System Config Question

[Smalerbi]

Hello All,

I have a question about system configurations I getting ready to pull the trigger on a couple of systems and I want to be absolutely sure I'm making the right decision. Below is the software I work with in the order of priority.

3ds Max 2014 with Vray:
Primarily modeling and rendering

Max Plug-ins used:
Vehicle ant simulator - some of the time
Rayfire - some of the time
Fume FX - some of the time
Possible fluid dynamics

AutoCAD 2014
Photoshop

After effects with Element 3D

I talked with some people before about this and the general consciences was to have a single processor work station with a Dual processor rendering node for test renders. I have always had a dual processor work station so this is would be new to me.

With that in mind, I'm considering a single 10 core xeon processor work station with 32gigs of ram and a Dual 10 - core xeon machine for DR test renders.

Someone also mentioned to go with a GeForce GTX 780Ti instead of the Quadro K5000 because of the price to performance ratio.

Does this sound about right?

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated

Thank you,

Scott

[peterguthrie]

why not dual processor for main workstation?

[Smalerbi]

why not dual processor for main workstation?

I was told the applications where primarily single threaded, with the exception of rendering with Max and the 2 processors could slow down the simulations. Not sure if it makes that much of a difference. This is one of the reasons why I'm putting it out there

[kalamazandy]

Did Boxx tell you that? That sounds like something a Boxx salesman would say. They tried to tell me I should get the fastest single processor possible because Rhino 3D doesn't use multiple processes.
That's not great advice because you should make the process that takes the most time faster, not your most common process. Renderings can take 3 or 4 hours reasonably, and are multithreaded. Merging 50 surfaces taking 20 seconds instead of 10 seconds by doubling a single processing speed? How many times a day would you have to do that every day in order to make the extra $1500 investment worth it?

[peterguthrie]

yeah doesnt sound like very good advice!

don't worry too much about single threaded processes would be my advice, sure it drives me crazy sometimes that max isnt fully multi threaded, but I spend most of my time doing test renders so the speed is very important.

look at the clock speed on the cpu if it really is important to you. Some of the new xeons with 10 or 12 cores have lower clock speeds than the 8 core ones. If I was buying a new workstation today, I'd do the same as I did last time, but the fastest cpu available!

[Dariusz Makowski (Dadal)]

yeah doesnt sound like very good advice!

don't worry too much about single threaded processes would be my advice, sure it drives me crazy sometimes that max isnt fully multi threaded, but I spend most of my time doing test renders so the speed is very important.

look at the clock speed on the cpu if it really is important to you. Some of the new xeons with 10 or 12 cores have lower clock speeds than the 8 core ones. If I was buying a new workstation today, I'd do the same as I did last time, but the fastest cpu available!

The best thing to do is to get OLD EVGA SR 2. Hock up 2x 6 core xeon to it. OC it to 4.5(12 cores in total x 4.5ghz) ghz and wipe the floor with most right u can get nowdays Its what I roll on ^^

[Smalerbi]

Did Boxx tell you that? That sounds like something a Boxx salesman would say. They tried to tell me I should get the fastest single processor possible because Rhino 3D doesn't use multiple processes.
That's not great advice because you should make the process that takes the most time faster, not your most common process. Renderings can take 3 or 4 hours reasonably, and are multithreaded. Merging 50 surfaces taking 20 seconds instead of 10 seconds by doubling a single processing speed? How many times a day would you have to do that every day in order to make the extra $1500 investment worth it?

No.....I did not hear that from boxx. I got the information on this forum but I can not remember who it was. He was saying to have a single processor workstation with a Dual processor DR machine. I guess this would provide the best of both worlds, however, I think I will play it safe and go with a dual processor workstation....you can never go wrong with that. Now I just need to figure out if I want to go with a fast 6 core or a slower 10 core......I need to do the math.

Thanks everyone.

Scott

[Dariusz Makowski (Dadal)]

No.....I did not hear that from boxx. I got the information on this forum but I can not remember who it was. He was saying to have a single processor workstation with a Dual processor DR machine. I guess this would provide the best of both worlds, however, I think I will play it safe and go with a dual processor workstation....you can never go wrong with that. Now I just need to figure out if I want to go with a fast 6 core or a slower 10 core......I need to do the math.

Thanks everyone.

Scott

I'm pretty sure it was me... As artist time is more expensive and he do more work using single treaded processes its better to have very fast single cpu machine + 1 render slave than all in one on slower cpus.

[peterguthrie]

but if going xeon, theres surely no point having just 1 cpu when you could have two

[Dariusz Makowski (Dadal)]

but if going xeon, theres surely no point having just 1 cpu when you could have two

Ah yes, and there is no point having 1 xeon as they are 2-3x more expensive than the same i7...

[kalamazandy]

A quick estimate of CPU usage and using the hourly profit you make out of your hourly rate leads me to believe the the fastest CPU is not worth the money in terms of time it would save. For rendering, it becomes more worth it because that's usually near the end of a project and can mean finishing on time or not, but that can be more threads instead of faster speed. But improving your daily activities to save you 10 minutes in a week? I'm not sure that's worth a $1600 upgrade. I suppose it depends on how you look at it. I'd rather have the extra rendering speed and slow down my single process activities, which seem like they are fewer and fewer every time I get a new software.

As far as dual xeon goes? Same thing. I was looking at adding a second processor to my machine. It's Way more cost effective for me to just buy a new one. Of course, that could be because Dell put the processor on a riser board and asks 250 bucks just for that before even buying the processor.

[Smalerbi]

I'm pretty sure it was me... As artist time is more expensive and he do more work using single treaded processes its better to have very fast single cpu machine + 1 render slave than all in one on slower cpus.

Yes....I believe it was you. I spend more time finishing the out the scenes and rendering then I do complex modeling or any type of simulations. As far as production, does a dual processor machine bottle neck that much more compared to a single processor machine? Because of my of work flow, and based on everyone's feedback, it would be best I go with 2 - dual processor machines. Now, I just need to figure out what xeon processor to get. Does anyone have any comparisons on clock speeds between the 6 and 10 cores processors?