Spec check for Data science PC

[RahulK]

Hi guys

Thanks for any help in advance.

Requirements
I often use quite large data sets (360m data points) with Python and Jupyter notebooks. I'm struggling on my mac and Bootcamp with some of the whole dataset analysis. It took over 1h the other day on my i5 iMac 2015. So I thought I would get a PC with great RAM, m2 SSD, and liquid cooling for quiet operation.
PSU I chose a 750w in case I ever add any parts in the future.
Ryzen 3900 I picked because it seemed the best bang for the buck.
Don't care too much about the look as I just need it for studying.

Things I'm not too sure about
The graphics cards. I don't game, but I hope to have a good 5K, 6K screen at some point. Currently, I use my iMac 5K which has an incredible screen. So I'd need to invest in a really great screen on top of this.

Wishlist
I'd love to be able to turn this into a Hackintosh at some point but am happy with windows for the workstation because Excel is better on it, and SQL Server works on it. I am considering using a cross-platform DB like Postgres as things evolve.

Questions
Am I missing anything? Is anything overkill or unnecessary?
Any help is much appreciated.

Thanks



Case
CORSAIR CARBIDE SERIES™ 275Q QUIET CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 9 3900 12 Core CPU (3.1GHz-4.3GHz/70MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
Gigabyte X570 GAMING X: ATX (USB 3.2 Gen 1, PCIe 4.0) - RGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
64GB Corsair VENGEANCE RGB PRO DDR4 3200MHz (4 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
6GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1660 - HDMI, DP - GeForce GTX VR Ready!
1st Storage Drive
NOT REQUIRED
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB CORSAIR MP600 GEN 4 PCIe NVMe (up to 4950MB/R, 4250MB/W)
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
NOT REQUIRED
Power Supply
CORSAIR 750W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
Corsair H115i PRO Cooler w/ PCS Ultra Quiet Fans
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
ASUS PCE-AX58BT WiFi 6 (802.11ax) 2400Mbps/5GHz, 600Mbps/2.4GHz
USB/Thunderbolt Options
2 PORT (1 x TYPE A, 1 x TYPE C) USB 3.1 PCI-E CARD + STANDARD USB PORTS
Operating System
Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft® Office® 365 (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Google Chrome™
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 12 to 14 working days
Price: £1,812.00 including VAT and Delivery

 

[SpyderTracks]

Morning!

What's your maximum budget?

There's no reason you can't dual boot with multiple OS's although it would probably be worth having separate OS drives for each OS (as differing file systems).

Regarding screen output for the 1650 is 8k @ 120Hz so would be more than comfortable outputting to 5 / 6k.

 

[RahulK]

Morning!

What's your maximum budget?

There's no reason you can't dual boot with multiple OS's although it would probably be worth having separate OS drives for each OS (as differing file systems).

Regarding screen output for the 1650 is 8k @ 120Hz so would be more than comfortable outputting to 5 / 6k.

Thanks for the reply.

Max budget is probably about £2k I think. I hadn't really thought about it tbh. But as i'm adding a screen I guess around about what it is now would be good.

Do you think that that graphics card is overkill as I'm not gaming? I know nothing about graphics cards. So I just picked whatever wasn't at the bottom of the list.

 

[SpyderTracks]

Thanks for the reply.

Max budget is probably about £2k I think. I hadn't really thought about it tbh. But as i'm adding a screen I guess around about what it is now would be good.

Do you think that that graphics card is overkill as I'm not gaming? I know nothing about graphics cards. So I just picked whatever wasn't at the bottom of the list.

I think we can certainly reduce the GPU without affecting performance. GPU's can actually be used for hardware acceleration for number crunching, so may be a factor for future consideration if you're doing machine learning. I'm not sure how Python itself would link to the GPU, but I'm fairly certain it's possible. But let's start initially with getting 6k max output on the GPU.

