Hey everyone, a friend of mine just landed some serious funding for a new project, so she asked me to put together a high-end workstation for 3D modeling and animation (Rhino, Autodesk Fusion, 3ds Max, Blender).
Here’s what I’ve cobbled together from Micro Center:
She was advised to hold off until the RTX 30-series hits the US—any idea when those might actually be available here?
Zen 3 probably won't be hitting our local shelves for at least another month or two, and she can't wait that long because she likely needs to enter a competition before then.
So, I know the GPU is a bit of a question mark, but any smart suggestions or changes for the rest of the build?
Look, I’m just telling you—you'll need at least ~40GB just for a barebones OS. You might find things getting pretty tight with 240GB if you're planning on running several dozen virtual machines.
The integrated graphics on the 4750G are basically on par with a GTX 1050, so buying some cheap, low-end dedicated card—one that's actually weaker than what you already have built-in—is just a waste of money.
You could even squeeze an 8C/16T 4750G into this setup:
You might get closer to $4,000 if you swap in an extra 240GB SSD, though if you're planning on running a bunch of virtual machines, you'll run out of space pretty fast. This build handles light gaming just fine without any dedicated GPU, but add a decent card later and you've got a real machine.
It’s honestly wild to even consider the 10600K when isn't planning on overclocking anyway. And if they do decide to OC, once you factor in the cost of a Z490 motherboard and a beefy enough cooler to handle the heat, you’re basically looking at the price of an 10700 (if not more). Since the OP is going to be doing a ton of multitasking, those extra cores and threads are going to serve them way better than just squeezing out a higher clock speed on a 10600K.
The guys are just trolling you because you still haven't mentioned a budget 🙂 A good sweet spot would be an AMD Ryzen 7 3700X, or maybe the AMD Threadripper 3990X if you're serious about this and don't mind spending the cash.
Honestly, this B450 Tomahawk is a better value than any B550 board you could grab for similar cash, so I'd stick with the B450.
Regarding the monitor, you'll mostly notice the difference in competitive games where quick reflexes are everything. But if you want 144Hz, you need a GPU that can consistently push over 100-120 FPS. The GTX 1070 handles that easily in lighter titles like CS:GO or maybe BF4. Battlefield V is still a bit iffy, though. So, in my opinion, if you're upgrading to a 144Hz monitor, you should probably look into a beefier graphics card too.
Regarding the processors and those price gaps—it's the exact same chip. It’s just that different suppliers set their own margins, so you see varying prices for the same item. Obviously, you just grab the cheapest one; the hardware doesn't change. As for the build, that's pretty much it. The B450 Tomahawk is a total steal when you pair it with a Ryzen 5 3600 and 16GB of fast DDR4. You can't go wrong there. 😉
If I were you, I'd just drop in a Ryzen 5 3600 CPU, a B450 motherboard, and 16GB of DDR4 RAM. That GTX 1070 is actually still a pretty solid card, especially if you're sticking to 1080p. The processor is definitely the major bottleneck here.
I honestly think they’re getting so old at this point that I wouldn't even dare touch them. It's basically asking to lose everything you invest into it 🙂
Man, nobody wants to hear that they overpaid for something, but it is what it is. Who here is willing to step up and say, "Don't shoot the messenger"? 😬
A 160GB hard drive is at least ten years old; honestly, it’s barely worth a cheap beer 🙂 Even then, you're overpaying, regardless of whether it's actually worth $17 as much as a used HDD
Walter Thompson78 said:I picked up a PC a few months back for $767, and looking back, I definitely overpaid. I could have gotten much more bang for my buck. What's a realistic resale price for this thing today? It's in great shape and runs perfectly without any issues.
Windows 10 Pro. Case: ANTEC NX220, MIDI, ATX, window, black, no power supply. $67 Motherboard: MSI H61 Motherboard. $50 CPU: Intel Core i5-2400 @ 3.10GHz (4 Cores/4 Threads) $50 GPU: Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 3GB (GIGABYTE) GDDR5 $200 RAM: DDR3 2x4GB (Apple/KINGSTON) 1333MHz $67 HDD: 2 UNITS. One is 465GB AND THE OTHER IS UP TO 160. $50 Corsair: Not sure what model, haven't checked yet. ~$50 hopefully it's a decent one
It'll work. The rx570 pulls about 140-150W at most, so the whole setup should draw around 200W on the 12V rail. From what I can see, that PSU delivers 27A on the 12V line, which comes out to roughly 324W total—so you're well within the safe zone. Honestly, for that price, it's a pretty solid deal for a power supply.
That’s weird. When you select the 1650S in the sidebar filters, it doesn't even show up. The first one that pops up for me is an ASUS model for $486. It has half the NVIDIA compared to similar performance levels, but costs more—so I just went with the 5800XT instead (plus it has a better cooler). At this rate, for $67, the 1650S is definitely a worse deal than the .
swiftscout21 said:I could do that too, provided I can find a store that offers installment plans... My budget is $5,000 max, though ideally closer to $4,600... thanks
Shipping is basically free at almost any retailer these days, so there’s really no point in limiting yourself to one specific city when everything is handled through online shops and delivery services anyway.
As for the build itself, I wouldn't change a thing. If you really want to drive the price down, the only move would be swapping in a 500GB SSD and calling it a day. Best Buy That would shave about $300 off the total, but you'd end up with half the storage space.