New computers - Memory? Cores? Processor? Vid Card?

Community Community & Industry Discussion
1

Hi everyone,

We are ordering new computers for the engine programmers. What is most critical in order of importance for the fastest rendering, processing and overall development with Unreal when considering computing power?

Thanks for the help.

2

The biggest factor for general performance will be the video card. Something like a GTX 1060 would be great
For CPU, an i7 processor would be ideal
For memory, 16GB but if you need to do a large map more than that, for example the Kite Demo that Epic provides requires 24GB to load.

3

Ok thanks for the help. Appreciate the input. Any suggestions on a computer company that can build what we need without paying a huge price for name brand computers?

4

Like buying a prebuilt machine?

You could possibly find one at a decent price. (Like at Amazon, Newegg, Local electornic store.)
But it is usually cheaper to build one yourself or with the help of someone. (You can also pick and choose what you wish.)

5

So in my opinion, I think the starting should be similar to this:
4-core i7, 32GB of ram, GTX 1070, 512 GB SSD, 2TB HDD w/ backup solution

Which should cost about $1400 when built yourself

The best bang for you buck budget option would be:
Intel i5, 16 GB of ram, GTX 1060, 240 GB SSD, 1TB HDD w/ backup solution

Which should run $800 built yourself. The first thing I’d look at upgrading in that build is the i5 -> i7.

If you are looking for a more expensive build than the $1400 one, you can look at getting 6, 8, or 10 core i7’s or getting a GTX 1080 or Titan XP. From that base setup, I’d upgrade specifically depending on the needs of the project and studio. Are you spending a lot of time baking lightmaps, or do you need all the GPU power you can get?

If you are not building these systems yourself, expect a $100-200 markup.

6

How about this spec. It’s from newegg and is about $2,250. Too much? Can I get it cheaper elsewhere? This would be for the game engine guys who are putting together scenes and working on demo games for the PC.

Brand
Acer
Series
Predator
Model
G1-710-70001
Part Number
UD.P01AA.377

Quick Info
Type
Gaming & Entertainment
Usage
Consumer
Processor
Intel Core i7-6700 3.4 GHz
Processor Main Features
64 bit Quad-Core Processor
Cache Per Processor
8 MB L3 Cache
Memory
32 GB DDR4 2133
Storage
2 TB HDD + 512 GB SSD
Optical Drive
8X DVD SuperMulti Double-Layer Drive
Graphics
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 8 GB GDDR5X
Ethernet
Gigabit Ethernet
Power Supply
460W
Case
Armor-covered Design
Operating System
Windows 10 Home
Software Included
Acer Care Center
Tom Clancy’s The Division by Ubisoft

CPU
CPU Type
Intel Core i7 6th Gen
CPU Speed
6700 (3.4 GHz)
L3 Cache Per CPU
8 MB
CPU Main Features
64 bit Quad-Core Processor

Graphics
GPU/VGA Type
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080
Video Memory
8 GB GDDR5X
Virtual Reality Ready
Yes

Memory
Memory Capacity
32 GB DDR4
Memory Speed
DDR4 2133
Memory Spec
8 GB x 4
Memory Slot (Total)
4
Maximum Memory Supported
64 GB

Hard Drive
SSD
512 GB
HDD
2 TB
HDD Interface
SATA III
HDD RPM
7200rpm

Optical Drive
Optical Drive Type
DVD Super Multi
Optical Drive Spec
8X DVD SuperMulti Double-Layer Drive

Audio
Audio Chipset
Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi MB5

Communications
LAN Speed
Killer Doubleshot Pro E2400 10/100/1000Mbps
WLAN
Killer Wireless-AC 1535 802.11ac WiFi featuring 2x2 MU-MIMO technology (Dual-Band 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz)
Bluetooth
Bluetooth 4.1 LE

Front Panel Ports
Front USB
1 x USB 3.1 Type-C
1 x USB 3.0
Front Audio Ports
2
Card Reader
Secure Digital (SD) Card up to 128 GB

Back Panel Ports
Video Ports
1 DVI, 1 HDMI, 3 Display Port
Rear USB
4 x USB 3.0
Rear Audio Ports
6 ports

Expansion
PCI Slots (Available/Total)
0/1 PCIe X16

Mouse
Mouse Type
Predator USB Gaming Mouse

Keyboard
Keyboard Type
Predator Flare Mechanical USB Gaming Keyboard

Dimensions & Weight
Dimensions (H x W x D)
16.46" x 4.33" x 13.70"
Weight
17.10 lbs.

7

To get a decent performance, this is the least spec I can think of:-

  1. SSD (250GB and above) - levels can be loaded a lot faster.
  2. i5-6600K
  3. GTX1060
  4. RAM 16GB.
    Of course, if you have got more money… the spec above can be upgraded… it depends on the budget.
8

Programmers will see a better return on investment from spending extra to get a six-core CPU over a fancier graphics card.