As an example with notes for reasons for change:

Case
FRACTAL DEFINE R6 BLACK QUIET MID-TOWER CASE Much better case, generally better airflow which is really important for this CPU. Retaining simplistic business looks, nothing flashy
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 9 3950X 16 Core CPU (3.5GHz-4.7GHz/73MB CACHE/AM4) You can squeeze this in at the budget, and I think for machine learning it would be a worthwhile investment

Get 3 Months of XBOX Game Pass for PC w/ select AMD Ryzen CPUs

The Outer Worlds -AND- Borderlands 3 w/ select AMD Ryzen CPUs
Motherboard
Gigabyte X570 GAMING X: ATX (USB 3.2 Gen 1, PCIe 4.0) - RGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
64GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3200MHz (4 x 16GB) You had RGB RAM below in a case without window, so reduced to normal non RGB RAM for less cash
Graphics Card
4GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1650 SUPER - HDMI Reduced GPU, still very powerful and could be used for hardware acceleration. Max output is 7680 x 4320 @ 120Hz
1st Storage Drive
NOT REQUIRED
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB CORSAIR MP600 GEN 4 PCIe NVMe (up to 4950MB/R, 4250MB/W)
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
NOT REQUIRED
Power Supply
CORSAIR 750W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
Corsair H115i PRO Cooler w/ PCS Ultra Quiet Fans
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
WIRELESS INTEL® Wi-Fi 6 AX200 2,400Mbps/5GHz, 300Mbps/2.4GHz PCI-E CARD + BT 5.0 Reduced Wifi card, the ASUS is ludicrously expensive and not really sure it's worth it.
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft® Office® 365 (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Google Chrome™
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) Added Silver warranty (only £5) extends parts coverage to 1 year from 3 months, well worth it.
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 12 to 14 working days
Price: £2,017.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/K2fMp0MRsM/

 

[RahulK]

Amazing. Thanks a lot.

Regarding gpu. I will study machine learning soon. So I am saving a few pcie4 slots for a later date if/when I buy a few suitable cards for that.
So currently I'll get the most basic one I need.

I'm not buying a 6k monitor now. But I would definitely like the option of one so the gpu looks good. This hardware will suffice me for a long time I think as the increase speed over my imac should be insane.

 

[SpyderTracks]

Amazing. Thanks a lot.

Regarding gpu. I will study machine learning soon. So I am saving a few pcie4 slots for a later date if/when I buy a few suitable cards for that.
So currently I'll get the most basic one I need.

I'm not buying a 6k monitor now. But I would definitely like the option of one so the gpu looks good. This hardware will suffice me for a long time I think as the increase speed over my imac should be insane.

It’ll be streets ahead of the iMac, should be a really nice adjustment.

6k screens are still very limited and there’s really only 1 8k screen on the market which is multiple thousands. 5k seems to be the de facto standard atm, but with apples new 6k monster, you can bet all the mainstream brands will start releasing competitive panels.

For now a good option is the LG Ultrafine 5K 27MD5KA-B.AEK.

 

[RahulK]

Regarding the 3950x, does it have good single core performance? Would be nice to have good single core performance for some applications which aren't optimised.

Multicore I know would be excellent.

Also regarding the ram. If I bought just 32gb as 2x16gb would I lose any signicant speed?. I know sometimes configuration of ram sticks can have a nominal impact on speed.
I add more later.

 

[SpyderTracks]

It's up there with the top performers via 3rd party benchmarks, the i9 9900KS is basically an overclocked 9900k which achieves 5GHz on all cores and is Intels fastest single core CPU:

In cinebench using single threaded:

Ryzen 9 3950X review: AMD’s 16-core CPUs is an epic end-zone dance over Intel

AMD's 16-core Ryzen 9 3960X reigns supreme as the most powerful consumer CPU we've ever seen

www.pcworld.com

AMD's Ryzen 9 3950X 16 Core CPU Faster Than Intel's Flagship Core i9-10980XE 18 Core CPU in Single-Core & Multi-Core Geekbench Benchmarks

AMD's Ryzen 9 3950X 16 core mainstream & Intel's Core i9-10980XE 18 core HEDT CPUs have been benchmarked against each other in Geekbench.

wccftech.com

It obviously varies depending on what software you use, but it's consistently either faster or within margin of error of intels. But absolutely creams them in multithreaded.

