Is it worth the upgrade?

Hey everyone! So, I’m looking at picking up this build for maybe around $100-$150 extra since I'm planning on upgrading my current rig. My main focus is 3D modeling—so, here's the big question: would the NVIDIA RTX 3060 handle programs like D5 Render and Lumion any better than an RX 6600? What do you all think?

Case - Corsair Carbide Series, ATX, Black
SSD - Kingston 500GB NV2 M.2 2280 PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD, up to 3500/2100MB/s
RAM - HyperX Fury 16GB 3200MHz DDR4 CL16
CPU - Intel Core i5-12400F Processor, 18M Cache, up to 4.40 GHz
GPU - EVGA GeForce RTX 3060 OC 12G LHR, 12GB GDDR6
Motherboard - ASUS PRIME H610M-D D4
PSU - EVGA SuperNOVA, 700W 80+, Noctua NF-P12 120mm

My current setup:

i5 10400f

rx 6600 8gb

ram 16gb

The NVIDIA RTX 3060 is definitely the better choice over the 6600 for what you're planning to do, plus the Intel Core i5-12400F offers about a 50% performance boost compared to the 10400f.

Not sure how those specific programs handle graphical loads, but since both CPUs are running 6 cores, you're looking at a pretty underwhelming upgrade here.

wiredotter14 said:I'm not sure how the performance charts look for those specific programs, but since both processors have 6 cores, the upgrade isn't going to be much of anything.

You’re overestimating things here; the multi-core performance on the Intel Core i5-12400F is actually about 60% better.
41.6 GB/s vs 76.8 GB/s Max Memory Bandwidth
14nm vs 10 nm and so on...

Alexander Moore67 said:You’re just guessing at this point. Multi-core performance is about 60% better on the 12400F.
41.6 GB/s vs 76.8 GB/s Max Memory Bandwidth
14nm vs 10 nm and so on...

The 12400F hits roughly 11500 in CB23, while the 10400F sits around 8000.
That’s a 40% jump. More than I expected, but still doesn't feel like a massive leap.

Max bandwidth—and general performance, really—is going to depend on what that H610 board actually supports and whatever software you're running.

For instance, if you're using 3200MHz RAM on a board that caps out at 3200MHz anyway, your max bandwidth is 25.6 GB/s. Or double that if you're in dual channel (assuming you actually get 2x8GB instead of a single 1x16GB stick, which is more likely).

Not sure how you landed on 76.8; that's probably just the theoretical max the CPU can handle with high-end RAM.

The 14nm vs 10nm thing is irrelevant. The 12400F pulls more power than the 10400F regardless.

I’m specifically curious about the graphics card—will there be a noticeable difference when I'm running Lumion or those kinds of rendering programs?

Take a look at the system requirements for Lumion here:
https://lumion.com/product/system-requirements

wiredotter14 said:The 12400F hits about 11,500 on CB23, while the 10400F sits around 8,000.
That’s a 40% jump—definitely more than I anticipated, though maybe not the massive leap everyone hopes for.

Max Memory Bandwidth, along with overall performance, really comes down to what that H610 board can actually handle and whatever specific software you're running.

For instance, using 3200MHz RAM on a board that caps out at 3200MHz anyway means your max bandwidth is 25.6 GB/s, or double that if you're running dual channel (assuming you actually get 2x8GB instead of just a single 16GB stick).

I'm not sure how you calculated 76.8; that sounds like the absolute ceiling the CPU could hit with high-end RAM.

The difference between 14nm and 10nm isn't really the deciding factor here; the 12400F pulls more power than the 10400F regardless.

We're talking roughly $110-$160 total, so grabbing the NVIDIA RTX 3060 and the 12400F is definitely worth the upgrade.

Alexander Moore67 said:We're talking maybe $150 here. A 3060 plus a 12400f makes this upgrade worth it.

I didn't say it wasn't worth it. I just said upgrading to a 12400F isn't anything special.

The upgrade is fine. Say $50 for the CPU and $100 for the GPU... then yeah, it pays off.