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HARDWARE / LAPTOP / COMPUTER for use in Unity development? Ask here! (and only here)

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by scorp2007, May 15, 2021.

  1. patrickjansendesign

    patrickjansendesign

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    Is this a decent config? ->

    Intel® Core™ i3-10100T (processor)
    B560 MSI (motherboard)
    32 gb (Ram)
    corsair 600w (power source)
    SSD 480 GB (hard drive)
    Radeon RX 580 8 gb (video card)
     
  2. MadeFromPolygons

    MadeFromPolygons

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    Processor isnt very good at all, graphics card is really really low end

    This is a pretty low end configuration - with that RAM itll run unity but at anything related to CPU or GPU its going to be drastically slower than something with mid or high specs.
     
    soleron likes this.
  3. Ryiah

    Ryiah

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    I wouldn't consider that to be a decent config. You could definitely do worse so if that's all you can afford it's not bad but it's not good either. It's very low end by current standards. Mobile and light standalone games should be fine. Just be aware it will be very slow at some tasks like baking lightmaps and making builds (esp URP/HDRP).
     
    Last edited: Jan 30, 2023
  4. ShawntheKlngofnothing

    ShawntheKlngofnothing

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    Hello Ladies and Gentlemen.
    I ...kinda posted in the General Section with this question, before seeing this post, so any Admins, just delete my other thread or move it here.


    Im a bit of a old school developer thats come back to the development scene after about 6 (Jesus?!?) Years or so, and Im wanting to develop for VR in Unity.

    Im running a micro PC....Here are the specs, and a link to the device from amazon
    https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B097TJ52BF/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&th=1

    Windows 11
    CPU -- AMD Ryzen 5 3550h
    GPU -- Radeon Vega 8
    16gb Ram

    Yes, this thing is so cute and laughable its not even worth considering, but Its what i have. Low density Unity Engine Scenes run at 60+ FPS( Surprisingly!)

    What i need is a Extremely small dedicated GPU rig that can be mounted on the inside of a TV, or as small as a Micro ATX form factor allows.

    I was thinking of a LGA1200 I5 CPU, Paired with a Nvidia GPU.

    My issue is that the AMD VEGA 8 I have on this little Anklebiter is actually able to keep up with entry level dedicated GPU's.

    Any help guys?
     
  5. mgear

    mgear

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    what VR device is used? How heavy scenes that application has?
    whats the actual max size? (or could you just fit gaming laptop there)
     
  6. ShawntheKlngofnothing

    ShawntheKlngofnothing

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    Using a Oculus Quest 2. My target is Mobile native support for my games, so I port Said Game to The Quest 2, and play it on the headset, so ill be using the built in hardware of the headset.
    NO PCVR, just Running my games on the Headset itself.
    In terms of fidelity, something around Blade and Sorcery in terms of texture Resolution, perhaps a bit more complex.

    EDIT: Looking up some Esoteric Forums online says that the Quest 2 Headset's built in GPU is comparable to DOUBLE the performance of a Nintendo Switch. Minus the obvious VR performances Shannigans, thats still quite a good performance amount, but I dont know WHAT is comparable when im buying a GPU, haha.
     
  7. tree_arb

    tree_arb

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    I ended up getting the nuc13 a few months back and jamming it in to an airplane size carry on box w two 24in monitors, stands, all equipment.

    Intel® Core™ i9-13900K processor
    nvidia 3080ti

    travel box:
    22 inches X 14 inches X 9 inches

    24 inch monitors (diagonal measured) are about 21x13 inch

    a little weird...yes, but its much better specs than the best laptop currently. room is tight in the box, i have padding but its not something you want to throw around in baggage check, hence the carry on size. also shockingly heavy for its size
     
  8. VentaGames

    VentaGames

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    Hey, any pros and cons for two monitors setup vs one ultra-wide?
    Im about to buy my ultra-wide 40’’ monitor. For Unity and general gamedev. But before buying just asking for some advices.
    Personally, thinking that u-w monitors is a good alternative.
    So any good points are welcome.
     
