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Upgrading or building a new PC? This is the thread for you!

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  • Dan Powell
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    Dan Powell polycounter lvl 5
    Thanks for this thread. I used it as a rough guide for a PC I built recently. This is also the first time I've built without basically being practically babysat; learned tonnes and could confidently build more now! 


    https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/XHkxRJ

    CPU: 
    Intel i5 8500 @ 3Ggz, 6 cores

    Cooler:
    Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO

    Board:
    ASRock H370 Pro4

    RAM:
    Corsair Vengeance (2 x 8GB) @ 3000Mhz

    Storage:
    Western Digital Blue 250GB SSD
    (Already have a good enough hard disk.)

    GPU:
    Gigabyte GTX 1080 Windforce OCD Edition

    Chassis:
    NZXT H500

    PSU:
    EVGA 650W 80+ Gold Semi-Modular

    Total cost: ~£910 GBP. (~$1200USD)



    This was basically my attempt at a rushed budget GTX 1080 build (I got a decent price on the GTX 1080 so built around it.)

    Got some pretty good prices (for the UK) on other things using discounts.

    An i5-8400 is a solid processor (best bang for its buck imo) if your workflow is mostly GPU-dependant, though I found an i5-8500 for cheaper on the day so I bought that instead. I nearly went with the 8600K but I wasn't convinced I needed one given that all of my rendering is realtime, and I never really need to do CPU-heavy tasks such as UE4 Light baking. Although, I do miss being able to have fun overclocking (my last processor was an i5 3570k.)

    My 3000Mhz RAM I found cheaper than the 2666Mhz which is why I went for it, despite my board only supporting up to 2666Mhz (don't think the difference is noticeable anyway.)

    I really like the NZXT H500 case; it's essentially the new S340. I found it very easy to build in and my final cable management is pretty decent. It also has a glass panel instead of plastic, which I thought was great for the price point compared to the S340. However, being a novice I did miss one of the motherboard standoffs which came pre-installed, with actually shorted my motherboard when I assembled it and did a POST test - CHECK YOUR STANDOFFS IF THEY'RE PREINSTALLED!!! No damage occurred but it did give me a fright when it failed POST.


    Also going to buy 2 x Dell U2417H monitors (have found some refurbished/new ones for £160 which seems a good price.) Only 1080p and 23-24", but I'm not desperate for 1440p resolution or anything and these seems like good value for money. =)
  • Takeko
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    Takeko polycounter lvl 2
    Hi I will probably need to get a portable workstation soon and while searching I found that there was quite a lot of hybrid laptop going around with decent specs but I can't find the much needed in depth reviews of the actual drawing/sculpting experiences.
    I have the Dell XPS 15 2-1  in my sight but any comment on other alternatives would be very appreciated too.

    I also have some concern about navigating in 3d programs without access to the keyboard.. so if you have any experience on the matter it would greatly helps

    :)
  • throttlekitty
    Takeko said:
    Hi I will probably need to get a portable workstation soon and while searching I found that there was quite a lot of hybrid laptop going around with decent specs but I can't find the much needed in depth reviews of the actual drawing/sculpting experiences.
    I have the Dell XPS 15 2-1  in my sight but any comment on other alternatives would be very appreciated too.

    I also have some concern about navigating in 3d programs without access to the keyboard.. so if you have any experience on the matter it would greatly helps

    :)
    I have a Surface Book, which is a bit similar with 3 modes, laptop, tablet or reverse-laptop. Keyboard + mouse in 3d is a must, there's too many keys to use to work comfortably with only screen + pen for me for modeling. OTO, you can get some small floating "button" apps with a few keys, ZBrush would probably work great, it's not as hotkey reliant and the navigation is basic. I remember having quirks trying to use Substance Painter, but overall painting was decent. I'm not mobile often enough to force myself into getting good with the machine. I know a guy that also has a Book who had bought the smallest keyboard he could find. With the screen flipped for drawing, he apparently has it off to the side so he has his left-hand shortcuts as usual.

