Threadripper + RTX 4090 Workstation for Cinema 4D & Corona?

[TMD]

Hello fellow professionals,

I hope this message finds you well. Our visualisation studio is in the process of selecting a new workstation configuration specifically tailored for Cinema 4D and Chaos Corona rendering. We have received several offers from different suppliers, each with their own approach to optimising performance, reliability, and cost. Before making a final decision, we would greatly appreciate your insights and feedback on the following configuration.

Base Configuration:

   •   CPU: AMD Ryzen Threadripper 7970X or Threadripper PRO 5975WX
   •   GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 or RTX 4080
   •   RAM: 256GB DDR5 (5200 MHz or 5600 MHz, ECC optional)
   •   Storage: Samsung 990 PRO or Kingston KC3000 SSDs
   •   Motherboard: ASUS Pro WS TRX50-SAGE WIFI, Supermicro MBD-M12SWA-TF-B, or GIGABYTE TRX50 AERO D
   •   Cooling: Air cooling with options like ARCTIC Freezer 4U-M, Phanteks T30 Fans, Noctua CPU Cooler, or BeQuiet! Pure Wings, with the possibility of liquid cooling.

We plan to use three separate storage drives to optimise system performance, project management, and render efficiency:

   1.   System Drive (1TB SSD): For OS and software.
   2.   Work Data Drive (4TB SSD): For large project files.
   3.   Cache/Scratch Drive (1-2TB SSD): For temporary files and rendering cache.

Component Variants:

   •   CPU: Considering both Threadripper 7970X and Threadripper PRO 5975WX.
   •   GPU: Debating between RTX 4090 for maximum performance and RTX 4080 as a cost-effective alternative.
   •   RAM: Exploring options between 5200 MHz and 5600 MHz DDR5, with some configurations offering ECC.
   •   Storage: Deciding between Samsung 990 PRO and Kingston KC3000 for SSDs.
   •   Motherboard: Considering ASUS Pro WS TRX50-SAGE WIFI, Supermicro MBD-M12SWA-TF-B, and GIGABYTE TRX50 AERO D.
   •   Cooling: Evaluating air cooling solutions with potential for liquid cooling if necessary.

Conclusion:

We aim to balance performance, stability, and budget, so any feedback on these configurations, or suggestions for potential improvements, would be highly appreciated. Your expertise could greatly assist us in making an informed decision.

Thank you in advance for your time and insights!

Best regards,
Ondrej Chudy
Founding Partner at TMD
www.tmd.studio

[TomG]

"GPU: Debating between RTX 4090 for maximum performance and RTX 4080 as a cost-effective alternative."

Remember that Corona is purely CPU based, so the GPU only makes a difference in DCC viewport performance. Of course you may also be considering other software such as Vantage that the machine may have to run, where the GPU is relevant. But for Corona, you could even go for less than a 4080 and be just fine :)

[Bzuco]

So roughly 6500€.
For that price I would rather go with two identical PC for studio:
AMD 9950x, 64/128GB RAM, 500GB SSD system+software, 2TB project/cache, rtx 4060ti 16GB(fully enough for fluent 3D viewport, displaying hires textures, GPU denoising) if there are no plans for GPU rendering in the future, air cooling with 2 fans, or 240mm water cooling if office need to be quiet.
Both PC connected to network 4TB SSD with textures and models library. 2.5Gbit/s(320MB/s) network, which is enough speed for loading textures for first render. After first render, everything is in RAM memory, so no pressure for network bandwidth.
The rest of the money can be used for other necessary software licenses.

But if you really want to stay only with one PC, then threadripper is fine. Not sure if you will be able to utilize more than 128GB RAM. About RTX4090, same opinion as TomG. ECC memory only if you have plans to keep PC several days without restarting and shutting down.

[Nejc Kilar]

Howdy!

Those are some really awesome specs either way you flip it but at the same time to me they are two completely different tiers of system.

The 5975WX build is based on the WRX80 workstation platform meaning you get ALL the bells and whistles in terms of expansion capabilities (and other "pro features" like IPMI access that I don't think HEDT TRX50 has) that Zen 3 offers.
That said it is a Zen 3 system so two generations old by now.

On the other hand you have the 7970x which is an HEDT part which means it is a bit more cut down compared to WRX80 (mainly if you need more expansion slots although Zen 4 HEDT has PCI-E gen 5 now compared to 4 on the WRX80) but is noticeably faster than the 5975WX build for when it comes to rendering.

All in all I think you might have to ask yourself what do you need more? Is it rendering speed / compute power or the actual platform itself (aka more expansion slots and IPMI access and the like)?

Personally, if this is mainly to be used for rendering and you don't need a crap ton of IT compliance I'd go with the 7970x. It still has enough expansion slots to fit 2x GPUs (and some of them are PCI-E gen 5) plus if you got slim (think Quadro GPUs) expansion cards you can still have separate addons in there. The ASUS TRX50 Sage for example has 5 usable PCI-E slots which imho is plenty enough. You should double check it but fitting in a single GPU and a couple of NVMEs expanion cards (for up to like 8 drives) should be doable imho. And even that might be overkill depending on your workload.

GPU wise I think a 4080 should be more than fine if you're primarily using the system to do Corona / CPU rendering. Unless you're video editing and doing a crap ton of AI upscaling at the same. I haven't seen many benchmarks but viewport wise 16GB should be more than plenty plus the actual difference in viewport FPS I doubt it'll be noticeable. C4D runs into all kinds of bottlenecks before GPU becomes the biggest problem I think. Do consider VRAM limitations if you're running simulation with the new GPU solvers though.

Memory wise you'll have to go RDIMM (ECC) memory if you go with the 7970x build. Double check this please but I'm pretty certain you can do UDIMM (non ECC) memory on the WRX80. I keep forgetting what I'm running (also on WRX80). It will cost you a little bit more going TRX50 in this case but do remember the 7970x is quite a bit faster for rendering than the 5975wx.

I don't think I'd over complicate it with memory speeds. If you can easily digest the 5600mhz price tag I'd say go with it. If you can't I do think 5200mhz will work just fine as it shouldn't be a noticeable change unless you're high refresh rate gaming or have memory speed intensive workloads (rendering is not).

Storage you've got pretty nicely picked out although I'd maybe suggest looking into Kioxia and WD too. WD has some really sweet deals lately on some of their stuff.

Motherboards I'd say go with whatever floats your boat in terms of the layout and brands you wanna deal with. Personally I'm on the WRX80 ASUS Sage atm and it's a really nice experience. Mileage does vary as everyone has different experiences with different brands and vendors.

Cooling wise, the 7970x won't be "easy" from what I'm reading. It's basically the 3970x on steroids which I do own and can attest it does require solid airflow with a beefy cooler. A lot of people seem to recommend quality AIO / water cooling for this part although between you and me, I'd probably try my fortune with a Noctua U14s with two fans and an airflow focused case (Fractal Design Torrent is great for that imho) - I'm really scared of leaks myself.

So yep, those are my 5 cents. Hope it is helpful :) Oh and don't forget, its all just my own opinion :)