Deciding which (affordable) CPU + GPU to purchase

SketchUp Computer Advice
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I’ve been researching a lot of motherboards today. I’ve made a list of the specs that are MH and NTH (for me, anyway). It’s astounding how much more expensive some boards are (even when all from the same manufacturer).

My build is currently a bit over the €2000 Euro mark, I’m guessing the war is affecting prices atm. It is what it is. I’m trying not to skimp on some components, and the reality is that anything I build will be faster than what I am currently using.

Contrary to what some YouTubers proclaim, I am skimping on CPU and GPU. Also based on all the advice given to me by you. I have a sound base of a decent motherboard (13th gen and DDR5 :face_with_open_eyes_and_hand_over_mouth: ) fast RAM and storage, good cooling and PSU as well as a couple of extra fans.

Not going for the smaller case, but instead a regular ATX case that provides ample space for fans and natural air circulation. Decided not to skimp on that one, Fractal Designs North Midi Tower in white is hard to resist.

For CPU and GPU I chose the 13th gen i5 13600K and the RTX 3060 ti.

I think the data transfers will be good and again, having 4864 CUDA cores over 0 presently will be like heaven for me.

Should my rendering needs require more, it will probably mean that I took on loads of projects – in which case I will make enough proceeds to afford something better. And: I will only need to swap GPU and/or CPU.

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I found versus.com a great resource for the decision making process. heres an example. AMD Ryzen 7 7700X vs Intel Core i5-13600K: What is the difference?

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My son has a Ryzen 7 5800X based system with an RTX 3090 and it DOES heat up hi room :wink:

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As for your rendering needs you can even run an additional PC as an extra render node - this would then render on both machines simultaneously and distribute the load.

I’ve seen people buy old laptops they use for this - they just have a pile of them sitting there plugged in and turn them on to make a little render farm.

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Can also compare at Passmark -
https://www.cpubenchmark.net/compare/5036vs5008/AMD-Ryzen-7-7700X-vs-Intel-i5-13600K
The i5 has more threads so to reason it scores a slightly higher overall CPU mark (38,452 vs 36,465 for the AMD). While the AMD has a bit higher clock speed and thus scores a slightly higher single thread score.
Honestly other than heat, you’ll see no real difference in these 2 cpus in SU, in my opinion.

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Yes, I know that site. Interestingly, the i5 comes out much better on UserBenchMark. @Anssi shared this link higher up in this thread in which the i5 is also doing very well (especially in SU). I still believe that the i5 is my way forward. I might swap it out for an i9 in time.

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That is what I am expecting, too. They are both good processors, but the reviews give me a bit more confidence in the intel series.

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I’ve been sleeping on it, but I think I’m sticking to this:

  • INTEL CORE I5 13600K - PROCESSOR 3.5 GHZ (5.1 GHZ)

  • MSI PRO Z790-A WIFI - MOEDERBORD

  • KINGSTON FURY BEAST DDR5 2 x 32 GB - 288-PIN - 4800 MHz

  • KINGSTON FURY RENEGADE 1 TB - SOLID STATE DRIVE 7300 MB/s / 6000 MB/s

  • BE QUIET! DARK POWER 12 1000W PSU

  • MSI GEFORCE RTX 3060 TI VENTUS 2X OCV1 LHR

Still deciding on the CPU cooler. Water cooling is preferred, but I am looking for one that doesn’t look like a 70’s disco…

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In the long run, wouldn’t be cheaper to get the I9 now?

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Yes. It would. But it’s roughly double the cost of an i5 and I was hoping to keep it under 2.5K and preferably around the 2K mark (Euro). I am more comfortable spending this now and then upgrading in about 2 years time.

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I did this with my current home box several years ago. I bought a business refurb unit from Newegg.com, Dell Precision, 4th gen i5, 16 gb ram and 500 gb hdd. Dropped in a SSD hdd, upgraded PS and a used GTX 650ti and only had about $450 total in it. A few years ago I bought a 4th gen i7 and then swapped the i5 out for it. Newer CPUs were out then and the prices on that 4th gen i7 dropped to half of what it was when it was new.

Looking for a new unit at work and this is what I am thinking about…

new pc
new pc1283×713 120 KB

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Get a Mac!

No seriously. I asked our IT manager why we (architectural office ~ 100 staff) don’t get a few Windows driven machines seeing we are increasing our staff compliment quite rapidly! It would be cheaper I said! He had a good laugh! Had taken into account the time it takes to set up such machine, or found that I had to get more RAM or change the video card in a year because the software is demanding it or having to deal with viruses plus copious amount of time fiddling with settings?

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@SeanB looks like a nice machine! Do you use it for rendering as well? If so, wouldnt you prefer a bit more RAM?

I was comparing it to what I listed above, this build would run a bit more costly and the userbenchmarks are still in favour of i5 + 3060 ti. (see UserBenchmark: Intel Core i5-13600K vs i9-12900K and UserBenchmark: Nvidia RTX 3060-Ti vs 3080. I prefer self-built, a self-built would almost always be more affordable than a pre-built

However they are very comparable, and my hunch says that machine would be very nice to work on?

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@JensCapeTown

Loll.

Seriously, I would. But. It makes no sense *for me, not from a financial view nor a technical. I have been a mac user since I left highschool. That makes me a 37 year Mac user and I never, ever pictured myself using anything else.

