Help with 2k Build - Non Gaming, Video Editing, CAD Work Station

Shpox on 05/12/2021 - 15:39

Hello Crew,

My PC is quite old. Current specs:
ASUS p8Z68-V Pro
i7-2600k @ 3.4 ghz
Zalman CNPS10X
G Skill 16G (2x8G) DDR3 1600MHZ
Sapphire Radeon HD 5770 Vapor-X
Seasonic S12 550W PSU
CoolerMaster RC-692

I am currently running a 3 monitor setup and using this PC predominantly for Autodesk Programs, Rendering, CAD & Lightroom. Basically the entire Adobe & Autodesk suites with the occasional bit of real-time rendering and video editing. I don't game. Is anything in this build salvageable or worth anything?

I'm finding that programs are getting quite slow and am wondering if I should upgrade to a more modern PC. Lightroom and AfterFX are particularly slow and I cannot update to Windows 11. I would have loved to use something like a new Macbook, but I just don't think the programs and workflow I have can be sustained.

I am after some for build advice. My only real constraint is that it must be quiet. Not closed off to pre-built systems either like the ones being posted on occasion here or the Dell Specials.

Ideally: 32GB Ram, 3070 or 3060 and a quiet case and a decent brand PSU.
A few sata slots and 2x NVME SSD slots would also be ideal.

Does this sound like a pre-built to you to go below 2k or should I just fork up the cash and buy everything separate?

Computing Computer Desktop Computer

Comments

  • Xpaw on 05/12/2021 - 16:12

    Have you considered an amd build? 5600x or so would outperform most other CPU, or even find a 3900x/5900x for extra cores/threads.

    • Shpox on 05/12/2021 - 16:48

      I'm not too upto date with the current hardware but would be more than happy with an AMD build!

  • garetz on 05/12/2021 - 16:50
    -1

    Save more money and spend 4-5k, 2k wont be enough for cad and rendering as the video card you need will be most of your budget.

    • Shpox on 05/12/2021 - 17:00
      +1

      Eek, I was kind of hoping this would last me 2 years before upgrading.

      This is where I have got too:
      PCPartPicker Part List: https://au.pcpartpicker.com/list/gbxs68

      CPU: *AMD Ryzen 5 5600X 3.7 GHz 6-Core Processor ($449.00 @ Amazon Australia)
      Motherboard: MSI B550-A PRO ATX AM4 Motherboard ($164.77 @ JW Computers)
      Memory: Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3600 CL18 Memory ($219.00 @ BPC Technology)
      Storage: Samsung 970 Evo Plus 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive ($155.00 @ BPC Technology)
      Video Card: Asus GeForce RTX 3060 Ti 8 GB DUAL OC Video Card ($1299.00 @ Computer Alliance)
      Case: Lian Li Lancool II Mesh ATX Mid Tower Case ($159.00 @ PCCaseGear)
      Power Supply: Corsair SF 750 W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully Modular SFX Power Supply ($209.00 @ PC Byte)
      Total: $2654.77
      Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
      *Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria
      Generated by PCPartPicker 2021-12-05 16:59 AEDT+1100

      • garetz on 05/12/2021 - 17:02

        This is a good build, but i would want at least a 3080, preferably 3090 for longevity.

        • Shpox on 05/12/2021 - 23:17

          Thanks.

          How does something like this compare? Which has a 3080 but ideally none of the other components I'm after. I could upgrade the RAM and it'd be somewhat close
          https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/668509

          • garetz on 06/12/2021 - 00:34
            -2

            @Shpox: The video card is the most important part, so if you are happy with the other components for the price, go for it.

      • Zorololo on 06/12/2021 - 04:24

        I feel like garetz is sending you down the wrong path if you were still activity working with your current setup. The 3060ti is still like 3 or 4 times faster than that HD 5770. Sure, it would be nice to buy a 3090 but buying one now is kind stupid with how crazy the prices are. I would go with the 3060ti then you can upgrade to the 3090 later when hopefully the prices go back to normal.

        Also maybe check out a Intel Core i5 10400 rather than the 5600x if you want to save some money, a little slower than the Ryzen, but same amount of cores and half the price. Still would be way better than the 2600k.

      • zrmx on 06/12/2021 - 15:23
        +1

        Good list. A couple of further considerations.

