Best COmputer System for rendering.
plasmid
Posts: 14
HI guys. I am considering a new computer purchase and need some suggestions. I want something that renders fast but won't break the bank. I am currently using an HP Pavilion computer with Intel Core 2 processor 2.67 gHz and an NVIDIA 8500 graphics card. I want faster renders. Suggestions are welcome. PS, I want to stick with PC.
Post edited by plasmid on
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Comments
Hello,
Well .. What are the software that you use?
The best?
a 64 bit obviously, 16 gigabytes of RAM and an Intel i7 3930k, at least.
but
If you want to render in vue complete, a computer with intel i7 2600 is good.
With the release of intel Yve, the Sandy, are with good prices.
I would say that a good setup would be:
Intel i7 2600
8 gigs of ram memories
Nvidia Gtx560
Source 500/600w real
Note:
The gtx560 video card is only to let the 3d application interface lighter, and no crashes. The video cards is not gonna help in rendering, no.
I gave up on Intel processors years ago. I now only buy AMD because they're better at overclocking (if I feel like it) and they are much cheaper for the same speed. Also, the more cores the better. I have a six core at the moment but I'm hoping to upgrade to a faster eight core soon... once I have the cash to spare that is!
If you want cheap, I highly suggest you build your own computer rather than purchase one off the shelf. It's not as hard as it sounds any more. Mainly all you have to do is slide or snap things into place, fiddle with a few wires, and tighten a couple screws. There are plenty of tutorials on the net. This way you can also get the exact components you want/need rather than settling with whatever you can find at the store. I'll PM you with my favorite store for getting components and bare bones computers. They will even build a computer for you according to what components you want if you're unsure about doing it yourself.
The main things that affect render times for Poser and/or DS are RAM and processor. Graphic cards, as mentioned, are only good for smoothing and improving performance of preview modes. Oh, and a 64 bit Windows is best as well. I prefer Windows 7 myself but some still like XP and there's a Windows 8 coming out soon.... I'm not a fan of Windows 8 but that's just me.
This is not actually true. I certainly don't want to start an AMD vs Intel flamewar - but it's well established that 'more cores' don't necessarily mean better performance. Sadly, comparatively speaking, AMD have been lacking in the CPU department for a while now. Even the i7's overclock like beasts should you want them to.
There is a ton of material on the web about it, so I won't really go into much further.. but here is a start.
Back OT, you won't go far wrong with Jorge's suggestions :)
Before anyone can help, the software (in use/desired to be used) needs to be known.
Kendall
Hello,
I've quite the same questions about daz studio or poser ...
1) Does the Xeon are better than I7 for rendering time ?, does somebody made some try ?
2) What about graphic card (gpu) ? Does daz studio use it (ok for opengl but about the daz render engine) ? Is it better to invest into it than processor ?
3) It seem that bryce can calculate render over the network, what about daz studio ?
Thank a lot,
Right now I am testing a Fujitsu-Siemens workstation running Windows 7 Professional 64-bit,
equipped with intel Xeon E5-1650 processor (6 cores, 12 threads of 3.2 GHz)
http://ark.intel.com/products/64601/Intel-Xeon-Processor-E5-1650-(12M-Cache-3_20-GHz-0_0-GTs-Intel-QPI)
16 GB of ECC DDR3 1600 MHz ram, Gigabyte WindForce graphic card with GeForce GTX 670 chip
http://www.geforce.com/hardware/desktop-gpus/geforce-gtx-670/specifications
and 2GB on board GDDR5 memory.
So far I have tested Lux v1.0RC3
http://www.luxrender.net/en_GB/standalone
and Blender.
Since the graphic card is pretty new, Lux does not work with the GPU acceleration yet.
I have found the Blender version, that has support for the GTX670 (Cuda kernel version 3.0):
Blender 2.63.17 - Fastest build (All CUDA kernels)
http://www.graphicall.org/444
I have rendered a couple of sample scenes with Cycles render engine
from Blender 2.61 demo files: Cycles & Dynamic Paint
http://ftp.nluug.nl/pub/graphics/blender/demo/test/demos261-1.zip
It looks like, when using the GPU (Cuda) acceleration render times are about 5 times shorter
than with using only the CPU for the rendering.
Later on I will try to compare rendering times with the computer
equipped with intel i7 (4 core, 8 threads of 2.8 GHz) and 8GB DDR3 ram.
Ok, thanks for the answer, so we could say for Blender:
Xeon (~600 €) = 100 speed
Xeon (~600 €) + Graphic card (~500 €) = 500 speed
Sorry for € ...
An another thing to note ... to avoid new graphic chips (and I discovered Lux by the same way ... thanks !).
If the result are the same within daz studio (or maybe it just crazy to use it for having fast rendering, I'm a hobbyist so there lot of things that I just don't know ...)
So if Daz Studio react like blender (GPU rather than CPU) it involve an another question ... what about difference between Quadro and Geforce ?
Thank again :)
A good over all computer would be a custom built one. I got mine at IbuyPower.com http://www.ibuypower.com/
right now PC World Magazine test benched AMD and itel and Mac computers for 3D performance.
The computer www.pcworld.com. recommended in June 2012 for work flow and PC gaming was a.
