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

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  • BestiART
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    BestiART polycounter lvl 5
    oglu said:
    32GB are enough for modeling and texturing. If you need todo crazy simulation work in Houdini i would go for as much RAM as you can.
    Just make sure you have 2gb per CPU Thread. Otherwise your CPU does get slowed down.
    Sorry idon't know much about pc components, where can i check the thing about 2gb per cpu threads? initially i was going for the ryzen 9 3900x. 

    Talking about ram, i don't have to use Houdini, for simulation stuff i would just use marvelous designer for clothing.
  • oglu
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    oglu polycount lvl 666
    The 3900X does have 24 Threads so you need at least 48GB of ram to feed the CPU. This does come into play for simulations or rendering.
    Most modeling and texturing tools dont juse that much threads. You are fine with 32GB. This is only relevant for crazy 64+ Thread CPUs.

    I would go for less Threads but more clock speed. And invest the money in a big GPU.
  • BestiART
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    BestiART polycounter lvl 5
    oglu said:
    The 3900X does have 24 Threads so you need at least 48GB of ram to feed the CPU. This does come into play for simulations or rendering.
    Most modeling and texturing tools dont juse that much threads. You are fine with 32GB. This is only relevant for crazy 64+ Thread CPUs.

    I would go for less Threads but more clock speed. And invest the money in a big GPU.
    ok, thanks for the suggestion!
  • sirHelix
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    sirHelix polycounter lvl 4
    PolyHertz said:
    @BestiART Yea AMD CPUs are the better buys if you want 12 or more cores (though obviously you're spending more then with your previous build). The Ryzen 4000 series desktop CPUs are expected to release in September or October, so if you're going AMD it might be worth waiting just a bit longer for those.
    So probably in Oct-Nov we have new Ryzen and new Nvidia 3000 in the market isn't it? so I think I'm going to wait for black friday more of less to change pc. I want to upgrade my i7 4790k, 16gram and 970 gtx. To make 3D environment and props. 

     <3 
  • thomasp
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    thomasp hero character
    phaedarus said:
    I am not confident at all with the prospect that the 3000 series of cards will be that much cheaper than the 2000 series.

    I'm sure Nvidia is happy with this new normal.

    I agree. On top of that I saw a report that apparently Nvidia has recently been busy convincing third party card makers to increase prices for the upcoming cards across the board. At this stage that's a rumour though.

    I would certainly not expect any new top model to come in cheaper than the (ridiculously priced) current ones.

  • Justo
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    Justo polycounter
    If people only need to make props or characters, are the 2000 or 3000 series of cards super necessary? All this raytrace craze, as far as I know, is mostly irrelevant to this group of people, no?
    I can get just fine in all DCC apps and renderers using a 1070. Is the upgrade that much of a difference?
  • poopipe
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    poopipe grand marshal polycounter
    You get noticeably better performance in apps that make heavy use of your GPU if you have a better GPU  - so that includes substance painter/designer/alchemist and many other apps.  Even a 1080 is a significant improvement over a 1070 in these cases. 

    Having RTX etc allows certain things to be done much faster than when you don't have it - that includes baking in some apps. 

    The caveat is that the rest of your machine has to be up to the job of moving data on and off the fancy GPU - to feed a 2080Ti you need a modern fairly high end CPU, a pretty fancy motherboard (with all 16 PCIe lanes enabled if Dell are listening ) and some nice shiny fast ram.

    If you are simply modelling low poly props, baking using a software renderer and painting textures in photoshop then you'll get basically no benefit from a fancy GPU.
  • PolyHertz
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    PolyHertz polycount lvl 666
    @Justo The main benefit of realtime raytracing tech for prop/character creation is increased performance when baking textures (good if you're baking lots of 8k or 16k maps), as well as when painting in 3D apps like Substance Painter or 3D-Coat (these apps project the paint to the surface via many raycasts after all).
  • Justo
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    Justo polycounter
    If you are simply modelling low poly props, baking using a software renderer and painting textures in photoshop then you'll get basically no benefit from a fancy GPU.
    That's my point, yeah.