        CPU: Not very familiar with whether the CAD workload is more single threaded or multi-threaded. If more multi-threaded, and if your budget can stretch, 5800X prices have became more reasonable than beginning of the year, and the per core cost is actually on-par or better than 5600X, if you need the extra cores.

        Motherboard: good board.

        Memory: If you don't mind no RGB, and assuming you won't be further manual OC your memory as stability is important for your workload, then you can save some bucks by getting 2x16GB 3600MHz CL18 kit without RGB. (E.g. https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B091FKD2N3, ~$185 if you have Amazon Prime, may take a while from US though). The savings can probably go towards an aftermarket CPU cooler for even quieter operation.

        Storage: Good choice and good price.

        Video Card: If you are used to working with a RTX 3070 at work, then yea 3060 Ti is the closest and likely least bad value that's worth the bigger cash. Wait for deals that pop up every now and then though to get it at $999 or at least closer to it.

        Case: Great case.

        PSU: any reason you are going for a SFX when you're doing a full ATX build? For the likely lower noise? or…? As ATX PSU at similar power and efficiency rating will be cheaper.

        If you are in no hurry, a lot of the times deals pop up and snap up the parts separately will help save some bucks too.

        Cheers

        Updated your list above with some of my changes above and adjusted to average OzBargain deal prices including delivery.

        CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 5600X 3.7 GHz 6-Core Processor (~$365)
        Motherboard: MSI B550-A PRO ATX AM4 Motherboard (~$162)
        Memory: TEAMGROUP T-Create Expert 2 x 16GB 3600MHz DDR4 CL18, https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B091FKD2N3 (~$185)
        Storage: Samsung 970 Evo Plus 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive ($155.00 @ MWave, https://www.mwave.com.au/product/samsung-970-evo-plus-1tb-nv…, for free shipping due to current $20 off delivery promo)
        Video Card: RTX 3060 Ti 8 GB ($1000 @ whenever deal pops up)
        Case: Lian Li Lancool II Mesh seems to be out of stock at a lot of places. Scorptec has it in stock, but shipping is quite expensive.
        The Lancool II Mesh RGB variant (includes 3 front ARGB 120mm PWM fans), or the Lancool II Mesh Performance variant (Include 1 rear fan, and 2 140mm front fans) sells for $169 at CentreCom with free shipping to metro areas.
        PSU: Left untouched in case if you have your own reasons ($209.00 @ PC Byte)
        Total: ~$2245

        • Shpox on 09/12/2021 - 22:57

          Perfect, thank you mate. No reasons for the PSU other than good reviews. The Case I'm open on, just as long as it's quiet. Thanks for the help.

  • AndyC1 on 05/12/2021 - 17:27

    Why do you need a dedicated 3070 or 3060 GPU when you can get an AMD 5700G and save the money. One downside of a 5700G V's 5600X is the 5700G is PCI Express 3 compared to the 5600X which is PCI Express 4. Comapred to what you have not even 3 will be allot better.

    Also the money you save on the AMD 5700G you can put towards a SAMSUNG 980 Pro in order to get a very fast SSD.

    In your price list you could get a cheaper case and power supply so you can also get a second SSD or HDD for storage of files you do not use very often. A 1TB SSD does not store allot of graphics and videos for transcoding/editing.

    • HaveANiceDay on 05/12/2021 - 21:07

      Why on earth would he use an integrated GPU for CAD and video editing?

      • AndyC1 on 05/12/2021 - 22:22

        CAD does not tax any GPU. 2D and 3D cad worked okay on old Pentium class CPU's with S3 GPU's as long as your design was an average house or something with this amount of lines/points.

        Video editing may be taxing on a GPU, but if the video editing using the AMD drivers then the 5700G GPU will be allot faster than the OP's current setup. In handbreak transcoding ran faster than real time on a 4K video that I transcoded when I got the AMD 5700G.

        Simple linear video editing will tax I/O, not GPU or CPU.
        For non linear video editing you need to look at the app and what it uses as they will vary allot and based on the initial post I would assume that OP is not using non linear video editing.

      • Shpox on 05/12/2021 - 23:13

        It would be okay, but typically in the cad work we are using Enscape for real-time rendering which is very much akin to a gaming engine. My work PC uses a 3070 and it's pretty sufficient for this.

