Building a Small PC for 3d modeling and GPU rendering (€1000-1500)

woudmat · Apr 30, 2017

Hey

This is the first time I plan on building a PC. There is no fixed budget, I just want something nice worth the price that's beautiful enough to sit next to my 2009 iMac.
I will only use cinema 4d with vray RT. Cinema 4d only uses one core, so to my understanding I need a (single or) dual core processor with high clock speed when working in the cinema 4d viewports, and a good GPU when using vray RT. Is that correct?

Here's the list:

Intel® Core i3-7350K, 4,2 GHz socket 1151 processor should reach 5 GHz overclocked according to reviews
€ 189,09

MSI Z270M Mortar Intel Z270 LGA1151 Micro ATX with displayport to connect to iMac screen (27" late 2009)
€ 139,9

Cooler Master Hyper TX3 EVO, CPU-cooling
€ 24,99

Ballistix 16 GB DDR4-2400 Kit
€ 129,9

ASUS GEFORCE TURBO GTX1080 8G https://www.asus.com/be-nl/Graphics-Cards/TURBO-GTX1080-8G/specifications/
€ 529,0

Seasonic S12II-520 , 520 Watt
€ 59,9

Samsung 850 EVO - Interne SSD - 250 GB
€ 95,0
+ 1 TB disk I already have

Cooltek C3 http://www.cooltek.de/en/jonsbo/c-series/143/c3
€ 64,9

Windows 10 Pro (32-64bit OEM)
€ 20,99

DeLOCK Mini-DisplayPort op DisplayPort 1,8m to connect motherboard to iMac screen (27" late 2009)
€ 12,99

GIGABYTE KM6150 Multimedia USB Keyboard & Mouse
€ 19,99

€ 1286,65 TOTAL

Remember it's the first time I try to build a pc. I tried my best, but it's very likely I did some stupid things in there. Any advice is welcome.

Wouter

bambiboom · Apr 30, 2017

woudmat :

Wouter,

For the specialized use, as the program is highly single-threaded, the component selections are very good. The average Passmark Single Thread Mark for the i3-7350K is uitstekend: 2534 where the top mark is 2591 (i7-7700K). The cooling looks to be a good choice and the case should be quiet.

However:

I would only suggest to consider an i7-7700K, as it is Turbo at 4.5GHz, so that it is not necessary to overclock. If you are rendering /processing video, stability is very important and running an overclocked CPU on the limited memory bandwidth of LGA1151 with very large file sizes, may be a bottleneck and could crash. The I7-7700K would have more versatility for the future and be used for 3D modelling, and graphic design where it's possible to do higher quality CPU renderings of single-images.

For this use, consider using a color-correcting monitor of at least 2560 X 1440 resolution.

Cheers,

BambiBoom

Built last week for 2D CAD / 3D modeling, graphic design / CPU rendering:

HP z620_2 > Xeon E5-1680 v2 (8-core@ 4.1GHz) / 64GB DDR3-1866 ECC Reg / Quadro P2000/ HP Z Turbo Drive M.2 256GB + Intel 730 480GB + Seagate Constellation ES.3 1TB / ASUS Essence STX PCIe sound card /825W PSU / Windows 7 Prof. 64-bit > 2X Dell Ultrasharp U2715H (2560 X 1440)

[Passmark Rating = 6166 / CPU rating = 16934 / 2D = 820 / 3D= 8849 / Mem = 2991 / Disk = 13794] 4.24.17 Single Thread Mark = 2252

woudmat · Apr 30, 2017

Thanks for the reply.

If I tell you that I'm only interested in rendering single-images and that I would like to use Vray RT GPU rendering for both working and producing final images, does your suggestion still hold? Does the CPU still has a lot to do while the GPU is rendering?

Also, if I don't overclock the i3-7350K (or only a bit) wouldn't it be as stable as the i7-7700k? It would save me € 190, with the only difference for me being the 300 MHz Turbo boost. (if I don't use multiple cores because of no cpu rendering)

Wouter

bambiboom · Apr 30, 2017

woudmat :

Wouter,

If VRay RT produces renderings of acceptable quality, the i3-7350K can run at standard clock speed as the GPU is doing all the work. Try overclocking to see if it helps, but it probably won't save more than few seconds- maybe 10 or so. I tried large (3180 X 2160) VRay RT renderings on a Quadro K4200 4GB and with a single lighting source, they ran in under three minutes. The quality was not of a professional quality, but I do still use RT to setup renderings as it can navigate the model in real time O(that's the "RT") to position it and test shadows. By the way, that size rendering of that size model required 22GB of RAM during setup.

