December 2010 Workstations
Apologies to all for the late update this month. The last couple of weeks have been too crazy, and I've been waiting for the GPU market to settle in after the last round of new products. Which brings us to:
New GPUs
ATI and nVidia both introduced some new GPUs in the last month. nVidia's latest are the GF110-based Geforce GTX 580 and 570. A bit of explanation here. Back in the spring, I was at the show where they launched the GTX 480 and 470. These were the first of the promised "Fermi" line, using the GF100 GPU, and they were fast - no faster than the competition, but faster than nVidia's previous line and with some interesting features like improved in-game physics and Direct3D in stereo. But the GF100 chips were obviously a rush job. They leaked power and overheated, nVidia was never able to make a production version of the chip with all 512 cores turned on and a lot of customers avoided them. I recommended them in system only very reluctantly.
nVidia improved the situation with the GF104, which corrected many of the GF100's flaws and hit the midrange. The GF110 brings those fixes to the high-end and should replace the GF100. Due to architectural and power handling fixed, and improved production, the 570 is as fast as the 480 and uses 50W less power under load, and the 580 is faster than the 480 and uses roughly the same amount of power.
So these are good, but I still can't recommend them unconditionally because the Radeon 5870 can be found for $250 now, which is $100 less than the 570, and it's not as fast as these new cards but it uses 50W less power.
Meanwhile ATI is introducing Radeon 6000 series GPUs, and they're making some confusing tweaks to the naming system. I don't want to explain the whole thing here, but basically, a Radeon 6870 is not the card you want if you want a newer and better replacement for a 5870, it's like that across the line, and this has everybody annoyed and confused (and it's bad marketing by ATI). So don't try to align the new parts to the old ones, just compare them to other cards that cost the same and they'll come out looking pretty good.
These developments also leave us wondering about the Tesla and Quadro lines. Those still use GF100 chips, so for those using CUDA it's impossible to get the best of both worlds: you can spend crazy money on a Quadro or Tesla with 6GB onboard, but you're stuck with a GF100 chip. Or you can spend reasonable money on a GF110 card, but you're stuck with 1.5GB. nVidia doesn't want anybody to make a 6GB Geforce, because that would undercut the Quadro / Tesla market and show just how absurd it is that in a Quadro 6000 we're basically spending $500 on a GPU and $3500 on 6GB of RAM. My hope is that two sets of rumors materialize: that 4GB versions of new high-end Radeon cards arrive in the next few months, and that Chaosgroup gets Vray RT for GPU running on ATI hardware, because that would free up the GPU rendering market from nVidia's dominance, and would be nothing but good for the customers.
New CPUs
AMD has refreshed its 2, 3 and 6 core CPUs. The new 6-core Phenom II 1100T is a modest improvement over the 1090T at a modest price, and makes an appearance in this month's workstation list.
Intel is prepping to launch the new "Sandy Bridge" line next month. They will probably start with midrange parts in the $300 and under range for the upcoming 1155 motherboards (the replacement for 1156), and will follow later in the year with 6 and 8 core high end chips for a new motherboard socket to be introduced at that time. More on that when they become available.
As you can see, December is the winter of the hardware market, stuck between November and January product launches, waiting for distributors and retailers to clear out inventory in the run up to Christmas. But that won't keep us from finding value in the current market, which brings us to:
The Workstations
If you're not familiar with this section, please read the explanation of methodology. If you want to better understand what goes into the parts lists, see the explanation of workstation parts.
Non-3D Workstations
The Intern
click here to view/purchase the parts list on Newegg
With a three-core AMD CPU, 4GB of RAM, a Radeon card with DirectX 11 and 1GB, and 64-bit Windows 7, this build will fit the needs of both your intern, your bookkeeper and your senior partner who doesn't use CAD. You can build something cheaper, but I don't recommend it.
This month's system takes advantage of some price drops to get a bit quicker at negligible cost; it's still $600.
