Which studio setup is better: 2x Very Good GPU PC's OR 2x Average GPU PC's + a GPU Render Node?

[Guest]

Hi everyone,

My small studio (2 people) is looking to invest in new PC's and go over to GPU rendering as I'm convinced it's the best way forward. We mainly do photo-realistic rendering (no animation) of interiors in 3DS Max but may consider UE in the near future.

My question is, what's the better setup: -

1. Invest in 2 good GPU workstations (at least dual GPU) and render images straight from the workstations

OR

2. Invest in 2 average GPU workstations PLUS a good GPU Render Node

I'm concerned (rightly or wrongly) that Option 1 won't allow the users to continue working on the workstations while rendering.
Option 2 sounds idealistic but also has a greater cost.

Does anyone have any thoughts on this or has struggled with the same problem?

We currently have an old setup based on Option 2 but with CPU's.

[Svetlozar Draganov]

It depends indeed from the way you are intend to use the machines and of course the budget
Rendering and working at the same time on a single machine is not very good option, it's it possible to do it but it comes with a lot of downsides. For example you may loose a few hours of rendering if something went wrong when working in another instance of 3dsMax, RAM usage will be doubled cause both the rendering and the working instance will need that RAM for their normal functioning. You will loose interactivity, even if you are rendering only on the GPU V-Ray will still performs some operations on the CPU and this may slowdown the system and everything you do on it. The list goes on and on.

Of course if the above risks are acceptable for you and the budget doesn't allow you to go for additional machine you can pick that option as well but probably everyone will confirm that a separate machine for rendering is a better choice unless you are not mixing rendering and working on the machine, then the first option will be better cause it will save you money and you will have more powerful machine to work on.

[Guest]

Thanks Svetlozar for your feedback. What you say is making sense, I don't want to have to deal with crashing PCs and lost work!

I'd like to pose a followup question if I may: -

If I go with Option 2 (2x Workstations and 1x Render Node), at a minimum, should the workstations have 1 good GPU dedicated for 3DSMAX/V-Ray plus a basic GPU?

[Svetlozar Draganov]

It again depends the way you are using the machine. If you intend to work with V-Ray GPU yes, it's recommended to have at least one powerful card for rendering computation and another less powerful for viewport navigation. If you're not intending to use GPU rendering you may pick only one card for the viewport.

Another option that you might have would be too buy option 1 and see how things go, if everything is fine you don't need to buy a rendering machine if not you can always purchase it.

[Morne]

Also remember, depending on your plugins, you may need additional licenses for the dedicated rendering pc...

[Guest]

I would like to stick with the GPU pipeline, so yes even workstations will need to be setup to do some GPU rendering (low quality renders and high quality small region renders).

One of my main goals is to be able to have fast (real-time?) viewport/interactive renders of the scene as I play with lighting and materials. I'd read somewhere that I'd need a good GPU (2080 ti) to do that, but I'd also need a less powerful GPU to handle other programs while the good GPU is working. Does that sound right?