Help upgrading my system

[Naemi]

Hiya peeps,

Still new at it, I've been messing around with Daz for some time now and starting to work out the kinks and work-arounds, based on the system I have. Although those are limited and sometimes painful when my PC starts to whine about being mistreated and threatens to file a complaint to the board of computer rights violations. (I'm calling his-her bluff on this one.) So I've been thinking of upgrading, maybe RAM or new graphic card, nothing too costly but still efficient. And I would love some technical advice.

Here's the specifics :
-Processor Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-4770K CPU @ 3.50GHz
-Video Card NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770
-RAM 8.0 GB
-Operating System Windows 7

(Tell me if you need more details.)
Thanks ahead !

[Anonymous]

One question, and one suggestion...

How much Vram is on the GTX770?
and I would bump your MB ram to at least 16gb, as a minimum.

Here's what I'm using atm, and as long as I stay at 720P or below for my images, it works fine if a little slow at times... *which is why I also have a laptop and an android tablet, for when my desktop machine is busy rendering*

AMD FX-8350 @ 4ghz
16gb of MB ram
NVidia GTX-750TI with 4gb of GDDR5 Ram
25TB+ of Storage (internal and external chassis')
Windows 7 Ultimate x64

[Errilhl]

The GTX 770 came out standard with 2 GB RAM, but I'm quite sure they also made a 3GB version.

It's regardless not really up to the task anymore (a 1060 with 3GB will be a bit faster, and the 6GB version will be quite an upgrade).

[Daishi]

Pick up another 8 gigs of system ram, and try and get a used previous generation GPU.

Honestly, a 1070 8gb is a good choice for rendering. It's about as cheap as you can get if you want 8 gigs of Vram, and with a decent overclock can get pretty close to the 1080 in performance.

[Kre@tionz]

I just bought the TITAN RTX which has 24GB of ram. I bought it primarily to use with Daz3d.

[deafx]

If you want to go the Iray route, keep the CPU, it's fine, get 8 GB of additional RAM, and the fastest 10xx Nvidia GPU you can get your hands on... Maybe a 980ti if the 10 series is too much $$$ but the 6 GB VRAM is a minimum (10xx cards usually have 8 GB). 1080ti is IMHO the sweet spot at the moment because of its 11 GB VRAM, but maybe too $$$. Still, it's a beast.

[Aftyrbyrn]

How much do you want to spend? How fast do you want your renders? What i have produces a really good 4k render in about 20 minutes. When i had my 970 ASUS STRIX GPU, took like 4 hours.

What I Ended up with over the years
This has been a piece by piece replacement, over a few years... here is where i have finally ended up (~4 years in the making)
CPU
Intel Core i7-8700K Desktop Processor 6 Cores up to 4.7GHz Turbo Unlocked LGA1151 300 Series 95W ~$379 -- Unlocked, Water cooled and OC at ~4.8 to 5.0 gHZ
(And with a 1080TI, it can be completely not used for renders, though it can speed them up at the cost of not doing anything else a normal speed on your rig while a render is progress, allowing you to render in the background and still have most of your CPU available for other stuff)
MOBO
Gigabyte Z390 AORUS PRO WiFi (Intel LGA1151/Z390/ATX/2xM.2 Thermal Guard/Onboard AC Wi-Fi/RGB Fusion/Gaming Motherboard) ~$179
16x pcie slot, must for GPU
6 onboard SSD
GPU
Gigabyte Aorus 1080TI Extreme 11GB ~$1,200 -- Go for gold, this is the most important part, your GPU, more ram, lager scenes, more vertexes, over clock it, water cool it. Beast. Plus it included a 3 year warranty.
POWER SUPPLY
EVGA 850 Bq, 80+ Bronze 850Watt Power supply ~$110 ... this is crucial for the 1080TI, maybe a little less wattage, i was running all spinning disks when i set this up and one SSD for the OS. Completely switched out all spinning for SSD and M.2 drives. Now on a 4k render with huge textures and a few characters, i pull about 350 watts total, leaving room for surges.
UPS
CyberPower Systems LX1500GU 1500VA UPS with LCD Display ~$110
Protect your investment against power spikes and lightning: A UPS, one that can handle that much and more wattage, keeps the power clean, prevents spikes and what not. I'm running a LX1500GU CyberPower, best investment after i lost a cpu and mobo to a power surge.

STORAGE
SSD or M2 devices ... but that is just for load times really, once it's in memory (get a lot of ram), it's pretty quick
~$100 - $200 each (~$600 invested in mine)
CPU COOLING
CORSAIR HYDRO Series H115i PRO RGB AIO Liquid CPU Cooler,280mm, Dual ML140 PWM Fans, Intel 115x/2066, AMD AM4 ~$110
Keeps the CPU cool... i never breach 60C under moderate load, and right now i'm rendering a 4k... 36C CPU, 45C GPU
CASING
Cooler Master SGC-5000W-KWN2 Stryker SE Full-Tower Case, Tempered Glass, VGA Vertical Display, Carrying Handle, LED, USB 3.0 ~$150
And a well ventilated case... i bought a pretty one, iWin LED mirror one, it overheated and was poor on air flow, so i got the Corsair Coolermaster

then add the other stuff
168 monitor Samsung 32in curved white
168 monitor Samsung 32in curved white
150 external storage device (SLow storage for saves and backups)
899 oculus (Because it's fun to look at your works in 3d, and games)
69 leapmotion, not to mention manipulate w/o controllers
150 mouse keyboard you could get meh ones, but why.

Something like 4400 totalish... (plus interest i'm paying on cards ... sigh)

so, you can spend a lot over time, and end up in a good place. Just pace your self, go for GPU and PSU if you have the MOBO and CPU to support it. Def check out a UPS.
side note: Don't care what people say, DO NOT use AMD Processor. I personally think they are Shit for rendering. Spend the extra money, get the extra routines from the Intel Family.

[Naemi]

Thanks you all for your input !

I now have a much better feel of how to upgrade efficiently, and must now decide what to get depending of course on how much I want to spend. I want to stay relatively low budget, so definitely some RAM to start with, but maybe I'll add a new graphics card (hesitating between the NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 2060 (6Go VRAM) and the 2070 (8Go VRAM)).

Thing is I'm also getting myself a Huion tablet this summer for digital painting, so I need to pace myself and manage my spendings if I also want to not starve. xD (JK, I'm not there yet !)

"The two most powerful warriors are patience and time." (Tolstoy) 😉

[Kre@tionz]

I use the wacom 27HD touch and I love it.

[Author]

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