The Photoshopper
click here to view/purchase the parts list on Newegg
This is a quiet, power efficient box that meets the needs of photographers, graphic designers and marketing staff. This month, with prices going the way they are, it makes the most sense to include a quad-core i7-870. The 800-series has a fantastic turbo boost in one- and two-threaded operation, which will help in Creative Suite and other apps that do not fully utilize all of the cores.
SSD drives are also coming down in price, and this month most of the workstations, including this one, use them. Install Windows and your most commonly used software on it, along with your projects that are in daily use. The two RE4 (Raid Edition) hard drives have improved life expectancy over normal hard drives, necessary for reliable use in a RAID 0, which is the goal here. Put the rest of your files on the RAID to improve read/write speed on those large PSD files. Even with the RE4 drives, I would be remiss not to say that you really do need an external backup system. In an office environment, this can be as simple as a nightly backup of project files to the server.
Whatever else you do, an X-Rite Eye-One Display 2 is indispensable, and a Wacom Intuos4 Tablet is a very good idea. Consider an IPS display from the Displays section below.
3D Workstations
The Budget
click here to view/purchase the parts list on Newegg
With the price on the six-core AMD 1090T staying so low, the CPU for the Budget system was a no-brainer. Don't be fooled by the $1,000 price tag - this box is a very capable renderer, and is all the power you need for working on Revit models, Max (or Cinema4D, Rhino, etc.) stills and Photoshop work.
Choice of video card was also surprisingly easy, for once. The Radeon 6850, at under $200, is powerful, a fantastic value and also the most energy efficient hardware you're likely to find.
Since this is the budget model, I'm keeping the price low, but if you want an additional speed boost and you can afford it, include this SSD, the same one used in the Photoshopper. It's not really necessary - it just improves boot and program loading times - but it sure makes a computer feel faster.
The Midrange (Regular Edition)
click here to view/purchase the parts list on Newegg
The Midrange has some nice upgrades this month. It now features AMD's best consumer line six-core CPU, the 1100T. (If you're an overclocker, this CPU has its multiplier unlocked, but you'll want faster RAM to take advantage of it.) The motherboard is a solid Asus choice, using AMD's best chipset, that can take two video cards at full speed as well as the latest peripherals (USB 3.0 and SATA3 6.0GB/s).
That's not all. To take advantage of that SATA3 adapter, the Midrange now includes a 120GB Intel SSD and a new version of the WD Caviar Black that sports SATA3 and a 64MB buffer.
Since the regular edition of the Midrange doesn't need CUDA, the video card is a no brainer. For this money, for a video card to drive your 3D viewports and AutoCAD or Revit without doubling as a space heater for your office, the v5800 is the best thing. By not caring about CUDA, you get a lot of advantages in the viewport department. Serious Cinema4D users should also opt for this configuration, as the only way to make Cinebench run significantly faster is to step up to the much more expensive FirePro v8800.
The High-End (Regular Edition)
click here to view/purchase the parts list on Newegg
The FirePro V7800 is back in stock, and it's the best thing in this price class for powering your viewports. This month the High End gets that, a faster SSD and a better hard drive, and several more weeks of wait time as we see what Intel's got for us in January and whether ATI or nVidia will be the first to update their workstation video cards with their new GPUs. (You reading this, ATI and nVidia? Take the midrange challenge: the first to FireGL/Quadro a Radeon 6850/Geforce 570 and sell it for under $800 gets the "strong buy" recommendation!)
CPUs are still quite constrained at this level. There's no real alternative to a 6-core i7, and there are only two of those. I'm sticking with the i7-980X for its speed advantage over the 970, which makes it a slightly better value in terms of rendering speed per overall system price, and the overclocking advantage of its unlocked multiplier, for those who are into that kind of thing. Why Intel has left AMD uncontested in the lower price 6-core market while not updating the 980X in 9 months - which is a long time for CPUs - is beyond my powers of perception, but hopefully they'll have something new that won't require us to wait another 6-9 months for the next generation of motherboards. Still waiting and seeing, but don't let that get in your way - if you need a workstation like this now, buy it now, because any huge improvements are probably a ways off.
