What Kind of Computer Do You Need? (Step-by-Step)-Computerfanfield

How to buy a desktop computer

Desktop PCs are not dead. Well, not dead dead, anyway.

Sure, these days phones and tablets have replaced PCs for a lot of us when it comes to getting day-to-day stuff done. Then, when more power or a bigger screen is needed, you probably turn to a laptop, which can even pull double duty as a desktop, hooking up to a monitor, mouse and keyboard when needed.

Nevertheless, there are still good reasons to go with an actual desktop over a laptop. And by "desktop," I don't necessarily mean a big tower at your feet with cables streaming from it. There are still towers -- big and small -- but the term also includes unique gaming systems, all-in-ones, mini PCs and stick computers. If you're not quite sure what those are or why you'd want one style over the others (or instead of a laptop), keep reading.

If, however, you already know the type of desktop you're looking for and just want some buying suggestions, here are our top picks in each category. Or you can jump to CNET's full list of best desktop PCs. (Note that, although the PC makers may no longer sell the exact configurations we reviewed, comparable configurations are available.)

Sarah Tew/CNET

The Tiki is one of the smallest most powerful gaming desktops you can buy. It's designed for gaming, but it could just as easily be a workstation for web or graphic design or any other demanding tasks.

Sarah Tew/CNET

Want room to grow? Go with a full-size tower like the XPS SE. Dell makes less expensive towers, but this starts out powerful enough for VR games, but has room inside and out to beef up on components.

Sarah Tew/CNET

It's a computer, personal home theater and gaming system for one. HP made a beautiful PC to cover all aspects of your computing life.

Sarah Tew/CNET

A great family computer built around MacOS. It doesn't have the latest components, but if you're looking for a small multiuser system with a gorgeous screen, this is a good place to start.

Sarah Tew / CNET

In tech years it's stupid old, but if you want to use MacOS, this is the smallest -- and cheapest -- way to get it. Despite its age, its components won't let you down for basic home office tasks and media consumption.

Sarah Tew/CNET

This pretty little box running on a custom Linux-based operating system is less than $300 and comes loaded with tons of software. Perfect if you're just looking for something small, simple and cheap for basics.

Sarah Tew/CNET

There are plenty of mini PCs out there running on Windows 10, but this is just a little larger than an old thumb drive. The Compute Stick lets you turn any HDMI-equipped TV or monitor into an all-in-on PC. Add a wireless keyboard and mouse and you're set to get all the basics done.

Why would I want a desktop?

Again, while most of the market has flipped to laptops, there are a few very good reasons to consider a desktop instead. For example, they're great family PCs, since sneaking off to a bedroom with an entire desktop is unlikely to happen. Similarly, you can set up a space that's just for work and free of distractions, allowing you to disconnect when you're day is done.

Also, connected to a large monitor or TV, a desktop can double as a media center for storage and playback of your favorite movies, music and pictures. And while laptops have certainly gotten powerful enough to play even the most demanding games, a desktop lets you swap out components and upgrade as new games inevitably require new hardware.

What kind of desktop should I buy?

Since each desktop style has its own set of pros and cons, start by considering what you want to do, where you plan to do it and how much you want to spend. Buy the most desktop you can afford, but one that has all the features you need. For example: a mostly sealed system like an all-in-one, offers more convenience, but less flexibility if you want to change the CPU or graphics card down the line.

Tower

You might think they're just for gamers or graphics pros these days, but there are excellent reasons to buy a tower, not the least of which is their price-to-performance ratio. Whenever you miniaturize tech, costs go up, so getting top performance in a small PC -- laptop or desktop -- increases the price.

With a tower, you can get a lot more computer for your money with fewer performance bottlenecks. On top of that, towers can have ample room for expansion both inside and out. And because you can typically open them up easily, you can do upgrades and simple repairs yourself.

A tower does take up more space than other desktop options though, and that potentially limits where you can use it in your home or office. Plus, unless you've already got them, you'll have to add on the cost of a monitor, keyboard and mouse.

All-in-one

An all-in-one is basically a large monitor with the actual computer built into the back or base. They typically use the same components you'd find in a laptop and, as such, don't have the performance capabilities and/or the expansion opportunities of a tower.

Because they're all one piece, setup usually requires little more than plugging it in and connecting a keyboard and mouse. The minimal setup keeps your desk clutter-free and makes them much easier to move from room to room compared to a tower. However, should something go wrong with the display, you lose your entire computer.

