Computer for an Artist

Moobicat

Hey everyone.

Currently I am working on an low spec laptop and have some spare money (£1k-2k) to upgrade myself to better PC. I would like to run software, like Zbrush, Unreal 4, Substance Painter without big problems or big lag.
However I am not really sure what parts are crucial for this type comp.( I assume it is ram)

Guys, would you be able to help me finds some good specs? Perhaps you can share specs and experience you have on your computer.

Thanks guys,
Moobi

Moltar

This is my spec.  Never had an issue with it.  

CPU - i54690k (if you have spare cash go for an i7)
GPU - MSI Nvidia 970
Ssd - Kingston 120gb (windows+programs)
HDD - 1tb western digital black (games+files)
Nzxt case
nzxt x31 water cooler.
16gb Kingston beast ram
MSI gaming 5 mobo

£900 - +

PolyHertz

RAM: 16gb minimum
GPU: GTX 970 or better (next generation of GPUs are being shown next month, might want to wait on that)
CPU: any i5 or i7 Intel cpu will do fine
Hard drive: SSD, 250gb or more just for OS and apps (120gb is fine too, but the price difference is negligible these days). and a separate hard drive for file storage.
Monitor: a quality IPS display (for color accuracy), Dell seems to be the most popular brand around here
OS: Windows 7 (64bit version) or newer

beefaroni

If you're using Substance Painter avoid the 970 for now. 

Moltar

beefaroni said:

If you're using Substance Painter avoid the 970 for now. 

Why?

Edit - ah, next gen

Moobicat

I like how this post might turn in into something more. I always was curious about other artists set up.

elGuapo

I am a fan of this site:
http://www.logicalincrements.com/

It has recommendations based on what you want to spend.

beefaroni

Moltar said:

beefaroni said:

If you're using Substance Painter avoid the 970 for now. 

Why?

Edit - ah, next gen

Ah sorry I should have explained.

According to the Substance devs, when using above 3.5Gb of memory, the 970 performance is not ideal in painter. It has to do with the last 500mb on the 970 being incredibly slow when 3.5gb is utilized. 

http://www.pcgamer.com/why-nvidias-gtx-970-slows-down-using-more-than-35gb-vram/

The 980 or waiting for the next gen of cards would probably be a better idea.

kanga

PolyHertz said:

RAM: 16gb minimum
GPU: GTX 970 or better (next generation of GPUs are being shown next month, might want to wait on that)
CPU: any i5 or i7 Intel cpu will do fine
Hard drive: SSD, 250gb or more just for OS and apps (120gb is fine too, but the price difference is negligible these days). and a separate hard drive for file storage.
Monitor: a quality IPS display (for color accuracy), Dell seems to be the most popular brand around here
OS: Windows 7 (64bit version) or newer

Thanks!
Getting a new one built and it matches your advice pretty closely, except I just bumped the RAM up thanks to you.
Cheerio

Moobicat

What do you think about Totalbiscuit set up. Do you think it would be quite good for an artist or it is purely gaming pc?

CPU: Intel Core i7-5930K @ 4.0ghz.
RAM: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB DDR4-2800
BOARD: ASUS Rampage V Extreme
COOLER: Corsair H110i
GPU: 2x Nvidia Geforce Titan X
SSDs: 3x Sandisk Extreme Pro 480gb
OS: Windows 7 x64 Ultimate. 

battlecow

You don't need to build a supercomputer to do art, an average gaming PC will do just fine, you don't need a gtx980/titan,superfast ram and raid mounted SSDs.
What you do need is good monitors, good tablet, good chair and maybe some good headphones  
edit : put the extra cash in stuff like Knald, Ipackthat ect

beefaroni

5820k
MSI x99 sli plus
32 GB ram
980ti
1 1TB SSD + 1 2TB HDD

At least that would be close to my dream setup. That build you linked seems like a bit of a waste.

ZacD

SLI is pretty much worthless for game art, and Titans are a horrible value proposition, you are better off saving the money, and just getting the best GTX card out, and upgrading it more often. The i7 6700k vs the 5820k are a pretty even trade off, more cores at a lower speed or less cores at a higher speed, some things still benefit more from better single core performance, I'd just go with what platform you can get for cheaper. How much ram you need is very application and work flow dependent, at least get 16GB with room to upgrade to 3GB. For SSDs 512GB are a good value, but the minimum I'd suggest is 256 GB. 128GB is just too small for Windows, 3d applications, and project files.