  9. Antypodish

    Antypodish

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    I was considering similar options. But opted out from ultra wide.
    I went for higher quality 32 inch and side smaller monitor.

    Convienience and flexibility.

    Easier to control separate Windows on separate monitor.
    Higher monitors allow for more text on screen. I.E. when reading docs. Or coding. Ultra wide loosing height.

    May start play matters when recording vids. And fighting with adjusting resolution on ultra wide, in some cases.

    Curvy screen may distort the images. But may be not an issue in your case, if not doing graphics.

    Potentially bad experience with some games, on ultra wide screen. With lost screen space, or visible desktop background.

    I can always disable side monitor if want to :)
     
  10. neginfinity

    neginfinity

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    With two displays you can maximize a window on the second screen and physically move it to whatever spot you prefer.

    It looks like this

    Usually that means you can code on the main screen while keeping documentation (and music player) open on the second screen. In my case it means that usually I'd be focusing on main screen, while occasionally glancing at the side screen.

    You can't do this sort of thing with ultra-wide display, though I suppose some sort of desktop manager software may exist to solve this issue.
     
  11. Antypodish

    Antypodish

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  12. Ryiah

    Ryiah

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    Some people like to rotate one or more of their secondary displays too.

    twomonitors.jpeg
     
    Last edited: Feb 22, 2023
  13. neginfinity

    neginfinity

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    I'm aware.

    My current setup looks like this:
    upload_2023-2-23_19-18-9.png
    I have 1280x1024, 1920x1080 and 1080x1920.

    They also have different sizes.

    However, going from 1 to 2 displays (1280x1024 + 1920x1080) had much bigger impact than adding the third.
    The rightmost display is barely used. So I think there's no point in going above 2 displays unless you're t rading stocks orare trying to build a surround setup (inwhich case you canprobbaly just use VR these days)

    A vertical FullHD display also adds quite alot of vertical reading space which is a good thing if you write text, or edit code. You'd need an IDE which can quickly hide side panels though.
     
    Ryiah likes this.
  14. Ryiah

    Ryiah

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    Yeah I was just adding on to your response.
     
  15. tree_arb

    tree_arb

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    I have two 24in1920x1080 Because I can travel w them but I miss my 27in 1440x2560. Noticably sharper text
     
  16. AnthonyVr9

    AnthonyVr9

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    Can this laptop run big projects in unreal engine 4 or i should stuck with Unity? I am learning, and i have read that is very dificult yo switch engines. Can this pc run unreal properly?

    ASUS TUF Gaming F15 FX506HC-HN004 Intel Core i5-11400H/16GB/512GB SSD/RTX 3050/15.6"
     
  17. Antypodish

    Antypodish

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    You should ask such question on Unreal forum.

    Term "big" is relative and meaningless.
    Go find some relevant project demo samples, open them and run. Find out yourself.

    Also mind, laptop hardware is always weaker than equivalent PC hardware, since laptop uses mobile components, which are made to use less power.

    One thing for sure is, you will need more drive space, to work comfortable in either of engine.
     
    Ryiah likes this.
  18. Ryiah

    Ryiah

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    Higher memory wouldn't hurt either. Before I made the jump to 64 GB I was regularly hitting 80% of 32 GB with a fighting game in Unity. It's important to keep in mind you're not running the game by itself while developing it, and it's not as optimized as it will be at launch so you're going to need more resources than a shipped game.

    Memory is typically upgradeable after you've purchased a laptop but you should check to verify that as it's not always the case that it's easy to do so, and even when it is there are only two slots in most laptops and if they're using two 8GB sticks you'll have to replace both.
     
    Antypodish likes this.
  19. unity_F11392CB6440CBD3D9E0

    unity_F11392CB6440CBD3D9E0

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    Hiya folks, looking at upgrading my Intel MacBook Pro for one of those M2 ones. I'm just curious to see if getting an M2 Pro over an M2 Max would make any lick of difference? I'm definitely sticking to the same specs for storage and RAM (1TB/32GB) and there's an A$270 difference of going Pro or Max.

