Gaming suitable PCs - suitable rendering GPU specs.

[Guest]

Just wondering if there are any serious gaming, or non-serious gaming, contribs here. I'm looking for a gaming spec'ed second PC tower (off the shelf) for rendering 3D - not really my area (gaming) but I've seen Alienware and looking for other suggested makes but must feature higher-end Geforce Graphics (min 2GB DDR5) for CUDA.

 

Off the shelf is fine as it's really just a chasis with a great GPU that I want and don't need to spec up for other uses.

 

 

 

 

[PatrioticAlien]

Yep, i have an alienware i have also owned many other branded gaming laptops, i don't like desktops. .

 

If your also going to be rendering 3D you also need a great CPU on top of the GPU's to get very fast speed. i would also recommend a SSD for rendering, reliability sucks.  If money is a major factor it's always ALOT cheaper to build your own one than buy a branded one.      

 

If you can afford a GTX titan that would be an ideal card. whatever card you choose try to get two for SLI, just means its upto 50% faster per card.  

 

The thing is about "gaming pc's"  the biggest factor is your budget, steam has a console style pc coming out called the steambox, the specs and prices very from every manufacturer, those are worth a look. 

 

These are really the main branded gaming pc's, ASUS, Alienware, Falcon northwest, Origin. This is a great time to buy, PC makers cant sale their products, if you negotiate hard you can get some really good deals.   

[IDP]

Geoff,

 

The motherboard on one of my PCs gave up the ghost last week and I considered this might be a good time to look at getting a new machine.

 

I did a lot of research, looking particularly at gaming PCs with the ability to take high end graphics cards, and was very impressed with a company called DinoPC (www.dinopc.com). You can do as little or as much customisation as you want, and they've got very good feedback.

 

In the end, I just changed the motherboard on my old machine but I'll most probably get my next PC from them.

 

Ian D

[Guest]

Thanks for the replies, I've now discounted Alienware after chatting to a computer builder - since Dell bought the name, it's not a patch on what it was in the past. The number of XPS machines they get in for repair tells it's own story about Dell.

 

Ian, I looked at that site and liked the specs they have for gaming, and therefore rendering machines.

 

I found a spreadsheet for comparing the results from GPU rendering for Blender and it looks like two of the smaller cored GPUs out-perform a Titan so SLI looks like the front runner. I now am trying to find out what sort of GB I need in the GPU. Currently I am using a 4GB GTX 670 but I can downgrade to smaller core cards if I run two - question is two at 2GB or 2 at 4GB??? I've asked the questionon a 3D software forum. What is interesting is the law of diminshing return, for CUDA work, with the GTX GPUs. Although the spreadsheet is for CUDA rendering, it might apply across other rendering apsects as well.

 

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0As2oZAgjSqDCdElkM3l6VTdRQjhTRWhpVS1hZmV3OGc#gid=0

[PatrioticAlien]

i forgot to yesterday to recommend the Nvidia Quadro cards. my understanding of quadro is they are built for rendering, they are the professional versions of the GTX series. 

 

Anyway, if you want to see the overall power of any video card just google video card benchmarks 

 

a very simple easy source's to understand but doesnt include professional lines http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/

 

I always use this to show the values of different cards, this is in my opinion the best and most logical comparison, from of all video cards professional and non-professional Nvidia and AMD cards (just make sure you select desktop GPU in the second drop down box and select all for the tests)

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile-Graphics-Cards-Benchmark-List.844.0.html

 

Anyway I hope this gives you a more in-depth view. I Hope you find what you're looking for    

[DavidLyons]

Geoff.

 

Medion (German based now Lenovo controlled) supply at all levels of the market but put together some impressive high end towers including gaming. Might be worth a look for single or two unit option.

 

e.g. http://www.medion.com/gb/prod/MEDION+ERAZER+PC+X5398+D/310018454

 

I have bought several high spec towers directly from them. Two currently in daily use. No problems.  

 

Their price per spec always seems more competitive than many whizzo name brands and I suspect they are more durable than some.  If you don't want to get into customization their off the shelf workhorse quality / value is very good.

 

D.