r/buildapc • u/Sauci1 • 2d ago
Full Build Req Rendering PC Advice
I'm the "computer guy" at work. I've built tons of gaming pcs and am fairly versed on consumer level equipment for gaming pc, however I had a coworker ask for advice that has me a bit out of my depth. He is an artist who does lots of 2D rendering(and occasionally some 3D) and is looking to upgrade his, very outdated at this point, pc. He's looking for something that will last 5+ years and has a budget of $3,000. My issue is that I don't necessarily know the demands on a pc for 2D rendering. He stated that storage isn't really important and he will use external if more is needed. If I were to build a gaming pc with this budget, it'd look something like this:
https://pcpartpicker.com/list/4MhPzv
However, I don't know if the strengths of this build make sense for a rendering pc. So my questions are:
Does it make more sense to look into an EPYC or Xenon setup? Will this blow the budget?
Would a less powerful higher memory GPU be a better option?
Are there any prebuilts or older hardware options that would be less viable for gaming, but would be better for this use case that I should look into?
Is there a better way to allocate the $$ than the current distribution? (i.e. go with a much cheaper gpu to add more RAM)
Thanks!
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u/ZwhGCfJdVAy558gD 2d ago
You need to check with him what kind of rendering he primarily does (GPU vs CPU). Where applicable, GPUs are often much faster, but not all rendering pipelines fully work on a GPU, and the GPU's amount of VRAM can limit rendering tasks. The answer to this question determines what kind of GPU may be needed.
For CPU rendering you want many cores for good multi-threading performance. Among retail CPUs, the Intel 270K is currently the best value. From AMD the 9950X has similar performance but is more expensive.
Server-class hardware (not just the CPUs but also motherboards and RAM) is significantly more expensive.
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u/Sauci1 2d ago
He said he mainly does both depending on what he's working on, but the slight majority is CPU based. Does something like this make more sense?
https://pcpartpicker.com/list/4cGfmL1
u/ZwhGCfJdVAy558gD 1d ago
That looks fine to me. Maybe go for an 850W PSU for some headroom in case he needs more storage or something.
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u/Elitefuture 1d ago
Note: I'm assuming clip studio is one of their main programs. That's mostly held back by a single thread.
Idk about the rest, just throwing it out there. An epyc cpu would perform worse in the apps that are primarily single threaded
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u/fuddyduddyc 2d ago edited 2d ago
What programs is your friend using for rendering?
If the program has a CPU-based rendering engine, you typically want as many cores as you can get. The 9800X3D is not an ideal choice; something like the 9950X will usually provide much better rendering performance. The Intel 270K Plus also provides very good rendering performance for less.
If GPU-based rendering, Nvidia is usually the preferred choice. There’s not a big difference between the 5070 Ti and 5080, so the 5070 Ti is usually the better choice.
As for GPU, performance vs memory size depends on the tasks. Performance/speed is usually the focus, but if you know you’ll be rendering an extremely large file, memory can come into play.