ville-marie PC Desktop for 3D modeling/rendering in downtown area

[IluvMTL]

Je cherche un bon magasin près du centre-ville qui conçoit/construit des PC pour la modélisation/rendus en 3D. C'est un peu les mêmes exigences (CPU/GPU) que les PC pour des gamers. Merci!

[rufus96]

I recommend sourcing your parts and building your own machine. It's a lot cheaper. I used PC Parts Picker to source and verify the compatibility of parts for a decent rendering machine. I had never assembled a PC before, but it's not very difficult and there are a ton of resources online to guide you through a build. 

https://pcpartpicker.com/

It's about 2 years old now, but still running very strong. I will occasionally upgrade a component as needed. 2 years ago, it ran me about $1700 whereas a similar pre-assembled machine  might have cost well over $2000.

 

[IluvMTL]

2 hours ago, rufus96 said:

I recommend sourcing your parts and building your own machine. It's a lot cheaper. I used PC Parts Picker to source and verify the compatibility of parts for a decent rendering machine. I had never assembled a PC before, but it's not very difficult and there are a ton of resources online to guide you through a build. 

https://pcpartpicker.com/

It's about 2 years old now, but still running very strong. I will occasionally upgrade a component as needed. 2 years ago, it ran me about $1700 whereas a similar pre-assembled machine  might have cost well over $2000.

I know you're right. A lot of links online say that is the way to go, but I really have no patience with that sort of thing. A shop near my place says online that will build it if I bring them the pieces. Maybe I should drop by to see if they can do the whole job.

https://www.infomontreal.ca/?fbclid=IwAR1bLv-KOU8KBr0zjKrWWhA-BK36PwBdxHP_Ymq_iMVqbivOTFR8LKyUCwk

 

I've researched a little. I think I want a AMD Ryzen Threadtripper for the CPU and a GeForce RTX  for the GPU.  As for the other pieces, it's all Greek, or geek to me. Just too technical. I want the confidence knowing that it will work properly and am able go back to the store if there are any problems. Don't mind spending 300$ for that.

Last year I stopped by Microbytes Downtown. They seem to have a program that calculates/recommends the pieces. Somehow I wasn't very confident that the clerk even understood the types of software I needed to run.  They had a really boring screen in the package too, and no others on the floor to show me. I care about design too... 

[rufus96]

One thing I recommend if you're doing rendering is a good cooling system to keep your machine from overheating. Really makes a difference and minimizes dust collection. Liquid cooling systems supplemented with a few case fans are the way to go in my opinion. Keeps your core temp low and gives you a good intake and exhaust. 

[IluvMTL]

Thanks! Read that too somewhere...Some models of the Ryzen Threadtripper come with it's own fan.

Future of rendering seems to be in the GPU. Apparently having one higher end graphics card is better than having 2 cards (for Thea Render and Twinmotion). 

Still wondering about how much RAM & Memory I need (16 vs 32)

I've been researching this for days. The number of options/possibilities just boggles my mind. Starting to wonder if I should just settle on a good gaming machine that is prebuilt/designed in the 2K range. 

Actually difficult to know how far up I should go. I'm using the Thea Render Benchmark tool to see where I would fall, but that doesn't tell me what results I should expect and at what speed.  Would I be satisfied with less? Right now I have a HP 520-1070 with only 1 GB on the graphics side. Anything would be an improvement!

[Davidbourque]

13 hours ago, rufus96 said:

One thing I recommend if you're doing rendering is a good cooling system to keep your machine from overheating. Really makes a difference and minimizes dust collection. Liquid cooling systems supplemented with a few case fans are the way to go in my opinion. Keeps your core temp low and gives you a good intake and exhaust. 