Install your OS and software on the SSD and use the 1TB drive for your working files. For a bit more speed, order two of the 1TB drives and put them in a RAID 0. (Remember, RE drives are "RAID Edition" for a reason.)
The Maxer
click here to view/purchase the parts list on Newegg
The Maxer also gets an update this month, with a new motherboard that opens some paths to potential upgrades (to multiple GPUs if you decide you want CUDA/OpenCL, and to 48GB of RAM, since we're now using 4GB DIMMs and keeping half the slots free. I'm also bringing a bit of sanity to the hard drives, ditching RAID in favor of a bigger, faster SSD than ever (the 256GB Crucial C300) and that newer model Caviar Black. Why no RAID? RAID-0 is more complicated, more likely to fail, harder to recover from errors, and harder to retrieve your data if the motherboard fails. RAID-1 is security, but you should be using an external backup.
As for video cards, this was a tough one. I'm sticking with the FirePro v8800 mainly because I don't see a compelling reason to switch and it's a better value than the Quadro 5000, but a FirePro v7800 2GB, Quadro 4000 2GB or Quadro 5000 2.5GB would be valid choices, depending on needs.
Oh, one more thing. These Xeons use triple-channel memory and each CPU has its own memory controller. When using two of these CPUs, there are six memory channels, so the RAM used must be matched DIMMs in multiples of six. This configuration uses six DIMMs. Space them out in alternating DIMM slots and if you add more later, buy the same type.
If this box can't handle your scene, you're doing something wrong. Estimated Cinebench rendering score: 17.
3D Workstations for CUDA Users
You guys know how I feel about CUDA renderers, and how they're a great way for nVidia to sell more of their most expensive hardware and not a cost effective way to get any work done. But you're not going to listen to me, because nVidia mesmerized you with their demonstration of how iray is so much faster than the slowest possible mental ray settings and looks just like Maxwell did 5 years ago, so if you must buy CUDA hardware, here are a couple of options.
The Midrange (CUDA Rendering Edition)
click here to view/purchase the parts list on Newegg
In many respects this machine is similar to the regular Midrange. In fact, if you're not using Vray RT-GPU, iray or another CUDA rendering package, this build is worse than the one above because the FirePro video card is better for driving viewports in 3D apps. But with this version, what you get is:
-A motherboard that supports up to three video cards
-Dual Geforce GTX 460 cards with 2GB RAM onboard
-More power!
The 2GB GTX 460 is a great option for running software like this. It's the most memory you can put on a card that's not a Quadro, at only $260 each. A single Quadro 4000 card would cost $780 and while it would likely outperform this configuration in viewport performance, it would not run a CUDA renderer nearly as well.
If you want even more power, two GTX 570 or GTX 580 cards can be used with this configuration; however, a 1000 watt power supply would be highly recommended. Three GTX 580 cards, which would be an upgrade to the configuration Chaosgroup used in their demo? The cost/benefit is against you, but you can do it; a 1200 watt power supply is needed. The drawback is neither the 570 nor the 580 are available with 2GB, which is going to cripple their performance.
The High-End (CUDA Rendering Edition)
click here to view/purchase the parts list on Newegg
Similar to Midrange version for CUDA rendering, this config is worse than the regular High-End if you don't use a CUDA rendering solution.
The first thing you'll notice about this system is that it's expensive. But after reports on how much video card memory people's renders are taking, I couldn't call this "high end" without including cards with an unusually high amount of memory, and the next step down is 2.5GB. Let's review: the same GPU used in a Geforce card with 1.5GB is under $500, so the other $3500 is buying you the other 4.5GB of memory. That's the most expensive memory you can put in a Windows box. But you've got no other choice.
There are two of them because with only one, this wouldn't be high end. This makes the system as expensive as a Midrange and two Render Nodes, which is what I would buy if I were you.
