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Hi all, I've updated this post as I've changed how the results will be accessible to all. The main post is now here and not on the area forum (I could hear the flies on Area).

 

Since ever the good old question of which is the best card for max has been around. Quadro's tend to be faster but at a ridiculous price. Image quality is a bit better but it all seems to come back to drivers. Gaming cards have faster technology but are slower in max for the reasons I already explained above.

 

The only way to know and to save money on expensive and fast cards that will have a disappointing performance in max is to benchmark them. I have a small file I've been using along the years to compare cards which I'm sharing on this forum. Please download it and run it on max. Only need to open the file and press play on the timeline. The FPS will vary but there will be a value you can consider average. Record that value for realistic, shaded and wireframe and share it with the community.

 

There will be differences in performance between similar spec pc's but eventually, if we get enough samples, trends will start to emerge.

 

My values for nitrous in max 2012 are on the results file link below. I've noticed that Max 2013 seems to get a bit faster on earlier cards and slower on olders (at least on my pc), so if you could mention max version I'll create separate results for each version.

 

Benchmark file:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/amlcecn9cx11vmo/benchmark%20graphics.max

 

Results file (will be updated as more results get posted):

https://www.dropbox.com/s/up7fuw46vuk7ayp/benchmark.pdf

 

Thanks

Edited by manganaocoibes
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| corei7 3930k @ stock | Win7 64 | GTX670 SC 4GB | fps 11.6 | 2560x1440/1920x1080 | 320.18 | (11.6 fps on the 1440p)

| corei7 3930k @ stock | Win7 64 | GTX670 SC 4GB | fps 11.6 | 1920x1080/2560x1440 | 320.18 | (11.6 fps on the 1080p)

 

??? Same ???

 

1080p - GPU load @ 26% - RAM usage @ 771MB

1440p - GPU load @ 30% - RAM usage @ 852MB

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on what I could understand, there is a bottleneck on the CPU. If you check your CPU usage while playing the viewport only 1 core works. So you get the same amount of limited info from the CPU to the GPU but as you have a higher res (2560x1440) the GPU has to work harder giving you 30% usage.

 

By the way, your benchmark has been included on the new result file (check first post). Thanks for sharing.

 

PS: I wonder if the Quadro drivers make use of more cores?

Edited by manganaocoibes
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I have a few quadro's here, I just did not have time to test them (tbh I am still trying to come up with a proper test file / methodology for 3DS myself). Will update if I have time over this weekend.

 

Thanks Dimitris, if you come up with a better benchmark file fire it through. In any way, due to the apparent single core limitation on max, it seems we will be limited to appalling performance we got used to. Sometime I wonder how can autodesk justify their prices with such flaws.

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Hi guys,

Here is my benchmark values for max 2014:

 

| intel i7 2600k OC 4.3 | 7x64 | GTX550TI | realistic 11fps | shaded 15fps | wireframe 8.5fps | 1920x1200/1920x1200 | driver 320.18 |

 

Keep posting your results!

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Core i7 3930K @4,6GHz | 32GB | Win 7 x64 | GTX 560 TI 2GB | 306.97 | 2560x1440

 

max 2012 x64 (full screen / Expert Mode)

 

realistic: 15.3 fps

realistic + edged faces: 10.7 fps

 

shaded: 18.3 fps

shaded + edged faces: 11.85 fps

 

wireframe: 12.25 fps

 

 

Nice initiative! Thanks!

 

Maybe we should make full screen mode (expert mode / ctrl+x) with hidden Ribbon a standart - although there seems to be not much difference for the frames. I got only ~0.2-0.3 fps more reducing the window size by half to make the change more extreme.

 

I will run the test again with the lastest driver. I just recognized that the one i use is quite old already...

 

 

update with new driver:

 

Core i7 3930K @4,6GHz | 32GB | Win 7 x64 | GTX 560 TI 2GB | 320.18 | 2560x1440

 

max 2012 x64 (full screen / Expert Mode)

 

realistic: 15.7 fps

realistic + edged faces: 10.9 fps

 

shaded: 18.6 fps

shaded + edged faces: 12.3 fps

 

wireframe: 12.45 fps

 

so i think the old values are obsolete... but maybe an interesting comparison ;)

Edited by numerobis
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Core i7 3930K @4,6GHz | 32GB | Win 7 x64 | GTX 560 TI 2GB | 306.97 | 2560x1440

 

max 2012 x64 (full screen / Expert Mode)

 

realistic: 15.3 fps

realistic + edged faces: 10.7 fps

 

shaded: 18.3 fps

shaded + edged faces: 11.85 fps

 

wireframe: 12.25 fps

 

 

Nice initiative! Thanks!

