I’m in the market for a few desktop PCs for my sons, whom I’d like to get into Blender alongside the rest of their schoolwork at home.
I’d like to budget around $300-$500 per computer (CPU/tower only, components will be budgeted separately) and get about 2-3 of them. I know Blender works better the more specs you have (more or less), but I can’t afford to spend $1300 per tower for each of them.
Performance-wise, I’d like them to be able to do more-or-less everything smoothly within Blender besides rendering, so I’d imagine RAM will be important. I already have my own rig that’s more up to the task in that regard, that can do renders for them.
I’ve done some searching, and saw that Mini-PCs are a thing now, and they aren’t seemingly too disappointing for being within the budget I’ve desired. Here’s a sample Mini-PC for reference.
Has anyone had any experience trying out Blender on one of these mini-PCs? Spec-wise many of them look up to the task, but that’s no real guarantee that they will actually work as well as I’d hope. It seems the most likely problem is that many of them have integrated graphics, and not a dedicated card, even if they are up to date per 2020 standards and have plenty of RAM, per Blender’s minimum requirements.
If I’ve counted out the regular desktop towers too early at my specified price point, then I’m also open for suggestions as well. Thank you!
Keep in mind you can also look at building a mini PC. There are cases for that, and you’ll most likely get better performance for the money. Something to keep in mind though is that smaller components like small factor motherboards and PSUs tend to cost more.
Regarding performance: I have a mini-ITX build on a Silverstone SG05 case. It’s approximately 30x30cm and only doesn’t perform better because I didn’t have more money to invest in it. You wouldn’t be able to tell it apart from a regular-sized PC with same specs because for all intents and purposes it is a regular PC, only super efficiently packed. Room for improvement isn’t an issue and even the temperatures are good—I live in a corner of the world where summers routinely hit a bit above 40ºC.
With a bit of black magic I managed to fit a normal-sized GPU, two SSDs and a regular PSU in it, using what I saved on the PSU to replace the stock CPU fan with a decently priced watercooler. I love how unobtrusive the tower is (it sits on a small shelf by my desk) and don’t think I’ll ever go back to a normal sized computer.
Now when you say components, might you mean peripherals instead?
I’d consider components to be the things that go inside the tower(chassis).
Honestly, I’d not go the mini pc route at all, go for a normal ATX sized Chassis, but start with a mini-pc like build, i.e. a system with no dedicated GPU.
Couple of years down the line instead of building or buying pre-built a new system you just upgrade those systems by adding dedicated GPU’s to each.
as others said - small costs more, and on top of that you can’t upgrade so easily…
Ram is a factor, but more important is the graphics card - small form factor integrated graphics won’t get you far: you probably can’t even handle the viewport of a scene that would need 16gb to render.
I think best would be a normal / mini ATX case and the option to upgrade a gpu at a later point.
E.g. the lenovo you listed has a Intel HD Graphics 530 and no chance to upgrade it.
For less than 100$/€ you can get a low end gpu that is easily three times faster
I understand the appeal of these small machines - friends of mine also went that way. I would rather buy a long hdmi and usb cable and place the machine under a shelf somewhere far
ps.: the lenovo you listed above is not that bad either, just not very future proof… I write this post on a 2012 macbook and its graphics card is faster than the lenovos
Thanks everyone for the feedback, it really helped me decide what I’ll be getting.
I’ve decided to stick with the standard PC tower and will build my own computers for my sons. I do really like the idea of being able to trade out components throughout the years and never have to buy a whole new system again (in theory).
In that price range you can build some first gen Ryzen systems from used parts.
If you are careful about mainboard choice you can later replace them with newer models for a nice upgrade path.