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So Id like to get a Laptop for Rhino, Revit, 3D design and rendering + occasional photo/video editing. Ideally under 2k. Buying in US. Considering Razer Blade 15 4k option with GTX 1070, or the newer 2019 model with RTX2080 but without 4k display. Hows rendering performance on RTX cards? Worth the 4k screen trade off? Alternatively the ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 2 can come with a 32GB ram plus newer 9 Gen i7 but GTX 1650 Max-Q 4GB. Open to any other laptop/workstation laptop ideas. Quadro PC’s do seem a bit pricey.

Apologies if this sounds like a marketing post, but was just thinking today how much I love my NAS Having deliberated over it for well over a year before taking the plunge I can honestly say I have no regrets at all. I use it as the main storage for all my project files and asset libraries, and in conjunction with a little gigabit switch the access speeds are great from my main PC and a laptop on my home network. Also having access to my files away from home has saved the day on a number of occasions when the client has come back looking for a quick tweak or I have inevitably sent the wrong file after a long night. If anyone has been thinking about it, I would definitely advise investing in one.

Hi all, I've just created a group that you may be interested in. Your membership will be most welcome. I'm hoping to get some knowledgeable contributors. The idea is to help more CG artists navigate the practical challenges of moving from CPU over to GPU, and once there, to keep up to speed with the technology available. https://www.facebook.com/groups/1797500417129685/

I'm looking into a new single processor build. I noticed a big PRICE difference between the i7 5960X and i7 5820K. ($1500AUD vs $500AUD) It will be used as a workstation and then put to use in the render farm but possibly has potential for a good multiple GPU's renderer as the industry makes a shift. I see the Max # of PCI Express Lanes on intelArk for the CPU's is 40 vs 28 respectively. Does this mean I'm limiting the number of GPU's I can use in SLI configuration and would this mean the max GPU's I could use then are 3 ?? ( assuming GTX 980 are being used) Any thoughts? Has anyone run into any other limitations with an overclocked 5820K in a workstation? and should I be looking at a different build? Build cost is $3500AUD ($2570 USD), 64GB RAM, ASUS X99-Deluxe/U3.1, SSD, 1000WPSU, NZXT Kraken H61. Thanks

OK, I want to get properly into GPU rendering (I use CPU mostly), I have little money but might be able to invest in an additional GPU every few months. The dilemma is how to add them to my set up? I have been scratching my head about this for ages, so am making a concerted effort to reach out to the community for a solution. (I can't believe there aren't a lot of people in my position, but it seems you're all happily rendering away on your multi-GPU set-ups!) Required: A solution providing... 1) Multiple GPUs (want to add 4-8 over time) 2) External to workstation (no space in case) 3) Avoiding need for additional software (licences) 4) Avoiding unnessary bottlesnecks (I/O) 5) Avoiding complicated solutions (I'm more "Artist" than "Geek") 6) Avoiding expensive options (such as the Netstore NA255) 7) Available in the UK (import will add to cost) My Workstation - "Workstation Specialists WSX6.1" (ATX) CPU: i7-3930K Six-Core @ 4.20GHz CPU COOLER: Antec Kuhler h2o 920 MOBO: Asus P9X79 WS RAM: 32GB Ram GPU: Quadro 6000 (Fermi) PSU: EVGA 1000 T2 (1000W 80Plus Titanium) OS: Win 7 Pro on SSD I've looked at Amfeltec and the quote I got seemed expensive for what it is. Also apparently the I/O would cause a delay at start of rendering. The Netstore NA255 looks great to me; fast, all-in-one, etc. but it's soooo expensive here (I could by nearly four GPUs for that!) The prebuilt solutions are extravagant, because I need to focus on purchasing GPUs not paying someone to make me a rig. Conversely, looking at the bewildering array of adapters online is a minefield; the specs, the prices, the stupidly short splitter cables that wouldn't reach outside the case, etc. Will one of these be the solution? I just want to get a bunch of GPUs and render. Is it really this difficult? PSUs are easy enough, I have a spare 750W for now, and will add/replace in time. Enclosure: I could make a case or cage if the electrical componants all do the job regardless. But I am no computer builder. Dear GPU renderfolks, please... "HELP!!!" ;D