Mini and stick PCs

Like all-in-ones, mini PCs use mobile components to keep them small. So small actually that you can hide one behind a monitor or tuck one into an entertainment center to use as a media server connected to a TV. Stick PCs take this a step further, shrinking an entire computer into something that's just larger than old-school thumb drive. There's an HDMI video output at one end letting you plug it directly into a monitor or TV.

While you can find some small powerful desktops, mini PCs are typically mainstream systems made for day-to-day tasks, web surfing and media consumption. You'll find plenty of ports to connect peripherals to, but internal expansion is minimal if available at all. Stick PCs are even less powerful, but still fine for email, social media and movies.

One advantage they both share is portability. You could, for example, pack a stick PC to take with you on vacation without a second thought. Or you could have an office setup built around a mini PC that you could simply disconnect and move to your living room for a home theater experience.

Sarah Tew/CNET

Should I buy a Mac or Windows PC? What about Google's Chrome OS?

For the most part this is a matter of preference, but there are definitely things to consider before you decide which way to go. Because Apple controls both the hardware and software for its desktops, you get a much more stable overall experience and many prefer the user-friendly MacOS layout and controls. That said, Apple hasn't been updating its desktops very often, which means in most cases you're buying hardware that's years old.

Windows is available on huge variety of desktops from a number of vendors, so it's much easier to find a computer that meets your feature and budget needs. Windows also has a large available software library, especially when it comes to free software and games.

Google's web-based Chrome OS is a lightweight, but limited operating system that relies heavily on having an internet connection. If you just need an inexpensive desktop for using web-based tools, a Chrome system is worth investigating (we call those Chromeboxes and Chromebits, while Chrome OS laptops are called Chromebooks). Those who need to install software like Microsoft Office or Apple iTunes will want to steer clear, though.

Where can I find the latest desktop reviews?

You can find all the newest desktop news and reviews right here on CNET. You can also jump right to our latest top desktop reviews for 2017.

How to choose the right PC: Everything you need to know about picking the right computer for work

The key characteristic of small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) is a general lack of funds and human resources compared to those available to enterprises. So when it comes to considering what computers SMBs should choose, issues surrounding budget and IT support will usually figure highly.

But while cost is an important factor in SMB buying decisions, that's not to say they should always head down-market: buying a fleet of bargain-basement PCs and then discovering a significant number of 'dead-on-arrival' systems, or a high failure rate requiring repeated interventions by IT staff or customer support will not deliver an optimal total cost of ownership (TCO).

SEE: 20 pro tips to make Windows 10 work the way you want (free PDF)

Beyond product functionality, performance and cost, there are important ancillary issues such as the vendor's track record, product roadmap, warranty provisions, customer relations, user community and commitment to usability. All of these should feed into the buying process at some level.

With these general comments in mind, what are the key factors that should determine SMBs' choice of computer? Before going any further, it's worth stressing that by 'computer' we mean general-purpose productivity devices ranging from traditional desktops and workstations to tablet/laptop hybrids. We're not talking about smartphones (even though phones are becoming increasingly powerful and able to deliver desktop experiences) or servers.

What do you want to do with it?

The computer used by a traditional 'knowledge worker' at an office desk will be a different beast from the device in front of a 'first-line worker' in manufacturing, construction, retail, hospitality or transportation firms, for example, or in public sector organisations. Then there's all manner of 'power users' -- particularly in the scientific, financial and creative sectors -- who will need computers with a completely different level of functionality and performance.

Devices serving these broad user classes -- first-line workers, knowledge workers and power users -- will also need different levels of portability, ruggedness and security, depending on the requirements of, or demands on, the particular business sector.

All this may seem obvious, but without a clear picture of the workloads your computers will be running, and the circumstances under which they'll be running them, your chances of making an optimal selection are slim.

Generally speaking, the leading PC vendors have the broadest range of PC offerings at a wide variety of price points, and are most likely to be able to cope with unexpected economic headwinds such as those we're currently experiencing.