9

I would def spend as much as you can on a top processor. With the spec you suggested at around $2250, you can get an excellent machine built yourself…and make it look pretty badass.

10

You could get HDD https://www.amazon.com/Seagate-Gaming-3-5-Inch-Internal-ST4000DX001/dp/B00FQH7MQ2 its SSHD as ytou will need a lot of space and fast read and i got this as SSD have very low space .

11

If I had to suggest anything, I’d say go with this (or better) if you are serious:
Intel i7 6700K
NVidia GTX 1060GTX or 1070GTX or ATI Equivalent
32GB Memory
2x SSD (1 for OS/Programs, another for files/projects)
1-2 Storage drives for archiving and backing up your data (or backup to cloud)

I recently built a PC just for this engine based on my patience for waiting on the computer to do something.

From my view while I was watching system performance I was bottlenecking at CPU more than anything else. I found my i5 I had for my gaming rig was chugging when building which was causing me to have more time to get sugary drinks and eat more munchies. Can’t have that.

I found two bottlenecks:

  1. While in the Editor, raw speed of a few cores and a fast video card made a huge difference since there are fewer processes from what I saw to take advantage of more than 2-4 cores
  2. During building I needed as many cores as possible

I ended up with (~$3k):
Intel i7 5820k (6 cores) Overclocked to 4.5Ghz (3.3Ghz was not cutting it)
NVidia 1070GTX
128GB of memory (60GB used as RAM drive)
SAMSUNG 950 PRO M.2 512GB (2.5/1.5GBps) SSD Drive (OS / Programs)
SAMSUNG 950 PRO M.2 512GB (2.5/1.5GBps) SSD Drive (Projects/Files)
Storage drives (backup, archiving, etc.)
Water cooling, good power supply, etc…

I’m not convinced that the RAM drive really provides a lot to the engine, or I’m not using it right maybe? But man does the RAM drive speed up game load times.
Even though it is stupidly fast overall I think a couple fast SSDs (500MBps +) would do just as well generally.

I did find having more 27" screens did help when I wanted to look at multiple things at once, like when I wanted to look at blue prints, materials and persona at the same time. Short term memory problems. =(

I think its worth having at least 2 really good screens that you don’t have to strain your vision on.

12

For rendering, you need a fast video card. An NVIDIA GTX 1060 is minimum spec. Whatever money you have, dump it on the video card. i7 CPU is absolutely necessary for build times. 4 core works fine, but for programmers 6 core can work much better for frequent builds, like building shaders, precomputing lighting, and (typically) running high draw calls in projects with massive amounts of objects, especially rigid bodies with physics. If you can afford a Xeon workstation, go for it. I work fine on 12 GB of RAM, unlike what others say I really have no problem with it. But that all depends on your project. You technically CAN develop on 8 GB, but 12 GB is safer for opening multiple programs without spilling into virtual memory and chugging down the machine. As other users have mentioned, Epic’s Kite Demo will not open unless you have 24 GB of memory. 16 GB is medium spec nowadays, so shoot for that. I recommend at least 2 TB physical HDD, more if you’re going to be developing many different projects and you want to keep all your files for a few years. If you want an SSD to get the benefit of fast startups that’s great, but 2 TB SSD is insanely expensive. I suggest running dual hard drives, at least 2 TB for the secondary drive, and run the computer’s OS on the primary SSD. Nowadays, 128 SSD is the best bang for your buck.

The power supply on the computer you listed is not as powerful as the other parts listed. 450 watts for a GTX 1080? A 500-650 watt PSU will run a GTX 1080 more optimally, especially if you’re going to be running a constant heavy load: you’ll be wasting electricity and overloading the supply at lower or higher wattages. Unlike other parts in the computer, DO NOT purchase a larger PSU than what you need. Optimal range is 50% the load you expect to use. A GTX 1080 takes 180 watts on its own, and Intel’s heaviest i7 cards use 140 watts (the lighter Intel i5s use only 65 watts, and lighter i7s use 90). I suggest a PSU in the range of 500-700 watts, rated 80-plus Titanium.

13

I’m using a 970, 16GB, i54690k and a 512GB SSD because it’s a good set-up for testing and production, and I can vouch for having 16+GB of RAM, my first build had 8, that wasn’t enough so wen’t 16, that worked real well for minor projects, but when projects start getting larger 32 seemed to be necessary if your loading a lot of shaders which you run into a lot being a solo developer

To give you an idea of it’s performance; this is a 5x5km map using a pretty beefy landscape material that I am still optimising

1616×907 291 KB