With the holidays creeping near, I’m looking for any suggestions for desktop builds. This Christmas, I’m planning on getting my first desktop for architecture school. My main need is a machine that can get through high quality renders with complex materials very quickly. Right now I find myself waiting hours on end just to complete a mediocre render on my laptop.
I’m totally open for any advice or suggestions on what parts to look into for the build. I’m planning on building the PC so hopefully that will make suggestions easier.
When it comes to price, I realize it’s valuable to spend the extra money for a higher ROI, but I realistically don’t want to spend more than $1500. For my needs as a first year architecture student, I think that will do that job, as I can always upgrade specs down the road.
Hi @aoperry
What render engine are you using - CPU or GPU, realtime or offline? If CPU go for massive amount of cores (eg. Xeon). If GPU go for Nvidia with as many CUDA cores as you can afford - and consider having a dedicated GPU just for rendering and a (maybe smaller) GPU for your monitor(s). I would go for the GeForce range over Quadro, since the Quadro’s are so expensive.
-Jakob
@Normand Thanks for the reply! I’m new to Rhino so I don’t really know the difference between real-time and offline. And when it comes to CPU AND GPU I guess I plan to use whichever is better. Are there any specific Nvidia cards you would recommend?