[greyhound82]

Originally Posted by Amien

Not sure why you'd select these parts for the intended use-case.
The list looks like what a retailer has quoted based on what they have in stock rather than what would be a good fit for you.

Kindly suggest the mismatch between the use cases and parts selected. Am a newbie in building desktop systems. Following are my intentions

1. Multi core system to play with parallel processing and virtualisation

2. GPU to work on ML use cases ( mostly deep learning training and inference , I am playing with small datasets, so went with single gpu : 3080 with good price/ performance ratio )

The system configuration is quoted by an online retailer. So am a bit clueless on integration front. Please help me with suggestions on best/optimum fit on components front

[Aroy]

Originally Posted by greyhound82

.................
1. Multi core system to play with parallel processing and virtualisation

................

If you want to explore parallel processing, nothing beats Linux Clusters. Clusters can consist of a number of inexpensive desktops connected by fastest LAN you can afford.

For many applications, both CPU power and data bandwidth is required for optimal performance, and that is where a cluster has a cost advantage over a single system. 4 machines of 4 cores CPU will give you 16 cores at a fraction of a 16 core CPU machine.

If you are interested there a number of groups dedicated to cluster computing, online. They will provide a wealth of information and handhold you as you build and expand the system.

[reignofchaos]

Originally Posted by greyhound82

My new build for coding and development

Attachment 2140289

Kindly comment on the configuration

I'd suggest the following instead

CPU: AMD 5900x (significantly faster in low threaded workloads)
Board: Gigabyte B550 Aorus Pro AX/MSI B550 Gaming Edge
Cooler: Arctic Freezer 240 or Lian Li Galahad 240
RAM: 16GB *2 DDR4 3200/3600 (brand doesn't mater, you need 2 DIMMs for max performance)
GPU: 3080 is fine but impossible to find right now. If you can get one, great!
PSU: Antec HCG 850W. (Gigabyte PSUs aren't very proven or good)
Get at least a 4TB hard drive. 1TB will fill up in no time.

Originally Posted by Aroy

For many applications, both CPU power and data bandwidth is required for optimal performance, and that is where a cluster has a cost advantage over a single system. 4 machines of 4 cores CPU will give you 16 cores at a fraction of a 16 core CPU machine.

This is so wrong and such bad advice, it is not even funny . If you want to build 4 machines of 4 cores each, it will cost way more than building a single machine with a 3900x/3950x/5900x/5950x. On top of that, the network delays will make your entire endeavor pointless.

People build clusters where every node is as powerful and as densely packed as possible. Also your loads need to be perfectly scalable across different machines - such as rendering where you can throw one frame on each node. Otherwise a cluster is a waste. Also clusters need management - typically with LSF which costs a lot of money. This is absolutely pointless for a home setup.

[Karan_n8]

Originally Posted by Amien

This should total up to about 51k.

Thanks bunch bunny for that very informative reply!
Just some small queries :-
1) The guys would need a dedicated 2/4gb Graphics card for their 3D rendering right ? And if we take the graphics card then we could possibly use 8GB ram instead of 16 ?
2) In addition to the SSD a 2 TB HDD would be needed, any recos ?
3) Just for my understanding the Ryzen 5 Pro would be an intel equivalent of ? Also just letting you know would be okay investing in a better processor if it saves me the trouble of not needing to upgrade for the next 3 years.

Thank you!

[Thad E Ginathom]

I could probably have researched, including asking here, and come up with a better, perhaps cheaper, perhaps more appropriate setup, but... my motherboard died and I wanted to get back "on the road" as soon as possible. My previous setup had been running for a decade, and I was that much out of date on current processors etc. It was a Phenom 2 system, 3.5gh, if I recall correctly.

In the circumstances, I pretty much allowed our local systems company (not strangers: quite well-known to us) to give me their recommendation that was available. It was built in my existing Antec case with existing hard disks (2 WD Black, 1tb ea, and one WD green, 500gb), cooling (except for CPU), power supply etc.

This is what I have now:

Asus TUF X570-Plus motherboard
AMD Ryzen 9 3900X
Corsair Vengeance 16gb ddr4 ram *2
Zotak Geforce 4gb GTX 1050 Ti video

I had just bought a 500gb SATA SSD for my old machine. M.2 SSD is something I'll save for the future: I rejected the cost this time around. The RAM will probably double, in the future, although I don't feel the need, but why not!

I had previously had a big Noctua twin-fan CPU cooler. Whilst this is not compatible as-is with the Ryzen-socket chips, Noctua offer the brackets as a free upgrade. How's that for customer service on a ten-year-old product! There is a set on its way to me. However, I'm in no hurry, as the AMD stock cooler is a proper heat-pipe unit and pretty quiet: a far cry from the old noisy heat-sink stuff that used to come as stock.

My previous system did everything I needed. I would not have upgraded without the failure. A while back, I asked, on this thread, I think, how far behind current performance is my system? And got the answer, "Way behind." Yes, I see what you guys meant: this flies! I have not seen a performance increment since the first machine we had in the office where you couldn't read the output of DIR as it shot up the screen (that might have been 486, or Pentium: I don't remember.)