Render Power
The Render Node
click here to view/purchase the parts list on Newegg
12-core Opteron hardware is getting harder to find and is not dropping in price, so this month's Render Node moves to a more powerful, more expensive dual six-core Xeon. This gives you the render power of the Maxer, without the amenities such as SSD and high end video that are important in a workstation. Put this under your desk, put it on the same high speed network as your workstation (or make a dedicated subnet just for these) and you can use Backburner or distributed buckets to add its rendering power to your workstation
The Render Farm
click here to view/purchase the parts list on Newegg
I've had questions on how to use previous render node configs as the basis for a rackmount render farm, so I'm providing that configuration here. With a 25U rack you have space for six 4U nodes and a KVM switch that fits in the last 1U of rack space. This parts list is everything you need for a six-node farm, except for an old monitor pulled out of your supply closet.
But don't buy this without first exploring your options with a company like Boxx. They have custom setups that fit more power into less space, and software that helps you manage the farm better.
Displays
A while back, one of my friends sent me a link to this article debunking pretty much every metric and slogan used in HDTV marketing. The market for LCD monitors is no less confusing, so concentrate on three things:
-Screen size.
-Resolution. This is not the problem it is in laptops, but what would you rather have - a 22" screen that's 1680x1050, or a 21.5" screen that's 1920x1080?
-IPS/PVA or TN. What you want here is an IPS or PVA panel, not a TN panel. Inexpensive monitors are TN panels, which have much worse color gamuts and viewing angles than better screens. A consumer LCD monitor likely isn't even processing and displaying color in 8 bits per channel, and if you move your desk chair 6 inches to the side the levels change.
So, here are a few options, all good quality IPS displays usable for professional graphics work:
-Eizo 24" CG243W. Let's get this out of the way first. This is a very expensive monitor with freakin' fantastic color quality. This monitor is appropriate for use in high end video, photography and publishing production environments. It is not necessary for most visualization are graphics work, but if you want the best that's available to you without costing more than your car, this is it. Pairs well with The Maxer.
-HP 22" ZR22W. This takes the spot that the Dell 2209WA used to occupy in my recommendations: a budget friendly model that beats a TN display and pairs well with the Intern and Budget systems. However, the newer HP model is a better panel, has a higher resolution and costs less. It's a winner at the lower end.
-HP 24" ZR24W and HP 30" ZR30W. As the names suggest, these are larger models from the same line as the ZR22W. All are great value options and significant steps up from consumer grade displays. You can size you ZR to your budget.
-In 27", I've previously recommended the Dell 27" U2711, but that's become hard to find. An excellent alternative is the NEC PA271w. With improved color reproduction and a resolution usually found in 30" displays, this Dell is a step up from the entry level IPS displays but more reasonable than the Eizo. Best with the High End or the Maxer.
-NEC 30" 3090WQXi. NEC's answer to the 30" Apple monitor. H-IPS panel for high end color and good viewing angles. A step up from the 30" HP, and a step up in price.
As usual, whatever you choose, calibrate it! We're not talking about one of those software functions where you look at the gray square and try to make it the same value as the lines, we're talking about a dedicated hardware calibration device. I use the Eye-One Display 2, but some users prefer the Color Munki, which can also be used with printers and projectors. I can't stress the importance of this enough - without calibration, you'll never be able to match your prints to your screen, whether you're using your system for 3D rendering, graphic design or photography.
New GPUs
ATI and nVidia both introduced some new GPUs in the last month. nVidia's latest are the GF110-based Geforce GTX 580 and 570. A bit of explanation here. Back in the spring, I was at the show where they launched the GTX 480 and 470. These were the first of the promised "Fermi" line, using the GF100 GPU, and they were fast - no faster than the competition, but faster than nVidia's previous line and with some interesting features like improved in-game physics and Direct3D in stereo. But the GF100 chips were obviously a rush job. They leaked power and overheated, nVidia was never able to make a production version of the chip with all 512 cores turned on and a lot of customers avoided them. I recommended them in system only very reluctantly.
nVidia improved the situation with the GF104, which corrected many of the GF100's flaws and hit the midrange. The GF110 brings those fixes to the high-end and should replace the GF100. Due to architectural and power handling fixed, and improved production, the 570 is as fast as the 480 and uses 50W less power under load, and the 580 is faster than the 480 and uses roughly the same amount of power.
