3ds Max: Help with CPU/GPU Configuration

mudawod

Hi all, I'm building a PC on a somewhat tight budget.
As I understand a high clock speed is necessary for smooth operations, and a good graphics card makes render faster as well as viewport (I think).
so the question is, will a base clock of 3.8 GHz be good enough, or will viewport performance will suck with big scenes and large polycounts?
This confusion along with my budget limits made me think of 4 CPU/GPU configs, my options are:
1. Ryzen 5 3600X + RTX 2060
2. Ryzen 5 3600 + RTX 2060 Super
3. Ryzen 7 3800X + GTX 1660 Super
4. Ryzen 9 3900X + a really bad card like GT 1030 or a better used one if I can find it (in this case CPU will be used for both workload & rendering)
I'm using V-ray and hopefully getting 32 GB of RAM. 
Thanks in advance

srsface

I'm not an expert on current gen CPUs, but I think you got it right: most operations in Max depend on the CPU, and single core performance makes a difference. More and more things are finally getting multi-threaded though, slowly. At least definitely get a lot of RAM. After getting 32GB I couldn't imagine working with anything less.

You'll probably get OK viewport drawing performance even with the older cards you mentioned, but I wouldn't go for them. Even though current GPU renderers aren't always as feature complete as CPU ones, the trend is definitely shifting. Going previous gen on the GPU might be something you'll regret later & quite soon, so I'd say 2060 minimum. Preferably 3000 something.

Also not an expert on scene management but I guess what matters the most in huge scenes is just doing it smartly. At some point you'll run out of resources anyway, even if you get some more overhead for doing things lazily if you invest in a beast.

mudawod

srsface said:

I'm not an expert on current gen CPUs, but I think you got it right: most operations in Max depend on the CPU, and single core performance makes a difference. More and more things are finally getting multi-threaded though, slowly. At least definitely get a lot of RAM. After getting 32GB I couldn't imagine working with anything less.

You'll probably get OK viewport drawing performance even with the older cards you mentioned, but I wouldn't go for them. Even though current GPU renderers aren't always as feature complete as CPU ones, the trend is definitely shifting. Going previous gen on the GPU might be something you'll regret later & quite soon, so I'd say 2060 minimum. Preferably 3000 something.

Also not an expert on scene management but I guess what matters the most in huge scenes is just doing it smartly. At some point you'll run out of resources anyway, even if you get some more overhead for doing things lazily if you invest in a beast.

Thanks for replying!
Do you think the difference from 3.6 to 3.8 GHz would make a significant difference? is it worth it going for 3.8 or a 3.6GHz won't hurt that much?

PolyHertz

2. Ryzen 5 3600 + RTX 2060 Super

This would be the best overall configuration. You're going to want the extra VRAM when painting (assuming you use Substance Painter), and the RTX tech will significantly improve texture baking performance. The 3800X's two extra cores would be nice when rendering, but they're not worth the tradeoffs unless CPU rendering is your #1 concern.

That said, the Ryzen 5000 series is being released on November 5, and has very nice per-thread performance improvements over the 3000 series, so I'd wait for that.

Ghogiel

I need to stress that those low end gpus are a rip off in general and a real waste for 3d and rendering. I'd recommend just using onboard graphics for a month or 2 instead of wasting £60 on one. The 1660 is pretty much around a good base entry level card for 3d that's not going to be very problematic in some way.

mudawod

Ghogiel said:

I need to stress that those low end gpus are a rip off in general and a real waste for 3d and rendering. I'd recommend just using onboard graphics for a month or 2 instead of wasting £60 on one. The 1660 is pretty much around a good base entry level card for 3d that's not going to be very problematic in some way.

Do you mean the low end in the last option? so if I went for getting the best processor I can have I should use the integrated graphics until I get a good card? is that okay with 3ds max and Vray?
also among those option which do you prefer?

poopipe

1, 2 and 3 all seem viable to me.

You don't need a new GPU for max viewport work - a 1070/1080 will do absolutely fine if you can find them cheap. As said above avoid the **30/**50 gpus since they're basically useless

I'd strongly advise getting a future proof motherboard- eg. a b550 or x570 chipset since that will give you an upgrade path for both CPU and GPU  over the next few years. 
Id happily take a 3600x over a 3800x if it meant I could buy a motherboard that let me just drop something significantly faster in for £3-400 two years down the line.

PolyHertz

@poopipe The xx30 series cards are indeed useless, but the Geforce 1050 is still significantly faster then any APU on the market. The 1650 is somewhere between a 1050 and 1060.

poopipe

That's a fair point. Consider me corrected. 
I don't think I'd be going for a 1050 though