Especially with the added SSD... I can now load a heap of photos into GIMP and not have time to doo anything else, let alone make tea. Saving is so quick it makes the whole editing process so much faster.

What I like... everything I just mentioned

What I don't like... Very limited PCi expansion. No legacy PCi. Bluetooth and wifi are unnecessary for me. Expensive: This is now a 1-lakh-plus system: very much more than before.

What I hope... To get at least a decent fraction of the decade that the previous setup gave me!

What I could have done... Spent a week or two, researching, speccing, buying and building. Might have been cheaper. Or not!

What I did... Got a working super-PC back in about three days. A shout-out for System Care and Solutions, if you are in Palavakkam area (although their territory extends much further). I did have to go up the road to their office to look after the Linux stuff: they are Windows guys.

[Amien]

Originally Posted by Karan_n8

Thanks bunch bunny for that very informative reply!
Just some small queries :-
1) The guys would need a dedicated 2/4gb Graphics card for their 3D rendering right ? And if we take the graphics card then we could possibly use 8GB ram instead of 16 ?
2) In addition to the SSD a 2 TB HDD would be needed, any recos ?
3) Just for my understanding the Ryzen 5 Pro would be an intel equivalent of ? Also just letting you know would be okay investing in a better processor if it saves me the trouble of not needing to upgrade for the next 3 years.

Thank you!

1) The use-case you've described doesn't warrant a dedicated GPU. You don't need one for light 3D work, modern integrated graphics are very competent. This also happens to be a particularly terrible time to buy a GPU and the suggested config allows you to perform a drop-in upgrade should you need one later.
16GB of RAM is about the bare minimum I would recommend regardless of other factors. You need 2 DIMMs to be able to enable dual-channel mode and let the CPU reach its memory bandwidth potential.

2) Toshiba currently has the best overall drives (performance/value/reliability) so I would recommend picking their HDDs over WD/Seagate if possible.

3) The Ryzen 5 Pro would be about equal to the much more expensive Core i5-11600K. Despite the price desparity (which further increases once you account for an equvivalent motherboard), the AMD part runs a lot cooler and consumes significantly less power.
You may have noticed that I've stuck to the lower end of your specified budget. You don't need a faster processer for the work you have in mind. If anything, the suggested part is already overkill. I don't see you needing to upgrade anytime soon.
A system is much more than individual specs; you need all the parts to be balanced to maximize overall performance and value. The next meaningful jump in performance would come at close to 2x the current budget.

[Karan_n8]

Originally Posted by Amien

1) The next meaningful jump in performance would come at close to 2x the current budget.

Thanks a ton mate! Went to nehru place and bought the system. Made a couple of iterations. The outlet guy seemed to be pretty genuine and recommended I don’t get the rgb variant of the ram since this would be for office use, so took corsair instead of adata with the same frequency. He suggested to go for an upper variant of the power supply stating it’s a safer and more reliable option with some Japanese components , Antec 650 watts and a gigabite cabinet.

Total damages 54,300 including gst. So would cost me approx 44k after taking the input.

[Amien]

Originally Posted by Karan_n8

Thanks a ton mate! Went to nehru place and bought the system. Made a couple of iterations. The outlet guy seemed to be pretty genuine and recommended I don’t get the rgb variant of the ram since this would be for office use, so took corsair instead of adata with the same frequency. He suggested to go for an upper variant of the power supply stating it’s a safer and more reliable option with some Japanese components , Antec 650 watts and a gigabite cabinet.

Total damages 54,300 including gst. So would cost me approx 44k after taking the input.

The other things are fine, but Gigabyte makes atrocious cabinents, as mentioned previously in this thread (they're mass produced junk made by someone else that is just slapped with gigabyte branding).

The RAM recommendation was mostly down to 3600Mhz sticks at a good price which are needed to achieve a 1:1 infinity fabric ratio. Basically, Ryzen is sensitive to memory speeds and benefits greatly from fast RAM. Corsair/G.skill are both good brands.

The PSU you got is likely a higher-efficiency variant of the one I recommended; Nice-to-have but not really needed. If it came with a longer warranty then that's a bonus.

Cooling/good airflow is important for modern processors as they have opportunistic boost features based on temperature/power. That Gigabyte case likely has restricted airflow but apart from that, you should be good to go.

[sandeepmohan]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

What I don't like... Very limited PCi expansion. No legacy PCi. Bluetooth and wifi are unnecessary for me. Expensive: This is now a 1-lakh-plus system: very much more than before.

Why would you ever want to go legacy PCI? Its archaic and slow compared to PCI 3.0 and 4.0. In fact, if you do manage to pop in something old into the system, that will end up being the bottleneck.

1lac isn't a lot for the kind of performance on tap. 12 cores of AMD's Zen 3 is going to see you through for another 5 years minimum. Not another decade for sure. There will be further advancements made that you might just want to upgrade again if it results in significant performance and efficiency gains.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by sandeepmohan

Why would you ever want to go legacy PCI? Its archaic and slow compared to PCI 3.0 and 4.0. In fact, if you do manage to pop in something old into the system, that will end up being the bottleneck.

