Is a dedicated gpu needed for graphics design?

[Trafalgar747]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-6700 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($298.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H110M-A Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($47.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($66.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: A-Data Premier SP550 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($57.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($67.08 @ Amazon)
Case: Thermaltake Core V21 MicroATX Mini Tower Case ($52.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA 600B 600W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($45.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $637.99
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-08-02 08:08 EDT-0400

This is the build, i need to run Illustrator, Photoshop, Indesign, Audition, Aftereffects, Premiere, Nuke, 3D Max.

Do i need a dedicated gpu? If so, what do you recommend?

 

[Rogue Leader]

A dedicated GPU will help especially in rendering and using things like 3D max.

You don't need anything crazy, a GTX 1060 will do, or even something less to save money like a GTX 960 or 950.

As for your build, don't get DDR4-2400 memory, your board supports a max speed of only 2133

Also that PSU isn't very good quality. Look for the Seasonic G series 550, XFX TS 550, Seasonic S12 II 520, or EVGA 550 G2 or GS. FAR FAR better quality.

 

[4745454b]

A lot of those programs can use CUDA or OpenGL. This can really speed up rendering. As mentioned above getting any card can help. Figure out what your programs can use and buy a card accordingly.

I do disagree with the wattage on the those that were mentioned. 550W for a PC with no GPU? If you don't get a card any quality 300-400W PSU is more then enough. Even with a card like a 460/470 or a 1060 doesn't need more then a 450W. I'm running an i7 and 7950 (the R9 280.) on a 450W. And my card uses way more power then the 1060.

 

[Rogue Leader]

I mention 500-550w since thats the price sweet spot. Theres a lot more high quality options, many times they are on sale as well since they are more common. If you only need 400w (which I agree thats all he needs), most of the time, price wise, any of the units I mentioned are the same price or less than an equivalent 400-450w.

 

[bicycle_repair_man]

OP, I advised on this very question in an older thread and recommended a Quadro or FirePro card based on your 3DS Max work. The reason being is that these cards use certified drives that allow for GPU acceleration.

 

[Rogue Leader]

MERGED QUESTION
Question from Trafalgar747 : "PC for graphics designing GTX 950 vs GTX 970"

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-6700 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($398.55 @ Vuugo)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-B150M-DS3H Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($104.34 @ shopRBC)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($79.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Storage: A-Data Premier SP550 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($74.99 @ NCIX)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($84.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 4GB WINDFORCE 3X Video Card ($329.99 @ NCIX)
Case: Thermaltake Core V21 MicroATX Mini Tower Case ($79.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Power Supply: EVGA 600B 600W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($54.99 @ Amazon Canada)
Total: $1207.83
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-08-02 07:24 EDT-0400

Im building a PC for my friend, he needs it for graphics designing.

I have already chosen all the parts, however, im not sure about the graphics card.

These are all the software/programs he told me he wants the PC for; Illustrator, Photoshop, Indesign, Audition, Aftereffects, Premiere, Nuke, 3D Max.

The GTX 970 is within his budget, but can he get away with a GTX 950? Would you suggest any other card? Any suggestions are welcomed.

You'll probably set his house on fire with that power supply! 😛
Hard drive also has a high year over year failure rate, and SSD could be better. I'll post a build in a sec.

waiting

For graphics designing i'd recommend going for the RX480 over the 970, due to the 8GB VRAM vs 3.5GB on the 970.
They retail for the same price, so i've put that into the build.
Provides much better performance than a 950. I'd say he could get away with a 960 if he really wanted to skimp, but again, the RX 480 is the optimal choice here. The XXX OC Edition 8GB is currently going for $329, a steal by Canadian standards! 😛
Here it is, better quality HDD, PSU, SSD and graphics card.
Case is a good small form factor choice, and swapped out the motherboard because the B150 was a bit overpriced for what it offered.
PCPartPicker part list: http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/list/GxF6RG
Price breakdown by merchant: http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/list/GxF6RG/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i7-6700 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($398.55 @ Vuugo)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H110M-A Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($62.99 @ NCIX)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($79.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Storage: Sandisk SSD PLUS 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($85.99 @ NCIX)
Storage: Western Digital Blue 2TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($86.98 @ Amazon Canada)
Video Card: XFX Radeon RX 480 8GB XXX OC Video Card ($329.98 @ NCIX)
Case: Thermaltake Core V21 MicroATX Mini Tower Case ($79.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Power Supply: XFX TS 550W 80+ Gold Certified ATX Power Supply ($87.84 @ Amazon Canada)
Total: $1212.31
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-08-02 07:54 EDT-0400

waiting

Hehe, was writing an essay as I usually tend to do!
See below and respond with any queries or concerns etc.

Hes not going to be overclocking, so i though he could get away with a 600B Tier 3 power supply. The XFX is a Tier 2 and costs a lot more. Is it really worth it? Also you swapped the HDD for a WD 5400 RPM, may i ask why?

 

[Rogue Leader]

I merged in your above thread with basically the same question, even though some of the advice is poor.

No idea why he would put in a 5400 rpm drive, in this day and age they are only good for backup purposes and too slow for real life. Also Forget the RX 480.

If you want to go cheap go with a card like I mentioned, or if he can spend more and do it the right way, bicycle_repair_man's suggestion of a Quadro is the best option. I'd prefer Nvidia because of Cuda for this application.

And even though he won't be overclocking the 600B is very low quality as mentioned. The XFX TS 550 Bronze at $79 cdn is about the best deal I can find in a wattage low enough, anything good at 450 or less was more money.

