Workstation build - Advice needed (to be used with 3ds max and VRay RT)

[cgienthusiast]

I am planning to build a machine to be used with 3ds max and VRay.

 

At the moment, due to old hardware, I only use CPU rendering.

Having played a bit on a workstation with a GTX Titan, I like it and think it could fit my workflow to use VRay RT and/or the progressive renderer.

 

I did quite a bit of a research and for me the GPU is the hardest thing to decide on. The way nVidia cripple cards and how they position them, makes choosing one, even for a somewhat aware computer enthusiast willing to go and do research, overwhelming. Drivers and lack of optimization for different applications confuse things even more.

 

In short I would like both great viewport performance and VRay RT too.

 

I see people praising the Quadro K2000/K4000 and at the same time people saying Quadro cards are useless nowadays for 3ds max viewport and that GTX cards outperform them.

 

A thing to consider is I am using a mATX case so there is space for two double width cards with no space between or around them. An option might be to buy one card which would be very good for viewport and maybe still good for RT so I could experiment and see how it goes. After that I could buy a great card for GPU rendering (Titan Black, GTX 780 - version with 6GB).

If I go that route I could wait for the new series for the second card. For that computer case (TJ08-E) a reference design would be better, so it would blow the hot air outside the case and two cards would survive inside.

 

 

Parts chosen:

Case: Silverstone TJ08-E (CaseKing.de noise insulated version)

CPU: Intel i7 4930k Tray

CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D14 SE2011

Motherboard: Asus Rampage Gene IV

GPU: Confused (VRAY RT, Progressive rendering)

RAM: Crucial Ballistix Sport Very Low Profile 32GB Kit (8GBx4) DDR3-1600 1.35V (Low profile needed because of the CPU cooler)

PSU: EVGA SuperNOVA G2 750W or Seasonic 750W X Series

SSD: Samsung 840 Pro 256GB (bought it last year)

3,5 inch Bay SSD Drawer: ICY DOCK MB992SK-B

 

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[elipan]

I got a both the GTX 770 and GTX 780.

They both useless in Vray RT.

But they do rock in viewports comparing to my previous quadros (2000 and 4000)

 

Progressive rendering is easily done with Vray 3, you don't need RT for that.

[numerobis]

Looks good so far but...

1. why "Tray"? >not factory sealed (can be used and maybe tested for overclocking) and reduced warranty

2. I would take 1866MHz RAM for Ivy-E.

3. Haswell-E will be released tomorrow incl. a $380 hexacore (and the 5960X octocore), so why would you still buy an Ivy-E? (new socket 2011-3, upgradable to Broadwell-E, DDR4,...)

[joelmcwilliam]

If I were to spend so much cash I would take the following in mind:

 

-nd-15 is better than the nd-14. Corsair liquid coolers would be nice too, but if you don't want liquid an air cooler is the way to go and no worry's. Big air cooler from Raijintek would match nicely with the asus mobo red/black theme

-red/black theme of the asus mobo would very well fit with corsair quiet fans

-I would definitely go with something that shows of the hardware. Most likely a cooler atx case with a window.

-I would get me something from dimastech (heat goes directly into the air and is not trapped into a case). Would be nice to put it next to a big screen on your desk

-other good psu are from super flower and the cooler master v series

[RyderSK]

3. Haswell-E will be released tomorrow incl. a $380 hexacore (and the 5960X octocore), so why would you still buy an Ivy-E? (new socket 2011-3, upgradable to Broadwell-E, DDR4,...)

 

Definitely time to buy the new thing :- ).

 

5820K will give you the same performance for cheaper, 5930k will give you..nothing but maybe better clockability and if you plan tripple GPUs it could be benefitable due to full 40 pci-e lanes and 5960X will make you happy like nothing in world, for heavy cost.

All the other benefits Numerobis mentions apply too, you'll get newer platform, upgradeable (even you opt to not do).

 

 

If you plan GPU rendering, it's still good to have separate card for viewport, in which case I suggest cheap GTX750Ti for now. Cheap, but excellent.

And if you're serious about GPU rendering, you should wait for "rebranded" Maxwell lineup in form of GXT9XX to come in September. To maximize of Vram capacity there is possibility 880/980 will come bundled with 8GB of Vram.

