Future Perspectives 😎
Hope everyone is having a great weekend, looking forward to a productive week ahead. This futuristic psychill track from Chillout Music should help spark some creativity, as I look at the first part of my Productivity Series and take into account all the things I plan for Unity fun soon.
Origin -Â Current Workflow
To set the context, I'm currently working on my projects solo, and the main workflows are writing/publishing/design, app dev, 3D design and Unity, as well as basic day-to-day tasks involving Office and web site work. Unity is now more of a major focus for me, with coding and the other tasks too.
In short, a shift to more design-type and app dev workflows.
2020 - "Jack"
In 2020, I took the savings I had and decided to start working on the MOOVPAD project as a primary focus. The main tasks were going to involve programming and general design, with some video editing thrown in. And so I opted to build one system that would handle pretty much everything I needed. I chose the 3970x Threadripper (yes, that's why I called him "Jack"), 2080Ti, 64GB Corsair Quad channel, and all the other bits to go with those components. The system came to $9000, and was supposed to be glorious. And it was, as long as we don't count turning it on. Because although it looked great, I spent 6 months and 4 return trips to the supplier to try and find a fault I knew was on the motherboard. In the end, the supplier broke a USB 3.0 header during the last round of testing, and I demanded a refund.
From there, I decided that Jack would be rebuilt with the next-gen Threadripper when it became available, and would instead build two simpler systems in it's place. And I managed to build just one in 2021 thanks to the GPU shortages followed by extremely high markups since.
2021 - "Fitty"
On the night the 3060Ti launched, I found myself looking at a supplier's website by chance, saw that one was available, and immediately bought it ($800, now selling for double that). With the GPU in hand, I then bought the white Helios (because Jack gets the black one), and built the current system I have atm. It has a ROG Crosshair Formula (because I'm planning a cool custom water loop, so the VRM blocks are perfect), a 3900x (to be transplanted later into an ITX build, possibly in the Z11 but not sure), ASUS dual 3060Ti OC, 64 GB G-Skill multichannel kit (in case I want to use this kit for Jack later), Thor 850W PSU, and a few other bits and pieces. The white Helios is still empty but I'm planning on moving the Formula board and the upcoming 5950x into that case, along with the custom loop.
2022 - TBA
So I mentioned the possibility of an ITX build that might go into a Z11. That build would double as both my mini Linux Test server for when I just want to run some short-term testing, and would otherwise be a general purpose gaming/productivity station (the 3900x would be the CPU, and it would get the 3060Ti as well). The other option, depending on GPU prices and availability, as well as the release date of the next Threadripper CPU's, might be a full rebuild of Jack.
At this stage, I only really need a maximum of two systems, and even the 5950x would more than meet my current Unity and 3D planned requirements. However these options made me start thinking about what the best choices would be for someone in my position who currently works solo, has a wide range of tasks, and might be working as part of a small team in the not too distant future. And that's why this Productivity Series became a thing. The goal is to balance the actual work needs with realistic hardware selection based on both availability and pricing of different components. For example, the current 3090 prices are around $4000 (whereas the 3060Ti is $1500 even at the inflated markups), and while that 3090 would bring Jack up to proper spec for now, would I even make use of that much VRAM with current workflows. In other words, does it even make good business sense right now? That's one of the things I hope to work out during these productivity posts.
And yes, I'm a ROG fan. And not even sorry 😉
Stay awesome,
EMH