    Otherwise, painting in 2d on the thing is pretty nice, except not all apps recognize the pressure sensitivity, something you might run into with other models. In the case of the Book, it's half hardware, half driver- do some searches like "Dell XPS 15 2-1 [insert favorite software here] pen problem" to get a feel for what other people are running into.
  • sacboi
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    sacboi high dynamic range

    PolyHertz said:

    Just fyi for anyone thinking of upgrading / building a new PC atm; Intel has announced their next generation of CPUs, and NVIDIA today has announced their next generation of video cards. Links:


    Be aware that the i7 series of Intel CPUs will no longer have hyper threading and you'll need to get an i9 for that feature.
    Good to know, thanks for the update.

    I'm currently saving ATM for a total new build, I've been working with an entry level self assembled gaming rig for personal stuff since 2012 built around an Intel core i5 (ivy bridge) and AMD Radeon 7800 so I'm more than a bit overdue for nexgen gear.
  • TheDarkKnight
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    TheDarkKnight polycounter lvl 13
    Hey all,

    Currently in the market for a new build to upgrade my 6 year old PC (which has been somewhat upgraded over the years)
    Came up with this : https://pcpartpicker.com/list/mdzDmq

    Decided to go with the 1080ti as I don't game on PC all that often and mostly work with CPU rendering, so would rather stick in an extra 1080ti at some point or add a 2080ti down the line.
    Power is a bit to much for the current build, but want to make sure it's upgrade proof, as that is something that is definitely planned.

    Any thoughts or suggestions on making it better, sticking to the same price-range somewhat?
  • throttlekitty
    @TheDarkKnight Looks legit, but I don't know Threadripper builds well enough to say anything about the motherboard. Any reason for a WD Red instead of  Blue? I just want to point out my personal preference to have multiple drives over single ones for storage. I've had too many drives die on me over the years, so I take a "don't put all your eggs in one basket" approach there. Unless you're putting your old drives into the new build, then disregard this. :)
  • SZS
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    SZS polycounter lvl 3
    Hi Guys!  :)
    Now I'm working on HP Zbook 15 G3 Notebook, but it has it's own limits.
    So i decided to build a new rig for Game development -> ZBRUSH/MAYA/SUBSTANCE Painter & Designer/UE4.

    What do you think about the following config? Any advice is welcomed!
    • CPU: AMD Ryzen ThreadRipper 2950X 3.50GHz TR4 BOX
    • MotherBoard: ASROCK X399 Taichi
    • RAM: HyperX 64GB Predator DDR4 3000MHz CL15 KIT HX430C15PB3K4/64
    • GPU: MSI GeForce GTX 1080 TI AERO 11G OC GeForce GTX 1080 Ti 11GB GDDR5 OC PCIE
    • CPU COOLER: NOCTUA NH-U12S TR4-SP3
    • PSU: BE QUIET! Dark Power Pro 11 1000W
    • M.2: SAMSUNG 2TB 970 EVO M.2 PCIe M.2 2280 MZ-V7E2T0BW
    Questions:
    1. What do you think about the Rams?
    2. What do you think about the Motherboard?
    3. What do you think overall about the config above?
  • TheDarkKnight
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    TheDarkKnight polycounter lvl 13
    @TheDarkKnight Looks legit, but I don't know Threadripper builds well enough to say anything about the motherboard. Any reason for a WD Red instead of  Blue? I just want to point out my personal preference to have multiple drives over single ones for storage. I've had too many drives die on me over the years, so I take a "don't put all your eggs in one basket" approach there. Unless you're putting your old drives into the new build, then disregard this. :)
    No reason in particular, so switched to the Blue one, cheaper aswell so thanks!
    I back-up weekly to my NAS and external drives so figured I'd be okay with a single HDD, but get what you're saying, so will probably switch to 2 seperate drives, thanks for the suggestion!
  • PolyHertz
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    PolyHertz polycount lvl 666
    @TheDarkKnight Build looks good!
    The only thing I think you might want to consider changing is your SSD from a SATA-based 860 EVO to a M.2-based 970 EVO. It's about $50 more expensive for the same amount of space, but is MUCH faster. Whether you notice the extra speed will really depend on how you use it, but considering how much you're already spending it seems worth it to me for the extra future-proofing if nothing else :)

    @SZS Build looks great, I wouldn't change a thing.
  • _AR_
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    _AR_ null
    forget about it!!



