AMD Ryzen Threadripper 7960X Houdini and RedShift

Hey everyone,

I may not be very experienced with PC configurations, but I've done my best to gather information before seeking your advice.

I'm aware that the CPU and motherboard aren't currently available but should be at the end of the mounth. What are your thoughts on whether the setup will work?

Here's the configuration I'm considering for Black Friday:

CPU: AMD Ryzen™ Threadripper™ 7960X
CPU Cooler: Artic Liquid Freezer II 420 RGB
Motherboard: WRX90 motherboards
GPU: MSI GeForce RTX 4090 Ventus x2
Memory: 256GB Kingston Fury Beast Black DDR5 6000
Storage PCIe-SSD: Samsung 980 PRO 2TB * 3
Storage : HardDive 2x 10T en Red
Power Supply: 2500 ?
Case: NZXT H9 Flow



All the best,
Vincent

This looks like a great build! I'm curious how the CPUs perform in single-core workloads, as Redshift does benefit from this. 5.3GHz Boost Frequency, though, looks like it'll perform quite well.

AMD officially states DDR5-5200 support, but I'm sure there'll be higher frequency supported, though it might depend on the motherboard and RAM modules.

If you're only using 2x 4090, you could also go with a TRX50 motherboard, which has more than enough PCIe Lanes and will most likely be a lot cheaper than WRX90.

2500W PSU is probably not needed. You should be able to get away with a 1600W PSU with high-quality power delivery unless you're planning on adding more GPUs in the future.

Looking forward to the release on the 21st of November. AMD states "select CPUs" to be available for DIY, not sure if they're holding back any?

Hey Alex,

Thanks a bunch for your thoughts!

So, when it comes to motherboards, I've got the vibe that the big deal is the number of RAM slots available.

I went with the WRX90 instead of the TRX50, thinking this might mean I can fit in more RAM. What do you think about it? https://www.asrock.com/news/index.asp?iD=5302

Appreciate your time and help!

Vincent

WRX90 has a max RAM capacity of 2TB, TRX50 of 1TB. I'm guessing you won't reach either of those ceilings? TRX50 has Quad channel max if I remember correctly, vs Octa-Channel on WRX90, but personally, that feature wouldn't make me go WRX90.

Will you be buying 8 RAM modules and need Octa-Channel? The workloads you're running (houdini and reshift) will see no performance difference with 4 vs 8 channels.

Hi Alex,

I appreciate your response. It seems I won't need more than 256 RAM after all.

I have a question. I noticed your affiliate link for online orders. Do you happen to have a link for shipping to Switzerland?

We don't, unfortunately. I'm guessing you'll buy at brack or digitech?

Sure thing!

Check out my Christmas list, haha:

https://www.digitec.ch/en/shoplist/show/b4bc95438680cdffd375248f9ad6b4cf

But, I'm still waiting for the CPU and motherboard to become available.

Awesome! Have you looked into other NVMe Drives such as the Seagate Firecuda? Samsung Pro is great, but there are strong competitors on the market currently. Especially price-wise.

Could even go PCIe5.

Good to know thank you !
Like this one ?

Yes, check out the test here (in german): https://www.computerbase.de/2023-08/seagate-firecuda-540-test/#abschnitt_theoretische_leistung

Seems better than what Samsung has to offer currently, even better than the 990 Pro. The Crucial looks nice as well, at least in sequential performance.

Vielen Dank for sharing the link! I appreciate you taking the time to provide such valuable information. The Seagate FireCuda 540 does seem like an impressive option, especially compared to Samsung's offerings. I'll definitely check out the Crucial too, especially for its sequential performance.

Thanks again for your help! By the way, do you happen to have any recommendations for an SLI connector for two 4090RTXs? I'm exploring my options and any advice would be greatly appreciated. Danke!

Nvidia doesn't add NVLINK or SLI to consumer GPUs anymore, so sadly no connecting the two 4090. Redshift renders just as well without the NVLINK connection, but, of course, you won't have the stacked VRAM. 24 GB, though, per card, usually is sufficient for 99% of the scenes.