Yeah that might be true! Would be interesting to see some benchmarks on that, might do some myself later on.
But in most cases I guess that 24gb of VRAM is more than enough for most people, personally I haven’t really exceeded the limits of my 3090 VRAM yet and my scenes tend to get quite heavy.
I just completed a blender-focused build https://pcpartpicker.com/list/FCzQpH. It was a major upgrade from a laptop with an i7-7700 and a 1060. Massive speed boost on everything. Blender took ~15 sec to load from the HDD but now it snaps open. This machine is used for a lot of things, one of them being Blender.
In hindsight, I probably should have gone with 64GB RAM and a bigger CPU cooler. I do some video editing, and that eats up all the RAM that I throw at it. I get through ~1:20 of video before running out. Additionally, under heavy load, the CPU gets quite warm: 70-80C.
You’ll probably notice that I used many similar parts for my build. With infinite money, I probably would have gotten a 4090, but I only had 3K USD for everything, including a monitor, keyboard, mouse, UPS, etc., limiting my options.
A couple of notes about your build. 1. get the largest cooler you can. The case I got could support a 420mm cooler and that’s what I’d recommend for the 13900K. You probably could get away with a 360mm one though. 2. On DDR5 RAM, using all of the slots can cause the RAM to slow down because the CPU can’t handle the volume of bits. for example, on my motherboard, if I use 2 slots, I can go up to DDR5-6000, which I got. If I used all 4, it would slow down to DDR5-4800, at which point you might as well use DDR4 (speed-wise). 3. If I remember right, you can’t connect two 4090s together to make 48GB VRAM. You could with the 30xx series, however. 4. I recommend getting a CUP with integrated graphics, just in case the GPU quits.
As for single-core performance vs. multiple cores, many workloads use only a single core, but a few, such as rendering can use multicore, in which you’d better have an enormous cooler. I use Unity3D, and in running a build (massive script compilation), I drove every core to 90+% usage, and the temperature to ~80C for a couple fo minutes. Considering that the laptop took several times longer, at 95C, maybe this isn’t so bad. Speaking of heat, my 4070 rarely exceeds 60C, and idles at 32C, and rendering boosts that to 40-50C, quite comfortable for a GPU. My previous 1060 laptop GPU would nearly burn my hand off the keyboard at 95C when rendering, not to mention lock up Blender itself.
If you’re comparing CPUs and GPUs, check out Blender OpenData, also known as the Blender Benchmark.
Also, I would just get 64GB RAM to start with, and then see if you need the 128GB.
Hope this helps. 
The parts are arriving! Excited. Hey what about thermal putty? Do I need to buy it fresh or can I use some unopened stuff that’s been laying around for a while? Appreciate the advice.
No need to get it new- it doesn’t dry out or go bad
(Your CPU will almost certainly come with some anyway)
Depends on exactly how unopened it is. If we are talking completely sealed, then it should be OK. Having said that, it also depends on how long is a while. 12 months and still sealed, then fine. 5 years, then no matter what, I’d likely get new, depending on the type, it can actually degrade over time just sitting in the tube.
Having said that, Joseph is right, the new CPU cooler will come with some anyway, either in a tube or pre-applied. If pre-applied, be careful not to touch, etc, there should be a plastic cover, so leave that on right till the moment you are going to install it.
But make sure to take any cover off, plastic doesn’t transfer heat very well and your CPU won’t be too happy covered in melted plastic 
Thank you friends!
Strangely enough, neither the CPU or the cooler included thermal putty. Purchasing now.
Are you sure there isn’t thermal paste pre-applied to the AIO’s head block? If you purchased the NZXT cooler I’m pretty sure it has pre-applied paste.
1 Like
I’ll definitely look into it. There is a gray disc there on the surface that might be thermal putty but I’ll have to verify. If it is putty it doesn’t look like enough…but I’m rusty, haven’t built a PC in some time.
1 Like
VERIFIED. That gray disc is the thermal putty. Should I say DUH here?
2 Likes
Okay the PC is complete! Trying to make myself at home in windows 11 pro…so far, eccchh.
Can anyone recommend some good benchmark tests to see just what I’ve got here? Many many thanks for all the advice.
1 Like
Cinebench R23 for the CPU, Blender Open Data bench for the GPU.
