Upgrading PC for 3D Programs

AmandaMelville

Hello! Thank you for creating this forum on the site to have a place to ask questions.

So I'm interesting in upgrading my PC, but not sure where to start or what exactly I need to have it run more efficently in the way I need it to. I am a 3D modeler so I typically run multiple heavy programs at a time.

Programs I typically run Unreal, Unity, Maya, Blender, Substance Painter, Substance Designer, Maramoset Toolbag, Speedtree, Autodesk products, and a few others.

Right now I currently have :

Processor: AMD Ryzen 7 1700 Eight-Core Processor, 3000 Mhz, 8 Core(s), 16 Logical Processor(s)

I have a flexible budget, I'm just unsure of what to get. I do plan on buying parts at Microcenter and bringing my tower in for whatever installations I may need.

Thank you!

AmandaMelville

Just a note as well I do a lot of gaming on my computer as well

JS_MC

Hello, @AmandaMelville

Do you have the full list of specifications for your current computer? If I could know a bit more about what you have now, I could make a better recommendation.

If you have a budget for the build that you're looking to stay in, I'd be happy to recommend a part list for you, or if you'd like to, you're more than welcome to bring in your current desktop and speak with our sales associates in the store about what you're looking to do.

Whichever method is more convenient for you, we're happy to help!

AmandaMelville

@LandShark Heres a screen grab of my system info. I have a budget about 1000 to get this tower in tip top shape. It's more convenient if you're able to recommend what parts to get that could get the top performance I can get and then go to Microcenter to install the parts. The more I can use my desktop the better since I'm in school and starting a remote intership soon as well.

JS_MC

Hmm, I do not see what GPU or what PSU that you have currently in this build. I do see that you have the X370 motherboard and Ryzen 7 1700X, as you mentioned, with 16GB of RAM,

I can recommend a couple of parts that will give your system a fair boost, but I'm not sure if they would be compatible since I don't have the full specifications of your build.

https://www.microcenter.com/site/content/custom-pc-builder.aspx?load=d9763c54-d9e8-4f23-aa0b-d494537d1b71

The first thing that I'd recommend would be updating to an SSD. I'd recommend a 1TB SSD, M.2 if possible. Since you mentioned using various CPU/GPU intensive programs, I would recommend focusing there. Your CPU is several generations old at this point, and the upgrade would be a noticeable performance improvement. Upgrading your CPU would require upgrading your motherboard as well. Upgrading your GPU would be good for any program that may use it to render your projects.

Lastly, I would recommend increasing your RAM, but this would be dependant on your project size. If your current projects don't require more than 16GB of RAM, I'd say that you're fine to keep the same capacity that you have currently.

You may need to increase your PSU based on the upgrades you decide to make here. However, that would be dependant on the PSU you currently have.

Let me know if you have any other questions!

AmandaMelville

@LandShark I do have SSD, I have two additional hard drives on my computer other than the C drive, one of which is SSD. All of the information is really helpful, will upgrading the CPU and motherboard erase the memory that's stored on my computer?

I will be hopefully going to microcenter this weekend and I'm also going to bring the list you put together (which is so helpful). I appreciate you walking me through this because I've been having trouble knowing what would be best for me

Ian

https://community.microcenter.com/discussion/comment/29791#Comment_29791

You can use the drives again, now in most cases Windows / programs won't work correctly but you can access files / documents, etc. from the drives without issue and use them as storage.