Which component should I upgrade to increase 3d rendering speed? Advice please!

[alanal]

My PC struggles a bit when rendering large scenes using Max/Vray/PS. The following is my actual hardware configuration. Which component could I change without spending too much money but which will noticeably improve the rendering speed?

 

Computer Type = ACPI x64-based PC

Operating System= Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate 6.1.7601 (Win7 RTM)

 

Motherboard:

CPU Type QuadCore Intel Core i5-750, 2000 MHz (15 x 133)

Motherboard Name Asus P7P55D LE (3 PCI, 2 PCI-E x1, 2 PCI-E x16, 4 DDR3 DIMM, Audio, Gigabit LAN)

Motherboard Chipset Intel Ibex Peak P55, Intel Lynnfield

System Memory 8183 MB (DDR3-1333 DDR3 SDRAM)

BIOS Type AMI (09/24/09)

 

Display:

Video Adapter ATI Radeon HD 5700 Series (1024 MB)

Video Adapter ATI Radeon HD 5700 Series (1024 MB)

Video Adapter ATI Radeon HD 5700 Series (1024 MB)

3D Accelerator ATI Radeon HD 5750 (Juniper)

 

Your advice will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

[Dimitris Tolios]

You have a 1st generation i5, using the LGA 1156.

Unfortunately your "cheap" options for faster rendering speed are limited.

 

You could get a 1st gen i7 for the same socket - be careful, you have to get a used 1st gen, 3 digit processor like 860/870/880 etc. 2600K / 3770K etc are LGA 1155 and won't fit, and i7 9xx 1st gen won't fit either! Be sure to get the same LGA CPU as what your mobo has.

Be careful with the price. If you don't get it cheap, it doesn't worth the upgrade, as with less than $250 you can get a used Mobo/CPU, featuring much more goodies and a 2nd gen i5 that can surely be overclocked to match or surpass 1st gen i7s.

Newer motherboards like the Z68 and Z77 based ones (all are LGA1155), offer you compatibility with 2 generations of i5s and i7s, so you will have a couple of options to further upgrade in the future. The rest of your hardware would just plug in the new Mobo with no issues.

 

Another option, would be overclocking you CPU (or your newer CPU ofc).

[alanal]

Hi Dimitris, Thanks for the great advice. I've been looking online and have found a Intel Core i7 i7-870 2.95 GHz Quad-Core (BX80605I7870) Processor for a very reasonable price. I've checked the Ausus page and it seems to be compatible with my present Mobo. Here is a link to the page http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/Intel_Socket_1156/P7P55D_LE/#CPUS . The only thing that comes is the actual OEM processor with no additional parts (as shown in image http://imgur.com/tyqJM )

 

My question is will that procesor improve my rendering speed and do I need to buy anything else to go with it ?

 

Thanks a lot for your help

Alan

[Superkames]

Hi Dimitris, Thanks for the great advice. I've been looking online and have found a Intel Core i7 i7-870 2.95 GHz Quad-Core (BX80605I7870) Processor for a very reasonable price. I've checked the Ausus page and it seems to be compatible with my present Mobo. Here is a link to the page http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/Intel_Socket_1156/P7P55D_LE/#CPUS . The only thing that comes is the actual OEM processor with no additional parts (as shown in image http://imgur.com/tyqJM )

 

That's a boxed processor (English version) : http://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/Core_i7/Intel-Core%20i7-870%20BV80605001905AI%20(BX80605I7870%20-%20BXC80605I7870).html

OEM/tray have different CPU part numbers

 

My question is will that procesor improve my rendering speed and do I need to buy anything else to go with it ?

 

Yes , of course I7 870 is ~ 30-35% faster than I5 750 with heavy multi threading apps such as rendering , from both higher speed & Hyper threading technology

 

Thanks a lot for your help

Alan

 

Your motherboard maybe not suitable for Overclocking , so just replace the CPU .