    @PolyHertz Right. SP can definetly get very laggy sometimes here, just as you say.
  • thomasp
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    thomasp hero character
    The 1070 was just fine for me all around - until I needed to really speed up Eevee since that's now the only way to properly view textures in viewport in Blender. With the older viewport there was zero need for a faster card. Baking speed increases are nice but unless you do that all day it's hardly worth the upgrade. My 0.02 cents.
  • PolyHertz
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    PolyHertz polycount lvl 666
    Nvidia just announced during their live stream that the Geforce 3080 will cost $699, and the 3070 will be $499.
    They also showed the 3090 (which replaces the Titan series), which will cost $1499.

    They stated that the 3070 is faster then the 2080 Ti, but no independent benchmarks have been released yet to prove it.
  • thomasp
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    thomasp hero character
    Looks like a worthwhile upgrade for 1xxx series owners to me.

    I've seen some framerates for 3xxx vs 2080 Ti tested in various games and I think 3090 was listed as 70% faster. 3080 maybe 30-40% better, no idea about 3070. Looking good - but not good enough to upgrade from a 2080 Ti unless it's going to be the top end version. Which - I assume - achieves its performance difference over the 3080 by pulling out all stops in terms of clockspeed and wattage - oh and price. Apparently fitted with three 8-pin power connectors.

    I only look at these GPUs for work though, running games is not a factor for me - that's console business.

  • ZacD
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    ZacD ngon master
    Planning on getting a 3080, but a bit worried about my 650 watt PSU. I guess I could under clock the GPU a bit if there is issues. Nvidia is recommending 750 watts, a PSU calculator is showing 700 watts.
  • phaedarus
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    phaedarus polycounter lvl 10
    Glad to have been wrong about the initial pricing on the 3000 series.

    Still, I am concerned about the availability of the cards and whether or not Nvidia will be able to meet demand. The new reality of Covid means shipping and customs will take longer thus, limiting available supply.

    I'm looking forward to AMD's response. Big Navi will have to be immensely compelling to top this.
  • wirrexx
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    wirrexx ngon master
    ZacD said:
    Planning on getting a 3080, but a bit worried about my 650 watt PSU. I guess I could under clock the GPU a bit if there is issues. Nvidia is recommending 750 watts, a PSU calculator is showing 700 watts.

    I Feel you, also sitting on a great PSU but 650 watt. But still 750 watt..hmm. I will still wait for AMD big Navi and see what they can surprise with.
  • jStins
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    jStins interpolator
    Back in January I built this machine: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/XCGs8M 

    Everything ran well for the most part, but I would occasionally get a CLOCK_WATCHDOG_TIMEOUT BSOD. I then updated the BIOS as a potential fix and it seemed to work. The system was very very stable for several months. 

    Now however the system has become very unstable with random crashes, sometimes with various BSOD stop codes (stop codes don't repro reliably), other times just a hard reboot with no warning. I can often 'clean boot' (stopping all non-windows services and startup apps) after a crash, but turning any services back on seems to randomly reintroduce system instability. (Thought I had it pinned down to some Razer services, but after a period of stability, things got crash-y again).

    The weird thing is I can, at times, use the system for hours with no problems (running apps like Maya and Substance Designer or playing games on high quality settings). Then the system gets back into a crash-y, reboot-y mood. 

