markf Posted November 25, 2008 Share Posted November 25, 2008 My primary workstation is a Dell with a Quad Core 6600, @Gig RAM, Nvidia Geforce 8800. I'm using Max 2009 and Vray 1.5 with Windows XP Pro 32 bit. I typically render stills at 3K for final output. When using Onyx tree proxies, displacement etc. I seem to be working right at the limit of what my workstation can render with out crashing. I have read some endorsements of using 64 bit windows, especially with large vray renderings. My questions are: Am I correct that I would not have to purchase a new copy of Max or Vray? My copy of Max has a 64 bit version on the disc. Would I be able to download a 64 bit version of Vray from the Chaos Group with out cost? Would I be better off with Windows XP 64 bit vs. Vista? Would Photoshop CS2 continue to work on a 64 bit Windows system? Would I need to verify anything else for 64 bit compatibility? Like the type of RAM, mother board etc? I have a pretty clean system and use another computer for most of my other apps like word processor, e-mail, quicken. Last question (for now ), Is upgrading my existing system to 64 bit worth the cost and time? Thanks allot for any advice on this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pickle Posted November 25, 2008 Share Posted November 25, 2008 Hi Mark, Definitely worth the time and effort. It will transform your work flow. Speed and polygon count handling with dramatically improve, you will be able to get alot of trees in your scene. You can use the copy of 3DSmax you have and a 64bit version of vray is available for download. CS2 will still work as will most 32bit programs due to the way xp64 is built. We use xp64 as it is stable, not tried vista but heard from our IT support at the time [about 12months ago] that it was a bit glitchy. Again as far as I know everything has to be compatible with 64bit architecture, mainly processor and motherboard chipset. Rich Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markf Posted November 25, 2008 Author Share Posted November 25, 2008 Again as far as I know everything has to be compatible with 64bit architecture, mainly processor and motherboard chipset. Rich, Thanks for your reply. Are you saying that I should verify that my processor (Quad 6600) and motherboard chipset are compatible with 64 bit? Any advice on how I might be able to verify this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Antisthenes Posted November 25, 2008 Share Posted November 25, 2008 i run xp64 bit on that chip works great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amer abidi Posted November 25, 2008 Share Posted November 25, 2008 Definitely worth the switch!!get more RAM in order to fully utilize your 64-bit workflow though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markf Posted November 25, 2008 Author Share Posted November 25, 2008 Thanks for your replies. I've been reading some info about XP 64 bit. I'm not very tech savvy but have struggled through allot of problem solving and actually assembled my own work station once. My main concern is that if I uninstall my 32 bit windows and then install a new 64 bit windows I will be faced with a difficult bunch of driver upgrade issues. Even though I only keep my core apps on this machine I might need to update the BIOS and get new drivers for the SATA II hard drive, on board network, sound card, disc drive, Maxtor backup drive etc etc. My fear is that an insurmountable quagmire of driver upgrades could make the change to 64 bit too difficult. Has anyone done this and was the process something an amateur tech person like myself might be able to handle? I'd sure like to be able to use more 3D trees, displacement etc and not worry about crashing, but I'd hate to disable my system by trying this upgrade. Thnaks again for any advice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Antisthenes Posted November 25, 2008 Share Posted November 25, 2008 i would't worry you have got the network driver, you can connect to a driver site or mfg and get the rest, I do a few PC's every month, the SATA driver thing can be a snag on some Dell machines but once you figure out how to nlite your SATA driver into your windows disc and the right emulate BIOS setting for the HD or use the f6 specify driver you should be fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alias_marks Posted November 25, 2008 Share Posted November 25, 2008 but once you figure out how to nlite your SATA driver into your windows disc and the right emulate BIOS setting for the HD or use the f6 specify driver you should be fine. uhhhhhhh what?! