changluu Posted January 30, 2014 Share Posted January 30, 2014 I'm going to built a workstation for modeling and rendering. I just read some of the discussions about Quadro and GTX and some people bring up the idea of using them in one workstation. is it going to work? If yes, how about the stability? is it easy to switch between one and another? First Choice: Quadro K4000 + GTX780 or titan (K4000 for modeling and GTX780 for anything needs more CUDA) Second Choice: Quardro K5000 ( about the same price with K4000+ GTX titan, $500 dollars more than K4000+GTX780) Which one seems to be a better choice? Thanks in advance! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dimitris Tolios Posted January 30, 2014 Share Posted January 30, 2014 It is pretty easy to setup, and works pretty stably from my personal experience. What kind of models will you be making, and in which program to warrant a K4000 or even a K5000? If you will be using GPU renderers a lot for actively setting up lights etc, a dedicated viewport card will help a lot (regardless of it being Quadro or not) as the GPU(s) burdened with ray-tracing will be too busy to allow for fluid simultaneous viewport response. That said, both 3DS and Maya are getting better and better with GTX cards, so the need for a workstation card diminishes with every version (at least with 2013/2014 versions it did) to the point that it is almost not needed for even pretty demanding scenes. So, I would throw in the mix the possibility for a K2000 + 780 combo, with budget left for a 2nd 780 if GPU accelerated workflows really fly for you, or even the choice of going with just a 780 to begin with, test GPU rendering and modeling performance with just this, and at the future decide to add either a second fast GTX that will be a dedicated renderering GPU for trials or twice as fast finals, or in case you will be dissapointed with viewport performance all-together, make the educated move to go for a Quadro. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
changluu Posted January 30, 2014 Author Share Posted January 30, 2014 Thank you so much for the suggestions! Do you mean a GTX card could also be the viewport card? Then, two gtx780 could also do the job? with SLI or not? As an architect, the most important thing for me is the viewport. I do a lot of 3D modeling in Rhino and MAYA, sometimes 3D max. And also I use grasshopper a lot which I know is depends on the CPU (not sure if it uses single thread or multiple threads). But, as you know, the result of grasshopper or such plug in is very complicated geometries which could be really frustrated without a good video card for viewport.) I am the kind of personal like to make the perfect model in 3D programs instead of making a rough model and refine it latter in 2D environment. So, in a way, viewport is the most important thing for me as I will be putting far more time and effort to design and modeling than rendering. As for rendering, I do need to rendering sometimes. Mostly, I will use vray. As for vray RT, I might want to try it in the future if it really faster and have better result. And I also will be using some 3D animation programs such as in MAYA or Lumion. And finish it in either AE or Vagas. Sorry, forgot to mention that I use adobe PS and AI a lot. Especially, for PS, I make a lot high resolution drawing and my current computer got very slow after at some point when the file is very big. So…that's about it! And in terms of new built, I have around $1500-$1700 to spend without screen. ( By the way, I have just brought a dell U 3014 and U2413 as the monitor for the new built. If there is anything about it, feel free to discuss) Now, I have two choice in front of me. One, buy a prebuilt dell workstation, and the other one, build it myself. For the prebuilt workstation, I choose dell precision T7600 below: Processor: Dual Intel Xeon Six Core E5-2630 Processor 1TB 7200 rpm SATA 6Gb/s Hard Drive 8GB, 1600MHz, DDR3 RDIMM ECC 4 DIMM (4x2GB) 3GB nVIDIA Quadro K4000 1300W Tower Price: $1600 (after tax) For this option, I need to add more RAM and a 256G SSD, which would easily blow the budget over $2000. But, the good thing about this one is that I get more cores.