Everything Archives - CG Director

NVLink vs. SLI and Multiple GPUs – Is it worth it?

January 14, 2021

It’s a reasonable enough assumption to make that if one new graphics card (GPU) can speed up your work by X amount, two will do the job twice as fast, right?

Best Renderers (Render Engines) for Blender in 2021

January 12, 2021

Blender is finally shedding its “quirky kid around the block” attire and donning a more serious and respected “3D powerhouse” one.

How to upgrade your PC (Beginner’s Guide)

January 7, 2021

Upgrading your system is an exciting experience that comes with a lot of benefits:

Should you go to Film School or teach yourself? I did both.

January 2, 2021

You ask yourself if going to film school is worth it or if there’s another way.

Best Gifts for Tech-Enthusiasts, Content-Creators & CG-Artists

January 2, 2021

Picking gifts for a loved one is never easy.

How to Render Faster – In-Depth Guide to increasing Render Performance in 3D

December 21, 2020

We all want to render faster.

How can Blender be Free? A quick look behind the curtain.

January 13, 2021

The 3D industry is full of expensive professional 3D Software.

Current Software Versions of Content Creations Applications [Updated Regularly]

January 13, 2021

As Content Creators our day to day work involves using a multitude of different Applications.

AMD Ryzen 5000 Series Review for Content Creators – Goodbye Competition

December 18, 2020

AMD released its newest range of Ryzen 5000 Series CPUs on October 8th.

Cinebench R23 Scores [Updated Results]

December 30, 2020

Maxon’s Cinebench has become one of the most popular benchmarking software for CPUs.

LGA vs. PGA and how to fix bent CPU Socket Pins

January 13, 2021

If you’ve ever shopped for processors and motherboards, you might’ve encountered terms like ‘sockets,’ ‘LGA1200,’ and so on.

Whirlwind FX Element Keyboard Review

December 18, 2020

The Element FX Keyboard may seem like just another RGB keyboard on the surface, but a deeper look at its features is warranted here.

The Best Thermal Paste for your needs (Beginner’s Guide)

January 4, 2021

Every PC enthusiast knows that a cool PC is the best PC.

AMD Graphics Cards List in Order of Performance

December 29, 2020

There are so many different AMD Graphics Cards for purchase that it can get confusing at times.

Corona Renderer Benchmark Results [Updated]

December 18, 2020

Corona has become a popular Render Engine which is available for 3ds Max, Cinema 4D and as a standalone Application.

Best Workstation PC For 3ds Max [Updated Guide]

December 18, 2020

Autodesk’s 3ds Max is as popular as it is demanding on your hardware.

Best PC / Workstation for Autodesk Revit [Updated Guide]

January 2, 2021

Revit is a powerful building information modeling (BIM) software that allows users to design buildings and their components in 3D, detail them in 2D and 3D, and access building information from the model’s database.

AMD Zen3 – 5000 Series CPUs Release

January 2, 2021

AMD announced its newest range of Ryzen 5000 (yes, we’re skipping 4000 on the desktop) on October 8th.

Best Workstation PC for ArchiCAD [2021 Guide]

December 22, 2020

ArchiCAD is a Building information modeling (BIM) CAD package developed by Graphisoft and used by students and professionals worldwide for architectural design and engineering, as well as architectural 3D modeling.

New GPU Launches: RTX 3000, AMD RDNA2 and Zen3

September 14, 2020

Nvidia’s announcement about the RTX 30-series of Ampere GPUs will interest gamers and creators alike.

Core i9 10900K and Core i5 10600K Review for CG-Workloads: 3D Viewports Still Love Intel

January 2, 2021

Yes, I know.

Fix Jumpy Mouse Movement across multiple Monitors (Free tool)

December 18, 2020

If you are working on multiple Monitors, chances are high that you have cursed Windows for not being able to properly move your mouse across them.

How to Clean and Maintain Your PC (Beginner’s Guide)

December 22, 2020

Few things are more frustrating than a PC that takes ten minutes to load your favorite Software and Games.

Best PC / Workstation (DAW) for Audio Editing & Music Production

December 19, 2020

The modern music industry is built around digital mastering and processing, and the proliferation of flexible and powerful audio software has helped a wide variety of indie, hobbyist, and at-home musicians take their audio production workflows to the next level.

Best B550 Motherboards for AMD Ryzen CPUs [2021 Guide]

January 5, 2021

After numerous delays, motherboards with the B550 chipset for AMD processors have finally started popping up on the market.

Best Smallest ATX Cases for Compact PC Builds in 2021

January 5, 2021

Most of us wouldn’t say no to a PC stuffed with beastly hardware, but not everyone has the desk or floor space to stash a tower the size of a child.

