Help! Animator with very little spec knowledge, £2.5k to chuck in

[Stuggz]

Hi all,
I'm a animator/motion designer using a combination of software (After Effects / Cinema4d / Redshift) with a £2.5k max budget... so have been advised that I need to balance out my RAM, CPU and GFX.
I don't much know what I'm doing but came up with the following, it'd be great to hear if you experts thought there were any obvious bottlenecks/over-specs hidden in there?

Case
FRACTAL FOCUS 2 ARGB GAMING CASE (BLACK)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i9 24-Core Processor i9-14900 (Up to 5.8 GHz) 36MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® PRIME Z790-P (LGA1700, DDR5, M.2 PCIe 4.0)
Memory (RAM)
64GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR5 5200MHz CL40 (2 x 32GB)
Graphics Card
16GB PNY NVIDIA RTX 2000 ADA GENERATION, 3328 CUDA CORES 4 x mDP
Graphics Card Support Bracket
PCS GRAPHICS CARD SUPPORT BRACKET
1st M.2 SSD Drive
2TB SAMSUNG 990 EVO PLUS M.2, PCIe 4.0 & 5.0 NVMe (up to 7250MB/R, 6300MB/W)
1st Storage Drive
2TB Samsung 870 EVO 2.5" SSD, SATA 6Gb/s (up to 560MB/sR | 530MB/sW)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 550W CX SERIES™ CX-550 POWER SUPPLY
Processor Cooling
PCS FrostFlow 200 Series High Performance CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND APPLICATION
Extra Case Fans
1 x 120mm Thermaltake TOUGHFAN 12 Case Fan
Monitor
PCSpecialist GD-27Q180 27" IPS Monitor - 2560x1440, 1MS, 180Hz

...which totals just under £2.5k all in.

Thanks!

Stuggz

 

[Stuggz]

Or, second thought, should I just get a quick-and-easy (and presumably sensibly specced) PCS ready-built? Since customising clearly isn't my forte, and these below look decent!
Get one for a bit lower than £2.5 and just buy myself a nice cake to celebrate with the winnings. 🎂

Also - AM I BEING A FOOL for dismissing Motherboards with 'gaming' in the title since that's not what I'm using it for?

 

[Stuggz]

Final one - motherboard.
All the advice on balancing out this system focusses on GPU / CPU / RAM etc, but what difference does the motherboard make? Performance, obviously - but how to compare that with numbers, compatibility with software (is that even an issue?) and between brands?

 

[TonyCarter]

I'd never go pre-built, as there are too many corners cut to give you a good-looking price (usually low-end motherboard, PSU, cooler, and single SSD).

I've tweaked the build somewhat to give you a modern AMD AM5 build and added a GPU that has more CUDA cores/oomph than the A2000.

Case
CORSAIR FRAME 4000D RS ARGB MODULAR - about the best budget case around at the moment, being solid, highly-customisable, and highly configurable as your needs change
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 9 9950X 16 Core CPU (4.3GHz-5.7GHz/80MB CACHE/AM5) - about the best all round non-gaming CPU out there, also uses less than half the power (and produces about half the waste heat of the i9; to get any better you'd be spending at least double on a Threadripper build
Motherboard
GIGABYTE B850 AORUS ELITE WIFI 7 (AM5, DDR5, M.2 PCIe 5.0, Wi-Fi 7) - slightly higher tier than the TUF option, but the next tier (Aorus 870E) is another £100
Memory (RAM)
64GB Corsair VENGEANCE RGB DDR5 6000MHz CL30 (2 x 32GB) - sweet spot of performance/cost for AMD AM5 CPUs
Graphics Card
16GB ZOTAC GEFORCE RTX 5060 Ti TWIN EDGE - HDMI, 3 x DP - about 50% more CUDA cores than the A2000
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB CORSAIR ELITE MP600 NVMe PCIe M.2 SSD (up to 7000 MB/R, 6200 MB/W) - smaller, fast primary drive for the OS and apps only
1st M.2 SSD Drive
4TB CORSAIR CORE XT MP600 NVMe PCIe M.2 SSD (up to 5000 MB/R, 4400 MB/W) - larger, but slightly slower secondary drive for everything else
Power Supply
CORSAIR 1000W RMx SERIES™ ATX 3.1, MODULAR, CYBENETICS GOLD - probably overkill for you current usage, but this is not that more expensive and will run super-efficient / cool / quiet over long rendering runs
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead, 1.0mm Core)
Processor Cooling
CORSAIR ICUE LINK TITAN 360 RX RGB HIGH PERFORMANCE CPU COOLER - will keep the CPU cool during heavy workloads, and can be tweaked to give you the balance of noise/performance that you're happy with
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
ONBOARD 2.5Gbe LAN PORT
Wireless Network Card
NONE OR ONBOARD Wi-Fi (MOTHERBOARD DEPENDENT)
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Windows 11 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10/11 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Google Chrome™
Monitor
PCSpecialist GD-27Q180 27" IPS Monitor - 2560x1440, 1MS, 180Hz - left this in, but I've no idea of the quality
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 6 to 8 working days
Price: £2,476.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am5-pc/FzX66jjZWZ/

 

[Stuggz]

Amazing, thanks Tony!

