Hello dear Poser users,

I've been thinking about spending some money on a few upgrades for my desktop PC.
32GB RAM instead of 16GB would be nice to have.
Buying that isn't that hard, my motherboard requires DDR3 RAM so I need to buy DDR3 modules.
The next item on my list is a bit trickier.
I want to buy a new GPU.
My current one is an Nvidia Gforce GTX 1650 and it works fine.
My workload has increased recently and I notice that I spend too much time waiting for a render to finish.
I know that Poser's overall performance depends on the CPU but at least I can render faster and my painting and texturing application PaintStormStudio which uses GPU for the brush engine works without lags.
To cut a long story short, I'm not sure which brand of graphics card to buy.
The choice is obviously between Nvidia or AMD.
What do you think?
Do you use AMD GPUs and would you recommend buying them?
Suggestions on which model I should look at?

Thanks in advance.

BB

NVIDIA is the obvious choice for various compatibility considerations. Though you also have to look at your PC's PSU, connector-cable(s) and possible pin-adapter, motherboard slot size, possible new type of monitor cable needed etc. Also note that Windows 7 drivers do not support 40 series NVIDIA cards, and that so far as I know Poser 11 didn't support certain capabilities of 30 series cards or higher. 

The sweet spot in power/price is probably an NVIDIA 3060 with 12Gb of onboard RAM. That would also allow you to do local AI image-generation in the future. Around £250 in the UK.

@ HartyBart

Thank you very much for your answer.
I see that I had to lay out the specs of my currend PC to provide the necessary information.
So, my CPU is an Intel Core i7x980 3.33GHz from 2010.
The mainboard is an ASUSTec P6x58D Premium from 2010
The original build had an ATI GPU Radeon HD 5970 Card installed, which was replaced by an Nvidia Gforce GTX 1650 3 years ago. 
I guess the necessary connectors are already in place to run an AMD card again.
The OS is Windows 10 pro and my Poser is version 13 latest edition.
Currendly 16GB of DDR3 RAM is installed and the power supply has 750Watts.
The machine is old, but it works for 14 years absolutly stable and reliable.

I find the way Nvidia distributes graphics cards a bit confusing. On Amazone you get as search results for Nvidia RTX 3060 several different brands and models like Asus or Gigabyte or Zotac and every card has editions.
Thats not really helpful, isn't it?

Here are the specs on the Nvidia website for their cards. https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/geforce/graphics-cards/compare/?section=compare-16 

I'm not tech-literate enough to understand it all.

The 3060 starts at $329 on their website. https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/geforce/graphics-cards/30-series/rtx-3060-3060ti/

I just got a new computer this year, W11,Intel i9-14900KF @ 3.20GHz, 64.0 GB RAM, 64-bit, GeForce GTX 4070 Ti SUPER, 16GB (cost me 4 grand, but I didn't get a breakdown of parts' costs). However, one thing I wanted was a good GPU and my GeForce GTX 4070 Ti SUPER, 16GB renders in a BLINK! (Note: I've only tested it on Poser scenes.) I may even attempt animation after my current project.

I don't know all the spec differences between a 3060 and my 4070 Ti Super, but I would expect the RAM size might make all the difference. Of course, my "rig" has a gazillion fans, so I don't know how that plays into cooling needs for graphic cards, but you sound like you know. All I know is my bigger, faster GPU is AMAZING! And it's not even close to being the best one out there. So an Nvidia card with 12GB RAM sounds really good.

Just in case, in my previous computer I replaced my aging RTX2080Ti, installed in a computer that was equipped with a 650W PSU, with a 4070OC, 2-3x the computing power, but consuming 50W less than the 2080Ti 

blackbonner posted at 6:07 AM Sat, 30 November 2024 - #4491756

So, my CPU is an Intel Core i7x980 3.33GHz from 2010.
The mainboard is an ASUSTec P6x58D Premium from 2010
The original build had an ATI GPU Radeon HD 5970 Card installed, which was replaced by an Nvidia Gforce GTX 1650 3 years ago. 
I guess the necessary connectors are already in place to run an AMD card again.
The OS is Windows 10 pro and my Poser is version 13 latest edition.
Currendly 16GB of DDR3 RAM is installed and the power supply has 750Watts.
The machine is old, but it works for 14 years absolutly stable and reliable.