  • SZS
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    SZS polycounter lvl 3
    @SZS Build looks great, I wouldn't change a thing.
    @PolyHertz
    Hi there!
    I'm confused when it comes to Zbrush.

    For extensive 40-80 million polies what would you choose? i7-8086K or Threadripper 2950x config?  
    How good does i7-8086K handle multitaskig? (Using zbrush while baking 4k maps with substance + recording what i do  + jumping back and forth from Maya and Zbrush) (baking in substance is gpu based as far as i know, so it wont affect the multitasking).
    My main focus is not animation rendering, but i wanna do some portfolio renders, and many realtime stuff in UE4 and Marmoset.

    Waa!!ARGGHH! Should i go for i7 8086K/8700 or threadripper 2950x? HELP ME!!!!! :D
  • _AR_
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    _AR_ null
    @szs if u thinking of going with i7 8086k then why not wait for the i9 9900k, they announced it yesterday and i think it will start shipping on October 19th, which i am sure u heard of by now and the price difference won't be that much, around 100$ more if not less
  • PolyHertz
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    PolyHertz polycount lvl 666
    @SZS Ignore the 8700K and 8086K, the new 9900K is what you would want if you went with Intel.
    That said The Threadripper 2950X should still be at least 70% faster then the 9900K in heavily multithreaded tasks, and upgrading in the future will be much easier then with an Intel CPU. The 9900K has better per-thread performance, uses less power, and is notably cheaper. Either one would be good.
  • superdroso
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    superdroso polycounter lvl 6
    Hi guys, i would like to have some feedbacks on 2700x. Atm, i'm running on [email protected]. Everything is fine. I won one 8086k Intel processor and i don't know what to do!
    Sell my X99 Rig ? Sell the 8086k and Switch to 2700x Rig ? Or sell the 8086k and keep the money for a next time?
    I do a lot of realtime (UE4, 3dsmax, marmoset), sculpting and baking ( at same time). Some renders sometimes.
    Thanks again for your feedbacks.

  • PolyHertz
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    PolyHertz polycount lvl 666
    @superdroso The 8086K is slightly better then a 2700X. Atp though it probably makes more sense to sell the 8086K (goes for about $400 new) and put it towards a 9900K (which should be about $500-$550).
  • superdroso
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    superdroso polycounter lvl 6
    PolyHertz said:
    @superdroso The 8086K is slightly better then a 2700X. Atp though it probably makes more sense to sell the 8086K (goes for about $400 new) and put it towards a 9900K (which should be about $500-$550).
    It's what i have in mind in the beginning, but the price and avaibility of 9900K become crazy . We are talking about something around 700 euros and an  avaibility for mi december :/
  • PolyHertz
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    PolyHertz polycount lvl 666
    Ugh, that's way too much. I've heard Intel was having some issues lately which has made their component prices rise, but I hadn't realized it was already getting that bad.

    Well the new Intel CPUs thankfully use the same socket as the 8086K, so you could just buy the motherboard and use if with your 8086K then upgrade to a 9900K later if you feel you need something faster. AMD however is going to be showing off their next generation of CPUs in January at CES and they will probably be more affordable then what Intel is offering.
  • Veezen
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    Veezen polycounter lvl 9
    I looking forward to upgrading my PC for Substance Painter/UE4.

