Suggestions Concerning Computer Power and DazStudio
dash2128
Posts: 736
I'm going to dedicate 1 computer to DazStudio only, from now on.
I hardly use Iray, anymore, because rendering is too slow, on my (now) old computer.
Does anyone have any suggestions of what kind of processor, graphics card, RAM and memory I should hunt for, when I pick up a new computer?
Should I look for a solid-state hard drive? Or does that matter.
And...What does Iray require, to be practical?
Post edited by dash2128 on
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iRay requires a recent vintage Nvidia GPU. anything you can find on a store shelf right now should be fine. The more VRAM the better. A lot of people will tell you that anything less than 8Gb is too small but there are plenty of people doing good renders on a lot less VRAM. Of course cards with more VRAM also have more CUDA whichequates to faster renders. The best thing to do is buy the newest generation GPU you can with as much VRAM as you can afford.
CPU wise DS and iRay don't care that much unless you're doing a lot of CPU renders. I'd get something like an Ryzen 5 2600 which can be gotten for $165US right now. As to RAM try to get at least double the amount of RAM as the VRAM on your GPU. Less than 8Gb of VRAM I'd get 16Gb of RAM and if you get an 11Gb card or bigger then scale up as needed. Luckily RAM prices are falling right now so you should be able to get a pretty good deal on RAM.
Kenshaw011267's advice above is good, so I will only comment on your question about the SSD. An SSD as your C: drive is great in terms of bootup time for the pc. In terms of storing your Daz Studio content on one, don't bother - items will not load into Daz Studio in any noticably faster way, as the SSD / HDD is not the bottleneck. For Daz Studio and the content, get a big HDD.
Forgot about that question. A boot SSD is great and can substantially speed up boot time and program loading times but it isn't vital and if you can boot up and let DS launch while doing other things a 2 or 3minute process from pushing the power button may not matter to you. As to getting an HDD get the biggest you can afford. Don't worry too much about speed either. For Daz assets a 5400rpm disk won't be noticeable slower than a 7200. Those speeds are really important when you're loading very big files or doing a lot of disk access. Daz shouldn't do either.
Thank you!
I needed the information!
(I sent a reply, yesterday, but today, I noticed that I may not have posted it, before signing off.)
...So maybe I should stick with a regular hard drive?
I'm going to store more Content on exterior drives. I've already got 2 packed TB drives, and 2 farely-loaded exterior drives, leaving me only 19 gb free. VERY SLOW!
I need something new, quickly. I was thinking of having something built to the specs you are talking about. If I make it expandable, then I can upgrade it later. (I was thinking. ...since I was told that my present system is limited, in that regard.
...Is Vram seperate from the 8 or 16 gb RAM? (I presently have 8)
it's 64-bit (I'm not totally sure how that effects things, though)
Does using Windows 7, instead of 10, make any difference?
(I assumed it didn't, since it is just the operating system.)
If you don't already have a backup storage system, that would probably be your best bang for the buck. I just had a hard drive crash last year, and my backup saved me a lot of frustration and tears.
Your VRAM (Video RAM) is whatever is installed on your graphics card. It's separate from system RAM on your motherboard. 64-bit (as opposed to 32,16, or 8-bit way back in the 80's) is what size chunk of data your CPU can transfer or process at a time. Just think of it as a 32 or 64 lane highway. Most Windows PCs made today are 64-bit.
Thank you for replying!
I was just quoted a price of $400.00 for a video graphics card, from a place that is going to send me a quote for a 'build' that can replace my present computer. I'd love to get iray working well (I depend more on 3ddelight, because of the age of my computer- I added a quad-core processor to it, but its 8 gb ram and full hard-drive is slowing down, again.
If I go with the 'build', I'll have to put off the expensive video card, but the new system will be fully expandable, so as long as it does as much as my present system- it should run a a lot better, I expect...I hope...-then I can add the graphics card later. ...if I go that way.
Thanks for confirming that VRAM was separate, I wasn't sure about that.
No idea what card you wanted. $400 could be reasonable or it could be too high.
Installing a graphic card is easy. You plug it into the motherboard and then connect the power plug(s).
Just make sure that the people building your new PC know that it must have an nVidia graphics card. Only nVidia cards have the CUDA cores that Iray needs in order to render.
I could instal the card, yes, so long as I know what the right is, I need to get.
...I believe someone mentioned CUDA when I was asking about the build. But I didn't know what they were referring to.
I just noticed a refurbished computer (for sale, online) for a lot less than the build:
Specs: Intel Quad Core i5-2400 Processor 3.1GHz (Turbo up to 3.4GHz, 3MB L3 Cache)
Intel HD Graphics 2000
Memory: Hard Drive: 2TB SATA 5400 RPM Hard drive + 240GB Solid State Drive
It's not brand new, so it might not be very expandable, though.
I wonder how it would handle iray?
Without adding an Nvidia tech GPU it would only render on CPU and very slowly at that as the i5 2400 is a very old and slow CPU with only 4 cores and 4 threads.
Is the AMD Ryzan 5 2500G Quadcore 3.6Ghz good enough?
Are you buying a laptop? There's a 2400G which is a desktop APU, combined CPU andGPU, and a 2500U which is a mobile APU.
The APU's use Radeon graphics not Nvidia so it won't help with rendering at all.
If you're getting an Nvidia GPU then I'd just get a standard Ryzen CPU. in the same price range as the 2400G you can get the Ryzen 5 1600 for roughly the same price. If you looking to build a low cost system then I'd look at the 2200G rather than the 2400G. That will save you at least $35 which will bring you that much closer to a discrete GPU.
Also keep in mind with an APU there is no VRAM built in. They share system RAM with rest of the computer. So you want as much, and as fast, RAM as you can afford.
HELLO, thanks for replying!
Right now, I'm looking at 2 systems, and...cost is definitely a consideration, this year. I was wondering what you thought about the choice. The more expensive choice- in the screenshot- I would have to save longer for, the less-expensive choice, I could pick up this week.
I do have a NVIDIA GeForce 610 graphics installed, that I could maybe swap out for the one in this unit:
Specifications:
Processor: Intel Quad Core i7-3770 Processor 3.4GHz (Turbo up to 3.9GHz, 8 MB Cache)
Graphics: Integrated Intel HD 2500 Graphics
Memory: 16GB DDR3 Memory
Memory Slots: 4
Hard Drive: 256GB SSD+2TB HDD
Optical Drive: DVD
The screenshot, below, lists a new, but more expensive option. But I was wondering if the system above (it has an I7 processor) would do the job. (Right now, I have an AMD phenom (tm) x4B95 processor (4CPUs), ~3.0GHz with 610 graphics, but only 8 GB memory)
With those specs I'd go for the cheaper one. Both are pretty bad and neither will render very well in iray and I doubt a GTX 610 will help at all, I'm pretty sure that is so old iray won't recognize it as a valid GPU.
The second system also has a very small PSU, 300watts? I didn't know they still made them that small. Which virtually eliminates any chance of putting a decent GPU without replacing that too.
The first system likely has its share of problems but if price is a consideration at these prices save the money.
Thanks for the input!
Yes, price is a consideration, and I wasn't too excited about the specs of more expensive unit, even if it is new.
Maybe I will get a more powerful system next year, and get the refurbished unit, this year.
It has the i7 processor, 16 GBs and hard-drive space, and I can stick to 3Ddelight, for now. I need something, because my present system is completely loaded down- 10 GBs of hard-drive space left. I'm thinking I could pick up the cheaper system, and use it only for working on Daz.