Designeer Posted October 19, 2023 Share Posted October 19, 2023 I can spend up to $2500, I dont know whether Modeling and Animation require an Intel i9 or an AMD processor? --how many cores? --how much ram in the graphics card? --how much memory ram? Is custom built better than iPower or HP Omen? Cooling is a big issue....... Any suggestions? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justin Montoya Posted October 19, 2023 Share Posted October 19, 2023 (edited) So many variables here... What kind of work do you do? What kind of deliverables do you need to produce? What applications do you spend the most time in? Happy to help, but I need more information. Edited October 19, 2023 by Justin Montoya Designeer 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Designeer Posted October 20, 2023 Author Share Posted October 20, 2023 Justin, thank you for your reply.............I am a small architecture firm, doing mosstly all things residential.............when I gett a chance I do quick 3D modeling of additions or new homes if I get lucky............I really want to jump to setting up a quick animation path and letting it run all night until the next morning when I can upload it to youtube and send the client the link to view it, so I need a fast animating capability...........for office work I use AutoCAD 2D, Photoshop, Word, etc........print to large format plotter...... I found: https://www.amazon.com/iBUYPOWER-Computer-Desktop-Y40314i-i9-13900KF/dp/B0BQXGLRK5/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8&th=1 it list 16MB and 32MB ram in 2 places, not sure what would be shipped https://www.amazon.com/HP-Generation-i9-13900KF-Graphics-GT22-1082/dp/B0C36DTY2X/ref=psdc_565098_t1_B0C6FJGWK9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Designeer Posted October 20, 2023 Author Share Posted October 20, 2023 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justin Montoya Posted October 20, 2023 Share Posted October 20, 2023 (edited) Hello again, What rendering mode are you using for the animations? Shaded full? VRay? RenderZone? I think you are on the right track. For your budget, a high end AMD 7950x and a RTX 4080 GPU would be great. Intel CPU is also fine but they do tend to run a bit hotter and use a bit more electricity than AMD these days. That just means they need better cooling which is often louder. Do you use Costco? They have a few options, as does Best Buy. Buying from a shop with a physical location makes returning much easier if you are unhappy for some reason. Edited October 20, 2023 by Justin Montoya Designeer 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Designeer Posted October 20, 2023 Author Share Posted October 20, 2023 Justin, thanks agin for offering your experiences............for years I have been happy with Renderzone..........that's not to say I may try V-Ray someday. I just hung up the phone with Brandon in tech support, his basic guidelines are: ---he likes intel more at the affordable levels.....(I do too) (I will have to get good cooliing)....... ----16MB Ram is a min.........64MB Ram is the best ---RTX Graphic cards rock !! ---He is not sure about how many cores the processor should have, but alot more than 8 is not necessarily better (maybe), but he is not sure, he is getting me more info on that........ Thanks, D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Designeer Posted October 20, 2023 Author Share Posted October 20, 2023 In order to help others, FormZ tech Brandon says development team says: ".....The dev team mentions that in modeling operations, the number of cores will have no effect specifically. V-Ray, on the other hand, can utilize more cores. So if your videos are to be rendered with V-Ray, you'll want to go with more cores; otherwise, Shaded and Renderzone renderings won't be impacted much. In that vein, V-Ray has been optimized for the RTX card framework, in case you were looking for a graphics card still......" Regards, Brandon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justin Montoya Posted October 20, 2023 Share Posted October 20, 2023 In my experience, there's a lot more to it than that. Intel has lost favoritism in the last 5+ years and is playing catch up to AMD now. They did just release some new chips that are starting to catch up on the single core speed, but at an incredible cost. AMD is a better buy and still more efficient. How old is your current computer? CPU single core speed helps with basic functions, but not having the fastest single core score isn't really going to affect you these days. Even the slower ones are still so much faster than they used to be, especially with their automatic Turbo mode. You are unlikely to notice a difference here. IMHO, more noticeable, the CPU multi core or threaded speed helps with all sorts of things. Basic stuff like running multiple programs and multitasking. But more importantly, with the really heavy lifting, slow stuff like Rendering with RenderZone or VRay CPU mode. RenderZone will absolutely render faster with more cores. Given your budget the AMD 7950x is a great choice at 16 cores, or if you wanted to save a touch of money the AMD 7900 at 12 cores would also be nice. Intel is behind here, AMD is better. VRAY CPU mode will also be faster with the more cores you have, but you can also choose to use the GPU mode instead for even faster speed, most of the time. 64GB of RAM here and after running out using 32GB before, I can't imagine going to less now. Using a NVME SSD for all your files makes a huge difference. Do not even bother putting an old school spin drive in your machine. Get a 2TB+ NVME SSD and be happy. Use a backup external drive with Windows File History, and use an external backup service like Backblaze. GPU - Video Card - This is going to affect the Wireframe, Shaded, and Shaded Full performance in