Edited August 31, 2014 by RyderSK

[joelmcwilliam]

Like Juraj siad: the choices of your hardware are a little outdated.

 

Maybe the reviews in the following link can be of any use for you: http://www.techpowerup.com/

[Dimitris Tolios]

I agree with everything Juraj wrote above, other than that:

if you plan tripple GPUs it could be benefitable due to full 40 pci-e lanes

GPUs don't really care for PCIe bandwidth that much. We already get lots of bandwidth per single lane with PCIe 2.0, and nearly double that with PCIe 3.0. The latter delivers 985MB/s per lane.

 

No current card can come close to saturating a PCIe 8x 2.0 (that's PCIe 4x 3.0 equivalent) further more a PCIe 8x 3.0.

 

Take a look at this rough test by Puget:

http://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/Impact-of-PCI-E-Speed-on-Gaming-Performance-518/ tho I believe HardOCP has repeated that with similar results & CF/SLI configs.

 

"Demanding" full PCIe 16x times X, were X is each card to maximize performance, is daydreaming. Perhaps PCIe lanes will start getting more saturated as PCIe SSDs start becoming more affordable, effectively removing 3-4 lanes (current controllers I think give 2~2.5GB/s read bursts) but I doubt overall performance on the GPU side will suffer as - once again - GPUs for viewport/gaming don't come close demanding tens of more of GB/s of bandwidth to keep going. Most of the assets (textures etc) are already in the VRam and the CPU gives "orders" on what to draw next.

 

 

GPGPU is even LESS demanding, as data get prepared by the CPU, sent to the GPU for processing and back "once". Instead of drawing tens or hundreds of frames pers second, the GPU receives the data and does 100s of passes per pixel, giving back results "pixel per pixel".

 

Fact #1 : 100% of the dataset has to fit the VRam

Fact #2 : A single PCIe 3.0 lane can fill up roughly 1GB VRam per second.

 

 

 

Have you ever launched a VRay RT session for a scene with a couple of million polygons in less than a couple of seconds?

By this point I believe you've guessed it: transferring the data to the GPU and back is far from the bottleneck.

 

 

Much like RAM not being close to be the limiting performance factor, and having few benefits going over DDR3 1866/2133 speeds, PCIe bandwidth appears to be well ahead of what CPUs and GPUs can really pump through.

Edited September 2, 2014 by dtolios

[yeahhhhhh]

Hi, im buying new GPU for rendering. How is the new GTX 970 (maxwell chip) supporting v ray ADV and vray RT for 3DS max? pls help:confused:

 

ps : sry my english

[jasonstewart]

It is a beast but that 980 is really a beast. Not sure if anyone has tested them in rendering situations yet but for the price they should be very good.

[janniehernz]

Here's a video of rendering with GTX 980.

 

I have Gtx 970 and only found out that VRay does not support the new 900 series gfx.. Shame cause I bought it just for the sake of rendering. It said on the video comments you have to contact support@chaosgroup.com and ask for the build that supports CUDA with Maxwell architecture. I'll do the same and hopefully it works out..

[janniehernz]

Hi, im buying new GPU for rendering. How is the new GTX 970 (maxwell chip) supporting v ray ADV and vray RT for 3DS max? pls help:confused:

 

ps : sry my english

 

I have a GTX 970 and it isnt working with Vray RT. BUT

Did a little research and here's a video,

rendering with Vray using GTX 980. (900 series videocards which includes GTX970 ofc) The uploader suggests that you/we should try contacting 'support@chaosgroup.com' and ask them to provide you the VRay Build that supports 900 series Maxwell GPUs. It's called "Nightly Build" I did contact them earlier and waiting for a response. Hopefully it works out. I'll update when they do!

[edmon]

I have a GTX 970 and it isnt working with Vray RT. BUT

Did a little research and here's a video,

rendering with Vray using GTX 980. (900 series videocards which includes GTX970 ofc) The uploader suggests that you/we should try contacting 'support@chaosgroup.com' and ask them to provide you the VRay Build that supports 900 series Maxwell GPUs. It's called "Nightly Build" I did contact them earlier and waiting for a response. Hopefully it works out. I'll update when they do!

 

Hi did u update to Nightly Build already? I have GTX 980 and its not also working on Vray RT..some errors..