Author Topic: New mobile workstation  (Read 15301 times)

2020-01-22, 08:36:52

Giona

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Hi everyone,
It's time for me to update my mobile workstation. I know that I could buy a more powerful desktop workstation, but at the moment I'm always on the move.
My actual mobile is a Dell Precision M6800, so I first looked at the new Dell Precision 7740.
Than I discovered an Italian brand that makes high quality custom mobile workstations with desktop cpu.

Here the specs and prices for the two pc:

Dell Precision 7740: 3938.54€+ taxes

CPU: Intel i9-9880H (octa-core, 16MB cache 2.3Ghz - 4.8Ghz)
GPU: Quadro RTX 4000 8GB
RAM: 64GB 2666Mhz, 4x16GB
SSD: 512GB PCIe NVMe M.2 Class 40
OS: Windows 10 Pro 64bit


Santech G59: 3289€ Taxes included

CPU: Intel i9-9900K (octa-core, 16MB cache 3.6Ghz - 5Ghz)
GPU: GeForce RTX 2070 8GB
RAM: 64GB 2666Mhz, 4x16GB
SSD: 500GB Samsung 970 EVO Plus NVMe M.2 Class 40
HDD: 2 TB Hibrid SSHD Firecuda SATA III
OS: Windows 10 Pro 64bit

I will use the pc for Arch-viz and product visualizations. I generally work with full 3D environments in 3Ds max, Corona (of course), some photoshop, Substance designer.
Never tried GPU rendering, but I would like to.

I would like to hear your thought.
Let me know if you have any suggestions.

Thanks!
« Last Edit: 2020-01-22, 09:08:01 by giona4 »

2020-01-22, 11:01:36
Reply #1

Vuk

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My suggestion would be to wait one or two more months since AMD already showed the new Ryzen 4000 series laptops on CES 2020 which have more powerful mobile processors than the Intel series.

Haven't heard of Santech but the one you want has a 9900k which is a fully-fledged desktop CPU. That will probably be more powerful than the Ryzen 4000 mobile lineup but also more power-hungry and prone to overheating. None the less if you just look for pure performance and don't mind a hot laptop in your lap and a huge brick the 9900k seems the way to go!

Be sure to check upgradability also I used to own a precision laptop from Dell 8 years ago and they were quite easy to upgrade in terms of ssd, memory, hdd and even cpu back then...



2020-01-22, 11:43:12
Reply #2

Juraj

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Santech is just another domestic retailer for Taiwanese OEM brand CLEVO. There are hundred such brands around the world, they buy the body and sell it under their name.

They have their benefits and drawbacks:

+ Much cheaper, but depends on reseller, but always cheaper than Dell/etc..
+ Often perfect upgradability, these are almost never soldered. So it makes perfect chance to buy them in low configuration of memory & SSD and buy these separately.
+ Because of that, they offer often exotic combinations, like they did this year on CES with their 12-core desktop AMD Ryzen inside of their their bigger models.

- Ugly as hell. Every single one of them. They are bigger for identical specs, and uglier in every single case. I know it's for work...but there are limits to ugliness :- (
- They offer less than stellar displays to choose from. The kind of flagship 400+ nit panels like Dell XPS or MacPro 16 have are not available.

I sometimes look at various laptops and there simply isn't a good choice for CPU rendering. If you do GPU rendering, you can get thin workstation from Razer like Johannes did with 2080 + eGPU and you have kickass setup for that.
With CPU rendering, you are stuck with inferior 8-core CPUs, which are incredible for mobile CPUs, but still suck for rendering.

That is to say I have nothing to advise ;- ). But if you really want the best, and don't pay ridiculous money, CLEVO is the only way.
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2020-01-22, 12:05:23
Reply #3

Vuk

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I also forgot to add that if you are interested you can also go the SFF route. There are tons of small form factor cases on the market that can fit easily in your backpack and can accommodate the 3950x with a desktop gpu and even an 240,280 aio. This would give you an insane amount of power of a laptop and probably cost you half the money. There are also great portable monitors from Asus that are IPS and Full HD. 

The only downside to this would be that you can't really open this in an airplane or in any other place where you don't have a power outlet. On the other side, the laptops you are seeking from my experience won't last you more than 20 minutes just on their battery alone :). If an sff build fits your workflow you could save some money and get a more powerful machine! Just my 2 cents...

2020-01-22, 12:44:55
Reply #4

Philip kelly

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The dells are mad heavy.
The word Mobile is used , but your shoulder will be broken carrying it around.
The charger are like a brick in size and weight.