http://amfeltec.com/products/gpu-oriented-cluster/ I'm looking at ways to expand my number of GPUs, for GPU rendering (Octane and RT). I have run out of space in my WS case but don't want to re-build from scratch, hence this approach to extending the hardware seems logical. Another positive, is that no extra software licenses are needed. It appears that in theory you can run four clusters (each with four GPUs) and have sixteen GPUs on one system! I'd probably just go for one cluster of four GPUs, in addition the existing GPU (running monitors) that is plugged directly into the WS mobo. What do you think?

G'day CG folk. Assembling the following soon... feedback and ideas are greatly appreciated. My Questions: •Is putting 128GB RAM overkill? •Is supermicro the better motherboard to use? should I go ASUS Z9PE ?? Has anyone used supermicro or (talus) in thier workstation??? •Fitting a two NH-D9DX cooling radiators to a dual motherboard( ASUS or supermicro) with RAM installed, has anyone tried this? Will they fit? •Case recommendations please! so many out there!! -simplest, most functional and accessible design – no pretty candy needed. So far "corsair 750d" tickles my fancy. •Whats the go on sealing un-used case openings / holes -Is there a standard methods to reduce dust and improve heat management? WORKSTATION -Motherboard: Supermicro MBD-X10DAX | Dual CPU, 16 RAM slots A toss up between the above and the Asus-Z9PE ensued. I decided the X10DAX because the cpu cooler planning to use is quite large and seems it will fit the supermicro with all the RAM installed. -CPU: E5-2650V3-10X, 25Mcache,2.3GHz,105W,DDR4-2133Mhz at 2400AU$ a pop, this is all I can afford at the moment. I'm thinking two 2650's will get me across the line for most still and animated CG work . I figured going with 6 or 8 cores would be wasted on a dual cpu motherboard since a single I7 5820k CPU has great performance (evermotion ) for its price of 500AU$ and the 200AU$ difference between single and dual core motherboard. -CPU cooling: Noctua NH-D9DX I4 3U I know the water cooling systems are the rage right now but for reliability( less moving parts to fail) and its impressive cooling performance and impressive 6 year warranty... noctua makes sense. It is LARGE ( 110x95x95mm) so im a bit concerned it wont fit on the motherboard with all the RAM installed. I'd like to face the motherboard ports and CPU fans upwards so heat travels up and out of the case efficiently. -RAM: Corsair Black Vengeance LPX| DDR4 2400MHz | 8x8GB + 8x8GB = 128GB The 2650 CPU has max memory type ( intel ) of 2133MHz. Its my understanding higher Mhz does improve render times but only over longer periods ( longer than 24 hours) so i'm going with cpu recommended 2133MHz here (or 2400MHz -close enough ) -Drive for Windows 7: 240GB Kingston HyperX Predator PCIe SSD (SHPM2280P2H) An SSD plugged into the PCI slot vs the usual SATA3 cable has significant speed difference and less internal case cluttering. SATA3 speeds at 200 to 500MB/s vs 1000 MB/s is a no-brainer for me. Faster data access – yes please. -Drive for storage: Western Digital Caviar Red 2TB Standard 7500rpm disk hard drive -Graphics Card: K2200 Im using what I have already. -PowerSupply: Corsair650 Again, using what I have already. -Windows 7 Pro x64 thanks, T2Q.

