What hardware resource does CC3+ Run on?
FarsightX3
Traveler
I am getting a new computer this Sunday and I am hoping what I have will lessen the frequency of lag when i do larger map projects. What does CC3+ resources run on? RAM? Processor? HDD? Graphic Card? Or a multiple of these components?
I am getting an SSD, Intel i5 8400, 16GB DDR4 Ram, and if I remember right its an Nvidia EVGA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti 4gb Video Card.
I would hope that with these new parts, I can run CC3+ smoother?
Honest feedback would be helpful.
I am getting an SSD, Intel i5 8400, 16GB DDR4 Ram, and if I remember right its an Nvidia EVGA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti 4gb Video Card.
I would hope that with these new parts, I can run CC3+ smoother?
Honest feedback would be helpful.
Comments
Also, one additional question. With that computer, it will have Windows 10, I have been using 7. I assume download and install and everything will be the same? Also, the files I worked with on Windows 7 can still be opened on Windows 10?
As for the SSD, I hope you are getting one large enough to accommodate CC3+ and the artwork and not just a "System" SSD. Of course, a larger SSD is more expensive, and I don't know how much you plan to spend, but keeping everything CC3+ on the SSd does help performance (Although CC3+ does utilize a memory cache, so performance is still good even if you do not have it on SSD, but SSD is better [I recommend an nvme m.2 ssd if that is within your budget])
16GB of memory should be fine, CC3+ can only use up to 4GB of it, but for maximum performance, I recommend that the full 4GB is actually available to CC3+ when using it (Although it runs fine on far less, I did a test on the minimum requirements, 256MB total in the system, and it still ran quite nicely, although in that case there is no room for a memory cache, so a faster drive, like an SSD is much more important)
My system will need to be able to cope with large bitmaps in GIMP and Krita as well, so the multiple core thing and decent graphics card does actually count from my point of view.
I am also aiming to get 16GB RAM, but I may have to cheat a bit on the drive and get HDD instead of SSD (if they still sell them!). I've also been told that HDD is actually more reliable than SSD in terms of lasting about twice as long.
I highly recommend you have at least one SSD in the system to keep the OS and software on, and optionally a larger HDD for long term storage. It is far better with a small SSD and a large HDD than a HDD alone. As for HDD's lasting longer, that is true, but the lifespan for a normal SSD for normal use is far beyond the lifetime of the computer anyway, even if you stick with it for a really long time. Obviously, you can always get unlucky no matter if you have an SSD or HDD, I replace both kinds every so often, especially the ones in the server that experiences a heavier load.
If you absolutely have to go for a HDD, they do sell some HDD's with SSD caching, called SSHD. These do have quite a bit better performance than regular HDD's, although effective performance benefit depends on your file usage pattern.
If you plan on running several of those graphics programs at the same time, and along with CC3+, and perhaps several instances of CC3+ as well, I recommend perhaps thinking about 32 GB of ram, although you should be able to manage with 16, just don't drop below that. (I still find it weird that my server is running on 128GB of RAM, I remember when 128MB was a huge HDD)
As you state yourself, a processor with multiple cores is very helpful, but clock speed is also an important factor, especially for CC3+. For my personal computer (which is now 2 years old) I settled for an i7-6700K which had the highest clock speed at the time, and still had 4 cores and hyper-threading. These days, 6 or 8 cores are more commonplace, but I would probably rather go for a 6-core with a high clock speed rather than an 8-core with a lower clock, since it is far from all situations where all cores can be engaged, while a higher clock speed will almost always contribute. You could go for an AMD CPU instead of an intel one. They are generally more performance per dollar, but they do focus more on higher core count rather than good single core performance. (They are still good CPU's though)
As for the graphics card, you're probably fine by going for a decent one, rather than a top of the line one. A GTX 1050 or 1060 is probably enough when your main work for it is to help in graphics programs and such, but I do recommend getting a discrete adapter and not rely on the one built into the CPU. Better cards won't hurt, but it is always the cost/performance calculation here.
Are you going for 2 or 3 monitors btw? Personally, I prefer working on 3 decent-sized monitors rather than one or two huge ones. And I prefer 2560x1440 resolution over 4K resolution. 4K just requires more power from your system to render in that resolution, with very little benefit to the average workflow.
That is a really useful breakdown of the various bits and pieces that are going to cost the most - and cost even more if I make the wrong decisions.
Extremely useful post. I will bookmark this in my browser
And I remember when my 256 MB Atari was the coolest thing on Earth :P
Here are my current system specs. They're quite old I believe.
Graphics Card = GeForce GTX 480
HDD 500gb
8GB of DDR3 Ram
Intel i5 750 @ 2.67ghz (4CPUs) ~2.7GH
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My SSD will be 500gb.
Not sure how old the processor is. Maybe 2010-2012? Thoughts?
Don't expect a revolution, but your new setup should be about twice as fast as the old one when it comes to CPU performance alone. (For comparison, I only had a 50% speed increase myself the last time I upgraded, things are just not progressing that fast any more)
Here are some numbers comparing the CPU's.
Of course, upgrading from 8GB of RAM will probably give you a boost too, unless you never ran anything else at the same time as CC3+. Note that the new RAM is also faster, which also applies (Make sure you get 2666Mhz ram which is what that CPU runs on, rather than the very common 2400GHZ ram that most CPU's used to run on until very recently, using the latter will cost you performance)
Of course, going from an HDD to an SSD is also a world of difference, and generally makes the computer feels much more responsive just by itself.
Graphics card won't mean much for CC3+, but is a nice improvement over the old one. Just note that you are going from a top-tier 4-series card, to a mid-series 10-series, so while a nice improvement, it won't be the revolution you would have gotten by going to a new top-tier card instead. Here are some numbers on the GPU's. The general rough NVIDIA rule is that when you go one generation up, the performance is equal to the card one "step" down, so a 480 is roughly equal to a 570 and to a 660 and a 750 and so on.
If you are going for a laptop, consider going for an off-brand PC. My latest laptop, which I acquired this summer is a Kunshan from a chinese company called Clevo. They sell computers to various companies all over the world that brands them with their own brand and sell them as theirs. Mine is branded from a Norwegian online store for example, but other stores sell the same computer under their own brand. I did quite a bit of research before I went with that one though, as there is a lot of crap in that cheap market, but this is actually a very nice computer, and I saved about £500 or so compared to the same specs from other cheap brands like Acer and Asus, even more compared to brands more reputed for their quality than those two. Of course, I've only owned mine for half a year, but I am very pleased with it so far, and it gets consistently good reviews too.
I'm not going to be building my own, since I'm a bit too clumsy. If I accidentally damage an expensive piece that's all my plans down the drain.
I will be doing quite a bit of research myself - there will be several months before probate comes through