Computer buying help thread for October

[AJLynn]

Greetings y'all. Please see:

 

http://www.3datstech.com/2010/10/october-2010-workstations.html for workstation help (updated 10/10/10) and:

http://www.3datstech.com/2010/10/laptops-update.html for laptops (updated 10/16/10)

 

And feel free to ask any questions. If you have any questions of the "what computer should I buy for..." variety, please try to keep them consolidated to this thread.

[Gander0]

Thanks Andrew,

 

Extremely helpful as ever.

 

I'm going to build one of the high end systems from your specs.

 

I have already ordered the ASUS rampage III, as you suggested, for future-proofing. I have no intention of buying any new GPU cards at the moment however and intend to stick with my Quadro FX 3700 until things have settled down and Vray 2.0 has been a round for a couple of months.

 

I just noticed though that you mentioned this: 'Similar to Midrange version for CUDA rendering, this config is worse than the regular High-End if you don't use a .'

 

Is this just about the graphics cards?

 

Can I presume that if I end up with just the Quadro and one other gpu card in the future, that the 1000W power supply from the high end (Non Cuda) system would be sufficient?

 

Many thanks

[AJLynn]

Hey, look at that, I forgot to type the rest of that sentence

 

What I meant was the video cards. For the regular version I included the FirePro v7800 and for the CUDA version I included multiple Geforce cards. While they are quite good Geforce cards and excellent CUDA options, the FirePro is better for viewports in 3D apps than the Geforce cards. (A Quadro is also better for this than a Geforce.) And then there's the multiple cards in the CUDA version - these are good for CUDA but don't help your viewports.

 

So if you need the CUDA, the multiple Geforce cards make you want the CUDA version. But the regular version is better for everything except CUDA.

 

The 1000W PSU is quite good. The higher end one is in the CUDA version because the multiple GPUs are GTX 480's, which are insanely power hungry. (Another reason not to buy the CUDA version.) In case you haven't noticed, I'm trying to steer most people away from the CUDA version

[Gander0]

Haha, many thanks.

 

Will probably stick to the 1000W for the time being and save some pennies.

[JamesL]

Asked this on another thread but any thoughts how a Dual Xeon X5100 machine would compare to a new spec machine?

[AJLynn]

Look at my post in this thread:

 

http://forums.cgarchitect.com/62388-dual-quad-core-v-i7.html

 

What's an X5100? Do you mean a 5100 series from the Core2 generation? A 5100 is a dual core, right? So a dual 3GHz 5100 series has 12GHz total, plug that into the math I used.

[JamesL]

Math complete, it was the 5160 I was looking at...comes out as 14.88 - so an i7 or 1090T will be the route to go!

[Devin Johnston]

Andrew since I'm going to be building some new render nodes I'm seriously looking at your recommendations but I had a few questions and tweaks I wanted to run past you. First of all how does the Opteron 6172 compare to the Xeon X5650, there priced the same but I haven't kept up on processor performance between Intel and AMD and don't want to miss out on some extra speed.

 

I'm pretty sure I'm going to go with solid state drives, do you have a recommendation? In another thread you said you'd go with SATA 3 but this board only supports SATA 2 so my upgrade path will be hindered, should I consider a different board?

[AJLynn]

Okay, let's see, CPUs - here are Cinebench estimates for some options, based on two CPUs per node:

 

Opteron 6172: 14.8

Xeon X5650: 14.2

X5660: 15.0

X5670: 15.6

X5680: 17.7

 

Spec out the systems and see what gives you the most power per dollar. As for the SSDs, I haven't tried using them in a render node but you should see a bit of an advantage if you use SATA 3. I don't actually see any dual socket G34 (for the Opterons) MBs that have it - which isn't to say they don't exist, I'm just not seeing them. For that matter, the only one for dual Xeon I can find that has it is the (somewhat nuts) EVGA SR-2. Things aren't lining up well for this. I'd skip it - hard drive speed isn't so important in a render node anyway.

[F J]

yea, i only have SDD on the workstation, the slaves have normal drives n i see them joining the render job after the workstation only a couple secs behind..

 

 

how about an OCZ Ibis? >

 

http://hothardware.com/printarticle.aspx?articleid=1567

Edited October 27, 2010 by F J

[Devin Johnston]

I totally want that, not for render nodes I think a regular SATA SSD will be fine but for my workstation!

[Devin Johnston]

Andrew where are you finding these Cinebench results?

[AJLynn]

I compiled my own database a while back and used the spreadsheet to make formulas for estimating scores, then new information comes from review sites and cbscores.com. (The spreadsheet data can sanity check new results because I already know approximately what they should be.)

[rats]

hello friends,

 

I am planning to invest into a 32 core, 48 Gb workstation. It will contain four Octa core ( AMD 6128 ) processors. I am curious to know if anybody here ve tried this kinda config. n howz there experience with such config.

I am planning for AMD as it will be more affordable compared to an Intel Four Processor config. ( as intel xeon 7500 series is way too costly ). Also the magnycour motherboards with G34 sockets r gonna be better futureproof for upcoming 12/16 core bulldozer chips. same is not the case with intel for there sandy bridge platform.