    Also would 32GB be overkill? The idea is that I want to keep my MacBook Pro for at least 4-5 years and I do intend to eventually delve more in to 3D. But for now I'm self-training in Unity but am noticing lag when navigating in stuff like say the LEGO Microgame. Feel free to drag me through the mud for what I'm asking here as I am after all a noob when it comes to Unity. :D
     
  20. Antypodish

    Antypodish

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    I am unable to comment on mac products itself, but 32GB RAM should be sufficient for various range of projects.
    While 16GB is bear minimum, but will drive you crazy, when you start dealing with multiple assets and other open software together with Unity, while developing.

    1GB storage should be OK for starter, but be prepared for needing additional external drive, as you may have multiple projects over time. As well as various software tools and Unity versions.

    Don't forget about source control and online drive solutions.
     
  21. Ryiah

    Ryiah

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    Yes. The M2 Pro has either 10 or 12 CPU cores, either 16 or 19 GPU cores, and 200GB/sec memory bandwidth (this one isn't told to you up front by Apple). The M2 Max has 12 CPU cores, either 30 or 38 GPU cores, and 400GB/sec memory bandwidth. Ignoring memory bandwidth that's a doubling of GPU performance.

    The M2 Pro makes sense for systems that don't offer the Max. Once you start looking at the ones that do offer the M2 Max it quickly stops making any sense to choose the Pro as the relative cost is often less than 5% and that's before you take into consideration increased memory and storage. In your case it's likely less than 3%.
     
    Last edited: Mar 30, 2023
  22. Ng0ns

    Ng0ns

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    Regarding the Macbook pro; anyone have some number in terms of batterylife while using Unity. I know the battery is larger on the 16 inch, and the max is quite a bit more powerhungry than the pro. Would be interestin to know how long people go unpugged, especially when working on projects that doesn't hammer the system (like a medium sized URP project).
     
  23. Noisecrime

    Noisecrime

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    Something i've not seen mentioned with ultrawide is if you wear glasses you may find the content at the left/right edges is out of focus unless you move your head. At least that's been my experience on just a 32 inch UW over the last 6 years, though I guess it may not matter so much with a curved UW, but I dislike the thought of the distortion with those.

    Depending upon your work you may want to also look for one that offers full vertical rotation too.


    Windows 10 has this too, but you have to use a free Microsoft app to enable it - PowerToys
    Its so useful thought, and simple to use.

    In my experience no laptop on battery is really suitable for development beyond more than a few ( 2-4 ) hours. Can't say for sure how long it lasts on the Mac ( 16" M1 Max ) as I always use it powered when developing, but I am able to comfortably make builds ( about the only thing I use it for ) on battery and never worried about power, though I still wouldn't expect it to last much longer than a couple of hours even just doing that.

    Main reason I guess I use it powered though is when making and testing for iOS I tend to have the device plugged in and it will draw power from the Mac.
     
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  24. PanthenEye

    PanthenEye

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    Does anyone have experience with curved widescreens? Seems like it could be problematic for content creation due to discrepancy between curved and flat.
     
    Noisecrime likes this.
  25. Creationary

    Creationary

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    Hi! I'm looking to build a new mid to high end PC for content creation, mainly game dev and I'm trying to understand how the Unity engine and editor use CPU and GPU specs so I can choose the right components.



    I believe that the editor itself is mainly CPU dependant (other than the GPU global illumination light baker that may come in 2023 LTS that will probably benefit from high GPU VRAM) but I don't know specifically which parts of the CPU are used how.



    Does the engine use multiple cores? If so under what circumstances?

    When I enter play mode does the engine compile all the C#? Does this mean a better multi threaded CPU will reduce time to enter play mode or code compilation when I save a C# script?

    What does the engine use single threaded and multi threaded performance for?

    How important is more CPU cache for the editor?

    When is a faster GPU / more GPU memory important?

    What could make me want more than 16gb RAM / faster RAM memory speed?

    Am I missing anything important?



