features for a new computer
dannagiusy64
Posts: 477
Hi everyone. After updating daz 4.11 my computer gives me a series of errors that at the moment were not solved even with the support of the daz team. I came to the conclusion of buying a new computer just to work with daz. I can't work with him for more than 2 weeks ... and I miss him.
I ask you if you can advise me of the technical features (processor, nvidia card, ram etc.) to let me build a computer to make fast and optimized renderings. Thanks to everyone for the precious advices 
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Wait another week, and the new Ryzen chips should be available. Just make sure the motherboard matches the CPU.
For the rest:
- 16+ GB of RAM. 32 would be better though.
- GPU: Either an RTX2060+ (for rendering, the RTX2070 is definitely a useful upgrade with its extra VRAM, though an RTX2080 or 2080Ti would be great if you can afford it) or a second hand GTX1070/1080. Professional GPU's like Titans are an entirely different ballpark, no experience with those here.
Most RTX cards only have HDMI ports and one or more USB-ports (for VR). Just mentioning that detail incase you still connect to your monitor through an older VGA cable or something.
- If you're getting a new case, make sure to get one with multiple fans and airfilters pre-installed. Look up the manufacturers' website if you have to. I've seen bloody expensive ($150+) cases with space for 5 fans, but only 1 installed in the rear. But there are also very decent cases with 3 fans pre-installed at a third of that price. Also note that very few of the newest cases even have space for things like optical disk readers.
- Liquid or aircooling doesn't really make a big difference, as long as it's a good cooler for your situation. As noisy or quiet as you like. If you want to overclock your CPU or unlock a higher clockrate on your RAM, your CPU will need better cooling than the standard AMD cooler. Intel CPUs always need a better cooler than they're delivered with (if they even come with a default cooler at all! They generally don't come with a standard cooler, and when they do, it's pretty bad even for a non-overclocked rig)
Useful extra: a hotswap drivebay. Even if you build your own computers and have no trouble installing a HDD, these things can be convenient for several purposes.
Damn, thanks, but I don't have all this money to spend.
Then here are the questions you need to answer before anyone can give advice that you can actualy use...
1. What CPU, RAM, and GPU are in your current computer
2. What is your budget?
Actually post every detail you know about your current system and how much you want to spend. I can figure out a viable build given those paramenters.
Every RTX card should have one or more DisplayPort connectors as well as HDMI, some will even have DVI if anyone still has a monitor that needs that.
I have the same quesitons. Assuming price isn't an issue, what would be the best build?
RTX SUPER™ Series is coming this month too
Nvidia just released the specs. Nice bumps for the 2060, 2070, and 2080 (not 20180 ti). Looks like some price drops for their old lineup while suuplies last as well.
For the two people asking, what is your budget? It's very difficult for anyone to help you if they don't know this.
Around $2,500.
I'm going to hold off on providing a build until Sunday. The Ryzen 3000 CPU's and Navi GPU's drop then and the CPU's could greatly effect prices.
Just curious...how can you provide a recommendation for a new computer build without knowing what the OP's will be doing with the computer (aside from DAZ renderings), as well as what he/she is expecting in terms of performance, what other apps they use, whether they need portability, etc.?
The thread starter said that he was building a new PC, "just to work with Daz," so I think we can assume that graphics and rendering are the top priority. If a new PC can run Daz and render like a beast, then it can likely run any other app or program he's likely to be using. He also said nothing about portability, so that would obviate the new PC being a laptop.
I went Ryzen 2700X last Christmas and haven't looked back. If the thread starter can afford to wait just a little bit, I'd save up for a 3000 series Ryzen and a serious GPU.
I would actually prefer a laptop but would like advice either way
Choose one with at least 16GB of RAM and a GTX 1070, RTX 1070, GTX 1080, or RTX 1080 and you will be in a good place for Daz Studio and Iray rendering.
If you want a lappie you're giving up a lot of performance but if you want it get a gaming lappie with the best Nvidia GPU you can afford. There are quite a few 2080 equipped machines for $2500.
