PC Upgrade review/help request

SketchUp
#1

I use my PC for work & gaming.
My pc is about 5 years old now.
For work I use Adobe Suite, AutoCAD, Revit, Twinmotion, Blender & Sketchup.
I understand that Sketchup only uses single core, so am concerned if I upgrade my pc with a faster processer whilst has more cores & threads and overall clock speed, the individual core speed may be less. Memory and Graphics card will be much better.

Current system

  • Intel Core i7 4790K 4.0GHZ 4 cores 8 threads
  • 16GB DDR3 (8GB x 2) 1600mhz
  • GeForce GTX 970

Proposed system

  • Intel Core i9 10900K 3.7GHZ 10 core 20 threads
  • CORSAIR 32GB DDR3200 (16GB x 2) 3200mhz
  • Geforce RTX3060Ti 8GB

I`m not prepared to spend the money unless a significant lift, would this give a big lift?

#2

I think in terms of CPU you may see some extra improvements.

3 Likes
#3

PassMark gives your old CPU 2468 points versus 3174 for the proposed new one (single-thread rating).

Overall, in Sketchup, you might notice an improvement but possibly not very mind shattering. Rendering with a rendering application would be faster with more cores or a more efficient GPU.

Money-wise we are probably talking of a totally new system?

3 Likes
#4

Upgrading a PC to get better performance has some strong similarities to riding a motorcycle. Many people buy bigger bikes before they have truly learnt to ride the balls off the smaller one. Getting the most out of the smaller one will make you a better rider when you move up to a larger one.

So, in a similar vein, be sure you are modelling efficiently before you spend money to upgrade your system.

2 Likes
#5

Thanks for the comments.

Riad -> thanks

Anssi -> I didn’t know that single core could be assessed on single thread rating… good to know

Box -> yeah, I hear you on that one. In years past when upgrading, sometimes other apps have shown great leaps in performance but unfortunately, SketchUp has mostly shown minor improvements. As long as “better” I think the benefit with other apps will make up for it! But wholeheartedly agree.
And modelling more efficiently is an endless pursuit of perfection! Get to the end of a big/detailed model and wish there was more that could be done next time!

Moneywise looking at about 2.5k.

I was considering replacing the desktop as several parts in the last year had failed and I did bandaid replacement parts as the setup was not so compatible with more significant parts upgrade. The machine is 5 years old and pushed quite hard off and on.

I thought it might be better to do a planned replacement than a forced one but also wanted a bit more boost to keep me going for a good few years again.