This guide shows exactly what you need to put together an AMD Threadripper PC build for 3D Rendering, we will focus our components on a CPU rendering machine build which is strictly a Threadripper build. For clarity’s sake, understand that CPU rendering relies heavily on the system CPU, ignoring the graphics card entirely. No matter how fast or powerful your graphics card is, it will not affect render times.
Of course, some renderers are CPU-based including VRAY, Corona Renderer, Mental Ray, and Arnold Renderer. However, if you want to go for GPU rendering, you might want to go for the best GPU for rendering because that’s the trend now. This build features the AMD Threadripper CPU which offers great performance when it comes to heavy-duty rendering.
You might also want to check out our guide on the best budget gaming PC. Other guides include the best 4K video editing PC Build guide and if you’re into CAD and prefer a laptop, check out our best laptop for Solidworks. You might also check out other guides for custom PC builds. Otherwise, if you are ready, let’s go!
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Threadripper PC build Parts List
AMD Threadripper PC Build
All parts are vetted for compatibility.
Hardware priority chart for a Threadripper PC Build
From the chart above, you should dedicate the most resources to getting the best multi-core processor your money can buy. This is because animation rendering is CPU intensive. Most Animation renderers like VRay and MentalRay make use of a technique called “bucket rendering”, whereby the application assigns a part of the frame to a core on the CPU die. When the core has finished rendering the image, it is assigned another bucket to render.
This is the reason why we recommend getting the best multi-core CPU available for your best rendering desktop build. The more cores your processor has, the better. This translates to faster processing times. The next in order of importance is a high-end Graphics Card for GPU rendering support. This is because GPU rendering is quite popular and gaining wide acceptance with more and more render engines supporting GPU rendering.
Next is the boot drive and RAM. Both of them share the same level of priority with the Graphics card. A fast SSD drive or better still NVME SSD is indispensable if you want a screaming fast rendering machine. The SSD is the drive that would hold your Windows installation and 3D rendering and modeling apps. As such, ultra-fast application startup time is invaluable. This will save you money in the long run.
A fast SSD enables fast response times and overall enhanced system performance. Finally, you need large amounts of fast RAM for enhanced multitasking. This means you can still do normal computing even when you are rendering a job. You also need a fast hard drive for this build, though it isn’t as important as the boot drive. It is mainly used for file storage.