Building a new PC in stages
Ron Knights
Posts: 2,199
in The Commons
Could someone provide suggestions of how I could configure and build a new PC "in stages?!" It would be easier to afford something if I could start with a "basic" computer, case & hardware, then upgrade to new components later. For example, start with a decent inexpensive GPU, and buy a better one when I have the money. Start with decent amount of memory, and upgrade that later. Does that make any sense?!
Daz 3D is part of 
Connect
DAZ Productions, Inc.
7533 S Center View Ct #4664
West Jordan, UT 84084
Licensing Agreement | Terms of Service | Privacy Policy | EULA
© 2025 Daz Productions Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Comments
Knowing what I know now, I would just save for a 2080 TI. The only thing I notice a difference in using since I upgraded CPU from 4 cores, to 6 cores and supposedly faster CPU, is compressing files. Everything else, if there is a difference, it's so subtle that it's practically non-existant.
It all really depends on what you have now. Like you could start with a good case, power supply and motherboard, put your current CPU and ram and drives etc on the new motherboard. You just have to buy a motherboard that will work with your CPU, but also have the ability to upgrade it to something more powerful later.
...yes it does, that was the way I did it. I researched everything I would need to make sure it was all compatible, made a list and when I could afford a couple components, purchased them. My original system is sort of a "one piece at a time" affair but unlike the Johnny Cash song of the same title, there were no mismatches.
This is how I was able to quite a powerhouse for the day as we were still in the 3DL days a 1 GB GPU was more than sufficient for improved display (as well as the Daz vieport) response in open GL.
Until Iray came along, it was a pretty shredding system, even with UE.
It will really help to know what you have now. Knowing where you're coming from in terms of hardware, and what might be reusable will help. To know more about your expectations, what type of work you do, and software used would also be a plus.
Right now, I don't have a PC. That's why I want to build one! (I am a "Mac Person," but want to break past the limitations of Apple computers.)
By "basic" do you want something that can render in iRay or something that will just boot and run things like Chrome?
The absolute basic machine:
PCPartPicker Part List: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/g6mZGc
CPU: AMD Athlon 3000G 3.5 GHz Dual-Core Processor ($57.99 @ B&H)
Motherboard: MSI B450 TOMAHAWK MAX ATX AM4 Motherboard ($114.99 @ Best Buy)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 8 GB (1 x 8 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($42.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($39.99 @ Adorama)
Case: Corsair SPEC-05 ATX Mid Tower Case ($48.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA GA 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($97.98 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Pro OEM 64-bit ($139.99 @ Other World Computing)
Total: $542.91
That would do basic tasks and run DS but would be terrible at rendering.
A minimum system that can render: Add a GTX 1650 for $150 to the above system.
Upgrading/increasing the RAM, storage, video card and CPU are all possible with viable upgrade paths and enough PSU to support most such upgrades. If you own a windows license you could save that cost as well.
Let me clarify. I want to build a PC for DAZ Studio. I want to do iRay. I will need to build the new PC in "stages."
You can go backward to illustrate my point. What is a good, recommended graphics card that handles iRay?! What CPU and motherboard would be best for that GPU? What graphics card could I buy to "tide me over" till I could afford the more ideal graphics card for iRay?!
What's an ideal amount of memory for the new PC?! I'd want to start with less memory just to get started. I'd want a motherboard that would allow me to upgrade (add more) memory later. Let's look at an ideal power supply. Maybe it would be worth the cost to buy the good power supply right away.
It does make sense, but first, you'll have to settle on your starting budget. And it will help to know how comfortable you are with replacing components on your computer, as some components are easier to replace than others. The easiest thing to upgrade is probably the memory, followed by the GPU. The trickiest are the motherboard and CPU, with the powersupply coming in at a close third place. At the same time, memory is probably the cheapest thing to replace, while the GPU can end up as the most expensive. But, for rendering, the GPU is also the one which eventually gives you the most milage in performance.
