I NEED YOU! : £4000 Gaming & Workstation PC Build Support

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Hey all,

I am looking to upgrade a 5-year old desktop to a more current and dare I say "Future-proof" machine and I would like to enlist the expertise of the OCUK forums to guide this process!

I am going with AMD for the CPU and Nvidia for the GPU with the aim of attaining fast Photoshop & Premiere Pro multitasking as well as gaming performance and upgradeability as I have a PC workbench on order to test and build additional PCs for friends.

The current spec list I have going is as follows, including a few peripherals that also needed updates:

PC Build:

* AMD Ryzen 3950x
* Nvidia RTX 2080TI Founders Edition
* X570 Gigabyte Aorus Master WiFi Motherboard
* Seagate 3TB Barracuda HDD 3.5" 7200rpm 256mb Cache
* Corsair MP510 NVMe M.2 SSD (Boot Drive & AAA Game Storage alongside Adobe File Storage)
* G.Skill Trident Z Neo 32GB (2x16gb) DDR4 3600mhz CL16 RAM
* Corsair RM750x Fully Modular 80 PLus Gold Certified PSU
* Lian Li PC-011 Dynamic Razer Edition
* Corsair QL120 Fans & Core Module (x6 Units)
* NZXT Z73 LCD AIO 360mm with 3x 120mm PWN Fans (Included).

Peripherals:

* Logitech G502 Hero White Edition Wired Mouse
* Secretlab Omega Cookies & Cream Edition
* Gigabyte Aorus FI27Q IPS Gaming Monitor

This build all in comes to around £4200 Total including the required Peripherals at current p,rices not including any promotions or discounts.

This is the build I am aiming for. I am going to be purchasing during one of the annual promotional windows where either retailer' are offering seasonal discounts or new hardware is about to come through, bringing existing prices down to compensate.

Is there anywhere I can save money for similar performance?
Are there better alternative parts for the aspects I have listed here?
What recommendations would you have for changes to be made?

I truly believe OCUK has the expertise to help me out here and I would be grateful for any and all input provided by the community. Yes, of course, the build will be published here when it is ordered and put together by myself!

For those interested, the build this new one would supersede is as follow:

Existing Build:

* CPU: Intel I5-4690k
* GPU: Nvidia GeForce GTX 960
* RAM: 8GB
* MOBO: ASUS H81

Not sure on full spec gives you an idea the jump i am looking to invest into. XD


Thanks all and have a great day!
 
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Thank you, Bongo, for your research into the needs outlined and provided a really comprehensive response.

Threadripper was definitely a route I had not considered due to its workstation orientation. However, perhaps I am swinging more in favour of the gaming side as opposed to the workstation side as I should be.

I am very much a fan of subdued builds with minimalistic design inspiration. I am going for a "Blackout" Design Inspiration after having compared across the RGB cost to performance compared to similar performing non-rgb components. Sure, it will not look as good on Instagram or just sat within the workstation but then again, the performance will be streaks ahead with a Threadripper build as you have outlined compared to the 3950x.

I do not entirely understand the Threadripper line of CPU'. Can someone with the knowledge here provide me a TLDR on their range that I can use to perform deeper research?

Thanks all so far!
 
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You said future proof so i would loose the 2080ti straight away and use it to pay for a big TR.

The 2080ti will loose its crown in less than 6 months i would think, it will almost certainly be at least 3rd if not 5th best card. For the massive money NVIDIA wants for this card its not an easy buy for me....
However nothing is going to come even close to tickling TRs next year... well unless Intel wants to lie again... ohh wait that will happen...
 
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So what I can deduce, assuming that TR means Threadripper. Is that the 2080ti should be dropped for whatever GPU' come out next or simply downgraded to another GPU within Nvidia' current lineup, or to invest in whatever AMD brings to the GPU market given their current strong performance in the CPU space.

Sorry I am still a bit confused on that particular point @sideways14a
 
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And only 16GB of DDR4 3200mhz RAM? Would that not throttle the system performance. Especially with a Threadripper.

its best to buy a quad channel set of ram that way the threadripper cpu can use all available bandwidth, a true quad channel kit of 32gb would be great, regarding the 2080ti i'd say hold off as in the next couple of months nvidia should drop details of next gen gpu's which on paper make the current 2080ti look pretty slow, time will tell if that's actually true
 
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Does anyone know of any good videos benchmarking the threadripper against Intel competing CPU' and AMD' lower range of CPU' such as the 3900x / 3950x etc.

Cheers all so far!
 
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Basically its not easy to future proof your graphics side as gpus tend to improve so much in each product jump this years top card may well only be 5th or 6ths next year so if you still want to have a cutting edge system you will have to get next years top GPU and the cycle continues.
Threadripper chips wont be challenged for a while yet and when they do it will almost certainly be by AMD themselves.
 
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i'd personally poor most of my cash into the pc bar the gpu, that way you have time to save up for NVIDIA's next gen gpu, if you have a spare gpu at hand use that until the new cards drop, when they do get one install and holy crap you'll have one hell of a machine that will do everything and quickly too :)
 
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Alrighty, all! Thank you for all your responses thus far, if anyone wishes to chime in with their views and opinions on this build then please do so. I have all notifications on for this thread as it updates and will do my best to reply to all of those that contribute.

Potentially could be called the "Black Pearl"? Just an idea I have been toying with having a complete blacked out system with subtle black RGB elements.

Interesting possibilities at play here, I will keep the thread updated.

Thanks all so far!
 
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I do not entirely understand the Threadripper line of CPU'. Can someone with the knowledge here provide me a TLDR on their range that I can use to perform deeper research?

And only 16GB of DDR4 3200mhz RAM? Would that not throttle the system performance. Especially with a Threadripper.

I put 2 16GB kits on that spec as you need at least 4 sticks of memory to make the most of TR.
TR is quad channel rather than dual channel like Ryzen (this benefits apps that can make use of additional memory bandwidth)

Main differences between TR and regular Ryzen:
  • Quad channel memory, and a 256gb limit for RAM
  • Higher core counts (24 to 64 core)
  • Way more PCIE lanes, so you can pretty much have as many NVME drives, GPUs, NICs as you could want
TR is probably only worth it if your able to take advantage of the extra cores, memory, or PCIE lanes
 
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Alright. I have had a look over the Threadripper. I think Ryzen, in the form of the 3950x or whatever comes next generation if that comes by the time I decide to purchase will be the chipset I go for. TR seems very professional workstation focused whereas my build I believe is much more enthusiast based as things sit.

Eventually I may see the complete value in TR but cannot really justify it now. Holding back on the GPU is an excellent idea, as such, I'll keep tabs on the next set of GPU' released and make a decision then.

Keep the info coming guys!
 
Soldato
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Definitely don't go for t he 2080 Ti. Especially not an expensive one. Rather, look at the 2080 Super and 2070 Super as interim cards, setting aside £1000 for a 3080 Ti.

If you're serious on Premier then Threadripper is the wy to go. Time is money, after all.
 
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