Render Engine Hardware Compatibility – CPU / GPU / Hybrid

December 29, 2020

This is one of the first things you need to know when planning a new PC for Rendering Workloads:

Best Z490 Motherboards for Intel 10900K, 10700K, 10600K CPUs

June 15, 2020

Intel’s 10th Generation lineup has brought back competition to the market, in a way at least, by enabling hyperthreading across the entire product stack.

The 2021 Monitor Guide to Refresh Rates and Response Times

January 5, 2021

If you’re serious about gaming, especially competitive gaming, then the topics of refresh rate, response time, and input lag are likely of great importance to you.

Best Modular Power Supplies of 2021 – 550W / 650W / 850W / 1000W

January 5, 2021

Picking a suitable power supply is critical, as it’s one of the core elements of your PC build.

Best CPU Cooler for Intel i9-10900K

December 19, 2020

Intel’s i9 10900k Processor is an exceptionally powerful CPU.

Best Gaming Monitors [2021 Guide] – Budget / 1080p / 1440p / 4K / 240Hz

January 5, 2021

Buying a great gaming PC or building your own is good and all, but all that power means nothing without a solid gaming monitor to go with it!

Buying The Best Gaming CPU For You [2021 Guide]

January 5, 2021

Buying a processor (CPU) may seem intimidating at the outset, especially if you aren’t a tech expert.

Best Motherboards for Gaming [2021 Guide]

January 5, 2021

Whether you’re building a PC for gaming or work, a motherboard remains one of your PC’s core components.

How to Build your own Render Farm [Ultimate Guide]

December 19, 2020

Although building your own Render Farm might seem like an expensive or complicated endeavor at first, you’ll be astonished by how fast it pays for itself, how much time it frees up in a typical work-day and you’ll wonder why you haven’t started building one much earlier.

Building the Best PC for SketchUp [2021 Guide]

January 5, 2021

SketchUp is a powerful 3D application that manages to be both approachable for hobbyists and useful for professionals.

AMD Radeon Pro W5500 Review & Benchmarks – An Excellent Entry to Workstation Graphics

September 22, 2020

The Radeon Pro W5500 is one of the latest additions to AMD’s workstation graphics lineup.

Set up your Home-Office & What PC-Parts you’ll need

May 1, 2020

Roughly 5% of people who work do so from home.

Best Curved Monitors For Content Creators

December 19, 2020

I recently wrote about the best monitors for graphic design, video editing, and 3D editing.

Best Laptops for Graphic Design

December 19, 2020

In any business, time is money, so it’s important to have the best equipment to make your work as efficient as possible.

The AMD Threadripper 3990X Review for Content Creators

September 23, 2020

AMD’s Threadripper lineup launch, featuring overwhelming 24 and 32-core CPUs, left a trail of dizzy Intel HEDT and even enterprise-class Xeon processors in its wake.

Mac Pro 2019 vs Custom-Built PC – A closer look

March 16, 2020

The launch of Apple’s Mac Pro in late 2019, ranging from $5000 to 50,000~, set off an endless array of memes, jokes, and general online hate.

Best PC for Adobe Illustrator & Vector Illustration

October 15, 2020

While a workstation for vector graphics might sound niche to some, knowing how to build a PC that caters to your specific workflow can be incredibly helpful.

Best Pre-Built Gaming PCs of 2021 – Unpack, Plug-In & Play

January 2, 2021

Building your own gaming PC isn’t rocket science, but it’s not the easiest thing in the world, either.

Where to buy Pre-Built PCs & Workstations

May 19, 2020

So, it’s time to get a new PC.

Finding The Best NVMe SSDs: Value, Speed, Optane, and more

January 23, 2020

Today, we’re going to walk you through everything you need to know about NVMe SSDs.

What is the Best GPU for Video Editing and Rendering?

December 19, 2020

Buying a new graphics card (GPU) can be tough, especially if you aren’t familiar with all the nitty-gritty tech jargon involved.

Best Motherboards for 3rd Gen AMD Threadripper CPUs 3990X, 3970X, 3960X

July 2, 2020

With the release of AMD’s Threadripper 3000 processors (3rd Generation Threadripper), Intel has finally lost the lead in both single-core and multi-threaded workloads.

The Best External Drives for your needs (Hard-Drive & SSD)

January 16, 2020

What is the best external hard drive for you?

CGDirector Survey Results 2019

May 19, 2020

At the beginning of this year, for the first time, we started adding polls to our posts that you could vote on.

How to Build a PC: Beginner’s Guide (Choose your Parts & Assemble)

February 17, 2020

Building your first PC can be daunting.

New CPU Launches: AMD Threadripper 3960X, 3970X VS Intel i9 10980XE

January 17, 2020

AMD’s much-awaited, much-hyped Threadripper 3000 processors are finally here.

