Budget 90k+ Workstation Build

apurva512

Disciple
Hello, I am hoping to get some good advice and sourcing options for making a new workstation for myself. I am an avid collector of movies, tv shows, comics and music, and over the last 20 years have collected quite a bit of data split over various locations that I would like to consolidate and streamline for easy access. I also like to play around with enhancing older tv shows and movies, and also experiment with various AI+ML technologies which would help me in my career.

As any married person here would know, the space available for running computer hardware is always going to be at a premium due to my better half's preferences, and so what I am looking to do is try and create a build that would allow me to incorporate all my requirements into 1 PC. Given that I would require a large number of storage devices to be connected to the pc, and with nvme storage becoming cheap enough to be used as the storage media of choice going forward, I started hunting for a processor that has enough PCIE lanes to support future expansion. I have been an AMD only user since 1998, so that is the only platform that I was open to explore. Initially I was hunting for a good deal on the 5955wx Threadripper from the USA as I had a relative coming, but found them extremely overpriced compared to their equivalent Epyc siblings. Since I am not a gamer and dont really need fancy RGB bling or anything figured I'd save the money and use it towards the other peripherals I would need. However, buying from the USA is very bad for our wallets due to the temptation factor that kicks in when you see the prices+availability of items of interest, and so landed up spending more than the 5955wx and instead bought an unlocked Epyc 7V13 processor!. This is extreme overkill for my usecase, but have been thinking of doing this for many years now, and since I was finally taking the plunge, just decided to go all in as the cost wasn't too high.

Now I need to source myself the motherboard, ram and cooler to begin with, to at least get it up and running. Ideally I would like to get myself a board that offers the best flexibility of slots such as u.2, SAS and all its variants, pcie x16 etc. What i liked best was the Gigabyte MZ32-AR0 ver 3.0 board due to it having the best mix of slots/ports offered. I also like the SuperMicro H12SSI-NT series, but am open to all suggestions from anyone who has knowledge about this platform. I have never ventured into the server/workstation line of products in India, and have lesser knowledge of the suppliers and places I can procure these from. I am also open to buying pre-owned products as long as they are in good working condition. Any help anyone can offer would be greatly appreciated.

Similarly, need to buy RDIMM DDR4 Ram which does not require the sacrifice of any organs, and also need recommendations of coolers for the processor other than the stalwart Noctua U14-SP3 platform offering.

As said before, any help anyone can provide in suggesting and/or sourcing the required components would be awesome.

  1. What is your budget?
    • 50-100K
  2. What is your existing hardware configuration (component name - component brand and model)
    • CPU - AMD 5900x
    • Motherboard - Asrock x570 PG4
    • GPU - nVidia 3090
    • RAM - 128gb(32gbx4) Viper RGB 3600mhz DDR4
    • Monitor - Benq 2880u
    • PSU - Seasonic Prime 850W 80+ Titanium
  3. Which hardware will you be keeping (component name - component brand and model)
    • CPU - Epyc 7V13 - 64c128t
    • GPU - nVidia 3090
    • Monitor - Benq 2880u
    • PSU - Seasonic Prime 850W 80+ Titanium
  4. Which hardware component are you looking to buy (component name). If you have already decided on a configuration then please mention the (component brand and model) as well, this will help us in fine tuning your requirement.
    • Motherboard - any compatible motherboard
    • Cooler - SP3 Air Cooler
    • RAM - Minimum 64gb total to start with, more depending on price/specs
    • U.2/miniSAS addon card
    • Thunderbold addon card
    • Nvme m.2 expander card such as Asus hyper m.2
  5. Where will you buy this hardware? (Online/City/TE Dealer)
    • Mumbai
    • Open to online purchase
  6. What is your intended use for this PC/hardware
    • FileServer
    • AI+ML
    • AI Video Enhancing
    • Desktop Processing
    • HTPC
    • Download rig, 24x7 operation
  7. Are you looking to overclock?
    • No
  8. Which operating system do you intend to use with this configuration?
    • Windows 10 64 bit
    • Linux - Best fit solution
 
i can only help you with the air cooler because this is a very specific request. instead of the sp3 get a thermalright peerless assassin 120 SE. it is almost 50% cheaper, and offers much better p2p than the sp3. right now im pretty sure it is generally rated as the best air cooler around, the sp3 isnt bad and might be better for the threadripper but i dont really think you need it.
 
i can only help you with the air cooler because this is a very specific request. instead of the sp3 get a thermalright peerless assassin 120 SE. it is almost 50% cheaper, and offers much better p2p than the sp3. right now im pretty sure it is generally rated as the best air cooler around, the sp3 isnt bad and might be better for the threadripper but i dont really think you need it.
Hi, thanks for your input. I had a look at the cooler mentioned, and the reviews seem awesome. However, it seems to be targetted at the ~200W envelop processors. The 7V13 is a 280W beast, and so I am not sure if this would be workable even if I was able to manage to jury rig the mounting given that this does not support SP3 out of the box. Most air coolers as well as AIO's currently on the market are not recommended for SP3/TR4 mostly because the size of the cooling plate is so much smaller than the cpu surface.
 
I hope you have taken into acc the electricity costs of running such a system 24*7 as electricity cost in Mumbai is not cheap I believe.
 
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