Upgrading the PC for 3D work - advice request

[Crocodilie]

Hello all,

It's been a long while since I last upgraded my PC. Up until now it was good enough. I used it mostly for digital painting and 3D modelling. Now, however, I want to start working more on 3D animations and actual images (using Autodesk Maya). The rendering of a single frame takes a very, very long time depending on how many things are in the frame. I can hear my fans speeding up to max while waiting for the render.

I'm thinking that simply getting a better graphics card, something like NVIDIA quadro K1200 will help speed up the rendering. I'm willing to make expensive upgrades because the faster I can render the better (not enough time), but I want to be careful and while trying to do my own research I wanted to ask for advice on the forum. Please, can anyone help me get the right parts to significantly improve the performance?

My current system:

Power supply: Superflower Leadex GOLD 650W Modular 80 Plus Gold
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97P-D3
Processor: Intel Core i7 4790 Quad Core (Haswell, Socket 1150)
+ Cooling: Deepcool Lucifer
RAM memory: TeamGroup Elite Black 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (TPKD316G1600HC11DC01)
Main storage: 5x SanDisk Extreme PRO SSD 480 GB Sata III 2.5 Inch, 1x Seagate ST6000NM0024 Enterprise 6 TB
Graphics card: MSI GeForce GTX 970 Gaming Edition 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card
System: Windows 7 Pro

(If I'd need to upgrade the motherboard, I'm using a network card so It'd be the best if there was enough gap between the ports for the graphics card(s) and the network card so they can fit)
Network card: ASUS PCE-AC88 AC3100 Dual-Band Wi-Fi PCIe Adapter

 

[Serenity_3]

For 3D work and rendering, I would recommend more cpu cores and more RAM. Something like AMD's Ryzen 7 1700x (8 cores, 16 threads for $350) would do the trick here.

As for motherboards, there are a wide variety of them, ranging from X370 boards like the ASUS Rog crosshair VI down to b350 boards that cost way less.

The main good thing about x370 is the ability to use AMD Crossfire and Nvidia SLI.

Here are some suggestions I have if price is no object.

Rog Crossihair VI Hero (X370): https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813132963&cm_re=Rog_crosshair_vi-_-13-132-963-_-Product

CPU Bundle: https://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboBundleDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.3482413

Strix x370-f: https://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?A=details&O=&Q=&ap=y&c3api=1876%2C%7Bcreative%7D%2C%7Bkeyword%7D&gclid=Cj0KEQjw1ufKBRDYrqLzrY3dy88BEiQAPI_r4RESfVbGzJ3chTQDZp5BRrHIpMQrD27Kkedx_lmDJy8aAgPP8P8HAQ&is=REG&sku=1344793

Note that the CPU bundle has the R7 1700, which has a core clock of 400mhz less than the x variant's 3.4ghz, but it turbos up to 3.7 ghz vs 3.8 on the 1700x.

Also, the graphics card should have no affect on rendering if you have a cpu like this one. Plus with the upcoming releases of Radeon RX Vega and Nvidia Volta, you could upgrade that down the line if needed.

Anyway, here is a part list I put together for you.

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/DJKVyf
The cooler will require a separate bracket which you can buy from the Corsair website here.
http://www.corsair.com/en-us/am4-amd-retention-bracket-kit-for-hydro-series-coolers


Hope this helps.
-LC

 

[Crocodilie]

Thanks a lot for the reply.
I really like the ports on that motherboard (just not a fan of armor-style covers).

Something like AMD

I'm not really confident in AMD. When reading online about best workstations for autodesk maya, many people prefered Intel processors like i7 or Xeon with Nvidia graphics cards. Also I always used Intel and Nvidia combinations myself. Thinking about switching makes me feel a bit uneasy. Not really familiar with AMD but will search for some more info and opinions on that. Would feel more comfortable with intel+nvidia combination though.

Also, I've been building budget for a more serious upgrade. ($2500)
I'm slightly worried that the parts above wouldn't give me the same performance as a professional studio workstation would. I'll do some more browsing and try putting together some parts myself based on opinions from autodesk and other 3D forums. Then I'll post them here for a check.

 

[Serenity_3]

Ok.

 

[Crocodilie]

Hello.
I need to clarify. I live in the UK, the currency and components available are slightly different. Some of the things I found on US websites aren't easily available here. So I'll be searching only in uk stores.

One word: headache.
I didn't know where to start at all but after spending some time browsing through the components and one by one reading the definitions of different specs, I think I've come up with a good starting combination below:

Socket LGA 1151 kit

Processor option:
£455.99 Intel Core i7 7700k 5GHz Kaby Lake https://www.overclockers.co.uk/intel-core-i7-7700k-5.0ghz-kaby-lake-socket-lga1151-pre-binned-processor-oem-cp-003-oe.html#comments
?: I've seen on the web that this won't work with Windows7 but a friend of mine bought a similar CPU and he can still use Windows7. I assume that this will work fine then?

Motherboard option:
?: There are different chipsets available for LGA1151, how do I know which one to pick?

£244.99 Gigabyte GA-Z270X https://www.overclockers.co.uk/gigabyte-ga-z270x-gaming-soc-intel-z270-socket-1151-ddr4-atx-motherboard-mb-55c-gi.html
+: 8 SATA connectors make it ideal for my planned 6 SSD, 1 HDD, 1 DVD drives.
+: Support for QuadGPU SLI & 2-way SLI just in case I wanted to get two cards. I assume that If I wanted two GPUs, I can use the two bottom PCI-E slots to leave space for my network card on the very top PCI slot?
+: DDR4
+: I assume that 2 devices connected to 1 USB 3.1 gen 2 port through a hub will work as fast as if they were connected to 2 USB 3.1 gen 1 ports?
-: It supports only up to 2400 MHz RAM or up to 4000 "O.C." but I have no idea what this OC means. Does it have to be a 2400 overclocked up to 4000 or would it be able the utilize an actual 4000 MHz?
?: 2x M.2 and 1x U.2 connectors. I've never seen them before but after reading about it on ASUS website I think that this is sort of faster type of storage? Would it be worth buying a M.2 or U.2 SSD for system/applications?

£239.99 Asus ROG Maximus https://www.overclockers.co.uk/asus-rog-maximus-ix-hero-intel-z270-socket-1151-ddr4-atx-motherboard-mb-68q-as.html
+: Enough USB ports.
+: Enough room for two GPUs and a network card.
+: 2x M.2 sockets although I'm not sure how useful this could be yet.
+: DDR4 4133 ram support. I hope I don't need to overclock anything and just buy 4133 memory for that?

I decided to only look for a processor and motherboards this time because I'm not even sure if these would be the best choices. I'll look for RAM after finally choosing a good processor+motherboard.

I've never upgraded my processor alone. I upgrade roughly every 2.5 years and I've upgraded upgrade both the motherboard and processor every time. Therefore I think that how long a socket type will remain popular isn't relevant. I'm most likely to get a new motherboard next time anyway. Or are they not worth upgrading as much as other components?

Apart from LGA1151 there are also 2066 and 2011-V3 which I'm considering but I have no idea which one would be the best.