My 2 euors worth........
Dell Precision T7910

2020-01-22, 12:59:57
Reply #5

Vuk

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Exactly! I had the precision "mobile" workstation and I remember the power brick being double the size of any other ultra-gaming branded laptop. I also used my laptop's full potential only while I was sitting on a desk near a power outlet since rendering on the battery would last me maybe 5 minutes tops. The laptop was always crazy loud and practically intolerable to hold in lap while under full load...

Here is an example of an sff monster build, I am pretty sure you could go even smaller :)

2020-01-22, 13:48:11
Reply #6

Juraj

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Unfortuntely power-brick is always heavy, even for ultra-thin workstations.

My brother bought MSI Creator 65 two weeks ago, and it's 1.9KG 8-core with RTX 2080 and 4k display. Amazing performance for something so thin and light.
But the brick is 900 grams,... it has to be to, no way around that wattage.

I admire and hate those SFFX builds at same time. They're ultra cute, esp. with beautifully machine alumium cases like Louqe ghost S1
But they absolutely suck the same way as laptops just have stronger parts. Even with 280mm AIO, the airflow is always terminated in some ill-way, either overheating the chipset on board, or the PSU itself, or everything is overheating everything.

When I look at the Reddit benchmarks and youtube reviews of these builds (like from OptimumTech guy), they are ultra-hot and super-loud. I might as well just get laptop at that point and actually be portable.
Since most people don't build them to be portable, it's just fashion item at this point ("Look at my X-Box sized PCMasterrace build!"
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2020-01-22, 13:51:25
Reply #7

Juraj

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But it's really good looking thing...that's for sure.

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2020-01-22, 16:22:16
Reply #8

Giona

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Thanks guys for your answers.

I have to say that I'm not concerned too much about the weight of the mobile workstations.

I need to better explain my current work situation: during the week I'm working in a city and on weekends and holidays I always go back to my hometown. I'd like to bring with me the workstation, that's why I'm thinking to buy a mobile one.
This pc will be used at home for my freelance works, during the day of the working week I'm working with the pc of the studio.

The SFF solutions could be quite interesting for my purpose.

Juraj, you say that they can have airflow issue, but are they worse than a mobile workstation about this?

I'd like to see the price of a solution like that with a Ryzen 3950x, a GeForce RTX 2070 and at least 64GB ram.

Can some of you help me to find the hardware that can fit into one of those little case?

Thanks!

2020-01-22, 16:48:07
Reply #9

Juraj

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OK, than in your position, where you will mainly be travelling between few set locations, and not bringing it into train for work or clients to show, the SFF solution that VUK suggested is actually a really good alternative.

SFF can be anything from 10 Liters to massive 40 Liters, it has no defining measurements, just that it should be "smaller" :- ). There are some super thin cases that can fit E-ATX boards, and super pretty big that can barely fit ITX. A lot of options, a lot of research to do.

There is whole Reddit section dedicated to this community where you can look for inspiration, as well as lot of youtube videos, particularly from OptimumTech.

https://www.reddit.com/r/sffpc/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRYOj4DmyxhBVrdvbsUwmAA

Regarding airflow, there are generally two ways these PCs are built:

1) With air-tower which usually has to be pretty small for most cases with few exceptions. This is incredibly bad idea for 3950X, yes people do it but just because they can, doesn't mean it should be done. The CPU can be run in "eco" mode which is under-volted by stock bios in that case. For what is worth, my 3950X runs hot with massive NH-D15 in super ventilated case, people want to tell me it's "ok" to run it with tiny pancake cooler :- ) ?
2) With AIO cooler, but then the radiator has to be positioned in top of the case otherwise the amount of heat will wreck everything, esp. the PSU which always positioned like Puzzle piece and when overheated will start spinning fan into ridiculously loud DBs (like 40).

So my advice, is to go smaller, but not too smaller. Something like Cerberus with handles http://www.sliger.com/products/cases/cerberus/ would be great with 280mm radiator or Lian Li TU150, also with handles that can accomodate NH-D15 or NH-U12A.
The "sandwich" cases (because the GPU is sandwiched with riser cable into vertical position) are much sexier...but with shit airflow.

People will generally say that it works, but that is not such a clear-cut case. Everything in air-constricted case will deteroriate. ITX boards have already very limited amount of VRM capacity in terms of both power stages and heatsink volume, X570 boards have chipset fans that are blocked by GPU even in their full-scale ATX formats, but in ITX or mATX the effect is compounded. Board where both chipset and VRM will run at 100C year-around will eventually deteroriate and you don't want to put expensive board into trash after a year.

