These builds are designed to provide the most power for rendering images and videos in programs such as Maya, Cinema 4D, Blender, Modo, and all the rest. General info on how these parts were selected is available in Section 2 below.

Note: When building a new PC, you’ll need to install an operating system. For maximum compatibility with 3D design and rendering, we recommend using Windows. You can purchase Windows here. Some people are eligible to get Windows free through school or work, so you may also look into that.

Cost-Effective Rendering Build ($700)

Balanced Price-to-Performance Rendering Build ($1200)

High-Performance Rendering Build ($1700)

Professional Rendering Build ($2900)

Forge of the Gods Rendering Build ($4900)

 

CPU

Once upon a time, this would have been the most important part of a rendering PC—so much so that I would have recommended putting all possible resources toward obtaining and supporting the most powerful CPU that your budget would allow.

But CPU rendering is no longer the only game in town, and the focus can be shifted somewhat in favor of the graphics card. That said, the CPU is still vitally important. The CPU is used for everything you do on a computer, so a faster CPU will always be at least a little bit better.

CPU rendering can take advantage of many CPU cores. For many years, Intel CPUs typically offered the best single-threaded performance, while AMD CPUs typically offered the best multi-threaded performance. Nowadays, both companies have some great chip options for rendering builds in both categories, and you'll likely see the recommendations in the section above oscillate between Intel and AMD periodically throughout each year as new parts release.

If you use a different CPU than we recommend in our builds, make sure you get a compatible motherboard, RAM, and CPU cooler.

Graphics Card

For rendering, unlike most other graphic design work, the strength of your graphics card is important for the speed at which you are able to complete your work. GPU rendering (when available) is much faster—in some cases, over ten times as fast.

You’re likely to want an NVIDIA graphics card. Here’s why:

Between the two most developed kinds of GPU rendering available now (AMD-backed OpenCL and NVIDIA’s proprietary CUDA), CUDA currently provides better performance. And while OpenCL is compatible with any graphics card (at least to some extent), CUDA is only available with NVIDIA cards.

To quote GPU Rendering Magazine’s article on OpenCL and CUDA: “As an easy rule of thumb, if your app supports CUDA, grab an NVIDIA card, even if it also supports OpenCL,” and “If the applications you use split their support between CUDA and OpenCL we recommend using a recent NVIDIA card.”

Hopefully AMD's OpenCL will have wider support and better performance in the future, but for now NVIDIA is the better option.

RAM

RAM is not going to be one of your biggest concerns. Modern consumer systems all use DDR4 RAM. The lower end systems here use dual-channel RAM, while the higher end systems use quad-channel. A Dual-channel configuration provides slightly better performance than a single stick, and quad channel is slightly better than dual channel.

Just make sure you’ve got at least 8GB, as the previewing process that makes up the view window of some 3D design programs like Cinema 4D can be a bit RAM-hungry. If you find that you need more RAM, adding more is easy as long as you still have open RAM slots on your motherboard.

Storage

Unlike computers intended for filmmaking, traditional animation, gaming, or general YouTube video-making, a computer for 3D design doesn’t necessarily need a mountain of storage space. Images, assets, and modeling files are significantly smaller than videos or games.

Power Supply (PSU)

Getting a PSU that doesn’t support a sufficient wattage for your build, or (even worse) getting a budget PSU that may not have been well-made, increases the risk of catastrophic failure for your build. The specifications or numbers on the packaging don't tell the whole story, so unless you're an electrical engineer, the best way to find a good power supply is to ask an expert.

Don’t risk damaging your components. Get a high quality PSU. Unlike many other components, the quality of power supplies does not increase as much over time. A high quality power supply bought today, will still be a high quality power supply in 5 or 10 years.

 

FAQ 1: Why does rendering take so long?

It depends on which software you’re using, what options you have set, and what hardware you’re running.

You render a simple scene, e.g. a house sitting in a field next to a tree, with the sun shining on it. Your computer is calculating (or repeatedly estimating) the light bouncing from your one point light source (the “sun”) off of each individual polygon’s relative angle toward the camera. (There might be hundreds of polygons in the leaves of even a simple, not-particularly-realistic tree.)

At the same time, it is reflecting that light uniquely depending on the material, color, and texture of each simulated object. And then it is (again, depending on the software and settings) doing the same for the light reflected uniquely off of each polygon, such as from the house onto each leaf of the tree and vice versa.

