So I know that his is a massive topic but looking for some direction for a pc set up for total of around £1000 - happy for off the shelf or self build.
I’m currently running a laptop with : i7 8750 2.2Ghz, 32GB Ram and GeForce GTX 1070 and it hangs up on larger (sometimes not so large) 3D models etc. I use Sketchup, Blender and just beginning to get to grips with Rhino 7 & Grasshopper. I model furniture, woodwork, 3D stl models and some larger architecture models with some rendering using Vray/ Evee / Cycles.
I’ve been going round in circles and getting totally lost in the best for value CPU and GPU particularly, I’m ideally looking at building something that I can improve on in the future.
So, given the value of stuff in the UK is generally awful (though not as bad as Norway it seems), I really struggled with this. I suggest reading this thread first, as some of the parts come from here, and I adjusted accordingly:
I cannot keep your cost under £1000 unfortunately, because of the stupid GPU. Here, I just use Scan PC where I can, and give the LN stock numbers.
MSI MAG Z790 TOMAHAWK WIFI DDR4 LN129298 - £219.98
This Z790 will allow you to upgrade to 13th or (theoretically) the incoming Raptor Lake refresh CPUs (14th?). HOWEVER you are stuck with DDR4 here to drive down RAM cost.
Intel Core i5-12400 LN122253 - £159.98
Good, well-reviewed CPU. It should offer some benefit in terms of pure architecture evolution over your i7-8750. If we were to take CPUBenchmark at its face value, then the newer CPU should be about 50% better than your current one in your laptop. Standard 12400 gives you an iGPU as well as a back up.
Corsair Vengeance LPX Black 32GB 3600MHz DDR4 LN119251 - £79.49
Can’t go wrong with Corsair RAM, this ide more than decent enough. Maybe there are downsides to the clock speed, relative to DDR5 in Rhino or Vray, I don’t know.
WD BLACK SN770 NVMe SSD 1TB LN123938 - £44.39*
Same reasoning as other thread. Decent, gets you directly to 1 TB. Advise another drive in the future, rather than dumping everything on here.
Seasonic Focus GX 750, 750W PSU LN100738 - £139.99
Same reasoning as other thread, should permit upgrades to CPU, GPU, or even both if Intel make their 14th gen efficient.
Fractal Design Focus 2 RGB TG LN120264 - £64.99
I have one of these at the moment. Same reasoning as other thread.
Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE Amazon - £29.90
I have a non-SE version, which is slightly more expensive, but for your use, this will be fine.
£30 for one of the best 250 W air cooler on the market! I think Amazon is the only vendor in the UK.
Sigh… here we go, blowing money on stuff that is… meh. What choice do we have; the GPU…
MSI NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 8GB VENTUS 2X BLACK OC LN137436 - £289.98
The 4060 isn’t great, but it’s about as good as I can get while remaining on the latest hardware and within budget.
EDIT: I am going to add a serious reservation here, especially regarding the VRAM. 8 GB is probably going to be way too small for “large” renders.
It’s absolutely woeful value, and I would seriously consider just waiting and seeing if you can get at least a 4070, but the 4060 Ti 16 GB, for the sake of sheer cost is (excluded from total):
** MSI NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 16GB VENTUS 3X OC** LN138517 - £459.98
I can’t stress how bad value this is. But it is the only nvidia card this end of budget that has 16 GB VRAM, that is close to your budget. The 4060 Ti has been demonstrated to be worse in some cases than its previous equivalent! But nvidia has backed everyone into a corner with terrible VRAM allocation.
TOTAL - £1040.20
Thermal paste is trivial cost, I used Arctic MX-4 for my Thermalright air cooler.
As always, make sure that you cross-check my opinion, and have a look at the good reviews for the GPU, CPU, and cooler. I tried to make a balanced build. However, this came somewhat at the expense of the GPU. In reality, it would be nice to have an RTX 4070 (though still not great value, to be honest).
I don’t think there’s much wrong with sticking with DDR4, and many reviewers seem very much passive about DDR5 outside of more intense gaming and overclocking.
