Need advice for building or buying a machine for rendering

[danb4026]

Its my birthday and my wife is going to get me a machine just to use for rendering. This will free up my main machine so I can continue to work uninterupted.

 

 

Can anyone give advice as to what machine is best suited for this right out of the box? Or, if not, what components would you use to build such a machine. I would run Vista 64bit.

 

Thanks

[tanni]

I believe hi speed processor can do faster rendering of Max.

[Tyorl]

If u want pc just for render then u need graphic card build in motherboard, as tanni said hi speed processor i recommend dual Xeon 5335, and 4-8Gb ram, I think fast HDD is advantage.

 

BTW: Why Vista? I think XP 64-bit is more suitable.

[SandmanNinja]

I just ordered my new system and the computer shop manager said that he's about 99% confident that Windows Vista Business includes a license for WinXP64. And it's only about AU$20 more expensive (he waived the difference since I was buying a system). That way, I can use XP64 and if I ever want to go the Vista route (maybe after SP4 - hehe) then I'd have the software and license for it.

 

Just thought I'd mention that.

[danb4026]

If u want pc just for render then u need graphic card build in motherboard, as tanni said hi speed processor i recommend dual Xeon 5335, and 4-8Gb ram, I think fast HDD is advantage.

 

BTW: Why Vista? I think XP 64-bit is more suitable.

 

how do the xeon chips compare to the intel quad core's? And what

do you mean by "graphics card with built in

motherboard?

[AJLynn]

Is it just for rendering or also for the modeling, and what are you using it for, and why is it so different from what everybody else is doing that you can't go with the Core 2 Quad / nVidia 8800GT combination that me and the other regulars keep recommending to everybody as you'd have seen if you'd read the backlogs on the Hardware forum where stuff like this should be posted?

[danb4026]

Is it just for rendering or also for the modeling, and what are you using it for, and why is it so different from what everybody else is doing that you can't go with the Core 2 Quad / nVidia 8800GT combination that me and the other regulars keep recommending to everybody as you'd have seen if you'd read the backlogs on the Hardware forum where stuff like this should be posted?

 

My current machine, that I am both modeling and rendering from, has a Core 2 Quad, 8 gigs of ram and an Nvidia Quadro FX 4600 Graphics card.

 

When running a hi-res single frame render (not an animation), which could take a number of hours, I find it difficult to continue using max to keep modeling. I would like a dedicated render machine so that I can continue working in Max on my main machine.

 

Although this has been covered before, with the advice of lowing Max's priority from the Task Manager, I do not find this to be a satisfactory solution when I have a deadline to meet.

[AJLynn]

Oh, well then, that's easy. As much CPU and RAM as your budget allows, with a DVD reader, an adequate hard drive and the cheapest video card available that is not "Shared Memory", "HyperMemory" or "TurboCache" (as those subtract from system RAM) and the same version of Windows your workstation runs.

[tecton3d]

My current machine, that I am both modeling and rendering from, has a Core 2 Quad, 8 gigs of ram and an Nvidia Quadro FX 4600 Graphics card.

 

When running a hi-res single frame render (not an animation), which could take a number of hours, I find it difficult to continue using max to keep modeling. I would like a dedicated render machine so that I can continue working in Max on my main machine.

 

Although this has been covered before, with the advice of lowing Max's priority from the Task Manager, I do not find this to be a satisfactory solution when I have a deadline to meet.

 

everything here is good advice, i'd just like to add that you can break the render up into strips, assign it to different machines, and via backburner, not consume your workstation with the current rendering. i.e... you can render on only 2 of the 4 cores of your worstation but all of the cores of your node.

 

fwiw: even if you do what i describe above, you may still not get the normal 100% viewport speed that you have when you're not rendering but it should help

[AJLynn]

Oh, one other thing - have you tried using "set affinity" on the render process in Task Manager to prevent it from using CPU 0? That would guarantee one free CPU for your other tasks, though other system resources are still being used.

[danb4026]

everything here is good advice, i'd just like to add that you can break the render up into strips, assign it to different machines, and via backburner, not consume your workstation with the current rendering. i.e... you can render on only 2 of the 4 cores of your worstation but all of the cores of your node.

 

fwiw: even if you do what i describe above, you may still not get the normal 100% viewport speed that you have when you're not rendering but it should help

 

Is there a tutorial or some reading that would explain the steps by which you would break the rendering up into strips, source it to different cores, and/or use backburner? I have never used backburner before, thinking that it used primarily with networks.

[Tyorl]

By "build in" I mean inegrated, sorry for my english

I have 2 Xeon 5335 that means 2*processor with 4 core, so i've got 8 core machine.

[bjallal]

Q9450 +Asus Maximus Formula SE + 4gb DDR2 1066 pc8500 + geforce 8800 gts² 512mb

[danb4026]

What do you think all of those components would run?

[tecton3d]

Q9450 +Asus Maximus Formula SE + 4gb DDR2 1066 pc8500 + geforce 8800 gts² 512mb

if the machine is only for rendering, the 8800GTS is overkill

 

... and don't forget an aftermarket heatsink since you'll want to overclock that Q9450