A harddisk is relatively easy to replace, but it can be a bit tedious to move all your files from one harddisk to the other. It's probably easier to simply add more harddisks, or even add external drives.
Overall, I'd suggest starting out with a good motherboard, a good CPU and a good powersupply (700 watts or more, maybe even as much as 900 watts), so you won't have to replace any of these, while the powersupply gives you plenty room for the later upgrades. Then add the other more replacable components as your budget allows for. An RTX 2060 for starters, 500GB SSD with a 1TB HDD, and 8-16 GB memory. (yes, 8GB memory is enough for Daz Studio, it's not ideal, but it works, and that's what matters)
...basically I wouldn't go any lower than 16 GB of memory to start (32 is optimal but that can be upgraded to later). I had 12 GB on my original system when still rendering on the CPU, and it often ended up going to Virtual HDD memory (swap mode) on even moderately sized scenes which is even more excruciatingly slow and puts extra wear on the HDD.
As to the CPU I'd consider a Ryzen as the AMD4 socket supports all Ryzen series CPUs, unlike Intel which tends to require a different socket for each new or different CPU, thus limiting upgradeability (my rendering system with the Titan-X is running a 6 core/12 thread 2,8 GHz Westmere Xeon, the best I could upgrade to on the old LGA 1366 socket, if I wanted more cores I'd need to replace the MB). . While the Daz programme only uses a single core when working in open_GL it uses all available cores when rendering in either 3DL or Iray (the latter a concern with a smaller GPU should the process dump to the CPU). You can get 8 core (16 thread) Ryzens for a fairly reasonable price that have a decent clock speed and later step up to one with a higher core count if necessary
I would suggest no smaller than a 6 GB GPU. 4 GB is pretty borderline. I have a 4GB card in my assembly system and it does OK for for test rendering of an individual character or scene subset,but anything more involved and it dumps to he CPU
For the PSU, I wouldn't go below 750w if you are planning to expand the system later with a higher VRAM GPU and more memory as well as additional drives.
For the enclosure get one with good airflow, particularly if you are not going to be able to afford a water cooled system. My old Antec P-193 (no longer available) has a a lot of interior room allowing for a lot of "breathing space which also makes for easier installation/servicing of components, and has 7 fans, yet is whisper quiet.
I recently purchased my system (November) and it ended up costing somewhere close to 1800$ (Monitor included). It's not the best but I believe it's good enough.
Without a starting budget (what you would like to spendat the start, the max you can spend at the start if it really makes a difference) it's hard to give anything except general guidelines.
I'd personally advise against getting parts piecemeal. Especially with everything going on, you might down the line and then struggle to get parts, so you're investing money into something you cant use.
IMHO, wait, then get it all in one go.. the at least if something crops up you have cash too, rather than starting at a pile of parts.
....hmm, worked for. me back when I built my first system. Didn't have any getting everything I needed.
I've built a few PCs in the years before I went to Macintosh computers. So yeah, I'm familiar with handling parts and assembly. I might just buy everything from a company that would build it for me.
I live on a fixed, limited income. It might take me years to save enough for a "kick-ass" system. But I could afford to pay for a system that can be easily upgraded later.
Maybe we can play a little "imagination" game. What is a good nVidia card for iRay. What motherboard would I need to handle that GPU? Can I buy a less powerful GPU to start with? What CPU would go with that motherboard? Let's say 16GB of memory is a good start. Will a motherboard have empty slots that allow me to bump up the memory later?
Right, but I was referring to the current situation.. and I've already seen prices creep up.. so just thought I'd mention that it might get worse before it gets better.
Unless I misunderstood, I thought you meant you would initially buy parts here and there... then build it.
Get whatever level PC you want to start with in one go.. then upgrade. But yea, maybe let the prices settle a bit.
...well if you want new for the GPU, I would say a GTX 1660 series which go for about 215 - 230$ which will give you a Turing GPU processor and 1408 cores (no RTX cores). To step up to an RTX model, add about 100$ - 120$. and you get 1,920 CUDA cores as well as 240 Tensor and 30 RT cores.
