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Time for a new PC quandry...Yes...it's that time again, to get a new PC. From the helpful Forum here, and Pilgway's Tutorials, I have come up with the following conclusions about what a "good" PC would be when using it for 3DCOAT:


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We'll, the PSU is in (really liking the modular setup) and today I received the 580. Didn't think it was going to be that big... I mean, good god, it must be 3 times the size of my 9500gt and 3 times as thick. Had to ditch my second DVD drive as the card covers SATA 3 and 4 slots (card wouldn't go in if SATA cables were plugged into 3 and 4). Drivers installed and I will get to play with it tomorrow. Here's the cards side by side:

post-3405-0-93216500-1375226220_thumb.jp

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We'll, the PSU is in (really liking the modular setup) and today I received the 580. Didn't think it was going to be that big... I mean, good god, it must be 3 times the size of my 9500gt and 3 times as thick. Had to ditch my second DVD drive as the card covers SATA 3 and 4 slots (card wouldn't go in if SATA cables were plugged into 3 and 4). Drivers installed and I will get to play with it tomorrow. Here's the cards side by side:

Cool. I think you will have a royal good time with it. :good:

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A very good choice. From what I've read several months ago, Asus cards were, and most likely still are the most quiet ones amongst 5xx and 6xx series. :)

Who's the PSU's manufacturer?

 

It's this one (see pic) Corsair CX750M. They were approx £110 on most sites and then I spotted in for £78 on Amazon. I won't ever be needing to go SLI as there isn't any advantage from a 2D/3D/CG perspective, so she should be enough for overclocking renders in Lightwave and maybe Octane, should I go down that route.

 

As for quiet... the noisiest part of my current rig (since swapping out the PSU and graphics card) is the case fan!  The 580 comes with Asus GPU Tweak, which allows you to overclock the thing from stock (GPU clock MHz 782, Mem 4008, Fan speed Auto) anywhere up to GPU clock 1182, Mem 4808 and Fan Speed 100.  I stuck the fans up to 100% and I swear my base unit was going to take off!

 

Cool. I think you will have a royal good time with it. :good:

 

Thanks AbnRanger, again. Really good advice. I can already see advantages in LW Layout (never going to see too much of an advantage in Modeler as we all know it's not the best for tumbling, moving large geometry) and app speed + brush speed in 3DC is noticeably quicker.

 

So, re. PC build.  - here's what I will be going for:

 

2 x DDR3 2400MHz 16GB 2x240 Dimm Unbuffered 10-12-12-31 Vengeance Black Heatspreadersupports XMP 1.3 1.65V - £230.00
Intel Core i7 4770K 3.50GHz Socket 1150 8MB Cache Retail Boxed Processor - £266
Samsung 120GB 840 Series SSD - £80
Seagate 1TB Barracuda Internal Hard Drive - OEM - £44
Asus Z87-K Socket 1150 HDMI DVI D-Sub 8-Channel HD Audio ATX Motherboard - £103
 
Total = £723

post-3405-0-45255900-1375266518_thumb.jp

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As for quiet... the noisiest part of my current rig (...) is the case fan!  (...) I stuck the fans up to 100% and I swear my base unit was going to take off!

Better attach a ball and chain to it then, just to be on the safe side. :rofl:

But seriously, it might be worth to consider dismounting the fans for a quick clean-up and lubrication.

 

2 x DDR3 2400MHz 16GB 2x240 Dimm Unbuffered 10-12-12-31 Vengeance Black Heatspreadersupports XMP 1.3 1.65V - £230.00

You might find this article about high frequency RAM to be interesting: http://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/Breaking-the-Hype-of-High-Frequency-RAM-142/

 

Be careful with large heat spreaders on RAM modules. Make sure they won't stand in the way of CPU cooler, because it might happen that you won't be able to mount it because of them. And those Corsairs you chose are exceptionally tall.

 

2xDDR3 16GB modules won't let you fully benefit from Dual Channel architecture the Asus Z87-K motherboard supports. You can have up to 32GB of memory in four RAM banks, so if you're aiming for the maximum amount of RAM this mobo supports, you should purchase four 8GB modules (preferably identical) to fill both pairs of memory slots. Only this will provide an increased throughput bandwidth. Of course 2x16GB would still be working in Dual Channel if placed in appropriate slots, but you are wasting a space for two memory banks that could also work in this mode.

Scratch that. The performance should be identical. The only difference might be in the price of modules.

Edited by ajz3d
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Better attach a ball and chain to it then, just to be on the safe side. :rofl:

But seriously, it might be worth to consider dismounting the fans for a quick clean-up and lubrication.

 

You might find this article about high frequency RAM to be interesting: http://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/Breaking-the-Hype-of-High-Frequency-RAM-142/

 

 

The case fan is going to stay with this rig when it's turned into a render node, but I may take her off and give her a clean. I'll look to get a couple of new ones for a pull me-push me airflow setup for the new rig.

 

That was a really interesting read, thanks for the link. Yet another example of how 'throwing money at it', or 'buying the top model' doesn't always work out. I will hope that AbnRanger or another LW user will clarify that there is no gain to having 2400mhz over 1333mhz when rendering, as the rise in mem failure based on rise in mhz is worrying.  Will consider a re-think on the memory.

 

Cheers,

 

Ricky.

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The case fan is going to stay with this rig when it's turned into a render node, but I may take her off and give her a clean. I'll look to get a couple of new ones for a pull me-push me airflow setup for the new rig.

 

That was a really interesting read, thanks for the link. Yet another example of how 'throwing money at it', or 'buying the top model' doesn't always work out. I will hope that AbnRanger or another LW user will clarify that there is no gain to having 2400mhz over 1333mhz when rendering, as the rise in mem failure based on rise in mhz is worrying.  Will consider a re-think on the memory.

 

Cheers,

 

Ricky.

RAM clock speeds do make a noticeable difference. I think as long as you don't run RAM at higher speeds than your Motherboard officially supports, you have no worries. But more and more are supporting speeds at 2000mhz+.

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