ASUS PRO DUO Hands-On & Short Review

March 27, 2020

I recently got a chance to get up close and personal with one of the most unique laptops out there – the ASUS ZenBook Pro Duo UX581.

Best Computer for Photo Editing [2021 Guide]

January 6, 2021

While photo-editing software has become incredibly portable, it’s hard to deny the value of a proper workstation for professional work.

Best Motherboards for i9 9900k, i7 9700k [Intel 9th Gen CPUs]

May 31, 2020

Intel’s consumer CPUs have always remained a step ahead of their AMD counterparts when it comes to single-thread performance.

The Best Time to buy Computer Parts

May 2, 2020

In this article, we’re going to discuss the best time of the year to buy PC hardware.

The Best Case Fans for your PC

May 11, 2020

In this article, we’re going to teach you all you need to know to purchase the best case fans for your needs.

The absolute Best 4K Monitors you can buy today [2021 Guide]

January 5, 2021

Today, we’re going to help you find the best 4K monitor for your needs.

Best Laptops For Photo Editing [2021 Guide]

January 6, 2021

Today, we’re going to teach you all you need to know to buy the best laptop for photo editing.

AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3000 Processors (Updated with Launch Details for 3960X and 3970X)

May 2, 2020

Update:

Best CPU Coolers for AMD Ryzen Threadripper CPUs (Review Roundup)

May 19, 2020

AMD’s Threadripper CPUs were designed to deliver incredible performance at shockingly cheap prices.

Best Computer for Blender (Workstation & PC-Build Guide)

January 13, 2021

Blender is a versatile digital content creation tool that has been used in a variety of high budget and low budget productions.

Intel Core vs AMD Ryzen CPUs (Benchmarks & Comparison)

January 12, 2021

With the launch of Ryzen 5000 CPUs (5950X, 5900X, 5800X, and 5600X), AMD has surpassed even Intel’s most premium offerings.

Best Memory (RAM) for 3rd Gen AMD Ryzen CPUs 3900X, 3700X, 3600

January 2, 2021

Wondering what RAM would be perfect for your Ryzen PC Build?

Best Motherboards for 3rd Gen AMD Ryzen CPUs 3950X, 3900X, 3700X, 3600X

January 2, 2021

On the lookout for a motherboard that pairs well with a 3rd Generation Ryzen CPU?

Best PCIE Riser & Extension Cables for heavy GPU Workloads

July 1, 2020

In recent years, manufacturers have been designing more and more innovative PC cases.

Best Monitor for Graphic Design, Video Editing & 3D Animation (Updated)

May 25, 2020

The great thing about buying a Monitor for Graphic Design, Video Editing, Photo Editing or 3D Animation and CAD, is that all of these tasks are visually demanding and therefore require very similar features from a Monitor.

Pre-Built vs Custom PCs (Assemble yourself or Plug & Play)?

May 19, 2020

When it’s time to buy a new PC, the first thing you need to do is decide what type of system you’re going to buy.

Best Laptop For Video Editing [2021 Guide]

January 6, 2021

A short overview for those of you who just want some quick suggestions – These are our top picks for the Best Laptops for Video Editing:

Western Digital Blue vs. Black Series – When to get what?

June 9, 2020

When it comes to hard drive brands, it’s difficult to find a more famous and trusted name than Western Digital Corporation (otherwise known as WD).

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

June 24, 2020

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?

Cinema 4D Viewport Performance Benchmark & Scores (Updated Results)

November 21, 2020

Our Cinema 4D Viewport Performance Benchmark measures how snappy and smooth your Active Work inside your 3D Software will be.

Single vs Dual vs Quad Channel Memory on Ryzen Threadripper (Benchmarks)

May 19, 2020

Does Single vs Dual vs Quad Channel Memory impact performance on Ryzen Threadripper CPUs?

Cinebench R20 Scores (Updated Results)

November 7, 2020

Cinebench R20 is based on technology of the well-known Digital Content Creation Software, Cinema 4D, but now utilizes the R20 Version’s Render Engine.

Best Workstation PC / Laptop for CAD, Autocad, Solidworks, Revit, Inventor

October 15, 2020

What is the best Computer or Laptop for CAD Software such as Autocad, Solidworks, Inventor or Revit?

Parts Needed to Build a PC (Computer Parts List & Explanation)

October 27, 2020

What Computer Parts do you need to build a PC, you ask?

Best Computer for Video Editing [2021 Guide]

January 9, 2021

Video Editing is one of the most popular things you can do on a Computer or Workstation.

Memory Clock Speeds Comparison on AMD Threadripper (Benchmarks)

May 19, 2020

AMD Threadripper CPUs are being talked about a lot.

