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Topic: Help with choosing a computer setup

Hello friends,
I am looking to buy a computer sometime this summer for school next fall. I would have been able to make an easy decision except for the combination of my budget, preferences, and hobbies. Also, I don't know how many of you know enough about computers to really help giving me advice, but I figured I would give it a go on this forum instead of joining a new community solely for this one question. Anyhow, my question is:

Would it be better to buy both a high end desktop with a budget laptop or high end laptop? Also, if I went the high end laptop rout, would an external gpu be a good idea in addition to it?

This computer(s) would be used primarily for lighter loads like homework and stop motion animating but I would also be rendering/modelling/animating (blender) and occasionally playing computer games. I'm not sure what my budget would be, but the lower the better and definitely nothing over $2000.

Thanks.

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Re: Help with choosing a computer setup

couple questions,
1 Mac or PC?
2 have you considered desktop + tablet?
3 What is the essential software you need to run?

I'd say go for one computer, maybe a laptop with a second screen, and an external TB or USB3  HD for project storage.
or, if you find that a tablet can fill all you're mobile needs, then a desktop.
I don't know much about blender, but most modern laptops with a discrete graphics card can handle games no problem as long as you're not too particular about running everything at the max quality.

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Re: Help with choosing a computer setup

1. Trick answer. Linux. I would also want a more mainstream operating system which would be Mac if I got a laptop and Windows if I got a desktop.
2. Tablets can be nice, but I prefer laptops.
3. Essential software is blender. As of now, there isn't anything else I use or will be using regularly.

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Re: Help with choosing a computer setup

Uh, some sort of X99 motherboard with a CPU that has as many cores as you can fit in the $2000 budget and maybe hold off for the GeForce 1070 for a nice power to price ratio and 16 - 32 GB of Ram? I feel like that should be doable for $2k.

But do you need a monitor and peripherals?

Edit: Here is a very powerful system under $2k, you could knock another $200 - $300 if you got a slower video card, I plopped a GTX 1080 in it because I had cash to spare and that is the most powerful card on the market. Anyone let me know if I messed up on anything or missed anything, but this would be great for video editing, 3D modeling and gaming.

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Re: Help with choosing a computer setup

This may be best suited in the Equipment thread.

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Re: Help with choosing a computer setup

SlothPaladin wrote:

... Anyone let me know if I messed up on anything or missed anything, but this would be great for video editing, 3D modeling and gaming...


looks good to me, I'd also add a network card with 802.11ac wireless and Bluetooth 4.   
Be aware that this motherboard doesn't have Thunderbolt, but for blender, dragonframe etc... that shouldn't be an issue, as the USB3 ports are more than sufficient for any I/O needs.

http://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=0B-S9Gk-8REITRVJVQXVwZkdBRk0
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Re: Help with choosing a computer setup

Thanks for the replies. As for a good desktop for under 2k, I have no concern about that. I was asking more about would it be better to get a good laptop (I need a laptop either way) with an external gpu or a good desktop with something like a chrome book for mobility.

HoldingOurOwn wrote:

This may be best suited in the Equipment thread.

About that, I wasn't sure where this should go, and the equipment thread seemed more like stop motion related equipment, so I put it here. If a mod wants to change the location, go for it.

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Re: Help with choosing a computer setup

If it was for anything but Blender, I'd say get something along the lines of a 15" retina macbook pro, but 3D modeling takes phenomenally more power than most other things. The 2014 mac mini I use can easily handle most stuff, but it slows to a crawl when doing reallistic-ish renders in blender.

Personally for a cheap laptop, I would rather an older one with windows than a chromebook, as I dislike the chrome OS, and what you can do with it is extremely limited.

