[UK] Custom build PC for VR & vfx work

[RobPhoboS]

I'm looking at purchasing a new machine to my extremely aging one (watercooled, i7 2600k 4.8Ghz, 16Gb DD3 1600 ram, 1070Ti) that I built back in 2011 (grabbed the 1070ti a couple of years ago).
Obviously now is looking like a total SShow for buying stuff but I'm just trying to see what I can do.
I'll have to get it on finance, and looking for a fair priced UK place to pre-build it I guess as that's the only way I'll get a GPU. I'd love a 3080 but that might be pushing my luck, or my stomach with the pricing.
It's a dual use machine, both for VFX work (will need about 64Gb ram, ideally expandable in the future), and the CPU needs to be pretty nippy, boosting to 5Ghz.

Do you guys have any recommendations for places to try and any difference now with AMD/Intel for VR ? (note UK only)

Cheers for any help !

 

[Turk]

When it comes to VR the more power the better, ideally you would go for a 3080 but like you say the prices are nuts, I don't think there really is an alternative that hasn't also got nutty prices so your as well off waiting until you can get a 3080 at MSRP, which is probably a year off at least. I don't thin AMD are on par with Nvidia and their prices are way overblown for what your getting.

It can kind of depend on which sim your aiming for. If it's ACC, then get as much performance as you can, there probably isn't a PC setup available that can run ACC maxed out in VR.

When it comes to CPU I'm looking at AMD, I think their new batch of CPUs wiped the floor with Intels. I'm looking at maybe buying a new CPU/Motherboard and going from a i7 8086K which works well with ACC but there are a few issues with my current PC that I feel like I've been trying to fix since I bought it. So I'm thinking I just upgrade the problem away. When it comes to work PC for VFX work I think AMD are winning there too.

I'll watch this thread with interest because I'm kind of in the same boat. My PC with the i7 and a 2070 super should be the low bar for making VR work in ACC.

 

[Lloyd Johnston]

Well I've been through the wringer getting a Pre-Build PC this year.

Got mine from: https://www.scan.co.uk/

Like you I needed it for gaming and vfx work, so ordered a bloody exspensive PC:

5950X
RTX 3080 (this changed, read on)
128GB Ram
x2 - 1tb m.2 nvme drives

Now I ordered it on the 3rd of Feb and because last/this year has been a joke for getting computer tech it took 4 months to get it. CPU and GPU where the hold up.

So about 3 months in when the 5950X came into stock I asked about the 3080 that was due to come in and they had no ETA on it. So I asked did they have 3090s and they did so I paided an extra £650 to upgrade from the 3080 to the 3090 so all the items would be instock and it could go to build (the 3080 is still out of stock now).

Now comes the wringer bit, a couple of weeks later it did arrive BUT it needed to travel from england to Northern Ireland and got bashed up in the delivery vans etc.

Which damage the CPU cooler, motherboard and the GPU - bummer.

So I called them and to be far they arranged for it to be picked up the next working day (Monday) and it wen't back and they totally rebuilt the system and sent it out again.

Second time it arrive in good working order (I did need to poke a cable out of the way that had got into the CPU fan) BUT during the second build they missed one of the m.2 nvme drives so it arrive with just 1 of the 2. They refunded me for the 2nd one, took a couple of phone calls to get that but I have it now.

If I was doing it again I would have put a 2tb m.2 nvme drive in so I didn't have a chance they would miss the second one. My idea was to read from one and write to the other but they are so fast now I'm not sure it would make that big of a difference for video editing, at least at 1080p.

But it left me a bit short on storange space so I bought this to use with it:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08HN37XC1/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Oh and I also have a regular Hard Disk in it but it so slow now compared to m.2 nvme.

Overall it seems like a good build and has been running fine.

 

[RobPhoboS]

I really appreciate your replies guys !
And what a palaver you had dealt to you LJ !
Also your machine sounds like it was quite costly

I think I'd also roll with AMD for the CPU, 64Gb ram will be ok for now (expandable to 128Gb would be useful), and I'm not sure really what to do when it comes to the GPU, sounds like Nvidia are still the better choice for VR ?
A 3090 is just unobtanium for me, I can't justify spending what I'd normally pay for my whole PC build (granted as you can tell, I've not built one for some time).
With the M2 drives, can you use one as the main bootable drive ?

I don't urgently need a machine right this second, my day to day work is VPN to our machines in the office thankfully. And I did manage to deal with some decent quality exr, true 4k shots on my own machine, it wasn't fast but I got there.
If I get more side gigs, then yes I'll certainly be needing a machine sooner than later.
And on that line because I can justify it for work, well I guess I can spend a bit more due to tax stuff.