 

Maybe we should make full screen mode (expert mode / ctrl+x) with hidden Ribbon a standart - although there seems to be not much difference for the frames. I got only ~0.2-0.3 fps more reducing the window size by half to make the change more extreme.

 

I will run the test again with the lastest driver. I just recognized that the one i use is quite old already...

 

thanks numerobis, it will be interesting to see if there are any differences between drivers versions.

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Sure! I think every result is helpful, especially from Quadro or FirePro cards for comparison. The more the better!

I think the biggest problem is, that there are so many variables like CPU, CPU clock rate, driver, max version, that make it difficult to get enough

comparable results.

 

I will run the test again with the 3930K at stock speed, to make it more comparable and to see what influence the clock speed has.

Edited by numerobis
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I also have 3930K / X79 @ 4.7 & a few cards available, but I was a bit bored to do the swapping last weeks.

I embarrassingly report that I have available Quadros 2000 / K2000 & 4000 ontop of my 670, but I was...gaming

I think this would be very interesting! But i really understand that you haven't done it yet - not much fun ;)

But if you plan to do it sometime in the future, do you think you could test max 2014 too? I have just downloaded the demo today and will install it and test the performance to see if it is worth an upgrade... i will post the result.

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Something you might want to read:

 

"Worth noting is that our original test script used the built in 3ds Max frame rate indicator. At the last minute we found out that it can actually report grossly inaccurate results. We're still investigating this with Autodesk, but our new script complete removed this built in indicator from the equation to ensure accurate results"

 

http://www.cgarchitect.com/2010/07/cgarchitects-graphics-card-round-up

 

Maybe Jeff can shed some light...

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There are lots of views to this topic and I imagine many users are benchmarking their cards as well, but not many people are sharing their results. If someone has cards which haven't been included on the list in particular the pro cards from Nvidia/ATI please post your results so we can compare them. There will be differences between workstations but there will be trends as well. The original idea for creating this topic was to get enough data to help people choose their cards for max, as many of us have bought expensive cards hoping that they would perform better on max.

 

Although the number of cards on the results sheet is still very small, it seems clear that the difference in performance between the consumer cards is very small. But how much faster will the pro cards perform with nitrous? That's why we need those benchmarks.

 

Regardless of how their perform the real bottleneck seems to be max itself. You would expect such an expensive package to perform well but it seems we get the same old rubbish commitment from Autodesk. Instead of adding features no one uses and charging everybody for them, they should have sorted the one CPU core usage on max (which creates the display bottleneck). Maybe if enough people became aware of this and put pressure on Autodesk we can get this sorted and go from having graphics cards at 20-30% GPU usage to 100%.

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It's like folklore to shit on Autodesk on every occasion :- D

 

Imho, 3dsMax2014 has currently the fastest viewport compared to its contenders (Cinema, Maya, Modo...) by far.

The evolution from 2011 has been rough, with Nitrous working somehow quite differently in each version, sometimes right, sometimes wrong,

but at the moment, there is nothing I can complain about. It's swift, responsive and handles hundreds of milions unique polygons (not instanced).

It's multifold better than 2013 was.

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Ok... here's another update:

 

Core i7 3930K @stock (3,2GHz/3,8GHz) | 32GB | Win 7 x64 | GTX 560 TI 2GB | 320.18 | 2560x1440

 

max 2012 x64 (full screen / Expert Mode)

 

realistic 13.15 fps

realistic+edges 9.1 fps

 

shaded 15.7 fps

shaded+edges 10.25 fps

 

wireframe 10.4 fps

 

>>> a bit slower than with the overclocked 3930K @4,6GHz as expected.

 

 

but now the big surprise... using max 2014

 

3930K @ stock speed (3,2GHz/3,8GHz)

 

max 2014 x64 (full screen / Expert Mode)

 

realistic 12.25 fps

realistic+edges 9.0 fps

 

shaded 15.1 fps

shaded+edges 9.0 fps

 

wireframe 7.8 fps

 

:eek: this is slower than max 2012! Where is the big viewport performance gain announced for max 2014?!?

Or do i have to activate something else? (nitrous directx 11 is activated)

Edited by numerobis
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Ah... sorry, i've copied the wrong line... the 320.18 is already installed. it's corrected now.

 

Today I have some WC parts coming in the mail, and I guess tomorrow I will be doing some work / could try some benches with 2012 vs 2014 and this scene.

Nice, i'm looking forward to see your results. :)

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