It is attempting to map or reasonably approximate that set of calculations for each and every polygon visible in the scene in order to produce one cohesive image. And finally, it is doing any post-processing that you instructed your program to accomplish. And if you’re rendering out an animation, then it’s doing all of that for each frame.

The computer is simulating not just the eye that views the image, but also the world-like conditions that the eye is viewing. Some hardware is better than other hardware at accomplishing these kinds of tasks, but it is nothing short of astounding what kind of images can result from this herculean computational effort.

FAQ 2: How can I speed up my rendering?

If you’re still worried that your renders are taking too long after reading the answer to FAQ 1, I recommend going back to basics and checking your options:

Can you reduce computed passes, computed samples, or lighting bounces without harming your render’s quality?

Are you sure you’ve switched to GPU rendering?

If you are using a GPU rendering option, does your application require you to manually adjust a tile size so you can take full advantage of it?

Are you doing any post-processing that you can do without?

Test out all of your options in each of your applications. Different software will respond differently to different choices.

FAQ 3: Why would you choose GPU rendering over CPU rendering?

While CPU rendering is both accurate and reliable, it is very slow compared to what is possible these days with GPU rendering.

To give you a practical example, a couple of months ago I used Blender to make the animation that’s being worked on in the screenshot below this section (not exactly a complex scene). It’s an 11-second, 1080p, 60-FPS animated intro that was used for the first seven of my YouTube videos back in 2017 and 2018. Rendering the 660 frames of that animation via CPU rendering took over 20 hours (with an i5-6600K). Rendering those same 660 frames via GPU rendering took under 4 hours (with an i5-6600K and a GTX 1060 6GB).

Sequential operations are the CPU’s easy victory, but in the realm of outputting rendered images via parallelized rendering, the GPU is in its element. The CPU is still an important player regardless, but prioritizing the GPU when you’re budgeting can make a lot of sense.

FAQ 4: Which graphics card should I buy for GPU rendering? Why not an AMD card?

As for which kind of GPU I recommend, the answer for 3D modelers and animators (for the time being) is an NVIDIA card.

Why? Well, as explained at length in the graphics card portion of section two above, NVIDIA got a head start on expanding into GPU computation and they provide top-notch support for integrating their CUDA systems into applications. So, while strides are made every year to make up the difference, NVIDIA GPUs are the more broadly supported and the higher-performance option for GPU rendering right now.

If you already have an AMD card, check your software. The AMD card may work just fine.

FAQ 5: Do I need a powerful CPU for rendering?

Yes. If you’re going to use your computer to render 3D scenes, then it’s got to have a powerful CPU. And if you’ll be using CPU rendering, I wouldn’t personally recommend going for anything below an Intel Core i3.

The longer—but more accurate—answer (which is reflected in the ‘cost-effective rendering’ example build in section 2) is that the CPU will always be an important part of the rendering process and can not be fully skimped on, but you can get significantly faster results with having a weaker CPU if (1) you get a more powerful GPU that is capable of GPU rendering and (2) your chosen rendering software supports GPU rendering.

If you are using a program that supports GPU computation, you might actually be better off with a GTX 1660 and an i3 or R3 processor than a GTX 1650 and an i7. (Consider: my i5 averages just about 40% CPU usage when I’m doing GPU rendering.)

FAQ 6: Is the software for 3D design work expensive? Are there alternatives?

Yes, it is expensive; but it’s a little tricky to just leave it at that. It ultimately comes down to what kind of work you’ll be doing with the software, as that will dictate which software you need. Hobbyists can get away with free software like Blender, but professionals and aspiring professionals will likely need to shell out the funds for professional-grade software like Cinema 4D and Maya.

That said, most software companies offer a free trial to ensure the program is right for you. And if you’re a student right now, you might be able to get the relevant software (or at least a version of it) either completely free or discounted from the company or from your school. It never hurts to check. And there are also a few free, open-source software options.

At any rate, you can find a more thorough discussion of 3D design and rendering software in section four, directly below.