So unless they already have fruitful pre-existing relationships with second- or third-tier vendors, or have good reasons to seek out suppliers in the 'Others' category, most SMBs will be looking at what are often termed 'the usual suspects':

Data: IDC / Chart: ZDNet

Of course the top-tier vendors have been affected by the coronavirus pandemic, with the traditional PC market (desktops, notebooks and workstations) seeing a 9.8% year-on-year decline in shipments in Q1 2020, following extended factory closures in February, according to analyst firm IDC. Apple saw the biggest decline at 20.7% compared to Q1 2019, because almost all of its manufacturing is based in China. HP, Acer and Lenovo saw declines of 13.8%, 9.9% and 4.3% respectively, while Dell's shipments actually rose slightly (1.1%) thanks to its strong relationships with the supply chain, IDC said.

What is your preferred platform?

Judged purely on worldwide market share, Windows is likely to be the first choice of operating system for SMBs: across all versions, Windows accounts for 88% of the market, according to NetMarketShare, with Windows 10 comprising over half (52%) and Windows 7 around a third (30.6%) -- even though support for the latter ended in January 2020:

Data: NetMarketShare / Chart: ZDNet

Windows dominates the PC operating system market thanks to its long-time availability on a wide range of OEM (and more recently, Microsoft) hardware, which has resulted in a huge variety of software written for the platform. That's not to say that it's necessarily the 'best' operating system, but as an SMB you're probably going to need a good, specific, reason to overlook it in favour of Apple's macOS, which comprises around 9% of the market, Linux (1.8%) or Chrome OS (<1%).

For example, you might choose macOS for some employees in order to run creative software on premium hardware, or because Apple's ecosystem is already embraced company-wide. Linux might get the nod for its free, open-source and increasingly usable nature, or because it's less of a target for cybercriminals than Windows. And Chrome OS-based Chromebooks offer an affordable platform for web-based productivity apps or thin client software.

What form factor is most appropriate?

Computer form factors range from tablets and ultraportable laptops to large, powerful multi-monitor workstations, touching many points in between. Choosing between them is another 'what do you want to do with it?' question, and will involve trade-offs between computing power, portability, screen size, input methods and upgradability. This taxonomy of the main device classes may help to put them into perspective:

Image: Charles McLellan/ZDNet

There's currently a lot of activity and innovation in the space occupied by tablets, ultrabooks and 2-in-1 laptop/tablets, mainly because 'mainstream mobile productivity' is (or has been) an outpost of growth in a generally declining PC market. That's why Apple is seeking to make the iPad more 'computer'-like with add-on keyboards and trackpad support, and why there's much interest in forthcoming devices like Lenovo's ThinkPad X1 Fold and Microsoft's dual-screen Windows 10X-based Surface Neo, as well as Intel's prototype Horseshoe Bend that unfolds from a clamshell to a large standalone 17.3-inch screen, and concept folding devices from Dell. However, products in this space will carry premium prices for some time, and will likely be out of the reckoning for the average SMB for the foreseeable future.

Specifications

Once you've settled on the workloads you'll be running, the OS you'll be running them on, and the form factor(s) you require, it's time to consider the specifications. The basic ones revolve around CPU, RAM and storage, GPU and connectivity. Here are some very broad recommendations.

CPU

System type / CPU vendor Intel AMD Low end Core i3 A-Series, Athlon, Ryzen 3 Mid range Core i5, i7 Ryzen 5, 7 High end Core i9, Xeon Ryzen 9, Ryzen Threadripper

Processors come in 'desktop' and 'mobile' variants, the former generally being more powerful but less power efficient than the latter for a given model number. If you want enterprise-grade security and manageability features built into the CPU, look for vPro (Intel) and PRO (AMD) models.

Memory & storage

System type / Component RAM SSD Low end 4GB 128GB Mid range 8GB, 16GB 256GB, 512GB High end 32GB+ 1TB+

For desktops and laptops, the more RAM and the more storage -- particularly fast SSD storage -- you can specify, the better. But if you have to choose between spending more on RAM or on storage, go for RAM. You can always store data on external media or in the cloud if need be, but more RAM will make any PC more responsive. If you see Optane Memory in a PC's specs, that's not RAM, but non-volatile memory used in fast SSDs or for 'intelligent system acceleration' -- speeding up access to data on legacy hard disk drives (HDDs), for example.

GPU

When it comes to graphics, the integrated GPUs in Intel's and some of AMD's processors will handle most SMB workloads just fine. Intel processors come with integrated HD or UHD Graphics, and Iris, Iris Pro or Iris Plus Graphics, while AMD processors come with integrated Radeon or Radeon Vega Graphics. Integrated GPUs share RAM with the main processor, which is another reason why it's always best to specify the most RAM you can afford.