    For a point of reference one of my scenes has about 15000 static objects and some dynamic ones and when I move around in the editor I get about 5 fps with all of them enabled but it seems the bad performance is due to the 430 lights I have in the level (baking them on my CPU will take too long and my GPU doesn't have enough VRAM so I'll need to use my university PCs). This is still a pretty small level and I'd like to make them 2 to 4 times larger in my future projects.
     
  26. Ryiah

    Ryiah

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    Yes, primarily for builds and baking lightmaps (CPU-based lightmappers).

    No, it compiles whenever you make a change to a script.

    It's completely dependent on the game you're making, but a faster CPU primarily means spending less time waiting on tasks to complete. Some tasks (GPU-based lightmappers, some terrain editors like Gaia) can use GPU compute so having high performance and video memory can matter there.

    My prior work project was an indie tier game targeting standalone and consoles with a project footprint of 30GB (plus 100GB library cache) and a 5GB build. I started the project with 32GB RAM and I frequently was hitting the upper limits of that so I quickly upgraded to 64GB.

    That said even with the upgrade I occasionally see heavy memory usage. Switching target build platforms maxes out my memory for the duration of the swap, but it's not a performance intensive task so I'm holding off on going higher until at least my next system build.

    Incidentally 16GB RAM is considered to be the bare minimum for game development. You might be able to get away with it for gaming but keep in mind you're not just running your game. You're running the editor and any other apps (eg content creation tools) too, and even if you could get away with it system memory is very cheap.
     
    Last edited: Apr 19, 2023
  27. soleron

    soleron

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    General Advice for a Decent Machine to Run Unity 2020 LTS and Above.
    (Obviously it will also run previous Unity versions very nicely too!)


    I see many people asking. Here are some #tips based on my several years of being a professional 3D artist, a producer, and a Unity user for many years, building mobile and PC games, as well as VR experiences.

    CPU
    Get at least an i7 CPU or AMD equivalent with as many cores as you can, I would say put more emphasis on cores instead of speed, especially if you plan to bake Lightmaps on CPU, and not less than 32GB RAM in that case. 64GB or higher, although an overkill for most projects, could be beneficial for CPU lightmap baking and runing a ridiculous amount of software along with Unity.

    RAM
    Unless you are an artist with demanding 3D software, rendering and lightbaking needs, 32GB of RAM is adequate for most projects. Especially mobile and mid-range PC and console projects. 16GB if you are broke. Do not go for anything less than that.

    I typically run 3dsmax, Substance Painter and Sampler, Unity, and a couple of browsers (Edge and Opera GX) with S***loads of tabs open, and occasionally Blender too with just 32GB RAM, but you can tell it is reaching the limits before slowing down.

    GPU

    I would recommend AGAINST any GPU lower than xx70 or x700 range if you can make it, especially if you plan to do VR and high-end PC or Console games, or other very visually intensive projects. If you are broke, the bare minimum you should go is a xx60, x600. That should be rock bottom.

    NOT recommended for VR and latest versions of HDRP with Raytracing will be slow to work with. It's not that you can't work, but it would be seriously demotivating and even stressful.


    Anything less, and you throw your money in the garbage bin.
    OR you are a hobbyist who is fine to work with much older versions of Unity. (i.e. 2018 or earlier) You can still make excellent games using these old versions. You just won't be able to use the latest features and services and you will be more dependent on old Asset Store 3rd party solutions for certain things.

    If you plan to bake lightmaps on the GPU (highly recommended if you do not want to wait for half a day or more until the baking finishes) do not go for a GPU with less than 8GB memory, preferably more than 10GB and ideally a Quadro or other AMD high tier professional card with as much GPU memory as possible. i.e. 16GB or higher. Especially if you plan to use tools like Substance Painter do not settle for less than 8GB RAM if you want to work comfortably.


    Storage
    Your NVMe SSD should be at least 1TB and the fastest you can get for the main drive and at least a slower SSD of the same capacity for Storage should be fine. Ideally for your data safety avoid storing your projects on the same disk as your main working disk. Working disks because of all the cacheing and loading of projects, installing, and removing games and tools and windows updates and high working temperatures are at a higher risk of breaking faster than you think.

