Buying a New Computer for V-Ray and Rhino

[nmda]

Greetings,

My office is currently in the process of buying a new computer mostly for rendering with V-Ray and modeling with Rhino.

I've been given a $3000 spending limit and so far I'm considering a Dell Precision T5400 with twin Quad Core Intel Xeon Processors (8 cores total at 2.00GHz, 2X6M L2, 1333) with 4GB of RAM and a 256MB PCIe x16 nVidia Quadro FX570 graphics card.

My questions are:

1) Will V-ray take advantage of all 8 cores?

2) Will increasing my RAM beyond 4GB (using vista and the 64-bit processors above) aid in rendering or simply aid in running multiple applications? If so, how much is too much?

3) Is the graphics card I've specified above adequate or should I upgrade it and, if so, to what?

My main goal is to reduce render times while using V-Ray and to optimize the use of rhino for 3D modeling / visualization (flying around very large and detailed 3D models in OpenGL or shaded/ghosted views.

Please advise. Thank you.

[dalomar_cg]

Re: Buying a New Computer for V-Ray and Rhino

1) yes it will

2) currently not too much. If you're using a 32bit OS then the max memory that will be able to be accessed is 3gb (and thats with a 3gb switch). If you are using a 64 bit OS, then Rhino should be able to access all 4 gb, but not more than that since its a 32bit app. Once Rhino goes 64 bit (v5 they say), then you will be able to use as much as you can stuff on the MoBo

3) If you have more space in the budget, then I would upgrade the card if you could. Not that its a bad card, but more memory is always welcome on a graphics card. I'm not sure what the price is on 3400/3500 quadros, but I've been very happy with mine.

Personally, I would kick back a gb of Ram for a better graphics card if push comes to shove. Its very rare that I've seen Rhino climb to 4gb, but even with 3gb you'll be able to use all of that when you count in virtual memory. Besides a Ram upgrade is usually easier and cheaper to pull off then a video card upgrade. Just my opinion though

[Micha_cg]

Re: Buying a New Computer for V-Ray and Rhino

I would keep in mind, that Xeon machines are quite expensive - for example I spend approx. 600,- € per Q6600 quadcore slave engine, each overclocked at 3.4GHz slow, silent air cooling.
So, I use one main computer with 6GB RAM and good graphic card and three additional slaves, with cheap graphic cards and 2GB RAM - all together 16 cores with 3.4GHz. I think, you could get this all together for $3000,- .

Also, don't forget, Rhino use a single core for mesh creation or open large objects or other operations - 2GHz single core are not much for this. This is hard - super computer, slow Rhino.

On the other side, a 8 core machine is good for rendering animations or many images with short render times, because DR need some time for communication. There is no big difference between one Q6600 or four DR Q6600 at an image with 1 min render time. DR is good for render times more than 3 .. 5 .. 10 min.

1) Vray take all core

2) Best you use 6GB or 8GB. If you use 5GB or more, than you get the full available RAM for Rhino at an 64bit system. I prefer XP64.

[oblivion]

Re: Buying a New Computer for V-Ray and Rhino

Hope it's ok to add another question on this post.

I've always thought lots of cpu power was the most important when rendering, and therefor i use an 'avaerage' graphic card. Since you speak of graphic cards, what type do you use and why? It's a jungle out there and it looks like most graphiccards are for gaming. I do find some for cad/cam, but don't understand which are good for rendering with rhino and vray..
:
Any thoughts on what to choose?

[Micha_cg]

Re: Buying a New Computer for V-Ray and Rhino

For rendering you can buy the cheapest graphic card. Only the Rhino viewport could benefit from a good card. At my render slaves I use a GeForce7600GT (quiet passive cooling) - price approx. 30,- €. Last I let run Rhino at this slave engines too and it was working fine.

[cstuartpaint]

Re: Buying a New Computer for V-Ray and Rhino

ok. so if your main machine is running at 4gb with a decent video card, what would you recommend for the other three slaves? main goal would be to improve render time. some for animation, but mostly for material rich stills.

[dalomar_cg]

Re: Buying a New Computer for V-Ray and Rhino

video cards will only matter for viewport feedback when working on a model. No performance increase will be seen during the render process. So for a slave machine, which isn't being worked on, all you really need is enough of a graphics card to be able to see something when you log into the machine. Most mobos don't come with integrated graphics anymore, so just get the cheapest card you can for the slave machines.

[cstuartpaint]

Re: Buying a New Computer for V-Ray and Rhino

sorry. i was refering to the machines. do you have any recommendations for the slaves?

[Micha_cg]

Re: Buying a New Computer for V-Ray and Rhino

Q6600@3.4GHz - Zalman 9700 lowest speed - ASUS P5K - cheapest graphic card (GeForce7600GT 256MB) - 2GB RAM 800MHz - XP64

RAM .. the slaves don't need much RAM, because Rhino.exe isn't running. So, 2GB are enough and more are needed very seldom. I suppose so 3GB should be enough for any case.
Maybe a 64bit OS isn't needed and XP32 is enough. But I tried to keep all computers at the same OS, so I use XP64 everywhere.

If you like it silent, don't buy the cheapest power supply.

http://asgvis.com/index.php?option=c...0&topic=1870.0

[dalomar_cg]

Re: Buying a New Computer for V-Ray and Rhino

I'll second Micha's recommendation of all machines running the same OS. I have gotten DR (with the SR RC builds) to work between XP32, XP64, and Vista (ultimate 32) but it wasn't nearly as stable as all having them on the same OS. I think there are slightly different network protocols that might be happening between different OS, so even though most of the time things can get sorted out, that may not always be the case.

[cstuartpaint]

Re: Buying a New Computer for V-Ray and Rhino

thanks. very helpful