When it comes to what we're all here for, racing.. Well predominantly I'm messing around in AC and PC2.
I do load up RF2 and ACC (I prefer having more car class options tbh) occasionally but I'm only playing off-line, I've not dared venture into online racing yet in any of the racing games as I've no idea what to do

I'll keep an eye on several YT channels, and try to inform myself as best as I can but I guess ultimately it'll come down to what is available at a price I can stomach, plus the finance option too.
I've used scan many times but I'm not sure their pricing is really as good as it once was now?

 

[danclark]

I self-built my PC with a 5600x CPU and 3080FE in late April for sensible money (about £1300 exc monitor). Most of it was fairly standard just using comparison sites to get the best available price from places with stock.

The key was getting the GPU from Scan thanks to a discord alert called ctrlaltstock. I know three other people who managed to get a 3080FE from Scan the same way in recent months. Scan's anti-scalping measures are really good and do seem to prevent the bots getting them. They sell out in several minutes not seconds so you actually have a chance. You should make an account on Scan in advance and also enter your payment info so you can one-click order whenever the alert pops. I actually made an error entering my billing address but still managed got the card despite the delay. Also sometimes the alerts are actually ahead of the link working, so try hitting F5 a few times if it initially appears broken or says the cards are unavailable. It seemed as though they release batches every minute or so rather than all at once,

Getting an FE of any GPU is pretty much the holy grail in terms of value for money right now. In the UK Scan are the only supplier of FEs so in effect are the only supplier of RRP GPUs. Good luck.

 

[Turk]

With the M2 drives, can you use one as the main bootable drive ?

Yes, they show up in windows exactly the same way as any other hard drive. I went for an NVME and a sata, used the NVME for the boot drive. The NVME sounds like it's overkill at the moment and you won't notice any difference between the NVME and a SATA. The SATA ones are cheaper (when I was buying they were cheaper than an SSD) and I don't see any reason not to use them instead of a SSD depending on available slots..

What might be worth trying now is getting into a cue for a 3080 card, it will probably be months before you see it anyway. The other options are just waiting, or sitting on websites waiting for them to drop. From what I could see you can get CPUs and everything else you'd need.

 

[Fennario]

AVADirect custom pre-built for production and gaming. Went with Intel for Thunderbolt4 and to ensure compatibility with my production software. Took a while for them to source the components but was able to lock my pricing in back in March. Not sure if they ship to the UK, and if so what the upcharge would be.

10900k
3090 EVGA XC3 Ultra
Z590 Hero
1tb Samsung 980 Pro
Seasonic Prime 1000w
32gb GSkill 3600 mt/s (16-16-16-36)
Fractal Meshify2
Noctua 140mm fans

 

[maelstrom]

Went with Intel for Thunderbolt4 and to ensure compatibility with my production software.

I’m curious - which piece of production software needed an Intel processor for compatibility?

 

[Fennario]

It was an agonizing choice between it or a 5900/5950 on an Asrock Creator board. At the end of the day I knowingly left some performance on the table in exchange for 100% compatibility with legacy hardware/software. The additional processing time does not affect my workflow but an unstable system would. Also, given GPU acceleration/offloading there will not be much real world impact (both gaming and production).

Should have been more specific with respect to software/driver issues. Thunderbolt reliability is critical and have a large library of 3rd party Adobe filters and image processing software suites (Lightroom, Corel, Photoshop, Topaz, DxO, etc.) - most of which is Intel optimized and/or does not benefit from high core counts. Would probably have been ok with AMD but peace of mind was more important.

TL;DR - old saying, "nobody ever got fired for buying IBM"

 

[RobPhoboS]

Right, just over a year later and I'm still desperate to get a new machine, and the wife can use the old one for work. Nice.

So the situation is roughly the same, a little bit of private work sometimes, although most of that has shifted to what my vfx job is normally like - and that's logging in remotely to a workstation.
And obviously more importantly it's for VR racing

That was a quick go at a build.

But now I see some flipping Nvidia 4xxx cards are immanent too.
Any advice, thoughts on the above would be lovely.

 

[hotak]

Most motherboards have 2 M2 slots now, might be worth looking for a second NVMe disk instead of the normal SSD (or just get a 4/8 TB HDD).
I got a 3900X with 128GB RAM and a 3080 12GB and it runs a reverb G2 quite good, but some titles (mainly rFactor2) seem to be a bit CPU limited and need to reduce graphics options that increase draw calls (mainly poligonal details). I want to get a 5900X or 5950X soon (I use the PC for machine learning too, so I may need the extra cores)

 

[RobPhoboS]

I see that the new AMD Ryzen 7000 cpu's are meant to be out later this month. I guess I should wait for their release, and see what happens to the pricing.
Either to get one of those new ones or hopefully the prices may come down on my shopping list. (unless the energy pricing increases everything !)