For a render dedicated desktop, and you are willing to wait for a good sale, you can find something like this from Cyberpower (priced today). It's not a gaming machine, and mounts a core I5 but it should do a good job at rendering as you don't need a state of the art CPU. One thing to consider, if you go with a RTX2000 series GPU, they are releasing the 2nd generation cards (Super) which are significantly better than the current ones.
Pro Influencer 300 (NO MONITOR)
$1827
...I worked on a notebook for years before finally building a desktop system. The heat from rendering eventually burned out the keyboard to where I needed to use a wireless one (taking up one of the few USB ports I had left as I also had an external trackball plugged in which was much more accurate than the tiny touch pad).
My strikes against using a notebook as the primary system include:
Now as a secondary system for say when you are away from home and still want to play with Daz, that is different.
@ Davidwski I would always opt for a hyperthreading CPU. 8 GB of VRAM is the basic optimal amount for most jobs but should rendering dump to the CPU, 4 cores will definitely be the bottleneck. Also with more threads you can dedicate a portion to other processes if you multitask.
I would consider an 8 core/16 thread Ryzen7 2400X as they are not really all that much more expensive than the i5-7640X (which according to Intel has been discontinued) as well as has comparable clock speeds. (boost clock of 4.3GHz).
I thought the whole "laptop GPU's perform far worse than desktop GPU's" was an old myth that died (or was supposed to die) years ago when the GTX-10xx series came out.
A quote from one of the tech sites from a few years ago:
" NVIDIA's new 10-series GPUs, the GTX 1050, GTX 1060, GTX 1070, and GTX 1080, have dropped the 'M' from the end of the number when designed for a laptop. Why? You can expect almost the same performance from both versions.
For example, both GTX 1080s have 8GB of GDDR5 VRAM and 2560 CUDA cores. The main difference is in the clock speed, where the laptop GTX 1080 comes in just under the desktop version. While performance isn't completely on par with desktop versions, you shouldn't see anything more than about a 5-10% difference."
You are correct.
Though it is still dependent on how well the laptop manufacturer designes the cooling setup. Modern GPUs in laptops will dynamicaly set the clock speed and fan speed based on load and temperature. Also, you need to look out for mobile GPUs with the MAX-Q designator as these are clocked lower by default for slimmer laptops.
A modern laptop should never get hot enough to burn out the keyboard or any other componenets (GTX 9x0, 10x0, 16x0 or RTX 20x0)
Always ensure that your laptop is on a hard flat surface while rendering for optimal air flow into the fans
Purchase a laptop with a dual fan setup if you plan on using it for rendering
Honestly when looking ar pre-built computers, there is not much of a price gap between render(gaming) ready desktops and laptops any more.
Most gaming laptops have a thunderbolt port nowdays. This is great for adding an external GPU for rendering.
Not exactly. The mobile versions of the Pascal and Turing GPU's are low powered versions of the corresponding desktop ones. They have the same CUDA count but much lower clock speed and other characteristics. This results in a roughly 20 to 25% lower GFLOPS for the mobile variants. And that assumes their is enough cooling to let the mobile GPU's run at base clock full time which is almost never the case. Even with those compromises the mobile chips still consume an awful lot of power making use of the laptop without being plugged in a very short term thing.
Once you're efectively tethered to a wall outlet to even use the thing why not just build a PC (no one with any technical savvy should ever buy a prebuilt).
I'll be nice, that junk is 100% over priced at least at the sale price. No one should ever buy it for any use at all.
the i5 7940X is a skylake X chip that only fits on an X299 MoBo but disables roughly half the boards features. Beyond that 4C/4T CPU's will struggle with many if not most productivty SW compared to equivalent cost CPU's, the AMD counterparts are 6C/12T and that big a difference in processing power will be noticeable and will only get worse as time goes on. Spending over $1800 for a $250 CPU, $250 MoBo and a $500 GPU is just crazy. Even for $1800 on a prebuilt you should get better than that thing.
