Workstation - Parallel work

Hardware Build a PC
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Hello,

Sorry for long post, but i like some feedback on the components i am putting together.
Boss has given thumbs up for a new rig. [location Europe, pricing < ~2500€]
Good thing Wendell is doing a 4 parter in this domain right now :slight_smile:

Basic work:

  • Running linux (probably Arch/Manjaro distro)
  • programming & compilation
    • from embedded, to HPC [C, C++, java, kotlin, python, really just about everything…)
    • i should spend most of my time in research of parallel & distributed systems
    • in future we do plan to branch our algorithms to GPU / accelerators, but this can be upgraded later
  • running tests & builds in background
  • Virtual machines (windows, linux)

I want it to be quiet, hassle [driver] free and able to turn RGB off!
I do not need crazy amount of PCI lanes or memory, so HEDT is not necessary

Based on that, i was aiming for upcoming 3950x:

  • CPU - 3950x (prefer over 2950x due to cache)

    • BeQuiet Dark Rock Pro 4 cooler [~30€ cheaper than D15, is it ok?]
      I want it to be quiet, but not keen on AIO for long term

  • MB - x570 board - targeting around 350€

    • sufficient vrm for 3950x, 4x dimm slots, 2x ethernet, bluetooth 5.0, at least on pci4 m.2
      • nice to have: second m.2, > 4 Sata ports, thunderbolt 3,
    • Upcoming x570 creator looks ok, might be quite expensive
      also colleague can not set WOL on x299 taichi, so i’m a bit skeptical about asrock support
      Here is Geizhals link to filtered MB https://bit.ly/2Pemq3i , Any opinions about these?
      • Asus ROG Strix x570-E Gaming
      • AsRock x570 phantom gaming x
      • MSI MEG x570 Ace
      • Gigabyte x570 aorous master
      • Asus ROG crosshair VIII Hero [wifi]

  • RAM - 2x 16gb of 3600Hz (are timings still important? Best P/P option?) Would like to leave 2 slots empty for future upgrades if need be.

  • GPU - Radeon 5700 / 5700 XT

    • 1x4k + 2x fullHd outputs
    • little to no games, but might use for compute (mainly fp 64)
    • RDNA seems to be relatively ~OK~ for computing
      • vega 64/56 seems a bit better for compute, but long term support?
    • will probably go OpenCL / sycl route, due to non-proprietary nature, rather than CUDA
    • Vega 7 seems to be EOL (16gb and large fp64 seem very, very, very enticing though…), but is still a ~bit more expensive
    • would like to avoid nvidia due to bad experiences with their drivers
      • if p/p is better, than nvidia is still an option

  • SSD - [Corsair MP600 1tb SSD] or [Gigabyte aorous Gen4 1tb] or [Adata PXG gammix 1tb], whatever will be cheapest when buying

  • HDD - 2-4TB HDD for temporary backup and work files (again, whatever will be cheapest)

  • Case -BeQuiet Silent base 601 (should be quiet and still provide enough airflow, if i read correctly)

  • PSU - 750W (80+, modular)

Is there anything that seems wrong with this build? I’d really appreciate MB and RAM suggestions.
I feel like for GPU even rx570 would be enough, i’d just like longer driver support…

Thanks in advance for your input

1 Like
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Ignore me confusing TR4 and AM4 please

Get an TR4 (= SP3) cooler instead.

Better options:

3

Upcoming 3950x should be x570, so i don’t think these would fit.

Also i don’t think for my use case HEDT is necessary (i don’t need PCI lanes or extreme amounts of ram) .

4

You are right. I did a complete brain fart.