Suitable CPU to pair with 2X 2080TI built

Hardware Build a PC
1

Hello friends. After some animation render tests we did on our files in 3dsmax me and my partner decided we’d better go with a workstation computer based two video cards like the 2080TI in nvlink and not to buy and render on a processor-based computer like the 2990WX.
Every test i render with my 1080TI was away away faster then to render the same scenes with my 5820K @ 4100Mhz, so i think i go the GPU based render workstation system.
That’s the spec I’ve been thinking about

GA-X399-AORUS-XTREME - Gigabyte
AMD Ryzen Threadripper 2 2950X / 2920x
64GB (4x16GB) 3200MHz DDR4 CL16 DIMM XMP HyperX Predator RGB
Enthoo Evolv X Glass or dark base 900 REV2
1200W HX PSU CORSAIR
NVMe ADATA XPG SX8200 Pro 1TB
2X GeForce RTX2080Ti XLR8 OC Triple Fan
AORUS NVLINK™ BRIDGE 4-Slot
Phanteks Halos LUX 140mm RGB LED fan Frame
NH-U14S-TR4-SP3 - Noctua

but my dilemmas are do I need a 16-core processor if in most cases I’m an going to render on a GPU based engine like VRAY NEXT GPU?
Or is it better to purchase a cheaper 12 or 8 cores TR processor or maybe go on Intel with fewer cores fewer PCI-E lanes but a higher clock speed and cheaper too?
In regard with the RAM so far in all the scenes I did not have a message that I ran out of memory with 32GB memory so will 64GB improve my performance in the system overall or unused memory just sits there and do nothing performance wise? RAM prices are very high at the moment.
should i go for the evolv x? or with 2 2080Ti the full tower darkbase 900 the cards will have more space?
thank you!

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we’d better go with a workstation computer based two video cards

Yes. If you’re rendering, crypto mining, or doing machine learning, offloading to GPUs is vastly superior.

If you’re going to be offloading compute loads to GPU, you really don’t need many cores at all. You need PCIe lanes and decent bus speed, but almost every modern board will give you enough to drive 2 GPUs.

do I need a 16-core processor

No. You could run that just fine on a dual core if you wanted. The additional core will help elsewhere though. Like letting you render in the background, and opening up other apps. Very useful for a workstation with professional loads, but strictly speaking, not needed. If you’re going to tuck that box in a corner and only use it for GPU rendering, you could use a budget Ryzen processor if you wanted.

If you’ll be using it for creation of images, the more cores you have, the better. Threadripper is a great platform, and works really well from a price/performance standpoint.

Or is it better to purchase a cheaper 12 or 8 cores TR processor or maybe go on Intel with fewer cores fewer PCI-E lanes but a higher clock speed and cheaper too?

More cores is always better, but if you’re trying to stick to a budget, you can go fewer cores. Using Threadripper gen 1 might save you a little bit, too.

In regard with the RAM so far in all the scenes I did not have a message that I ran out of memory with 32GB memory so will 64GB improve my performance in the system overall or unused memory just sits there and do nothing performance wise?

If you have 64GB of RAM, and your applications use 14GB of RAM, the remaining 50GB RAM is used to cache. This will make your system feel snappier when you load new things, but it won’t improve the performance of applications since they’re not bottlenecked by RAM.

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