to start off I give you the specs of my actual rig and then my thoughts about my needs for my new rig. I need some basic help to decide on what plattform I want to go now. Thanks for reading and helping me.
Actual Plattform:
AsRock Taichi X399 AMD Threadripper
Threadripper 1900X
32 GB DDR4 RAM
4 x 500 GB Nvme PCIe Gen 3 in Raid 0 with encrypted ZFS
GTX 1080
10GBit LAN Card PCIe Gen 3 x4
Ubuntu 22.04 with KdeNeon Desktop
UseCase:
Transcode a lot of videos and creating Videos (Davinci Resolve and self compiled ffmpeg)
develop small programs and compile some programs
use different VM’s for special usecases (Windows 10/11 VM’s)
Why to update:
interested to transcode Videos to AV1 codec (with hwaccel and ffmpeg)
need a cpu with better single core performance
love to build custom watercooling (have 2x 360 Radiators) and it’s time to do another custom build
My thoughts and my questions:
First, I’m not sure if I should to Buy 2x Intel Optane 905P 1,5 TB to but them in ZFS Raid 0 with encryption, or if I should by to 2TB Nvme Gen 5 SSD for my use cases
Second, I’m not sure if I should go with an AM5 Plattform with 28 PCIe Gen 5 Lanes (to put my two Disks into two nvme Gen5 Slots connected to the CPU (there is a few Mainboards that support that) or another Plattform with enough PCIe Lanes to connect my two Disks directly to the CPU
Third, I’m would love to go once with an AMD GPU, but have no experience with using ffmpeg and hwaccel for AV1 encoding (don’t forget that I also want to have hwaccel in decoding h264 and h265 so that I can completely transcode with hwaccel). And I need GPU support in Davinci Resolve for content creating.
So what kind of answers do help me:
is it worth to go with the more expencive Optane Drives and it’s “troubles” to ensure everything is working fine? So for example, which adapters would be the right one for connecting them to the Plattform?
Can I do my Build with an AM5 Plattform? Or does it have to be Threadripper again? I think it is too expensive now adays for my needs (I want to try not to spend more than 2 Grants)
Would a AMD Card be less difficult do go working with my needs of Davinci Resolve and ffmpeg with hwacceleration?
My thoughts on hardware:
Intel Optane 905P 1,6TB or 2TB MP700 NVMe SSD or 2TB T700 NVMe SSD or 2TB FireCuda 540 NVMe
What drives will give me the best user experience? Do you have better suggestions? What adapter would work when I want to use the Optane Drives?
Plattform:
ProArt X670E-Creator WiFI, AMD X670E-Mainboard with
Ryzen 7 7700X or Ryzen 7 7800X3D
Is there a better solution? I think that with that I would be able to stay close to 2 Grant, but with Threatripper I wont for sure. Is that the right Mobo to connect the two drives and what CPU do you think would be the better one for my use case?
AMD GPU:
AMD 7600XT or even a better one to stay within the 2000 Grant? I could also stay on my GTX 1080 or put both GPU in my ring? What are your thoughts on that?
Thank you for sharing your experience an opinions with me. I appreciate it.
Your current setup contains a list of unusual choices - not wrong, I’d just call them uncommon.
HEDT platform (Threadripper), seemingly professional use case, but storage organized in non-redundant RAID0. This strikes me as unusual on the surface. Your storage setup combined with 10gbit networking suggests that you treat local storage as temporary and actively use a networked storage location for permanent storage.
Performance optimized storage (RAID), but using encryption. Encryption obviously provides security/privacy at the cost of performance. This seems to suggest that you’re concerned about a threat actor having physical access to your computer. ZFS encryption does not protect against threats on a live/booted system.
Answers:
Choose high-end m.2 drives. Today, I’d look for gen4 m.2 nvme drives. I expect by the end of the year gen5 drives may be a reasonable choice for a performance-minded setup. The Optane 905 drives are gen3 only. While they offer superior latency when accessing files, the added cost and the bandwidth deficiency compared to high-end m.2 drives make them second choice in my opinion. Especially, considering that your use cases don’t seem to be constrained by storage latency. W/o personal experience I think the Firecuda is a good drive. Also consider WD SN850X drives. Look for the new T705 Gen5 drive, but price/performance currently seems to point to Gen 4 drives.
IMHO in 2024 Threadripper platform is indicated when a) the AM5 platform doesn’t offer enough compute horsepower (CPU limited or memory limited), or b) the system requirements demand more PCIe lanes than the consumer platform offers. Obviously, you’re the only one to judge this, but I don’t see anything in your requirements that would not allow you to stay on AM5. Mind you, selection of a motherboard on AM5 can be very tricky. Look for m.2/PCI slots with direct CPU lanes and consider how much value you will receive from chipset-connected m.2/PCI slots. I think the X670E mobos are too expensive for what they offer and you’re likely better served with B650 boards. Today, I cannot think of a reason to pay extra for Gen5 connectivity on AM5 platform as choices for peripherals are rare. Go for B650E if you plan on using Gen5 nvmes.
Choice of GPU vendor almost reached religious levels in 2024. There are plenty of reasons to choose team red or team green. There are even good reasons to choose team blue. After some horrific experiences in ancient times (ATI) I switched to team green and find myself well served over many generations of cards. I don’t think there are technical reasons to move. IMHO the primary motivator is cost. If you made efficient price/performance based choices on 1. and 2. I can imagine your budget to provide access to mid-level NVidia GPUs. However, if your rig is selected on price/performance principals you will be hard-pressed to select a NVidia GPU in 2024.
Thank you for your comment. Your assumtions are right, my data on my system do not have to be permanently stored, but are somewhat to be worked on and are always stored on NAS Systems right after beeing used or transformed.
The encryption is to play around but it is a full encryption, also with the boot section encrypted. I use ZFS to be able to use snapshots when I compiled a programm and it does not work as I want it to be I can co back. That is the reason why I use ZFS - I have been using BTRFS for the last couple of years.
Thank you for your reply about the nvme drives and the plattform. That helps me alot. Dom