Good point. I have had to put aside a sound card, and I was sorry to see it go --- but the truth is that it was not in current use. I needed firewire for the audio device I do use, and it was on-board with my previous system. I had a firewire card, and it is micro(?)pci. Two such slots are available.

1lac isn't a lot for the kind of performance on tap. 12 cores of AMD's Zen 3 is going to see you through for another 5 years minimum. Not another decade for sure. There will be further advancements made that you might just want to upgrade again if it results in significant performance and efficiency gains.

Sure, there may well be better available, but I am a great believer in it often being enough that stuff works. So I am thinking in terms of how long the physical lifespan of the components will be.

I'd consider myself very lucky to have got another decade-lasting kit, but... will take it year by year

I'm confused by the current definitions of cores, CPUs, threads, etc. It seems that my new Ryzen has twenty-four CPUs onboard!

[sandeepmohan]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

I'm confused by the current definitions of cores, CPUs, threads, etc.

The cpu is the physical unit itself, the AMD Ryzen chip.

Core are the physical cores within the cpu, denoted by a number. Those are the actual fabricated and working bits inside the microprocessor.

Threads are virtual cores. This concept has been around since year ~2000. Usually, for every physical core, you get two threads. Something like a free core. However, to harness this, you need software that is designed to utilize them. More cores and threads need not necessarily mean more performance. Its down to how the product was designed and if the software or tools you run on them can harness all these compute cores/threads. If you do a lot of 3D rendering or software compile, the more threads you have, the better (usually the case). Its also important how fast and efficient these threads are. No point in having a blazing fast chip if its going to drive up your power bills and generate a lot of heat.

The above is in a nutshell. We can go on and on into all the technical bits. I am sure there are other FM's here who can speak at a higher technical level than me on the subject of cores and threads.

Quality computer components can last a long time. My father is still using an old AMD Athlon X2 based computer. The first computer at home was based around a AMD Athlon Thunderbird based chip. It still works. Just don't have a compatible motherboard to go with it.

[di1in]

Budget: I have ₹80k to invest now. Will additionally invest ₹10k each month for 10-12 months so that I can buy the next best thing I can afford to plug-in as the money adds up. Plus any change I scrape up. Budget only for tower + windows. I don't want to buy on loan or through EMIs.

When does the plan start: Ideally would like to start by May.

Reusing: Already have a 1440p@114hz monitor and an old pair of qc25 headphones, and a standard keyboard and mouse.

So I guess I will initially need a great CPU with an APU (or no APU and cheap graphics card) + a great mobo, decent cooling, for now, basic PSU for now, 1 module of ram) to start using the system for basic Civ 6 and AoE gaming until I can afford more RAM, more GPUs (depending on the value for money from 1 powerful GPU vs 2 avg ones), an internal SSD, better heat management and more power, and a gaming mouse, etc.

Storage: Don't need lots, 512GB should be fine. Does it make sense to have 2 256GBs in RAID0 or a single nvme is enough to hit mobo bottlenecks these days?

Planning to initially run ‘windows to go’ from an external SSD “Samsung t7” with USB-c until I can buy a great SSD of 512.

Will probably be buying online as I am based in Thrissur, Kerala.

Case: Don't need a fancy-looking case or RGB, something minimal, dark and spacious enough for 2 GPUs should be good.

I had last built a gaming PC in ‘99. Life happened, got to the ‘Middle Ages’. Want to get back into gaming other than AoE and Civ.

What will I be doing: Start with AoE newest versions from Steam and Civ 6 and maybe rerun through Bioshock Infinite and the two burials at sea. Want to try out all the new games once the system gets more power down the line.

[Amien]

Buy everything else now, GPU later at a more sensible time (they're all either out of stock or ridiculously overpriced at the moment).

Refer to this post for a sample config. and post in the same thread if you need help with something:-
https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/gadge...ml#post5036327 (The Desktop Computer & Configuration Thread)

[lordtottuu]

The GPU situation has made me a mad mad over the last few months. My 970 died after 6 years and I'm having the hardest time finding a reasonably priced replacement. 10% over MRP I can stomach but these are being peddled at 1.5x over.

Scouring the used markets now for a good, older card to use for the next year or so and try my luck with the next generation of cards. If anyone of you have an older card lying around, please PM.

[di1in]

Any feedback on which site is better to get a PC built? I’m from Thrissur in Kerala and buying piecemeal might be a problem when warranty issues come up. As of now I found:
ANT PCs
SMC International
Bitkart
MVP

My current build plan is:
Processor AMD RYZEN 5 5600X
Motherboard MSI B550A PRO
Graphics Card MSI GeForce RTX 3070 XTrio 8GB (is the 3060 gaming x better value)
RAM 8GB x2 ripjaw DDR4 3200MHz
Storage 512gb a data nvme m.2 ssd
Power Supply NZXT C750 80+ GOLD FULLY MODULAR
Cooler LIAN LI GALAHAD 240mm
Cabinet / Case LIAN LI LANCOOL 215
Above is for 158k. Have a 1440p@144hz monitor already.


Budget is 150k, with 10% if it’s really worth it.