[SOLVED] What hardware should i upgrade on my PC?

[rdnje]

Hey, I recently noticed that my computer isn't keeping up with the games and software that i use. So i would like to upgrade it but I don’t know which part I should replace.
Software i use is for architecture. (Architecture student).
Programs like, V-Ray(Rendering), revit, autocad and other 3D modelling programs.
I hope that you could give me some advice:

My specs.

Intel Core i7-6700K
MSi GeForce GTX 980 Ti
ASUS ROG MAXIMUS VIII HERO
16GB RAM - Corsair Vengeance DDR4 3000M
EVGA SuperNOVA 850 G2, 850W
I have good case fans and a cpu water cooler Corshair Hi100

Note: I have tried overclocking but I just can't seem to get it right since I sometimes crash on certain games, so i've left it stock for now.

 

[popatim]

Drives?

 

[rdnje]

Drives?

SSD 200GB for all system files and such. 1 TB for storage.

 

[ben7]

I am an architecture student and I have a better system than you all around, it still wont keep up well with my cad and vray.

Im going to start from scratch and build a new pc in the 2000$ range with a quadro p4000 gpu and an I9-9900k when I can get the money. I would advise you do the same.

Otherwise is your system storage optimized? (everything you dont need you should delete, you should make sure everything is at the latest update, and move everything you can off your ssd onto your hard drive)\

One final thing would be to look at your task manager when you are running slow and see what is being used the most and upgrade that.

 

[rdnje]

Hello Ben, what is your current specs? These programs are ridiculously remanding.
The quadro series is insanely expensive, where i'm from the p4000 is 1100$. I've heard many mixed feelings about the quadro series.

My SSD is very optimized, all is stored in folders on my HDD with shortcuts on my desktop. But my HDD is starting to get full. All my drivers are up to date.

I'll be keeping an eye on the task manager, thanks for the tip.

 

[mariajoal6336]

Well bro personally, what I do is look for an updated driver package on the internet, it has not happened to me and I am surprised that you do, normally one always finds a game that downloads them if you do not have any processing program but hey

 

[rdnje]

Well bro personally, what I do is look for an updated driver package on the internet, it has not happened to me and I am surprised that you do, normally one always finds a game that downloads them if you do not have any processing program but hey

Sorry, but Im not sure i understand what you’re talking about here. I have no software issues.

 

[mariajoal6336]

Sorry, but Im not sure i understand what you’re talking about here. I have no software issues.

oh sorry bro I don't know a lot of English and I'm still learning to translate, but I think if I understood well questions add hardware accessories ok sorry, in that case for 3D processing and recrations (as in architecture) the basic thing is to update a card video (for fast graphics processing) and more ram (to move these graphics smoothly and smoothly at work) it all depends on what you feel problems but these are what is essential 😊

 

[rdnje]

oh sorry bro I don't know a lot of English and I'm still learning to translate, but I think if I understood well questions add hardware accessories ok sorry, in that case for 3D processing and recrations (as in architecture) the basic thing is to update a card video (for fast graphics processing) and more ram (to move these graphics smoothly and smoothly at work) it all depends on what you feel problems but these are what is essential 😊

No worries, and good luck learning a new language, you’re doing well. So graphics card and ram is essential for rendering, i understand, thank you.

 

[ben7]

Hey rdnje!

1. I do apologize, my first post had a good helping of ignorance.

2. NVM about my specs, I was VERY hasty, your system should be about 50% better than mine besides your cpu which is 4% better. ( these numbers come from https://gpu.userbenchmark.com/ )

3. You should have very reasonable modelling workflow with your current hardware. You should have very reasonable game-play on medium settings.

4. What exactly do you mean by " isn't keeping up with the games and software that I use"?
Is your rendering too slow?
Is modelling too slow?
In task manager while you are having slow downs is your gpu or cpu ever running at 100% usage or flat-lining at another percent?
How many programs do you have open at a time? On my worse system I can run PS and Rhinoceros simultaneously with ok workflow.
What settings on what games are you running when it gets slow?

5. If you want faster v-ray rendering use this site for rendering benchmarks then compare prices on ebay or pc-partpicker https://benchmark.chaosgroup.com/next/cpu?search= or this site https://www.cgdirector.com/vray-benchmark/

If you want lightning fast renders with a gpu you can buy a 1080ti off ebay for 500$ or a 1070ti for 300$ the 2070 super might be a good choice as well for 400$

If you want better renders with a cpu (probably more cost effective and better performance wise for rendering and other workstation processes than gpu) you will most likely need to buy a new motherboard (also new ram if you are currently using ddr3)

You can also download the v-ray benchmark and run it on your system to get a feel for how it compares

6. If your ram is being used at around 50% constantly thats ok. Windows 10 uses a lot of ram constantly to increase performance. If its getting used around 90% when you are having slow downs you might want to invest in more ram, but I would advise you invest in ddr4 if you are running ddr3.

7. How many gb of space is on your ssd?

8. Have you checked for malware recently?

9. This is probably a hassle but if you really wanted to make certain its your hardware and not software you could save all your files on an external drive. Then completely wipe everything and reinstall windows along with all your necessary programs.

10. If its just general slowness I do not know precisely what what you should upgrade without more information.

I hope this is helpful!

 

[rdnje]

Hello again Ben!

1. Not to worry, and thanks for coming back with an excellent response, i appreciate it very much.

2. I see, but it seems CPU's have hit a wall and aren't getting much better, atleast clock speed wise. I tried benchmarking the newest i7 with mine and it doesn't seem like it makes the difference i was hoping for.

3. Gaming is usually fine, but like you say, its very smooth on medium and gets choppy/laggy with fps drops at high settings.

