New PC?

I have an old pc. It was good when I was learning cg, architectural visualization, but stopped doing it a year ago, because i started working in sales and didnt really have time.

Now i want to keep learning, because i realised this is the thing i love, creating stunning images.

The problem is, the old pc i have is too old (it was old even a year ago).

AMD 4x 3.2 Ghz, 8GB RAM 1600 MHz, GTX 460 graphics card.

I'm good, but not good enough for professional work.

First i want to learn to create awesome materials, lighting. In simple scenes simple (and later complex) materials and lighting, and to learn using render passes and post production, and to optimize the scenes and settings for best render times.

My hard drive is not working right now.

Do you think the pc i have is powerful enough to learn these and I should only buy an ssd or hdd, or should I build a new pc?... or should I buy a new one when i learned these things?

If you think i should buy a new one, what cpu, ram, cooler, mobo, graphics card, ssd (or hdd) would you suggest? My budget is about 300.000 HUF, 1000€, $1020, £675.

Thank you!

You don't mention the exact processor's model, but a quad core AMD of this period (4-5 years ago?) is already too weak for what you want to do.

Do you have a good monitor already, or is it inside the 1000€ budget? You can build yourself a decent pc with this budget if a monitor will be purchased separately. You could also sell your old pc in used parts and add some €'s to the total budget.

Its an AMD Phenom II 955 x4 3.2 GHz.

I already have a good monitor. An IPS 1080p 23' color calibrated, so the 1000€ is just for the pc. I have the old case, but i'd like a new power supply.

I can add another 1-200€ to my budget if its really worth it or needed.

Well its obvious that you want to put the most into your cpu if you want to do archviz. You also need more ram than 8 gb if you want to have an easier time, I just built my first one and 16 gb is a very common starting point. If you see yourself doing more modelling than rendering, you may want to get a high Ghz cpu with 4 cores. If you plan to be doing more rendering than modelling than try to get a cpu with 6+ cores (although thats going close to half your budget) Please get an intel cpu as well.

Basically spend the most on CPU, get some more ram, and get a good mobo. The rest of the upgrades can be added later because they contribute less.

Its an AMD Phenom II 955 x4 3.2 GHz.

I already have a good monitor. An IPS 1080p 23' color calibrated, so the 1000€ is just for the pc. I have the old case, but i'd like a new power supply.

I can add another 1-200€ to my budget if its really worth it or needed.

Ok. So if 1200€ is an upper limit, this is what I would suggest to take a look at:

1 x Western Digital WD Blue 1TB, 64MB Cache, SATA 6Gb/s (WD10EZEX)

1 x Crucial BX200 480GB, SATA (CT480BX200SSD1)

1 x Intel Core i7-6700K, 4x 4.00GHz, boxed ohne Kühler (BX80662I76700K)

1 x G.Skill RipJaws V silber DIMM Kit 16GB, DDR4-2400, CL15-15-15-35 (F4-2400C15D-16GVS)

1 x Gigabyte GeForce GTX 960 Mini OC, 2GB GDDR5, 2x DVI, HDMI, DisplayPort (GV-N960IXOC-2GD)

1 x ASUS Z170-K (90MB0NB0-M0EAY0)

1 x Raijintek Themis Evo (0P105245)

1 x Fractal Design Define S mit Sichtfenster, schallgedämmt (FD-CA-DEF-S-BK-W)

1 x Super Flower Golden Green Pro 650W ATX 2.3 (SF-650P14XE)

Total: 1190€ (without shipping cost, of course).

You said you want to keep your old case, but I included one inside the build, in case the old chassis is a mediocre one and needs to be refreshed too. Could mention, which case do you have currently?

You could get a 250gb ssd instead of 500gb, but it's good to have enough space for many reasons.

I have an old chassis, I cannot say it's perfect, but I'd rather spend that 100€ on other parts.

I just looked at all the parts and it is just over 1200€ in Hungary

I excluded the 1TB HDD for now (I can add that later), and the chassis, and didn't add the price of the operating system (150€)

I will sell my old PC, and hopefully I'll get another 100-150€, or I'll have to wait until the end of January to get the rest of the money (another 300€).

Do you think it would be good to buy a 250GB SSD for now, and add another one later (250 or 500GB SSD, and i want a RAID 1 configuration later)?

Is it worth buying just SSDs for speed, or an HDD is fast enough?

Thank you!

A 250gb ssd is an OK solution as a minimum. Don't try raid 0, imo. I currently have my OS and software inside a ssd raid 0 configuration. Sequential speeds are improved by a great deal, but random reads and writes (these are mainly responsible for the systems responsiveness) are similar or close to single ssd speeds. So, it's better to get a single but fast. And yes, it's way better to have an ssd as the main system's drive for many reasons that are well-documented.

The reason I asked about your old chassis was that I wanted to see if all parts are compatible with it, like for instance the cpu cooler clearance, the motherboard's form factor etc.

http://www.lc-power.com/en/product/gehaeuse/atx-gaming/pro-919b-aequitas/

This is case I have right now.

I'd like a 250GB SSD for the OS and I want to add later two 500GB SSDs in RAID 1 (I dont want to lose my stuff if anything happens to one of the SSDs).

Nothing happens to current bunch of SSDs on market, they are bombproof, but the only reliable files protection is 'back-up'. Separate Harddrive/Cloud storage/etc..

Also, you shouldn't have any crucial files on system drive anyway.

250GB of System harddrive is OK. More than enough for 3dsMax/Adobe Suite/3-4 other softwares, but nothing much else. Won't allow you to store any project on it.

500-1000GB for both projects and assets and other files ( media, music, games, photography, etc..) is insufficient.

250-500GB SSD is only good idea for system file. For anything else, start thinking in terabytes. 1TB per each category above is OK, but no less. If you can afford SSD in such case, super, if not, go for HDD.

Don't use raid (any) for anything non-fileserver wise (with exception for certain ultra-specialized type of workstations).

That is the worst looking case I have ever seen :- ) But it will do..

Alternatively, I can already tell you, you won't be able to sell anything from your current PC separately, but you can sell it as whole. Than you could buy a normal case :- )

This case is not only bad looking , but it also limits the cpu cooler choice (as I suspected), because of its small clearance (only 147mm). So, it's a good idea to refresh the chassis too.

As for the storage drives configuration, I don't have anything to add to Juraj's opinion. Start with at least 1TB hdd (a cheaper solution) and add capacities in the future accordingly to your needs. A raid 1 with dual 500gb ssds wont leave you much actual free space for storage.

I liked it almost 6 years ago , but it looks like I will buy a new case as well .

Okay, so I will buy the 1TB HDD and upgrade later to SSD.

When I had only one HDD I created 3 partitions and used one only for the OS, one for Max and Photoshop (and other archviz related softwares and assets, projects) and one for other stuff.

What do you think about buying a 120GB SSD for the OS only, and creating two partitions on the 1TB HDD, 800GB for Max and Photoshop, and the rest for movies, music etc (I dont really had/have non archviz related files so the 200GB is about enough).

The questions is: Should I buy the 250GB SSD and install Max, Photoshop (and other softwares i use for visualization) and the OS on that, or buying the 120GB SSD and installing Max and PS etc on the HDD is just as good? Will there be a difference other than boot time if the softwares are on the SSD or HDD?

EDIT: I dont know why I wrote 120 and 250GB. I meant 250 and 500GB instead.