( I think it would perform better than i7 4930k, but I do not know how much. And for all the program I will be using, I don't know if I could really take the advantage of the 6 more cores. Or it might really a drawback since most of my works is 3D modeling in Rhino and MAYA and Photoshop. ( are those all single thread softwares?) And I get a K4000 which would theoretically be better in terms of viewport. And I could add a gtx780 latter to get the best overall performance. The price of this dell workstation is not bad, just I do not know if it is suitable for me. Maybe I could get a better performance system under $1500 by build it myself? Which leads to my next option. The second option, built a workstation myself. I do not have a very solid idea know since I just think about it rather than buy the prebuilt one. CPU: I7 4930K (for sure) GPU: GTX780, GTX780TI, GTX Titan ( I'm not sure which one and which brand should I choose) RAM: 2x8GB ( Which brand? 1600 or 1866 or faster? I do not care what it looks like for RAM. I would like to start with 16GB and add more latter) mobo: ASUS PA X79-E WS ( or should I choose something cheaper and perform almost the same?) Power supply: AX 860i ( not sure) Case: TJ04-E ( I would really like to spend some money to get a case with good quality and good looking as well) SSD: 840 pro I just looked at this video and I love the quality parts they have chosen. But, I don't know if there is anything that is unnecessary or luxury. So, for DIY, I would like to get all the components with good quality. And I will choose not to waste money on either Xeon or Quadro if there is no clear benefit. That's all I can think about for now. And as you may see, I have very little knowledge about DIY. If you could list the all the components you think is the best for me with price, that would be very very helpful. And we could discuss and improve based on your solid self-bulit advise. I don't mind to spend a little bit more if you think it is necessary to do that. Again. thank you so much! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
changluu Posted January 30, 2014 Author Share Posted January 30, 2014 It is pretty easy to setup, and works pretty stably from my personal experience. What kind of models will you be making, and in which program to warrant a K4000 or even a K5000? If you will be using GPU renderers a lot for actively setting up lights etc, a dedicated viewport card will help a lot (regardless of it being Quadro or not) as the GPU(s) burdened with ray-tracing will be too busy to allow for fluid simultaneous viewport response. That said, both 3DS and Maya are getting better and better with GTX cards, so the need for a workstation card diminishes with every version (at least with 2013/2014 versions it did) to the point that it is almost not needed for even pretty demanding scenes. So, I would throw in the mix the possibility for a K2000 + 780 combo, with budget left for a 2nd 780 if GPU accelerated workflows really fly for you, or even the choice of going with just a 780 to begin with, test GPU rendering and modeling performance with just this, and at the future decide to add either a second fast GTX that will be a dedicated renderering GPU for trials or twice as fast finals, or in case you will be dissapointed with viewport performance all-together, make the educated move to go for a Quadro. Sorry, forgot to link the video! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dimitris Tolios Posted January 30, 2014 Share Posted January 30, 2014 Well, been writing on these "suggestions" you are asking multiple times in this forum, and also my lil blog. Mobo: In a nutshell, the X79 WS is kinda overpriced for my liking and really overkill-loaded with features that few people need. All X79 boards perform the same within a 2-3%. Most of the critical stuff are handled directly within the CPU itself, so mobo is all about stable power deliver, and slot number/layout, number of supported SATA devices and/or external RAID controllers etc. Pretty much all ASUS X79 are very good (even the cheapest) in power delivery and have the best tuned BIOSes for overclocking.. If you won't be overclocking, pretty much any X79 from any brand is a safe bet (Gigabyte, ASrock, MSI). Gigabyte and Asus are my personal favs, Asrock follows, MSI is last. GPU: If you mainly use it for Rhino, you won't see any difference between 780/Titan/780ti. It is all limited to GPU acceleration performance for VRay RT GPU. If you don't care for that, then the whole notion for getting 2x GPUs is out to begin with. Adobe CC does support OpenCL acceleration, but with such a powerful CPU, the gains are not that important (still CPU limited suite). RAM: s2011 CPUs support quad-channel(and you need multiples of 4-dimms to activate), but the performance gains over dual-channel is not that important. Any of Kingston, Corsair, GSkill DDR3 1866 kits should work just fine. Case: don't really like that Silverstone or its pricetag, but cases after a point are personal preference. PSU: 860W is serious overkill for a built with a single GPU that won't be overclocked. Cooler: you will need one, 4930K doesn't come with it. Go minimum for a Coolermaster 212 EVO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