4. Rendering is slow, meaning a decent rendering of about the size of an A3 page, i guess thats like 3000x(corresponding) pixels. Takes atleast 2-3 hours, meaning when i render i can basically do nothing for 3 hours..
3D modelling is my main issue. When working in revit/autocad arch/rhino/sketchup it can get very slow, for like a 3 story building my programs run so slow, if im turning the camera there is lag and delay, if i click and edit objects etc. there is delay and sometimes a lag/delay that will last a second or two, meaning im using more time waiting than actually creating.
As far as i understand, these 3D modelling programs are using mostly the CPU for processing and not able to use several cores but only 1. Which means i'm probably bottlenecked by the CPU? I haven't checked the task manager CPU usage yet.
I have no other programs open, besides spotify sometimes(music player software). I try to work in one program at a time.
I've had games act weird, for example CS:GO on low settings sometimes freezes/crashes my whole PC. That is why i tried to turn overclocking off, and watch my temps. But temps are fine, yet it still crashes sometimes.

5. That chaosgroup thing sounds pretty good, i asked a around about and some students believe its worth the price, and its very effective. My motherboard is not compatible with newer CPU's? I have DDR4 16gb @3200mhz.

6. I've had my eye on my ram for a while, never goes near 90%, even ran memtest(tool for testing faulty ram) but everything is fine. I have DDR4 16gb@3200mhz

7. I have 25gb of 220gb free on my SSD and 240gb of 930gb on my HDD free.

8. This is actually the one thing I'm thinking about now, i've had bitdefender for 3 years, but stopped subscribing to it for about 10 months now. I did that because i never had bitdefender find or stop any malware and i'm staying relatively safe. How important do you think AV programs are? And any recommendations?

9. I am thinking of this, but I hate, hate, hateeee doing this. I've had this PC for about 3-4 years now, so maybe it could be worth it.

10. Yeah, I understand, my main concern is 3D modelling. So that would mean better CPU clock speed right? So I guess better CPU and overclocking it?

Again thank you very much for your help, i appreciate it very much.

 

[ben7]

This post is a little hectic but i dont have too much time to edit it, Haha.

There are lots of ways to decrease rendering times by tuning your settings or hiding geometry (probably check a dedicated v-ray forum for help there) (this might not be too much help but I usually turn my quality to low or draft, set my pixels high, and put an rgb denoiser on) but for good renders even on the lab computers at my school you can expect hours for complex geometry.

As for modelling workflow you can often change your view settings to a lower quality, hide geometry when you are working on a smaller piece, or move pieces you need to work on to separate files and paste them together later. (again check an cad forum for tips)

CPU performance can get a lot better than your system for sure. I would suggest looking at autocad revit or rhinocerous benchmarks.

I just did a quick check on a solid works benchmark test (which is also single threaded) https://www.solidworks.com/sw/support/shareyourscore.htm

Your system scores
cpu 25.2
gpu 11.2
render 45.5

Quadro p-4000 with I9-9900k scores (600$ for gpu 550$ for cpu on ebay)
cpu 4.3
gpu 1.7
render 1.5

these results have significant variance on the benchmark though so I would do more research than I did

yes it does seem that many of those programs use a lot of single core calculations

5. I dont know exactly what you are referring to? Those are just benchmark tests for v-ray and a free download of the benchmark program is right here https://www.chaosgroup.com/vray/benchmark I was recommending that you benchmark your system and look at other peoples computer benchmarks to get a feel for what performance increase you could expect from buying components in their systems.

Yes your motherboard will only accept 6th and 7th gen processors. There are a lot of different sockets and intel changes their socket every two generations. AMD also has some good processors and those take different sockets. Intels X series take different sockets as well.

I have no idea why CSGO is acting that way, check a steam forum

8. It depends on if you download a lot of sketchy files I suppose. Haha. But really idk. I have a friend who told me i needed a really good one all the time but i have another friend who has never used one and is doing great. I use Norton but its a pretty overpriced program tbh, ill be switching to a cheaper one once my subscription runs out

10. I suppose at the end of the day yes. The gpu isn't super important unless you are doing gpu rendering.
I would advise getting an i9-9900k series and it looks like you can overclock some of them to 5ghz https://www.cpubenchmark.net/singleThread.html

This will certainly require a new mobo with overclocking capability and the 9th gen chipset

These guys are extremely well respected, Id read their recommendations, some are pretty dated and were written before AMD and Intel launched their latest chips so maybe do some more research on the newer chips instead of taking their recommendations verbatim
https://www.pugetsystems.com/recomm...Autodesk-AutoCAD-134/Hardware-Recommendations
https://www.pugetsystems.com/recommended/Recommended-Systems-for-V-Ray-199/Hardware-Recommendations
https://www.pugetsystems.com/recomm...r-Autodesk-Revit-171/Hardware-Recommendations

Honestly i dont really know if this problem could be fixed with only a new cpu, you might want a faster and larger ssd, more faster ram, and better software techniques and tuning.

I dont think I can help you too much more but i will continue to try. Try redit too, they have a discord for fast computer help.

 

[rdnje]

Oh, I should have thought about hiding geometry I'm not working on that's perfect! Or even separating the project into more than one file that's also a good idea.

5. Oh I assumed before really reading that part, i found out that chaosgroup has a cloud based rendering service. https://www.chaosgroup.com/cloud - pretty cool.

I think for now i'll be looking for a better CPU, SSD and new MB and mainly focus on optimizing my work techniques. I think optimizing work is the best way to go here. Don't think i can afford to spend so much on a quadro at this time.

Thank you so much for taking your time and helping me out, all the best to you.

 

[ben7]

Glad I could be of assistance!

 

[Tree2019]

I’d suggest graphics card!