So, my budget is 3KGBP, my use case is i do 3d modelling work (have done for 25years now), and would like a better machine that i can do (light) GPU render tests on. It will likely also do short (few days) runs of CPU rendering too.
Naturally, no amount of horsepower or RAM is ever really enough for 3D rendering, but this is the best config i could come up with within my budget.
As far as gaming goes, since i only turned to that recently (more and more as i get older it looks like), i only own 3 games: KSP2, Cities Skylines II, and X4 Foundations (so far), but its not a primary concern for this machine, just a nice-to-have.
Now i know, i am about to be told i sould go with AMD, perhaps the 7900 X3D?
Main reason im going with intel is i sometimes use older windows software, which i have had issues with AMD (mostly very niche 3DSMax Plugin stuff), but that was some time ago now, but i am very fearful of that.
I wont be overclocking it, as i need it to be stable, and will likely be doubling that 96GB of RAM in a couple of months, and no, it still wont be enough :(
I would be greatful for any advice, especially on the AMD side of things.
I've heard Intel chips still run hot, especially the 14th Gen i9. However, I came across this article by Puget Systems (a system integrator who mainly deals with professional workstations rather than gaming rigs) who found that decreasing the PL1, which I assume means Power Level, from 253W to 125W was a good enough tradeoff for performance/heat that it's the default configuration they ship to their customers.
On the other hand, they still do mention that tasks such as UE light baking, V-Ray, Cinebench, and Blender saw gains of 10-18% when using the higher power limit, which seems much more like what OP's workload is. Puget then proceed to recommend a CPU with a higher core count like a Threadripper PRO for those kinds of workloads, so perhaps OP really would be better off going AMD for their workstation.