        • AndyC1 on 06/12/2021 - 09:19

          Looks like Enscape hooks into your 3D CAD app and does the rendering. In this case does Enscape use the GPU for rendering or just displaying the image? I could not find real technical specs or PC requirements on the Enscape web site.

  • Cave Fire on 05/12/2021 - 17:39

    maybe look at Socialgood to get some of the components at 50% cashback (using ebay) in about two months? If you would move your brand preference to Adata for the nvme, it's 100% using Aliexpress + can buy brand name ram there too. Adata has an official store on Aliexpress. https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/648833

    • plmko on 05/12/2021 - 19:00

      You should never buy things with Socialgood expecting the cashback advertised. Worth the gamble but prepare for disappointment.

      • Cave Fire on 05/12/2021 - 19:25

        worked for me as advertised. In fact, there was a point where I could have withdrawn 2.8x my cashback. Token is kept at a range of .70 to $1 now.

  • TheBird on 05/12/2021 - 19:10

    Is anything in this build salvageable or worth anything?

    It's 10 years old. You could probably salvage the monitors. Even if you could salvage anything from the box itself, I'd start over again but you picked a bad time with the overly inflated price of video cards at the moment. I don't do cad, but from what I glanced, it doesn't need much GPU wise. Since your budget is on the low end and I've assumed you need a stable machine, you might be better waiting for the 3050 which are rumoured to be coming out late Jan 2021.

    My only real constraint is that it must be quiet.

    Do you mean, it needs to be quiet under load or while idle? Under load, either the cooling is going to cost a pretty penny. It also depends on what you call quiet and how temperature in the room the computer will run in. I typically suggest something like Noctua level fans/cooler but you could also look at a complete watercooled solution (CPU and Video Card). I believe there's only one 3070 that has Noctua fans.

    For a quality silent running machine, $2k ain't going to get you far. You're probably looking at the video card and the silent Seasonic power supply…. that alone will probably break the $2k mark. If I were you, I'd aim for a 11700k since you're sticking with Windows 10.

    • Shpox on 05/12/2021 - 23:16

      Air cooled and at idle. I don't mind some fan noise, but my current PC is just very loud hence I'd like to swing that the other way a little.

      Thanks for info, I intend to salvage my hard drives and monitors, but I'll ditch the box.

      I would like to upgrade to Windows 11. I am not up to speed with CPU's atm, but does this influence OS?

      CAD and Photoshop typically don't need too much GPU, but real-time rendering unfortunately does.

      • TheBird on 06/12/2021 - 08:54

        If you're going Windows 11, I'd go get a 12700k or a 12900k. They're significantly faster but from what I understand, some of the speed benefit comes from the new operating system features. Intel and Microsoft seemed to work close on that one.

        Also be aware, the hard drives (at a minimum, the boot drive) are important to how responsive a system feels.

        In regards to the real time rendering, are you talking Premiere Pro? If it is, it's typically very light on the GPU.

  • Juggernauto on 06/12/2021 - 11:06

    Build this, it will be quiet but you need to setup fan curves for case fans, cooler and GPU (as you would with any other build)

    PCPartPicker Part List

    Type Item Price
    CPU AMD Ryzen 7 5800X 3.8 GHz 8-Core Processor $557.99 @ Amazon Australia
    CPU Cooler *Scythe Ninja 5 43.03 CFM CPU Cooler $121.37 @ Amazon Australia
    Motherboard *Gigabyte B550M DS3H AC Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard $129.00 @ BPC Technology
    Memory *G.Skill Aegis 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory $179.00 @ Scorptec
    Storage *Kingston KC2500 500 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive $65.00 @ PLE Computers
    Storage *Seagate Constellation.2 1 TB 2.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive $18.26 @ Amazon Australia
    Video Card *ASRock Radeon RX 6600 8 GB Challenger D Video Card $749.00 @ Centre Com
    Case *Cooler Master MasterBox NR400 (w/ODD) MicroATX Mid Tower Case $89.00 @ PCCaseGear
    Power Supply *Cooler Master MWE Gold 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply $99.00 @ Amazon Australia
    Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
    Total $2007.62
    *Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria
    Generated by PCPartPicker 2021-12-06 11:05 AEDT+1100
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