Buying a nice rig for 3d modeling and game engines
polycounter lvl 7
Hey all. I'm currently looking into getting a PC for 3D modeling (3DS Max & Mudbox), game engines (Unity mainly, though I might start looking into a few others if I had the system for it) and maybe a few games. For games I mostly use Xbox, so I don't mind dropping down the settings a bit, but I don't want to be ripped off either. But 3D modeling and work will be its main use.
I've a macbook pro at the moment and bootcamp, but things are getting a bit awkward with only the 15inch screen, plus going in and out of bootcamp for Windows is a pain. Plus I use the laptop for a lot of stuff these days, and I'm worried it's under a bit too much strain. Would love an iMac, but doesn't seem that suited for 3DS Max, plus the price is a bit much.
Anyway, what kind of recommendations would people advise for setting up something like this? I'm assuming ram, graphics card and maybe an SSD would be top, but anything else? I'm pretty technically minded when it comes to some of this stuff, but when it comes to things like branded motherboards, I don't know if I'm wasting money or not. And with power supplies and fans I'm lost; been looking through some gamer forums on the issue and most of the 'advice' on the issue is just wildly fluctuating, dick swinging.
Considering this Chillblast Fusion Orb at the moment: http://www.chillblast.com/Chillblast-Fusion-Orb.html
With maybe swapping the graphics card for a better Nvidia one. I'd rather get a full prebuilt one like this, I need the monitor and peripherals, and shipping everything over to Ireland is a pain enough as it is without bring individual components into it. This one is about at or under my budget (plus shipping and converting to Euros I'm looking to spend about 1000 to 1100. Cheaper preferably.)
Any advice, no matter how broad or detailed is welcomed, thanks.
I've a macbook pro at the moment and bootcamp, but things are getting a bit awkward with only the 15inch screen, plus going in and out of bootcamp for Windows is a pain. Plus I use the laptop for a lot of stuff these days, and I'm worried it's under a bit too much strain. Would love an iMac, but doesn't seem that suited for 3DS Max, plus the price is a bit much.
Anyway, what kind of recommendations would people advise for setting up something like this? I'm assuming ram, graphics card and maybe an SSD would be top, but anything else? I'm pretty technically minded when it comes to some of this stuff, but when it comes to things like branded motherboards, I don't know if I'm wasting money or not. And with power supplies and fans I'm lost; been looking through some gamer forums on the issue and most of the 'advice' on the issue is just wildly fluctuating, dick swinging.
Considering this Chillblast Fusion Orb at the moment: http://www.chillblast.com/Chillblast-Fusion-Orb.html
With maybe swapping the graphics card for a better Nvidia one. I'd rather get a full prebuilt one like this, I need the monitor and peripherals, and shipping everything over to Ireland is a pain enough as it is without bring individual components into it. This one is about at or under my budget (plus shipping and converting to Euros I'm looking to spend about 1000 to 1100. Cheaper preferably.)
Any advice, no matter how broad or detailed is welcomed, thanks.
Replies
Processor - It comes down to budget, and how to maximize it. For example CPU the i5 has better gaming performance and will save 100 bucks but the i7 has better rendering ability. So you gotta decide if its worth the 100 bucks for you, you talking about saving a few seconds/minutes nothing mind blowing. The current socket type is 1150 but you can save some money by going 1155. You only get maybe a 10% increase in speed by going 1150 maybe. SO again its a place you can save money. I have an i5 and its great for the 100 bucks id rather save since your budget it like mine and i opted for better overall parts then saving a few seconds.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116504 - i5 at 219
the I7 is about 320
Mother Board - Top brands are Asus, Gigabyte, MSI, EVGA. Cant really go wrong, price and features is key here. Most boards have alot of crap you wont need like SLI or 10000x usb ports so take a look around and see what you liek for features and budget
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131837 - 139
Memory- G.Skill is my favorite bought so many and never had 1 fail yet .. knock on wood. I reccomend 8GB, for the price difference from 8 to 16 you wont see a big difference. I could go into the difference between memory , speed an latency but again unless you are overclock or hardcore gaming you wont notice
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231314 - 66
Video Card - Pure choice, EVGA is my brand of choice for the lifetime warrenty and i have had great luck with the cards. The more money you dump here the better frame rate you will get in games IT WILL MAKE NO DIFFERENCE IN MODELING
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130826 - 224
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130827 - 119
650 or 660
SSD - samsung is pretty much the top dog now, i just bought an 840 pro 256 GB and love it. The size is up too you but i wouldnt go lower then 256, there is a difference between the 840 Pro series and 840 its about the technology in it and longevity.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147193 - 230
ah good call brandon, i totally skipped over PSU. Like Brandon was saying brands like Thermal Take, Antec, Coolmaster, Rosewell are big players. For wattage aroun 500-750 is safe for the build above, the more devices you use the more watts you will need. Make sure you also look at the +12v rail, as that rail drives the video card. So whatever power the specs say for the card you choose, make sure the psu can proeduce adequate 12v power
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139010 -70
Hope this helps - 869 total and get a nice monitor that will bring you close to 1000
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139010 -70
Secondly it's a cooling and efficiency problem. Energy consumption and frequency don't scale linearly, nor does the actual performance (especially considering that, with faster CPUs, other system components quickly become bottlenecks ...).