Thanks Bullit, I downloaded both. I ran blender benchmark and had a look at my CPU temps in HWMonitor and I was in the red, lots of CPUs reading 100. That can’t be right, I think maybe I messed up the cooler install? Everything’s usually cool but that was scary.
I need to learn about this before I do any more stressing of the CPU.
Any advice is welcome, thank you friends.
Intel CPU’s run hot, especially the 13900K. It will run as fast as it can up to power limits or temperature limit, which is around 100C.
I assume that was a full core CB23 run? If so, then also need to see how much power was being used and what score you got. If the score was really low, while hitting 100C, then there’s a problem. If its a top score, then that could well be around default behavior.
Based on all that, then can look into BIOS settings, etc to see what can be tweaked, like max voltage, etc.
1 Like
@ thetony20 thank you very much for the advice.
This was Blender Benchmark causing the 100c temps. I made a screen grab of the scores:
monster: 256.247421 OS: Windows (AMD64) *why does it say AMD??
junkshop: 157.122717 CPU: 13th Gen Intel Core i9-13900K
classroom: 123.931496 GPU: NIVIDIA GeForce RTX4090
Another piece of data:
I opened a character in Daz studio and set the renderer to IRAY. I almost immediately got CPU temps @ 100c.
BIOS settings could be interesting, I’m looking for any and all advice, and many thanks.
Ahh, but as a CPU render, which is the same as CB23, it just maxes out every CPU core. Having said that, not sure what the scores should be, I know CB23 more which I think the 13900K hits around 40k or so. It uses a lot of power, generates a lot of heat and gets very hot. Here’s a review showing just that: https://youtu.be/P40gp_DJk5E?t=1188
AMD developed and own the 64bit extensions of the CPU instruction set and license it to Intel. Intel in turn license back the original 32bit, etc set to AMD.
Yup, any full CPU workload is going to do that.
I don’t have a latest Intel CPU, so not divided into it, but there will be BIOS settings you can adjust to reduce all that, while having minor impact on CPU performance.
Mind you, you won’t be using the CPU in all out rendering like that anyway, that’s why you got a 4090…
What was the Cinebench result?
monster: 256.247421 OS: Windows (AMD64) *why does it say AMD??
junkshop: 157.122717 CPU: 13th Gen Intel Core i9-13900K
classroom: 123.931496 GPU: NIVIDIA GeForce RTX4090
That is not correct, those were all CPU values. You need to select Nvidia Optix version.
@thetony20 thank you again for the advice…apologies for the ignorance but isn’t that bad to have my CPU in the red like that? Am I to understand that it’s nothing to worry about?
Trying to be extra careful and cautious here, it was a hefty investment.
In both blender and Daz studio, if I render it goes in the red. If I turn of the CPU and only have the GPU turned on, it still goes in the red.
If you render in GPU the CPU should be cool doing at most 10% for all stuff going in computer and the 4090 should not surpass 70ºC
1 Like
Hey @BulIitt
What was the Cinebench result?
I didn’t do Cinebench yet. After seeing those high CPU temps I decided to learn more and make sure I wasn’t damaging this expensive equipment. Need to make sure I didn’t screw up the cooler installation.
That is not correct, those were all CPU values. You need to select Nvidia Optix version.
Oh geez, I didn’t see any option for selecting an Nvidia Optix version, I’ll have to look at it again. Thanks
Personally I wouldn’t like pushing my CPU to 100C, even if Intel do say that’s how its designed and if it gets too hot, it will slow down so as not to pass 100C. I didn’t even like my 5900X hitting 90C and adjusted that back to 85C max.
But one needs to play with some BIOS settings to reduce the max limits while still keeping the system stable.
As Bullitt said, if GPU only rendering and it should be Optix, the CPU does stuff all, it shouldn’t hit 100C doing that.
I need that multicore CB23 result, with that score I’ll know if the performance at 100C is about right or if you did stuff up the cooler, like not connecting the pump?
So to be clear, like in that video, the CPU hitting 100C can be totally normal, even with a good size AIO, it’s just what the chip does. If it starts to go too far, it will drop the frequency, if it really starts to go too far, like 110C+ the system will shutdown to protect itself.
1 Like