    I'm at a point where I think it may be hardware problem, but would love any input on how to trouble shoot this mess. Should I roll back the bios? Try a fresh windows install? Does this sound like a hardware issue to you all? Doesn't seem like a malware / virus thing, but maybe? 
  • PolyHertz
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    PolyHertz polycount lvl 666
    @jStins the last time I had an issue like that it was due to a faulty SSD, which would also be my first guess with your system. Faulty RAM is also a potential cause, but less likely. Try reformatting and if it's still an issue use different parts to see what works.
  • ZacD
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    ZacD ngon master
    Reseating your ram is quick and easy and does often fix ram issues.
  • jStins
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    jStins interpolator
    @ZacD Thanks, I've swapped out ram sticks and things have been a lot more stable since. Yesterday had up time of 5 hrs, but did eventually crash (when I was afk). I purchased the ram as a set 2 x 32GB. Do I just need to match the frequency, voltage and size if I replace the faulty stick or is it best to use the the same manufacturer as well? I'm still not 100% the ram is the only issue since the system did still crash once since the swap.

    @PolyHertz Did anything come up in diagnostics with your faulty SSD? I've run Windows error checking and the Quick Diagnostics Scan using ADATA's SSD Toolbox. Both came back with no errors. I'll try the Full Diagnostics Scan overnight...

    I'm crossing my fingers it was just the ram. Otherwise I think I might have a bad mobo (errors across multiple components (ram, usb devices, etc...)
  • m4dcow
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    m4dcow interpolator
     @jStins
    Try Memtest to see if your RAM is really an issue.
    https://www.techpowerup.com/memtest64/
  • StefanA
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    StefanA polycounter lvl 10
    Any new suggestions for a 27" 1440p monitor? Seems like a few of the options in the OP are at end of life now such as the Asus models. Gaming is not a high priority. 
  • oglu
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    oglu polycount lvl 666
    I have two BenQ PD2700Q. Would get them again.
  • Eric Chadwick
  • StefanA
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    StefanA polycounter lvl 10
    Thanks for the recommendations, they all help. I was also looking at the LG 27GL850-B. Will have to make a choice eventually...
  • ZacD
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    ZacD ngon master
    I got a LG 27GL83A-B 27, pretty happy with it. A lot of bang for your buck.
  • jollyhohnson
    PCs meant for 3D art these days should have 32GB of RAM or more, but you can get away with as low as 16GB for a budget build.
     When I have 2 or more programs (eg Maya and Photoshop) up at the same time the computer has to utilize my SSD and freezes periodically. Is that indeed a RAM issue? 
  • PolyHertz
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    PolyHertz polycount lvl 666
    A lack of ram is more likely to cause stutter or long load/save times instead of outright freezing.
    What kind of specs does your PC have, how long does the freezing last, and what are you doing in Maya/Photoshop normally when this occurs?
  • thomasp
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    thomasp hero character
     When I have 2 or more programs (eg Maya and Photoshop) up at the same time the computer has to utilize my SSD and freezes periodically. Is that indeed a RAM issue? 
    Sounds like it. If mine starts to swap it will just sit there for a bit before programs respond to input again. I then have to switch through my programs and 'wake' them up again.

  • jollyhohnson
    A lack of ram is more likely to cause stutter or long load/save times instead of outright freezing.
    What kind of specs does your PC have, how long does the freezing last, and what are you doing in Maya/Photoshop normally when this occurs?

    @PolyHertz Specs: 

    CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 2600
    GPU: AMD Radeon RX 580
    Motherboard: ASUS Prime B450M-A
    RAM: 8gb (just bought 32gb though) 
    Storage: 250gb SSD / 1TB HDD

    I'm hoping to upgrade the graphics card and processor soon, as I think they could be better for specifically how much of a headache I have when entering the rendering and turntable stage of my projects... The stuttering/freezing happens at various times, like when I run Zbrush and begin sculpting on 5 subdivisions, (which is extreme but sometimes I need to do that and I'm stuck waiting for 1 whole minute to have it un-freeze). Or when I start up Photoshop, that usually throws a wrench in every other program's performance too. Sometimes my internet tabs freeze up, and the videos stutter. If my understanding is correct, this would be a RAM issue, since it's having so little available GB to work with? I never have any viewport issues or speed issues when one single program is running, and I suppose that's because the processor has a sufficient number of cores but I'm not too sure about any of it as I have only used PC for about 2 years, haha.