G'day CG folk, Has anyone found the perfect mouse for modelling work? I'm primarily a 3ds max user -so the middle mouse button get alot of abuse. For me, a soft middle button click with 3 or 4 buttons for some macro action would be great! ... any recommendations / finds / ideas?? Thanks T2Q

i7 5820k Asus x99 pro Corsair ddr4 16gb ram 2tb WD HDD Sad 120gb 850(evo)Samsung Corsair 400r cabinet Corsair RM 750 amps Logitech keyboard, mouse Ups 1 kV APC Asus gtx 970 4gb Corsair Hydro Series H100i its all ok or i add any more???:confused:

Hi guys, just some background information. I am an architectural visualizer working in Singapore. I bought a workstation about a year ago and used it from time to time for work. (rendering, Photoshop, the usual stuff). I have recently decided to take a break from my full-time job and do some freelance work from home. However, I came across some issue with vray and 3ds max crashing while handling jobs that takes over an hour to render. I would like to not only solve this issue. But also to prepare myself from other future problems. So getting into my main point, I would like to seek advice from experienced user, for comments on my PC inventory, whether there are any incompatibilities between software and hardware. I am slightly knowledgeable in the IT department thanks to google, so I will try my best to list out or the information needed. OS: Windows 7 Pro 64bit Softwares used: Photoshop CS5, 3dsmax 2014 with vray 2.4 below are the list of my PC hardware: Intel i7 3770 3.4GHZ 8MB Asus P8Z77 WS Leadtek Quadro 2000 1GB DDR5 PCI-E Kingston Hyper-X 12800/1600 (8GBx2) Samsung 840 Pro Series 128GB INT SSD WD Caviar Blue 500GB 3.5" 16MB Sata 3 Antec High Current Gamer M 620W Coolermaster Centrion 6 Thank you for taking your time to read

Hello cgarchitect community! I am somewhat desperate for better performance by Vray 2.0 for Sketchup on my work computer. My biggest problem is displacement. If the model is the least bit complex and displacement is on for any materials, I end up with a render that crawls at a glacial pace until a bug splat. This happens pretty much every time. I have listed my machine's stats below. Any suggestions you may have for changes in hardware or settings that would improve vray performance would be greatly appreciated. I have tried many displacement and quality settings, and it does not seem to make a difference. Dell Precision T3600 Intel Xeon CPU E5-1607 0 @ 3.00GHz 32.0 GB RAM Windows 7 Professional, 64-bit AMD FirePro V5900 (FireGL V) SketchUp 2013 (same performance with SketchUp 8) Vray 2.0 for Sketchup Thank you!

Hi All, This is my first post…on any forum so apologies if I’m asking a question repeated over and over. I have recently (6months ago)bought a new computer and just don’t find it fast enough. I use Sketchup and Vray but am learning 3Ds too. Compuer spec is as follows; - 1 XFX HD 7850 Core Edition 2GB GDDR5 Dual DVI HDMI Dual DisplayPort PCI-E Graphics Card - Intel Core i7 3770 3.4GHz Socket 1155 8MB Cache Retail Boxed Processor - HGST Deskstar 1TB Hard Drive SATAII 7200rpm 32MB Cache – OEM - SanDisk 128GB Pulse SSD - 2.5" SATA-III - Read 490MB/s Write 380MB/s - Corsair 16GB (2x8GB) Ddr3 1600mhz Vengeance Memory Kit - Gigabyte GA-B75-D3V Socket 1155 VGA DVI 8 Channel Audio ATX Motherboard I would like to spend around 1k on upgrades but am unsure if I should scrap components or add to them. Unfortunately speaking with tech specialists in shops has proved a total waste of time as they don’t know how the programs work. Thanks in advance

Hi! I saved enough money to buy a new graphics card for my machine. I heard a lot of good things about the GTX 680 from nVidia: one of them is that this grpahics card is made for games. I know I need a Quadro for 3DS Max iRay, though I don't have enough money for it. I want to know what is your opinion. How will this card work with iRay? My machine configuration: 16GB RAM DDR3, 7200rpm HDD, Intel Core i5 3.2GHz

