Intro level hardware for Houdini

[Garry 0]

Hi all,

I'm new to VFX, in search of a computer to get started with Houdini.  My best guess at this point is a mid- to high-range gaming PC.  Specs I'm considering: (below)  Would this machine work at the intro level?  Thanks.

Intel® Core™ i9 9900K (8 Core/16 Threads, up to 4.7GHz on all cores, 16MB Cache)

NVIDIA® GeForce® RTX 2080 OC with 8GB GDDR6

16 GB Dual-Channel-DDR4 at 2.666 MHz

256 GB M.2-PCIe-NVMe-SSD + 2 TB SATA 

Windows 10

[CinnamonMetal 10]

That is a good stater Houdini machine; you could add more ram of leave as is when just starting out.

[Garry 0]

Thank you.  I appreciate the advice.  I'm very much looking forward to learning this cool software.

[Hokmah 9]

Looks ok but definitely like CinamonMetal says, you should get more RAM... 32GB will be much better for the start and the second think in my opinion would be better to start with CPU like threadripper 1920X.

[Garry 0]

I appreciate the suggestions.  Thank you.

[davpe 136]

this is perfectly good for running Houdini, but I wouldnt call it entry level hardware for sure. it's better than what i have at home and that was some pretty dear high end stuff just a year ago  if you want entry i'd opt for something much more humble if budget is of any importance to you. just saying  consider 16gb ram a bare minimum thou.

[Garry 0]

Thanks.  You're right: I'm what's entry level, not the computer.  The nice thing is that everything is easily upgraded nowadays, RAM, video card, etc.  My main concern was being able to run Houdini in some reasonable fashion to get started.  The kind folks at SideFX gave me input too after I posted here.  17/17.5 seems to be a big step up from previous versions, so I may have gotten lucky as far as that goes too.