Is this build a bit much on the CPU, or does it make sense for 3D work?

Whether the 9950X is worth it depends on what your 3D work actually involves. A lot of CPU rendering or heavy simulations can use its extra cores. If most of your rendering is done on the GPU and gaming is the priority, a less expensive processor could leave more of the budget for the graphics card.

That cooler is a substantial air cooler, so I wouldn’t buy extra fans just because someone said the CPU runs hot. First build it with the case’s existing airflow, check temperatures under your real workloads, and add a fan only if testing shows a need. A high-power CPU can run warm under sustained load without that automatically meaning something is wrong.

I’d look closely at the memory before changing the CPU. Thirty-two gigabytes is fine for many projects, but complex scenes, large textures, or having several applications open can make 64GB a more useful upgrade. Check the memory requirements of the software and projects you use, then decide.

Price-check the whole build before settling on the GPU. If a suitable RTX 5080 is close in price to the 5070 Ti where you’re shopping, compare them, especially if your 3D software benefits from GPU performance. But don’t stretch the budget without checking actual prices and what your workloads need.

For gaming, a 9950X may be more CPU than you need, while it can make sense for CPU-heavy creative work. If you’re still choosing parts, compare total platform cost and performance with other current processors too. The best answer changes a lot depending on whether you render on the CPU or GPU.