Choosing a computer for 3D Rendering in 2017

CPU selection for 3D visualization

Multi-core processor: the more cores, the better. From Intel processors, it is a family of Core i7:

	I7 7700K	I7 6800K	I7 6850K	I7 6900K	I7 6950X
Technical processor	14 nm	14 nm	14 nm	14 nm	14 nm
Cores	4	6	6	8	10
Streams	8	12	12	16	20
Frequency	4.2	3.4	3.6	3.2	3.0
Turbo	4.5	3.6	3.8	3.7	3.5
Cache	8 MB	15 MB	15 MB	20 MB	25 MB
Powerfulness, in W	91	140	140	140	140
Cinebench R15 multi	988	1132	1154	1486	2041

From AMD processors, it is Ryzen 5 and 7:

	1500X	1600X	1700	1700X	1800X
Technical processor	14 nm	14 nm	14 nm	14 nm	14 nm
Cores	4	6	8	8	8
Streams	8	12	16	16	16
Frequency	3.5	3.6	3.0	3.4	3.6
Turbo	3.7	4.0	3.7	3.8	4.0
Cache	8 MB	15 MB	15 MB	20 MB	25 MB
Powerfulness, in W	65	95	65	95	95
Cinebench R15 multi	—	1136	1419	1540	1628

The comparison shows that the AMD processor for the same money is faster in the rendering in 1.5 times! This does not mean that the Ryzen 7 processors are the best in everything. In single-streamed tasks, they give the same performance or worse at the same frequencies. But in 3D visualization, in the parameter of combining performance on one price unit, they go far ahead.

Video card for rendering

In some cases, rendering using the video card works much faster than the one done by the CPU. GPU rendering supports iRay, V-Ray RT, Cycles in Blender, and other visualizers.

Here, the two main competitors are AMD and NVIDIA again. The main difference is in the supported technologies as NVIDIA video cards use CUDA, while AMD video cards – OpenGL. So it always makes sense to find out in advance what exactly you will use. For example, VRay help section tells about the choice clearly: “It is highly recommended to use the CUDA engine on nVidia GPUs.”

I have the impression that there are fewer problems with NVIDIA video cards, so I propose to choose among them. The main criterion, besides the price, of course, is the number of CUDA cores – the more the better. There is no sense to overpay for a professional card for rendering – you will not get a real gain in the speed of rendering but you will lose a lot of money.

GEFORCE GTX	1050TI / 1050	1060 6 GB / 3 GB	1070	1080	1080TI
CUDA of the core	768/640	1280/1152	1920	2560	3584
Frequency base	1290/1354	1506	1506	1607	1480
Frequency turbo	1392/1455	1708	1683	1733	1582
Memory	4 GB GDDR5 / 2 GB GDDR5	6 GB GDDR5 / 3 GB GDDR5	8 GB GDDR5	8 GB GDDR5X	11 GB GDDR5X
Memory base	128-Bit	192-Bit	256-Bit	256-Bit	352-Bit
The pass. capability of the memory (Gb/s)	112	192	256	320	484
Consumed power, W	75 W	120 W	150 W	180 W	250 W

RAM

The standard memory is DDR4, the bigger volume the better. 8 Gb is the absolute minimum, while 16 Gb is optimally for the beginning. Further quality is up to taste and purse. In severe cases, it makes sense to add up to 32 Gb or more.

Hard Drive and SSD

They do not directly affect the rendering speed. I propose the following options:

HDD – SATA-III, 7200, cash – the more the better; volume is 1 Tb.
SSD – volume is 256 Gb and more. The speed of work is clearly defined by the capabilities of your purse.

Motherboard

It is selected strictly under the processor taking into account the dimensions of the case, the necessary number of any connectors like USB, sATA, for memory modules and so on. It is difficult to give any specific recommendations in advance.

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