High end workstation build

[denisl]

Hello,
It's been years since I've built a PC and have been using a 5yr old HP AMD PC. It's time to upgrade. I do not play games at all. I need a system for Adobe LR and PS. I do some heavy excel work with powerpivot and hundreds of thousands of rows of information which usually consumes 8 cores of CPU for 10-30 seconds when computing changes. My budget is basically I'll pay whatever it cost to cost effectively build a high end system that will last me. I'm in the USA (NJ). I not loyal to any brand but am leaning toward intel but would be happy with AMD if that's the recommended platform. Open for all other components as well. I have no existing parts to reuse so all will be new. No overclocking, at least for now. I've never overclocked before. My current monitor is a LG 34" 34UB88-P. I plan to build immediately.

My initial thoughts was an i7 7700K with 16-32GB RAM and Samsung 960 PRO NVMe.
Are there any motherboards that support 3 NVMe SSD that I could configure with RAID 5? Or 2 with RAID 1?
I could go with 3 512GB in Raid5 or 2 1TB in Raid1. Not sure about graphics yet but something that would work well with Lightroom/Photoshop.

Thanks in advance for your guidance.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Well, AMD X399 boards with ThreadRipper can have like 8 NVMe SSDs connected in RAID.

X299 / Intel Skylake-X have something similar, but you have to pay extra for a 'RAID key'.

 

[Ken g6]

My initial thoughts was an i7 7700K with 16-32GB RAM and Samsung 960 PRO NVMe.

That looks like a good starting point. Photoshop can't use all that many threads. So I tend not to suggest AMD in this case.

Are there any motherboards that support 3 NVMe SSD that I could configure with RAID 5? Or 2 with RAID 1?

Are you aiming for redundancy? Remember, RAID is not a backup!

Or are you aiming for more performance? That's hard to do on consumer-level systems - most CPU I/O is funneled through a single 4x PCI-E port - except for the graphics card port. You could consider an X299 system, or Intel Optane on any system.

 

[denisl]

Appreciate the responses.
I just figured if I was going to build something high end I might as well go for it with NVMe instead of SSD's. I have a NAS server in my house that I can use for plenty of storage (xpenology on ESX 12TB RAID-10).
From what I've read, Intel Optane is lower capacity and more geared towards HDD acceleration (right?). M.2 SSD doesn't maximize the PCI lanes for performance and NVMe is the fastest option.

Thanks for the article on AMD/Intel for LR/PS. i7 it is.

Does that mean my only option is the X299 Intel motherboard if I want to do NVMe RAID with Intel?
That would also push me to the x-series i7 processor. Plus another $100 for the raid key.

I have a separate backup system. I want raid for redundancy if I lose a NVMe.

Thanks

 

[XavierMace]

If price is truly no object then you could go with true hardware RAID. MegaRAID 9440-8i and a pair of P4800X's. If you're wanting to do RAID5, you could step up to the 9460-16i controller. But at that point you're talking $1k for the controller and another $2k (minimum) for the drives.

 

[denisl]

I'd like to keep the build under $2K. The more I research the more confused I get.
I just read about the 900P Optane SSD's which sound pretty cool but it still looks like 3 500GB Samsung pro NVMe drives in Raid5 would geve me a better $/gb and great performance. It also looks like the VROC raid key for the x299 is very immature and I haven't found any motherboards that offer the raid key. Anyone aware of a motherboard that has made available the raid key for their x299 board?
Am I heading down the right path here?
Thanks

 

[denisl]

I think I've figured out what my build will look like. Feedback welcomed. Thanks again!

https://photos.app.goo.gl/Df3ZtVNrWbPCdz7C2

 

[Ken g6]

Hmph. Lots of questions about that one.

- Why a 6-core? A fast 4-core is optimal for LR and PS. That's the 7740X.
- With an X299 mobo, you ought to get 4 sticks of RAM.
- Intel pro-series mobos need a discrete GPU. Got one?

No overclocking, at least for now.

Then why such fast RAM, and a liquid cooler? Running RAM over DDR4-2400 is overclocking.

I'll edit this with my ideas for a build in a bit...

Edit: No, I can't figure it out. Do you want to be able to overclock in the future or not?

 

[Ken g6]

Well, here's something to consider:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i7-7700K 4.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($318.46 @ OutletPC)
CPU Cooler: *Cooler Master - Hyper T4 70.0 CFM Rifle Bearing CPU Cooler ($23.88 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: *Gigabyte - GA-Z270XP-SLI ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($91.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: *G.Skill - Trident Z 32GB (2 x 16GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($349.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung - 960 EVO 500GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive ($233.88 @ OutletPC)
Storage: *Toshiba - 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($42.39 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: *MSI - GeForce GTX 1050 Ti 4GB Video Card ($142.29 @ Amazon)
Case: Corsair - Vengeance C70 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($119.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: *SeaSonic - 750W 80+ Gold Certified ATX Power Supply ($58.89 @ Newegg)
Other: Intel Optane SSD 900P 480GB ($600.00)
Total: $1981.75
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
*Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-11-04 18:52 EDT-0400

The Samsung SSD is for installing the OS and programs. The Intel SSD is for storage and scratch. And I added an HDD for archival storage and/or backups.

I think you can put the GPU in the X16 slot, and the Intel SSD in the X8 slot, and have only minimal disruption to the GPU bandwidth and no disruption to the other SSD.

 

[denisl]

Wow thank you for taking the time to help me. I had no idea about that site (pcpartpicker). That's an amazing site.
Also after reading this post about VROC being a scam I think I may be pushing the envelope with Intel VROC NVMe RAID 1/5. Looks like even though gigabyte clearly state that on their X299 Ultra Gaming Pro With Triple M.2s available on the X299 AORUS Gaming Series, configuring RAID Arrays have never been simpler.

I guess I can do a single NVMe for the OS partition and down the road add RAID for resiliency once it becomes a little more mainstream.
I have a separate backup system and it wouldn't be too terrible if I had to rebuild my OS drive it the NVMe failed.

I picked the 6 core over the 4 core because it was only a $40 difference in the X series and I've seen my old 4 core system peg all cpus to 100% with some large excel docs/powerpivots. Figured it couldn't hurt for another $40. I picked a liquid cooler because I figured for $50 I'd have the ability to overclock if it was ever something I wanted to do (not knowing yet what it takes to do it).

I'm a novice when it comes to overclocking. However, I'd like to have the ability if I wanted to in the future.
If the memory is over DDR4-2400 would that be a problem?

Will the Z270 board allow boot from NVMe?

Thanks again. Much appreciated.