With new techonolgies being updated on a monthly basis. I'm quite confused regarding hardware requirement and its effectiveness. Would you suggest me a workstation. I'll be running 3dmax,vray,Photoshop,Revit and Autocad for my architectural visualizations. BUDET - under 1500$

Hey I am building a new Computer for 3d rendering and especially using vray-rt for 3ds max, Lumion, and vray adv my suggested specs until now is as follows: CPU: Intel® Core™ i7-3770K Ivy Bridge 3.5GHz 8MB Cache Desktop Processor Motherboard: ASUS SABERTOOTH Z77 Motherboard RAM: CORSAIR Vengeance 16GB (2 x 8GB) or 32GB (4 x 8GB)?? VGA: Galaxy GeForce GTX 680 GC 4GB GDDR5 (this one for vrayrt rendering) and adding another one for viewport (GTX 650 DirectCU 1GB GDDR5)?? is the GTX 680 good for vray-rt?? any experiences?? + future upgrades for another gtx 680 CASE:CORSAIR Carbide Series™ 400R Case PSU: XFX ProSeries 650W PSU 80 plus Bronze---is this enough?? HD: Western Digital (WD) Caviar Black WD2002FAEX 2TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s HDD or (2 X 1TB WD black)?? Monitor: Samsung S23A750D Series 7 23 inch LED 3D Monitor This will cost about 14,000 EGP in Egypt = $2300 I can't afford Quadro GPUs and I can't afford more than this price so if there's better config for the same price range will be appreciated

Well here im making this thread again (the first time was like 6 month ago and luckily i couldn't buy the machine), it seems that the last time i was not clear in what i needed or that quadro cards are now more affordable. Well in a few words what i need is a mobile machine (so it will be a notebook) for working with intense 3D programs, namely they are AutoCAD 2012-2013, 3Ds Max, Maya, Revit, Rhino 3D and grasshopper, im an student so i would like that this machines lasts some 4 years working or more if it can, so it has to be open to good upgrades many times. so from what i have read the important things for all that are the GPU, RAM and Processor (that is mainly what a system is xD) so first i had my eyes wrongly in high performances gaming notebooks like the MSI GT70 OND-492 with Geforce gtx 675MX and other gaming machines, but then i saw this page: http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/syscert?siteID=123112&id=18844534&results=1&stype=graphic&product_group=3&product_group=6&product_group=19&release=2013&os=8192&manuf=all&opt=1 i knew that quadros would be better for my machine but they where too expensive when i saw them for the first time, like 6 months ago, but well i read this and then with the same page and searched for the recommended hardware and founded this: http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/syscert?siteID=123112&id=18844534&results=1&stype=system&product_group=3&product_group=6&product_group=19&release=2013&os=8192&manuf=all&opt=1 and i started to go to the websites of those companies and founded that the price range with recommended quadro cards was at the same range that the ge force ones that the gaming notebooks that i was looking for in the past had, so i started to configure systems and now i have my tops and i really want recommendations from the people who really know and have experience in this fields, and there you ppl appear, my main doubts are with hard drive configurations and processors, because they are the ones that make the difference in my tops attached Build Your System M4700.pdf Build Your System M6600.pdf lenovo thinkpad w530.pdf so this are the tops, my doubts are in the field of the hard drive and RAM i noticed that they put the upgrades too expensive, so i thought in making the upgrades by myself, so they all have the less RAM possible, so i wanted to know what you ppl think about that and what RAM i should buy, i thought in a pair of 8gb 1600 mhz of Kingston's in the three cases but i dont know what model, i wonder if you could help me for the less expensive and better ones. Now in the field of the hard drive i was thinking in replacing the HDD (in the m4700 and in the lenovo case) for a m4 512 GB SSD, but they also give the chance of putting an mSATA, but im not sure about this new technology, i want to know if they are as good and fast as any SSD, in that case i was thinking also in the m4 mSATA 256Gb if they perform as good as the SSD; and in the case of the M6600 i was thinking in just putting a 256 Gb SSD as the main drive; in the three cases i choose a normal dvd optical drive thinking in change it for a Blu-ray read and write optical drive as any of this ones: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=blu+ray+notebook+sata please help me and give a lot of recommendations in this fields, i will appreciate anything i will buy this notebook really soon so i will love advice in anything, if u have any better choice of anything as the RAM, optical drive, hard drive, even notebook with better performances or better prices please tell me, thank you so much. P.D: dell also offers something called Intel vPro™ Technology if any of you can explain me or telling me if it i worth i will appreciate it. METTA