isagreg Posted January 30, 2014 Share Posted January 30, 2014 Chang LUU, RE: "...For the prebuilt workstation, I choose dell precision T7600 below: Processor: Dual Intel Xeon Six Core E5-2630 Processor 1TB 7200 rpm SATA 6Gb/s Hard Drive 8GB, 1600MHz, DDR3 RDIMM ECC 4 DIMM (4x2GB) 3GB nVIDIA Quadro K4000 1300W Tower Price: $1600 (after tax)..." How did you get $1,600? I get $3,432 on dell website Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
changluu Posted January 30, 2014 Author Share Posted January 30, 2014 I go with the refurbished one. ( In most cases, it will be as good as a new one) But I don't know if I really want it anymore since the lack of performance on single thread. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dimitris Tolios Posted January 31, 2014 Share Posted January 31, 2014 I go with the refurbished one. ( In most cases, it will be as good as a new one) But I don't know if I really want it anymore since the lack of performance on single thread. For these prices you've mentioned, you could buy, part out and sell for profit...I don't seem to find any refurbished model that you've mentioned nearly as low priced with those cards / RAM etc. Dual-2630s sell for $1000 more even with a K600... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
changluu Posted January 31, 2014 Author Share Posted January 31, 2014 Chang LUU, RE: "...For the prebuilt workstation, I choose dell precision T7600 below: Processor: Dual Intel Xeon Six Core E5-2630 Processor 1TB 7200 rpm SATA 6Gb/s Hard Drive 8GB, 1600MHz, DDR3 RDIMM ECC 4 DIMM (4x2GB) 3GB nVIDIA Quadro K4000 1300W Tower Price: $1600 (after tax)..." How did you get $1,600? I get $3,432 on dell website I could sell it to you if you want. It is a new one from dell outlet and has full 3-year warranty. Contact me as soon as possible before I return it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
changluu Posted January 31, 2014 Author Share Posted January 31, 2014 For these prices you've mentioned, you could buy, part out and sell for profit...I don't seem to find any refurbished model that you've mentioned nearly as low priced with those cards / RAM etc. Dual-2630s sell for $1000 more even with a K600... Thank you so much for all the suggestion for new built. For the refurbished one, it just need some time to find use all the deals you may get. I tried to make a solid list for the new built. But, for the system built with x79, 4930k, gtx780, it seems very easy to hit around 2500 usd with good all quality components. And even though I try to compromise a bit, it is still hard to get one under 2000 usd. ( right now,it seems that RAM are very expensive) This is my list below: CPU: 4930k GPU: Asus GTX780 Cooler: Noctua NHD14 PSU: coolermaster v700 RAM: Crucial DIMM 16GB 1600 x 2 MoBo: Asus p9x79 ( or Delaxe, WS, LE, Sabertooth, do not know the difference) SSD: 840 evo/pro HDD: Seagate Barrracuda 2TB x 2 ( or WD black 2TB x 2 ) DVD: LG GH-24NS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen Hughes Posted February 20, 2014 Share Posted February 20, 2014 Sorry to drift off-track here but Dimitris, you mentioned earlier in the thread that using a quadro for viewport and then using a gtx (titan) for vray rt works pretty easy - would you mind explaining briefly how this is set up. I have both cards installed - quadro being the main one (but both show up in my device manager) - but when i click on the ocldeviceselect.exe in vrayRT folder, it only lists the quadro. Is there something i am missing? Maybe there's another step in assigning the titan to vray?? If you could provide any help it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dimitris Tolios Posted February 20, 2014 Share Posted February 20, 2014 Well, you correctly go to: Start Menu > Programs > Chaos Group > V-Ray RT Adv for 3ds Max > Select OpenCL devices for V-Ray RT I presume, but you say for some reason the Titan is not present at all? Might be a driver glitch: sometimes the driver fails to install properly for all the GPUs - less rare -> Re-install the drivers. sometimes certain driver versions don't work with RT - rare -> roll back to 1-2 versions before that and it might work. I assume the card is otherwise properly installed (i.e. all power cords correctly plugged, the card properly seated in the PCIe slot etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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