    My PC is like ~5 years old but some of things were changed during last years. My current specs are:
    PSU
    - Silentiumpc Deus 500w
    Motherboard
    - ASRock Z77 pro3
    CPU
    - i5 3570k
    CPU Cooler
    - SilentiumPC Spartan 3 LT HE1012
    GPU
    - GTX 1060
    RAM
    - 16GB

    I don't think this is necessary to change eveyrthing. I need change my GPU and PSU. GTX 1080ti is stuck in my mind. What do you think? What you can recommend to me considering my software focus?
  • ZacD
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    ZacD ngon master
    Well a 1080ti would be twice as fast as a GTX 1060. And you should definitely get a new PSU with the GPU, something at least 650 watts and a well known brand. 

    Upgrading your CPU to a i7-3770K would only be 25% faster in CPU heavy workloads (I think that is the fastest practical CPU for that board). To double your CPU performance, you'd need something like a i7-8700 and a new motherboard, new ram, and maybe new CPU cooler. 
  • Veezen
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    Veezen polycounter lvl 9
    Thank you!

    I started making research for new PSU and I found be quiet! 650W Straight Power 11
    be quiet from what I believe is on top. Is there anything else that I can consider to buy?

    edit:
    I will probably take Seasonic 650W Focus Plus 80 Plus Gold 
  • ZacD
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    ZacD ngon master
    I suggested at least 650 Watts, if you are planning on leaving room to upgrade the PC more in the future, you might want to go for 750 Watts. Typically PSU prices don't jump up that much between wattages.
  • .Wiki
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    .Wiki polycounter lvl 8
    Veezen said:
    Thank you!

    I started making research for new PSU and I found be quiet! 650W Straight Power 11
    be quiet from what I believe is on top. Is there anything else that I can consider to buy?

    edit:
    I will probably take Seasonic 650W Focus Plus 80 Plus Gold 
    Enermax and Seasonic are good too.

    I´m using be quiet psus since more then 10 years now. I had one that broke after 2 years but i got a replacement psu delivered to my door and just gave the delivery guy the broken psu. I don´t know if the service is the same in other countries since bequiet is located here in germany.
  • thomasp
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    thomasp hero character
    Heya, it's that time for a new PC again.

    I'm looking at a system with the Core i7 8086 (6x 4Ghz), Asus Prime Z 390 Plus mainboard or similar, 64 GB of RAM, 1080 Ti and some SSDs. I haven't done much research so far so the mobo might change or I might go for a slightly different CPU model but same generations/chipsets in both cases.

    At this point all I'd like to know is if these components are still considered to be compatible (without restrictions) with Windows 7 Professional as an OS. Or are we now at a point where that cannot support the functionality in modern equipment anymore?

  • PolyHertz
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    PolyHertz polycount lvl 666
    @thomasp You can still use Windows 7 with newer hardware, but the process of installing can be more involved then it used to be. The easiest way to do it is to use a PS/2 based mouse and keyboard during installation, and use SATA-based SSDs.

    If you want to install the OS to an NVMe M.2 drive it can be a bit tricky since the OS doesn't have built in support, same with using USB mouse/keyboard since Windows7 doesn't have built in support for USB3 (just load the drivers after installation, then you can switch to USB based mouse/keyboard and such).

    Beyond that, the meltdown/spectre patches have a serious performance impact on Windows 7, much more so then Windows 10, so you might want to consider not installing them even though it means your system will be less secure. And you can't use Intel integrated GPUs, need to have a dedicated video card.

    I think that's basically it for issues with Windows 7 on newer hardware.
  • thomasp
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    thomasp hero character
    @PolyHertz thanks a lot man, that's great info!
    So - NVMe drives can not be used for the OS installation but as regular data drives - or not at all with W7?

    Yeah I don't care about spectre or hardening the OS anymore. My machine is off the network for everything but software license checkouts and file transfer on the LAN. I just want to keep using the environment I'm used to - just with more RAM.