  • PolyHertz
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    PolyHertz polycount lvl 666
    Yea sounds like your ram is probably the cause, not seeing any other obvious problems with your current system specs.
    8GB is very low by todays standards, so with the upgrade to 32GB performance should be much more stable.
  • garciiia
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    garciiia polycounter lvl 3
    Is a Ryzen 9 3950X better than a cheap Threadripper for rendering?
  • PolyHertz
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    PolyHertz polycount lvl 666
    I'd wait for the Ryzen 5950X coming out in 3 weeks and skip the 3950X.

    As for Threadripper, the 2970WX and 2990WX are faster then a 3950X for rendering, but the upcoming 5950X should be on par with the 2970WX for multi-threaded rendering while beating it in single threaded. This is all based off the numbers listed here: https://www.cpu-monkey.com/en/cpu_family-amd_ryzen-32
  • Pain
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    Pain polycounter lvl 9
    What do you guys think about 5600X and 3700X? I'm still thinking between these two. 3700x has more cores and threads but 5600X is new with zen3 technology and better single threaded. If you had to pick one, what would you choose? 
  • PolyHertz
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    PolyHertz polycount lvl 666
    Assuming they cost the same amount where you live I'd recommend the 5600X. The performance difference between the two for multi-threaded tasks isn't that significant, but for single-threaded it is.

    That said, the 5000 series just came out so you may have a difficult time getting one, and they're only officially compatible with 400 and 500 series motherboards (so if you're running an older Ryzen and wanted to swap it in keep that in mind).
  • Pain
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    Pain polycounter lvl 9
    @PolyHertz : Thanks for your suggestion

    This would  be my setup 
    Main X570
    Ryzen 5 5600X
    GPU GTX 3060Ti (still waiting for this release in December)
    RAM 16GX2 
    PSU 700w

  • PolyHertz
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    PolyHertz polycount lvl 666
    Should probably bump up the RAM to 32GB, as 16GB really will limit you in a lot of software these days.
  • FranAM
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    FranAM polycounter lvl 3
    Hi, I'm looking to make a new workstation for 3D character artist. I went to a shop and they gave me two builds, but, I have my doubs, specially with the gpu, so if someone could give me some advice I would be very thankful.
  • Udjani
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    Udjani interpolator
    @FranAM That 141$ cooler is just overkill. Also it's hard to give you advice on what to get without knowing your budget first. 
  • FranAM
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    FranAM polycounter lvl 3
    Oh, yes, sorry, I forgot about it, the budget would be around 2000 euros (I'm from europe so the prices would change in $) or a bit more if the benefit its considerable. Don't include Windows in the price
  • PolyHertz
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    PolyHertz polycount lvl 666
    If you're building a PC right now you should be looking at the Ryzen 5000 series CPUs, and Geforce RTX 3000 series GPUs. Though since they're brand new it might be hard to find them, at least at MSRP (lot scalpers and retailers jacking up prices atm).

    Water coolers are only really necessary for PCs that'll be overclocked or left rendering regularly, otherwise a good air cooler like a Noctua NH-U12S that costs far less would make more sense.

    An 850W power supply is overkill for the parts listed there. A 650W power supply would be plenty.
  • dlbogdan
    I would definitely wait a bit before buying the gpu (if you can wait, that is if you already own a decent gpu) as the new RDNA 2 based cards support raytracing and it's just a matter of time before the software companies will start supporting that for rendering and baking (equivalence for Nvidia OptiX) 
  • dlbogdan
    +++
    with AMD GPU supporting raytracing we're pretty much guaranteed that from now on all effort will be done generically with either Vulkan API, DXR  (DirectX Raytracing) or OpenCL for accelerated computations (i.e Rendering / Baking)
  • Mazzletov
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    Mazzletov polycounter lvl 2
    Hello. I currently have a 1060 6GB GPU and I am using it for Blender, SP/SD, Marmoset and/or Unreal. I am looking to upgrade the GPU to Nvidia 3070 8GB or AMD 6800 16GB. Which one is superior for my workflow? Will the extra 8GB on the AMD will be any advantage? Will the CUDA in the 3070 be of a major advantage? Can AMD handle SP/SD and Marmoset or is it really optimized for CUDA?