Cheers,

BambiBoom

woudmat · May 1, 2017

I changed the setup somewhat.

Apparantly it's better to have 2 GPU's for RT rendering: one for the actual rendering, and a lower-spec one for handling the viewport performance. Intel HD graphics 630 isn't good enough apparently, so I would like to buy a GTX 1050. I changed the motherboard and case to ATX, so I can get some room between the GPU's. I also added a wifi-netwerkcard because that was still missing.

€ 189,09 Intel® Core i3-7350K, 4,2 GHz socket 1151 processor
€ 124,9 MSI Z270-A PRO, socket 1151 moederbord
€ 24,99 Cooler Master Hyper TX3 EVO, CPU-koeler
€ 129,9 Ballistix 16 GB DDR4-2400 Kit, Werkgeheugen
€ 529,0 ASUS GEFORCE TURBO GTX1080 8G
€ 134,9 MSI GeForce GTX 1050 2G OC, Grafische kaart
€ 17,9 P-Link TL-WN881ND, WLAN adapter
€ 69,9 Seasonic S12II-620Bronze (SS-620GB), 620 Watt voeding
€ 95,0 Samsung 850 EVO - Interne SSD - 250 GB + 1 TB harde schijf
€159,9 Cooltek Jonsbo-UMX4, Behuizing

€ 20,99 Windows 10 Pro (32-64bit OEM)
€ 12,99 DeLOCK Mini-DisplayPort op DisplayPort 1,8m, Kabel
€ 19,99 GIGABYTE KM6150 Multimedia USB Keyboard & Mouse

€ 1529,45

which is € 242,8 more than the previous setup
€ 112,9 more expensive because of the network card and the bigger case. I can choose a cheaper model though, but most of them are so ugly

€ 129,9 more expensive because of the (cheaper) motherboard, gtx 1050, better PSU, which is well worth it I that means I can keep working without lag while using Vray rt.

bambiboom · May 1, 2017

woudmat :

I changed the setup somewhat.

Apparantly it's better to have 2 GPU's for RT rendering: one for the actual rendering, and a lower-spec one for handling the viewport performance. Intel HD graphics 630 isn't good enough apparently, so I would like to buy a GTX 1050. I changed the motherboard and case to ATX, so I can get some room between the GPU's. I also added a wifi-netwerkcard because that was still missing.

€ 189,09 Intel® Core i3-7350K, 4,2 GHz socket 1151 processor
€ 124,9 MSI Z270-A PRO, socket 1151 moederbord
€ 24,99 Cooler Master Hyper TX3 EVO, CPU-koeler
€ 129,9 Ballistix 16 GB DDR4-2400 Kit, Werkgeheugen
€ 529,0 ASUS GEFORCE TURBO GTX1080 8G
€ 134,9 MSI GeForce GTX 1050 2G OC, Grafische kaart
€ 17,9 P-Link TL-WN881ND, WLAN adapter
€ 69,9 Seasonic S12II-620Bronze (SS-620GB), 620 Watt voeding
€ 95,0 Samsung 850 EVO - Interne SSD - 250 GB + 1 TB harde schijf
€159,9 Cooltek Jonsbo-UMX4, Behuizing

€ 20,99 Windows 10 Pro (32-64bit OEM)
€ 12,99 DeLOCK Mini-DisplayPort op DisplayPort 1,8m, Kabel
€ 19,99 GIGABYTE KM6150 Multimedia USB Keyboard & Mouse

€ 1529,45

which is € 242,8 more than the previous setup
€ 112,9 more expensive because of the network card and the bigger case. I can choose a cheaper model though, but most of them are so ugly

€ 129,9 more expensive because of the (cheaper) motherboard, gtx 1050, better PSU, which is well worth it I that means I can keep working without lag while using Vray rt.

Wouter,

It's an interesting idea: quite specialized but performance in this use should be very good for the cost.

Very good case design - schoon en netjes

Cheers,

BambiBoom

mjslakeridge · May 1, 2017

Where are you getting Windows 10 Home for 21 euros? It is likely not legitimate. Windows 10 Home should cost around $80 USD, which would be around 70 euros. If you install a non-legitimate product key, it will likely work for a while, but Microsoft could disable Windows after a while.

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Building a Small PC for 3d modeling and GPU rendering (€1000-1500)

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