Any MB with PCIe 3.0 is capable of handling either card. The RTX 2060 is a wider (dual slot) card so that may be a concern, check MB specs about this.
Some AM4 boards only have two DIMM slots while others have four, For example the MSI B450 Gaming Plus which can support up to 64 GB has four DIMM slots and retails for 105$ (Newegg) Pretty much all MBs that support 64 GB will have 4 DIMM slots. A number of the ones that top out at 32GB only have only two, so the two 8 GB sticks would have to be swapped out for two 16 GB ones. Always check the image on the product page.
Jack, I'm sorry I haven't explained myself well. I'm thinking of going to PC Parts Picker (is that the right name?!) and configuring a system there,. I don't remember if they build the systems for you. I'd be loolking at an AMD Ryzen CPU and a motherboard that would go with it. I'd want a 6GB nVidia card to start (I'd get a more powerful Video card when I had more money.) I'd like to start with 16GB of RAM. Would the motherboard I chose have more room for RAM sticks? Or would I need to replace the RAM I'd already bought?
I'd like a computer case that has enough room for my big hands to get in there. I'd prefer to have one hard drive (or SSD) for Windows and the software (apps). But I also want room in the case for at least one hard drive devoted exclusively for DAZ Studio. I prefer to have my data on a different hard drive than the one I use for the OS (Windows or OS X). i'd want another hard drive just for my Genealogy data. I'd also want to have Portable external hard drives to use for backups.
I think KK answered most of that.. so you should be good.
OK, thanks. I'll take a closer look once I've had some sleep.
Most places offer like bundles too, so CPU/Mobo/RAM/Cooler.. so you can then just get a case you like. It sometimes takes the worry out of what exactly to match with what.. which is handy.
I recently dabbled with some Ebay build your own goodness, and ended up with some weird incompatible RAM - even though it was stated as compatible. Since I didn't have any spares, I essentially have to purchase two lots of everything, to diagnose the issue and then resell the other parts. I regretted not just buying off the shelf like I've done the last few times tbh.. massive pain.
To clarify, everything worked, just not in that particular config.. even though it should have. So be prepared for potentially that level of frustration and additional cost.
Thanks again, Jack.
ATX is the form factor you want. mATX and MicroITX have challenging upgrade paths and are just plain hard to build in.
Minimum GPU: 4Gb card like the GTX 1650 (you'll be able to do simple scenes)
Recommended GPU: 8Gb card. This could be 2060 Super to the 2080 Super and the 1070 to 1080 from last generation.
Minimum CPU: I strongly recommend AMD at this time. The Athlon 3000G is only $55ish and has a great upgrade path
Recommended CPU: Ryzen 5's. On the cheap end the 1600AF if you can find one but a normal 1600 is fine. 2600 isn't much more. 3600 is the top of the stack and great CPU for less than $200.
Motherboard: There are lots of good B450 motherboards which will handle Both the Athlon 3000g and the R5 3600 (or any Ryzen series CPU). The MSI Tomohawk is very well regarded (but so are a bunch of others).
Minimum RAM: 8 Gb (you'll just barely be able to run DS and Chrome as long as you don't keep too many tabs open). Your performance will suffer due to doing lots of swapping to disk.
Recommended RAM: 16 Gb. This will work fine as long as your GPU is an 8 Gb or lower.
PSU is a complicated issue. If you're sure you won't ever do something like having 2 2080ti or the like then a 600W to 800W PSU is fine (I'd lean toward the higher end so you won't get any surprises when upgrading). Don't buy a PSU that isn't 80+ certified. If your electric bill (or the room you work in gets hot and you don't want to turn up the AC) matters get the highest 80+ cert you can get (80+, Bronze, Gold, Platinum, Titanium) at the 600 to 800 range you'll mostly find Bronze and Gold and if the price difference isn't huge then get the Gold. The final consideration is whether you want fewer cables in your build. A PSU with fixed cables will result in you having excess cables in the build that you'll have to stuff somewhere. A PSU that is semi or fully modular allows you to only connect the power cables you need (put the ones you don't use somewhere you can find them as you might need them when upgrading).