  • PolyHertz
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    PolyHertz polycount lvl 666
    You can use NVMe drives, you just have to install drivers for them.
    Alternatively to the methods above, you can also make a custom version of Windows 7 with the USB and NVMe drivers pre-installed, and just install the OS from that. Here's a video showing the steps (mirrors of the files are in the videos comments):

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQj0yM1Vnbk
  • Veezen
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    Veezen polycounter lvl 9
    .Wiki said:
    Veezen said:
    Thank you!

    I started making research for new PSU and I found be quiet! 650W Straight Power 11
    be quiet from what I believe is on top. Is there anything else that I can consider to buy?

    edit:
    I will probably take Seasonic 650W Focus Plus 80 Plus Gold 
    Enermax and Seasonic are good too.

    I´m using be quiet psus since more then 10 years now. I had one that broke after 2 years but i got a replacement psu delivered to my door and just gave the delivery guy the broken psu. I don´t know if the service is the same in other countries since bequiet is located here in germany.
    Thanks. I had a problem to make an order of Seasonic because of availability problems so I decided to pick be quite!
    Now I need to buy 1080ti :D but I wonder if my CPU can handle this card (i5-3570k)
  • thomasp
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    thomasp hero character
    PolyHertz said:
    You can use NVMe drives, you just have to install drivers for them.
    Alternatively to the methods above, you can also make a custom version of Windows 7 with the USB and NVMe drivers pre-installed, and just install the OS from that.
    Very helpful, thanks again!

  • demigodssw
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    demigodssw greentooth
    Hi guys, I am planing to upgrade my PC for doing game art and playing games. Here is the build I have finalized.

    Processor -
    AMD - Ryzen 7 2700X 3.7GHz 8-Core Processor

    MotherBoard -
    MSI - X470 GAMING PLUS ATX AM4 Motherboard

    Ram -
    Corsair - Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory

    SSD - 
    Samsung - 970 Evo 250GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive
     am not including a hard drive as I already have 1

    Graphic card - 
    1070 ti founders edition

    Cabinet -
    Corsair - Carbide SPEC-04 (Black/Red) ATX Mid Tower Case

    PowerSupply -
    Corsair - Builder 750W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply



    This is the first time, I will be building a PC completely by myself. Please correct me if there is any mistakes in my build. I am planing to use it  for 6 years at least. I still my doubt on SSDs, how much performance improvement have you guys noticed after adding a SSD.
  • Raiza88
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    Raiza88 polycounter lvl 2
    Hi, first off I'd like to thank the OP and everyone, by read the thread I learned so much, I apologize in advance for my english, now I'm building a new desktop pc, I'm 3D Artist (Maya, Photoshop, Subtance Painter/Designer, Marmoset/Unity/Unreal) and I'm planning to connect a 4K res monitor and a Cintiq 24 Pro, so two 4K monitors;
    the build I have in mind is this one  (is basically the 2100$ build posted by the OP but with different SSDs)

    I think that everything should work fine, but since I'll be spending so much I'd like some advice for a UPS that could support either the pc and the two 4K monitors 
    I'm thinking to buy this one, but I don't if it's powerful enough to sustain them
    My need is to save the work I'm doing in case of power failure and turn off the sistem and montors in order to prevent damage.


  • RevoMA
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    RevoMA polycounter lvl 2
    PolyHertz said:
    @SZS Ignore the 8700K and 8086K, the new 9900K is what you would want if you went with Intel.
    That said The Threadripper 2950X should still be at least 70% faster then the 9900K in heavily multithreaded tasks, and upgrading in the future will be much easier then with an Intel CPU. The 9900K has better per-thread performance, uses less power, and is notably cheaper. Either one would be good.
    @PolyHertz, I was reading the thread and wanted to ask about the highlighted bit above. Why would upgrading be easier with a 2950X than an Intel CPU? 

