Upgrading PC - How many rendering buckets would vray have?

[Stephen Hughes]

Hi there, i currently have a PC with the following config:

 

CPU: Intel Core i7 2600K

Motherboard: Asus Sabertooth P67 (Rev. 3)

Memory: 16GB DDR3 1333mhz (4x 4GB)

Graphics card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 1,536MB

 

but i am looking to upgrade to the following:

 

CPU: Intel Core i7 3930K

Motherboard: Gigabyte X79-UD3

Memory: 64GB Corsair DDR3 1600mhz Vengeance (8x8GB)

 

Using 3dsmax and vray, am i right in saying that if my current vray setup has 8 buckets when rendering, then the new configuration would be 4 times as fast and have 32 buckets??

 

does this sound like a worthwhile upgrade??

[Fooch]

http://ark.intel.com/products/63697/Intel-Core-i7-3930K-Processor-%2812M-Cache-up-to-3_80-GHz%29

 

read --> threads

[Stephen Hughes]

Cheers Fooch. I guess it's not so worthwhile after all...

[AJLynn]

Forget buckets. A 3930K is 6 cores, 3.2GHz. A 2600K is 4 cores, 3.4GHz. They're both Sandy Bridge chips, so ghz for ghz they're not far apart in speed. The 3930K would be about a 50% upgrade in render speed.

[Fooch]

Forget buckets. A 3930K is 6 cores, 3.2GHz. A 2600K is 4 cores, 3.4GHz. They're both Sandy Bridge chips, so ghz for ghz they're not far apart in speed. The 3930K would be about a 50% upgrade in render speed.

 

agreed .. its 12 buckets and for the price here in aust, its worth the upgrade.

 

I must say, thats a lot of ram though.

[AJLynn]

Yeah, I missed that the first time. 64GB? I don't see the need. Here that would be $500 of RAM, might just order half as many sticks and save the $250, with the option to add the other 4 sticks later.

[Dimitris Tolios]

Limit yourself to 32GB or ram (even that might be a stretch, depending on your models, as 16GB might be more than enough in practice), and with the money saved you can always buy a set of cheap Case / PSU / HDD and set your 2600K as a rendering node slave. You don't have to invest that much, a 80-160GB HDD is enough, just like a 400W class quality PSU. "bucket" wise, you will be @ 20 buckets this way, and the total investment won't exceed your current 64GB RAM budget...

 

I also don't know the roadmap of ivy bridge CPUs for LGA 2011, to suggest waiting a bit...

[kevinlaffey]

I've been using http://www.cpubenchmark.net to gauge the performance of cpus/gpus for my new workstation.

 

Your old 2600K cpu - http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=Intel+Core+i7-2600K+%40+3.40GHz

 

Your new 3930K cpu - http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=Intel+Core+i7-3930K+%40+3.20GHz

 

AJLynn was bang on with his 50% performance increase.

 

Overclocked the 3930K will give you another 20% performance increase, approximately. Quite how that actually equates to the real world using Vray is another thing but it should be fairly accurate.

[Slinger]

Of course Andrew was correct. The 2 chips in question are the same chipset with almost identical ghz speed, the only difference is one has 2 more logical cores(4 more virtual cores), so yes, a monkey could determine it would be a 50% gain.

[kevinlaffey]

Okay Chris, I was only trying to help. Wasn't that the purpose of Stephen's original post, asking for help.

[John Dollus]

type this in the maxscript listener:

renderers.current.system_numThreads=12

 

you can have as many buckets as you want

 

seriously though, if you are swapping those out and cutting out $500 with the ram swap as suggested, you are not that far away from building a complete system that could be used as a render node. You would have more than a 50% performace boost in that case for not much more than you had originally intended to spend.

[AJLynn]

Fight nice, guys.

[leandrosilva]

Hi there. I'm new in cgarchitect forum.

 

Can someone tell me if Intel Core i7 3930K (6cores) has 6 or 12 buckets when rendering with 3Ds Max + Vray? For render with Vray is the best i7 in moment..right..? in comparation with 3770k?

 

Thanks.

[Dimitris Tolios]

Hi there. I'm new in cgarchitect forum.

 

Can someone tell me if Intel Core i7 3930K (6cores) has 6 or 12 buckets when rendering with 3Ds Max + Vray? For render with Vray is the best i7 in moment..right..? in comparation with 3770k?

