u/Lt_Skitz

Uses:

• Animation (After Effects, Cinema 4D, Trapcode particle systems)
• Editing (occasional 4k raw footage, mixed with various other res/codecs)
• Gaming (nothing insane, but I'd love for things to run smoothly. Things like Satisfactory, KCD2, etc where beautiful graphics are present, but no shooters or stuff where ranking is important, etc).

Current system (built around 2019):

• MSI Z370 Gaming Plus
• i7-8700k (6/12)
• 64GB DDR4
• MSI 5070ti Gaming Trio (was a 2025 replacement to my 1080ti)
• Smattering of SSDs, hard drives
  • Boot drive is a 500GB drive (I know, I know)
  • Projects drive is a 500GB SSD
  • CACHE is a 250GB nVME
  • 2TB platter serves as Dropbox, Steam install, download location, etc
  • Another platter drive is a bit of an archive
  • (I also have external NAS + 2x24TB archive drives)

Pain points:

• After Effects loves memory. Can frequently eat up all I have.
• The boot drive being so small, I'm constantly having to juggle what is on there. Want a 2TB (SN850x) for speed & future space
• Project drive needs to be faster than the SSD it is on now. Cache (autosaves, particle caching, AE + PP cache location) can use speeeeed also. Both of these need to be larger. Looking at 9100 Pros.
• Cores -- I'm on 6/12 now, looking at 16/32.
• Not enough USB ports. Always having to plug in some peripherals, and the current mobo doesn't have enough. I think there are 3 different USB hubs I'm using.

Build link:

• https://pcpartpicker.com/list/8jzrrG

Will be using existing 5070ti, monitor (dell 34" uw), mouse/keyboard/audio (scarlett 2i2)

Wanting to solicit any input on if I'm missing something, if something is way overkill, etc. I know DDR5 in this current memory climate is insane....but dunno what other choice I have as far as "time to buy".