I dunno too much about builds but I would not recommend 32 gb of ram unless you’re doing some high poly 3d art. 16 gb is a plethora.SSD will help load things quickly obviously but I am not sure how that would help with your game dev process (except maybe compiling shaders/loading assets/etc.). I’d aim for a good CPU mid range GPU, but again PC building is something I dabble in, not specialize.
Having stuff on an SSD will greatly speed up anything that involves HDD access - booting your computer, loading applications, loading scenes or resources in scenes, saving large assets, stuff like that.
For one of my projects which involved huge amounts of data, moving from a mechanical drive to an SSD cut save times from 20+ seconds to ~3 seconds. That was not a fancy SSD, it was just whatever one was reasonably priced when I went to buy it ~5 years ago.
You see the pattern here. Unity is just like a game, so build your PC just like you would build it for a game. Nothing extraordinary. If you don’t want to buy a really good PC, you will need to make some sacrifices.
If you create game art too (including coloring and stuff) you will need a proper display as well, this is the only thing where gaming and game building separates, if you want to see good and exact colors in your game, you will need a good display.
A lot of people can afford to build really powerful PCs, especially adults who have been working a number of years. My gaming rig has 32GB RAM, two NVMe SSD drives, an Intel i9-9900k, a RTX 2080 ti, and a custom water cooling loop that cools both the CPU and GPU. I have been building my own PCs for decades, though. It is something I like to do, and the cost of a high end PC is relatively tiny compared to the cost of any other serious hobby.
Building a computer for game development is basically the same as building a computer for gaming.
You want a fast processor (Ryzen 5 or higher). If you intend to develop graphically intense games then you will need a strong graphics card. Keep in mind GPUs are far easier to upgrade than CPUs. If you don’t need a powerful card now you can always buy a more affordable model and upgrade down the road.
Don’t be afraid to purchase hardware from a previous generation. Back when NVIDIA announced their RTX series various manufacturers (eg EVGA) dumped their GTX stock onto eBay for prices way lower than MSRP. I was able to purchase a monster of a graphics card for the price a mid-range card was currently available for (this was shortly after the mining boom).
For AMD processors the speed is very important (it directly affects the CPU’s internal bus), but there are diminishing returns. You generally want DDR4-3200 but if DDR-2933 or DDR4-3000 is way cheaper then it’s perfectly fine to go with those. It’s single digit percentile difference between them.
For capacity you can always buy memory down the road but it’s important to understand that Ryzen’s memory controller has trouble achieving full speed with more than two memory sticks. I’m currently running a single-channel configuration because I wasn’t able to afford two 16 GB sticks and the performance penalty isn’t as bad as it sounds.
If you can’t afford two 16 GB sticks I highly recommend just buying one now and upgrading a few months later rather than investing in two 8 GBs because you will end up just throwing them out when you go to 32 GB.
Always SSDs. If you can afford them you generally want them to be NVMe too. HDDs are acceptable for apps and data that is only occasionally accessed, but most people treat them as backup drives only. Using an HDD as a main drive will greatly bottleneck your computer.
Don’t sweat it. You don’t need that level of gear to be productive. It’s certainly nice, but it’s not necessary.
Given your question about CPU vs. GPU balance of spending, I think I’d favor the CPU over the GPU. You said you’re making RTSs and Android games? Well, you’re targeting low-powered GPUs, so you won’t need something high end to play your game properly, and they’re RTSs so you’ll generally have a pretty limited and/or controllable view. Plus, there are plenty of common tasks which a beefy GPU just won’t help with.
My concern is that I am in university when most people are making their prime $$$ (early 30’s) … I don’t know how that will turn out for me in the long run, but its concerning. My mother has been putting in work and making bank lately and didn’t work much at all for her first 30 or so years. I guess it won’t matter so long as I do the work. I am really putting my nose to the grindstone with school (so far). GPA ain’t the best but I will be floored when I get A’s across the board this semester, something that I know I can do and I can feel it. I am so ready! Its not something I expect, its something I’m aiming, planning, and working for.
Don’t ever take your health for granted folks.
I’ve come through in the clutch in school before. I can do it again. I was really sick in high school. Still made honors through that period…
Still haven’t found a real answer to my question but the general consensus at this moment in this thread is to give my PC build room for upgrading.
And to make it a bit like gaming pc but more focused on upgrading, so first focus on strong core: a good motherboard, cpu and memory and take and mid range gpu and later upgrade the gpu to higher range gpu that will fit my constrains/needs.
O yea also something if forgot to say is that i already have a 256 GB SSD and Samsung 970 EVO 1TB M.2 ( It is in my laptop as its main drive because my laptop is currently my Main/only pc)
And on top of that i already 1 TB hdd for my 5 year old pc.
I agree with you on that but it will make getting a job quite a bit harder, so i would recommend him to do a job on the side to prop up his credentials.
I thought if you’re this age (30’s…) finding a job would be easy enough… but you’re correct I think. I’ve been searching for an intern position (work experience) for three years now. I’ve applied more this school year than in years past; yet I haven’t had anyone call me back since august! I thought that with the labor market so tight I’d have no problem with it. I had the best interview ever in August or September with a company, and the guy never got back to me. Not even after I sent a thank you email. That is the only interview I’ve had this year…
First of all you should never have this mentality,
I can’t review and tell you why you fail.
But most people who hire do not hire people with any grammatical or spelling errors in their application letter.
(It is mainly because it is an easy way to filter all the applications that they recieve)
Secondly check if you are not applying for jobs that above you experience level or education level also after long time try applying for job below you level that have something to do with your field.
And thirdly if keeps not working out for you try starting a small business for yourself.
Giving a straight answer is almost impossible because it’s almost completely dependent on your project. Unity has a few tasks (building executables, compiling scripts and shaders, baking lightmaps, etc) that are very processor heavy and these will need to be handled regardless of the game you’re making. Having a fast processor is generally more important than having a powerful graphics card.
For graphics it’s completely dependent on your game. About the best way to know what type of graphics card you will need is to look at the system requirements of games that are similar to what you want to create. For mobile you can generally get away with hardware that is around the performance of integrated (eg current Intel HD, Vega 8, GT 1030, etc).
This is one of the best performing M.2 NVMe drives on the market. If you don’t mind removing it from your laptop that solves your main drive.
Out of boredom I threw together an example system on PC Part Picker. I didn’t include storage because you already had drives but you can purchase a budget NVMe for $145 (Crucial P1 M.2) or another performance for $250 (Samsung 970 EVO). Toshiba HDDs are very affordable (eg a 3 TB is $80).
I fully expect AMD’s Ryzen 3000 series to be very close in price to the current Ryzen 2000 series.
Thank you for your help with all the information that i have recieved.
I think i have enought information to pick the right parts over a couple of months.
Should i notify you all with my final build over a couple of months?
