Gaming PC also for rendering software - going in circles !

MadmanP

MadmanP

MadmanP

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Joined
7 Jun 2020
Posts
16
Hi all.

I realise this is my first post and I'm asking for advice, but hope to contribute to the forum over time and share my successes, trips and falls along the way.

Have been relatively PC savvy during the last 25 years+, back to 286 days and DOS / Windows on floppies so have grown up with them through work and as a hobby - but this latest venture is proving to be a bit of a mare as I think I've decided then find loads of people saying 'don't do that' etc.

The base point is a relatively new low ish spec gaming PC (this is the all for the wife, hence the reason to get it right and save me a headache ;) )

Games wise it plays them well at 1080P on a 27" half decent monitor - no real desire to go into 4K.

With the move to work more from home, she is looking to use it for Adobe After Effects and Unity. I don't actually know too much about these software packages but After Effects in general seems to be a bit hungry. It works ok but is slightly laggy and takes longer than she'd like to render.

The base PC specs are as follows and I'd like some guidance and opinions on what to do with say £1000 tops to make it a better station for work without sacrificing game performance.

M/B - MSI B360 A Pro (Socket 1151)
CPU - Intel I3-9100F
Memory - 16GB DDR4 2400 (1 stick)
GPU- XFX Pine AMD RX 590 (8GB)
SSD boot and SATA 2TB HDD as boot and storage
Not sure on PSU but can upgrade this if needed. (Think it's 600W)

First I was going to upgrade the CPU and MB + more memory, then just get an I7 processor to use in the MB and upgrade memory, then sell the complete unit and buy something else.

Round and round it goes :confused:
 
Could probably look at getting a i7 9700 without changing the motherboard, otherwise I'd recommended looking at AMD Ryzen CPUs as you get far more for your money comparatively and potentially better performance in those workloads.

Should really be running 2 sticks of ram for dual channel but 2400MHz is a bit slow - think you'd need a new mobo if you want to get faster (3000MHz+), in which case I'd go Ryzen.

Either way £1000 gives you quite a few options - could easily do a whole new build keeping the gpu, storage and possibly PSU
 
Hi Bagel.

Thanks for the reply. I ended up at the i7-9700 and more (different) memory for the existing system, then read that the m/b may run too hot and throttle back trying to run that processor - then I gave up as I was back at a Ryzen 7 3700 (iirc) and m/b, then read the software prefers Nvidia cards - doh.

if I was to spend day £600 on new m/b, cpu and memory, would this get me a measured increase over changing just the i7 processor and memory for the existing m/b ?
 
Not sure you'd have a problem with that mobo with the 9700, it's a 65W chip so I think you'd be fine with a decent CPU cooler. Probably not so much with the 9700K but would be pointless on that board anyway.

Ryzen will work perfectly fine with Nvidia GPUs :)

Honestly it's hard to say whether to go 9700 + another stick of ram over CPU/mobo/ram overhaul in terms of performance difference - you'd have to look at benchmarks/reviews for the specific programs you're using.

Personally Id sell your current CPU/mobo/ram combination and go for something like a 3700X (or 3700xt if you can wait a month), would give you the option to upgrade to 4xxx series of Ryzen down the line too
 
MadmanP said:
M/B - MSI B360 A Pro (Socket 1151)

Memory - 16GB DDR4 2400 (1 stick)

Not sure on PSU but can upgrade this if needed. (Think it's 600W)
Click to expand...
That board is near bottom model and unlikely to do well with above 6 core Intels.
And already those break 100W power draw when chasing boost clocks in full multithreaded load...

With such slowish memory and single channel halving bandwidth anything memory intensive is certainly suffering.

Some "600W" sticker doesn't mean anything when there are brands/makers scamming.
Precise model number is needed for knowing if that sticker can be trusted.



bagel said:
Not sure you'd have a problem with that mobo with the 9700, it's a 65W chip
Click to expand...
Only at base clock of 3 GHz.
Trying to reach boost clocks in multithreaded load is going to give that TDP bull in a China shop treatment.
 
How does the below look, assuming the PSU is half decent - if not I'll add one.

Two things I'm thinking of - do I save £100 and go for the Ryzen 5 3600, then save a bit more on a 450 m/b?
Or is this going too far the other way and back towards what we have already.