If considering a laptop for rendering, I strongly urge you consider a big gaming laptop with an i9 and nothing less than 32 GB RAM. These have big fan exhausts and depending on what you buy, sometimes have separate CPU and GPU heatsinks cooled by separate fans.
My laptop (specs below) actually has two separate power supply cords. And there's no doubt that it can blow very hotly out the back when it's generating heat. But it is designed to shunt that heat, well, "away", which is a good thing.
...and then there is the cooling issue. You can't slap water cooling on a mobile GPU.
...with a notebook, you are still very limited in upgrade options and if any servicing needs to be done, it has to be taken to a technician. All your cooling is also based on what the system has as there is no room or means for adding aftermarket cooling systems to either the CPU or GPU. I disagree that one can get a notebook that is comparable to a desktop with the same specs for the same cost. Gaming does not put the same constant peak load on the GPU (which generates heat) as rendering does.
+1
Not to mention screen size which IMO is very important when working with 3D, graphics, video, programming etc.. Even for general everyday use I'd never buy anything with a screen size less than 27". Laptops generally have so many limitations compared to desktops that I'd only buy one if I really needed a mobile computer, which is why I've never owned one so far.
Personally, I think laptops are wonderful. If you go somewhere you can bring all your stuff with you. Like when I go on vacation or on a business trip I just grab my laptop and bring it to the hotel or whatever and pick up where I left off. Or just run downstairs into the living room to futz around on the laptop while watching TV. Can't do that with my desktops. And since I don't spend my entire time rendering in Iray, usually the battery life is fine. For those who are going to college they're indispensable. Sometimes I even head over to the local university and camp out in the food court area with my laptop and have lunch. I don't dislike laptops. And I can certainly understand how for some users they are indispensible. And maybe for them a few more minutes of an Iray render time is pretty much irrelevant. If, in fact, that's the case, which I haven't seen any proof of.
As far as prebuilts, and at the risk of being classified as not tech-savvy, I own a prebuilt HP that I've had for years. And it works fine. And assuming that 80-90% of the desktop market is with prebuilts, apparently they're also fine for a lot of other people. Yeah, you may be limited in your upgrade options, but for some that may be somewhat irrelevant. I always maintain a backup computer that mirrors my main computer in case something bad happens, so an older prebuilt is perfect for that. And usually when/if I upgrade one of my other computers the cost is not a whole lot different than buying a whole new PC. New GPU, more RAM, larger case, maybe even a new MB, etc.
Different people have different needs, and future upgradability and render times that are 12 seconds faster may not be important. Heck, how many Studio users will even be using Studio in 3-5 years when their PC's get outdated?
Laptops are fine. They will give you amazingly fast render times (especially compared to what you could get 5-10 years ago). And no, they won't melt if you run Iray. They're designed to stay cool, and Iray doesn't even stress your GPU anywhere near its max ratings in the first place. Just buy a decent brand name and you'll be fine.
Actually I've found laptops to be in some ways LESS limiting than desktops. You can always buy a large monitor and plug your laptop in via HDMI or whatever. Works fine.
And what I do is in order to get some big screen goodness I'll plug my laptop into the big screen TV in the living room. Cuz as we all know, a 43" monitor is much gooder than a 17" inch monitor. More is better. I even do that with my 10+ year old piece of junk Linux laptop with like a 14" screen. I think HDMI goes up to like 50 feet, so you can lie on the sofa with your laptop and relax, rather than sitting at a desk with your desktop.
Much nicer than disconnecting and lugging your big ol' desktop downstairs.
Amen to this!
Thank you for speaking truth.
Thank you.
Yep. I will always have a desktop computer for the "hard stuff", but haha, right now my new i9 laptop is probably more powerful than my 3 year old i7 desktop with its (5-7 year old?) old GTX 980 GPUs.
Laptops have a place. Just do yourself a solid and get a competent one.