    Not currently building a machine or anything, just curious. Many thanks! 
  • PolyHertz
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    PolyHertz polycount lvl 666
    @RevoMA I should have said "will probably be much easier". The reason I said that is because AMD has committed to sticking with the same motherboard socket through at least 2020, while Intel has not commented on how much longer theirs will be supported. Intel also has a track record of switching sockets more often then AMD and even when the socket stays the same between CPU generations compatibility can still be problematic. Ex: The Z270 motherboards can run a 8700K cpu, but isn't officially supported because unless you have a very high end one the power draw of the CPU can be too much.

    So if you go with Intel your motherboard may or may not be supported when the next generation of CPUs come around, while as with AMD you know for sure it will be.
  • Peksio
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    Peksio polycounter lvl 4
    Hello, I am looking for a monitor for a 3d animator. I am looking for someting in sizes between 23" and 25", 1080p.

    Right now I have found AOC 24V2Q. I read some opinions and it looks like a good, pretty cheap monitor.

    I was wondering if maybe there is something cheaper or better ? What do you think about it ?

  • ZacD
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    ZacD ngon master
    Peksio said:
    Hello, I am looking for a monitor for a 3d animator. I am looking for someting in sizes between 23" and 25", 1080p.

    Right now I have found AOC 24V2Q. I read some opinions and it looks like a good, pretty cheap monitor.

    I was wondering if maybe there is something cheaper or better ? What do you think about it ?

    What's your budget? Is there any specs that are important to you? IPS? High refresh rate? gsync/freesync? 
  • NativeNewer
    Hi guys,

    what CPU would you recommend for a PC setup for Virtual reality, Unity, Visual Studio, Unreal Engine, Adobe Cloud (Illustrator mainly and After Effects), MAYA, Substance: 8086k or 2700x??

    It is said that most programs with viewport benefits from higher cpu clock frequency compared to multihread number or cores.

    I think on 9900k but it is said to be a toaster.

    Thanks.
  • thomasp
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    thomasp hero character
    I was looking at 8086k vs 9900k as well and the reviews saying the latter was running really hot put me off, so 8086k it is. I think either way these are the right choices when you mainly care about single core performance which is what you'll need for having the app keep up with you as well as possible.

    Rendering aside I can't find any good reasons to go for these machines with large numbers of lower clocked cores. And if I had to do that often I'd be looking at offloading the jobs in question to another machine separate from my main one, not trying to have a workstation and a render box all-in-one.

  • Peksio
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    Peksio polycounter lvl 4
    ZacD said:
    Peksio said:
    Hello, I am looking for a monitor for a 3d animator. I am looking for someting in sizes between 23" and 25", 1080p.

    Right now I have found AOC 24V2Q. I read some opinions and it looks like a good, pretty cheap monitor.

    I was wondering if maybe there is something cheaper or better ? What do you think about it ?

    What's your budget? Is there any specs that are important to you? IPS? High refresh rate? gsync/freesync? 

    Thanks. I was thinking around ~100$ - 130$ top per monitor. I don't have very high standards. IPS with nice colours and black and white would be nice, 1080p, I don't mind standard 60 Hz and I don't need gsync or freesyns
  • NativeNewer
    thomasp said:
    I was looking at 8086k vs 9900k as well and the reviews saying the latter was running really hot put me off, so 8086k it is. I think either way these are the right choices when you mainly care about single core performance which is what you'll need for having the app keep up with you as well as possible.

    Rendering aside I can't find any good reasons to go for these machines with large numbers of lower clocked cores. And if I had to do that often I'd be looking at offloading the jobs in question to another machine separate from my main one, not trying to have a workstation and a render box all-in-one.