Intel i7 -Ivy bridge 3800 series - 64xbyte 6 core liquid cooled processor running at a whooping speed of 5.2 ghz.with capability to be over clocked safely to 20% which will bring around 6.0 ghz ( most computers today are around 2.8 and 3.3 ghz.)
pcworld recommended 12 gigs of ram. which I have But i feel that 16gigs would be better for rendering 3d art.especially if your going to render animation with 3dlight.
pcworld gave 2 options for graphic cards one for AMD which is ATI RADON. But I would recommend a Nvida GTX 590 LE with 4 GIGS of Video Memory. the performance ratings were much better. Both are directx 11 backward compatible drivers
I have a Nvida gtx460 with a dual 2 gig card pushing 4 gig of graphic ram its RealD-3D compatible and its well worth having it to view finished work and play 3d video games and watch realD 3d movies on. Make sure you get a pen and touch monitor for future upgrade etc.
Lastly . Have at least 2 hard drives one 100 gigs or better SSD (Solid State drive) for the operating system . This will give you Unbelievable boot & start up times. the 2 Hard drive should be around 2 TB (Tara-Bytes) for storage,
Their bottom line was to shoot for a computer with a "windows index experience" in the high 7's. Being 7.9 is the highest rating and PC word considered to be a god Machine . My machine is a year old and my "windows index experience" rating is a 7.4 and my 60 gig SSD hard drive is the problem from ever reaching the 7.9 rating. Its to small.
Also windows 8 will be out in Nov 2012 with the new Metro style interface some will love most it will hate.. windows 8 runs like a App on a tablet so. I would properly stay away from windows 8 until the software companies have time to catch up with it.
I paid $5200 a year ago for my system with a few more add-ons than what I listed here.. so all it takes is money the more you spend the better the system :)
I have tested rendering times in the Blender Cycles engine of the Monkeys example file from
Blender 2.61 demo files: Cycles & Dynamic Paint
http://www.blender.org/development/release-logs/blender-261/blender-261-demo-files/
http://ftp.nluug.nl/pub/graphics/blender/demo/test/demos261-1.zip
The example render is below. Click the image to see it enlarged.
To be allowed to use GPU rendering in Blender one need to change a setting
in user preferences "System" tab, "Compute Device" to "CUDA"
when using Cuda supported Nvidia graphic card.
While performing tests I have opened in Blender the file
monkeys.blend from the folder demos261-1->Cycles-TestFiles
and changed in "Render" "Display" to "New Window"
In "Device" field one can choose "GPU Compute" or "CPU".
Press F12 key to start a rendering.
On the Fujitsu workstation computer with the performance as depicted below
CPU only rendering took 15minutes 18seconds
when using GPU for rendering it took 3minutes 34.87seconds
On the HP computer with i7 860 at 2.8GHz
http://ark.intel.com/products/41316/Intel-Core-i7-860-Processor-(8M-Cache-2_80-GHz)
8GB of RAM and the performance in Windows 7 Professional as depicted below
rendering of the file monkeys.blend with CPU took 28minutes 13seconds.
Ok thanks, for summary and just for blender, it seems there no difference between Xeon and I7:
With only Cpu ...
-> Xeon (6 cores * 3,2 ghz = 19,2 ghz) ... (I know this not correct but I need a value to evaluate)
Blender 15'18 to render
-> I7 (4 cores * 2,8 ghz = 11,2 Ghz)
Blender 28'13 to render.
Difference between processors 19,2 / 11,2 = 1,7
Difference between render time 28,13 / 15,18 = 1,85
But we have faster and bigger memory (and maybe other things) in the xeon computer that's why I think we could say here that's there no difference between I7 and xeon.
Next test I have done in Daz Studio with the tutorial scene "Fiery Genesis 2".
On Fujitsu workstation I have installed Daz Studio 4.5 Pro.
Render time with the default settings on this computer was 2 minutes 32.97 seconds.
On HP workstation computer I have still Daz Studio 4 Pro.
Render time of the same scene on that computer was 6 minutes 23.2 seconds.
Another test I have done in Daz Studio with the tutorial scene "Dragon Slayer".
On Fujitsu workstation with Daz Studio 4.5 Pro installed
rendering time with the default settings for the scene was 1 minutes 36.13 seconds.
On HP workstation computer with Daz Studio 4 Pro
rendering time of the same scene was 3 minutes 38.16 seconds.
Difference of render time seems more important between the two computers with DS than blender, but 3delight have been updated since DS 4.0, so the difference could come from here for a part, but I know now that the xeon are not a magical solution to speed up DS: it just need basic cpu firepower ...
I've try the “Fiery Genesis 2” scene on my "workandgamestation" an AMD Phenom II X4 955 (quad 3.2 ghz), 8go ram, and it took me 7'51 to render it (I've try with another graphical card and definitely DS don't use GPU, and definitely I'm stupid :)).
great thanks Artini and have fun with your Fujitsu ;).
Thank you for testing on the computer equipped with AMD processor. It is a pretty good result.
I always wish to know how the different processors perform on rendering.
It will be nice if even more people will publish their rendering times on different machines.
As I have said, I am only testing the Fujitsu computer.
It is not mine, but I am lucky to be able to run some tests on it.
So far, I am not so impressed with the performance of this Xeon processor.
I think the most savings in rendering time will give the good graphic card
with as much graphic memory as possible.
Next thing I would like to test is:
mcjTeleBlender - render Daz Strudio scenes and animations using
Blender’s Cycles Render Engine
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/2877/
https://sites.google.com/site/mcasualsdazscripts/mcjteleblender-for-ds1-2-3-4