I’ll be upgrading my photo/video processing desktop soon, and am looking for guidance on CPU/GPU/NPU/TPU/RAM/etc. tradeoffs to futureproof my purchase. Should I spend my money on more CPU cores, more GPU cores, some NPU cores, etc. My preference is to do local, not cloud processing. My budget is $5k and I don’t want to upgrade again for another 5 years. On the photo front, I do object removal, denoising, sharpening, generative AI to extend backgrounds, and upscaling. On the video front, I do stabilization, frame rate interpolation, fix focus, and recover detail. Thanks in advance for any insights.
Hmm I would say your first decision is AMD or Intel, then choose CPU and Board, afterwards Graphic Card and then PSU, then the rest
The broader question is should my new PC have a Neural Processor Unit or a gaming-level graphics card for Topaz to run faster? If my new CPU has twice as many cores (and the same clock rate) as I have now, will Topaz’s software take advantage of them to decrease my execution time by half?
You have the NPU anyway on the CPU, AMD or Intel is better pends on application and no one can say, unclear in the future they get relevant. I would say choose your cpu based on classic criteria speed/price, ammount of cores, clock speed, power consumption (cooling!) and cost.
Same for GPU, the question is you models are more runnung on cpu or gpu, ot having both highly, I mean with a 5000$ budget a good graphic card can also take place.
16 Core AMD CPU.
A Nvidia GPU with a lot of Vram (4090/5090)
Fast Ram, only two Sticks (because of the Memory Controller of the CPU).
128 GB RAM Size.
Forget about TPU, NPU.
1200 watts PSU.
Thanks, Mayday.
Thanks, Thomas.
Do you need 128GB RAM? The thing is, AM OC Ram 64Gb modul is hard to get. Use 2 RAM modules, on AM platform, 4 modules lowers ram speed.
suggestion
Ryzen 9 9950X
ASUS ROG Strix B850-E (X870E board isn’t worth)
2x32 DDR5 6000Mhz CL30 (or better)
RTX 5090
1300W Titanium PSU Seasonic Prime TX-1300 (new ATX 3.1 not 3.0 variant, released Q1 2025)
