nickdk Posted January 22, 2011 Share Posted January 22, 2011 Hello everyone, I'm trying to find the most extreme 3dsmax/vray rendering system, and i found this benchmark: http://www.cpubenchmark.net/multi_cpu.html it looks like the AMD systems with 4 CPU's are very strong, but I haven't been able to find any detailed info on this. Does anyone here know if they'll really beat the x5680 Xeons? And can 3dsmax take advantage of 4 Cpu's? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nickdk Posted January 22, 2011 Author Share Posted January 22, 2011 OK to help this thread get going, I have found a quad cpu motherboard: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813151219&Tpk=quad%20socket%20motherboard it looks interesting, but is there a way to figure out how this will compare to the dual intel 6core Xeon setup? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJLynn Posted January 22, 2011 Share Posted January 22, 2011 It's difficult to comment on this because these aren't used much in Vray rendering - they get more use in servers. In theory, you could get a MB like that and four 12-core CPUs and get somewhere around 33% more power than a dual-six Xeon. It's not as practical a solution because, first, it's not really that economical to have to use 48 render threads and, second, the cores max out at something like 2.2GHz. That's why hardware specifically for render farming, like the Boxx render nodes, usually use Xeons. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nickdk Posted January 22, 2011 Author Share Posted January 22, 2011 Thank you Andrew! "It's not really that economical to have to use 48 render threads" - is this because there will be some extra application overhead due to the many working threads? What's your thoughts on overclocking such a system, the 48cores AMD or the Intel, is it possible to do and still keep the stability? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJLynn Posted January 23, 2011 Share Posted January 23, 2011 Overclocking a 48-core? Man, that is outside my area So, yeah, you're going to run into overhead inefficiencies, and Vray is good at multithreading but there are going to be problems you can't work around - for example, those frames where there's part that renders quickly and parts with glossies and what-have-you that are slow, so 47 of your cores finish the render then wait 5 minutes while the 48th finishes the difficult bit before proceeding. I'm really making a conjecture here, because I know that a dual Opteron 6174 renders as quickly as a dual Xeon 5650, both boxes running 24 cores, but two 5650's and a motherboard costs $2500 and four 6174's and a motherboard costs $6000. I don't have enough info to run the numbers but I'm going to make an educated guess and say the Intel comes out on top in value. This all assumes you're looking for render nodes. For a workstation, get the Intels, not the AMDs. The AMDs will render quickly but do everything else slowly, because the only way to take advantage of their many cores is with apps that have many threads, and the only thing you're likely to use that has that many threads is the actual render engine. The Max editor only needs one core. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nickdk Posted January 23, 2011 Author Share Posted January 23, 2011 Thank you very much for the detailed reply! A lot of useful information. This is really interesting, and yes I'm actually looking for a workstation, so it makes sense to go for the Dual Xeon solution. Regarding overclocking - I have read that the Xeons can be tweaked to run at a much higher rate, but I have no idea if they stay stable at the higher speeds, but I'll try to ask at the overclocking forums. I'm just looking for the highest Cinebench score as everyone else ha ha. It would be nice to get this box to hit a score of 20! Thanks again! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJLynn Posted January 23, 2011 Share Posted January 23, 2011 There are those who overclock Xeons. There are those who would tell you that the Maxer config on this page, specifically it SR-2 motherboard, is overclockable. I myself would never presume to make any suggestions on such matters, as my recommendations focus on business users who do not usually overclock. However, and you should definitely check out overclocker fora for examples of people overclocking this type of hardware, but I don't think a 20 in Cinebench is an unreasonable target. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slinger Posted January 24, 2011 Share Posted January 24, 2011 Actually the eVGA SR-2 mobo was developed to be very overclockable. eVGA had the legendary overclocker Shamino help design and create the motherboard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael J. Brown Posted January 24, 2011 Share Posted January 24, 2011 Actually the eVGA SR-2 mobo was developed to be very overclockable. eVGA had the legendary overclocker Shamino help design and create the motherboard. Interesting... I've got that motherboard (+ dual Xeon X5680s) running in my brand new system. My builder was not at all eager to attempt any overclocking, as I don't think he has much experience with the practice. Not to mention my system was the most robust he has ever built (not bragging, just saying that this guy has only built pesdetrian workstations before mine). I'm not versed enough on the inner-workings of overclocking to even consider trying to rig something like that myself. What path might I take to have my system overclocked - if I should choose that route. And furthermore, would the overclock be something that runs constently, or would there be a software "toggle switch" to activate and de-activate it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJLynn Posted January 24, 2011 Share Posted January 24, 2011 Your system builder did not want to overclock it because if he'd broken anything he'd have been on the hook for it. But as Chris said, with that board and those CPUs (which are essentially the i7-980X cores that did best in testing) one could see some very good OC results - just please read up on it, because this is expensive stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F J Posted January 24, 2011 Share Posted January 24, 2011 (edited) wow! a quad-CPU system! definately not smart to use it as a WorkStation, as most of the time we'd be building our scene, having all those cores just sittin' there