Hey polycount fam!
So its time that I create a new desktop.
To cut to brass tax, I have a budget of $1,500.00. And I'd like to build a machine for creative purposes primarily (modeling, rendering, video editing, sound editing). And gaming purposes secondarily. I dont play games for too long, but I Like to buy them and stay up on the current stuff when I can, even if i dont play it to completion or for extended amounts of time.
Below is a build I found using www.logicalincrements.com under their suggest video editing build. I switched out a few things, otherwise its pretty much the same. What are your thoughts?
CPU: Intel i7-6700K
Graphics Card: GTX 950
or R7 370
or GTX 960 (this one is my favorite)
Motherboard: Gigabyte Z170X-UD5
RAM: 16 GB DDR4 (i may get two of these packs)
Storage 1: Samsung 850 EVO 240 GB SSD
Storage 2: HGST 2 TB hard drive
Power Supply: Seasonic M12II 620W
CPU Cooler: NHU-12S
Case: Enthoo Pro
A friend told me that nvidia is going to release something called pascal, which might lower the price of their other items namely theone i listed above. Not sure if thats something I should count on.
ALso is 600W enough power? 800 was suggested.
THanks everyone!
Replies
If you really, really want to wait for Pascal to come out you could use the integrated graphics on the CPU in the meantime, which is fine for millions of points in Zbrush and a medium number of polygons in a main app of your choice. I would wait for Pascal GPUs if you want to be able to do VR development relatively cheaply, otherwise any of these GPUs you listed are more than adequate for game art. (The exception would be if you're planning to use Substance Painter or Mari, both of which can use all the GPU power you throw at them. In that case it could be worth saving up for a 980, a 980 Ti, or their Pascal equivalents.)
CPU will tide you over for quite a few years. GPU though you don't want anything below a GTX 960 (unless your focus is on very low-spec work). Keep in mind that the next generation of GPUs are just around the corner atp (Pascal), and most will tell you to wait for them. The power supply is fine.
Pascal is supposed to come out early June, so a bit less than two months which is not that long to wait.
http://www.techspot.com/review/1155-affordable-dual-xeon-pc/
Older tech but prices are great and they still do a hell of a job.
For RAM, the amount you'll need is dependent on what you want to do. If you plan on using Substance Designer then you want as much ram as possible, or intend to do very high resolution bakes (8k+). The bigger issue is that the onboard gpu is going to be sharing your ram instead of using dedicated vram, which means you'll effectively be losing a few gigs of your ram by not having a dedicated GPU.
It looks like I'll be waiting on the Pascal, so until then I suppose I wont be using substance or UE4, (not a thing I do now often anyways). And if its just two months (june) then that wont be so bad. Will I be able to handle 4k stuff on the I7? not a problem if I cant, I'm only wondering.
Here's an updated version of my build now, Built with the intention of modeling, animating, rendering in after effects and premier and some gaming.
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/my2hsY