    You do not want to lose everything when your one large storage disk fails. And sooner or later, it will.

    I have 3TB storage, broken between 1TB as main, 2*512 external NVMe drives, 1TB cloud with OneDrive for long term storage and 20GB on PlasticSCM Cloud.

    What do I use?
    I am using a laptop.
    ASUS ROG STRIX with 32GB RAM, RTX with 8GB RAM, and i7 processor on a 17" screen.

    I sometimes miss my dual 32" DELL screens, but I would say it happens very rarely.

    Which reminded me of another important thing

    Monitor

    Get the largest most comfortable and color accurate monitor you can get of course.

    Classic HD monitors are fine, but QHD will give you more space for tools, although everything will probably feel smaller for a while.

    IF you are using anything with a node editor for a long time (Visual Scripting ,Shadergraph, etc.) or real time performance dashboards, or other 3rd party tools or you are a very demanding programmer who also needs to see both Unity and VS/Rider open side by side, and a QHD screen is not enough, then you should go for a dual monitor setup.

    I hope you find this helpful.
     
    Ryiah likes this.
  28. Pablomon

    Pablomon

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    Mar 9, 2015
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    Hi guys. Intel vs m2 question.

    I'm on an xps9500 with a i7 10750h 16bg ram, my current project is a 2d game, and any code change takes around 10 secs. It's driving me mad. ( I tried everything on the book to try speed it up )

    I am debating between something like the legion slim 7 ( i7 13700h ) and an m1 pro / m2 air machine.
    Only considering its unity performance for non graphics demanding game development. Which one would you go with?
     
  29. xjjon

    xjjon

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    We upgraded from the 2020 i5 macbook pro to the m1 pro on the 16" macbook pro and it is night and day difference. Previously would take around 7-10 minutes to build app on xcode and now it finishes in under 2 minutes. Similar non-graphics demanding game development.

    If you need to build for iOS then the answer should be a no brainer though since windows doesn't allow it.
     
    hoodoo likes this.
  30. arsn4fun

    arsn4fun

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    Jun 23, 2022
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    Hi, help me please choose a laptop for Unity. I have enough money for such options:
    1)Dual-core processor intel core i3 1115G4 + geforce mx350 - the only option with a discrete GPU
    2)A bunch of other options with integrated GPU: AMD Ryzen 5 5600U + Vega 7 or AMD Ryzen 5 5500U + Vega 7.

    Tell me pls which option is better. I am confused by the dual-core processor in the first option(I'm afraid it's not enough for normal compilation). But discrete GPU is also important.
     
  31. Antypodish

    Antypodish

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    @arsn4fun components dedicated for mobile devices like laptop, are typically much less performant, than counterpart for a desktop. So you should not expect same parameters on laptop, as on desktop.

    If you can, try consider desktop. Is that option?
    Why laptop? Do you need mobility?

    You need at least 16GB for comfortable work, for small project.
    Also you need consider screen size. 15" that would be nightmare to work on in any capacity.
    Even for hobby work.
     
    xjjon likes this.
  32. Xortas

    Xortas

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    Nov 27, 2020
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    Hi there!
    Is it worth to upgrade i5 4670k to i7 4790k for unity 3d? When I was going through Junior Programmer pathway 2 years ago, my i5 was showing its age with general slowdowns and applying changes to scripts taking quite a long moment. Now, I really want to go back to it, and wonder if 4790k would give a smoother experience (with 24 GB ram and gtx1070, SSD)

    So, would 4790k in price range £60-£80 be a worthy improvement, or choppiness would persist? Should I just go straight for a bigger upgrade based on i5 12400f? Something like that:
    Intel Core i5 12400F
    DeepCool AK400 ZERO DARK
    Corsair Vengeance LPX Black 32GB 3200MHz DDR4
    MSI PRO Intel B660M-G DDR4 Micro-ATX
    Crucial P5 Plus 1TB M.2 NVMe PCIe 4.0 SSD/Solid State Drive
     
    Last edited: Jul 16, 2023
  33. Ryiah

    Ryiah

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    No. It's a very minor improvement. Just a slight boost to clock speeds. Nothing that would be noticeable.
     