For a case the thing you want are as much front intake as possible. A mesh front panel backed by fans is ideal. A solid pane of plastic or glass is not. Since you're buying to upgrade I'd look for reviews that say the case wasn't a PITA to build in.
Something to also be aware of: fewer and fewer cases come with externally accessible drivebays, like for CD/DVD these days. If you're interested in adding one of these sometime (they're also available as external drives though), then look carefully at the specs *and* any images for the case. I've seen advertisements for cases which claimed to have space for a DVD drive, while they didn't.
It's kinda like the same with front fans really, look carefully, that there's no solid glass plate in front of them. Such cases DO work, but the fans don't really get their air from the frontside of the case, but they rather keep the floor right below the frontpanel perfectly vacuumed. It does work, but it isn't really an ideal setup.
Whatever your needs, remember the core requirements for the case you want. It's easy to spend over a hundred dollars on a Corsair case with a dozen bells and whistles, but if something like the Fractal Design Focus G Black (silly long name, I know) suits your needs with its two frontfans and a rearfan already installed, then why spend more? Just a year ago, I was in almost the same position you are now, and ended up with a Sharkoon DG7000 case, which is pretty similar in design and price, no matter how it was always at the bottom of the last page in the productslist (and somehow never appeared at the top when I inverted the selection order), it covered all my requirements. It just happened to be an older model, which probably didn't earn the vendors a big enough margin, hence why it was a bit harder to find.
....like I mentioned I love my old Antec P193 (see image below) as for a "mid tower" it is pretty huge and looks "professional" (no fancy lighting or windows to show off the guts) of course that wad in the day before side windows became the new fad for gamers. Today you almost can't find a case without a side window in it (save for server cases and some full towers).
Cruising around I found this one at Newegg. Not very expensive (my P-193 cost something like 240$ new when I bought it).
https://www.newegg.com/black-corsair-275r-airflow-atx-mid-tower/p/N82E16811139147?reviews=all&Item=9SIA0ZXB7X8039&Description=PC%20cases&cm_re=PC_cases-_-11-139-147-_-Product
This case allows for mounting of two standard HDDs (Horizontal whcih also get the benefit of airflow) and 4 SSDs. Front, bottom, and top vents have removable/washable dust filters. It will easily accommodate an 2080Ti or even an RTX Titan (if you ever come into a windfall).
Antec P193
Having just gone through the process of just what the OP is suggesting here's what I did.
I had a 10 year old Hewlett-Packard WinVista machine forced into running Win7, then Win8, then Win8.1, then Win10, that was frustratingly wonky, maxed out on memory (8GB). 1TB hard drive. It even had some sort of 5 year old Nvidea graphics card replacing the burned out on-board graphics circuits. Just kept crashing on me randomly through all OS versions, while running anything. "Zap", BSOD.
Gave up on it and gutted it. Great fun
Left with only the case and the 1TB 7200rpm hard drive I researched for weeks learning about motherboards, CPU socket types, CPU models, power requirements, memory types, PC busses, storage devices, I finally devised a plan to whittle down my bank account painlessly.
I also used an on-line configuration tool to help pick out compatable parts. https://pcpartpicker.com/ 
The case: I suppose the first choice would have been to pick a case, but I decided to just use my existing, now empty HP case. It was in good condition and heck, I saved probably $30.
Do I regret it now? Not really, this was my first build, this was not going to be a super monster machine, ever. However, next time I would pick a full size ATX case with room for more fans, better airflow, space for 1 possibly 2 large graphics cards. Are windows and blinky colored lights important? Not to me.
However, one advantage of using the old case was that it still had the front panel sockets for USB and memory chips that I was able to easily connect to my new motherboard rather than having to buy new front panel accessories.