My reasons for not advocating an AMD or Intel GPU is poor generalised render compatibility. Vray support is none for anything outside of nvidia, and unfortunately remains the case for many renderers. I have an Intel Arc on my own PC, but all of my rendering is CPU based. For Cycles, all three big GPU vendors are now supported to hardware raytracing levels now (Optix, HIP, & Embree) for Blender 3.6+.
Wow, thank you so much for the reply - really appreciate it. Given me a great base to work from - realised I’m gonna have to spend more eventually but just about to have a forced few months off work after an op so got to (try) and keep to a budget for now.
Thanks
It’ll certainly do the job. I’ll add some thoughts that you are welcome to take or leave.
Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut High Performance Thermal Paste
For such a setup, you don’t need an ultra-high performance thermal paste. One of the things about this specific paste, is that while it is fantastic, I beleive it is known for requiring replacement every couple of years. There is absolutely no need to spend anywhere upwards of a tenner.
Gigabyte B760 GAMING X AX (LGA 1700) DDR5 ATX Motherboard
Should do the job. This may be swings and roundabouts here. You are picking up DDR5, but dropping PCI-e 5.0 compatibility. Not important for your current card selection, but future generation GPUs may leverage such support.
Gigabyte GeForce RTX 4060 WindForce 2X OC 8GB GDDR6
Patato, PotAto. But I see they are actually in stock at Overclockers.
Kolink Enclave 700W 80 Plus Gold Modular Power Supply
Don’t know what this is. Be very careful about cheaping out on a power supply, as it is one of the parts which has almost global control over frying your components. I won’t scaremonger here, as I cannot judge if this is a good make or not.
Kingston FURY Beast 32GB (2x16GB) DDR5
Yep, excellent RAM. Almost ended up with this myself, in DDR4 form.
Crucial P3 PLUS 1TB M.2 2280 PCI-e 4.0 NVMe Solid State Drive
Should be fine I think.
WD 1TB Blue HDD 7200rpm 64MB Cache Internal Hard Drive (WD10EZEX)
I would strongly recommend not having a physical hard drive anymore. Move to at least an SSD if you can, as they are very very reliable now, and considerably faster, especially for save/load operations in Rhino.
MSI MAG Vampiric 010 Mid-Tower ARGB Gaming Case - Black Tempered Glass
I’ve never seen an MSI case with a seriously positive review. You may even find all of your efforts at cooling are merely stifled by MSI cases. In addition, look at the fan included. You get a single 120 mm rear fan. With the Focus, for example, you at least get 2 x 140 mm front intake fans with an open front; and you can use the other fans to balance the flow to your liking.
be quiet! Pure Rock 2 Black CPU Cooler - 120mm
be quiet! make really great stuff, and I have some of thier fans. But consider here that you are pairing an air cooler with a total thermal design power (TDP) of 150 W, but the 13600K has a maximum turbo boost of 180 W*(oh no!)*. You’re going to find that the CPU will start throttling back, especially if the air flow through the case is hampered under CPU-heavy operation. For this, I’d stick with the Thermalright Peerless Assasin, which is at least a dual-tower cooler design, with a thermal design power of 250W, meaning you can always upgrade the CPU to a 13700K, without too much concern (maybe on summer days, I have found). To not appear to be biased, there is also the Deepcool AK620. Expensive, but very good.
Lamptron Icecloud + ARGB 120 Triple PWM Fan Kit - Transparent|70x70
Ha! I forgot case fans! No idea about these fans, there are no reviews.
Alternative includes be quiet! Shadow Wings 2, which is about £13 each. Again, this will be important if you don’t have a case known for good airflow.
Intel Core i5-13600K (Raptor Lake) Socket LGA1700 Processor
Yep, very solid CPU by all accounts.
(oh no!)
The TDP is very confusing. But this is 150 W external source through the cooler, but lets take it at face value here as a first approximation.
Regard your spending, the most problematic part is probably the GPU, followed by the DDR5 requirement. Though prices have fallen for both, they are still lofty. The more I look, the more I hate £300 for the 4060. But that’s where we are, I guess.
Assuming you are looking at Overclockers, I have no idea why they have no stock of many items.
