New workstation time. I asked my friend Chat, and this is what he said. Good? Is the AMD Pro 9995WX a $35,000 processor?
Copilot told me to get Blackwell architecture GPU so I ordered one few weeks ago. I don’t know when it will arrive.
What comes to pricing. I was talking with HP folks in an event few years ago. They told, the best PC workstation they have, costs 150 000€ + VAT.
I guess, like anything, there is a diminishing return after a point. I have been working on a laptop for the last year, and it has been fine. Having said that, if waiting an hour goes to a couple of minutes, what is that worth? My projects will get larger, and I see animations in my future, so I will need a new machine. Having said that, I will also have the opportunity to build a render farm if needed. So, do I need a $30,000 PC?
Why would you need a 30k pc if you’re working for your new company?
Anyway, 30k is utterly insane so I can’t comment more on that.
They are asking me what I want. They are an old company that does work for the largest builder in the US, and hundreds of other high-profile clients. From what I am told, they are extremely fast-paced, and hardware costs are irrelevant if they help keep up with the workload. As I mentioned, at some point, you stop getting a return on your investment. I am looking for that balance. I dropped $5000 on this laptop so I can escape my $ 5000-a-month apartment and live in my RV in the mountains. There is nothing I can’t feed it that it can’t finish in an hour. I actually set my renders to stop after an hour. During that hour, I can clean, nap, or do what I want. At this new place, that will not be an option, so rendering 5X faster, I can produce 5X more, so the computer might cost 5X as much.
However, I am also told this isn’t a desk job; I’ll be in meetings most of the time and managing projects/people. I picked up a MacBook this week for that reason. I can’t lug this Alienware around to meetings. I purchased my own, so I own it. I am sure that they would buy me one, but I am not going to rely 100% on an employer. I know people who lose their jobs, and they don’t even own their own computer or phone, and when they are let go, they are screwed - off topic.
Anyway, more off topic, I picked up a MacBook Air M4 - new for $500. The store I purchased it from is going out of business, open box, unused, with AppleCare - score!
LOL…madness
What I have heard this “RTX Pro 5000 Blackwell 48 GB,” costs 9 000€ + VAT here. I ordered mine couple of weeks ago to replace my P5000 GPU.
What comes to laptop vs. tower chassis workstation. In my setup ZP Z6 workstation renders 21 times faster than my 5 000 € HP Zbook with Xeon Processor.
I dont know why anyone would need 512GB ram doing VFX…is this economy. I have 256GB and Ive rarely maxed it out. Youd only need a top end GPU if you only do GPU rendering, or if you plan to do alot of local / offline AI work. I think the Threadripper 7980x would do a good job, and be cost effective…I have the 3990x and its awesome, and the 7980x is a fair bit faster. Having said that, the benchmark on the 9985WX is REALLY high.
Now is a terrible time for anyone to be upgrading…tbh I think the ship has sailed on affordable PC builds and parts. The long term goal for the tech giants is for us to all lease their PCs…just like everything else, its a log in, monthly subscription model. Bezos said recently that the era of high end home PC ownership is over, and that you will have to rent a cloud one. Own nothing, rent everything, thats the new paradigm.
That is sad news for PC builders, for sure. I know Costco removed its RAM from its floor models because people were stealing it. I have 64 GB of RAM and have never had a RAM issue. 512 does seem like overkill for anything.
I have 128 GB RAM and I see Max crashing occasionally due to RAM usage. Sometimes tyFlow simulation and V-Ray ChaosPhoenix rendering requires high amount of RAM.
I don’t use either anymore, so my 96 has been fine. I remember when I was using Phoenix, my 128GB workstation struggled.
Are you on crack?!
$35,000 for a workstation is crazy!!
Something like this 3XS Evolve Studio, 32GB RTX 5090, Intel Ultra 9 285K, 64GB DDR5, 1TB+2TB SSD, Scan Pro Video PC LN155387 - 3EVST285K5090 | SCAN UK is more than acceptable for our industry.
Anyone maxing out anything over 64gb ram needs lessons in scene optimisation. And let’s not forget that a PC will use more RAM the more RAM it has.
I’d then look a few render slaves.
I got a phone call from the reseller. The NVidia RTX 5000 Blackwell has arrived, however it requires two fans, which are still underway. I hope I can test the card next week or week after that. I currently use 10 years old Quadro P5000. The P5000 will be transferred to my secondary workstation HP Z4, where it replaces Quadro K4000.
I look forward to hearing how it goes.