Hardware guidance?

[HanaHanabi]

So I have been tentatively offered a new computer for the Yule season, and the suggestion was made that I come to the forums attached to my new favorite renderer and ask for advice concerning specs.

So, I have come here with open arms to beg help and say "Durr, what kind of hardware should I get?"

Mainly, this is in the area of processor and graphics card as they equate to faster render times. On my current machine, getting to 1k S/p takes at least 4 continuous days of rendering. Considering that I like most of my renders to hit at least 2k S/p, my current setup takes way too long. I'd like to cut time by at least half (and thus cut my energy consumption and electric bill. I'm so environmental, yo. /eyeroll).

Processors: Intel Core? i3, i5, i7? I mean, will i3 suffice, or do I really need to get an i7 to prevent my computer from being completely out-of-date in two years? Does anyone have any words on performance levels of these processors in direct relation to LuxRender?

Graphics cards: I'm not completely computer illiterate, but discussion of graphics cards is where I commonly find myself going "DERP," and turning around to look at shiny quarters on the ground. What's good? In the computers that I'm currently looking at, the one with the i3 comes with a GeForce GTX 550, the one with the i5 comes with a EVGA GTX 460, and the one with the i7 comes with a EVGA GTX 570, all standard (and none of this really means anything to me, thus why I'm asking for halps!).

And finally, am I right in assuming that a computer that gives me decent render times with Lux will also suffice from a gaming standpoint? Like, say, if I wanted to let my honey play Starcraft 2, could he play it on the Prettiest setting without having a problem?

Thanks in advance! <3

[Abel]

Some benchmark data can be found here: http://www.luxrender.net/wiki/Benchmarks. Unfortunately we don't have any data on i3's yet.

In the future, the graphics card will get more important when it comes to rendering. The best advice I've heard so far is that the processor and the graphics card need to be in balance; unfortunately this is something that is hard to define and also depends on the type of scenes you're rendering.

[zeealpal]

Ill try for some advice if you wish, but for a CPU, for good render speeds I would suggest a Sandy Bridge i5 2500 or i7 2600 [The 'k' variants if you wish to overclock]

As for a GPU, a 570 nis quite decent, or a 6950 if you go ATI (AMD) rather than nVidia.