So, I'm sure that this topic has been brought up before, but I'm thinking of purchasing a new PC, partly because my Iray renders are killing my HP. lol I currently have an HP Envy with (at the time was awesome) 10 gigs of RAM. It was fantastic back when I first purchased it, but the world of Iray says it needs to go. So here I am...wondering what to buy. I'd like to keep it around the $2K cap so I have been looking at HP's again, and some PC's from the gaming community that I've never heard of (I'm not really into gaming, with the exception of Flight Simulator). Should I stick with name brands or would it be best to venture out a little? The link below is something that I found rather intriguing. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01NBLBNR8/_encoding=UTF8?coliid=IIDCS6X7JN2Q4&colid=1KOOVJPQ73UR5

I got a new PC recently for the same reason and went for a GTX1070 graphics card with 32GB RAM; I was getting fed up with overnight renders (with GTX850). The render times are way down; a single complex figure with HDRI ackground often renders in 2-3 minutes and complex scenes (multiple characters and a complex set) can render with around 2-3000 iterations in less than 2 hours. The upshot is that I can now use more complex sets rather than relying on HDRIs for quick renders so get far more from the hobby. My PC is the ASUS G752VS with Intel i7 processor. I'd say get the best graphics card and as much RAM you can afford!

Stick with air cooling and not liquid cooling, as that is for serious PC enthusiasts and is very high maintenance and not for newbies, if you are to spend 2k I would highly suggest building your own!...

Hi Crispycraft,

You should be able to get quite a bit of performance increase for 2K.

I usually use cyberpowerpc.com to spec out a machine. They have a configurator that you can add and subtract and substitute components while seeing what it would cost. Such as go with a cheaper less impressive case and increase the cooling or RAM and see what the difference in cost would be. You can then use this information to shop around or build your own or, if the price is right, buy it and have it custom built by them.

As for any recommendations, I would say if IRAY renders are essential to you, then you need Nvidia graphic card or cards with as much memory on the card that you can afford. I would also suggest upgrading the cooling (CPU or case, etc. more fans, more efficient fans, quieter fans, and liquid cooling if you so desire) on whatever you buy as IRAY puts quite a bit of computing pressure on any system.

I find this the best way for me to price a system without going crazy with options that sometimes will not work together.

At any rate, have fun,

Jack238

Thanks, to all of you, for the great advice! It has truly helped me out a lot. Now, with the information provided, I can venture out and find just what I need. My current system is Liquid Cooled so I do plan to stick with that. As mentioned, one of my other hobbies is FSX and I have a lot of addons for that as well. Jack238, thanks for the site, I'm going there now ;)

Go to tomshardware.com or pcpartpicker.com. You can ask people to help configure a system. Assembling your system, it's like snapping legos together, is cheaper than buying it pre-built.

I actually ended up buying this and I hope it will do the trick: CPU: Intel® Core™ Processor i7-7700K 4.20GHZ 8MB Intel Smart Cache LGA1151 (Kaby Lake) CS_FAN: 4X 120mm Thermaltake Riing 12 Series High Static Pressure 120mm Case/Radiator Fan (Orange Color LED) FAN: Asetek 591LX 360mm Liquid CPU Cooling System w/ Copper Cold Plate - Extreme Performance (3 x ORANGE Tt Riing 12 Series Case/Radiator Fan) HDD: 240GB WD Green SSD + 3TB SATA III Hard Drive Combo (Combo Drive) IUSB: Built-in USB 2.0 Ports MEMORY: 32GB (16GBx2) DDR4/3000MHz Dual Channel Memory (Corsair or Major Brand) MOTHERBOARD: CyberpowerPC Z270 SLI Xtreme ATX w/ RGB, AC WiFi, USB 3.1, 2 PCIe x16, 4 PCIe x1, 6 SATA3, 1 U.2, 1 M.2 SATA/PCIe [Intel Optane Ready] NETWORK: Onboard Gigabit LAN Network OS: Windows 10 Home (64-bit Edition) POWERSUPPLY: 800 Watts - Standard 80 Plus Certified Power Supply - SLI/CrossFireX Ready PRO_WIRING: Professional Wiring + [Black] Phanteks Premium Extension Cables sleeved set [24Pin MB + 8Pin CPU + 6+2 Pin VGA] SOUND: HIGH DEFINITION ON-BOARD 7.1 AUDIO VIDEO: GeForce® GTX 1070 Founder Edition 8GB GDDR5 (Pascal)[VR Ready] (Single Card)