 

[bicycle_repair_man]

To reiterate what I said before, only Photoshop CC and CS6 and Illustrator CC can utilise GPU acceleration, and even then, only for certain tasks. Premier Pro can utilise a GPU to render video, so it's a good idea to have one.

Only 3DS Max requires a Quadro or FirePro card. Adobe programs can use the GTX, HD and R series GPUs as well as Quadro and FirePro.

 

[Chugalug_]

I merged in your above thread with basically the same question, even though some of the advice is poor.

No idea why he would put in a 5400 rpm drive, in this day and age they are only good for backup purposes and too slow for real life. Also Forget the RX 480.

If you want to go cheap go with a card like I mentioned, or if he can spend more and do it the right way, bicycle_repair_man's suggestion of a Quadro is the best option. I'd prefer Nvidia because of Cuda for this application.

And even though he won't be overclocking the 600B is very low quality as mentioned. The XFX TS 550 Bronze at $79 cdn is about the best deal I can find in a wattage low enough, anything good at 450 or less was more money.

I put in the 2TB WD Blue to fit into his budget while still providing the capacity needed.
Ideally for 2TB of storage I recommend a WD Black 2TB, but the SSD would need to be sacrificed in that case.
Still offers solid performance, and didn't want to go into Toshiba/Seagate Barracuda territory due to the failure rates, although Toshiba isn't as bad.
Any advice in this regard?

 

[Rogue Leader]

Personally I have 4 of those 2TB Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM drives, and they have been flawless. They replaced 2 1.5TB Seagate Barracudas that reached their EOL for regular use by my standards (~5 years).

Seagate had some specific drives that were real problems, specifically their 3TB drives:

http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2015/01/hard-disk-reliability-examined-once-more-hgst-rules-seagate-is-alarming/

And somehow that colloquially got turned into all Seagate drives have high failure rates. However I will agree that compared to WD and HGST they are a decent amount higher.

But take a look at these stats from later in the year

https://www.backblaze.com/blog/hard-drive-reliability-q4-2015/

Either way a 5400 rpm drive on a modern system is a straight up dog.

 

[Chugalug_]

To reiterate what I said before, only Photoshop CC and CS6 and Illustrator CC can utilise GPU acceleration, and even then, only for certain tasks. Premier Pro can utilise a GPU to render video, so it's a good idea to have one.

Only 3DS Max requires a Quadro or FirePro card. Adobe programs can use the GTX, HD and R series GPUs as well as Quadro and FirePro.

Yup. Given it is the same price for the RX 480 8GB OC compared to the 970, it is a good choice to make if he does go down the discrete GPU path.
Pretty much identical performance with better DX12 performance in games and added VRAM for select applications such as Photoshop and those you mentioned above with the RX480.
Not much point going for the 970 at that price really.

Edit: Now that I see it is a personal build for exclusively rendering rather than what he put in the other post which was a different scenario. A dedicated GPU is not really NEEDED, but I would recommend one simply due to the decreased load on your CPU in specific applications which take advantage of GPU acceleration or rendering.

Gaming could be a thing on the side if that's something you do as a hobby, but if you're tight on money, just get something cheap like a 750ti even or 950 if you really feel the need to invest for that extra speed and don't have the cash to blow.

 

[Chugalug_]

Personally I have 4 of those 2TB Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM drives, and they have been flawless. They replaced 2 1.5TB Seagate Barracudas that reached their EOL for regular use by my standards (~5 years).

Seagate had some specific drives that were real problems, specifically their 3TB drives:

http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2015/01/hard-disk-reliability-examined-once-more-hgst-rules-seagate-is-alarming/

And somehow that colloquially got turned into all Seagate drives have high failure rates. However I will agree that compared to WD and HGST they are a decent amount higher.

But take a look at these stats from later in the year

https://www.backblaze.com/blog/hard-drive-reliability-q4-2015/

Either way a 5400 rpm drive on a modern system is a straight up dog.

Hmmm, okay, thanks for the advice!
I've used Seagate's external HDDs in the past for backups and media storage and they've been fine, but i've typically stayed away from anything 2TB+ in their range specifically due to these issues.
Additionally had one 2TB internal drive fail on me within a year!
Must have been bad luck on my end. 😱
Well, at least now I know that their lower capacity drives are reasonably safer in terms of failure rate, thanks, now I can recommend a budget 2TB drive I know won't die that isn't 5400RPM! 😛

 

[Trafalgar747]

Im getting a 650w Evga G2 psu, what gpu would you recommend?

 

[Rogue Leader]

Im getting a 650w Evga G2 psu, what gpu would you recommend?

Great PSU choice, however the 550 G2 is more than enough, 650 is way overkill and more money.

As for the GPU take a look at bicycle_repair_man's last reply and let us know more closely what use it will be for. Then we can know whether you're ok with a regular GPU or really need a Quadro for this build which may cost more depending on the model.

 

[Chugalug_]

Im getting a 650w Evga G2 psu, what gpu would you recommend?

Great PSU choice, however the 550 G2 is more than enough, 650 is way overkill and more money.

As for the GPU take a look at bicycle_repair_man's last reply and let us know more closely what use it will be for. Then we can know whether you're ok with a regular GPU or really need a Quadro for this build which may cost more depending on the model.

Agreed.
The 650w will just be throwing away cash in your situation, a good 500w or 550w will be more than enough, 650 is just a bit of a waste.