Recommendations for a prebuilt PC to operate 3D modeling applications?
Recommendations for a prebuilt PC to operate 3D modeling applications?
Hello! I’m considering purchasing a ready-made PC for 3D modeling tasks. The intended software includes Maya 2024 / 3DSMax 2024, Photoshop 2024, Substance Painter 2024, ZBrush 2024, PureRef 1.X, and Steam Platform. A Wacom Intuos Pro tablet (paper edition with Bluetooth) will also be needed.
The budget is around $5000, but ideally between $2500 and $3000, located in Canada. The monitor should be at least 4K (27 inches or bigger) with a refresh rate of 120 Hz, and possibly a second one too. I’m not in a hurry, aiming to finalize the choice within about a month.
For comparison, my school’s PC is an ASUS, running Windows 10 with an i9-12900k at 2.4GHz and 64 GB RAM. It has an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 Ti. My school recommended three builds: low, mid, and high tiers, all using Windows 11.
My current build includes:
- Dell (though I’m unsure about its upgradeability)
- 3 recommended configurations: low, mid, high tier with Windows 11
- Specific specs for each tier match the recommendations.
I’m considering a monitor in the same range as my school’s setup.
I’m open to suggestions and would appreciate any extra details if needed. Thanks a lot!
You may want to share links for each prebuilt option. I wouldn't choose an RTX2070 when the RTX5000 is nearly here. It's best to skip 13th and 14th generation Intel processors right now because you're encountering problems. The main parts—processor, discrete GPU, and RAM—are set well, but for stability, workstation prebuilt kits are your best bet. You could also assemble a system from scratch after selecting components yourself. I'm confident the apps you mentioned would perform well on Nvidia Quadro and AMD Radeon Pro cards, which are expensive but very reliable.
PCPartPicker List of Components
CPU:
*
Intel Core i7-13700F 2.1 GHz 16-Core Processor
($402.96 @ shopRBC)
CPU Cooling:
*
ID-COOLING FROZN A620 PRO SE 58 CFM CPU Cooler
($47.65 @ Amazon Canada)
Motherboard:
*
MSI B760 GAMING PLUS WIFI ATX LGA1700 Motherboard
($239.99 @ Amazon Canada)
Memory:
*
Patriot Venom RGB 64 GB (2 x 32 GB) DDR5-6000 CL30 Memory
($239.99 @ Amazon Canada)
Storage:
*
Silicon Power UD90 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME SSD
($141.99 @ Amazon Canada)
Video Card:
*
Asus TUF GAMING OC GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER 16 GB Video Card
($1098.98 @ Amazon Canada)
Case:
*
Fractal Design Focus 2 ATX Mid Tower Case
($106.00 @ Amazon Canada)
Power Supply:
*
be quiet! Pure Power 12 M 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply
($129.99 @ Canada Computers)
Monitor:
*
Dell G2724D 27.0" 2560 x 1440 165 Hz Monitor
($299.99 @ Dell Technologies)
Overall Cost: $2707.54
Includes shipping, taxes, and applicable discounts
*Selected lowest-priced items based on criteria*
Created by
PCPartPicker
2024-10-10 04:56 EDT-0400
When I was building a Ryzen photo/video editing rig at the end of 2022, I used the performance graphs at Puget Systems as a guide to choosing components.
If I'd wanted the last ounce of performance, I would have used a 13900K and an RTX3090, but sanity (and my wallet) prevailed and I bought a 7950X and a 12GB RTX3060.
From the Puget graphs, I calculated an RTX3090 would finish a video render in one third the time, but cost five times as much as the RTX3060. There was also the 1kW PSU needed for a 3090.
Since you're considering a prebuilt, Puget do a wide range of systems tailored for specific apps. There's considerable overlap between systems, but some apps favour a more powerful (and costly) GPU. Consider which apps are most critical and choose your hardware accordingly.
https://www.pugetsystems.com/solutions/3...desk-maya/
https://www.pugetsystems.com/pugetbench/...photoshop/
Many people on this forum will tell you it's easy to build your own system and you'll save a ton of money. You also heve (in theory) a far greater (bewildering) choice of components. That's fine if you feel confident and are prepared to spend time ordering, assembling, configuring (and troubleshooting compatibility issues) in a new build.
On the other hand, you can choose from multiple options in each Puget system and they use standard (not proprietary) components, so if anything goes wrong outside warranty, you can repair/upgrade the system without too much hassle. The other advantage is they've set everything up for you.
At the very least, check out Puget's site. They also do some very good articles on the relative merits of AMD vs Intel CPUs and GPUs, for various apps.
https://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articl...yzen-7000/
I think all the systems your school has recommended are very "light" indeed on storage. Figures such as 500GB SSD and 1TB/2TB hard disk are 10 years out of date. The school might be working on the premise that all your work will be saved on external storage or servers, but even then, they haven't considered "scratch disks".
