upgrade or new PC?

Ruz

I am sitting on the3 fence here, thinking it would be easy to buy a new pc, but maybe just upgrading the RAM and video card might be ok

I do mainly zbrush with a bit of rendering and tbh zbrush is fine on my current system, but baking AO is rather slow
current system is intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU Q8200 @ 2.33 GHZ 2.34 GHZ
8.00 GB RAM
64 Bit operating system
video card is GEForce GTX 560 Ti

so yeah system is fairly old already

Meloncov

Baking AO is either mostly or purely CPU (depending on which program you're using), so upgrading RAM or graphics isn't going to help you there. Current ZBrush isn't going to see much benefit from more ram or better graphics card either, though that'll change once 5 is released.

ZacD

It's definitely time to build a new PC, you could keep your current GPU for maybe a few years if you want to save some money. I'm still on a core2quad processor as well, but I'm going to be building a new computer soon.

SuperFranky

Just change CPU to something good and buy a motherboard for it and you'll be fine.

ZacD

He'll need new RAM too.

Blaizer

I would wait.

New computers with DDR4 and other improvements are around the corner, and you only would need to change mobo, cpu and ram.

ZacD

You can get a 2011 v3 motherboards with DDR4 right now. The ram isn't going to improve performance in games or game engines, there's no real reason to wait.

Blaizer

With the launch of windows 10, there will be new processors as well. DDR4 is just one of the new things about the technological jump we'll see on pcs in the upcoming months.

Those CPUs for the 2011-3 platform are very expensive. Actual cpus for the rest of the platforms are capped to 1600mhz, and only overclockers buy faster memories because they are good for their overclock.

For example, a Intel Core i7-5930K only supports DDR4-2133mhz (the lowest on its class), and its price is 580€.

If you buy a pc right now, you may regret it because it's not only a matter of ram. But if someone need desperately a new machine, forget my advice of waiting.

ZacD

$300 for a 6-core i7 is a great deal, http://www.microcenter.com/product/437203/core_i7-5820k_33_ghz_lga_2011_v3_tray_processor I'm expecting to spend about $900 on everything but the GPU and SSD I'm reusing.

Also CPUs aren't much of a bottleneck for games, if you are waiting for the next hardware release, you'll constantly be waiting. Also according to PassMark, a 5820k is 4x faster than the Q8200, that's a pretty huge upgrade.

Blaizer

The next hardware release will be in months, and we will see windows 10. At this time, for me, it's not logical to buy new parts, and more when the 2011-3 cpus only uses the DDR4 modules with the lowest speeds.

We will have a new pci-e, new usb, new windows, bufff. Too many sustantial changes.

My brother is still using a Quadcore Q9550 (2,8ghz), 8GB and a GTX 285. He doesn't need to upgrade in his opinion, because he has enough for all his needs. I said him: "buy a ssd for your SO and apps", and he replied me: "Why? for 5 seconds less in the loading of windows and photoshop?, no thanks".

On february of 2013 i bought a complete mini PC, an i5 3570k, 16gb, gtx 660 SOC and with a ssd, for less than 800€. Compared to my i7, there's no practical difference, except in rendering (just seconds), and i paid much more .

At the end, all people will end doing whatever they think it's good, no matter what you say.

Ruz

thanks for the advice guys. yeah maybe I will just leave it then as my current system is ok on the whole, but it would be nice to have some more rendering power in the future

Visum

I'm one of those people that NEVER jumps right into fresh OS. I did it in the past and it cost me dearly.
I'm still on Win 7 and not touching it unless I MUST.
4770K with 16GB or RAM and keep you GPU. Clock it on safe 4.2GHz (add some better cooling) and have fun. That's what I would do.

beefaroni

@Blaizer - Where did you hear about the new processor improvements and new USB??

ZacD

PCI-E and USB improvements will still have minimal impact on performance. Processor performance per dollar typically improves very slowly and steadily. It's not like you are going to get double the performance for the same price in a year.

beefaroni

Hmmm. Well since this thread is going. Will the difference from a i5-3570K to a i7-5820 be a big jump? On paper, the 5820 is almost (whoops, 2x) as powerful, but I'm curious if building lightmaps / rendering in V-Ray will benefit as much. If it will cut building/rendering time in half it could be worth it.

Edit: Also, Substance Designer and UE4 open at hte same time eats up 100% processing so it could be nice..

ZacD

Lightmaps and V-Ray renders, as well as baking, get the biggest benefit from jumping from an i5 to an i7. It's definitely worth it http://www.cpubenchmark.net/compare.php?cmp[]=2340&cmp[]=827

beefaroni

Hmm. Maybe I will upgrade this weekend then . 32GB of ram would be pretty nice as well. I was looking at the Intel roadmap and the next big jump would be 8 core processors for $300-$400 (basically the 5960x but not $1000); however I don't see that happening for another year or so..

ZacD

Yeah I do not see that happening with their mainstream platform for a while, there isn't many mainstream applications and games optimized for more than 2 cores.

thomasp

i would not expect any noticeable performance/cost increases by waiting around for whatever new thing. all the new stuff will have to come down in price, too. and i agree with the notion that jumping early into a new OS is risky if the computer is more than a plaything to you and you have to sort out any issues with it on your own time.

if you need something new - and yours looks like it is from five or more years ago and probably a good while behind the curve in CPU power - just buy now and get to work.
by the time all the new stuff has matured and those windows 10 features are actually desireable or needed for work, it'll be considered old crap in dire need of replacement again.

Ruz

I think it's just that 5 year ago I was doing mainly games stuff, but now I am doing mainly zbrush and rendering stuff, so I have only started noticing the lack of rendering power in my pc in the last year or so.
I will still use windows 7 even if I buy a new pc, because I generally order a custom built pc without an OS

Blaizer

beefaroni wrote: »

@Blaizer - Where did you hear about the new processor improvements and new USB??

From hardware sites such as guru3d, tomshardware, etc.

Windows 10 is there to try it out. And if you still like windows 7, you don't need to use windows 10 on the new hardware that we will see in the 1st quarter of 2015. I have windows 8.1 and i don't use it.

I'm planning to buy another computer as well, and if don't like the release version of windows 10, i will stay with windows 7 until directx 12 is the common api in games (actual GTX 980s are dx12).

ZacD

"DirectX 12 (and D3D 12) are backwards compatible with virtually every single GPU from the GTX 400 to the present day." and DirectX doesn't have to be exclusive to Windows 10, it just depends on Microsoft.

Blaizer

In hardware news portals it's said that directx 12 will be exclusive for windows 10, like it was dx11 with windows Vista if i recall well.

ZacD

Microsoft hasn't confirmed anything yet. All they've said is that it's coming to PC, mobile, and Xbox One. It'll probably be Windows 10 exclusive, unless DirectX 12 is ready before Windows 10.