Don't mind spending money but not when diminishing returns come into it etc.

The bits left over will likely go into a new case (with another memory stick) and upgrade my Dell T3500 based games machine.

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £685.47 (includes shipping: £10.50)​
​
 
That is a very combination, you don't need to spend that much on RAM and the motherboard really. You aren't gaining a ton but its still well within budget. What PSU do you have? as long as its a good unit then you will be fine.
 
MadmanP said:
How does the below look, assuming the PSU is half decent - if not I'll add one.

Two things I'm thinking of - do I save £100 and go for the Ryzen 5 3600, then save a bit more on a 450 m/b?
Or is this going too far the other way and back towards what we have already.

Don't mind spending money but not when diminishing returns come into it etc.

The bits left over will likely go into a new case (with another memory stick) and upgrade my Dell T3500 based games machine.

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £685.47 (includes shipping: £10.50)
​
Click to expand...

Looks sane and will work well - I would go for the slightly slower but much cheaper ram in the 3200-3400 speed range, and either go for a B450 motherboard or wait for B550 to save a few more quid.
 
Thanks guys.

Jumped a stage and conveniently upgraded my pc as a by product. :p

First 4 bits are for the upgrade above, with the rest adding to the bits I take out and to be used as a base for my upgrade with my wife’s old m/b and psu.

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £984.19 (includes shipping: £12.30)
​
 
Another thing is the PSU - not sure I'd want one with only 3 years warranty but options are limited at the moment with such little stock around
 
MadmanP said:
Click to expand...
That board doesn't have much of upgrade path.
CPU VRM (power circuitry) is wimpy cripple good only for 65W TDP CPUs.
Also suspect it won't get BIOS upgrades for Zen3 architecture.

This would have good amount better VRM not limiting CPU upgrade choises and MSI will also bring Zen3 supporting BIOS.
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/msi-b450m-mortar-max-socket-am4-ddr4-matx-motherboard-mb-348-ms.html
 
MadmanP said:
1 x Intel Core i5-8400 2.8GHz (Coffee Lake) Socket LGA1151 Processor - Retail= £199.99
Click to expand...
As said already, get the 9400, preferably the 9400F if you don't need the onboard graphics, since it's practically half the price of the i5-8400 (£130) you spec there.

Two things I'm thinking of - do I save £100 and go for the Ryzen 5 3600
Click to expand...
I can't find any direct comparisons of those CPUs in either Unity or After Effects, but what I would say is that if she wants to use the PC while it's doing something, then the extra cores will still be helpful, if you can afford it.

Another reason not to choose that board for this usage is that it only states support for 64GB of memory, whereas the MSI Max seem to support 128GB. It's possible the Gigabyte spec will be updated.
 
Thanks everybody for the time and trouble of replying.

I've just placed an order for the below.

A couple of bits were quite high (processors, I5 in particular as the 9400F had sold out) in cost in comparison to the competition, I'll admit I've used for many years since they started but, I've never had the support and advice that I have in this thread so that alone is worth the extra few quid.

Have possibly scrimped too much with the PSU, but it can be changed later as the funds are replaced.

Once again, thanks for the great advice and support to a new member :)

Cheers.

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £947.19 (includes shipping: £12.30)​
​
 
All the above delivered today via DPD, as advised at the time of order.

Superb service by Overclockers, backed up with a great forum.

Now to get building :D
 
Good luck with the build!

That PSU makes me a bit nervous though, would look to replace that as soon as you reasonably can
 
Cheers. Yes the PSU isn't the best but there is so little choice right now, even outside of OCUK.

The one in her machine is an Aerocool 500W Integrator Bronze, so probably as bad as the Kolink.
I've left it in for now and the Kolink wrapped up in the hope that I may be able to return it.

I built the wifes machine tonight and the Cinebench R15 score is 4 times that of her previous I3-9100F with 16GB score.
Not sure what that means in real terms. She's going to have a proper play with it tomorrow and see what it's like.

And as sad as it is, the quality of the LED lighting on the CPU cooler is very mesmerising.

Edit - Found a 650W Seasonic Focus GX-650 80PLUS Gold in stock outside of OCUK. :)
 
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