    Xortas likes this.
  34. Xortas

    Xortas

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    Ahh, I see. Seems like this is retirement time for most of my rig.
    Thank you for the reply!
     
  35. Antypodish

    Antypodish

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    Just for educational purpose, "unity 3D" is incorrect term and technically doesn't exits. It is just Unity.
    unity3d.com will redirect you to unity.com.
    However, you may see unity3d domain links in the documentation.
     
    Xortas likes this.
  36. Voronoi

    Voronoi

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    You should also give it a try with the version of Unity you plan to run. The past several years has seen a huge amount of variability in performance and project startup times depending on the exact Unity version you use. For a while, Unity was parsing tens of thousands of shader variants for my Android project making startup extremely painful.

    A reasonably sized project should still open and run on an older machine.
     
  37. MisterTeeASL

    MisterTeeASL

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    Jul 19, 2023
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    Hi all,
    I'm starting a new game development program for high school students at a small private school. Students all have 2020 13" M1 MacBook Airs for daily use. The tech department has cleared me to buy a couple of high end workstations for the lab. They wanted me to give them a spec sheet and I can't seem to find a detailed recommended specs listing for Unity.

    If there isn't one, I'd love any input on what works best and what to avoid. Students will be working on 2D and 3D projects and will be creating their own assets with Blender and Photoshop.
     
  38. Ryiah

    Ryiah

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    Unity only provides minimum system requirements to load the editor because the game being developed is what determines the actual system requirements. What's the budget? Any additional purpose beyond just what you've listed like baking lighting or rendering videos in Blender?
     
    Last edited: Jul 19, 2023
  39. MisterTeeASL

    MisterTeeASL

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    That makes a lot of sense. My one concern is their short attention spans. While they're learning, their code will often be inefficient and might take a long time to update. The quicker it processes, the more likely they will be to stick with it.
    My budget is 3k-5k for each machine. I want them to last at least 5 years and I'd like them to be able to explore mocap and VR at some point.
     
  40. Antypodish

    Antypodish

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    You want probably GPU of GTX3xxx series. Lower end GPU also can handle VR, and may be worth considering it, if is no high end production. I also expect lower cost of such GPUs these days.

    You want in the machine M.2 NVMe SSD drives. As it significantly accelerate production.

    But you need to consider following, that if you got many classes, and number of projects, they can take multiple GB each, and chances you will quickly fill up drives. Having students storing projects on cloud, in server, or on memory-stick, will defeat the purpose of fast drive, besides loading Unity itself.

    Possibly i7 CPU series. I think they got decent number of cores for work young people may do. For lowering cost by lesser cores, i5. But making sure, it is at high clock speed.

    Regarding memory, unless prices are equivalent, good DDR4 are more than enough in my opinion. DDR5 is an option, but decent one, may increase cost significantly, for little to no gain, for what students may work on. You need keep an eye what is available on the market. For DDR4/5 you need to make critical choice, on Motherboard. So for example, if in 3 years time you want to upgrade DDR4 to 5, you would need to replace MB. Question is, will be even wort to do so.

    Another thing to consider, is dual screens. For example 2x 24" can improve workflow significantly.

    Guys who work with VR, may add more comment to.
     
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  41. Ryiah

    Ryiah

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    I'm mostly going to add on to @Antypodish's response since they covered most of what I would.

    A GTX 3060 Ti is a solid option if you don't want to spend a lot of the budget on a graphics card, but I'm not a fan of its 8GB VRAM. For game development it's mostly fine but there are situations where you would benefit from a higher VRAM. LLM-based AIs (eg Llama, Vicuna, etc) require a high amount of it to run properly.

    Instead my recommendation if there is room in the budget is a GTX 4080 since it has 16GB VRAM.

