render machine /cuda core graphics card

[alexworx]

I am trying to gather some information so my boss and I can make a good decision on a few hardware issues that will help my work flow.

I am in the market for a new graphics card for my workstation. I mainly use 3ds max desing 2015 and vray. Of coarse photoshop and AI. Starting to get into zbrush as well.

Should I be looking at Nvidia cards that have cuda cores on it? I was looking at GeForce GTX 750 Ti, didnt know if that was good option for the price. Anyone have experience with that.?


As far as a render box, what is everyone using. We mainly do still images, no animations yet. I need a something that will sit behind me and just crank out renders as fast as possible.
We are looking at boxx as an option. Maybe the render pro?

Any ideas would be apperciated.

Thanks!

[Jason Stewart]

General consensus is that the Nvidia cards are a better value than the "workstation" cards. Most recommended that I have seen is the 760 but the 900 series cards are about to be released so it might be worth waiting a couple weeks for a 960. I hate buying stuff that will be obsolete in a few weeks.

As for render nodes there are so many options. I have not seen anyone say anything bad about the Boxx systems (except for some criticize the looks of them). Performance would mainly be based on the processors you select (default is Xeon 2600v2 series). What is your current workstation so that we can have something to compare "as fast as possible" to and how much faster would you like it to be? With the Boxx systems you are paying for the convenience of buying the whole unit assembled and for the form factor. I bet you can find a better $ for $ deal on something like a Dell workstation but I would have to check into that. If you want the form factor and are ok paying for it then that is up to you of course.

[Neilg]

http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/high_end_gpus.html

pick the one with the best score that fits your budget.
As jason said there is the new 900 coming out soon in a few months. the first one coming out is apparently better than the 780Ti at stock, cheaper, uses less power and runs cooler. If you can wait a few months I would.
For render boxes your cheapest option is a bunch of basic i7's. You could get a machine that's almost the same speed as that render pro for half the price.
Boxx setups work best when you're very low on space and need the best render power to sq ft ratio while also staying cool, and being covered under a solid warranty so you dont have to rip the individual parts out to RMA. You pay for a premium i'm not entirely sure that you'll need.

[alexworx]

Thanks guys!

Ya I think building a box would be the best way to go overall. As for the graphics card, I would have to see what my boss wants to spend.

[Neilg]

If it's close to the $500 of the new 900~ card, it shouldn't be too hard to sell him up (eg it is twice as good as one you can get for 400 and a major overhaul, everything else is 2 year old tech etc)
you can also use the fact you saved money on boxes as leverage...

[Neilg]

new ones are out
http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/high_end_gpus.html

The $330 version is the second best card money can buy, and can be overclocked on stock cooling to perform the same as the best one. crazy. they've just made every other card obsolete...
this is only the first revision of this too, if they do titan/ti versions...

[alexworx]

new ones are out
http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/high_end_gpus.html

The $330 version is the second best card money can buy, and can be overclocked on stock cooling to perform the same as the best one. crazy. they've just made every other card obsolete...

Thanks Neilg. Just ordered the gtx 980 this morning!

[Vizioen]

Oh boy, anyone willing to buy a quadro K4000? Mine is 2 times as expensive and has a score of +/- 2800 And the 970 is +/- 9400. Does that really mean it performs 3 times as good? In max viewport and such? And twice the CUDA cores. I even heard that the cuda technology now is also better compared to those of my quadro...?