    I am also looking to upgrade my RAM to 32 GB. I currently have 2x 8GB. Would it be wiser to add 2x8 GB or go with 2x16GB instead?

    Current specs:

    Ryzen 3600
    16 GB Ram
    Nvidia 1060 - 6GB
  • PolyHertz
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    PolyHertz polycount lvl 666
    For RAM, you'd probably want to use another identical 2x8GB sticks so as to populate all your DIMM sockets (can improve performance by up to 10% in some apps). Unless you think you'll want to upgrade to 64GB in the future.

    With the new GPUs its kind of a toss up atm, since while the extra VRAM can definitely be helpful in Substance Painter, the raytracing is quite a bit slower then on the new Geforce cards (so worse for Unreal / texture baking). Rumor is that Geforce cards with more VRAM will become available early to mid 2021.
  • PolyHertz
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    PolyHertz polycount lvl 666
    I'd go with the 3600X. They're very comparable in overall performance, but the 3600X should offer a more consistent experience due to having double the L3 cache.
  • PolyHertz
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    PolyHertz polycount lvl 666
    The 3600X should work fine on any 400 series board so long as the bios has been updated. If the bios hasn't been updated however (which may be the case with used boards) it'll need an older CPU installed first to do the update. Getting a b550 board would be the safest bet for 3000 series CPUs.

    And yea the 2700x has far more L1 instruction cache, which wont really help for renders but should definitely help for code and shader compiling. I'd kind of overlooked that fact when recommending the 3600x (whoops), so consider my recommendation changed to the 2700x.
  • ahmedcutestudio
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    ahmedcutestudio polycounter lvl 3
    welcome polycounters , this is Genral question about those opration systems , i not sure if the old Asrock G31 DDR2 moterbord with old cpu Core2Dual(E5800) or Core2Quad (6600) ....and GT640 and 4GB of 400MHZ and  nividia card is good hardware resorce for windows , i used to use the same motherbord back in 2009 via windows xp and it was fine for modeling and v-ray rendering but with the time i switched to windows8/10 and im not happy with this performance so far , in the near future i will spend a lot of money to grap me ethir Core I 3 , 5  DDR4 Dell PC or HP ... please leave a feedback or give me tips for my Current PC to make it Faster i hope this is not my PC limts :anguished:
     
    thank you for corssing by
  • Eric Chadwick
    @ahmedcutestudio I merged your topic into this one. Please see the initial post here for more information. Good luck!
  • ahmedcutestudio
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    ahmedcutestudio polycounter lvl 3
    @Eric Chadwick
    you really good one man army ! your the only guy who always vist my Topics  , I will Make sure to finsh reading this 
  • Justo
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    Justo polycounter
    I was trying to look for arguments at work to upgrade some of our oldest 5-6 yo PC setups. Some of us are using GTX980s, while others are randomly given RTX2070 Supers, and when the veterans with older tech request an upgrade, IT replies they would like to know what benefits are we getting exactly in load times or performance.

    I am comparing the GTX980 build (using 32 RAM, i7-4790K CPU @ 4.00GHz) to a RTX2070 Super (using 64 RAM, i9-9900K CPU @ 3.60GHz).

    One big benefit was in bake times. Baking in Substance Painter initial bake Maps (AO, curvature, Thickness, etc) went from 16 minutes down to 1 minute. 
    I tried opening heavy Maya scenes, but didn't see such a dramatic performance increase in this.

    Does anyone know what other big benefits would something like this have? I'm particularly interested in anything we could show in Photoshop, which we use a lot in our project to work on our 4k textures.
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