FormZ. The faster the card handles OpenGL operations, the faster these modes are. Which is directly related to how fast the card is in general. RTX 4090 is the current king, with the RTX 4080 not that far behind. This will be a huge increase in speed while just modeling complex scenes, navigating, or doing walk through animations. I have the last generation RTX 3090 and the speed at which I can do Shaded full animations now is astonishing. VRAY GPU / RTX mode will also benefit from the fastest RTX card you can afford. Even if you aren't using it right now, this is by far more cost effective for high quality, and speedy renderings compared to a beefy CPU and using VRAY CPU mode. Depending on your work, you may find you never need to use VRAY CPU mode at all, but it does have some features I like to use occasionally like Contour rendering for conceptual renders. There's a ton of choices in machines out there. I'd stick with a major brand though with the exception that I now avoid Dell like the plague. Designeer 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Designeer Posted October 20, 2023 Author Share Posted October 20, 2023 Dear Justin, I am really so grateful for your offering your knowledge so in depth....... Is the software Blender similar to FormZ? This young IT guy did a very thorough side by side comparison of AMD to Intel i-9 and the Intel was by far the winner because the program uses it differently than absolute benchmark speeds, Intel has a better reputation where calculations are required (casting shadows) and thus gets hot, whereas AMD handles general graphics better. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJr50nryZRQ&t=843s The first 9 minutes of the 14 applies..........its findings differ from yours so much about the processor, it leaves me confused, 2 tech persons also at FormZ said they prefer the Intel. I dont mean to contradict you, I am just trying to understand why the differing views about actual performance in the trenches. Thank you so much for your explanations...............D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justin Montoya Posted October 20, 2023 Share Posted October 20, 2023 Hello again, Designeer? That video is more than 4 years old and like anything rating technology is now completely obsolete. AMD has evolved much better products since then and Intel has struggled to keep up. Their Single core scores are now very close, and certainly not enough difference to go one way or the other over it. But AMD is superior in the other ways now as well. I promise you will not be disappointed going with a newer AMD CPU. But I will leave it up to you to do the research if you desire. You could try researching an architecture, Sketchup, or Rhino computer as these all generally have the same needs. In my experience though, a fast gaming computer will make an excellent FormZ workstation. Good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
santa Posted October 21, 2023 Share Posted October 21, 2023 Frank Lloyd Wright famously remarked that “Less is more only when more is too much” and this is equally true with a new computer purchase. In reality it is the software that you plan to use that should dictate your buying decision. Some benefit from more processor cores, some from faster processors, some like photo editing from extra memory, some from a high-end GPU, and finally some from a fast storage device (like an NVME drive) if responsiveness is to be maintained. Modelling software, like Form.Z, isn’t normally multithreaded so that a fast CPU speed will provide more responsiveness than core count will. On the other hand, rendering software will benefit from as many cores as possible, but at the expense of thrashing your computer. The solution to this is a fast GPU IF your software offers GPU rendering and IF it’s within budget. In reality most small 3D content creation companies will not be set up with a dedicated farm of servers for rendering, in addition to workstations for modelling. They will always need to compromise. If cooling is a big issue for you, stay away from multi-core CPU’s especially if your rendering/animation software does not support GPU rendering. CPU rendering on my 72 core Dell workstation, for example, turns that computer into a howling banshee because all the system fans kick in to keep the temperature down. It really is distressing to hear, and I hate to think what would happen if left running overnight in that state. Needless to say, it’s GPU only rendering for me. An often overlooked buying decision is quality peripherals. A colour-accurate workflow with a good monitor is essential to get your design intent across, as is a quality pointing device. Choose a good, preferably tool-less chassis. You will be glad you did at maintenance or upgrade time. There is nothing more frustrating than having to faff about in search of a screwdriver when time is short. All this is very bewildering of course. No one has an ideal computer for every task, at any price. Tomorrow will always bring along new technologies at less cost. Because of this my suggestion would be to take a leap of faith, and become productive and profitable NOW, even if it takes a few minutes longer. For heaven’s sake, do not get swept away by specifications alone because you will want more and more and you will end up not buying anything…..ever. Stick to your budget! Designeer and Justin Montoya 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Designeer Posted October 21, 2023 Author Share Posted October 21, 2023 Dear Justin and Santa, THANK YOU BOTH for what is evidently your hard earned well of experiences. I hope many others will benefit from this thread. I am close to a decision, knowing my new desktop purchase will again be behind the times in 4 years tops.........D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.