For information, ignore any results from sites like userbenchmark or cpubenchmark or any of those comparison sites, they artificially weigh results based on really poor nonsense presets that have no founding in the real world. They're debunked by every single 3rd party reviewer that does actual benchmarks rather than relying on simplistic calculations.

Updated: Userbenchmark Responds to Criticism Over Score Weighing Revisions

Userbenchmark's new scoring mechanism has stoked controversy in the enthusiast community.

www.tomshardware.com

 

[RahulK]

Ok great. Thanks a lot.

I'll stick with the 3950x in that case. The multi processor results will smash anything Intel can produce. And hopefully the hackintosh can be built after if required for logic on osx.

 

[SpyderTracks]

Ok great. Thanks a lot.

I'll stick with the 3950x in that case. The multi processor results will smash anything Intel can produce. And hopefully the hackintosh can be built after if required for logic on osx.

You could have it dual booting, preferable to put each OS on a separate drive.

 

[RahulK]

You could have it dual booting, preferable to put each OS on a separate drive.

Yeah I think if I go down that path I will do it that way. I see Ryzen Hackintosh are becoming easier to do, except some apple iPhone crossovers like imessage, icloud etc which I don't use because I don't have an iPhone and I don't like them compared to other solutions.

 

[RahulK]

I'm unsure whether to get the
Corsair H115i Pro Hydro Series High-Performance CPU Cooler (£113)
or the
Corsair H115i Pro Cooler with PCS Ultra Quiet Fans (£133)

I wanted a quiet machine (hence picking water cooling) but obviously want adequate cooling too. I can't find any info on the Corsair website or PC.co.uk about the differences between the 2.
Are both these coolers liquid cooled? Which one would give me better cooling. I assume that the Ultra-quiet fans will be quieter overall. But I'm a bit confused.

Thanks for any help in advance.

 

[SpyderTracks]

I'm unsure whether to get the
Corsair H115i Pro Hydro Series High-Performance CPU Cooler (£113)
or the
Corsair H115i Pro Cooler with PCS Ultra Quiet Fans (£133)

I wanted a quiet machine (hence picking water cooling) but obviously want adequate cooling too. I can't find any info on the Corsair website or PC.co.uk about the differences between the 2.
Are both these coolers liquid cooled? Which one would give me better cooling. I assume that the Ultra-quiet fans will be quieter overall. But I'm a bit confused.

Thanks for any help in advance.

Their both the same model but the quiet fans has custom Akasa fans on which operate quieter, definitely worth it.

 

[RahulK]

Their both the same model but the quiet fans has custom Akasa fans on which operate quieter, definitely worth it.

Amazing. Thanks. I'll definitely go for that then.

I'll probably also wait for new hybrid GPU's to be released in Jan.

IS there any news on availability dates of the 3950x builds? seem to be shortages.

 

[SpyderTracks]

Amazing. Thanks. I'll definitely go for that then.

I'll probably also wait for new hybrid GPU's to be released in Jan.

IS there any news on availability dates of the 3950x builds? seem to be shortages.

I had a loose memory that it was sometime after Christmas they’re expecting new stocks. Like 27th or something.

 

[RahulK]

Ok cool. Thanks so much for all your help.

 

[SpyderTracks]

Ok cool. Thanks so much for all your help.

Always a pleasure

 

[RahulK]

Do you know what ports the 4GB GEFORCE GTX 1650 SUPER has? I can't seem to find the manufacturer and hence the ports on here. it says max monitors 3. So I guess that's 2 x display port and 1 x hdmi? But I really don't know for sure.

Thanks

 

[Scott]

I would go with the H115i Platinum cooler. It's a better performing cooler overall and comes with ML fans as standard (silent).

 

[RahulK]

I would go with the H115i Platinum cooler. It's a better performing cooler overall and comes with ML fans as standard (silent).

Thanks so much. I'll do that.

I'm gonna order this tonight but a few of the components aren't available so I can't order it. The M2 SSD and the chip.