Regarding price, they aren't more expensive by default. The cases are quite often more 200 Euros than 100 because they're usually aluminium for weight (and because almost all of them are manufactured in LianLi factory).
Otherwise all the rest costs the same.


« Last Edit: 2020-01-22, 16:58:14 by Juraj Talcik »
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2020-01-23, 08:38:53
Reply #10

Giona

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Ok, I'm definitely amazed by these sff builds!

The Ncase M1 V6 case of the video above looks cool, but the availability is quite bad on their website. And I would like to build this workstation asap for an incoming work :)

Lian-Li TU150 case seems a very good alternative, slightly bigger, but probably better for cooling.

I see a problem though.. Correct me if I'm wrong, but It looks like on mini ITX motherboards like Asus ROG Strix X570-I the maximum amount of RAM I can put is 64GB.
This can be a problem in the long term, because I'm already thinking to upgrade to 128GB RAM.

Do you know other motherboard that can fit a small case like the Lian-Li (or similar) that support up to 128GB?

2020-01-23, 10:33:50
Reply #11

Juraj

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Yes, ITX is no-go because of two dimms if you want 128GB.

I don't know most of these cases from head, but some fit up to massive e-atx like this one guy from Croatia I came across last year. So the options exist.
https://smallformfactor.net/forum/threads/sfftime-presents-p-atx-the-9l-case-with-atx-and-aio-support.10919/page-29




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2020-01-23, 11:24:20
Reply #12

Giona

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Mmm ok, so the only way to put 128gb is to use a standard ATX motherboard?


2020-01-23, 11:35:23
Reply #13

Juraj

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Well...there is exactly one microATX as well, the Asrock X570 Pro4, and it has somewhat under-nourished power cascade. It might survive 3950X with some airflow on the VRM.

It's all about some form of compromise, small boards either lack functionality, proper power cascade, or both. They're just small.
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2020-01-23, 11:52:56
Reply #14

Giona

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Thanks Juraj for the informations.
I'm going to make a deep research to see if it's something doable or if I'm trying to put too much power into these small cases :)

2020-01-23, 11:54:59
Reply #15

Juraj

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Sadly the ITX boards are much better than that mATX which looks like to be dying format. But then you're limited to 2x32GB only.
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2020-01-24, 09:34:00
Reply #16

Giona

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New crazy idea:
what if I put a Ryzen Threadripper 3960X in a case like the Sliger Cerberus X? Will it have enough airflow for a CPU like that? Would be better to use a standard sized case to avoid overheating?

I'm thinking about the Threadripper just because of the 8 DIMM support on the motherboards. In teory should be easier to put 128GB of RAM, even later.
This new workstation should last for few years, so it has to be quite flexible.

Maybe my idea to go for a "mobile" ws is not the best thing..

2020-01-24, 09:43:14
Reply #17

Juraj

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Cerberus-X is pretty big "small case" :- ). The issue with Threadripper in such cases is that you can only use watercooling because all TR4 air coolers are too tall.

But the only good watercooling for TR4 is the faulty Enermax Liqtech II. You will simply have to risk it (or try to open and replace the liquid inside based on Level1tech youtube tutorial).
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2020-01-24, 10:11:13
Reply #18

Giona

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Ok, so if I decide for a Threadripper build I'll opt for a different case. I don't want to risk with faulty watercoolers :)

2020-01-24, 10:21:14
Reply #19

Juraj

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The Threadripper cooling situation kind of sucks. There are basically 2-3 Air coolers and exactly one Water AIO.

The Air Coolers (Noctua UH14s TR4, BeQuite DarkRock Pro TR4, Arctic Freezer 50 TR4) are all 1KG heavy which makes the PC portability an issue because of the stress it puts onto motherboard when vertically moved around.
And the Enermax AIO has simply the worst reputation of any single product on market ever had.

Because of low volume of this platform (Threadrippers X Self-built), there is quite a little development done by 3rd parties. Every Threadripper is outsold by Ryzen by at least  1:20 and Ryzen's AM4 socket being almost same size as Intel's 1151/2066 there is hundred times more options available.

Portable Threadripper is thus possible but either risky (Enermax AIO) or quite complex and expensive (custom loop, but even loops are not that super travel-friendly when filled with water already).
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2020-01-24, 15:09:34
Reply #20

Vuk

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If you want 128gb of ram you can still go with a 3950x and find a MicroATX motherboard that supports it. There is one from Asrock I don't know how good it is, can't guarantee but it supports 128gb ram so 4x32gb sticks should do the work.
With MicroATX, you can still find a good and small case. For Threadripper 3000 there are no MicroATX motherboards plus as Juraj said you would need a beefy air-cooler that can't fit the Cerberus X. You could use water cooling and make a loop but I wouldn't event bother doing that with a mobile workstation...