    Unfortunately while I like AMD they're not really an option as NVIDIA is the only way to have access to CUDA which some applications can use to considerably increase performance. NVIDIA has a better software package in general so it's usually safest to choose them.

    You've mentioned type and speed so I'm going to mention capacity: don't buy less than 64GB. I've worked with Unity using 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB. I was constantly out of memory with 16GB, frequently low with 32GB, and around the halfway mark with 64GB.

    Unity by itself and even Unity with the game isn't necessarily that heavy. What makes it heavy is when you need to have content creation tools open at the same time. If the students will be running Blender, Photoshop, etc at the same time as Unity you will want that 64GB.

    Choose color accurate displays (at least DCI-P3 95%), and a device that can calibrate them. I'm not familiar with the latter as I'm not an artist so you might need to find someone that knows how to pick a good one. It should be able to detect the light level of the room in addition to the color accuracy of the display.
     
    Last edited: Jul 20, 2023
  42. MarcopoloR

    MarcopoloR

    Joined:
    Feb 4, 2015
    Posts:
    114
    I am building a new PC and I am having trouble deciding what CPU to get, the AMD Ryzen 7950x3d or the 7800x3d processor. The rest of my build is as follows:
    NVIDIA RTX 4090 GPU
    Phanteks full tower case
    64 GB DDR5 RAM
    2TB M.2 drive
    12TB Toshiba HDD Drive
    1000 Watt corsair PSU
    Appropriate Motherboard for all this
    I also have a 4k monitor
    I am putting this altogether myself, as I did my last PC

    As you can see I am trying to get the best of everything because I use my PC all the time and so I don't have to mess with a new computer for several years to come. I have ruled out Intel because I think it is a power hog and requires a lot of fancy cooling. Up to now I have never had to put in a complicated water cooling system with cooling pipes going everywhere in my PC and I would like to avoid it now if I could. Of the AMD options, the 7950X3d is the biggest and best all around, however I have watched several reviews that show that the 7800X3d is actually faster at most games with less power consumption and heating. In the reviews people also said you have to do a lot of constant driver tweaking to get the best performance out of the 7950 because of the way the cores are divided in the CPU. This doesn't sound like something I want to mess with especially considering all the other things that can go wrong when building your own high end gaming/game dev PC. It sounds like with the 7800 you can just install with the stock cooler, close up the case and everything will probably be fine from there on out.

    The problem is the 7800 might not perform as well in certain other tasks that I do. I use Zbrush and Blender a lot and I don't know if it is worth the extra hassle to get the 7950 vs the 7800. Is it worth it waiting 8 seconds instead of 5 seconds for zbrush to render something or do whatever to save the extra hassle and all the things that could go wrong with the "better" CPU? I also don't know if getting a high framerate in Far Cry (7800 actually beats the 7950 in this and other graphic intensive games) translates directly into high framerate when using the ray tracing features in the HDRP rendering pipeline or working in VR?
     
    Last edited: Aug 4, 2023
  43. Antypodish

    Antypodish

    Joined:
    Apr 29, 2014
    Posts:
    10,754
    What you make to think, that AMD does not need good cooling, and that Intel only need liquid cooling?

    If you run at 100% your high end CPU, which runs longer than few seconds at that usage, you will need anything better than stock cooling. Otherwise your CPU will start throttling and reducing performance. But for average user will never notice that, unless start monitoring CPU cores speeds.

    Most reviews and benchmarks are from gamers, which never utilise full potential of the CPU. Basically wasting it's potential.

    Also spending money on good CPU and cheaping on cooling, will be throwing money into the bin, as you will never utilise potential of such CPU.

    There are competitive liquid and air cooling out there. Just make sure, they can disapeate enough of heat.

    On the side note, you probably want to focus on CPU speed per core, specially for applications, which use single to few cores.
     
  44. MarcopoloR

    MarcopoloR

    Joined:
    Feb 4, 2015
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    114
    My current full tower case has three fans in it, and I have a Ryzen 7 2700X and an RTX 2070 from about 5 years ago and never had a problem with that overheating. I barely hear the fans ever unless I am doing something really extreme. That is why I hope with the same tower case and fans I will not need to worry about and major extra cooling in my new PC. Will this time be different with my new components?
     
