New Rendering Workstation. (Configuration)

[Guest kostikalala1]

Hi everyone. I am putting together a new computer which I will be using for rendering both stills and animations. (3ds Max Vray mainly). Since this is my first time putting a computer together I would greatly appreciate any advice or suggestions from anyone who has experience building their own rendering engines.

 

 

- Intel Core i7-3930K Six-Core, 3.20Ghz, 12MB L3 Cache

- ASUS Sabertooth X79 LGA 2011 Intel X79 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

- 2x Samsung 840 Series 120GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Drive (MZ-7TD120BW)

- Seagate Barracuda, SATA3 6.0Gb/s 2TB 64MB Cache (OEM)

- 2x Corsair Vengeance Low Profile 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 1600MHz CL10 DIMMs (32GB Total)

- EVGA (04G-P4-2673-KR) NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670 4GB GDDR5 | 1046 MHz Clock, 6008 MHz Memory | PCI Express 3.0, Display Port, DVI-I, DVI-D, HDMI

- Cooler Master CM Storm Scout 2 Black

- Corsair Professional Series Modular HX1050 80PLUS Gold Certified 1050W PSU

- Samsung Internal 24x DVD Writer, OEM| Black, SATA, 1.5MB Buffer

- Corsair Hydro Series H80i High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler w/LINK-

 

 

This comes to be quite expensive at (2500$ before tax in Canada) so I would appreciate any advice or suggestions that anyone has so as to save some money. However, if it does the job and renders at a decent speed I can commit that kind of capital on it. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated as I said this is the first time I'm putting a computer together.

 

Thanks.

[joelmcwilliam]

"However, if it does the job and renders at a decent speed"

 

Does this mean your pc doesn't have to render at the fastest speed?

 

How about a separate render pc? So you would end up with one workstation pc and one render pc.

 

How much are you planning to overclock?

 

Do you use vRay RT? And are you planning to ad more GPU's in the future?

[Guest kostikalala1]

Thx for the reply Joel,

 

I am actually expecting some real speed from the i7 3930k, for the six (12) cores that its got. I have already purchased the cpu and some of the parts already. So I don't think I'm changing much apart from the video card which I still debating.

 

I changed some of the parts :

 

Noctua NH - D14 instead of the Corsair

Asus P9X79 PRo instead of the Sabertooth (about the same price anyways, just wasn't a big fan of the built in chipset fan)

 

I am still debating if I should go with two (sli) gtx 660 Ti 2gb or the one gtx 670 4gb. (Sli costs 150$ more)?

Also should I stick with HX1050 power supply or change and get AX850 (difference of 50$)?

Is a big difference between the types of RAM 1600 vs 1866? I know that the 1866 suppose to b faster but do you have any experience?

 

Right now I don't use vray Rt but I might in the future. I will also b overclocking it a bit depending on how fast will it initially b on rendering my scenes. It will b ideal in the future that after I build this pc I get a rendering server but right now that would cost a lot. It is more necessary for me right now to get a workstation that also is able to do some postproduction in Photoshop and Aftereffects for heavy scenes.

 

 

Thx for the reply I really appreciate it!

[Dimitris Tolios]

What is the thought behind the 660Ti SLI? If it is not for gaming, it is nearly useless for you.

 

GPU accelerated renderers and/or Adobe apps with the Mercury Engine can make use or more than 1 GPU, but SLI (or Crossfire X) i.e. the physical linking of the cards in order for them to sync and handle alternating frames and/or lines on the monitor is a 100% gaming related feature that doesn't have anything to do with 3D Viewport acceleration in 3DS or any other CG program atm.

 

Also keep in mind that the performance differences in 3D viewports switching from a GTX 660, to a 670, to a 680 or even a Titan is not as pronounced as it is in gaming. The issue is that GeForce ("desktop") drivers are not optimized for 3D Apps like Quadro drivers are. On paper those GTX cards are on-par of far better than Quadros that cost multiple times more money, but guess what: nVidia is not that silly to allow you to under-cut them. In most CG apps, a current K2000 or older mid-range Quadros will outperform a GTX Titan in most tasks, and will embarrass any 6xx card, regardless of paper specs.