For 128gb of ram you could go with 2 options:

1) 3950x and MicroATX board with a Cerberus non X model that is MicroATX and I guess you will have better airflow than a mini-itx system plus you can use an AIO like a Kraken X62 to cool it. I actually have a 3950x paired with a B450 Tomahawk Max in one of the workstations in the office and the X62 keeps it cool without any problems. Of course its a bigger case but I think you will be fine especially if you add a blower gpu.

2) 10980xe which is now half the price costs a bit more than 3950x but has 2 more cores and runs faster in Corona. It has a slightly better turbo boost max on 1-2 cores as well. Pair it with an Evga x299 microATX motherboard inside a Cerberus non X or even use an Asrock X299 minitx. Both of these boards support 128gb ram. The ASRock uses SODIMM might be harder to find those sticks in 32gb format though...

The Cerberus case looks really nice and compact!

« Last Edit: 2020-01-24, 15:13:33 by Vuk »

2020-01-24, 15:37:25
Reply #21

Juraj

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It's this one, talked about it above :- )

Well...there is exactly one microATX as well, the Asrock X570 Pro4, and it has somewhat under-nourished power cascade. It might survive 3950X with some airflow on the VRM.

I did little bit more research on it and it's apparently the worst board on market. Good up to 3700X, not 3950X.
It has pseudo 8 phases (+2) on cheapest mosfets available, at 50A.




 Pair it with an Evga x299 microATX motherboard inside a Cerberus non X or even use an Asrock X299 minitx

This board had revision "x2" and it's actually really good board for the format. So this is pretty good solution if you can source 10980XE (not 7980xe/9980xe because those are not soldered) for MSRP.


Now back to cooling, LGA 2066 can be cooled with any cooler on market, but there is also exactly one that absolutely stands out. Every other (like the popular shit from Corsair) is the same, Asetek pump plus thin 28mm aluminium radiator.
This one is on another level: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07XT8VMJ7/ref=psdc_430499031_t1_B013WAY9UQ

38mm thick radiator and VRM fan!

Alternatively, a pricier solution is to build your own custom AIO by buying CPU Block/Pump/Res combo (Only made by Alphacool). There is also version with bigger reservoir, the non-LT version. This video below shows the more compact LT version.
You can also do 38mm thick rad, but copper based one and put Noctua NF-A12x25mm which are the only good fans in the world.

t=1s


« Last Edit: 2020-01-24, 15:45:02 by Juraj Talcik »
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2020-01-24, 15:46:00
Reply #22

Vuk

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Yes, I thought that the Asrock X570 Pro4 would be good enough to run it on stock since I run my 3950x on stock but apparently it really seems that it is crap :).
None the less I still think he can use a X570 itx asus board and a stock 3950x with an 240/280 aio and have no thermal issues at all while rendering. The Optimum tech guy did a review I posted before in this thread with the N case and his thermals were ok after 30min of rendering plus he wasn't using a blower gpu. But if 128gb ram is a must then yes something like a x299 evga micro atx board inside a cerberus case makes more sense indeed!

2020-01-24, 15:57:24
Reply #23

Juraj

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64GB is very little for today, it's what I would accept in laptop only. So his request makes sense.

have no thermal issues at all while rendering.

21C room ambient, 1400RPM fans full-speed, and CPU-only based rendering compared to CPU+GPU(Optix denoise) during IR or classic denoising afterwards, the temps will be higher.
But it's more than fine for such tiny build. But his one is quite smart.
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2020-01-24, 15:59:24
Reply #24

Vuk

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I think he should probably be fine even with an Asetek AIO as long as he is keeping it stock. I also don't see a point in overclocking such a small system. Even if you overclock it won't be huge overclock that is using the chips full potential due to limited airflow of the system itself, and why would you do that if you are going to lose the turbo boost max of 4.6ghz on a single core :).

I've seen people reaching 4.7-4.9 Ghz on the 18core before with the older revisions but those were all systems residing in a bigger case with a delided cpu and a custom loop cooling solution. And from that point, you are just better going with a Threadripper 3000 cpu...

2020-01-24, 16:04:25
Reply #25

Vuk

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Yes and I agree with you but this was a test build where I was actually trying to make a 3950x system as cheap as possible. The person using this system is doing purely modeling tasks and never ever even reached the 32gb mark, the extra added 32gm of ram is just in case and when we use his machine for DR while he is not there if you know what I mean :).