 

Thanks.

 

All latest i7s and Xeons have HyperThreading (HT).

That means that each physical core is recognized by the OS as 2x logical cores, or in other words each core can process two threads of calculations at the same time Actually it is not at the same time exactly, but close.

 

 

Think of it as a road tunnel:

no Hyperthreading = one car (thread) can cross at any given time. The rest queue up and wait.

with Hyperthreading = as soon as car #1 gets past 1/2 the tunnel's length, green light comes up for car #2 to start crossing etc, speeding up the process.

 

Thus the 3930K is a hex-core (or six core) with twelve threads (6C/12T) and the socket 1155 i7s like the 2600K/3770K are 4C/8T.

Each thread will be a "bucket".

 

Since 3930K is a "glorified" 2600K with 50% more cores/threads and similar core speeds, its is roughly 50% faster.

The 3770K is slightly newer with some optimizations and is 5-10% faster than the 2600K for the same clocks, so again it is safe to assume the 3930K is around 40-45% faster than a 3770K.

 

Welcome to CGarchitect.

Edited September 17, 2012 by dtolios

[leandrosilva]

Thanks Dimitris for explanation! render with 12 "buckets" sounds beautiful! i'm going to i7 3930k.

 

Can you give your opinion about other components that i should purchase along the i7 3930k:

 

cpu: i7 3930k

mboard: ASUS P9X79 or ASROCK X79 EXTREME 6?

memory: GSKill PC3-14900 1866Mhz 32GB RIPJWAS Z CL10 ZL (4x8GB) DDR3 or 1600Mhz version?..the price is the same in my country.

gpu: Asus GeForce GTX660 TI Direct CU II OC 2GB is the best 660TI? i'm going for 660TI because 670 is a little expensive and the performance is just 8% above.

ssd: intel 330 180GB (great price for the capacity)

cpu cooler: thermalright true spirit 140...this cooler is good for 3930k?

power supply: xfx 750w core edition...is good or 550w/650w is enough?

chassis: cooler master cm 690, haf, fractal design, antec three hundred two...which to choose?

monitor: dell u2312hm or dell 2412m

 

thanks!!

[Dimitris Tolios]

MoBo: Asus and Asrock are more related than you think...technically the same company. Its a Lexus / Toyota scheme.

That said, I have a P9X79 and I am happy.

 

Mem: if you can get the 1866, ofc go for it...I would get the Ares line instead of the ripjaws still, to make sure my air cooler would clear their low-profile heatsinks. Timings etc I believe are the same for 1866 so, same difference...(none that is). Personally I have ram chips with no heatsinks, overclocked waaaaay above spec and no overheating. Mem heatspreaders/heatsinks are rarely beneficial - more for looks.

 

GPU There is a 3GB 660Ti which I would call "the top 660ti"...i don't know if Asus makes one tho. If you don't plan using it for GPU accelerated rendering (Vray RT GPU / Octane etc - iray does not support kepler cards yet), i believe the best bang for your money in viewport performance and gaming should be the Radeon 7950 3GB. In the US it is actually found cheaper than the 660ti 2GB. If you want to go nVidia, 660ti should be fine - 2GB even.

 

SSD: Intel makes great SSDs. The 330 is not bad by any measure, but it is a Sandforce based SSD non-the-less. This controller has some issues that even intel with its great validation did not solve 100%. It is rare for an intel drive to fail or keep BSOD on you, but it happens more often that it does with Samsung 830 / Crucial m4 / Plextor m3 / OCZ Vertex 4 drives. Practically some of those are also faster than Sandforce (even the intel 520) so all you will have left will be the brand name. Unless pricing is extraordinary low for your 330, I would get a Samsung 830 256.

 

CPU Cooler: if you don't plan on O/Cing, it should hold fine...if the True Spirit 140 came with a SB-E mount...I believe it doesn't - it is 1366/1155 only. I am using the Thermalright Silver Arrow SB-E, which allows for some decent O/C. If you want a decent cooler for stock speeds, COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 EVO should fit and hold just fine (less than half the price of the SA-SB-E).