For graphically demanding tasks, you'll need a system with a discrete desktop or mobile GPU, with its own dedicated video RAM (which can range between 2GB and 16GB). The main discrete GPU vendors are Nvidia (GeForce, Quadro, Titan, Tesla) and AMD (Radeon, Radeon Pro).

Intel's next move in the GPU space will be with its Xe architecture, which is expected to scale from mobile all the way up to high-performance computing (HPC) systems.

Connectivity

All computers, laptop or desktop, should come with wi-fi for wireless local area networking (WLAN) and Bluetooth for wireless personal area networking (WPAN). The latest 802.11ax (Wi-Fi 6) standard will be supported on higher-end devices, but 802.11ac (Wi-Fi 5) is still widely used. Look for Bluetooth 5 and Bluetooth LE (Low Energy), in preference to older versions. Mobile broadband -- over 4G LTE and, in due course, 5G cellular networks -- is available on some high-end, mostly ultraportable, laptops: 4G or 5G wireless wide area networking (WWAN) will be useful for highly mobile professionals, but is an expensive option.

The variety of wired connections on a PC will vary widely depending on form factor and budget tier. Look for USB-C with Thunderbolt 3 support, as it's the most versatile single connection, capable of handling data, video and power delivery. USB-C is often accompanied by previous-generation USB 3.0 ports, while video connections include HDMI, DisplayPort and even legacy VGA on some systems. Ethernet (RJ-45) for wired network connection is available on most desktops and some laptops. On smaller laptops lacking an RJ-45 port, Ethernet can be added via a USB dongle, or on an external docking station along with other connections.

Other key factors

If you're choosing a laptop, and especially one destined for use away from a source of mains power for significant lengths of time, battery life will be extremely important. You'll want a device that offers 'all day' battery life (>8 hours), but be aware that manufacturers' claimed figures are often optimistic. Seek out reviews that test with realistic workloads and usage patterns. A removable battery is preferable but increasingly rare, especially on ultraportable systems.

Security should be front and centre on all business PCs. Key security/manageability features include Intel's vPro, Trusted Platform Module (TPM), UEFI firmware and Secure Boot, along with biometric authentication via fingerprint or facial recognition.

If you're going to be running demanding software on expensive high-end PCs or workstations, make sure the vendor has certifications from ISVs (Independent Software Vendors). This should ensure that mission-critical applications will run reliably on your chosen hardware platform.

SEE: Windows 10: How long will your next feature update take to install?

Some laptops used in vertical industries such as construction or field service need to be able to handle rough treatment and extreme environmental conditions. In such cases, you should be looking for rugged systems with IP ratings for dust and water resistance and military-grade MIL-STD 810G testing. You'll see various grades of ruggedness in manufacturers' descriptions -- ruggedised, semi-rugged, business rugged, fully rugged, ultra-rugged, and more. Check carefully to determine exactly what you're getting. Rugged laptops are available from top-tier vendors (Lenovo, HP, Dell), as well as specialists, including Panasonic, Getac, GRiD and DT Research.

Finally, an important feature you won't see on a spec sheet: ergonomics. Relevant areas include the adjustability and eye comfort of a screen or monitor, the feel and layout of a keyboard, and the location of ports, slots and webcams. On the latter point, the coronavirus lockdown and consequent explosion of video conferencing has provided plenty of opportunities to experience disturbing 'up-the-nose' camera angles and poor audio quality.

PC & Device as a Service

If you want to minimise the hassle surrounding the procurement, management and upgrading of your business PCs, the PC-as-a-Service (PCaaS) model is worth considering, along with broader Device-as-a-Service (DaaS) offerings.

Available from tier-one PC vendors like Dell, HP and Lenovo, and others such as Microsoft and third parties, PCaaS/DaaS lets businesses choose the PCs and devices they require and then, for a monthly subscription, have the service provider deploy, manage, maintain, secure, support and eventually replace those devices.

There are many benefits to the PCaaS/DaaS model, including minimal upfront costs, a single point of contact for IT staff (who will also be freed up for more creative tasks), and shorter device lifecycles, resulting in more up-to-date devices being on users' desks or in their hands. Downsides include vendor lock-in, and potential pushback from employees who appreciate the bring-your-own-device (BYOD) approach.

For more detail, check out this (HP-sponsored) research from IDC.