64GB is very little for today, it's what I would accept in laptop only. So his request makes sense.


2020-01-24, 16:08:15
Reply #26

Juraj

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Why is over-overclocking discussed suddenly :- ) ?

If for same price (or less!) you can get flashy RGB crap like Corsair H100i whatever that people buy just because they are uneducated, and the ARCTIC Liquid Freezer II which has PWM control for pump, twice as thick radiator, VRM fan that will cool the heatsink and make up to 10C degree difference just for VRM, why would you just buy random product that is good enough ?

It's not about overclocking, it's about having the best temperatures and lowest noise in every situation. Stock CPUs still produce lot of heat, and even 1000 RPM fans are still loud enough, you can always go less & less.

Since I do have the 18c dellided i9 7980XE running on 400 Power draw only at 4.5GHz, that requires lot more than any of the above could take regardless, so that is off the table for these builds.

Yes and I agree with you but this was a test build where I was actually trying to make a 3950x system as cheap as possible. The person using this system is doing purely modeling tasks and never ever even reached the 32gb mark, the extra added 32gm of ram is just in case and when we use his machine for DR while he is not there if you know what I mean :).

Now I am just totally confused and had to make sure we are still in the same thread :- D. I am strictly going by what Giona wrote as request.
« Last Edit: 2020-01-24, 16:13:46 by Juraj Talcik »
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2020-01-24, 16:18:06
Reply #27

Vuk

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I mentioned overclocking because I said that most AIO's could keep up with this cpu at stock especially if he goes the MicroATX route with a slightly bigger case then the N case.
As for RGB who knows maybe he actually likes RGB :) don't be so judgemental of RGB :). The Cooler you linked is not that widespread on other markets in Europe so in 99% of the cases you are usually left with ASetek RGB or non-RGB choice :).


2020-01-24, 23:00:44
Reply #28

Giona

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I mentioned overclocking because I said that most AIO's could keep up with this cpu at stock especially if he goes the MicroATX route with a slightly bigger case then the N case.
As for RGB who knows maybe he actually likes RGB :) don't be so judgemental of RGB :). The Cooler you linked is not that widespread on other markets in Europe so in 99% of the cases you are usually left with ASetek RGB or non-RGB choice :).



OT:
LOL, back in the days I was a fan of RGB. Almost 7 years ago I had also some UV neon lights inside my pc :) (and terrible cables managment)



Luckly now I have better tastes..

End of the OT.

Of course I'm not considering overclocking for a build like that.
Anyway the more I think about it, the more I want to directly buy 128gb of RAM for this new pc.

So to recap your suggestions, it seems smarter to choose an Intel i9-10980XE if I really want to keep the small factor.
Otherwhise if I'll decide to forget about portability I should go with a Threadripper 3960X build.

Is it correct?

Any suggestions about the storage? Should I consider SSDs both for OS and project/assets? Or M.2 for OS? I'm not very up to date about this..

Thanks again for the help guys.

2020-01-25, 16:13:35
Reply #29

Juraj

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Quote
Should I consider SSDs both for OS and project/assets? Or M.2 for OS? I'm not very up to date about this..

You should consider SSD for everything if you have money for it.
M.2 is form factor (layout + connector), not type of SSD, it can internally be slower SATA (which is both interface & form factor as well) or NVMe/PCIe (same, but one refers to internal and other to external interface) which is faster, but only in sequential read/write like transfering lot of big files at same time.

When it comes to software speed, it doesn't matter if it's SATA or NVMe SSD. And even for SATA SSDs, m.2 is better form factor because it's small, can be placed on board and doesn't need cables. But "SATA & SATA" like Samsung 860 is same speed as "SATA m.2" like Samsung 960. "NVMe m.2" like Samsung 970 is the fast one.

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2020-01-25, 19:07:57
Reply #30

Giona

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You should consider SSD for everything if you have money for it.


Thanks for the explanation.
This morning I went to get a quote at my local shop, and they convinced me to avoid the too compact cases.

About the storage they said that SSD can be faulty when used with a lot of read and write tasks. So basically they suggested ssd (m.2) for OS, another ssd to be used while working with projects, and then 2 HDD in raid for backup. I should move the projects files to the HDD when I finish to work on them.
It seems a quite strange setup to me..

If I want a Ryzen 3950X it could be really difficult to find 128gb of ram, because of the 4 dimm on the motherboards. Especially if I want to follow the qvl list.
In fact they have none at the moment.

