1 person - 2 computers?

[thickly]

I do a mix of 2d design CAD work and 3d renderings using 3ds Max & Maxwell. The way I am set up - is I have two computers with a KVM switch -- when one project is rendering on one machine, I just open up my other work on the other machine. This has worked well for me so far. Is there a better way I should be doing this though? Should I have just a dedicated rendering box?

 

The main reason I ask is a friend of mine needs to set up a new employee that will be doing work much the same as I do and has asked for my advice -- reasoning that I am a technical noob at best I figured I would ask the pros here. Are there advantages in terms of software licensing, etc.... I'm not sure what her employee works in but its likely 3dsMax and VRay since its archviz. I would say all of the work is stills - no animation.

 

Thanks in advance for any info you can provide.

Sean

[Brian Cassil]

For your situation I think what you have going is the best solution. I have used it myself when I was the only one doing 3D work here and it worked swell. We ended up having to switch to render nodes later because multiple people were needing to access the rendering horsepower and the KVM switch idea doesn't really lend itself to that. For one person, stick with what you have.

[thickly]

thanks Brian -- I've been happy with that set-up, just wanted to confirm

[SandmanNinja]

If I can ask a quick question - this seems a great place since it's being discussed. My new computer is being built and will be ready in a few days. I'm wrestling with where to set it up in my very small office (which is just a 3rd bedroom in a 3-bedroom house). I didn't realise that they made a KVM which supported dual monitors. I just did a Google and found quite a few. My concern is: can it 'handle' the high res of the type of cards and uses that we do with our machines? I want to say "Yes, of course", but just wanted to ask someone who uses it if there is anything special I need to look out for? To avoid?

 

Thanking you...