Computer for 3D rendering

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laznboyyo213

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Oct 24, 2013
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I have a friend who is going to be a freshman in high school and he has taken an interest in computer graphics, like 3D rendering and modeling. He wants to use the program Hexagon 2.5. He is trying to build a computer, but does not know exactly what he will need for his computer to run well and his parents have given him a strict budget. Here are his parts so far:

intel i7 4790k
Nvidia gtx 770 4gb
msi z97-g45 gaming atx lga1150 motherboard
8 gigs of ram

I was wondering if these parts were more than enough and if he could go down a little. I think the i7 was too much for the kid because he probably won't be doing as much as others and that he could possible go to an i5 processor. Also I think he should get the 2gb 770 rather than 4gb. What are your opinions?
 
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dwatterworth
The i5 will be plenty for 3d modeling, overkill if he is just getting into it, but plenty of room to expand. The i5 will also be fantastic at gaming, being able to run games really well for years to come.

I'd recommend the 4gb graphics card in the interest of possible future use for GPU rendering in 3d programs but also for gaming. If your friend plays new 3d games, mostly of the FPS or highly detailed RTS genres, then the 4gb card will be capable of playing the newest games longer. New games with their high quality settings/high res graphics packs have already exceeded the 2gb video card, requiring 3gb+ to run optimally.

So on the GPU, the 2gb will save some money and run games well but might be limiting at the highest quality...
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dwatterworth

dwatterworth

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The 4gb 770 is a wise investment for future software, especially if your friend is interested in 3d rendering. I am an architect, I also make all of my firms workstations. I work with 3dsmax, maya, rhino, revit and cad along with Lumion and Vray (vray on 3ds and maya).

The 4gb version is great for viewport rendering as it can store larger models, more textures etc, all speeding up realtime rendering/viewport rendering or other render processes that can use the GPU.

Also, the 4gb GPU is becoming almost necessary for new top tier games that have high quality texture packs, massive detail etc etc.

Depending on how much rendering is actually being done and with what software, your friend might want to stick with the 4790k. Not only will the additional threads/hyperthreading give a ~35% boost in render times for most softwares, the higher stock clock speed is tremendous in giving a much more fluid and responsive experience (also avoids the need for overclocking to reach the same clock speeds).

Your friend will also want to invest in 16gb of ram. For rendering, the memory speed affects the end result very little, similarly to gaming. A good 1866mhz or 2133mhz DDR3 kit would be great. (2) x 8gb chips is more desirable over 4 sticks, your memory controller will be less stressed and you can expand further to 32gb if that ever becomes necessary.

If your friend is not doing a lot of on-system rendering, but just the modeling, I would still recommend the 4790k over the 4690k, the increased clock speeds just aid in everything CAD related. However, the 4690k is a fine processor if your friend does not need to turn out a lot of animations or a large number of high resolution still renders etc. And of course, the 4690/4690k rocks at games, coming in very close to all of the other top tier processors.
 
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dwatterworth

dwatterworth

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I should add that if your friend is just starting out in 3d modeling, it may be some time before he needs what I listed.

For a mainstream modeling computer and good gaming machine, the 4690/(4690k if your friend wants to try overclocking ever), 8gb of 1866/2133mhz ddr3 and that 4gb 770 would be about as high as they would want to go.

I've made workstations that are perfectly good for modeling and gaming that use an i3 4330 (extra 1mb of cache makes a large difference in 3d modeling programs) and anywhere from onboard graphics (for workstation only) to a gtx 760 4gb. The onboard graphics are suitable for modeling only, they cannot handle modeling with textures turned on in the viewport very well.
 
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laznboyyo213

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Hey guys thanks for the response, I guess I should add more details. First his budget is 1200. Second he doesn't really know what he wants to work with, he looked up online and only saw the program hexagon2.5. I don't think he'll go too far from that or adobe products. He is only a beginner and only wants to try it out. So dwatterworth do you think your second post will be enough to run these things for a kid to basically play with
 
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dwatterworth

dwatterworth

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Depending on what other stuff your friend will be doing with the computer and what components he already has (DVD drive, screen, mouse, keyboard etc) here is what I would say is optimal and looks stealthy too for an added bonus. This build includes windows 8.1. I've heard announcements of Win 7 support ending in 2015, but XP support was stretched out nearly a decade, so who knows. Would your friend need every single part to the computer? The build I've listed is for the hardware, no peripherals such as keyboard, mouse, screen etc. Let me know if your friend has any parts to re-use or things such as I just listed that aren't too expensive on their own but add up quickly.

Anyway, the link here is a spot over the budget with plenty of room to bring it down by picking a cheaper case, possibly ditching the ssd, going down to a 2gb 770 or a 2gb 760 (If AMD is an option, you can get a bit more bang for your buck on the GPU but less mainstream 3d modeling programs are optimized for them)

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/Rmt923

I/you can obviously adjust it to get the cost down to include or exclude any parts or cost cutting that is needed.
 
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laznboyyo213

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I've picked out most of the other stuff for him since I have built a computer before and have some experience. The only thing was I wasn't entirely sure of what these programs (Hexagon2.5) or the very basic level of 3D for a kid to play with would require. He's mainly going to be playing around with these programs and some gaming, not much after that. I've picked out the cd drive, 8gb ram, 1 tb of hard drive and the power supply to run the graphics card well.
@dwatterworth I know the i5 is good enough for gaming, but it will be sufficient for a teen to mess around with some basic 3D rendering/modeling programs as well?
And do you think the 2gb graphics card is enough? or should he stick with the 4gb like your thing says. Those are the two parts I'm concerned about.
 
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dwatterworth

dwatterworth

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The i5 will be plenty for 3d modeling, overkill if he is just getting into it, but plenty of room to expand. The i5 will also be fantastic at gaming, being able to run games really well for years to come.

I'd recommend the 4gb graphics card in the interest of possible future use for GPU rendering in 3d programs but also for gaming. If your friend plays new 3d games, mostly of the FPS or highly detailed RTS genres, then the 4gb card will be capable of playing the newest games longer. New games with their high quality settings/high res graphics packs have already exceeded the 2gb video card, requiring 3gb+ to run optimally.

So on the GPU, the 2gb will save some money and run games well but might be limiting at the highest quality settings, higher resolutions and will only become more of a problem a few years from now. (for the latest demanding games. If your friend won't run at very high/ultra settings in the newest games, the 2gb card will be fine)
 
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laznboyyo213

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Oct 24, 2013
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Thanks a lot, this has been very helpful
 
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