CPU or GPU?

Hi,

I'm a newbie in game development. I planning to build a pc for game development and i'm in very tight budget. I wonder what should I focus more in build a pc for game development, use a latest CPU or high-end GPU?

 

Even if you're building a demanding 3D game, for game development, the faster your CPU is the better. Lower compile times = higher productivity, simple as that. The only thing that your GPU will affect is in-game FPS, which doesn't really matter in development, as long as your GPU supports the shaders you're using, or may use in the future (all new desktop GPUs, even lower spec ones now support DX11).

 

I agree with GoGoGadget, the time savings from a faster CPU are better than the FPS increases on a development rig, this becomes really important when you are using things like terrain composer or building lightmaps, etc.

 

Thanks guys. It's helpful to me.

 

Do you have target a platform, e.g. would you like to make mobile, online/web, PC or other games?

If mobile, you can probably go for a lower costing GPU and boost your CPU which you need more in developing and building games.

As you may need additional hardware to test your games on.

Are you going to make VR games (Standalone VR requires a much higher spec than Gear/Mobile VR)?

Also, make sure you pack lots of fast memory on your system 8 GB is probably a minimum, with 16 GB+ being ideal.

Even a small project SSD drive can really speed up file access compared to a HDD.

Note: DX12 is being be added to Unity and should be out in March (and 60%+ of steam users have DX12 capable graphics hardware) so I would recommend only getting a GPU that is DX12 ready.

 

I planning to development a game for mobile. Based on what you guys advise, I might just focus on latest CPU and fast memory.

 

Mobile as in iOS? Then you going to need a mac to compile xcode.

 

For development CPU>Ram>GPU

 

SSD + I7

get those two and they'll look after you for years. Make sure you have 8-16gb ram, or room to expand it. GPU won't help dev much, and in any case I downgraded to my 460 GTX from my 780 ti for a month while it was RMA and I *did not notice a damn thing* Unity was still running my scene at 600-1000fps in editor.

Really, any GPU a bit better than a 460 GTX will probably do you fine

But if you are focusing on iOS you need a cheap mac and a cheap iPhone. There is no way around actual testing.

 

For mobile games? Nothing that you can build for mobile is going to need much in the way of power. Sure you can always speed build times up. But with cloud build that's pretty much irrelevant anyway.

 

SSD is a necessity. I got 256GB for 70 bucks on sale last year, it's really worth it.

 

Yeah, SSD is really the only drive for work and play these days. Traditional mechanical for mass storage backup.

 

An SSD is definitely a good idea if you decide to use Visual Studio. Without an SSD it takes quite a while to load.

 

If you're going mobile and Android then keep an eye on Vulkan (should work on PC with DX12 hardware).

 

You could get a GPU that matches your target audience If the framerate is good for you, it's good for your target & higher.

Since that is mobile, any desktop gpu from the last decade should work.

 

There's a rumor that NVIDIA may be preparing to launch a GT 930 come next year.

http://wccftech.com/nvidia-geforce-gt-930-launch-q1-2016-maxwell-kepler-fermi/

 

save up and get a pascal instead!

 

My thoughts too but a GT 930 would be a cheap way to get DirectX 12.

 

I guess that's a good reason to wait. I wonder if dx12 will make hair simulation better than it is now. And of course, as I always have wondered, what great computing problem will follow.

Foliage...
Cloth physics...
Light tessellation...
Hair physics...

Each directx introduced something it couldn't really do, but the next one did fine. What computing nightmare will directx12 dream up?

 

I don't expect any change, really.