idling, adding to the power bill, still.. i wouldnt even use a dual-CPU system as a WS.. it just doesnt make sense to me when we've got things like Distributed Rendering.. i'd even settle for the beefiest dual-core (single-CPU system) i could find, then sending all the rendering work to the slaves.. lookin' at it closer im not sure it would even be a good idea to use the quad-CPU as a slave.. obviously its very expensive, but on the other hand we'd only be gettin' 1 set of RAM + 1 motherboard + 1 PSU, as opposed to double that for 2 dual-CPU systems.. anyways, it would be a matter of doing the math.. again, "Distributed Rendering".. lookin' at the link in the first post, what catches my eye is the following: sure the quad-CPU system beats all else.. but look at for instance the [Dual CPU] Intel Xeon X5650 @ 2.67GHz.. if u get 2 of these systems u'd be matching up to the quad-CPU system in terms of cores, but ending up costing less n even performing better according to the scores on that chart.. now this is just an example, im sure there r even better ones.. im not so much on top of things in terms of CPU roadmaps n stuff, but now that we got the Sandy Bridge i suspect they'll be making Xeon versions of it? Edited January 24, 2011 by F J Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slinger Posted January 25, 2011 Share Posted January 25, 2011 Interesting... I've got that motherboard (+ dual Xeon X5680s) running in my brand new system. My builder was not at all eager to attempt any overclocking, as I don't think he has much experience with the practice. Not to mention my system was the most robust he has ever built (not bragging, just saying that this guy has only built pesdetrian workstations before mine). I'm not versed enough on the inner-workings of overclocking to even consider trying to rig something like that myself. What path might I take to have my system overclocked - if I should choose that route. And furthermore, would the overclock be something that runs constently, or would there be a software "toggle switch" to activate and de-activate it? Michael, I would recommend going to the eVGA forums for assistance with the SR-2 platform. A couple of guys have builds and there is a whole sub-forum section dedicated to the SR-2 motherboard. Likewise, eVGA employees are in the forums all the time. As for your "toggle switch" option, no there really isn't. You basically can go through the bios or eVGAs E-Leet software to overclock. E-Leet you can do 'on-the-fly' but if your overclock is unstable, you will lock up or crash the system. Personally, I always go through teh bios to do my overclocking then run stability programs to make sure I am ok with the OC. Link to SR-2 forum: http://www.evga.com/forums/tt.aspx?forumid=64 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael J. Brown Posted January 25, 2011 Share Posted January 25, 2011 thanks Chris. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slinger Posted January 25, 2011 Share Posted January 25, 2011 NP. BTW, can you put up your full build? I am curious what kind of cooling you have on the chips? Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael J. Brown Posted January 25, 2011 Share Posted January 25, 2011 (2) Intel Xeon X5680 Westmere 3.33GHz LGA 1366 130W Six-Core Server Processor BX80614X5680 Item #: N82E16819117228 (1) COOLER MASTER Silent Pro RSA00-AMBAJ3-US 1000W ATX12V v2.3 / EPS12V v2.92 SLI Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Modular Active ... Item #: N82E16817171049 (4) Patriot Signature 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600) ECC Registered Server Memory Model PSD36G1333ERK Item #: N82E16820220394 (1) Rosewill PCIE FireWire 1394a Card 2+1 Ports Model RC-504 Item #: N82E16815166018 (1) PNY VCQ4000-PB Quadro 4000 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready Workstation Video Card Item #: N82E16814133324 (1) Crucial RealSSD C300 CTFDDAC128MAG-1G1 2.5" 128GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) Item #: N82E16820148348 (1) LITE-ON CD/DVD Burner - Bulk Black SATA Model iHAS124-04 - OEM Item #: N82E16827106289 (1) Western Digital Caviar Black WD1501FASS 1.5TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive Item #: N82E16822136592 (2) Noctua NH-U12P SE2 120mm SSO CPU Cooler Item #: N82E16835608014 (1) Microsoft Windows 7 Professional 64-bit 1-Pack for System Builders - OEM Item #: N82E16832116758 (1) Creative 70SB088000004 7.1 Channels PCI Express 1x Interface PCI Express Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium Item #: N82E16829102024 (1) Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound - OEM Item #: N82E16835100007 (1) EVGA Classified SR-2 270-WS-W555-A2 LGA 1366 Intel 5520 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 HPTX Intel Motherboard Item #: N82E16813188070 (1) LITE-ON Black SATA DVD-ROM Drive Model iHDS118-04 - OEM Item #: N82E16827106276 (1) LIAN LI PC-V2120A Silver Aluminum ATX Full Tower Computer Case Item #: N82E16811112310 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slinger Posted January 25, 2011 Share Posted January 25, 2011 Awesome rig. You should be fine OC on air with the Noctuas. Take your time, read up and you should be good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael J. Brown Posted January 25, 2011 Share Posted January 25, 2011 Thanks. It's been 6 long years since my last new system. This bad boy is going to get a thorough breaking-in in the coming months. I've got a few projects lined-up waiting for it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJLynn Posted January 25, 2011 Share Posted January 25, 2011 Yeah, if I were going to do a build for dual Xeons with OC, that's pretty close to exactly what I'd choose Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael J. Brown Posted January 25, 2011 Share Posted January 25, 2011 Nice, AJ. I was going to go with the 1200watt PS too, but figured I'd save $150 and step down to 1000w. My builder told me it would not likely be an issue. In fact, the highest my setup has peaked sofar is just 315w during render. Average power draw is 241w. Of course, he didn't have overclocking in mind. Heck, truth-be-told, neither did I. And I still may or may not consider it. It would take a lot of reading-up to get me to a point where I'm comfortable attempting an OC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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