For the Threadripper 3960X they proposed an Asus Prime x399-A motherboard. It seems to be the cheapest option, but is it good enough?
For cooling they suggested the Coolermaster ML240 TR4. Can it work or is better to look elsewhere?

2020-01-26, 13:17:11
Reply #31

twoheads

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As Dell Precision M6800 long time user (5 years +) I can write few things about it:

If you don't need to buy "laptop" just don't, unless you really, really need it and want to travel with it. Working in max, modeling and rendering is possible but let's be frank it's pain in the ass.

Not familiar with new generation of dell's mobile workstations but previous is really solid (metal brick solid so to speak) it's built to last. I'm sure you'll be able to leave it to your grandchildren.

It's huge and heavy compared to regular laptops. But it's possible to fly with this brick though. We are talking about 4kg+ here so please keep that in mind :)



cheers


2020-01-26, 15:19:54
Reply #32

Juraj

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So..lot of things :- )

- Longevity of SSDs is no longer an issue. Most of them have minimum "full-rewrite" of hundreds terabytes. That's just minimum guarantee, they will absolutely go much longer. They will survive longer than HDDs, don't worry about that.
- But expensive SSDs will live longer because of their higher-end NAND flash memory (SLC for corporate grade, MLC/TLC for everyday use, and QLC for budget oriented storage). Alternatively, 3D XPoint/Optane for super ultra corporate high-end.

- QLV lists are almost worthless, they barely test anything useful. You will find very few 64/128/256GB kits being tested.
128 (4x16GB) is no problem at all for 3950X, I run it like that. I bought two kits of Corsair 3200 CL16 2x32GB, and it runs super stable at 3200 CL16 at 4x32GB on Asus Strix-E X570.

- Are you sure they proposed X399 Prime and not TRX40 Prime? You need TRX40 board for 3rd gen Threadripper, not X399 which is last generation.
- Every single TRX40 board is good enough to run both Threadrippers, even Asus Prime.

- ML240 TR4 is not a good a cooler. The reason is that while it has copper plate that covers the full heatspreader of TR4 socket CPUs, internally the cold-plate (where the water touches the surface) is still under-sized because it's the same Asetek patented one as every single other on market. This cooler only pretends to be better, but is not.

There are the only TR4 designed coolers: Noctua UH14s TR4 (Excellent), Arctic Freezer 50 TR4 (Good), Wraithripper (Good), SilverArrow TR4 (Very good) and single water AIO Enermax Liqtech TR4 (Excellent cooling, very poor quality).

If any shop suggests something else, they don't know enough about Threadrippers.
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2020-01-26, 17:10:31
Reply #33

Giona

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As Dell Precision M6800 long time user (5 years +) I can write few things about it:

If you don't need to buy "laptop" just don't, unless you really, really need it and want to travel with it. Working in max, modeling and rendering is possible but let's be frank it's pain in the ass.

Not familiar with new generation of dell's mobile workstations but previous is really solid (metal brick solid so to speak) it's built to last. I'm sure you'll be able to leave it to your grandchildren.

It's huge and heavy compared to regular laptops. But it's possible to fly with this brick though. We are talking about 4kg+ here so please keep that in mind :)



cheers



Yes, I know really well those mobile workstations because I owned the M6500 and still using the M6800 :)
The M6800 was a beast back in the days and I did a lot of works with it. Keeping it rendering overnight. They're made really well.
In the past these kind of laptop were absolutely necessary, but nowdays I probably need less portability.
So I changed idea and probably I'll buy a standard workstation.

2020-01-26, 17:18:40
Reply #34

Giona

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- QLV lists are almost worthless, they barely test anything useful. You will find very few 64/128/256GB kits being tested.
128 (4x16GB) is no problem at all for 3950X, I run it like that. I bought two kits of Corsair 3200 CL16 2x32GB, and it runs super stable at 3200 CL16 at 4x32GB on Asus Strix-E X570.

- ML240 TR4 is not a good a cooler. The reason is that while it has copper plate that covers the full heatspreader of TR4 socket CPUs, internally the cold-plate (where the water touches the surface) is still under-sized because it's the same Asetek patented one as every single other on market. This cooler only pretends to be better, but is not.



I'll ask to the shop guy to try to find the Corsair Kit3200 CL16 4x32GB, because my first choice would be to build a Ryzen 3950X workstation. The Threadripper 3960X is quite expensive.
If I'll opt for the TR I'll go with the Noctua UH14s TR4.



- Are you sure they proposed X399 Prime and not TRX40 Prime? You need TRX40 board for 3rd gen Threadripper, not X399 which is last generation.
- Every single TRX40 board is good enough to run both Threadrippers, even Asus Prime.


