OT: New computer advice and reccs...
jakiblue
Posts: 7,281
Ok, so I'm thinking of getting a new computer. I want to go desktop this time - I have an i7 laptop currently.
The desktop will be used primarily for DAZStudio and Photoshop - in other words, used for my art programs.
1. What hardware should I be specifically looking at to run DS? Is it the graphic card and RAM? Or something else?
2. I'm an Nvidia graphic card fan. I currently have a Nvidea Geforce 610m 2gb card in my laptop - I"ve had no problems so far with it, and it seems to do the trick. Any reccs on Nvidea graphic cards that are good for DS? Is there anything specific with graphic cards that I should be looking at?
3. Money isn't too much of an issue - my in-laws own a computer shop so I get good discounts, but of course, that doesn't mean I'll be looking at cards that cost $2000 LOL. I'd like to keep the whole price under say $1200...keeping in mind that I am in Australia so US prices aren't much good to me. So recommending a $1000 graphic card or processor isn't going to help me. LOL.
4. It'll be running Windows 8 which I have no experience with whatsoever (I have Win 7 on my laptop). Are there any known problems or issues with Win8 with DS? Anything that I have to find a work around etc for?
5. My current rig is an Asus laptop, i7, Nvidia Geforce 610m 2gb card, with 8gb ram. I have no issues with speed in rendering with DS with the laptop - it works quite well. So would duplicating those specs with desktop be ok? Or can you suggest something better/more?
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Comments
I've Windows 8 64-bit and DS works fine for me. Hexagon, sadly, would not, so I am told.
Daz renders using the CPU, not the graphics card unless you use Octane or Luxrender in GPU mode.
You'll want as much ram as possible so you won't run into limits on scenes.
And of course, lots and lots of hard drive space if you're a Daz addict. :)
I'm looking at a 2tb hard drive for it, definitely. Currently, I have the program installed on my laptop and all the content is on a 1tb external drive. :D So yes, a big hard drive is a definite for the new desktop. :D
Is there a limit to how much RAM you can have?
ok good, thanks! I don't use hexagon, so it'd just be running DS and photoshop. :D
That all depends on the motherboard. They all used to have a limit (depending on the board) but I think there are a few, if not a lot that don't have a limit. I'd check the board specs carefully to be sure though.
Get a 64 bit OS and you can go past 4gb. If you get a professional version of Windows you can go up to 32 gb but that's probably more than you'll need. 8 gb should work for most uses. Though, I'm basing that on Windows 7. I don't have 8 and have no plans to get it. I just bought a computer and paid $50 more to get Windows 7 in fact!
I've got 8GB in my rig currently. I'm thinking if funds will allow it, I should double that. I've put together some really big scenes that have nearly brought my pc to it's knees. And quality renders with lots of ambient and uber lighting plus reflections is taking quite a long time (I had motion blur in my current render as well but had to remove it because it was just taking waaaaay too long).
I currently run a Windows 8.1 64 bit machine.
It's got an i7-4770 @3.40 ghz
And 24. GB of Memory
I have bogged it down only once. I was running to many programs at once. I got mine specifically to run DAZ, Photoshop, Bryce and Carrara. I have found a couple programs it doesn't like very much but it will run them. But it Runs Daz, Photoshop, Bryce and Carrara like atop.
I have a internal 225 GB SSD that all my programs sit on, and a 2 TB internal HHD that holds my run-time and all my files. And 2 TB external for a backup.
I have 8GB of main memory and have hit the limit a few times, get more!
For a GPU, I think the minimum nVidia is a 760.
(We're expecting an announcement on Windows 9 at the end of September.)
I will all depend on how much you can/want to spend. There is no upper limit :)
My current system uses an ASUS P9X79Pro motherboard and has 32 Gb of RAM (the board supports up to 64Gb). I use a i7-3930K hex core processor clocked at 3.2 GHz. It gets pretty decent render times. For graphics cards I have an ASUS GTX 670 2GB to run the two monitors and an ASUS DirectCUII GTX 780 3GB card for rendering with Octane. The system is installed in a giant case (Corsair Obsidian 800D) with 8 fans and liquid cooling for the CPU. It runs under Windows 8.1 and I have no issues with any programs I use (DAZ Studio, Poser 2014 Pro, Vue 2014 Infinite, 3D Max, Z-Brush, Photoshop CC.
Ciao
TD
Avoid Windows 8.... it has caused me a lot of trouble. Some programs can't run yet on it for me.
And you might want to use Hexagon some day... your ability is growing all the time.
I would get Windows 7.
If you can manage it, get as much RAM as possible.
Ideally get a motherboard that can take two Xeon processors.
My plan is to get 2 Xeon processor with perhaps 8 or 10 cores each. The i7 processor is essentially a disabled Xeon processor.
My thought is to build, if possible, so you will not outgrow your computer.
You do not need much in the way of a graphics card unless you go for Octane..... then the bucks pile up for high end graphics card, plus the Octane programs.
Lux is excellent, plus it is free. It competes well with Octane. If you do use Lux Render, you need the CPU processor cores.
My sincere recommendation is to think more on what you want to do, and do more research on what will do that for you.
Xeon X5680 24 gig ram and a quadro card
"Speed is a question of money. How fast can you go?" -- The old mechanic in Mad Max.
I have run Hexagon on a Win 8.1 machine. It's probably set to Win 7 compatibility mode. Not that I know what to DO in Hexagon, but it runs. Same with Bryce. I'm mostly using Daz Studio. The trick I found is when installing these programs in Win 8.1, set the installer to run in Administrative mode, and for Win 7 compatibility. Once installed, select the desktop icon, and set it to Win 7 compatibility, but NOT Administrative mode. Almost any program written for Win 7, or even XP should work this way. If you go with a single 2T hard drive, everything can go there, but do not install any content in Program Files. With a SSD boot drive, you should install ALL add on programs somewhere other than the SSD. You can also set most programs to use scratch space somewhere other than the C: drive.
Where the video card comes into play is when moving the viewport around in Daz Studio. The preview window is rendered on the fly using OpenGL. Any decent video card made today will suffice for that. I have a GTX 750 Ti, which is pretty reasonable on cost. I got my system from iBuyPower.com. They have frequent specials, and you can build to order. Mine is a core i7 4770K with 16Gb Ram, a small SSD for the boot drive, and a 2Tb hard drive. Actually, I have dual 2Tb drives now. I took one out of my old rig. I'm told that Photoshop does use the video card more heavily than Daz Studio, but I don't use PS. I use Paint Shop Pro. In all respects, my new rig is SO much faster than my old one, it's nirvana.
All motherboards have some upper limit on memory capacity. Micro$oft did effectively get rid of the arbitrary limits on memory from older versions. Your basic Win 8 64 bit can handle 128Gb of Ram. If you want a mobo with more than one CPU socket, then you need Win 8 Pro. I hated Win 8 at first, but I'm used to it now. Actually, it came with 8.1, which is probably what you'll get with any new machine now.