 

Alright, so you’ve got a PC now, or at least you have one in mind. Next, you’ll need one or more programs to do your 3D design work. Here’s an overview of the most prominent pieces of software for 3D design, modeling, animation, and rendering:

Maya

Developed by Autodesk, Maya is a professional-grade 3D modeling and graphics software. It sees a lot of use in video game projects and film projects, including animated features and VFX for live-action movies.

Maya features its own renderer, mental ray, which can actually be acquired separately from the full software package if you so desire.

Maya is available as a subscription for $185 per month or $1470 per year, with further bulk pricing available.

Cinema 4D

Developed by Maxon, Cinema 4D is a heavily lauded program for the artistic creation of 3D models and graphics. It is used very widely in numerous strata of the entertainment industry. Cinema 4D boasts a lot of the same features as its competitors, but also has a large number of proprietary tools, as well as premium-quality ease of use via intuitive interface design and a robust in-app help system.

Like Maya, it has a serious price tag. But Cinema 4D is one of the pieces of software that is most closely associated with professional-quality 3D design work.

A single-user commercial license of Cinema 4D Studio can be purchased for $3495.

Blender (Free)

Developed by The Blender Foundation, Blender is a free and open-source 3D design program. Like other developer-focused open-source software (e.g. the image editing software GIMP), Blender has a steep learning curve but is nonetheless very powerful in spite of its nonexistent price tag.

Although it’s not exactly beginner-friendly, Blender’s lack of precise specialization makes it well worth dabbling in if you aren’t yet ready to jump into one of the commercial programs.

You can download Blender for free from Blender’s website.

Modo

Developed by The Foundry, Modo is an all-in-one creative suite for modeling, sculpting, painting, texturing, animating, and rendering 3D designs. This one also boasts robust in-application physics simulation. In effect, Modo aims to be an entire modular creative pipeline in one package.

But it being comprehensive does not mean it’s a lightweight; for instance, if you watched the science series Cosmos hosted by Neil deGrasse Tyson a few years back, then you’ve seen a lot of 3D work done in Modo.

A single-user commercial license of Modo can be purchased for $1799.

ZBrush

Developed by Pixologic, ZBrush is a specialized 3D modeling and sculpting program that sees most of its use in commercial art and product images. Most of its marketing is focused on creative professionals who need a means of modeling what amounts to 3D art. Because it is well-suited to complex modeling, however, it can also be of great utility in games and professional CGI.

A single-user commercial license of ZBrush 4R7 can be purchased for $795.

Sculptris (Free)

Pixologic also offers a free, much more basic piece of 3D sculpting software called Sculptris, for beginners.

AutoCAD

Developed by Autodesk (the developers behind Maya), AutoCAD is a 2D and 3D design program that sees a lot of use in industry applications, for instance in the drafting of blueprints for architectural projects and computer components. It is one of the best-known CAD (Computer-Aided Design) programs. This is a professional-grade piece of design software, and it has the broad support systems and high price to prove it.

AutoCAD is available as a subscription for $1610 per year, with further bulk pricing available.

Rhino

Developed by Robert McNeel & Associates, Rhinoceros 3D is a highly customizable 3D design and CAD program. Like other prominent CAD programs, Rhino sees use in many product design, engineering, and architectural projects. Its specialty is mathematical modeling of 3-dimensional surfaces and curves.

A single-user commercial license of Rhinoceros 3D can be purchased for $995.

 

Balance your build between money put toward a CPU and money put toward a graphics card, with the prioritized weight of that pair leaning slightly toward the graphics card. Make sure to pick up an NVIDIA graphics card so you can take maximum advantage of GPU rendering options.

Go for at least dual-channel RAM if your budget allows it, but you don’t need buckets of RAM (8-16 GB should suffice for most users). And invest in an SSD, but don’t go overboard on sheer storage capacity.

Consider choosing a case that sports at least one 5.25” external drive bay, as (1) many professional software licenses still come bundled with CDs, and (2) if you do animations or put your renders into videos you may want to burn your work onto physical media.

Get all of that right, and you’ll be ready to render!

Daniel is the Managing Editor for Logical Increments.

He also does all of the graphic design, writing, and web development for The Gemsbok blog website and The Gemsbok YouTube channel, where you can find articles and videos on books, games, movies, and philosophy.

Logical Increments helps more than 2 million PC builders each year with hardware recommendations for any budget.

If you want to see our build recommendations for general purpose gaming PCs, check them out!