Desktop as a Service & VDI

Easily confused with device-as-a-service because it shares the same DaaS acronym, desktop-as-a-service delivers user desktops -- usually Windows and/or Linux -- from the cloud to end-user devices over an internet connection. It's essentially a cloud-based version of traditional virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI), where desktops are hosted by on-premises server infrastructure.

As with any cloud-based service, there are pros (e.g. pay-as-you-go pricing, flexibility, scalability, freedom from IT infrastructure management) and cons (e.g. software licensing issues, internet latency and outages, data security worries). Desktop as a service is a particularly good fit for SMBs, which are unlikely to be able to deploy on-premises VDI solutions.

The leading Desktop-as-a-service providers are VMware (Horizon Cloud), Amazon (DaaS on AWS), Microsoft (Windows Virtual Desktop on Azure) and Citrix (Citrix Managed Desktops).

What Kind of Computer Do You Need? (Step-by-Step)

Are you thinking about buying a new Computer or Laptop, or want to upgrade your existing one, but don’t really know where to start?

You have come to the right place!

In this 4-Step Beginner’s Computer Guide you will find out what type of Computer you should get, by answering just a few important questions:

Type: Do you want a Desktop PC or a Laptop? Purpose: What will you be using your brand new PC for? Budget: How much are you willing to spend? Assemble! Order a Pre-Built PC or build it yourself?

I’ll answer questions, such as “What Computer should I buy?” and more.

If you like, you can also dive in deeper and learn what specific parts you need to build a PC and how you build a Computer from scratch.

You’ll find that building your own PC is easy and fun, and you’ll be able to optimize your parts for maximum performance in your specific workloads.

But right now, let’s start out simple by answering the first Question in finding the right kind of Computer for you:

1. Do you want a Desktop PC/Workstation or a Laptop?

If you already know the answer, great! You might want to skip this section and Continue at 2. If not, read on:

Desktop PC

A Desktop PC usually sits on top of your desk (hence the name) or underneath your desk.

It usually comes in a tower-size and measures around 20x40x50cm (8x16x20 inches), just like the one you can see in the image below.

The so-called PC-Case is usually black, grey, or white and can come in all kinds of variations, with side-doors, glass panels and other features that you might or might not need.

The Desktop PC is meant to be stationary and is only moved in rare cases. In addition, you’ll need a Monitor, Keyboard, and Mouse to complete your Desktop PC and be able to work with it.

A Desktop PC is much more powerful than a Laptop, at the same price-point.

Given its size and the ability for housing larger parts, better cooling, and a power supply connected directly to the wall and not to a battery – this makes sense.

So if you are planning on doing tasks that require very high performance (such as content-creation or high-end gaming), you should consider a Desktop PC over a Laptop.

A Desktop Computer can also be upgraded much more easily because the access and layout of PC-Components inside of the PC-Case are based around the ability to swap out and put together your own computer easily.

Laptop

The main benefit of a Laptop is its mobility.

You can pick up a Laptop and take it with you much more easily than a Desktop PC. It also has a screen, touchpad and keyboard integrated directly, meaning you only have to carry around one thing to change your workplace.

Unfortunately, because a Laptop is so much smaller than a desktop PC, it also has some cooling and power limits that it has to adhere to.

This means lower performance, as the built-in parts in a Laptop have to be built to run on less power and weaker cooling, meaning they also deliver less performance.

If Mobility is of utmost importance to you but you still need extreme performance, there are Laptops that offer similar speed to Desktop PCs, but they are quite heavy and become noisy very fast.

This is mainly because they try to make up for weaker cooling with faster spinning fans.

Upgrading a Laptop to stronger components is usually quite difficult, with the Storage Drive and RAM mostly being the only two components that you’ll be able to swap out.

Anything else, a CPU, GPU, or Mainboard are built into the Laptop in a way, that makes upgrading them very difficult.

Working on a Laptop is limited to the in-built, smaller Monitor (unless you have extra Monitors where you work), and working on the touchpad can slow you down a lot.

Text-Editing, Browsing, Coding, simple Motion Design, simple Animation, and basic Video & Photo Editing can all be done on Laptops.

If you work on complex projects though, you will be very thankful to have a Desktop Workstation. Especially if you do GPU / CPU Rendering and other Processing work that requires powerful components.

