Long renders and system specs

[morphogenesis]

Hi all!  I've been working on a pretty aggressive render:

DE Stop: 1.5
Raystep Multiplier: 0.2
Stepwidth Limiter: 0.01
Stepcount for Binary Search: 12
Smooth normals: 3

There are two formulas involved.

I originally created this on an old Gateway Windows 7 machine and am now on a Lenovo gaming platform with much more memory.  Neither has much in the way of an enhanced graphics card, but render time for this particular fractal is coming in at over 24 hours, which is more than I recall for the old Gateway and more than I can dedicate to the processing..

A suggestion that I have a basic system for work (the Lenovo) and a more enhanced one for rendering elicited a response that I could become a statistic before my time or, even worse, single.  Okay, just kidding, but my  wife's computer is about to give up the ghost and the Lenovo would be more than adequate for her needs, which begs the question: what should I look for in terms of system configuration that would be best for rendering with MandelBulb3D?

Thanks all, for your help, and hats off to our developers and to the folks at Fractal Forums for making Albuquerque the Fractal Capital of the Solar System!

[PieMan597]

I would just get the best CPU I can, keeping around 16 gigs of ram. GPU doesn't really matter for Mandelbulb3d, but if you decide to use fragmentarium, you will want a beefy GPU as well.

[morphogenesis]

Thanks!  I'm at 12 GB now; I'll pop another 4 in.

[PieMan597]

You don't need 16 gigs, it's just a good number to aim for when building a system. IMHO, having a good CPU is more important for fractals. I have only used up all more than 12 gigs of ram with fractals once before, you should be fine.

[JohnVV]

laptop and desktop CPU's are VERY DIFFERENT!!!

a laptop i5 IS NOT !!! the same as a desktop i5
a laptop i7 IS NOT !!! the same as a desktop i7
also some programs can use Nvidia's CUDA

normally i do not recomend a very new nvidia card, they are very expensive
but the new GTX 1080  is 1/2 the price of the older Titan  card
( still $600 to $800 )

grab the best one for your budget

8 gig of ran is about an average 16 to 24 gig would do for a gaming rig or for 3d rendering and modeling

most ( but NOT all ) programs are able to use the multi cores in the new CPU's
-- i5
4 cores
2 cores with hyperthread - LAPTOP
--i7
8 cores
4 cores with hyperthread - LAPTOP

there is a new 10 core but that is $1700

and have FUN- ha  ,ha ,ha with the spyware that is  windows 10