Programs such as Photoshop/Premiere Pro make use of additional physical disk drives as scratch disks, to speed up processing. You'll probably get by with a 500GB SSD as a boot drive, but modern systems use faster 1TB or 2TB SSDs for Windows + Programs. A 1TB hard disk is woefully inadequate for storing data. 4TB would be OK, but 6, 8 or 10TB would be better still. It's amazing how fast data drives fill up. Keep your projects separate from your Windows C: drive.
On my 2-year old 7950X rig, I have three 1TB M.2 NVMe drives. Drive 1. is for Windows and Photoshop/Premiere Pro. Drive 2. is the Photoshop/Premiere Pro scratch disk. Drive 3. (not strictly necessary) is for Adobe "work in progress" files.
In addition I have a motley assortment of hard disks for data storage, 1 x 4TB, 2 x 6TB and 2 x 8TB. This is overkill on the hard disk front, but I had them all to hand at the time of the build. A better choice would be a single large capacity hard disk, e,g. 20TB.
See link below for Puget's suggestions on storage in Photoshop and Premiere Pro.
https://www.pugetsystems.com/soluti...e-...s/#storage
https://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/a...nd...-Pro-2292/
Only you can decide how much you're prepared to spend (squander). With your current budget, it might be wise to avoid the pricy RTX4090. Now if you had US $6,800 to spend on a GPU, I'd suggest an RTX 6000 Ada card.
Some things to bear in mind:
1). Prices for high end GPUs (RTX4080/90) are increasing prior to the launch of the 5000 series.
2). Intel will be releasing their new Arrow Lake range of CPUs soon.
3). Until recently, 13th and 14th Gen. Intel CPUs were prone to damage from overvolting.
We operate with Lenovo workstations in my environment. My team primarily uses Solidworks, but I’m familiar with Catia and Creo as well. I rely on a CAD-based inspection tool, Zeiss Calypso, and utilize Renishaw Fixture Builder for fixture creation. Additionally, we employ Master Cam for our machining operations.
All thanks for the update! I’ve got some homework ahead of me. For Lutfij, the prebuilt options I’ve been considering were the higher-end models from Dell, but I’d prefer to skip them (they tend to be bloatware and push people back to the office—definitely not related to buying computers). I think it would be better to start with a more affordable, everyday internet machine so I can get comfortable with building first.
Regarding the 13th and 14th generation processors, what are the problems they present? And who knows if the 15th generation will fix them (I’m not an expert, just guessing). I remember Ryzen making big leaps in performance, which made Intel have to catch up. I’ll look into some performance data and overall trends!
There's not much difference building a cheap internet machine instead of a more expensive workstation, except you could "make do" without a separate PCIe GPU in a simple machine.
Apart from the lack of a separate GPU card, you're still "faced" with installing the motherboard inside a suitable case, fitting CPU, RAM and SSD, making all the PSU connections, plus front panel LEDs and power switch.
Mind you, if you're really unlucky and you destroy something on a cheap build, you won't be so quite so heartbroken or out-of-pocket, if a $60 CPU dies instead of a $600 CPU. You could "get your feet wet" by tinkering with a second hand machine. Pull it apart and put it back together, to see how things work.
The only thing that worries me during construction is lowering the CPU into the motherboard socket, to avoid damaging any of the delicate pins underneath. If you inadvertently drop the CPU on one corner into the socket, it's often "new motherboard" time. So far I've been lucky.
Hopefully they're all solved by the latest microcode update(s), but people thought the new 12V-2x6 PSU connector would fix 12VHPWR faults on GTX 4090s, but there might still be a few RMAs.
AMD had their own Ryzen overheating problems in some motherboards. Luckily my 7950X in an Asus mobo didn't suffer this problem in 2022/23, before a new BIOS was released. Probably because I never invoked PBO. You can see "hot spot" damage to the CPU and socket in the photo below:
If you've got your heart set on a Dell, there's nothing to stop you uninstalling all the bloatware, or wiping the boot drive and re-installing Windows. You'll get a legitimate Windows license with a Dell and the rebuilt OS will be activated as soon as you connect to the internet again (provided you went on line with the old OS before removal).
Quite right too.
I never did have the "luxury" of staying at home when I worked in large electronics labs. No way could I take work home with me, with test rigs costing huge amounts of money, let alone the security aspects.
The 13700 equipped systems haven't received that bios update yet. I review it regularly, at least once a week.
What about the power configurations on those pre-built units? Many OEMs deliberately limit the power output of the chips to ensure compatibility with cheaper motherboards and insufficient cooling solutions. They might delay an update if the CPU can't handle the fault conditions within their standard BIOS. In short, it seems the issue arises when the CPU increases voltage without a suitable load to stabilize it, causing it to overheat. My take on the vmin shift Intel mentions as the underlying cause.