Hi there!
I am surprised that from all best graphic cards showed here for Blender:
None of them is a supported graphic card from Houdini:
Can someone please give me some hits what’s the best compromise to have a graphic card that works good for both platforms?
Thanks a lot in advance!
That seems an outdated page for Houdini.
But that’s their official page! Ok…
Then a more straight question, is the Nvidia RTX 3080 a recommended good graphics card for Houdini?
I know already it is good for Blender 
They should be excellent. But you can ask in their forums to be certain.
I just love this forum!! Don’t want other forums!! Hahahhaa …
I really mean it
Roughly, the best graphics card is the most expensive graphics card that you can buy. 3080 is a good card, 3090 is better. You can also buy multiple GPUs if your computer has slots for it. Recent GPU renderers (like Cycles) support multiple devices.
Bear in mind that not all operations benefit from GPU in these apps. GPUs are great for rendering (if the render engine supports it) and simulations (if supported in the app) etc.
The page you refer from SideFx is very old. They do not even mention the Nvidia 2000 series
Thanks for the clear answer!
I guess 3080 will be enough, I plan to squeeze all Blender possibilities and I will work with big scenes, simulations and 2K textures, but I am just an independent visual artist, and I shouldn’t get too crazy with this fever to have the most powerful workstation of the planet…
For god’s sake!! …A PC with AMD Ryzen 9 5950X and a RTX 3080 is almost 4.000€!!
If you can you should wait for GPU until they get cheaper. Otherwise might be cheaper to buy a whole system than components.
I have been waiting for one year, and I must have a good machine by february 2022 to start working.
Of course I am buying a whole system:
https://www.mifcom.de/laden/3omzhecv
I think Mifcom is a good store, also they have 3 years guaranty… I don’t think prices will drop down in the next months.
(But it’s 4.000€, not 599€ as the link says…)
Thanks again for your answers!
Wel the CPU and the card are quite expensive. I might tone down the CPU, but that depends what you gona do,
You should get a board with NVMe interface with compatible SSD’s. You choose a SATA those are slowest ones.
I’m not sure what a worse CPU would mean …
I just know I need to buy ONCE a very good machine that last the next ten years (I am currently working with a Macbook Pro from 2013 which still goes like a rocket!)
Thanks for your tips, very much appreciated
That is basically one of the rigs I have here. It is a good setup.
Good to know. Thanks!
What difference would a worse CPU make? What’s exactly the task of a CPU when it comes to programs like Blender or Houdini? … I don’t need a detailed explanation, but if I set up AMD Ryzen 5 5600X (500€ less) instead of the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X … what would I loose?
Bwt, thanks for the hint about the SSD !
I don’t know about what you would do in Houdini but you should talk to people that use it and listen to their advice regarding hardware. Other than that i can only point to check the CPU benchmark scores in Notebookcheck.net
So what should be a “more than enough” CPU for 3D programs like Blender and Houdini?
I am currently using Ryzen 5 3600, it uses the AM4 socket so i can always upgrade to a Ryzen 9 5950 if i wanted to.
No problems with Blender or any games (Mine is paired with a RTX 2070 Super), i would advise you to install a AIO cooler as well since Ryzen CPU’s tent to run a bit hot. A big ass air cooler will also work but your case will need proper airflow and you will need to make sure it fits over the ram which can get in the way on some models.
If you are shooting for a 10 year lifespan, don’t skimp on the cpu. Get a great one. Not an ok one.
how good is the performance with the 3600 for sculpting? how many tris/polygons can be used comfortably? what about procedural materials as well?