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need advice on PC components upgrade for Houdini


bobc4d

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I know there are topics on this but they are older threads. which does/will Houdini 16.5/17 utilize best, processor or videocard?

my current system is:

core i5 4670, 16 gig ram, nvidia GTX960.  it was ok when I built it 5 or so years ago.

I want to upgrade, but the only processor which fits the board is i7 quad core.  if I am going to upgrade processor why go with same cores just faster speed, right? so it would be new mobo, processor and ram. I am thinking of going with Ryzen chipset.

so anyway, for Houdini can I limp along with this system for the time being and get an Nvidia 1070 ?

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Have you noticed that the viewport is sluggish with the scenes you're using? If not, you can limp along with the 960 for a while until you notice it becoming a bottleneck.

If you're going amd, the threadripper 2950X looks like a great value. If that's a bit rich for you, a Ryzen will do just fine. I'd recommend 32GB for a new system.

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In all honesty I would hold off just a little longer and try your system with a new graphics card, I know people always say something new will always come out but after seeing the new Nvidia RTX graphics cards at Siggraph with *built in* hardware ray tracing, you might kick yourself in the butt for buying anything graphic card wise before they arrive, they will be a real game changer to rendering, Redshift has an even brighter future now imho, the pro versions of these card are available but still $2500 for the average user for a graphics card is probably a bit much, I am assuming you are an average user from your current setup.

Judging by the past Nvidia will find a way to include a cut down RTX for home users, they would be foolish not too, which is why I say hold off just a little while....and since your current system is five years old a couple of months wont hurt to know you made the right choice.

And just as I was typing this I hear that Nvidia have just been hinting at a more reasonably priced RTX ....the RTX 2080....typical eh

  

Edited by Ticktock
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23 hours ago, bobc4d said:

which does/will Houdini 16.5/17 utilize best, processor or videocard?

By far the processor does more work than the GPU for a typical user. Only a few things heavily use the GPU like the viewport and some simulations. I wouldn't bother upgrading to another quad core on the same platform. I also wouldn't bother upgrading only the GPU on the existing system.

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thank you all for the input and advice. yeah the threadripper is out of my price range.  my current system chugs along for now so I will hold off and see what happens to Nvidia cards and AMD processors.

thank you again for all the input.

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