Building the best PC for 3D Animation [2021 Guide]

January 5, 2021

Building the best Computer for Animation requires some specific Hardware Components and just a tiny bit of insight into the inner workings of 2D & 3D Animation Software and how they use the hardware.

VRAY Benchmark & CPU + GPU Scores (Updated Results)

November 7, 2020

Chaos Groups VRAY Benchmark is an extremely popular Benchmark, as it can Benchmark your Processor as well as your Graphics Card.

Octanebench Benchmark Results (Updated Scores)

January 6, 2021

OctaneBench is the currently most popular GPU Rendering Benchmark.

Best Laptop for Animation [2021 Guide]

January 5, 2021

There are quite some things to consider when looking for the best Laptop for Animation.

Best Computer For Graphic Design

January 13, 2021

As a Graphic Designer you’ll need an excellent Computer specifically targeted at Graphic Design work for fast, efficient work and to stay motivated.

Nvidia Graphics Cards List In Order Of Performance

December 29, 2020

A list of Nvidia Graphics Cards in order of performance is something I keep looking for myself.

PC-Builder: Find The Best Parts For Your PC & Workstation

January 6, 2021

Quickly find the best Parts for your PC & Workstation.

Best Workstation Computer for 3D Modeling and Rendering

January 9, 2021

The most interesting thing about looking for a Computer or Workstation for 3D Modeling and Rendering is the fact that 3D Modeling and (CPU) Rendering are two very different use cases.

Redshift Benchmark Results (Updated)

October 5, 2020

Redshift Benchmark results are not easy to find, that is why I compiled a list for everyone to take a look at.

Cinebench R15 Scores (Updated Results)

December 19, 2020

Cinebench Scores are a great way to get an impression of how fast a CPU is in different types of workloads.

Blender Benchmark Results (Updated Scores)

November 7, 2020

The Open Source Digital Content Creation Software Blender is among the most popular 3D-Modeling, -Animation, -Rendering, Video Editing & Compositing Solutions out there.

How Much RAM Do You Need For Photoshop

May 19, 2020

Knowing how much RAM or Memory you need for editing your Photos in Photoshop can be quite tricky at times because there are so many factors to keep in mind.

Best CPU & GPU Render Benchmarks

May 19, 2020

There are many GPU and CPU Benchmarks out there.

What Does Ti mean in a GPU

May 19, 2020

Ok so here is a quick one.

How Much RAM Do You Need For Video Editing

January 6, 2021

Are you thinking about getting a new Video Editing Desktop PC or a Video Editing Laptop or want to upgrade your existing one?

9 Fulfilling Ways to Make Money as a 3D Artist

May 19, 2020

How do you want to make money as a 3D Artist?

Best CPU For Rendering [2021 Guide]

January 5, 2021

Have you ever wondered what Processor (CPU) is best for rendering?

How to use the After Effects Wiggle Expression

May 19, 2020

The Wiggle Expression in After Effects (or ae wiggle for short) is a great way to make objects move randomly, have some sort of idle Movement in character joints, animate a random camera shake, create wobbly text or animate a blinking/flickering light.

Best Workstation Computer For After Effects [2021 Guide]

January 6, 2021

There are quite some factors to consider when building a new PC that is mainly targeted at After Effects use.

Best Hardware for GPU Rendering in Octane – Redshift – Vray (Updated)

December 19, 2020

Graphics Card (GPU) based render engines such as Redhift3D, Octane or VRAY-RT have matured quite a bit and are starting to overtake CPU-based Render-Engines.

The Albedo Map Mystery Revealed

May 19, 2020

There seems to be quite some hype about Albedo Maps recently, especially in 3D Rendering and Realtime Rendering Applications.

10 best Cinema 4D Textures Resources

June 9, 2020

If you are looking for Cinema 4D Textures to use in your C4D Materials, look no more.

Building the Best Cinema 4D Workstation Computer [2021 Guide]

January 5, 2021

It’s always fun to research new PC-Parts to make your new Workstation or Computer work as fast as possible in the Programs you use, without having to spend an arm and a leg.

Rule of thirds in Film: An Incredibly Easy Method That Works

May 19, 2020

This quite simple rule of thumb, which was first documented in the 18th century, is today used by filmmakers and artists, who want to achieve a more interesting image composition.

Quick-Tip: Straight Alpha VS Premultiplied Alpha

May 19, 2020

Have you ever tried figuring out the difference between Straight Alpha and Premultiplied alpha and when to use what?

Perfect Short Film Structure: How Successful Short Films Structure Their Story

June 9, 2020

You have the technical skills to create a short film, but are trying to get your head around storytelling and structuring your story?