    Thanks for your comment. I think I will go for 8086k, maybe in next gens 8c/16t will be the standard and AMD or Intel will have similar performance regarding single clock frequency performance and overall multithread performance. Otherwise, it would be likely to find myself asking again about this questions in different forums jaja.
  • PolyHertz
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    PolyHertz polycount lvl 666
    @NativeNewer Keep in mind that AMD is set to show off their new Zen2 (Ryzen 3000) series CPUs during CES 2019 on January 8th. So unless you're getting a good deal on your new CPU it might be better to wait a month or so to see what they do.
  • NativeNewer

    @NativeNewer Keep in mind that AMD is set to show off their new Zen2 (Ryzen 3000) series CPUs during CES 2019 on January 8th. So unless you're getting a good deal on your new CPU it might be better to wait a month or so to see what they do.
    But I need the pc, they will announce in january, but ZEN2 will not be in the market at least until February... i wait for 9900k, but when I discover it was a toaster I decided not do buy it.

    Thanks.
  • thomasp
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    thomasp hero character
    What's the AMD side of things looking like these days anyway? To be honest I saw a few reviews and the Ryzen did not perform too favourably vs Intel chips in the important category (single core performance). The few times I bumped into AMD over the years they always had hardware that was running hotter, chipsets/motherboards were a bit more problematic and it appears that software on Windows generally is more optimized to run on Intel chips.

    Seems to be a bit of a case of AMD (ex ATI) vs Nvidia for graphics cards - if all you want is to sail smoothly with a machine that just has to truck along for a few years before it gets replaced then you know which one to pick.

  • PolyHertz
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    PolyHertz polycount lvl 666
    thomasp said:
    What's the AMD side of things looking like these days anyway?
    If the latest rumors surrounding their upcoming CPUs turn out to be true, they're looking extremely good.

    Ryzen 3 3300 - 6C/12T - Base Clock 3.2 - Boost Clock 4.0 - TDP 50W - $99
    Ryzen 3 3300X - 6C/12T - Base Clock 3.5 - Boost Clock 4.3 - TDP 65W - $129
    Ryzen 3 3300G - 6C/12T/15CU - Base Clock 3.0 - Boost Clock 3.8 - TDP 65W - $129

    Ryzen 5 3600 - 8C/16T - Base Clock 3.6 - Boost Clock 4.4 - TDP 65W - $179
    Ryzen 5 3600X - 8C/16T - Base Clock 4.0 - Boost Clock 4.8 - TDP 95W - $229
    Ryzen 5 3600G - 8C/16T/20CU - Base Clock 3.2 - Boost Clock 4.0 - TDP 95W - $199

    Ryzen 7 3700 - 12C/24T - Base Clock 3.8 - Boost Clock 4.6 - TDP 95W - $299
    Ryzen 7 3700X - 12C/24T - Base Clock 4.2 - Boost Clock 5.0 - TDP 105W - $329

    Ryzen 9 3800X - 16C/32T - Base Clock 3.9 - Boost Clock 4.7 - TDP 125W - $449
    Ryzen 9 3850X - 16C/32T - Base Clock 4.3 - Boost Clock 5.1 - TDP 135W - $499

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCdsTBsH-rI
  • Udjani
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    Udjani interpolator
    Those price are crazy low to be true, but finger crossed.
  • PeterMurphy
  • Mossum
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    Mossum polycounter lvl 2
    Hi everybody,
    I am currently looking for parts to upgrading my computer for my 3D work and wanted to ask some advice. I am quite confused about computer parts still, although I am trying to learn how it all works :)
    I am thinking about buying the following: GPU: ASUS GeForce GTX 1060 Expedition OC 6GB, CPU: Intel i7 930 (4 cores) and 20-24GB RAM.

    What do you think?
  • Justo
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    Justo polycounter
    Anyone here seen a build with a nvidia 2080 running 3d programs? Is there a huge boost to it, or is it too pricey to merit the cost? 
  • FourtyNights
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    FourtyNights polycounter
    The moment of bying a new PC is close for me, so I've been thinking between with either AMD Ryzen 7 2700x (8c/16t) or AMD Thredripper 2920x (12c/24t) CPUs. Of course I'll pair one of them with one GeForce RTX 2080 Ti and 32 Gb DDR4 RAM and a couple of spacious SDDs.

