New system for 3d rendering,photoshop painting and gaming

MartinAntal · 21 Aug 2016 at 21:03

Hello everyone, I'd really appreciate any help-

So I was looking at those full systems here on OC's for months now but I'm still a bit undecided.

Things to know: I'm mainly a 2d digital painter - I use photoshop but I only use a laptop ever since I moved in 2012.
I'm working in unreal engine 4(I'm not that good with coding, I do the art part, the models and textures, grass, buildings, terraing - in maya, zbrush ,photoshop etc.)I'd like to develop it into a vr experience.

So I use Maya(need a lot of ram for simulations etc)
Zbrush for models and character art(Also lot's of ram for high poly modelling)
Photoshop(Ram for smooth high res painting, big psd files)

I use terragen as well , needs lot's of ram as well
But I love gaming too of course. But I can't play most of the new AAA
games even on low graphics anymore.

The thing is I always had an engineer friend to help me with building pc-s in the past, and I used my old computer case from...I guess 2001.My last big update was in 2010 not long before skyrim came out so I can play it smoothly.
It cost me around £400.(my friend could get everything cheaper, and I already had a good monitor, case etc)
But I don't have a PC anymore so I need a brand new system(bought a new monitor last month though)
I don't want (can't)to spend more than 1300-1400 pounds, but I know I would need 16- but preferably 32gb of ram
gtx 1060 or 1070 for gaming and VR
256GB ssd for Windows(I had a 80GB ssd last time and it was just waay too small even for a system hard drive)
I would use it basically all the time, working- gaming during the day and often rendering during the night.

I'm a bit behind the times now though, everything changed in the last 5-6 years.
What Cpu should I get keeping in mind that I use photoshop, terragen, maya, zbrush etc?
i5 3.2 ghz, i7 3.2 ghz, i5 4 ghz...I read a dozen articles about cpu-s but I still have no idea.
Just like motherboards...And sound cards. I'd like to get some pro headphones, I listen to music all day after all, so is it worth to get one, or the on board sound cards are good enough these days?Also I need a lot of usb ports for everything. VR, pendrive, mouse etc.
I prefer nvidia because some of the maya plugins I often use.
It seems I can buy the new pc early October.

Thanks for reading all this and Thank you for any help or tips.: )

Holst1981 · 21 Aug 2016 at 21:36

October may seem like it's close but some new stuff may be out by then.

What's the spec of the machine your using now?
And how slow is it? Unusable or just annoying?

Are you overclocking or not?

Your probably going to want an i7 cpu.
They have "hyperthreading" that you will benefit from.

There are two current chipsets.

Z170 and x99

Z170 is the consumer chipset with the 4core i7 6700k being the cpu to look at.

X99 is enthusiast.
There is more choice of cpu here but the 6core i7 5820k is my recommendation given your budget.
For best results you will want to overclock as a 30% overclock is easy.

Z170 will be faster in games, x99 faster in rendering and productivity.
Both are very capable in games.

Given this is a work machine I would get the x99 system.

Graphics card get the best you can afford.
1070 will be fine. Others may make other suggestions, I'm no gpu expert.

Modern motherboards have a m2 slot that allows you to plug a very fast ssd into your board.
Highly recommend for your OS and main programs as they are much faster than anything else.

You shouldn't have a problem with USB ports modern boards have loads.

You will probably be fine with 16gb of ram.

I would check out some of the bundles ocuk do.

Hope this is some help.

MartinAntal · 21 Aug 2016 at 22:28

Holst1981 said:
October may seem like it's close but some new stuff may be out by then.

What's the spec of the machine your using now?
And how slow is it? Unusable or just annoying?

Are you overclocking or not?

Your probably going to want an i7 cpu.
They have "hyperthreading" that you will benefit from.

There are two current chipsets.

Z170 and x99

Z170 is the consumer chipset with the 4core i7 6700k being the cpu to look at.

X99 is enthusiast.
There is more choice of cpu here but the 6core i7 5820k is my recommendation given your budget.
For best results you will want to overclock as a 30% overclock is easy.

Z170 will be faster in games, x99 faster in rendering and productivity.
Both are very capable in games.

Given this is a work machine I would get the x99 system.

Graphics card get the best you can afford.
1070 will be fine. Others may make other suggestions, I'm no gpu expert.

Modern motherboards have a m2 slot that allows you to plug a very fast ssd into your board.
Highly recommend for your OS and main programs as they are much faster than anything else.