The Motherboard: First order of business was to pick a motherboard that was able to fit into the old HP chassis, new enough to handle modern PC busses and storage devices, memory speeds, and processors. But to do so you need to decide if you're going with an AMD or Intel CPU. I chose Intel. Why Intel? I've always had Intel. I know Intel. I'm an old dog, I already have enough new tricks to have to deal with.
Motherboard Size: ATX or micro-ATX. My case only had room for a micro-ATX board. Later on that would limit my choice of CPU cooling system and length of graphics card, and it eventually got pretty crowded in there causing some concern about cooling. But it all worked out. I bought an "Asus: Prime B360M-A". An added unknown benefit was that that motherboard supports two NVMe sockets for super high speed storage devices.
Note that choice of motherboard is very dependent on your choice of CPU.
CPU: Having chosen Intel, I need to be sure that whatever CPU I wanted would work in my motherboard. Intel CPU chips are currently generation 9 and kind of expensive. I chose a generation 8 chip with on-chip graphics capability. I drool at top of the line equipment but decided early on that my champagne taste had to suffer my beer budget. So, instead of an i7 or i9 CPU I decided on an "Intel i5-8600". Somewhat slower, and not as many cores (6 cores, 6 threads) but still much more zippy than my old i3-3xxx) with 2 cores. There was a better i5 with 6 cores 12 threads available but I chose the model that replaced the extra cores with on-chip graphics so that I could skip having to buy a graphics card for a while. I don't think that my motherboard will support a generation 9 i7 CPU, perhaps it will support a generation 8 i7 but I'm happy for now knowing that I could move up to 6 more threads someday if necessary.
Note: Be careful about choice of CPU and which socket it needs on the motherboard. Learn about socket types.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CPU_socket
Note 2: Edited to change "miniATX" to "microATX". For some unknown reason, in motherboard sizes, mini is smaller than micro.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_form_factor
Memory: I wanted room for lots of memory. The board I chose supports 64GB with 4 memory slots. I initially bought 16GB (2 modules of 8GB). I got a moderately high speed, decent brand "Corsair: Vengeance LPX DDR4 2666MHz". The memory is somewhat speed tweakable but I'm not a digital motorhead so I don't do that anyway, but it's kinda nice to know its possible. And the motherboard is also speed tweakable if necessary. Would more memory be nice? Sure, and I did eventually buy the same memory for the other two slots to give a total of 32GB, with slots fully populated. At this point, to move up to 64GB I'd need to shelve $150 worth of 8GB modules and replace them with $300 worth of 16GB modules which would take more power and probably not even be used.
Power supply: I had a 250w power supply in the old HP but I'd removed that and bought a nice Corsair: RM650x 650 watt power supply with modular cables so I only had to have as many cables as necessary instead of a complete octopus crammed into every corner of the limited space. 650w should be enough for the eventual max size of this system considering that I'll never be able to put a super monster graphics card into it, and only one decent graphics card.
Cooler & fans: I probably could have used the stock heatsink that came with the CPU but I opted to get a slightly bigger one with a bigger fan. I did not want to go to liquid cooling. Too much digital motorhead vibe and I could imagine having to deal with leaks. I went with a Cooler Master: RR-171C-20PC-R1 i71C RGB Intel only heatsink/fan. Yeah, it's got lights, but I didn't power them. It just barely fits into the case but matches the vent holes in the side panel exactly. However, it does make it a bit tight to get memory in and out, but not impossible. I also bought a new quieter fan (by BeQuiet) for the case. There was only a place for one case fan. A bigger case would have been desirable, but I've had no heat problems.