    The reason I'd pick 2700x is that it's most likely cheaper with "motherboard + cpu + ram" combination than the Threadripper one, and I'd like to save money if there isn't much of a performance difference with the softwares I use. So, here are the softwares I'd be using with the heaviest loads explained:

    Blender 2.79b (and a little bit of 2.8) -> quite heavy high poly models in the viewport for both hard surface subdivision modeling and importing heavy organic ZBrush models for retopology

    ZBrush -> Even heavier HP models in its viewport than in Blender (but I might create tertiary details procedurally in SP, so HP sculpts may be less heavier without needing extra subdivisions for smaller detailing)

    Marvelous Designer -> pretty obviously for cloth simulation using CPU's multi-threading capabilities

    Substance Painter -> working with 4k textures and probably even 8k exporting (mostly the benefit coming from the GPU in here)

    Marmoset Toolbag -> heavy baking with 4k-8k textures with heavy HP models, with highest settings and real-time rendering final game assets (mostly the benefit coming from the GPU here as well)

    Unreal Engine 4 -> at least one massive project I'll be working this year, so lots of low poly models with lots of textures and texture sets with more or less complex materials/shaders.

    Meshroom -> processing scanned models through photogrammetry with lots of photos (this is an extra tool I could try pushing my new PC's limits with)

    But coming back to my current old PC's specs here, I've STILL managed to get done pretty heavy stuff in the past anyway, with a little struggle though, but not too bad considering circumstances:

    Intel Core i5-6500 @ 3.20 Ghz, only 4c/4t
    GeForce GTX 960 2Gb
    16 Gb DDR4 RAM
    2Tb HDD and 1Tb HDD, so no SSDs either, lol

    So, does it matter much which one of these CPUs I pick?
  • thomasp
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    thomasp hero character
    Two comments: in my experience Marvelous isn't benefitting all that much from multi-core (perhaps version 8 has addressed this?). And if you plan on working on complex assets then RAM becomes a bottleneck. I''ve been on 32 for the last five years and have been struggling a bit here and there, particularly in ZBrush. I'd not buy anything under 64 gigs at this point and would put an emphasis on being able to upgrade to more memory in the future.

  • FourtyNights
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    FourtyNights polycounter
    @thomasp Yeah, I agree. I've considered 64 Gb DDR4 RAM, but yikes, the price gets a bit too high. It depends how much my whole build is going to cost total, so I shall see if I get either at least 32 Gb or that 64 Gb.

    But still I haven't encountered much of a performance problem in ZBrush, even with my current 16Gb DDR4 RAM.
  • yusefkerr
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    yusefkerr polycounter lvl 8
    Hello, I'm looking at getting a new PC for Octane, Unreal4 and general 3D and VR development (max/substance/zbrush). I got a quote for the kind of system I'd like to have from PC specialist, but the price is higher than I expected and I'm wondering if it's overkill. The quoted price is around (please note GBP) £5388 + VAT (so £6466 total). Can anyone offer advice on what I could look to drop from this specification to cut the total by around a third (ideally aiming around £4000.

    Processor (CPU) AMD Ryzen Threadripper 2990WX 32 Core CPU (3.0GHz-4.2GHz, 80MB CACHE)
    Motherboard ASUS® ROG STRIX X399-E (DDR4, WIFI, CrossFireX/SLI) - RGB Ready!
    Memory (RAM) 64GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 2933MHz ~ (8 x 8GB)
    Graphics Card 11GB ASUS ROG STRIX GEFORCE RTX 2080 Ti - HDMI, DP
    2nd Graphics Card 11GB ASUS ROG STRIX GEFORCE RTX 2080 Ti - HDMI, DP
    1st Storage Drive 1TB WD Blue™ 3D NAND 2.5" SSD, (upto 560MB/sR | 530MB/sW)
    2nd Storage Drive 5TB SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 128MB CACHE
    Processor Cooling Noctua NH-U14S TR4-SP3 Ultra Quiet Performance CPU Cooler

    Thanks in advance for any suggestions.
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