PC Upgrades

[cp_rosser]

Hi All,

I'm hoping for some guidance on upgrading the below PC from October 2020. Primary use is for Blender so I guess that GPU and RAM would be my focus. Pictures attached of the build with some measurements for space.

Given the amount of time, should I also replace the thermal paste? Could this also be upgraded to a better performing product?

Thank you!

Case
CORSAIR iCUE 465X RGB GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 7 3800XT Eight Core CPU (4.7GHz/36MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF GAMING B550-PLUS (DDR4, USB 3.2, 6Gb/s) - ARGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 2070 SUPER - HDMI, 3x DP GeForce - RTX VR Ready!
1st M.2 SSD Drive
512GB PCS PCIe M.2 SSD (2200 MB/R, 1500 MB/W)
1st Storage Drive
2TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 256MB CACHE
Power Supply
CORSAIR 850W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
CORSAIR H100i RGB PLATINUM Hydro Series High Performance CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless Network Card
WIRELESS INTEL® Wi-Fi 6 AX200 2,400Mbps/5GHz, 300Mbps/2.4GHz PCI-E CARD + BT 5.0
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KUK-00001]
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10/11 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Microsoft® Edge
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
FAST TRACK 3 WORKING DAY DISPATCH
Welcome Book
PCSpecialist Welcome Book - United Kingdom & Republic of Ireland
Logo Branding
PCSpecialist Logo
Price: £0.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/tgujPd567f/

 

[Steveyg]

You don't really have to repaste on desktops to be honest, I've used the same paste for 10 years at times with zero issues. Repasting is more a laptop thing

What sort of performance are you looking to see increased it's still a pretty solid build to be honest so if we can specifically target an area we can suggest upgrades

 

[Martinr36]

Why do you need to upgrade, is the present setup under performing in any areas, if so where

 

[cp_rosser]

Thank you so much for the replies.

I'm hoping to see an improvement in render times on Blender. I also have a recoil 17" with a 4090 liquid cooling system, so the comparison is stark, but the same scene renders on the PC and takes 1m.30s, the laptop takes 15 seconds. I appreciate it's in a different league but I'd like to get some consistency in both my workstation at home and in the office.

So, in summary I think the GPU is the first thing to upgrade

 

[SpyderTracks]

Thank you so much for the replies.

I'm hoping to see an improvement in render times on Blender. I also have a recoil 17" with a 4090 liquid cooling system, so the comparison is stark, but the same scene renders on the PC and takes 1m.30s, the laptop takes 15 seconds. I appreciate it's in a different league but I'd like to get some consistency in both my workstation at home and in the office.

So, in summary I think the GPU is the first thing to upgrade

GPU would definitely be a good call for rendering.

What's your budget for the upgrades?

With your existing PSU, you could just about manage up to a 4080 GPU, which would be more powerful than a laptop 4090 and make a big dent in render times.

RAM wise, you could upgrade to 3600MHz, but I'm not entirely sure how much benefit that would provide in addition to the GPU, not sure it's worth the cost.

 

[Steveyg]

I believe Blender loads the data on the RAM first when rendering so faster RAM could definitely help but I believe this is only when using the CPU for rendering

When using the GPU it uses the VRAM over system RAM, now this is just cursory understanding and I could be mistaken but I believe this is how it works

 

[SpyderTracks]

Some benches of GPU rendering in Blender:

Nvidia GeForce RTX 4080 16GB Review [Content Creation, Rendering, & Power Draw]

Nvidia's newly released powerhouse of a GPU, the RTX 4080 brings solid performance to content creation workloads at moderate power-draw. Our review goes in-depth.

www.cgdirector.com

 

[cp_rosser]

Blender uses Cycles for rendering and I set it to use the GPU which is fairly typical to the best of my knowledge. A couple of Blender settings images attached for reference.

Budget would be somewhere around £500 - £750 for the GPU upgrade. I presume space is a major issue and I also understand that Founders Edition cards are smaller (?) but more expensive.

Separately what is the second hand market like for GPU's? Is it worth buying used?

 

[SpyderTracks]

Separately what is the second hand market like for GPU's? Is it worth buying used?

It's a little bit of a minefield in that there are a lot of fakes out there believe it or not, and also there are ex-crypto cards which are absolutely hammered and not worth the investment, but sellers claim they're gamers cards.

But if you buy from a reputable source, then it's definitely worth investigating. Personally though, for peace of mind, I'd always go with new even if just for the warranty.

You definitely want an NVidia card for any hardware acceleration though, the cuda cores combined with RT Cores make a significant impact into performance at this level.

The 4070ti can be found under £800 easily new and still outperforms any previous generation cards (even the 3090ti)

Blender: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 40 Series Performance

The RTX 4070 Ti has now joined the RTX 4080 and 4090, completing NVIDIA’s launch of the initial trio of their GeForce RTX 40 Series of GPUs. How do these cards compare in Blender for GPU rendering versus the previous generation RTX cards?

www.pugetsystems.com

 

[cp_rosser]

It's a little bit of a minefield in that there are a lot of fakes out there believe it or not, and also there are ex-crypto cards which are absolutely hammered and not worth the investment, but sellers claim they're gamers cards.

But if you buy from a reputable source, then it's definitely worth investigating. Personally though, for peace of mind, I'd always go with new even if just for the warranty.

You definitely want an NVidia card for any hardware acceleration though, the cuda cores combined with RT Cores make a significant impact into performance at this level.

The 4070ti can be found under £800 easily new and still outperforms any previous generation cards (even the 3090ti)

View attachment 38055

Blender: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 40 Series Performance

The RTX 4070 Ti has now joined the RTX 4080 and 4090, completing NVIDIA’s launch of the initial trio of their GeForce RTX 40 Series of GPUs. How do these cards compare in Blender for GPU rendering versus the previous generation RTX cards?

www.pugetsystems.com

Top stuff, thank you all!