3D Rendering Only PC

[nacho]

I was looking at mini-itx and micro-atx cases but then I just decided to go with a standard atx case and mobo. Here is the build: 

 

Corsair VS550 550W

G.Skill Ripjaws X DDR3 1600 PC3-12800 8GB CL10 (To be able to expaned it to 32GB later on)

Intel Core i7-3770K 3.5Ghz Box Socket 1155

MSI Z77A-G43

NOX Hummer SX USB 3.0

WD Caviar Blue 500GB SATA3

 

What do you guys think? Thanks!

[MzCatieB]

what graphics card are you planning on using?

[nacho]

what graphics card are you planning on using?

None at start, since 3ds Max mostly uses the CPU for rendering and I wont do the actual 3d work on the pc. Maybe adding an NVIDIA GPU after making it and want to upgrade the performance a bit. But I don't think it will benefit that much for this kind of rendering. 

[Hoppa]

hmm wouldn't you want a cpu with more cores? not sure if you're on a budget or not

[Hoppa]

like hex or 8 core

[nacho]

like hex or 8 core

The AMD FX Series FX-8350 has 8 cores and is cheaper but it seems the i7 runs better. What would you recommend? The budget is around 600 euros max. With this setup I have around 550 euros.

[Theo]

I'd get the setup you said, though since you wont be using another GPU, I'd also wait for haswell since its said that they ll have much better integrated GPUs

[Hoppa]

hmm.. i was thinking of a 8 core amd.. im not too sure how their cpus perform against intel but i think they tend to do better at workstation stuff.

 

I was going to suggest if you're using iray than get a telsa gpu apparently it may accelerate rendering by x6

[MzCatieB]

None at start, since 3ds Max mostly uses the CPU for rendering and I wont do the actual 3d work on the pc. Maybe adding an NVIDIA GPU after making it and want to upgrade the performance a bit. But I don't think it will benefit that much for this kind of rendering. 

your joking right, u need a graphics card to render with any 3d software these days, i strongly suggest either getting a mid-high end Nvidia card for the CUDA or a workstation card (Nvidia Quadro) if you stick under £$1k i suggest sticking with gaming graphics otherwise you wont get enough out of the performance.

 

for a CPU more cores reap better benefits when rendering so a AMD Fx-8350 will be more beneficial

[Hoppa]

But yer.. id props stick to intel

i just upgraded from a i7 930, it wasn't too bad at rendering

idk what you should get lol

just get a boss cpu

[nacho]

I'd get the setup you said, though since you wont be using another GPU, I'd also wait for haswell since its said that they ll have much better integrated GPUs

Yeah I thought about that, but we don't know the release date yet right? and motherboards will likely be more expensive too at start? It's probably 1 month until its out for sale here in Spain. mm

[nacho]

hmm.. i was thinking of a 8 core amd.. im not too sure how their cpus perform against intel but i think they tend to do better at workstation stuff.

 

I was going to suggest if you're using iray than get a telsa gpu apparently it may accelerate rendering by x6

Do you know how much a Tesla GPU costs? haha no way I can afford that.

[MzCatieB]

Do you know how much a Tesla GPU costs? haha no way I can afford that.

Testla cards need to be sistered with a workstation graphics card and they cost $1.5k each on top of $2k+ for the workstation card

[nacho]

your joking right, u need a graphics card to render with any 3d software these days, i strongly suggest either getting a mid-high end Nvidia card for the CUDA or a workstation card (Nvidia Quadro) if you stick under £$1k i suggest sticking with gaming graphics otherwise you wont get enough out of the performance.

 

for a CPU more cores reap better benefits when rendering so a AMD Fx-8350 will be more beneficial

Ive been reading a lot of people that say the the GPU does benefit rendering, but it's not necessary. 3ds max for example uses the cpu most of the time to render. So when building it 250 euros less for the GPU is a big difference. The fx-8350 is a bit cheaper but in most benchmarks the 3770k beats it in every category. :S

[Hoppa]

true, i forgot about the budget

well anyways.. 3ds max only uses the cpu to do renders unless you're using nvidia iray

you'll need a decent graphics card to render the object in real time (in the viewport)

[nacho]

true, i forgot about the budget

well anyways.. 3ds max only uses the cpu to do renders unless you're using nvidia iray

you'll need a decent graphics card to render the object in real time (in the viewport)

So you're saying just get the CPU? I'll do the main work on my PC and use this machine (like a render farm) to render the things, It wont even have a monitor.

[MzCatieB]

Ive been reading a lot of people that say the the GPU does benefit rendering, but it's not necessary. 3ds max for example uses the cpu most of the time to render. So when building it 250 euros less for the GPU is a big difference. The fx-8350 is a bit cheaper but in most benchmarks the 3770k beats it in every category. :S

as a games developer and animator i know the benefits of more cores, also you Havant enabled CUDA with 3ds im guessing, once you enable CUDA you will see a massive leap in the render times. i recently upgraded from an AMD 4830 to a GTX 660 and my render times went from 8hours for 10 seconds of footage (1080p) down to 5 mins for 10 seconds of footage(4k). also im using a 6 core amd cpu and the render times with that was sitting at 13 hours for 10 seconds of footage(1080p).

 

trust me you will see such benefits from pushing on the gpu and RAM

[Hoppa]

i guess... but.. but.. what's the specs of your current rig?

[Hoppa]

as a games developer and animator i know the benefits of more cores, also you Havant enabled CUDA with 3ds im guessing, once you enable CUDA you will see a massive leap in the render times. i recently upgraded from an AMD 4830 to a GTX 660 and my render times went from 8hours for 10 seconds of footage (1080p) down to 5 mins for 10 seconds of footage(4k). also im using a 6 core amd cpu and the render times with that was sitting at 13 hours for 10 seconds of footage(1080p).

 

trust me you will see such benefits from pushing on the gpu and RAM

 

how do you enable cuda?

[Hoppa]

isnt that just using iray instead of mental ray?

[MzCatieB]

how do you enable cuda?

 

hit F10

Scroll down to "Assign renderer" and hit the "+" symbol

under production: hit the "..." button

select "iray renderer" from the list

select "save as defaults"

restart 3ds

 

[nacho]

So the GPU is absolutely necessary? If its that much faster I guess it is. What do you recommend? I got a 660ti on my rig, something similar? or a is 650 is good enough?  

[MzCatieB]

So the GPU is absolutely necessary? If its that much faster I guess it is. What do you recommend? I got a 660ti on my rig, something similar? or a is 650 is good enough?  

a 660ti will be more effective. or a Quadro will be decent enough, you could just spend your budget on a Quadro and stick it in your system, and then set it up for the rendering and it will leave your gaming graphics card alone. it would be a smarter move on your part if your system is half decent

[erty176]

I would suggest going with more cores because CAD uses a lot of processing power and if you do decide to go with onboard graphics (no "plug in" graphics card) then i definately suggest more cores because using the onboard graphics takes away some of the processing power from the CPU because some of the cores are used to power the graphics engine.