Les pompes des systèmes de watercooling ont une faible durée de vie (de 3 à 5 ans)

Un bon heatsink style Noctua durera bien plus longtemps ! et si le ventilateur brise, le heatsink sera probablement suffisant pour maintenir le processeur en vie. Dans le cas d'un watercooling ou la pompe brise après 2-3 ans ça peut mettre beaucoup plus de pression sur le CPU. Le gros avantage des All in One Watercooling c'est avant tout le look et l'espace sauvé. 

Mes conseils, 

- Take a big case if you want, the airflow will just be better and each part will have more room to radiate heat. Also, make sure it have Dust filter.

- For ram, it all depend on your future usage, but the thing is ram is you always want to have enough ! Let say your need 20 GB and you have 16, you will have very crappy performance. There won't be much difference between 24 GB and 32 in that case. 

- Threadripper CPU have 4 memory channel. To maximise performance, you should buy a 4 stick kit ( so like 4x4 for 16, 4x8 for 32, etc.) 

- Yes, you better get a high end video card than 2 card. Even more for rendering/displaying in your apps

- Depending on the software you use, and what you plan to do, a mid range graphic card is probably fine. Better spend more money on CPU and RAM

But lastly, if you can wait a bit, AMD will release new CPU in July. The next generation of Ryzen that should have good performance increase per core but also will come with a 16 core/32 thread SKU. This will outperform the actual 16 cores Threadripper by a significant margin. Also Ryzen motherboard are much cheaper than Threadripper motherboard.

Also, the 24 core and 32 core threadripper are not good performer on Windows because Windows is unable to manage all these thread. They do perform well on Linux. I wouldn't recommend them if you don't plan to run Linux. 

Personnaly if i was you, i would wait 2 months, get a 16 core Ryzen 3000 cpu with 32 GB(2x16GB) of ram and a RTX 2060 or something like that. Put some money on a good and large M2 SSD also and get a case large enough with dust filter. Get that on a new R570 motherboard that should be released at the same time than the new Ryzen. I would use at first the stock CPU cooler and i would only change it if i want to overclock or if i find it too loud.

There are many shop like newegg that would build your PC for your for a small cost. if you are not confortable enough, you can consider that. But if you plan to get really into 3d rendering and stuff, i would recommend you learn how to do it. it's always a good skill to master your tools.

[vincethewipet]

10 hours ago, Davidbourque said:

Les pompes des systèmes de watercooling ont une faible durée de vie (de 3 à 5 ans)

Un bon heatsink style Noctua durera bien plus longtemps ! et si le ventilateur brise, le heatsink sera probablement suffisant pour maintenir le processeur en vie. Dans le cas d'un watercooling ou la pompe brise après 2-3 ans ça peut mettre beaucoup plus de pression sur le CPU. Le gros avantage des All in One Watercooling c'est avant tout le look et l'espace sauvé. 

J'allais faire la même recommendation :).

Je me suis équipé en ventilateurs Noctua après avoir eu un refroidisseur à l'eau (pour mon boîtier c'est donc 1x200mm, le refroidisseur pour le CPU, et 2x80mm), et en bout de ligne j'ai des meilleures performances thermales, sans faire plus de bruit (en fait la pompe comme telle faisait un bruit mécanique que je trouvais désagréable).

[Windex]

Il y a 10 heures, Davidbourque a dit :

But lastly, if you can wait a bit, ... 

Personnaly if i was you, i would wait 2 months, ...

Hahaha! Ces recommandations étaient vraies il y a 25 ans et le seront, malheureusement, encore dans 2 mois!! lol!

Moi à l'inverse, pour quelqu'un qui veut quelque chose de performant, je leur conseille d'acheter ce qui était top notch... il y a un an. On paye tellement extra pour le top notch courant, qu'il faut vraiment que ça soit indispensable à tes besoins... ou bien c'est que tu es un freak de la performance 😜

 

[Davidbourque]

58 minutes ago, Windex said:

Hahaha! Ces recommandations étaient vraies il y a 25 ans et le seront, malheureusement, encore dans 2 mois!! lol!