So these are good, but I still can't recommend them unconditionally because the Radeon 5870 can be found for $250 now, which is $100 less than the 570, and it's not as fast as these new cards but it uses 50W less power.
Meanwhile ATI is introducing Radeon 6000 series GPUs, and they're making some confusing tweaks to the naming system. I don't want to explain the whole thing here, but basically, a Radeon 6870 is not the card you want if you want a newer and better replacement for a 5870, it's like that across the line, and this has everybody annoyed and confused (and it's bad marketing by ATI). So don't try to align the new parts to the old ones, just compare them to other cards that cost the same and they'll come out looking pretty good.
These developments also leave us wondering about the Tesla and Quadro lines. Those still use GF100 chips, so for those using CUDA it's impossible to get the best of both worlds: you can spend crazy money on a Quadro or Tesla with 6GB onboard, but you're stuck with a GF100 chip. Or you can spend reasonable money on a GF110 card, but you're stuck with 1.5GB. nVidia doesn't want anybody to make a 6GB Geforce, because that would undercut the Quadro / Tesla market and show just how absurd it is that in a Quadro 6000 we're basically spending $500 on a GPU and $3500 on 6GB of RAM. My hope is that two sets of rumors materialize: that 4GB versions of new high-end Radeon cards arrive in the next few months, and that Chaosgroup gets Vray RT for GPU running on ATI hardware, because that would free up the GPU rendering market from nVidia's dominance, and would be nothing but good for the customers.
New CPUs
AMD has refreshed its 2, 3 and 6 core CPUs. The new 6-core Phenom II 1100T is a modest improvement over the 1090T at a modest price, and makes an appearance in this month's workstation list.
Intel is prepping to launch the new "Sandy Bridge" line next month. They will probably start with midrange parts in the $300 and under range for the upcoming 1155 motherboards (the replacement for 1156), and will follow later in the year with 6 and 8 core high end chips for a new motherboard socket to be introduced at that time. More on that when they become available.
As you can see, December is the winter of the hardware market, stuck between November and January product launches, waiting for distributors and retailers to clear out inventory in the run up to Christmas. But that won't keep us from finding value in the current market, which brings us to:
The Workstations
If you're not familiar with this section, please read the explanation of methodology. If you want to better understand what goes into the parts lists, see the explanation of workstation parts.
Non-3D Workstations
The Intern
click here to view/purchase the parts list on Newegg
With a three-core AMD CPU, 4GB of RAM, a Radeon card with DirectX 11 and 1GB, and 64-bit Windows 7, this build will fit the needs of both your intern, your bookkeeper and your senior partner who doesn't use CAD. You can build something cheaper, but I don't recommend it.
This month's system takes advantage of some price drops to get a bit quicker at negligible cost; it's still $600.
The Photoshopper
click here to view/purchase the parts list on Newegg
This is a quiet, power efficient box that meets the needs of photographers, graphic designers and marketing staff. This month, with prices going the way they are, it makes the most sense to include a quad-core i7-870. The 800-series has a fantastic turbo boost in one- and two-threaded operation, which will help in Creative Suite and other apps that do not fully utilize all of the cores.
SSD drives are also coming down in price, and this month most of the workstations, including this one, use them. Install Windows and your most commonly used software on it, along with your projects that are in daily use. The two RE4 (Raid Edition) hard drives have improved life expectancy over normal hard drives, necessary for reliable use in a RAID 0, which is the goal here. Put the rest of your files on the RAID to improve read/write speed on those large PSD files. Even with the RE4 drives, I would be remiss not to say that you really do need an external backup system. In an office environment, this can be as simple as a nightly backup of project files to the server.
Whatever else you do, an X-Rite Eye-One Display 2 is indispensable, and a Wacom Intuos4 Tablet is a very good idea. Consider an IPS display from the Displays section below.
