Upgrade computer or buy a new one

polypunx · Nov 2016

Hi

So I was hoping someone who is good with computers could advise me on whether I should upgrade my computer or if I should buy a new one.

My computer is about 5 years old now. It can't quite keep up when working on textures over 1024 in substance or high res meshes in zbrush. Other than that it runs pretty smoothly.

I was thinking about buying a new gpu and possibly some more ram. Would this be enough to make my computer keep up for a while?

Current specs:

Intel® Core# i7-2600 Processor

Gainward GeForce GTX 560Ti 1GB PhysX

Corsair Vengeance# DDR3 1600MHz 8GB CL9

Thanks

Millenia · Nov 2016

That'd work as a stopgap measure yeah, though that CPU is starting to be a bit long in the tooth. If you can afford a big upgrade I'd almost go for a new PC entirely so you don't have to buy all of your RAM again when you decide to upgrade your CPU (all new ones use DDR4).

I recommend waiting until January to see if AMD's Zen CPUs are as good as the leaked info and benchmarks would suggest - if they are indeed in line you'll be able to nab a fast 8-core CPU for a fraction of the price of a comparable Intel CPU.

By all means you can get a new graphics card before then though.

AtticusMars · Nov 2016

Should just upgrade your ram and your video card, your processor is fine.

ZBrush's biggest performance bottleneck is memory, especially with the 64 bit version I would consider 12gb to be the minimum with 16+ being optimal. On top of that your card doesn't even meet the minimum VRAM requirements for substance so...

I'd suggest going to 16GB ram and getting a graphics card with 4gb+ of VRAM. GTX 1060 6gb version is a good option.

ZacD · Nov 2016

I'd suggest getting something like a GTX 1060 w/ 6GB vram now (about $250 on sale right now), and upgrading the rest of your computer in the next year or so. The CPU is dated, but not really your main bottleneck in Substance Painter. The GPU is going to give you something like 400% better performance, while a new CPU is going to give you 30-50% better performance.

throttlekitty · Nov 2016

However in Zbrush you'll need CPU and more RAM, looks like you could nab an i7-3770 for about $100 - $150 used. That would be your only upgrade on your motherboard (socket 1155), and it wouldn't be a big improvement. I'd also suggest going with a video card upgrade, and decide how soon you want to go for a new motherboard/cpu/ram, and let that determine if some extra ram now would be worth the price.

polypunx · Dec 2016

Thanks for the feedback and suggestions.

Sorry for the late reply

Sounds like I would have to upgrade everything eventually, which makes sense, so maybe it would probably be easier to just buy a new computer.

I'm not very tech savvy so the thought of replacing parts myself kind of scares me.

What is cost of upgrading the entire computer vs buying a new one?

What should I look for in a new computer?

What is a decent price?

Cheers

ZacD · Dec 2016

Upgrading is going to be much cheaper, and it's pretty simply to install a new GPU and ram, it's probably the easiest upgrades to perform. There's tons of Youtube videos if you have any questions or concerns about it. The 560ti has the same power draw as a GTX 1060 or 1070 so it would be a really easy swap, just opening the case, unplugging the power cables for the old GPU, unscrewing the mounting bracket, and pressing the release on the PCI-E slot. Then you just put the new one in and do the reverse. Ram is even easier, just push the release latch, remove the ram, put the new ram in, push hard enough that the release latch comes back down. It can easily be done in 15-30 minutes.

GPU
GTX 1070 $400
GTX 1060 /w 6GB vram $250

Ram
16GB of ram $100
32GB of ram $170

Upgrading would cost ~$350-$570, building a new computer with those parts with an i7-6700 would be $1000-$1300. It's going to be at least $200 more than that for a prebuilt one.

PolyHertz · Dec 2016

I'd just upgrade the GPU and RAM for now; The 2600K CPU is a bit old, but still good enough for most things (CPU tech has badly stagnated for the last few years). The GPU and RAM though are well below the average spec of a modern PC.

Also, just in case you haven't seen it: http://polycount.com/discussion/173350/upgrading-or-building-a-new-pc-this-is-the-thread-for-you/p1

monster · Dec 2016

My computer is from 2010. About a year ago, I upgraded from a 480GTX and 8GB of ram to a 980GTX and 24GB of RAM. Feels pretty good again. The upgrade cost me about $350.

I had to buy a new CPU fan because my CPU was overheating. I figured if I had to open up the PC might as well put in some new parts.

Just make sure your power supply can handle the new video card. (It probably can.)

Upgrade computer or buy a new one

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