Configuration for 3d Animation and Rendering, high-end and budget version requested

[Seranuelian]

Hello,

I am currently trying to build a fairly strong and all round work station for 3d Animation and Rendering tasks. I used the PC builder on this site to get a good idea, however I wanted to prepare a high-end and a budget version of the rig. I'd like to ask what you think of it, and if there are good opportunities to make the Budget version cheaper.

• Budget is ~3k for the high end version and ~2k, if possible less, for the budget version.
• Workloads are: 3D Modeling, Animation, Rendering of single Images and Videos. This is in the scope for marketing and advertisement, not high poly 3d models or the like.
• I am not looking to upgrade the PC in the next couple years.
• I am shopping from Germany

High-End:
PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 5950X 3.4 GHz 16-Core Processor (€537.99 @ Mindfactory)
CPU Cooler: be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 4 50.5 CFM CPU Cooler (€74.90 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Motherboard: MSI MAG X570 TOMAHAWK WIFI ATX AM4 Motherboard (€234.00 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Memory: G.Skill Trident Z RGB 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-4400 CL19 Memory (€200.89 @ Alternate)
Storage: Western Digital WD_Black SN850 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive (€144.99 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti 12 GB FTW3 ULTRA GAMING LE iCX3 Video Card (€1439.00 @ Alza)
Case: Fractal Design Define R5 ATX Mid Tower Case (€134.59 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Power Supply: Corsair RMx (2021) 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply (€139.90 @ Alza)
Total: €2906.26
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2022-05-02 17:10 CEST+0200

Budget:
PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 5900X 3.7 GHz 12-Core Processor (€407.99 @ Mindfactory)
CPU Cooler: be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 4 50.5 CFM CPU Cooler (€74.90 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Motherboard: MSI MAG X570 TOMAHAWK WIFI ATX AM4 Motherboard (€234.00 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Memory: G.Skill Trident Z RGB 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-4400 CL19 Memory (€200.89 @ Alternate)
Storage: Western Digital WD_Black SN850 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive (€144.99 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Video Card: Palit GeForce RTX 3080 10GB 10 GB GamingPro Video Card (€1005.99 @ Alternate)
Case: Fractal Design Define R5 ATX Mid Tower Case (€134.59 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Power Supply: Corsair RMx (2018) 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply (€103.34 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Total: €2306.69
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2022-05-02 17:11 CEST+0200

I felt reluctant to downgrade from GeForce 3080, because the difference between it and 3070 or 3060 is quite significant and I feel that starting with a strong GPU is better in the long run, than trying some solution where I eventually have multiple lower GPU's.

Furthermore it feels like trying to build a budget version seems ineffective in the long run, cost wise. Please teach me whether it would be worth it, to build a cheaper configuration with a 1800€ budget and upgrade it in near years or not.

 

[Alex Glawion]

Looks good to me! What render engine and software will you be using? Any plans on adding more GPUs in the future? (That would need some adjusting)

 

[Jerry James]

I felt reluctant to downgrade from GeForce 3080, because the difference between it and 3070 or 3060 is quite significant and I feel that starting with a strong GPU is better in the long run, than trying some solution where I eventually have multiple lower GPU's.

Yep, this is true. You can keep the GC unchanged.

Furthermore it feels like trying to build a budget version seems ineffective in the long run, cost wise. Please teach me whether it would be worth it, to build a cheaper configuration with a 1800€ budget and upgrade it in near years or not.

Neither super high-end nor ultra-budget work out too great from a value POV.
I always recommend shopping right in the middle of the market for parts that don't affect your work too much. So, if you're GPU rendering - grab the strongest graphics card you can buy, and build around it.

Other parts should allow a decent upgrade path to better hardware without affecting your work right now.

As an example, hop down to a B550 motherboard but keep your Power supply at 850W. Also, check if your workloads will use those additional CPU cores effectively. If not, drop down to an 8-core Ryzen (5800X/5700X) instead of the 12-core. This should get you two years without too much hassle.

If your power supply has enough juice, you can swap out that RTX 3080 for something more modern down the line without touching anything else.

Ditch that memory kit for either a 3200 CL16 kit or a 3600 CL18 kit. They're usually the best bang-for-buck purchases. More info about Ryzen memory here - https://www.cgdirector.com/best-memory-ram-amd-ryzen-cpus-3600-3700x-3900x/