 

RAM: DDR3-1866 is faster than 1600 ofc, but not enough to be noticeable in RL. The same goes for even faster modules, 2133 or even 2400. AMD FX processors benefit from fast ram much more than intel sandy bridge and ivy bridge architectures do.

[Guest kostikalala1]

Thank you for the thorough reply Dimitris!

 

If the Quadros are that much better, then of course I am willing to add the extra cost and buy a Quadro!

I was looking at this two cards after you told me about the quadros!

 

PNY. NVIDIA Quadro K2000D 2GB GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 Workstation Video Card (about the same price as the GTX 670 4GB)

and

PNY. NVIDIA Quadro K4000 3GB GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 Workstation Video Card (about 300$ more)

 

Do you think the 300$ difference in price is worth the difference in performance?

 

 

Also to clarify this will not be a gaming computer. Its mainly a 3D Visualisation computer, but I want it to be heavy duty. This will act as my workstation also until i get a server.

Thank you also for the RAM explanation, I will stick with the 1600.

 

Thanks for the feedback Dimitris.

[oluwatofaratigbadamosi]

Hello... My name is Oluwatofarati. Pretty long Huh... So let's stick with farati. Glad to make my first post today... Getting the ideal hardware is a challenge for everyone. The major contention is always between price and performance. Once this is resolved not forgetting the specs you will need for more demanding projects -along side tips from forums as these, I guess on can make a very informed choice. For me processor speed, RAM and Video CARD capacity CANNOT be compromised. The challenge is that it now varies from product to product.

[joelmcwilliam]

Because you are not gaming and not RT rendering and because you are using 3dsmax go for the Quadro.

 

So what to choose, the 2000 or 4000? That depends on your budget. Only when working with very heavy scenes the Quadro 2000 will reach its limits sooner than the Quadro 4000. Try to buy a used one.

 

For an indication of your system power consumption:

 

http://www.behardware.com/art/imprimer/800/

 

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/core-i7-3960x-3930k_11.html

 

http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/4435/intel_core_i7_3930k_lga_2011_cpu_review/index8.html

 

I asked a friend who has a pc with a i7 3930K and a Quadro 4000 and he told me that he is not getting above 400 W with full cpu load and lots of use of the gpu. His cpu is overclocked at 4.2 ghz. Measured with a Kill-A-Watt meter.

 

The Seasonic G-Series are nice PSU's.

 

http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story&reid=323

[Guest kostikalala1]

Thanks for your help guys. The workstation is done and running like a charm!!

 

I'm a little pissed off with myself that I didn't go with the Quadro K4000, for only 400$ more. I went with the K2000 and I'm getting a little lag when moving around the viewport on a Rhino scene thats about 100mb! But I guess that's normal! I just wanted to test the limits of everything. Just have to be more efficient with my files that's all.

 

I guess I'll have a Quadro K2000 for sale soon when I decide to get the K4000.

 

 

Thanks again guys, really appreciate your help!

[Dimitris Tolios]

Thanks for your help guys. The workstation is done and running like a charm!!

 

I'm a little pissed off with myself that I didn't go with the Quadro K4000, for only 400$ more. I went with the K2000 and I'm getting a little lag when moving around the viewport on a Rhino scene thats about 100mb! But I guess that's normal! I just wanted to test the limits of everything. Just have to be more efficient with my files that's all.

 

I guess I'll have a Quadro K2000 for sale soon when I decide to get the K4000.

 

 

Thanks again guys, really appreciate your help!

 

Try to borrow a 4000 or K4000 to compare before committing. Maybe you are just asking too much. Just saying

Good that your are satisfied in overall

[hasandeniz]

Is there a possibility in the near future that the Radeon HD series might be better optimized for 3d apps? Especially in 3D viewport acceleration as Geforce series are intentionally not "optimized" for such applications?

Edited May 25, 2013 by hasandeniz