3D Workstations
The Budget
click here to view/purchase the parts list on Newegg
With the price on the six-core AMD 1090T staying so low, the CPU for the Budget system was a no-brainer. Don't be fooled by the $1,000 price tag - this box is a very capable renderer, and is all the power you need for working on Revit models, Max (or Cinema4D, Rhino, etc.) stills and Photoshop work.
Choice of video card was also surprisingly easy, for once. The Radeon 6850, at under $200, is powerful, a fantastic value and also the most energy efficient hardware you're likely to find.
Since this is the budget model, I'm keeping the price low, but if you want an additional speed boost and you can afford it, include this SSD, the same one used in the Photoshopper. It's not really necessary - it just improves boot and program loading times - but it sure makes a computer feel faster.
The Midrange (Regular Edition)
click here to view/purchase the parts list on Newegg
The Midrange has some nice upgrades this month. It now features AMD's best consumer line six-core CPU, the 1100T. (If you're an overclocker, this CPU has its multiplier unlocked, but you'll want faster RAM to take advantage of it.) The motherboard is a solid Asus choice, using AMD's best chipset, that can take two video cards at full speed as well as the latest peripherals (USB 3.0 and SATA3 6.0GB/s).
That's not all. To take advantage of that SATA3 adapter, the Midrange now includes a 120GB Intel SSD and a new version of the WD Caviar Black that sports SATA3 and a 64MB buffer.
Since the regular edition of the Midrange doesn't need CUDA, the video card is a no brainer. For this money, for a video card to drive your 3D viewports and AutoCAD or Revit without doubling as a space heater for your office, the v5800 is the best thing. By not caring about CUDA, you get a lot of advantages in the viewport department. Serious Cinema4D users should also opt for this configuration, as the only way to make Cinebench run significantly faster is to step up to the much more expensive FirePro v8800.
The High-End (Regular Edition)
click here to view/purchase the parts list on Newegg
The FirePro V7800 is back in stock, and it's the best thing in this price class for powering your viewports. This month the High End gets that, a faster SSD and a better hard drive, and several more weeks of wait time as we see what Intel's got for us in January and whether ATI or nVidia will be the first to update their workstation video cards with their new GPUs. (You reading this, ATI and nVidia? Take the midrange challenge: the first to FireGL/Quadro a Radeon 6850/Geforce 570 and sell it for under $800 gets the "strong buy" recommendation!)
CPUs are still quite constrained at this level. There's no real alternative to a 6-core i7, and there are only two of those. I'm sticking with the i7-980X for its speed advantage over the 970, which makes it a slightly better value in terms of rendering speed per overall system price, and the overclocking advantage of its unlocked multiplier, for those who are into that kind of thing. Why Intel has left AMD uncontested in the lower price 6-core market while not updating the 980X in 9 months - which is a long time for CPUs - is beyond my powers of perception, but hopefully they'll have something new that won't require us to wait another 6-9 months for the next generation of motherboards. Still waiting and seeing, but don't let that get in your way - if you need a workstation like this now, buy it now, because any huge improvements are probably a ways off.
Install your OS and software on the SSD and use the 1TB drive for your working files. For a bit more speed, order two of the 1TB drives and put them in a RAID 0. (Remember, RE drives are "RAID Edition" for a reason.)
The Maxer
click here to view/purchase the parts list on Newegg
The Maxer also gets an update this month, with a new motherboard that opens some paths to potential upgrades (to multiple GPUs if you decide you want CUDA/OpenCL, and to 48GB of RAM, since we're now using 4GB DIMMs and keeping half the slots free. I'm also bringing a bit of sanity to the hard drives, ditching RAID in favor of a bigger, faster SSD than ever (the 256GB Crucial C300) and that newer model Caviar Black. Why no RAID? RAID-0 is more complicated, more likely to fail, harder to recover from errors, and harder to retrieve your data if the motherboard fails. RAID-1 is security, but you should be using an external backup.