If having two separate computers isn't a problem, and you're serious about blender, a desktop is probably the way to go, particularly if you want to do all night renders.

http://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=0B-S9Gk-8REITRVJVQXVwZkdBRk0
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Re: Help with choosing a computer setup

I strongly suggest you look at getting a 6 core processor rather then a 4 core processor, from my research Blender will run better with more cores that are slower then a few fast cores, and other modern software are going to do better with more cores, not less so I really suggest getting a LGA 2011-v3 motherboard and a 6 core i7 rather then a  LGA 1151 mobo. The motherboard and CPU I recomended would only add $108 to your total cost and give you a lot more horse power.

Blender will also use your GPU too so if you could get something more modern like a GTX 970 it should make Blender run better, but that will add another $190 and put you right at $1940, but it should be a system fit for years, and if in a year or two you need to upgrade you could plop something like an 8 or 10 core i7 in the Mobo and add a GTX 1080 and keep rolling with power to boot.

If you want to do 3D modeling or at some point use software like After Effects I think a tower is the way to go.

Edit: You aren't going to need all those case fans and a fan controller, maybe get two and let the motherboard control the fan automatically. Also you should add a CPU cooler to the list , I recommend this, it's quite and affordable and keeps my 6 core i7 nice and cool. You also don't need to get a separate tube of Thermal Paste, your fan will include the paste.

Edit 2: Didn't see the liquid cooler, which you don't really need, if you drop two of the case fans, the fan controller, and the liquid cooler and pick up a good air cooler that will cut off about $165 from the cost, which lets you upgrade to a better CPU/Mobo combo and makes getting a better graphics card more realistic in your price range. Well you do need to add a case to the list, unless you have one sitting around.

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Re: Help with choosing a computer setup

SlothPaladin wrote:

I strongly suggest you look at getting a 6 core processor rather then a 4 core processor...

I didn't know that bout the cores and processors. Good to know!
This brings up an interesting point. The reply in the article states that the gpu is more important than cpu when rendering with cycles. I realize that a good cpu to fall back on would be a plus, but how would something like this compare? With the less costly route of only a laptop, I could get a 1080 from the get-go instead of a 1070 or something similar. (Note: I have read that bus bandwidth of cycles are low enough where Thunderbolt 3 wouldn't be bottlenecking anything.)

...Blender will also use your GPU too so if you could get something more modern like a GTX 970 it should make Blender run better...


Oh, I added that cheaper gpu before the Nvidia 10** cards came out as a place holder.

...Edit: You aren't going to need all those case fans and a fan controller, maybe get two and let the motherboard control the fan automatically....

I'm a bit over zealous when it comes to cooling. mini/shifty As for a case, I am wanting to build my own custom case for the tower, so that is why I don't have one on the list.

Also, please note that I highly value the fact that you guys are helping me with this. I just really want use my money in the best way possible.

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Re: Help with choosing a computer setup

Well if you can get a GTX 10** card do, if you build it after a 1070 that seems like a no brainer power-house bang for buck card. At the end of the month Radeon releases the RX 480 which is a VR ready card for $200 which seems like the best economic GPU available.

As far as CPU vs GPU it depends what you are doing with your computer, for games GPU is going to matter a lot more then CPU, for the video work I am doing a good GPU makes a HUGE difference, programs like After Effects and video encoders will use as much CPU horse power as you can give them. In my experience multi-core give very noticeable performance gains but that may be do to the types of workload I put my PC up to. But do keep in mind the CPU/Mobo combo I suggested was a mere $100 more then the one you suggested. I have been also hearing that VR likes more cores rather then less if that is something you find yourself considering in the future. As far as I can tell the more time goes on the more multi-threaded programs are supported.

As for heat, the newer hardware actually uses less power, my RAM does not have heat sinks and I have an air cooled tower with automatic overclocking. (My 3.3Ghz six core i7 if running just under 4Ghz) and only when I do multi-pass video encoding to I hear my fans speed up due to increased heating. That is another reason you might want to let your mobo control your fans rather then a hand operated fan controller, you motherboard with have temperature monitors and can increase cooling when it need to. However if you control your fan speed you would need to keep a monitor open telling you how much you were using your CPU and adjusting fans accordingly.

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