Lifelong Mac user Switching to PC. Need help

ZMonkey · August 31, 2019, 6:09pm

Hey everyone.

Title says it all. I’ll forgo the bitching and moaning and just say that after 23 years I’m finally done with mac. I have lots of questions. First and foremost, recommendations on PC build. Step 1-- the chip.

I’ve done quite a bit of poking around the internet and I’m having a heck of a time getting to the bottom of Zbrush and it’s multi threaded performance. I’ve found a couple of instances of info coming directly from Pixologic that says the more processors the better. In one instance it’s written that you ought to just multiply the number of processors by the clock speed and the the higher the resulting number, the better the cpu. This gives me the impression that active work like sculpting, remeshing, boolean operations etc. would in fact use all cores. Which with my limited understanding of how operations work, sounds kind of unbelievable. Also the other voices advocating for higher clock speed and therefore fewer cores, tend to insist that brushes, sculpting etc ( “active work”) will indeed only use a single core. The voices saying this seem very, very knowledgeable. Is there an answer?

These are the 2 chips I’m trying to decide between:

Intel i9 9900k (8-core, 16-thread 3.6gh/5.0gh Turbo)
AMD Threadripper 2950x (16-core 32-thread 3.5gh/4.4 Boost)

I’m leaning toward the AMD chip as the frequency numbers are really pretty close so single core performance isn’t that far off the i9 while the multi is miles ahead. Also the great and almighty Pavlovich runs a Threadripper (the insane 2990wx 32-core chip), so there’s that.

And just for context. I will be using the machine for mostly sculpting/printing of parts. I want a beast that can devour millions and millions of polys as I sculpt with reckless abandon and zero concern for efficiency in geometry. I’ve been limping along with an age old Macbook Pro. I’m ready to see the light.

I will also be using the machine for C4D (which I know runs better on the i9), octane (which is another discussion entirely), Keyshot, Adobe. These are all second to my Zbrush performance.

Thanks for reading and thanks for any help you can provide!!

ZMonkey · September 21, 2019, 7:37pm

Responding to my own post just to say I went with the Threadripper 2950x. I only have my little 2011 MacBook to compare it to by it’s insane. Here’s the build:

*Threadripper 2950x
*Asus ROG Zenith Extreme Alpha x399
*128gb Hyperx Predator CL15 3000mhz
*Kraken 360 x72 cooler (note that using the bracket that comes with the Threadripper chip, I had to mount the water block rotated about 80 degrees clockwise so the hoses would clear all the ram since every slot was full.)
*EVGA Geforce GTX 760 Superclocked (I’ll eventually upgrade this to a GTX 1080 ti when I have the need. My wife just happened to have this laying around so to cut cost, in it went. Works great.)
*EVGA 850 g2
*Samsung evo 860 2tb
*Fractal Design R6 USB-C Case. (very slick)
*Windows 10
*My ancient but still awesome 30" Apple studio display.
*Just some keyboard (wife again)
*Just some mouse (wife again!)
*Wacom Bamboo CTL-460 (because that’s what I have laying around)

Everything in the list from WIndows 10 and above cost just around $3100usd. Good luck getting anything even remotely as powerful in a Mac. And with just two keyswitches using SharpKeys, the keyboard in Zbrush works exactly as it did on my mac (that idiotic Windows key on the left side is ABSURD.)

The computer is beautiful. It looks like something you’d find on a real Borg cube. Epic pain in the butt to build and get running though. If you’re a total PC noob like me and you want to build a PC, do yourself a favor and set aside a whole weekend (after the many days of research and buying parts). Know that the process is going to absolutely suck. Move slow and eventually it’ll all come together with time, patience and a lot of research.

saundby · September 24, 2019, 4:05am

That sounds like a great build. I would have advised the Threadripper, too. Great power for price. I have an old MacBook Pro 2012 and an AMD 6 core Phenom II that I’m going to be upgrading from soon. The MacBook will be replaced by a Windows laptop, I’m afraid–possibly an LG Gram 14 2-in-1, then I’ll build another AMD desktop at my leisure.

For myself, I’d include a WD Red 2TB for backups of the SSD. SSDs are very reliable, but the failure mode includes data going poof, so I like a spinning rust backup along with cloud for my work.

aurick · September 24, 2019, 4:08am

A word of caution concerning Threadripper CPU’s: They are truly great, provided they are properly cooled. We’ve seen a number of reports from users complaining of ZBrush crashing, to the point where we initially thought that there was a compatibility issue with the CPU. What we came to learn was that the CPU was overheating. In some cases the thermal paste wasn’t applied very well and in others the CPU cooler just wasn’t up to the task.

ZMonkey · September 24, 2019, 4:30pm

Nice one. Yeah I still use my Macbook (sitting on the couch with it now) for stuff, just not Zbrush. It’s a 2011 with a known issue of over heating and dying (I had an identical one that did just that).

Thanks for the tip on the spinning drive. That was definitely on my list.

ZMonkey · September 24, 2019, 4:42pm

Thanks for the heads up. Yeah, I’ve been keeping a very close eye on CPU temps. The cooler was one of the most difficult decisions to make. It took hours and hours of research. There are some great air cooled options out there but they’re MASSIVE making it difficult to know if you’ll be able to fit ram/GPUs. From my research the Kraken x72 (AIO liquid cooler) seems like the best option. The cooling plate is circular and only covers the middle of the chip but from everything I saw on tests, it performs just fine and keeps the chip cool. As I stated above, you do have to mount it rotated if you want to stack the ram.

I did buy and return an Enermax Liqtech TR4 II. That cooler has promise with a full sized cooling plate and a waterblock that will actually fit amongst fully stacked ram, but with exhaustive research into its design flaws, I just couldn’t put that ticking time bomb in my beautiful new build. Also I had both it and the Kraken in the room at the same time so I was able to compare the quality. Night and day. The Kraken was much, much nicer. So in it went. So far so good.

Thanks again!