Do I Need A Powerful PC To Use Blender?

Blender 3D is an application that can be run on almost any device that has the correct operating system and enough storage space for the software. But the variety of tasks that can be completed in Blender asks the question of whether we can complete any task within Blender regardless of the device we are using.

Blender can be run on any desktop PC or Laptop so long as the minimum requirements are met. The level of performance, however, is significantly effected by the task conducted. For example, most laptops will struggle with creating hair physics but won’t find low poly modeling much of an issue.

If you plan to use Blender, then make sure you know what you plan to run the application for before downloading it to your device, or especially when you plan on purchasing a new computer to use Blender on.

Can I Run Blender On My Computer?

For the vast majority of modern-day computers and laptops, it should not be a problem to run the Blender software.

Particular laptops may not be able to run the application at all due to their operating system. For example, Chromebook uses ChromeOS to run as the daily driver, and this operating system is not currently compatible with Blender 3D.

Only select view tablets, the windows tablets, are both powerful enough and have the correct operating system to run the application.

Blender is not compatible with any mobile devices like phones, nor would you want to use Blender on such a tiny device.

Blender Can Run On Most PC’s But Not All Devices

As for desktop PCs, you will likely be able to use Blender so long that your PC is not using an out-of-date operating system like Windows 7 and is not using 10-year-old hardware, at which point many applications will no longer function well on.

However, the more intensive the task that you plan to use Blender for, the more powerful your device will need to be to prevent any loss of performance or, in worst-case scenarios, the constant crashing of the software and loss of work.

What Tasks Require More Performance From My Machine?

You can use Blender for a wide range of different tasks, ranging from 3D modeling simple scenes to creating highly detailed 3D animations and more.

To determine whether or not you require a more powerful PC to use Blender for your projects, we have gathered a table below that lists the different tasks you are likely to complete in blender from the least resource intensive to the most.

RankingTask
1Blender User Interface Navigation
2Blender Viewport Navigation
3Low Poly Modeling
4Eevee Lighting And Rendering
5Material Application
62D Animation
7Photo Editing
8Video Editing
9Geometry Nodes Systems
10High Poly Scene Creation
113D Animation
12Sculpting
13Cycles Rendering And Lighting
15Hair Physics
16Simulations
Ranking The Various Blender Tasks Based On Typical Resource Requirements

What If I Only Wanted To Use Blender For Simple Projects?

The tasks that you can perform using blender 3D vary substantially. It’s one of the most versatile applications you can use now. Most other applications specialize to a single task or a minimal range of specialized tasks.

In blenders case, you can perform projects such as video editing, photo editing, 3D modeling, sculpting, animation, and so much more.

Not only do you have a wide range of different tasks that you can complete in Blender, but there’s also a wide variety of projects that you can undertake within each task.

For example, designing a low Poly animal character will be far less resource intensive than designing a spaceship with over 1,000,000 vertices.

Both of these projects fall under the category of 3D modeling, but one is far more resource intensive than the other.

If you only plan to use Blender for simple tasks like creating low Poly characters and assets, you won’t be required to have as powerful a setup to run blender with.

We still recommend meeting the minimum requirements to run the blender software at all times. In fact, we would also recommend going as far as meeting the recommended requirements when it comes to CPU and system memory.

The Most Important Hardware To Run Blender Is…

If you have decided to create your own computer built for Blender, you will want to know which hardware you need to prioritize, as building your own computer can be expensive.

For general performance, you will need at least a mid-range CPU good at both single-core and multi-threaded performance. In this case, an example of a solid CPU to use with Blender would be the Intel I5 12600K.

If you wanted to use your CPU for rendering, you would need to go further and attempt to acquire a CPU that has as many calls as possible, as the more cause a CPU has, the better it will be when it comes to rendering.

Different tasks require different amounts of system memory. In other words, the amount of RAM your computer has. For most tasks in Blender, we recommend having at least 16 gigabytes of RAM to run. When it comes to the more complex tasks, like hair physics and simulations, these will require around 64 gigabytes of RAM to ensure that performance is not impeded.

The GPU is optional with Blender, we don’t require a graphics card to use the software. However, using a graphics card for rendering is highly recommended as, in the vast majority of cases, your GPU will render faster than your CPU.

The exception to this rule would be when you have a high-core CPU and a mid to low-range GPU, but it’s unlikely that any machine you build will have this kind of setup as the balance is key between your PC parts.

There is no one part of your computer that is more important than any other. Perhaps the most important thing is to ensure that you have a balanced set of computer parts for your system. Our general recommendation is to go with a mid-range CPU with plenty of cause alongside 16GB of RAM and a strong graphics card for video rendering with plenty of VRAM.

Thanks For Reading

We appreciate you taking the time to read through this article, and we hope you found the information you were looking for. If you are interested in learning more about the specifications required to use Blender 3D, then look at a few of the other articles we have listed below.

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