Need to upgrade my pc to Workstation

[Enigma]

I saw these "complete" / matched ones, but they green RAM:

[Sale] - 32GB (4x8GB) DDR3 1600 | Memory / RAM

Hi, selling this Samsung DDR3 kit. Prefer not to split unless I have buyers for all 4 modules. Item: Samsung 1600Mhz RAM (4x8GB) Green with no heatspreader Age: Unknown Price: R1600 Warranty: Nope Packaging: Will package well Condition: Good Location: Hluhluwe/Richards Bay Reason: Upgrading...

carbonite.co.za

[Reseller] - Crucial 8GB DDR3L-1600 UDIMM|CT102464BD160B| CL=11| Unbuffered |NON-ECC||1.35V x10 Available | Memory / RAM

Item: Crucial 8GB DDR3L-1600 UDIMM|CT102464BD160B| CL=11| Unbuffered |NON-ECC||1.35V 10xavailable Age: Unused (Brand new sealed)Unknown Price: R500 each (Discount on bulk deal) Warranty: 1 month checking warranty on me Packaging: Original blister packaging Condition: Brand new sealed Location...

carbonite.co.za

the matched kit will work fine, perhaps negotiate on the price a bit though

the second ad you mentioned is laptop ram...so no go

 

[Enigma]

So when it comes to running SSD Raid I would really think about it properly, if for redundancy by all means if for performance you may want to take into consideration the fact that SATA is pretty quickly limited from a throughput perspective. The most gain is already there from the SSD, RAID 0 wont make much of a difference in single workstation performance.

Usually i wouldnt bother with raid but i had 2 x 250gb Samsung evo's available. I'm not running anything mission critical on my home office machine (just email, ms office and browsing web) so no need to worry about redundancy (have backups for that)

Running a pike 2308 HW raid controller (PCI-E 3.0 based) so throughput is no issue. For reference, peak read stated for one ssd is up to 540mb/s read and 520mb/s write (although i assume those are for the higher capacity models). So very close to double based on benchmark below

https://imgur.com/0JgqKKV

Do i need it..no
Does it change my life from a speed perspective...no
Would i build a production server like this...no
Is it fun playing with hardware...hell yes😄

 

[Jonbolt]

Hi Jon

*Quick disclaimer
When I say Lumion I mean all the rendering programs, they are quite similar. I, however, have the most experience with lumion.

I use those two regularly, and you have it spot on at the moment. It's your GPU and a bit of system memory. Your CPU is perfect. Two screens is no problem either and with this set up you can have lumion or twin motion open on one screen and revit open on the other with a live model link between the two.


Here are my suggested upgrades. Ranked in order of importance.

SSD
This is a type of hard drive and you need one, its the best upgrade you can make. Everything will load faster from revit models to windows booting up. You want windows on it, revit and Lumion. So try to get a 512Gig drive, if not a 250 gig one can fit those things too but there is less room to grow. You don't need a fancy M.2 Nvme one as that would require a new motherboard. Your motherboard has one Sata 6 port and so just be sure to plug it in that one when you get it. You can easily transfer your files (Windows, Lumion Revit ect.) onto it when you get it.

GPU
This is probably the most costly one but will be a big help and allow you to use twin motion or lumion properly without the stuttering you probably getting now. I'd get a GPU with lots of ram as that makes Lumion much smoother. Not sure what you are looking to spend or what size projects you are working on. But a 1080 ti runs lumion very nicely. If you are looking to spend less then look towards cards with at 6-8 gigs of ram, you cant go too wrong. 1070 1080 1080ti, 2070, 2070 super are the ideal options though. When you get it, make sure to unplug the Quadro and put this in its PCIE slot as you only have 1 16X slot to make full use of the card.

RAM
In terms of system memory, 32 gigs would go a long way but I think anything over 20 would be good. Your Motherboard is DDR 3 and so when buying more ram make sure it's DDR 3 and not DDR 4. Look inside your case to see how many free ram slots you have and work from there.

Of course, you can redo the whole PC too but that's really not cost-efficient or necessary.
Shout if you need any more info or help!

Good Luck!

Hey there.
So I stumbled across fairly cheap GPU that i think will do the trick. Its a Geforce GTX 1660 Super. Came out October last year and the pricing really seems good. Around R5500. So i wanted to ask you, do you think this card will be good for Lumion and rendering? It spits out 12748 G3D Mark. So im impressed. What are your thoughts?

 

[ParkingCheezy]

Hey there.
So I stumbled across fairly cheap GPU that i think will do the trick. Its a Geforce GTX 1660 Super. Came out October last year and the pricing really seems good. Around R5500. So i wanted to ask you, do you think this card will be good for Lumion and rendering? It spits out 12748 G3D Mark. So im impressed. What are your thoughts?

Hi Jon Hope the rest of your search is going well.

If you would like something new, with a warranty that's your best option at that price. You will be able to make great renders.

The bigger models with more parts will give your PC a hard time. Having said that, this was done on a GTX 970 (Some horrible 3D Mark Score) with a bit of patience. It can do bigger scenes but it really battles with more objects so there are very few placed here.

However, If you are willing to get a second-hand card such as a 1070 Ti (seem to go for R5000 or less at the moment) I would lean toward that. It has a bit more ram and you will get a little bit more performance to stick plants on the walls of your building. I do get that a 1070 Ti has no safety net if it goes wrong. That peace of mind may be worth it.

Hope this helps?

Edit:
Scratch that, your performance gain is going to be small because the 1660 Super has less but faster ram. You are looking at the 1070 Ti being 10ish percent faster. That's a reasonable sacrifice for a warranty if its what you want.

 

[LizeB]

Howzit guy!

Interesting thread..im assuming you're in the Architecture field.
Im an architect and also looking to build a new PC. There are many ways to skin this cat..it all comes down to budget.
Personally I think xeon processors and workstation graphics are hugely overkill. But if your budget allows, theres no harm in considering.

However in my experience, a Ryzen 9 3900x or equivalent, with a suitable motherboard, 32gb ram, an SSD and a RTX 2070 Super, will be more than enough to handle Revit, VRay and Lumion with ease, as well as futureproof your workstation.

Im interested to hear what the experts on here have to say.
Good luck!

How does one futureproof your workstation? We just bought my husband a new laptop for exactly what you mentioned with almost exactly the hardware you list. This was after extensive research on my part as I am deemed the tech savvy in the family(struggling to keep up tbh). I have urged him to go for a I9 or similar exactly for future upgrades but it's still helluva expensive. Would love to hear what futureproof involves.

 

[goldfritter]

How does one futureproof your workstation? We just bought my husband a new laptop for exactly what you mentioned with almost exactly the hardware you list. This was after extensive research on my part as I am deemed the tech savvy in the family(struggling to keep up tbh). I have urged him to go for a I9 or similar exactly for future upgrades but it's still helluva expensive. Would love to hear what futureproof involves.

These guys are talking about desktop PCs, not laptops - desktops are easier because you can mix and match components yourself, and also upgrade only a single component at a time (e.g. if the graphics card is no longer powerful enough for your projects you can upgrade the graphics card but keep all the other stuff). With laptops your options to do that are way more limited.

Futureproofing means buying stuff today that is more powerful than you need, but which will (hopefully) work better for you in the future, meaning you don't have to upgrade as often. But it's a controversial topic and there are many arguments against futureproofing and rather just buying the best value for money parts today and upgrading as necessary (although again this applies much more to desktops than laptops).

As an aside, this thread is over 2 years old - it is a better idea to open your own thread with your own question so that people can help with advice that is more directed at your specific scenario.