Yes, in the quote they wrote Asus MB Prime X399-A. They made a quick search just to give me a rough idea of the prices.
I'll report this to the guy in order to select the correct one, the Asus TRX40-Pro. It looks far superior to the X399-A.


2020-01-26, 17:34:27
Reply #35

Juraj

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It's not about superior, you can't use X399 :- ) It's old generation, they are not compatible. X399 is for 1/2xxx Threadrippers only. TRX40 is only for 3xxx. It can't be combined in different way.

You can use 4x32 even for Threadripper, 4x32 is better than 8x16 because it puts less stress on CPU and allows you to upgrade to 8x32 in future.
So you should buy 32GB modules in any case, regardless of going with Ryzen, Threadripper, or Intel.

The 3200/CL16 4-kit is only available in little more expensive Corsair RGB Pro modules, which have worse compatibility with air coolers.
If you want the low-profile Corsair LPX, Corsair doesn't make it in 4-kit. That's why you have to buy 2x 2-kit. It's the same result..
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2020-01-28, 08:21:02
Reply #36

Giona

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It's not about superior, you can't use X399 :- ) It's old generation, they are not compatible. X399 is for 1/2xxx Threadrippers only. TRX40 is only for 3xxx. It can't be combined in different way.

You can use 4x32 even for Threadripper, 4x32 is better than 8x16 because it puts less stress on CPU and allows you to upgrade to 8x32 in future.
So you should buy 32GB modules in any case, regardless of going with Ryzen, Threadripper, or Intel.

The 3200/CL16 4-kit is only available in little more expensive Corsair RGB Pro modules, which have worse compatibility with air coolers.
If you want the low-profile Corsair LPX, Corsair doesn't make it in 4-kit. That's why you have to buy 2x 2-kit. It's the same result..

Hi Juraj, in your recent build with Ryzen 3950X are you using this memory kit? https://www.corsair.com/it/it/Categorie/Prodotti/Memoria/Vengeance-PRO-RGB-Black/p/CMW128GX4M4E3200C16

I'm asking because I'd like to buy the same kit that you already tested as working with the Asus Rog Strix x570-E mainboard.

The low profile Corsair LPX seems to be available in 4x32 3600MHz CL18, or 2666 C16. Otherwise, as you said, there is the 2x32 3200 C16.

Are you using the Noctua NH-D15 without problems with these kit of memory?

Thanks!

2020-01-28, 09:54:43
Reply #37

Juraj

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Yes exactly those. Corsair doesn't have all memory kits even on website btw, there is like twice as many more ;- ) It's odd.

Yes, NH-D15 fits over every low-profile memory with no issue. And the updates (D15S? or both) have cutout that covers even taller ram. But it's still better to buy low profile because of fans that still have to sit on top (otherwise necessary to swap for 120mm)."
But D15 is not available for Threadripper, just in case, only Ryzen.



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2020-01-28, 10:04:57
Reply #38

Giona

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Ok great.
I'll see if the shop can find the low profile kit. Have you ever tested those on some of your pc?

2020-01-28, 10:09:20
Reply #39

Juraj

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What ?
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2020-01-28, 10:13:40
Reply #40

Giona

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I was wondering if you tested also the Corsair LPX kit, or just the RGB Pro kit.

2020-01-28, 10:19:00
Reply #41

Juraj

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I was wondering if you tested also the Corsair LPX kit, or just the RGB Pro kit.

The above photo is PC I built with the LPX kit. The RGB Pro I have on build with water loops.

Internally it's the same memory they just sell it with different heatsinks and I always buy what is available/cheaper at the moment.
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2020-01-31, 10:59:03
Reply #42

Giona

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Hi Juraj, I have one last question about RAM compatibility :)
The shop is able to find a kit o 4x32gb Corsair Dominator Platinum RGB DDR4 3.200 Mhz, CL16.
Do you think it will work on the Asus Rog strix x570-E?
I know that you're using the Vengeance kit, I would prefer to buy the same, but seems difficult to find..

Thanks!

2020-01-31, 12:13:45
Reply #43

Philip kelly

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Juraj
Can I ask whats rendering are you doing with Graphics Card worth €2,500.
Are you GPU based or CPU, I thought you only really used Corona?
Lovely looking machine build.
Dell Precision T7910

2020-02-03, 10:21:03
Reply #44

Juraj

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I did not pay so much for them :- ). There are lot of Quadros on Auctions like eBay (brand-new) from system integrators within companies.

