Hardware

[lior]

Any recommendations about high performance desktop, for best fluent and quality work with Affinity ? cpu, motherboard, graphic card,  monitor, discs...etc., each separately, or a good, already integrated desktop. Thanks

[hengkidh]

It will be more easier if you mention your budget.

[SrPx]

Affinity makes good use of a good CPU, that's for sure, from cases we read around here often. It depends a lot too on your workflow. Is not the same if you are a photographer, or an illustrator, or you make mostly textures, or pixel art, only UI, or etc. Editing large files is gonna get benefits from SSDs disks. Also from having a good amount of RAM, at at least 2400 Mhz, for intel  Better if 2666 and up for the AMD Ryzen machines, ideally ~3k / 3200 (it's way pricier, tho). I mean, it is an increase much more noticed in AMD platform, the ram speed.

I would prioritize on CPU, disc and RAM, maybe in that order. But probably looking for a minimum of 16 gb RAM. (in Windows, at least)

CPUs... My own favs are Ryzen 2700x in AMD and i7 8700K in intel. But that's only my personal taste. (but in my local shops, that's 365 and 389 euros, respectively , the CPUs alone....is the way to go, IMO, though.)

In any lower config, I think I'd always favor the CPU, anyway. I would, no matter how cheap the budget, try to not going below 8Gb RAM. As it could bottle neck everything else for content creation.   In the disk, if you really can't afford -or don't  need, or dislike its lifespan- a SSD, then a mechanical HD, a Seagate barracuda 7200 rpm (don't ever get a 5400 rpm one, whatever  the brand) might do well the deal for a bunch of workflows (mine is lasting 9 years, and my sister's 11...and fingers crossed, both ain't giving any sign of going down... ). I get one of these of one tera for a bit more than 40 bucks, first hand ( would never buy a second hand HD).

Video card... less important, but buy an average-good one if you can. The GTX 1050 (non Ti ) of 2g is low end, does well the deal, for me...Is not the kind of software you need to put a lot of money in the card, IMO. Everything helps, I guess, tho.

Good machines "going down" in budget (always with the priorities I referred too, generally. And counting on all this is just my personal opinion ) :

- Ryzen 2700. We've talked about it, recently. Preferred by several people for its great efficiency in energy, slightly more silent stock cooler, still very powerful, almost identical to the 2700X if overclocked at 4.2. I just hate overclocking, personally. Is only very slightly cheaper, though. And for overclocking, you need quite some bucks extra for a cooler supporting that, the stock can't, really. And this make it just as expensive, if not more. But consumes less watts.

- AMD Ryzen 2600X. 3.6 base, 4Ghz turbo. Great machine. Great performance overall. This is really a golden purchase. But has 2 less cores (6 cores and 12 threads) than 2700 and 2700x. This is strongly noticed in 3D rendering (nothing you'd do with Affinity, of course. Am looking at it globally, tho) scenes. or video editing that heavily uses several CPU cores. Still, 6 cores and 12 threads is nice to have.

- Intel i5 8600K. 3.6 GHz base, 4,3 turbo. Great machine. Great performance in single core. It gets more performance (more than the above one in single core, top clock scenarios) in many applications than the above, but I do need some base performance in rendering, and this one, while has 6 cores, BUT, and is a big one, is ONLY 6 threads. This is too noticeable in 3D rendering and cpu based video rendering. Again, if you don't do any of these, then you should put this (unless Affinity makes heavy use of multi core: I do not know this) intel over the Ryzen 2600X ! And if you wont overclock the 2700 (not the X) then this little one gets best performance in single core than the ryzen 2700 in many tests ( again,  in single core. When multiple cores are used, the AMD Ryzen 2600X is better in several situations).

- Intel i7 7700k. Uses to be great for Adobe apps, but as those are mostly single core. But, although coffeelake is also a closed path for upgrade, Kabylake is even an older platform... I wouldn't go there, personally. But is a good machine. Indeed, I think is more expensive yet than a Ryzen 2600X or intel 8600k. It has less cores (4 cores) than this two , but more threads (8) than the intel 8600k (but again, that intel is a heck of a great purchase (performance/price) in the coffeelake platform).