Storage: I had an existing 1TB 7200rpm hard drive that was still relatively new, that was initially used as my system drive for my new copy of Windows10-Pro. But within a couple of months, I had paid off my initial purchases, and had the system assembled and running and decided to learn a new trick and move into the 2nd decade of the 21st century with a 500GB SSD (Solid State Drive) Samsung: 970 EVO Plus, 500GB NVMe SSD using one of the two NVMe (Non-Volitile Memory express) bus sockets on the motherboard, for my system drive. This was a big decision. I watched a lot of YouTube videos about the reliability and technology of SSDs and decided on either Samsung or Crucial as the manufacturer. I went with the 75% more expensive Samsung for the NVMe drive but on 3 other of my older machines for standard 2.5" PCIe bus SSDs I opted for the 1TB size drives by Crucial (MX500) to save money. Both Samsung and Crucial provide access to a free tool for easily converting your system to boot from your old hard drive to your new SSD.
Four months later I moved a 2TB hard drive from one of my other machines into the my new system. Soon after that I also purchased a Samsung: 970 EVO Plus, 1TB NVME SSD for the other NVMe socket. Now with a total of 3TB of hard drive and 1.5TB of super fast NVMe SSD, along with 32GB of good speed RAM and 6 cores I'm flyin' high!
Graphics card: All this time I've been DAZzing with this machine using the on-chip graphics capability (no h/w IRay) but the new speed of the processor and memory and SSD storage made a big difference and made my intial foray into software IRay rendering tolerable. Then I bit the bullet and decided on a half-decent graphics card that would fit in my micro-ATX case. It was tight and for one of the hard drives I had to buy a special SATA cable with a 90 degree bend at the top so that it would fit under the overhanging graphics card, but all is well, the system doesn't overheat, nor is it underpowered. If fact, this machine when idling only draws about 35w. My old machine draws 75w when idling. My new machine when rendering IRay draws about 250w. My old machine draws 120w playing solitaire
I couldn't afford $400-$800 for a super card, nor would one fit in the chassis, I ended up with an MSI: Ventus-XS geForce GTX 1660, two fan card.
Am I happy? Yes. Nicest machine I've ever had. Could it be better. Yes. Does it have room to grow? A little. I could double the memory and perhaps find a better graphics card to fit. I could replace both hard drives with standard PCIe 2.5" SSDs or even replace the NVMe drives with 2TB models, but for now I'm happy. However, next time. Perhaps on my 75th birthday in 4 years. I'll try again with a full size case, multiple super graphics cards and lots of that Social Security excess money that I've saved in my basement vault guarded by Hell Dogs and a pair of very old & loyal medieval knights.
Would I skimp on any of the things I bought. No. I may have more oomph in the power supply than necessary, but that's OK, the price difference wasn't terrible and much better to have more than not enough in case I start adding more cards into the system or it has to power a half dozen externally attached devices, or whatever. I didn't get the papa bear of parts, but the mama bear is just right. To hell with the baby bear.
EDITED to modify my IRay rendering power requirement to 250watts instead of 110w (blush, read the wrong measurement
)
...this is why I suggested a board with the AM4 socket as it is compatible with higher core count and newer Ryzen CPUs. Intel tends to change socket types like...well, socks.
This. I keep up with tech professionally and I still need to look up which chipsets are for which Intel CPU's. Ryzen is easy, AM4.
...yeah if I was ever in the position to build a new system with dependability in mind it would have an AM4 socket. As to Threadrippers the TR4 socket supports both first and second generation CPUs up to the 2990 (32C/64T). Unfortunately that's where it ends as the 3000 series requires the TRX4 socket.
The downside of the Threadripper for those holdouts (like myself) it is only W10 compatible whereas there is a hack to get Ryzen CPUs to work with W7.
Serious question: why not just upgrade, if it means you could have a TR? I use Windows basically as a Daz Studio runner, so maybe I don't understand what upgrading is like on a daily use computer.
Probably an impossible question to answer but what sort of scenes would you intend to render? There's no need for a system with all the bells and whistles if you're mostly doing well lit scenes with little geometry like single figure portraits.
I'm still amazed with the RTX 2080 I bought 18 months ago which can pump out big low-light renders with a multiple figures and props in 20-30 minutes. Horses for courses so don't waste money on redundant capacity if you don't really need it.
There are a few very obscure apps that don't run on W10. Other than that tiny handful of people the refusal to upgrade makes no sense.