I find the way Nvidia distributes graphics cards a bit confusing. On Amazone you get as search results for Nvidia RTX 3060 several different brands and models like Asus or Gigabyte or Zotac and every card has editions.
Thats not really helpful, isn't it?

Your NVIDIA Geforce GTX 1650 used a PCI-Express 3.0 x16 slot. And it was two slots wide, so it also occupied the adjacent slot. It required up to 75W.

Your ASUSTec P6x58D Premium has 6 PCI-Express slots, but only three of them (the long ones) are PCI-Express 2.0 x16. (The short ones are too short, one is x1 and the others maybe x8? Too short anyway. But that's ok, you only need one x16 and there are three.) My guess is most of those slots are not in use so you might even be able to fit a triple wide card if you wanted.

Note that your slot is PCI-Express version 2.0, but the card was designed for 3.0. And in fact the RTX 3060 is designed for 4.0. That's ok, PCI-Express is backwards compatible, but it means you are not going to get the full speed from whatever card you install. The PCI-Express 2.0 slot transfers data at half the speed of 3.0, and a quarter the speed of 4.0. How much difference does that actually make? I found a benchmark that suggests using 3.0 instead of 4.0 only slows things down by maybe 3%, 2.0 will be worse but maybe it won't be terrible. Just note that upgrading the motherboard would also improve the speed to some degree.

NVIDIA designs GPUs but then licenses them to many manufacturers. So when you search and find the NVIDIA RTX 3060 from Asus, Gigabyte, Zotac, etc, they really are basically all the same thing. Each manufacturer will set them up a little bit differently, mostly in terms of cooling fans, but the difference is usually trivial. Unless one has particularly bad reviews, it shouldn't matter.

NVIDIA's RTX 3000 series cards (3060, 3070, 3080, 3090) are the previous generation. The 4000 series cards are the current generation. Within each generation, lower numbers are less powerful, so the 3090 is more powerful than the 3080, which is more powerful than the 3070, which is more powerful than the 3060. Looking across generations, the 4060 will be more powerful than the 3060 (by approximately 20%), but it's less obvious whether (for example) a 3070 is more or less powerful than 4060. Also, if it has a Ti or Super after the number, that's another step up. So it's hard to compare them directly without looking at benchmarks. This one is pretty easy to read: https://www.videocardbenchmark.net/high_end_gpus.html

Regarding AMD vs NVIDIA, you will get more of a speed boost from NVIDIA because Poser uses Optix which is an NVIDIA feature. Even if otherwise AMD looks comparable.

Ah, I see. 14 years of development has done more than just faster GPU's and CPU's, it also changed the interfaces between components.

Get it!

Seems to be reasonable to look for a new Mainboard as well. Following the logic of hardware developing, this could mean that my cable set and power supply is also incompatible with the new parts, like the Mainboard and others, right?

I'll have a closer look at this.

Thanks so far for spending time on answering my questions.

It' was already helpful.

I have not played with swapping motherboards or power supplies myself. I think some boards have the same footprint and you might be able to swap them in the same case with the same power supply, but personally I've always at least gotten a bare bones package with the motherboard, power supply, and case. I know there are some different types of power cable connectors but I think there are adapters for that when necessary. So you might have to read up on that yourself.

Personally, I got my current computer from https://www.cyberpowerpc.com/  But today and tomorrow is a good time to buy whatever, whether components or barebones kits or PCs. Shop around.

That's not really complicated to exchange a power supply, as long as it's provided with all the right cables, which is the case most of the time. Swapping a motherboard, on the contrary, is a real adventure (static electricity, processor's thermal paste, connectivity with the case)