 - Ryzen 1600X (+a third party cooler) base 3.6ghz, turbo 4 GHz , or 1600  (includes a good cooler) if you overclock it. A great machine, a great price, even while is from the previous Ryzen version. Both have 6 cores, 12 threads. Very nice performance, nice price, great deal. 

- Intel core i5 8400. A great machine. It does nice in PS and Premiere. It gets much better results than you would expect for a relatively low clock 2.8 base, 4 ghz turbo. Despite the super cheap price, this one still has 6 cores ( and 6 threads). As you can imagine, again depends on if you need extra cores or not for other applications than Affinity or PS.

- Intel core i3 8350  ( 4ghz, no turbo, no hyperthreading, 4 cores 4 threads ) it is trimmed down in other features compared to 8400. It depends a lot on your overall usage of the machine. Is only an i3 ). Clocks overall should not be compared as providing equal performance as same clock in a superior tier. IE, is not the same 4 ghz in this one than 4 ghz in a Ryzen 2700 !  But it is a key value to consider, nonetheless. 

We don't have a 3 miles long users-made benchmark spread sheet like there is in Blender (and constantly updated) , so I personally have no farther clues on about what hardware on Windows goes best for Affinity. But attending to what it seems, that CPU is a good thing around here, I'd prioritize as I explained. I hate SSDs ( due to lifespan/writes cycles) , but I have to say it: For raw (pun intended) performance,  it can make a huge deal of a difference, as well as putting enough ram, speed around or above 2400 MHz (that last bit about ram speed : very personal opinion) but imo, not 2133 anymore.

As a whole integrated one, no idea. I tend to go for Dells if so, as it went amazingly well (no errors, no overheat, no noise at all, no bad parts, good builds and cables distribution, etc) with me for family and friends, and less calls, if any, for help hardware related. I'm told Alienwares tend to be high performant builds. Too pricey for my taste...I build piece by piece, can't consider other way. Among other things, it is extremely more expensive that way, and my machine, mounted in a shop, me selecting the pieces, as I always do, have lasted very long (around 10 years is more likely time when you need to upgrade, anyway, badly) , like other machines purchased so.

In Macs... (as you did not specify) ... no idea, no clue.

[lior]

On 9/11/2018 at 5:27 PM, hengkidh said:

It will be more easier if you mention your budget.

Thank you. I would say 1000-2000$.

[lior]

On 9/12/2018 at 1:23 AM, SrPx said:

Affinity makes good use of a good CPU, that's for sure, from cases we read around here often. It depends a lot too on your workflow. Is not the same if you are a photographer, or an illustrator, or you make mostly textures, or pixel art, only UI, or etc. Editing large files is gonna get benefits from SSDs disks. Also from having a good amount of RAM, at at least 2400 Mhz, for intel  Better if 2666 and up for the AMD Ryzen machines, ideally ~3k / 3200 (it's way pricier, tho). I mean, it is an increase much more noticed in AMD platform, the ram speed.

I would prioritize on CPU, disc and RAM, maybe in that order. But probably looking for a minimum of 16 gb RAM. (in Windows, at least)

CPUs... My own favs are Ryzen 2700x in AMD and i7 8700K in intel. But that's only my personal taste. (but in my local shops, that's 365 and 389 euros, respectively , the CPUs alone....is the way to go, IMO, though.)

In any lower config, I think I'd always favor the CPU, anyway. I would, no matter how cheap the budget, try to not going below 8Gb RAM. As it could bottle neck everything else for content creation.   In the disk, if you really can't afford -or don't  need, or dislike its lifespan- a SSD, then a mechanical HD, a Seagate barracuda 7200 rpm (don't ever get a 5400 rpm one, whatever  the brand) might do well the deal for a bunch of workflows (mine is lasting 9 years, and my sister's 11...and fingers crossed, both ain't giving any sign of going down... ). I get one of these of one tera for a bit more than 40 bucks, first hand ( would never buy a second hand HD).

Video card... less important, but buy an average-good one if you can. The GTX 1050 (non Ti ) of 2g is low end, does well the deal, for me...Is not the kind of software you need to put a lot of money in the card, IMO. Everything helps, I guess, tho.

