I’ve just finished putting together a draft parts list for a DL machine: https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/user/mulholio/saved/kLsyK8
I’d really appreciate feedback on the list as this would be my first build.
For context, I’m looking at having this mostly as a personal learning machine in the short term (was having cloud provider issues, and Colab slower and more faff than I’d like) with it looking quite likely that I’ll be doing an MSc in ML next year. Beyond that, I’d be keen to keep this flexible for more intense projects, and starting a startup.
As such, I’ve tried to keep the build not too crazy but with lots of opportunity to expand in the future. I’d quite like to be able to put up to 4 GPUs in at some point if that’s possible.
Concerns/Questions
- Is this motherboard going to be okay? Will it fit 4 GPUs fine?
- Does the case fit everything? How do I check this?
- PCIe is generally confusing to me. Do I have enough slots?
- I’m assuming cooling is fine and I can always work around more GPUs with water cooling if need be at a later point.
- The power supply is there to future proof things.
- Could I do anything cheaper with no cost?
- Am I generally doing anything stupid?
Key parts
- AMD Threadripper 1950X 3.4 GHz 16-Core Processor
- Asus ROG ZENITH EXTREME EATX sTR4 Motherboard
- Corsair Vengeance LPX 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-2400 CL16 Memory
- Kingston A2000 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive
- MSI GeForce RTX 3070 8 GB VENTUS 2X OC Video Card (or whichever 3070 I can get my hands on)
- Lian Li PC-O11 Dynamic ATX Full Tower Case
- Corsair HX Platinum 1200 W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply
For others looking to carry out similar builds in the future, here were my favourite resources: