I'm a work-from-home 2D animator building a new PC for demanding Toon Boom and TVPaint projects, including rendering on the system. I'm aiming for at least 32GB of RAM, an i7-class processor or better, and as much storage as possible because large PNG sequences have filled several portable SSDs over the years. I'd also like to play games occasionally, although gaming performance is secondary.
My current PC is nearly a decade old and has survived despite some poor original choices, including an undersized power supply and inadequate cooling. I have around £2,000 to spend on the tower itself, with peripherals already covered. I'm open to buying a prebuilt for convenience, but I'm willing to assemble it myself if that offers better value.
The parts I'm currently considering are an Intel Core i9-14900K, Arctic Liquid Freezer III 240mm cooler, Asus Prime B760M-K motherboard, RTX 5070 12GB, 32GB DDR5-5600 memory, a 2TB PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD, a 4TB 5400RPM hard drive, an 850W Be Quiet! Gold PSU, and a Corsair 4000D-style case.
I'd particularly appreciate advice on whether the i9 is excessive or worthwhile for longevity, whether the motherboard is suitable, what a required BIOS update involves, whether a 240mm liquid cooler and additional case fans are enough, and whether 850W provides sufficient headroom. I'm also unsure what compatibility issues to watch for when choosing a case. I could add another £200–£300 if it would make a significant difference, but my main goal is a reliable system that won't become a hardware bottleneck for several years.
5 Answers
I’d avoid the 14900K for this build. It can perform well in multithreaded workloads, but it runs very hot, uses a lot of power, and has had stability concerns. A newer Intel Core Ultra 7-class chip or an AMD Ryzen 9 9950X would be a more sensible productivity-focused choice.
The B760M-K is also too basic for a power-hungry high-end processor. Look for a motherboard with stronger VRMs and heatsinks, plus the storage, USB, networking, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth features you actually need. The animation applications may not benefit much from a high-end GPU, so keep the RTX 5070 if you want it for gaming, but verify how much GPU acceleration Toon Boom and TVPaint use before spending heavily there.
An 850W unit should be sufficient, although I’d choose a well-reviewed modern model with good transient handling rather than buying solely based on the wattage label.
Don’t rely on the hard drive as the only place for important animation work. A 5400RPM drive is fine for archives, but active projects and image sequences will be much faster on an SSD. Keep working files on the NVMe drive and maintain a separate backup, since adding more internal storage does not protect against drive failure.
The case choice is fine as long as it supports the motherboard size, graphics-card length, power-supply format, radiator position, and enough storage mounts. Check the manufacturer’s clearance figures rather than assuming every 360mm radiator will fit. Liquid cooling does not eliminate the need for case airflow: the radiator fans cool the CPU, while separate intake and exhaust fans move fresh air through the case.
A BIOS update means the motherboard may need newer firmware before it recognizes the processor. If the board has BIOS Flashback, you can usually update it from a USB drive without installing a supported CPU first. Without that feature, you may need an older compatible processor or have the retailer update it for you. Choosing a motherboard and CPU from the same current platform is generally the simpler option.
For roughly this budget, I’d put the money into a newer CPU platform, a properly equipped motherboard, and faster cooling rather than the older i9. A 360mm Arctic radiator mounted at the top would be preferable for a hot, sustained rendering workload. A reasonable airflow layout would be three front intake fans and one rear exhaust, with the top-mounted radiator exhausting upward.
You could also consider 64GB of RAM if your projects involve large scenes, many applications, or long image sequences. Two 32GB modules are usually preferable to filling every memory slot.
That makes sense. I had been treating 32GB as the target because it was the minimum I had seen, but 64GB may be worthwhile if it prevents swapping during larger projects.