With overclocked CPUs, there is also a strong variance in durability and lifetime even within a manufacturing series. The frequency at which they're sold is a frequency at which all units of a series are known to work stable, regardless of possible differences in detail. One CPU of a series may fail quickly as you overclock it while another may work stable up to 4+ Ghz.
If anyone else has any other advice, feel free to past it on, I'll keep an eye on this thread.
http://www.nvidia.com/titan-graphics-card
Titan is overkill in my opinion. I have an overclocked 670 and it runs everything 60fps. I could have probably gone lower honestly.
Sounds like good advice, thanks. I don't have a massive amount to spend overall, so if I can save some money on the graphics card then great, and Skyline said it's not a major factor for 3d Modelling. As along as it can run well enough for some game engines, I should be fine. Unity is already running well on my Macbook Pro, and this PC should be good step up from that. Any other game engines I use will be mainly for trying out their environment tools I think. I might be playing some games, but I'm a big fan of older style games, so have no problem knocking down the detail settings if I need to. Plus there's always the XBox.
To be honest, the main game I'll be playing will probably be Skyrim, and that'll be because I want to play around with modding it more than actually playing it (already played it to death on Xbox).
Monitor wise, what do I need to keep an eye out for? I'm looking for something around the 21 - 23 inch range (anything bigger just won't be practical for me). I've been a mac laptop user for years so never had to worry about anything other than physical size.
Do these instead you will thank me! The ultrasharp series for dell and 24" also cheaper.. The best part it is 16:10 so you get extra real estate wich really helps in max and photoshop.
[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Dell-UltraSharp-U2412-24-Inch-LED-lit/dp/B005JN9310/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1377910036&sr=8-1&keywords=dell+ultrasharp+u2412m"]Amazon.com: Dell UltraSharp U2412 24-Inch Screen LED-lit Monitor: Computers & Accessories[/ame]
I can back that up, I'm using the same monitor currently. Very happy with it, though I can't compare to much, as I've never used anything "better" so to say.
I skimped a bit on the monitor because I was already over budget, but I'm pretty happy with it. Plus if it gets too annoying, I can buy another if I come into a bit of money and use both. Anyway, it'll be an improvement on 15inch laptop no matter what.
Thanks for all the advice, guys. Really helped.
Why don't you guys use the search function?
I agree on having a sticky or forum though, I think that would be a good idea, I wasn't sure where was best to even post this thread, but decided technical talk seemed to more 3D technique and software based. Though that could just a forum newbie problem.
But yeah, there's a lot of different variables involved in buying this kind of stuff (different parts, budgets, etc) that a good forum or general wiki item/sticky post could be really handy for people.
for creating assets i think monitor is more important, since kinda hard to paint textures if your got a cheap moniter with very inaccurate colours.
edit i find my rig to be pretty good this is what i built last year, and works perfect for all work i do.
i7-3770k @ 3.5ghz
16gb ram (G.Skill)
nvidia gtx 660ti 2gb
ASUS P8Z77-V mobo
works great for my, and i make pretty heavy use of zbrush, maya, udk, PS and xnormal, also plays pretty much everygame it tossed at it at high.
when i built it a little over a year ago it cost me just a little over $1000CAD.
no.