David, once again thank you so much for taking your time to go through each component and your honest, to the point and insightful comments - I feel like you are helping me to get there. Yep I am finding the lack of stock from Overclockers frustrating but there are others that seem to be holding stock so will look there.
Cant thank you enough,
Chris
I understand your frustration with your current laptop’s performance. With your budget of £1000, you can certainly build a powerful PC that will handle even the most demanding 3D modelling and rendering tasks. Here’s a breakdown of the components you should consider:
CPU: You’ll want a processor with a high core count and clock speed for CPU-intensive tasks like rendering. AMD’s Ryzen 7 5800X is an excellent choice, offering 8 cores and 16 threads for smooth rendering and multitasking. It’s also overclockable, so you can squeeze even more performance out if needed.
GPU: For 3D modelling and rendering, a dedicated graphics card is essential. NVIDIA’s GeForce RTX 3060 Ti is a great option, providing ample power for handling complex models and textures. It also supports ray tracing, which can add a touch of realism to your renders.
RAM: 32GB of RAM is a good starting point for 3D modelling and rendering, especially if you work with large or intricate models. It will ensure your system can handle the workload without slowdown or crashes.
Storage: A combination of SSD and HDD storage is ideal. A fast SSD will boot your system up quickly and load applications swiftly, while a larger HDD will provide ample storage for your project files and software.
Motherboard: Choose a motherboard compatible with your chosen CPU with enough expansion slots for future upgrades. ATX motherboards are a good choice for providing ample space for components.
Case: Select a case that is well-ventilated and can accommodate your chosen components. Mid-tower cases are a popular choice for their versatility and expandability.
Power Supply Unit (PSU): Choose a PSU with enough wattage to power your system efficiently. A 650W PSU should be sufficient for your needs.
Here’s a sample PC build that fits within your budget:
PSU: Corsair CX650M 650W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply Unit
This build will provide a solid foundation for your 3D modelling and rendering needs, and you can easily upgrade components like the GPU or RAM in the future if you require more power.
Remember to factor in the cost of an operating system like Windows 11 when budgeting for your PC build. You can also save money by purchasing used components, but be sure to research and buy from reputable sellers.
Hi Abdullah,
I really appreciate you taking time to reply and the info you supplied. It was a couple of months ag now I was looking and have now built a system that I’m very pleased with. All bought from scan.co.uk who were great, if anyone is interested:
2 x 123938|1TB WD Black SN770 M.2 (2280) PCIe 4.0 (x4) NVMe SSD, 5150MB/s Read, 4900MB/s Write, 740k/800k IOPS 7Q13B|£73.98|£88.78|
1 x 124408|DeepCool CC560, Black, Mid Tower PC Case w/ Tempered Glass Window, 4x 120mm Fans, ATX/MicroATX/Mini-ITX|£41.66|£49.99|
1 x 127685|Akasa Alucia H4 Plus CPU Air Cooler, 120mm Fan, Aluminium Fins, 4x Copper Heatpipes, Intel 1700/1200,115X,2066/11, AM4|£32.49|£38.99|
1 x |137389|750W MSI MAG A750GL, Fully Modular, 80PLUS Gold, Single Rail, PCIe 5.0, 62A, 120mm Fan, ATX 3.0 PSU|£79.16|£94.99|
1 x 129356|Intel Core i5 13600K, S 1700, Raptor Lake, 14 Cores, 20 Threads, 3.7GHz, 5.1GHz Turbo, 24MB Cache, 125W, Retail|£249.99|£299.99|
1 x 125870|64GB (2x32GB) Corsair DDR5 Vengeance Black, PC5-44800 (5600), Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 40, XMP 3.0, 1.25V|£122.49|£146.99|
1 x 137436|MSI NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 VENTUS 2X BLACK OC 8GB GDDR6 Ray-Tracing Graphics Card, 3072 Core, 2505MHz Boost|£241.65|£289.98|
Total was £1212.18 (inc.)
It was my first pc build and if anyone is concerned about doing it this way - dont be. It took an afternoon to be up and running and the machine is great.