Moi à l'inverse, pour quelqu'un qui veut quelque chose de performant, je leur conseille d'acheter ce qui était top notch... il y a un an. On paye tellement extra pour le top notch courant, qu'il faut vraiment que ça soit indispensable à tes besoins... ou bien c'est que tu es un freak de la performance 😜

 

En même temps la vitesse de renouvellement des produits a beaucoup ralentit. Un Ryzen 3000 sera moins cher qu'un Threadripper aujourd'hui. Et même si l'on ne choisit pas les derniers CPU, un Ryzen 2700x sera probablement liquidé rendu là.

Threadripper, c'est de 2 à 4 cpu package the Ryzen mis sur un même die avec un motherboard spécial. C'est de la grosse artillerie lourde. Ryzen au contraire sera plus consumer grade. 

J'achète touours le milieux de game parce que c'est généralement la que l'on trouve le best value. Dans le cas des cpu, même un Ryzen 16 core sera du moyen/haut de gamme et non du haut de gamme. Par exemple, la rumeur parle d'un Threadripper 64cores/128 thread pour l'an prochain. 

 

Ça ne vaut pas la peine d'attendre plus de 6 mois généralement, mais 2-3 mois, certainement. 

[IluvMTL]

On 2019-05-21 at 10:56 PM, Davidbourque said:

Les pompes des systèmes de watercooling ont une faible durée de vie (de 3 à 5 ans)

Un bon heatsink style Noctua durera bien plus longtemps ! et si le ventilateur brise, le heatsink sera probablement suffisant pour maintenir le processeur en vie. Dans le cas d'un watercooling ou la pompe brise après 2-3 ans ça peut mettre beaucoup plus de pression sur le CPU. Le gros avantage des All in One Watercooling c'est avant tout le look et l'espace sauvé. 

Mes conseils, 

- Take a big case if you want, the airflow will just be better and each part will have more room to radiate heat. Also, make sure it have Dust filter.

- For ram, it all depend on your future usage, but the thing is ram is you always want to have enough ! Let say your need 20 GB and you have 16, you will have very crappy performance. There won't be much difference between 24 GB and 32 in that case. 

- Threadripper CPU have 4 memory channel. To maximise performance, you should buy a 4 stick kit ( so like 4x4 for 16, 4x8 for 32, etc.) 

- Yes, you better get a high end video card than 2 card. Even more for rendering/displaying in your apps

- Depending on the software you use, and what you plan to do, a mid range graphic card is probably fine. Better spend more money on CPU and RAM

But lastly, if you can wait a bit, AMD will release new CPU in July. The next generation of Ryzen that should have good performance increase per core but also will come with a 16 core/32 thread SKU. This will outperform the actual 16 cores Threadripper by a significant margin. Also Ryzen motherboard are much cheaper than Threadripper motherboard.

Also, the 24 core and 32 core threadripper are not good performer on Windows because Windows is unable to manage all these thread. They do perform well on Linux. I wouldn't recommend them if you don't plan to run Linux. 

Personnaly if i was you, i would wait 2 months, get a 16 core Ryzen 3000 cpu with 32 GB(2x16GB) of ram and a RTX 2060 or something like that. Put some money on a good and large M2 SSD also and get a case large enough with dust filter. Get that on a new R570 motherboard that should be released at the same time than the new Ryzen. I would use at first the stock CPU cooler and i would only change it if i want to overclock or if i find it too loud.

There are many shop like newegg that would build your PC for your for a small cost. if you are not confortable enough, you can consider that. But if you plan to get really into 3d rendering and stuff, i would recommend you learn how to do it. it's always a good skill to master your tools.

Makes a lot of sense!  But I'm so fed up working on my meagre 1G card!  I'm trying to run Twinmotion on it! 

So we agree that GeForce RTX 2070 is a very good GPU.

I read that the Ryzen 2700x is a very snappy CPU. Don't want to wait anymore...Wish I could buy a prebuilt gaming PC with the specs you suggested!