Laptop vs. Desktop PC Summary:

Pick a Laptop for Mobility

Pick a Desktop PC for maximum Performance

-> Desktop PC or Laptop? When you have picked one let’s continue on with the second question:

2. Purpose of the PC/Laptop, What will you be using it for mostly?

What will you use this Computer for, and especially, what kind of Software & Workloads will you run on a day-to-day basis?

Let’s take a look at some popular Use-Cases and what they entail (Feel free to skip over some of these parts until you find your Use-Case):

Video Editing – Active Work

Editing Video on a Computer uses its hardware resources in very specific ways. The best-performing CPUs for Video Editing, for example, usually have high core-clocks and around 8 – 16 Cores, such as the AMD Ryzen 9 5900X.

Video Editing can use a good amount of RAM and you should be looking for at least 16GB, better even 32GB for serious Video Editing on 2K or 4K Footage.

Storage is another essential Component, as Video Footage can become quite large and is constantly accessed by your Video Editing Software, such as Premiere Pro.

This means having a Storage Device that reads and writes Data fast will increase your Video Editing performance. NVMe SSDs such as the Samsung 970 EVO PLUS and 970 PRO Series are the go-to high-performance storage device.

They do come at a slightly higher price but they are worth it.

The Graphics Card plays a minor Role in Video Editing, it can speed up some Effects processing and encoding, but this usually isn’t a major factor in your Video Editing performance.

Head on over to the in-depth PC Video Editing Article where you will learn exactly what kind of a PC you need if you edit Video on a day-to-day basis. Or check out this Article if you would like to edit Video on a Laptop.

Video Editing – Rendering / Processing

An important thing to note, is that Rendering your timeline into a movie, which usually involves compression with codecs, is something that uses your Computer’s resources a bit differently than when actively working on a project.

The Rendering process is something that requires CPUs that are optimized for Multi-Core Processing compared to high-core-clocks in active work.

So if you do a lot of processing, meaning you often load footage and convert it into differently compressed footage, go with High-Core-Count CPUs such as an AMD Threadripper 3970X or AMD Ryzen 9 5950X, which have excellent value in this area.

Graphic Design

If you are a Graphic Designer and spend most of your hours working in Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, or other Pixel and Vector-Based Software, you won’t need a CPU with lots of Cores but rather a CPU with a high clock-speed.

This will accelerate your canvas, user-interface, and work experience, make your Software snappy and responsive and keep your work experience lag-free.

Some great CPUs that I can recommend are the AMD Ryzen 5900X / AMD Ryzen 5600X and Intel i9 10900K.

As these are already quite high-end for Graphic Designers you can also save some money and go with the excellent AMD Ryzen 5 3600 as a budget choice.

Although Graphic Designer can make use of ample RAM, compared to working with moving pictures and animation, you can get away with less. A good baseline is 16GB of RAM for Graphic Design.

The GPU plays a minor role in Graphic Design workloads, and many mid-to-high tier GPUs will do just fine in typical Graphic-Design Software.

You can take a look at an Nvidia GTX 1660 Super for example or even go up to an Nvidia RTX 3060 Ti, if you can swing it.

Get an in-depth look at what the best Graphic Design PC would look like in this Article on Building a great Graphic Design Computer.

3D Rendering

When I say 3D Rendering, I mean the rendering out the final frame or Image of a Scene you are working on and not the active work within a 3D Software (such as Modeling, Animation). Rendering is a task that the PC works on by itself without the need for input from you.

Why is this distinction important?

Because 3D Rendering uses your Hardware very differently than when you do active work on Scenes. For finding the best Computer for your active Modeling & Animation work, read further down.

CPU Rendering

3D CPU Rendering is a process that can be parallelized extremely well and this means, this means you should get a CPU that has as many Cores as possible.

AMD’s Threadripper CPUs are leading the field in CPU Rendering value. An AMD Threadripper 3990X for example has over 75000 Cinebench Points, with Cinebench R23 being a Benchmark that measures and compares CPU Render Speed very well.

In CPU Rendering, your CPU is the most important part of the Computer, with RAM (Memory) following in second place. Everything else, the SSD, HDD, Graphics Card, or Motherboard, are secondary in speeding up your Render performance.

If this is a typical workload for you, these Articles on finding the best CPU for Rendering and building the best Computer for 3D Rendering will help you with a lot of extra info.