Good machines "going down" in budget (always with the priorities I referred too, generally. And counting on all this is just my personal opinion ) :

- Ryzen 2700. We've talked about it, recently. Preferred by several people for its great efficiency in energy, slightly more silent stock cooler, still very powerful, almost identical to the 2700X if overclocked at 4.2. I just hate overclocking, personally. Is only very slightly cheaper, though. And for overclocking, you need quite some bucks extra for a cooler supporting that, the stock can't, really. And this make it just as expensive, if not more. But consumes less watts.

- AMD Ryzen 2600X. 3.6 base, 4Ghz turbo. Great machine. Great performance overall. This is really a golden purchase. But has 2 less cores (6 cores and 12 threads) than 2700 and 2700x. This is strongly noticed in 3D rendering (nothing you'd do with Affinity, of course. Am looking at it globally, tho) scenes. or video editing that heavily uses several CPU cores. Still, 6 cores and 12 threads is nice to have.

- Intel i5 8600K. 3.6 GHz base, 4,3 turbo. Great machine. Great performance in single core. It gets more performance (more than the above one in single core, top clock scenarios) in many applications than the above, but I do need some base performance in rendering, and this one, while has 6 cores, BUT, and is a big one, is ONLY 6 threads. This is too noticeable in 3D rendering and cpu based video rendering. Again, if you don't do any of these, then you should put this (unless Affinity makes heavy use of multi core: I do not know this) intel over the Ryzen 2600X ! And if you wont overclock the 2700 (not the X) then this little one gets best performance in single core than the ryzen 2700 in many tests ( again,  in single core. When multiple cores are used, the AMD Ryzen 2600X is better in several situations).

- Intel i7 7700k. Uses to be great for Adobe apps, but as those are mostly single core. But, although coffeelake is also a closed path for upgrade, Kabylake is even an older platform... I wouldn't go there, personally. But is a good machine. Indeed, I think is more expensive yet than a Ryzen 2600X or intel 8600k. It has less cores (4 cores) than this two , but more threads (8) than the intel 8600k (but again, that intel is a heck of a great purchase (performance/price) in the coffeelake platform).

 - Ryzen 1600X (+a third party cooler) base 3.6ghz, turbo 4 GHz , or 1600  (includes a good cooler) if you overclock it. A great machine, a great price, even while is from the previous Ryzen version. Both have 6 cores, 12 threads. Very nice performance, nice price, great deal. 

- Intel core i5 8400. A great machine. It does nice in PS and Premiere. It gets much better results than you would expect for a relatively low clock 2.8 base, 4 ghz turbo. Despite the super cheap price, this one still has 6 cores ( and 6 threads). As you can imagine, again depends on if you need extra cores or not for other applications than Affinity or PS.

- Intel core i3 8350  ( 4ghz, no turbo, no hyperthreading, 4 cores 4 threads ) it is trimmed down in other features compared to 8400. It depends a lot on your overall usage of the machine. Is only an i3 ). Clocks overall should not be compared as providing equal performance as same clock in a superior tier. IE, is not the same 4 ghz in this one than 4 ghz in a Ryzen 2700 !  But it is a key value to consider, nonetheless. 

We don't have a 3 miles long users-made benchmark spread sheet like there is in Blender (and constantly updated) , so I personally have no farther clues on about what hardware on Windows goes best for Affinity. But attending to what it seems, that CPU is a good thing around here, I'd prioritize as I explained. I hate SSDs ( due to lifespan/writes cycles) , but I have to say it: For raw (pun intended) performance,  it can make a huge deal of a difference, as well as putting enough ram, speed around or above 2400 MHz (that last bit about ram speed : very personal opinion) but imo, not 2133 anymore.

As a whole integrated one, no idea. I tend to go for Dells if so, as it went amazingly well (no errors, no overheat, no noise at all, no bad parts, good builds and cables distribution, etc) with me for family and friends, and less calls, if any, for help hardware related. I'm told Alienwares tend to be high performant builds. Too pricey for my taste...I build piece by piece, can't consider other way. Among other things, it is extremely more expensive that way, and my machine, mounted in a shop, me selecting the pieces, as I always do, have lasted very long (around 10 years is more likely time when you need to upgrade, anyway, badly) , like other machines purchased so.

In Macs... (as you did not specify) ... no idea, no clue.

Thank you very very much for the very detailed and professional answer ! It helps.

[SrPx]

You are welcome  !