 

[Stuggz]

With your insights in mind I had a rethink - not exactly as you said but some of the considerations taken in:

Case
FRACTAL POP SILENT CASE TG (BLACK) - purely for ports on top, quiet, which suits my workspace.
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i7 20-Core Processor i7-14700KF (Up to 5.6GHz) 33MB Cache - as I Intel gives better bang for buck than AMD for AE - upgraded tho.
Motherboard
ASUS® PRIME Z790-P (LGA1700, DDR5, M.2 PCIe 4.0) - This is my main concern, it's old right? But more or less required for intel CPU
Memory (RAM)
96GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR5 5200MHz CL38 (4 x 24GB) - AE loves a big wedge of RAM. Is there ever a 'max speed for this motherboard' issue?
Graphics Card
16GB ZOTAC GEFORCE RTX 5070 Ti SOLID SFF - HDMI, 3 x DP - yeah big upgrade here.
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB SAMSUNG 990 PRO M.2, PCIe 4.0 NVMe (up to 7450MB/R, 6900MB/W)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB SAMSUNG 990 PRO M.2, PCIe 4.0 NVMe (up to 7450MB/R, 6900MB/W)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
2TB SAMSUNG 990 EVO PLUS M.2, PCIe 4.0 & 5.0 NVMe (up to 7250MB/R, 6300MB/W) - 3 SSDs - one each for for OS, disk cache and projects.
Power Supply
CORSAIR 750W RMe SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
PCS FrostFlow 200 Series High Performance CPU Cooler - how much worse can this be really? same wattage...
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND APPLICATION
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
ONBOARD LAN PORT
Wireless Network Card
WIRELESS INTEL® Wi-Fi 6E AX210 2,400Mbps/5GHz, 300Mbps/2.4GHz PCI-E CARD + BT 5.0
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Monitor
PCSpecialist GD-27Q180 27" IPS Monitor - 2560x1440, 1MS, 180Hz

...anyone else spot any oversights?

 

[Scott]

You don't want to go near Intel I'm afraid. They've been off the boil for many years and are a poor choice now. The 14700k is unlikely to be as good a performer for your uses against the 9950X, I would be amazed if it was even close even without the temp issues etc.

Quick check here sums up my thoughts. Now Puget have been well known over the years for some Intel bias, they don't highlight the Intel issues or shortcomings with design or future upgrade potential. The AM5 offerings are light years ahead here. Better value, better performance overall, lower power usage, future proof, etc, etc, etc.

Adobe After Effects: AMD Ryzen 9000 Series vs Intel Core 14th Gen

AMD's new Ryzen 9000 processors are here, but how do they compare to the previous generation Ryzen 7000 or Intel's Core 14th Gen processors in After Effects?

www.pugetsystems.com

 

[Stuggz]

Okay, thanks Scott!

One more bash at it then:

Case
FRACTAL POP SILENT CASE TG (BLACK)
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 9 9950X 16 Core CPU (4.3GHz-5.7GHz/80MB CACHE/AM5)
Motherboard
GIGABYTE B850 AORUS ELITE WIFI 7 (AM5, DDR5, M.2 PCIe 5.0, Wi-Fi 7)
Memory (RAM)
64GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR5 5600MHz CL40 (2 x 32GB)
Graphics Card
16GB ZOTAC GEFORCE RTX 5070 Ti SOLID SFF - HDMI, 3 x DP
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB SAMSUNG 990 EVO PLUS M.2, PCIe 4.0 & 5.0 NVMe (up to 7150MB/R, 6300MB/W)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB SAMSUNG 990 EVO PLUS M.2, PCIe 4.0 & 5.0 NVMe (up to 7150MB/R, 6300MB/W)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
2TB CORSAIR CORE XT MP600 NVMe PCIe M.2 SSD (up to 5000 MB/R, 4400 MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 750W RMe SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Processor Cooling
PCS FrostFlow 200 Series High Performance CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND APPLICATION

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am5-workstation/Rs7ZKmyXtM/

Cheers all,

S