GPU Rendering

Of course, you can also render on your GPU (Graphics Card), as many Render Engines nowadays support the use of Nvidia’s or AMD’s Graphics Cards for fast parallel rendering of Images and Videos.

If you want to optimize GPU Rendering in Render Engines such as Octane, Redshift or VRAY-RT as much as possible, you should take a look at higher-end GPUs such as the Nvidia RTX 3070, 3080 or even the Nvidia RTX 3090.

GPUs can also be stacked to up to 4 GPUs in a PC-Case, which will scale your GPU Rendering Performance almost linearly.

In GPU Rendering, the CPU itself plays a minor role. Look for a high-clocking CPU to support your GPUs as much as possible.

RAM (Memory) should be at least 2x the size of your combined VRAM and Storage is something you can save money on as this will not impact your rendering performance at all.

I have written an in-depth article on finding the best Hardware for GPU Rendering here if you would like to learn more about building the best Computer for GPU Rendering.

3D Animation, Modeling, Sculpting, Texturing

I purposely decoupled this section from the 3D Rendering Section, because actively working inside your 3D Software utilizes your Computer Hardware in a very different manner.

When you do active work, you want as little delay as possible and the Viewport should feel responsive and be snappy.

Now, many think the Graphics Card would be responsible for a fast Viewport, but in almost all Digital Content Creation Software this is not the case.

Yes, the GPU outputs everything you see to your display device, but the underlying calculation of how objects are formed is all done on the CPU.

In addition, most 3D Software works in hierarchies, with objects, deformers, generators, splines, booleans and so on, listed in a hierarchy, that in most cases has to be stepped through one by one.

Because most objects are dependent on other objects (like a mirror object might be dependent on a boolean object that has to be calculated first), the CPU can’t offload certain steps to other cores but has to step through every single hierarchy level and object one by one.

This means, in your active 3D Work, it is of utmost importance that your CPU has a very high single-core-clock, without necessarily having lots of cores.

The AMD Ryzen 9 5950X is the currently best CPU for actively working on your projects, especially because it also comes with 16 Cores, with the Intel i9 10900K being the fastest CPU on Intel’s side.

It certainly helps to have a strong enough GPU, but you can usually get away with an Nvidia GTX 1660 or Nvidia RTX 3060 Ti quite easily if you don’t also need the GPU for GPU Rendering.

If you work on high-resolution meshes or have scenes with lots of objects, feel free to get at least 32GB of RAM or more. You can also be quite happy with 16GB, but you might not be able to work on projects of higher complexity.

I have written some in-depth Articles on this subject if you want to learn more about building the best Computer for 3D Modeling & Rendering or a great Desktop PC for Animation.

If you are interested in getting a mobile Workstation, check out this article about the best Laptops for Animation.

Motion Design

If you consider yourself a Motion Designer, you usually know your way around Applications such as After Effects, Illustrator, Photoshop, or Nuke and Fusion.

After Effects, in particular, is a very Memory demanding Application so it helps to get as much RAM as you can.

32GB should be the baseline for serious Motion Designers, with 64GB helping a lot with longer Comps and higher-resolution Projects.

Once again, the CPU should be a high-clocking CPU that doesn’t necessarily have many cores.

The reason being that After Effects, although it makes some use of Multi-Core Processing, is much more dependent on calculating the Effects and Real-Time RAM Caches on very few cores, so going for a high clocking CPU such as the AMD Ryzen 5900X or Intel i9 10900K will do wonders for your active work speed.

Having a fast NVMe SSD such as the Samsung 970 EVO PLUS will help in quickly loading your footage and saving the finished project output to disk.

Read more about building a PC for Motion Design and After Effects here.

CAD (Computer-Aided Design)

If your day-to-day work means you’re spending lots of time in Solidworks, AutoCAD, Inventor, Revit, ArchiCAD, or other CAD-Software, then you will need a workstation optimized for this kind of work.

To buy a Computer for CAD you should know your way around Quadro GPUs, Xeon CPUs and some very interesting questions concerning durability, reliability and Software Support.

Head on over to this article to learn more about buying the best Computer for CAD Software.

Photo Editing

If you want to buy a new Computer for Editing Photos, chances are you will be using Photoshop and Lightroom, Camera RAW, and maybe Adobe Bridge extensively.

These Apps don’t use lots of Cores at all and you should get a Processor with high clock-speeds but fewer Cores, to get the best Performance for Photo Editing (e.g. AMD Ryzen 5 5600X).