It's for the memory, we really need 16GB Vram. For multiple 3dsMax scenes open at same time mainly. Viewport, no GPU rendering for us :- ).
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2020-02-03, 19:31:01
Reply #45

Juraj

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The shop is able to find a kit o 4x32gb Corsair Dominator Platinum RGB DDR4 3.200 Mhz, CL16.


For my whole life...I can't find anything like that anywhere on internet. If it does, quickly buy two packages for me as well :- ).
Not to doubt your IT company... but are they sure they didn't find "32(4x 8GB)" instead? Because I can't find any 32GB DIMM Dominators.

Anyway, I can't guarantee shit, you're always taking the same risk with memory if it's not on QVL (and nothing is ever there). You can always return it.
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2020-02-03, 19:52:42
Reply #46

Giona

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For my whole life...I can't find anything like that anywhere on internet. If it does, quickly buy two packages for me as well :- ).
Not to doubt your IT company... but are they sure they didn't find "32(4x 8GB)" instead? Because I can't find any 32GB DIMM Dominators.

Anyway, I can't guarantee shit, you're always taking the same risk with memory if it's not on QVL (and nothing is ever there). You can always return it.

Ahah if you want that mysterious kit is available on this online shop (probably it has the same supplier as the shop that will build my pc): http://www.drako.it/drako_catalog/product_info.php?products_id=23495

Anyway the shop is trying to contact his supplier because it looks strange to them too. On Corsair website it doesn't exists.
Still waiting for an answer though..

I'm thinking to go back to the Threadripper build, even if it will cost more, it's way easier to assemble that with 128gb.

*just noticed that the SKU code for that kit on the online shop is the same code for this Vengeance kit: https://www.corsair.com/it/it/Categorie/Prodotti/Memoria/Vengeance-PRO-RGB-Black/p/CMW128GX4M4E3200C16

Probably they're selling the vengeance kit, but with wrong description.
« Last Edit: 2020-02-03, 19:56:06 by giona4 »

2020-02-03, 20:11:40
Reply #47

Juraj

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Even for Threadripper, 4x32 is better than 8x16 (less stress on memory controller..and option to upgrade in future).

There is no difference between Vengeance LPX and Vengeance RGB Pro, just different heatsink.
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2020-02-18, 11:26:50
Reply #48

Giona

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Finally the workstation has arrived. Not as portable as initially planned though :)

Ryzen 9 3950X
Asus ROG Strix X570-E Gaming
128GB Corsair Vengeance LPX 3200Mhz
RTX 2070 Super
WD 500GB NVMe
Crucial 1TB SSD
2 Seagate Barracuda 2TB in Raid 1 for storage and backup
Noctua NH U12A
Coolermaster V850 Platinum
Coolermaster Masterbox TD500

And yes, it has RGB :)







2020-02-18, 13:23:24
Reply #49

STHA

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I did not pay so much for them :- ). There are lot of Quadros on Auctions like eBay (brand-new) from system integrators within companies.

It's for the memory, we really need 16GB Vram. For multiple 3dsMax scenes open at same time mainly. Viewport, no GPU rendering for us :- ).

Dude! - I found some for almost 700 off the RRP -
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NVIDIA-Quadro-RTX-5000-16GB-GDDR6-Turing-Ray-Tracing-Workstation-Graphic-Card/133337267082?hash=item1f0b853b8a:g:F8QAAOSwP~leSyb6

Although I do not use it, but It was suggested for a prebuilt as I am not allowed to custom build a new work pc.


Nice build giona4!. I got a few parts already for my own. waiting to get the other stuff soom.

2020-05-10, 12:53:38
Reply #50

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Finally the workstation has arrived. Not as portable as initially planned though :)

Ryzen 9 3950X
Asus ROG Strix X570-E Gaming
128GB Corsair Vengeance LPX 3200Mhz
RTX 2070 Super
WD 500GB NVMe
Crucial 1TB SSD
2 Seagate Barracuda 2TB in Raid 1 for storage and backup
Noctua NH U12A
Coolermaster V850 Platinum
Coolermaster Masterbox TD500

And yes, it has RGB :)





I want to mount a mobile workstation similar to yours with the cerberus case. I will take her in a backpack on weekends to another home. How has your experience been with this case?

2020-05-10, 18:26:05
Reply #51

Giona

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I want to mount a mobile workstation similar to yours with the cerberus case. I will take her in a backpack on weekends to another home. How has your experience been with this case?

I have a different case, the Cerberus X was not easy to find and I was in a hurry to assemble the workstation.
The case I'm using is a Coolermaster Masterbox TD500 and so far I'm satisfied. I like it and seems well built, but is not something you can put in a backpack.