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Antisthenes Posted November 25, 2008 Share Posted November 25, 2008 some motherboard mfgs make custom SATA drivers not included in the XP install so it is hard to install if not impossible with out them and many new PC's don't have a floppy drive to specify the off that durring install by pressing f6. nlite is a way to slipstream stuff into the windows install disc like drivers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markf Posted November 25, 2008 Author Share Posted November 25, 2008 the SATA driver thing can be a snag on some Dell machines but once you figure out how to nlite your SATA driver into your windows disc and the right emulate BIOS setting for the HD or use the f6 specify driver you should be fine. Jonas, I appreciate your reply and it sounds as if you're well versed in this. I must say it sounds somewhat daunting. I gooogled nlite and will have to look at the info some more to understand how I would use it. You are correct that my machine does not have a floppy drive. Would you mind giving some further explanation of "the right emulate BIOS setting for the HD". It sounds like this is related to getting the right driver for the HD installed. Please forgive my ignorance of these technical issues and thanks for your help! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Antisthenes Posted November 25, 2008 Share Posted November 25, 2008 i forget the exact verbiage but something like emulate IDE under the HD area. if you list off the 3 settings i think there is it may help. good luck, my day is over and i need to baby proof my house and go to IKEA for a bed 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BOXXLABS Posted December 9, 2008 Share Posted December 9, 2008 Hi Mark, My suggestion is to go with Vista64 - but call DELL first and make sure they will support your system with Vista64. Otherwise go XP64 if your system is not 100% Vista compliant. more free advice... Put 8GB of RAM in the machine. Install the 64bit versions of MAX and VRAY. Re-install CS2. Better yet, if you can get the funds, upgrade to CS4. The multiprocessing in CS4 (and CS3) are totally worth it if you do much After Effects work. In any case, moving to a 64bit environment will make MAX work better, give you smoother multitasking and make your system's interactivity better overall. Cheers, Adam BOXXlabs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markf Posted December 9, 2008 Author Share Posted December 9, 2008 Thank you Adam. I have ordered WinXP Pro 64 bit and 8 gigs of RAM (I previously had 2 Gig).The WInXP showed up today and I expect the RAM soon. I thought it would be a good thing to do during the current slow period. Now all of a sudden I got busy. I may try and do the move to 64 bit over the weekend. I'd like to use it for my current workload. However, I don't want to have my machine be down for some time while I get it all sorted out. I'm not 100% confidant in my ability to get it all reconfigured easily. I've run into lots of unforeseen gotchas in the past. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BOXXLABS Posted December 9, 2008 Share Posted December 9, 2008 my suggestion is to keep XP32 as it is and get a second hard drive - maybe $75 - to use for XP64. This way, you can be sure that nothing "bad' will happen to your existing configuration and you will end up with a dual-boot system. Here's the steps: 1. install a second hard drive in your machine and make sure it's being seen in your current setup. Windows should see it in XP32 and/or your system BIOS should also list it in the hard drive information section if it's installed correctly and being recognized by the system. 2. Once the second hard drive is installed, insert the XP64 install disc and boot the machine to the CD-ROM drive. If you don't get the option to boot to the WIndows XP64 setup from the CDROM drive, you will need to go into the BIOS and make sure it's listed as the first boot device. 3. When the XP64 Windows setup asks you which hard drive you want to install the new OS to - choose the new drive and let it format (quick format is fine) 4. install Windows XP64. Now, every time you turn on your system, it should ask you which OS you want to boot to. Good Luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markf Posted December 9, 2008 Author Share Posted December 9, 2008 Adam, that sounds like a very good idea. The only thing I can see being a potential gotcha would be transferring the licenses/authorization for Max and Vrayback and forth between the drives. I very may well go that route. I'll need to look into what kind of drive I should get. Thanks for the helpful advice! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BOXXLABS Posted December 9, 2008 Share Posted December 9, 2008 Any modern SATA drive should be just fine for your needs. It'll be at least as fast (and almost certainly faster) than the one you've got XP32 on now. As far as MAX and VRAY are concerned - there're no issues with a dual-boot-drive system. MAX 64bit should use the same license i believe. And VRAY will still just look for the dongle. cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markf Posted December 9, 2008 Author Share Posted December 9, 2008 Adam, Thank you very much for taking the time to offer your expert advice!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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