Hi All I need your on the following PC configuration which I'm planning to buy for my 3D max Architectural Visualizations & Animations. Configurations: Software I'm using: 3D Max 2012 Vray 2.0 Adobe CS5 Production Premium Maya 2012 Lumion 2.5 Pro What do you all thing about this configuration of the PC for the work I'm doing and for the software I'm using. Your comments are welcome Thanks, Angelo.

Hi everyone, I'm building up a pc for rendering and I'm looking for something middle range that won't be too costly but still gets the job done. Please note that this pc will be used or a year or so before moving the new 2011 socket and high end workstation cards. Processor - i7 2600k (overclocked at 4.4ghz) Mobo - Asus p8p67 (rev 3.1) Ram - Kingston 16gb (4 x 4gb) 1600mhz Heatsink - Coolermaster V6GT (with Arctic Silver 5) VGA - ATI Firepro v5800 PSU - Antec 750w Primary HD - 500gb (operating system 64 bit) Secondary HD - 2Tb Can anyone how have been using the overclocked 2600k tell me if this built is fine? I usually render for around 20 to 30 hours over a normal working week. And also if the heatsink I got is fine for these kind of frequency. Like I said, this pc is to be used until next year as I am aware that the overclocking will shorten it's lifespan. but if anyone can recommend me a better frequency, heatsink, mobo, etc to extend this lifespan by another year that would be really cool. Thanks. Stephane

Hello, I have this problem with my dell vostro 1720 laptop. I recently installed windows 7, and everything was all right until it didn't start anymore. The dell logo appeared after starting the computer then when the windows logo should have appeared, there was just a black screen with a cursor (like the one in DOS) blinking in the top left corner of the screen. Nothing works but Ctrl+Alt+Del. I tried to fix it with the installation disk (system restore, fix startup problems etc.) but it didn't work so I had to reinstall. And a couple of weeks later, last night, this problem reappeared. I suspect it is a hardware related problem (maybe the hard drive has a bad sector or something). Do you have any idea what could cause this? And if you have a fix for it, other than reinstalling windows every time this happens will make me very happy. Thank you! Best regards

Hi, am planning to make a faster and more stable system for running 3dsmax in 64 bits. Currently I use AMD processor and I had not much problem with it. So, I would like to go for again AMD and this time Phenom 955 x4 black edition seems a good choice, as per some benchmark i saw. I would like to see some advice from you regarding: 1. whether Phenom x4 955 black edition or even the standard one will be a good choice? and compared to Intel i5 what different it can have on the performance. I know i7 would be better but, i will not go for that kind of budget for now. 2. if Phenom is a good choice whats the best motherboard that will suit the config. I was thinking of MSI 790GXG65, or may be a ASUS will do better, need advice please 3. i am fond of nVidia and using it since last couple of years, whats the medium priced nVidia card I should go for this config? Thanks in advance for your advice

Hi! I was just looking some options for a new videocard and found the Quadro FX 1800. Does anyone know whats the difference between this card and lets say the GTX260? Does it affect rendering time? Any information about the card is appreciated!

HI! I use vray for sketchup and was trying to figure out why my rendering speed haven't got better since I upgraded from 2 gb to 8 gb ram. Is it the ram the only thing having to do with speed or is it something else, like cpu or video card? For some reason it's taking me the same amount of time to render an image in the 8gb pc than with my 3gb laptop. I appreciate any help!