16GB of Memory (RAM) should be enough for most tasks unless you are editing lots of High-Res Images at the same time.

Take a look at this article on Building the best PC for Photo Editing, or for finding the best Photo-Editing RAM Size for your particular needs.

If you want to edit photos on the go, our Photo Editing Laptop Guide is worth checking out.

Gaming

Buying a Computer for Gaming is probably one of the most popular things you can do nowadays. The great news is, that on most of the PCs that you work on, you can also game on.

Especially PCs for GPU Rendering, 3D Modeling and Animation, Motion Design and Video Editing are so powerful that you can easily game on them at up to maximum graphic settings.

If you would like to learn more about building a specialized Gaming machine, head on over to to some of our Gaming-focused Articles. If you still have any questions after that, ask our forum experts.

Office, Text-Editing, Internet

This Guide wouldn’t be complete without mentioning using a Computer mainly for Office Work, such as Text Editing in Word and Excel, or Internet purposes. The great thing is, that this kind of Work is not demanding on the PC-Hardware at all and you can get away with very low-end components.

Every kind of PC Components mentioned so far will be more than enough for Office, Text-Editing, and Internet use. So you can’t do much wrong here. Any PC or Laptop under 1000$ will do just fine in this Area.

If you’d just like to get a pre-built PC that you can unpack and use, check our Guide on where to buy pre-built PCs.

Okay!

After reading some of the linked in-depth Articles, you should now know what kind of Software you will be using and probably also learned a bit about what is important for your specific kind of Computer.

Next step: money!

3. What is your Budget

You can buy Computers with any kind of Budget. If you have lots of money you can usually get a stronger PC, but the most expensive PCs are not necessarily the best for your kind of work.

That is why it’s so important to know what you will be using the PC for mostly.

Buying a 6000$ GPU-Rendering-Monster Machine can be slower for 3D Modeling or Photo Editing than a 2000$ PC that is optimized for 3D Modeling and Photo Editing.

Getting expensive CPUs with a huge number of Cores will not help you at all for snappy Animation and Motion Design work, only in CPU Rendering.

Sometimes less is more, so think about what you are willing to spend on your new Computer and I will tell you what PC will be the best PC for your purpose within your budget.

Maybe you don’t even need to spend your entire budget.

Great!

We have already come far in finding what kind of PC we need. We should now know if it’s going to be a Desktop PC or a Laptop. We should know what we will be using it for and how much we are willing to spend.

Let’s make a quick example: My new PC should…

Be a Desktop Workstation Computer I will use it for 3D Modeling and Animation I am willing to spend ~1400$

Now, take your 3 findings and head on over to the Custom PC-Builder Tool.

In the Custom PC-Builder Tool, you can:

Select either a Desktop PC or a Laptop Chose your Purpose Adjust your Budget

Click the “Build!-Button” and see what kind of PC-Parts or what type of Laptop it recommends.

That is pretty much it!

Feel free to play around with the Tool a bit.

As easy as that. Now the fourth step, of course, would be to buy this computer or Laptop, and there are some options you have here:

4. Buy a finished PC-Build or build yourself

What the PC-Builder-tool does, is, it recommends the best kind of PC-Components or Laptop for the type of Work you will be doing.

If you want a Laptop, buying it is as easy as ordering it through the preferred merchant of your liking (such as Amazon).

If you chose to find Part recommendations for a Desktop PC/Workstation though, you can either order all of the individual Parts and Build it yourself or find a Site that offers to Build the Computer for you.

I wholeheartedly recommend building your own Computer.

The reason why I always recommend to Build the Computer yourself is that:

You save a lot of money from getting individual parts.

from getting individual parts. You can get exactly the kind of parts and part combinations you want

You learn a lot about how a Computer works

about how a Computer works You can upgrade your Computer yourself now

With all the extra Computer knowledge, you can fix problems that might arise later-on yourself

that might arise later-on yourself Assembling a Computer is easy , it’s basically just plugging different parts into each other

, it’s basically just plugging different parts into each other It’s fun!

Here is an easy to follow video on how to Assemble a Computer. Be sure that you have all of the Parts needed to build a Computer.

If you’d rather just buy a pre-built PC that you can unpack and needs no assembly, check out our Guide on where to buy such pre-built PCs

– That’s about it! What kind of Computer are you thinking of buying?