But:
• Anything comparable is much, much more expensive. I would have to look at a Mac Pro tower, which starts at a whooping €6.5K.
• Would still have to add a GPU to be able to leverage the NVIDIA support VRay offers.
• A lot of the SW is PC driven, many of the warehouse extentions are built for PC as well as some the more commonly used renderers.
• I really dislike the SU trays on OSX. They tend to get split while expanding/contracting and when all are expanded they are hard to navigate. The tray on SU windows looks a lot cleaner and easier to use.
• Arguably, but I really dont like the way the Mac Pro looks. It still looks remotely like a quadra, but. No.

While it pains me to retire my MBP – at least for modelling and rendering (it still rocks at many graphics tasks) – I will switch. :face_with_open_eyes_and_hand_over_mouth: :upside_down_face:

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Might have to configure with 64 gb of ram and see what it looks like, good idea.
As for pre built being less expensive I disagree as there is NO way any smaller PC supplier has the buying power of an OEM (Dell, HP, etc). In all of your examples you keep leaving out the price of Windows. So add in another $100+ to that build unless you are getting a good deal somewhere :wink:
I’ve played that game before and while it is nice to build your own I’ve “been there and done that”. Also for work we have to buy major brands. We usually buy Dell Precisions so I have to try and see if I can get this by the powers that be to allow this as some might see this as a “game” box but no harm in asking.
Yes I do rendering a bit. As of right now both of my main rendering solution are CPU based, Simlab Composer Pro and Ambient Occlusion. This XPS gets me the best I can get at Dell currently. Yes the 13 series is a better cpu but right now the only way to get that at Dell is to buy an Alienware desktop and I know that’s not going to get approved :wink:

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True. I by my components from a trusted online supplier here in The Netherlands and they have a very good price point. Good warranty and service as well. I did go to a smaller hardware supplier and I agree, they’re prices constitute a pre-built.

Prices seem to fluctuate a lot atm. I’ve seen a €100 increase on a €999 GPU over night. But I’m looking at a bit under €2200 for the components I have selected thusfar which includes all above + a CPU cooler, a new set of fans, a new case and Windows 11 home edition.

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Sounds like a good plan! Best of luck. It is fun, at times, building your own. I might do one at the house this year just for fun.

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I would go with a 2tb drive, the cost difference is not huge and the reliability and speed long term is worth it. SU is not a data intensive program relatively speaking. I have replaced all of my mechanical hard drives in all my computers and all of them are much faster for startup and data access. It is worth spending that relatively small amount now and not have to deal with the pain of migrating it over later etc. In regards to the actual drive, choose a quality name with good performance from Samsung, Western Digital or similar.

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So. I did it. I bought the PC. Ordering the components was really scary lol, but I feel like I made a well considered and balanced choice for each component using everything I learned from you in this thread.

I ended up just shy of 2K Euro at the time of writing which is still a little more than I would have liked to spend. However, I also want a decent machine for professional work and I don’t want to have to buy a whole new system in two years time. This configuration should last me a good while, and some of the specs allow me to swap out some parts in the future.

These are the specs I ended up with:

  • MSI Pro Z790-A WiFi (DDR5) motherboard
  • Intel i5 3600K CPU
  • Arctic Liquid Freezer II 240 A-RGB AIO CPU cooler
  • NZXT C1000 Gold fully modular PSU
  • Kingston DDR45 Fury Beast 2x32GB 4800 RAM
  • Samsung 990 Pro PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2 SSD

All of these sit snuggly inside a pretty white Lian Li O11 Air mini case. (Though the fans on the AIO radiator almost touch the RAM, it took some tweaking to make that fit).

The MB has a PCIe 5 slot which is not used right now, but will hopefully come in handy at some point in the future.

I’m probably missing the odd cable, as the RGB features are not working atm (and I don’t think I mind at all, it’s not a gaming PC).

I started using the PC this morning. So far: my SU files open almost instantly for the most part. Rotating is smooth, switching to other scenes as well. I absolutely love love love the tray!!!

I did an initial VRay test drive using the interactive render, the preview is updated swiftly. I mean, instant would be nicer, but this is a HUGE improvement from where I came from. I then started a final render of the same scene in 1960x1103 and walked to the kitchen to poor a cup. When I came back, it was done. My kitchen is about 5 steps away from my PC and I have one of those Nespresso thingies…

I can hear the chassis’ included fans (one rear exhaust 120 and 2 front 140), and they definitely started rotating a bit faster when I started using VRay, but it’s not annoying. My plan was to swap them out eventually anyway, or maybe even use liquid cooling for the entire case.

From what I foresee now, I will be changing out the CPU for an i9 and the GPU for a 4080ti or perhaps even a 4090ti once that comes out, but only after the prices have significantly dropped. Which means a couple of years on this nice machine with which I am really, really happy!!

I hope this will help others who are looking to get new hardware.

If I could have marked multiple solutions on this thread, I would have. Unfortunately I can’t but @ateliernab @Anssi @JMP @Elmtec-Adam gave me some very useable and practical advise. @SeanB made me rethink and research MB’s which was also really helpful.

So thank you to all mentioned and unmentioned, for helping me putting this together, couldn’t have done it without your help. :smiling_face_with_three_hearts:

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Sounds like a great build. It’s certainly nice to be able to do upgrades to your workstation when one is able and ready to do so :wink:
I’d love to see what this machine does with the SU Benchmark. https://forums.sketchup.com/uploads/short-url/9esAXJR8Ns2hdFQfN8NdQ7V78JE.skp
Why not give it a go and share the results.
Best of luck :slight_smile:

1 Like