  45. spiney199

    spiney199

    Joined:
    Feb 11, 2021
    Posts:
    7,606
    Yeah Unity's domain reloads especially benefit from faster single core speeds. More slower cores isn't much benefit.

    In either of the AMD options they have pretty fast single-core speeds. But if you're investing in high-end CPU's I would invest in an All-in-One water-cooling option. This is true for either AMD or Intel. They're not that expensive nowadays anyway, especially not compared to the CPU's you'll be buying alongside them.
     
  46. MarcopoloR

    MarcopoloR

    Joined:
    Feb 4, 2015
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    In case you guys are wondering where I got my crazy ideas from, this is the video that made me question whether certain new CPU's needed more than a stock cooling system in a well-ventilated case-



    and this video made me consider the 7800X3D over the 7950X3D or the top of the line intel-



    I also some some reviews saying you would have to constantly be updating the firmware in the 7950X3D to get it to use all its cores and run smoothly. I would rather be working on games and 3D art than messing with my processor and BIOS constantly to get it to do what is is supposed to do.

    However even though it does well with games I wonder how well it will do with applications like ZBrush which I spend a significant amount of my time using. With my current setup I do notice bottlenecks-some operations in ZBrush I am sitting there waiting for them to finish and I wouldn't mind a faster CPU improving that significantly. Just the question for me is the 7800 is good enough where it won't really matter if I have that vs the 7950 when I am using ZBrush and programs like it.
     
    Last edited: Aug 4, 2023
  47. MarcopoloR

    MarcopoloR

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    114
    apparently these new high end chips don't even come with a stock cooler fan anymore, I didn't know that. I assumed they did. So I am going to have to invest in an aftermarket cooler regardless. I feel kinda stupid I didn't know that, in the past they always came with a fan. As for air vs water, since I have never installed one before this may seem sort of silly but I am nervous about water in my computer system. I know someone who installed their own homemade version a while back and it leaked on them.
     
    Last edited: Aug 4, 2023
  48. Ryiah

    Ryiah

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    Oct 11, 2012
    Posts:
    20,952
    You wouldn't want a stock cooler even if they still came with one. Both companies have designed their chips to run as fast as the power delivery and cooling can handle so you would be crippling your system running with it.

    I wouldn't waste money on water cooling. You won't see much of a performance difference with it, and it requires a ton of additional maintenance once it's built having to be flushed out every so often, cleaned, and refilled with anti-corrosion liquids. Water is more for appearance than it is for anything else and it's very expensive to do right.

    With air you just buy a quality cooler (eg Noctua NH-D15 w/ second fan) and a case with proper airflow (eg Define Meshify C), and very occasionally blow the heatsink out with canned air if your room is particularly dusty.
     
    Last edited: Aug 4, 2023
  49. MarcopoloR

    MarcopoloR

    Joined:
    Feb 4, 2015
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    Thanks, I found a good recommended air cooler recommended to me that you also mentioned (Nocturna NH-D15). I have decided on the 7800X3D, it is probably "good enough" for my needs and a couple hundred cheaper, especially now since I have to invest in an cooling fan too. And I don't care much about looks anyway. With my current full tower case which provides great cooling the window part is faced against the wall away from me anyway because of how it is situated on my desk.
     
  50. Antypodish

    Antypodish

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    To be honest, I don't know what people talking about, regarding leaking, cleaning flushing. Must be only applying to custom systems, or some rubbish one.

    I got H100 or H120 running nearly decade. 0 maintenence, while running every day, for more than 12hrs per day on average. Also survived few home moves. That is safer than bulky heavy radiators attached to chip, if anyone plans to move with desktop.

    Cooler noise hasn't changed.
    CPU performance hasn't changed anyway in any noticeable way.
    CPU is still running fine.

    There is also in-desktop tower space consideration, for future expansion, if needed.
     
    Last edited: Aug 5, 2023