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So what is considered a very high end rig for 3dsmax and vray archviz nowadays? I have read just about every thread on this forum and many others and am starting to go cross-eyed!
I am looking to upgrade my main workstation and get or build a new one. I have built many workstations over the years but for the last few years and have been buying used Dell Precision T5400 and T7400 (they are quiet, easy to work on and have been reliable). Right now I am using a Dual Xenon 3.0ghz Dell T7400 with 20 GB ram and a GTX 580 running a Dell 30" monitor. Someone else will inherit this workstation and I want a new one. I will put a new SSD drive in the new workstation and will be using my 3 monitor rig with the 30" Dell and two 20" side monitors. I have a small Vray render farm with 6 nodes each running dual xenons (a few years old now).
I do mostly large landscapes and architecture stills for print. Usually with alot of plants and most of my 3dsmax2012 files end up around 100mb or so. I have been struggling with abysmal viewport lag and have tried everything from new drivers, to new video cards, etc. I am trying to decide whether i (flashback here) buy some parts and frankenstein a new monster workstation. Or buy a second hand/refurbished workstation and tweak that. Or maybe get a new Dell workstation (probably too much money).
So, if I build it myself, I am comparing and shopping for:
I am now officially baffled on the CPU and motherboard. Do i want dual Xenons? Single chip? Ivy Bridge, Sandy Bridge, Sandy Bridge - E? 6-Core, 8-core, i7? What is considered the current smokin hot setup for a 3d modelling/rendering workstation that is not the MOST expensive. For the parts listed above (that means no video card) I have an allowance of $2-3k US so that should get me something awesome right? My 700$ dell T7400 workstation with dual xenons has served me well but i want to go up a few (many) notches. More power please! My primary goals? Viewport performance and test rendering speed. All other features and tweaks are probably not as important as I do fairly straight forward arch-viz work. What gets me excited? Not having to make every single object "Display as Box" just to rotate the viewport, and, seeing buckets fly when i do my test renders. My workflow consists of constant test renderings. Then I DR/batch render 10-15 cameras when I am ready to produce final renders (using PSD manager).
Please contribute if you don't mind. I realize this question can be annoying to many, but i am lost in the woods!
I am looking to upgrade my main workstation and get or build a new one. I have built many workstations over the years but for the last few years and have been buying used Dell Precision T5400 and T7400 (they are quiet, easy to work on and have been reliable). Right now I am using a Dual Xenon 3.0ghz Dell T7400 with 20 GB ram and a GTX 580 running a Dell 30" monitor. Someone else will inherit this workstation and I want a new one. I will put a new SSD drive in the new workstation and will be using my 3 monitor rig with the 30" Dell and two 20" side monitors. I have a small Vray render farm with 6 nodes each running dual xenons (a few years old now).
I do mostly large landscapes and architecture stills for print. Usually with alot of plants and most of my 3dsmax2012 files end up around 100mb or so. I have been struggling with abysmal viewport lag and have tried everything from new drivers, to new video cards, etc. I am trying to decide whether i (flashback here) buy some parts and frankenstein a new monster workstation. Or buy a second hand/refurbished workstation and tweak that. Or maybe get a new Dell workstation (probably too much money).
So, if I build it myself, I am comparing and shopping for:
- Motherboard
- CPU
- RAM
- Power Supply and Cooling
I am now officially baffled on the CPU and motherboard. Do i want dual Xenons? Single chip? Ivy Bridge, Sandy Bridge, Sandy Bridge - E? 6-Core, 8-core, i7? What is considered the current smokin hot setup for a 3d modelling/rendering workstation that is not the MOST expensive. For the parts listed above (that means no video card) I have an allowance of $2-3k US so that should get me something awesome right? My 700$ dell T7400 workstation with dual xenons has served me well but i want to go up a few (many) notches. More power please! My primary goals? Viewport performance and test rendering speed. All other features and tweaks are probably not as important as I do fairly straight forward arch-viz work. What gets me excited? Not having to make every single object "Display as Box" just to rotate the viewport, and, seeing buckets fly when i do my test renders. My workflow consists of constant test renderings. Then I DR/batch render 10-15 cameras when I am ready to produce final renders (using PSD manager).
Please contribute if you don't mind. I realize this question can be annoying to many, but i am lost in the woods!
- (come on AMD / Chaos, we want it to wooork!!) 
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