Kilar

  • Corona Team
  • Active Users
  • ****
  • Posts: 1245
    • View Profile
    • My personal website
Maybe worth watching -

It is Level1Techs giving 128GB a go on the AM5 platform.
Nejc Kilar | chaos-corona.com
Educational Content Creator | contact us