 

PSU: Yes, 550-600W should be enough - esp if you don't O/C. yet a good brand/good 80+ rated PSU is recomended, as the system WILL draw a lot of power, and pseudo-rated PSUs will fail pretty darn fast. Don't go cheap on the PSU, it is probably the most important component to be of good quality. And remember, a mediocre 800W is not better than a good 500W.

 

Case: I prefer minimalistic designs. I have a CM 690 II now (barely wide enough for the SA-SB-E cooler, yet it fits), but I like Fractal Designs etc. I dislike HAF and other chunky gaming cases, but it's subjective after a point.

 

Monitor: Both are ok, but the 24" is 1200p...ofc preferred. The real estate benefits (more stuff fit in the screen) is more important than what just "180p" difference suggest.

[leandrosilva]

I will take all your considerations and finalize the configuration for my new 3ds workstation.

After that, I will post it here, before i buy it (for your final considerations about the components selected)

 

Thanks again Dimitris!! and Cgarchitect!

[leandrosilva]

Hi users of cgarchitect forum.

 

After (re)think all components, and the great comments of Dimitris, i need help to finalize my workstation:

(note: the price are in EUROS, it's basically the same relation price to dollars)

 

CPU - CPU INTEL 2011 I7 3930K 3.0GHZ 12MB BOX | 570,85€

(comment: i think is the best i can get for rendering with 3ds max + vray)

 

MOBO - ASUS P9X79 | 232,85€

(comment: is more cheap than ASROCK EXTREME 6 and give 3 years of warranty...1 more than ASROCK)

 

MEM - GSKILL PC3-14900 1866MHZ 32GB ARES BLUE CL10 (4X8GB) DDR3 | 221,75€ or GSKILL PC3-14900 1866MHZ 32GB RIPJAWS Z CL10 ZL (4X8GB) DDR3 | 199,95€

(comment: dont know what to choose...i like the ARES because the color is blue... like the mobo and they are low profile, but is more expensive 20€)

 

GPU - ASUS GEFORCE GTX660 TI DIRECT CU II OC 2GB GDDR5 PCI-E 3.0 | 330,85€ or EVGA GEFORCE GTX660TI SUPERCLOCKED 3GB GDDR5 | 334,06€ or ASUS RADEON HD7950 DIRECTCU II 3GB GDDR5 | 328,75€

(comment: dont know what to choose...i need the best choise for 3ds max+vray and gaming..this 3 models i think they are the best for my system...in others foruns they recommended 7950...in my country always recommend GTX660TI because the Portuguese users considered pratically the same performance..and prefer Nvidea..dont know what the "right direction" here)

 

SSD - INTEL 330 SSD 180GB 2.5" SATAIII | 145,00€ or SAMSUNG SERIE 830 DESKTOP KIT 256GB 2.5" SATA III | 225,90€

(comment: the difference of price between this two models is 90€... quite substantial i think)

 

DRIVE -ASUS DRW-24B5ST SATA BLACK BULK | 19,00€

 

PSU - XFX PRO750W CORE EDITION | 92,30€

(comment: i think for the price is a good choise. here in Portuguese technology foruns is essential recommended for gamming and sli/crossfire. what you think? i need a good PSU below 100€)

 

CASE - COOLER MASTER CM 690 II ADVANCED BLACK USB 3.0 | 94,95€ or FRACTAL DESIGN ARC MIDI TOWER | 87,95€ or CORSAIR CARBIDE SERIES 300R | 75,65€

(comment: dont know what to choose.is very difficult to choose between this models. CM-690 is good, Fractal is good, Corsair is not bad. Help me to choose)

 

COOLING

CPU Cooler

THERMALRIGHT TRUE SPIRIT 140 | 43,90€ + THERMALRIGHT LGA2011 RETENTION KIT | 4.80€

(comment: i read that is the best for performance/price... is more thin that MACHO-HR-02 with best performance, and not so bad compared with Thermalright Silver Arrow SB-E, that is more expensive and large...what you think)

 

Thermal paste

ARCTIC COOLING MX-2 | 4,95€

(comment: i read is good for the cpu)

 

MONITOR - DELL U2312HM LED 23" | 185,55€ or DELL U2412M LED 24" | 256,00€

(comment: the difference of price is 70€...dont know if the difference compensate between 23 and 24 model)

 

 

Thanks Dimitris for all your help.

Edited September 16, 2012 by leandrosilva