I don't see anywhere anybody with this kinda config for 3ds max arch viz work. So i m lil doubtful if this config will really work for my vray work or not. So friends please whoever has lil exposure to such configs please share ur knowledge.

The config would be made of one of the following barebone systems :

Supermicro - A+ Server 4042G-6RF

Tyan - TYAN FT48B8812 (B8812F48W8HR)

I am as well thinking of a GPU solution for rendering like Octane work station with multiple GTX 480 cards, but honestly i feel its too early to adapt to it, also 1.5 gb or frugal ram is seems way too less with larger projects. n solutions with quadro 6000 or tesla 2070 with 6 gb ram r way to expensive n still only 6 gb ram, seems impractical.

 

Thank you very much for all of ur attention n suggestions in advance.

 

 

Wel last n not the least. ( I am an indian from India where we ve to work for 1/10th of international costs )

 

Thanx.

[AJLynn]

Wow. Well, I've never heard of specific instances of this configuration being used as a render node, so I can only make educated guesses. By multiplying cores by GHz this config should be about 25% faster than the render node config given . If the 4-CPU config is much more than 25% more expensive, it doesn't make sense. Also, keep in mind you're going to want a low of RAM in there.

[Devin Johnston]

I'd save some money and buy one mid range workstation and then get some less expensive render nodes, you'll probably wind up with more power that way.

[revuprender]

Have you thought about accessing this kind of hardware securely on the cloud? You can now gain access to a system like you are listing on-demand for much less then it would cost to build.

 

Also, you do not need to purchase a Tesla GPU loaded system because you can also use as many Tesla GPUs through a service provider now on demand at a very low cost.

 

I strongly feel that in the next 5 years designers will not longer need to or want to purchase high end graphical workstations and have them located at their desk and instead will buy them and have them managed and maintained by a service provider in a secure datacenter.

 

Other reasons: Do you really want a 1400+ watt system with (4) GPUs buzzing away next to you on your desk all day? That is simply not healthy, and there are new studies coming out which prove direct cases of EMF's causing cancer from extended exposure to high powered electronics like this.

Edited November 7, 2010 by revuprender

[rats]

Thanx for the replies.. The cost for the cofig wud be as follows -

 

Processors - AMD Opteron 6128 - $300 x 4 - $1200

Mother Board + PSU + Case ( barebone ) - $2000

Reg. ECC Ram - 12 x 4 Gb - 12 x $100 - $1200

GTX 480 - $500.

2 Tb HDD - $300.

2 Tb HDD ( backup ) - $150.

DVD writer - $20.

 

Hence the total CPU costing around $5400.

[AJLynn]

Oh wait, this isn't a render node, it's a workstation. Well, as I wrote previously, I don't like these many-cored Opterons for workstation use. For operations that multithread well, the number of cores overcomes limitations to the individual core speed. But for single or few threaded operations, you've only got 2.0GHz cores. You'd hate to be using that to run, say, Photoshop or Revit.

[rats]

u got a point man .. thanx for ur comment Aj..

[revuprender]

Yes, I agree as well. Most software is not multi-threaded enough to use all of those cores. I have a 16 core Intel Xeon system here and the only time I use all of those cores is when rendering in Max, or Revit.

 

For a super fast workstation you can build it with an i7 cpu based system for much less cost and then build out some other boxes and use them as render nodes like previously suggested. It really depends on the software you are using though. If you are using Revit 2011 then you will have an advantage with a 32 core system since Revit will only run on one system and does not allow for distributed rendering like 3DS Max. If running Revit 2011 then you should be able to use all 32 cpu cores for rendering. However I have only tested with 16 cores and it maxes out at 100% cpu usage during rendering in Revit. Although I must say that I think the rendering engine inside of Revit is broken. What I mean by broken is that it sometimes can take 10 minutes before it even starts doing anything where as with 3DS Max the rendering generally starts processing much faster.

 

What software are you planning on using this beast of system for?

[gofargogo]

First off, thanks so much for your breakdown of system hardware!

 

Can you clarify the power requirements for the mid-range CUDA edition? The shopping list has 2 nvidia cards, and a 750w power supply, but you seem to imply that with 2 cards a 1000w power supply would be required. I've ordered the parts from Newegg, and hope to build the machine tomorrow, but I'll wait and return the smaller power supply if you think it would be inadequate. Thanks.

[AJLynn]

Sorry if that was confusing. The Geforce 460's in the Newegg configuration are more power efficient than Geforce 480 and 470 cards. If you were to use 470's or 480's instead of 460's, you'd need a better power supply.

[Slinger]

Wait till Tuesday and order a GTX580

[AJLynn]

Don't say things like that, Chris. That's still a rumor, even if/when nVidia launches a next gen product we won't know details like price/performance and power consumption until some trustable testers publish, and anyway, most people shouldn't buy at the high end - in all likelihood, the next high end nVidia GPU will just be a GTX 480 with the rest of its shader units unlocked and maybe a few more MHz, but will cost more than 2x GTX 460 2GB, use more power not run faster.