You shouldn't have a problem with USB ports modern boards have loads.

You will probably be fine with 16gb of ram.

I would check out some of the bundles ocuk do.

Hope this is some help.

Thanks!
I have a dell inspiron 5520 laptop right now.
8 Gb ram, i7 3612QM 2.10 GHz.

It was okay in 2012 but it's getting old. I've managed to finish a few 3d projects on it, it works for painting and basic modelling.
But the HDD died a few months ago, and I had to pay almost £300 to get it fixed, get back my files, on an external hard drive , new laptop hdd etc.
I had to change the keyboard once, and I have problems with the wireless adapter.
I used it every day and night in the last 4 years so...it was a good laptop. But I'm afraid something will break in it every other month now, as it's getting old and overused.

I have problems working with high res files and many layers(I often use hundreds of layers in photoshop)
Unreal engine 4 is slow and obviously I can't use a lot of functions and effects in it,
rendering is slow,
zbrush can crash after a few million polygons
and I can't play any new games without a lag now. (Even skyrim. This laptop is slower than my old 2010 pc was)

So it's definitely time to get a new workstation.
I won't get a 4K monitor in the near future so a 1080 would be overkill.
Not sure if 1070 worth it.
1060 would be a big jump as it is. And SLI is not the best for VR as far as I know so that's not a problem.
I've read that 32GB of RAM is useful for rendering and modelling, and as it's cheap these days it would be nice to get that much of RAM, but it depends on the motherboard.
I think I'll get some of the bundles- ready systems with a little tweak, it's just the whole cpu gpu-and motherboard dependent RAM thing-I feel confused. Last time I was into PC building I was a teen, I'm not old by any means but that was more than 10 years ago.

The Titan Riptide Overclocked Six Core Gaming PC - Intel Core i7 5820K @ 4.2GHz with 1060 or 1070 GPU , 32 GB RAM looks good.(There are stronger cpu s ,but some of it costs £ 200 more)
I will look for more articles about the importance of CPU-s with rendering and photoshop, things are changing fast, with real time gpu rendering in a lot of new softwares.

Holst1981 · 21 Aug 2016 at 23:59

5820k at 4.2 is very fast and should last you well.

Nice thing about x99 is that you can upgrade to 8 or 10 core if you need it.

What's your ram usage at the moment?
I'd be surprised if you can use 16gb, only get 32 If you need it. No point in having 20gb free all the time.

I really enjoy my 4k screen in photoshop and lightroom.
Just drop down to 1440p in games and it's fine. (970gtx)
I would think about a 4k screen for work. I wouldn't go back to 1080 now and I'm an amateur.
Obviously that's going to be expensive as 4k ips screens are not cheap.

Get the best gpu you can afford.
There is a difference in games even at 1080p.
Or budget to replace the gpu more regularly.

smilertoo · 22 Aug 2016 at 05:45

If the budget is tight go with z170 and fastest i7 cpu, get 32gb average ram...not 16gb super fast ram. 512gb ssd is enough to install the os/programs on, keep all the data on a hdd. 27" 2560x1140 screen is the sweet spot, IPS@60hz is fine. 4k screens either have to be big or desktop scaling is needed to avoid eye strain on text, some 3d apps don't like the scaling. If you're mostly doing 2d you don't need the latest gpu, anything gtx970/1060 or above is plenty if you avoid the 4k screen.

MartinAntal · 22 Aug 2016 at 09:45

Holst1981 said:
5820k at 4.2 is very fast and should last you well.

Nice thing about x99 is that you can upgrade to 8 or 10 core if you need it.

What's your ram usage at the moment?
I'd be surprised if you can use 16gb, only get 32 If you need it. No point in having 20gb free all the time.

I really enjoy my 4k screen in photoshop and lightroom.
Just drop down to 1440p in games and it's fine. (970gtx)
I would think about a 4k screen for work. I wouldn't go back to 1080 now and I'm an amateur.
Obviously that's going to be expensive as 4k ips screens are not cheap.

Get the best gpu you can afford.
There is a difference in games even at 1080p.
Or budget to replace the gpu more regularly.

The RAM usage is at 95% most of the time when I use photoshop, and it can crash time to time. Makes everything slow. 8 GB is not nearly enough.
Checked a few more articles, 32GB for rendering is the sweetspot.
I think I'm fine with full hd for the time being. It's not necessary , and a good 4K monitor can be really expensive, it's over my budget right now.
I think I'll save up for a gtx 1070.