As for video cards, this was a tough one. I'm sticking with the FirePro v8800 mainly because I don't see a compelling reason to switch and it's a better value than the Quadro 5000, but a FirePro v7800 2GB, Quadro 4000 2GB or Quadro 5000 2.5GB would be valid choices, depending on needs.
Oh, one more thing. These Xeons use triple-channel memory and each CPU has its own memory controller. When using two of these CPUs, there are six memory channels, so the RAM used must be matched DIMMs in multiples of six. This configuration uses six DIMMs. Space them out in alternating DIMM slots and if you add more later, buy the same type.
If this box can't handle your scene, you're doing something wrong. Estimated Cinebench rendering score: 17.
3D Workstations for CUDA Users
You guys know how I feel about CUDA renderers, and how they're a great way for nVidia to sell more of their most expensive hardware and not a cost effective way to get any work done. But you're not going to listen to me, because nVidia mesmerized you with their demonstration of how iray is so much faster than the slowest possible mental ray settings and looks just like Maxwell did 5 years ago, so if you must buy CUDA hardware, here are a couple of options.
The Midrange (CUDA Rendering Edition)
click here to view/purchase the parts list on Newegg
In many respects this machine is similar to the regular Midrange. In fact, if you're not using Vray RT-GPU, iray or another CUDA rendering package, this build is worse than the one above because the FirePro video card is better for driving viewports in 3D apps. But with this version, what you get is:
-A motherboard that supports up to three video cards
-Dual Geforce GTX 460 cards with 2GB RAM onboard
-More power!
The 2GB GTX 460 is a great option for running software like this. It's the most memory you can put on a card that's not a Quadro, at only $260 each. A single Quadro 4000 card would cost $780 and while it would likely outperform this configuration in viewport performance, it would not run a CUDA renderer nearly as well.
If you want even more power, two GTX 570 or GTX 580 cards can be used with this configuration; however, a 1000 watt power supply would be highly recommended. Three GTX 580 cards, which would be an upgrade to the configuration Chaosgroup used in their demo? The cost/benefit is against you, but you can do it; a 1200 watt power supply is needed. The drawback is neither the 570 nor the 580 are available with 2GB, which is going to cripple their performance.
The High-End (CUDA Rendering Edition)
click here to view/purchase the parts list on Newegg
Similar to Midrange version for CUDA rendering, this config is worse than the regular High-End if you don't use a CUDA rendering solution.
The first thing you'll notice about this system is that it's expensive. But after reports on how much video card memory people's renders are taking, I couldn't call this "high end" without including cards with an unusually high amount of memory, and the next step down is 2.5GB. Let's review: the same GPU used in a Geforce card with 1.5GB is under $500, so the other $3500 is buying you the other 4.5GB of memory. That's the most expensive memory you can put in a Windows box. But you've got no other choice.
There are two of them because with only one, this wouldn't be high end. This makes the system as expensive as a Midrange and two Render Nodes, which is what I would buy if I were you.
Render Power
The Render Node
click here to view/purchase the parts list on Newegg
12-core Opteron hardware is getting harder to find and is not dropping in price, so this month's Render Node moves to a more powerful, more expensive dual six-core Xeon. This gives you the render power of the Maxer, without the amenities such as SSD and high end video that are important in a workstation. Put this under your desk, put it on the same high speed network as your workstation (or make a dedicated subnet just for these) and you can use Backburner or distributed buckets to add its rendering power to your workstation
The Render Farm
click here to view/purchase the parts list on Newegg
I've had questions on how to use previous render node configs as the basis for a rackmount render farm, so I'm providing that configuration here. With a 25U rack you have space for six 4U nodes and a KVM switch that fits in the last 1U of rack space. This parts list is everything you need for a six-node farm, except for an old monitor pulled out of your supply closet.
But don't buy this without first exploring your options with a company like Boxx. They have custom setups that fit more power into less space, and software that helps you manage the farm better.
Displays
A while back, one of my friends sent me a link to this article debunking pretty much every metric and slogan used in HDTV marketing. The market for LCD monitors is no less confusing, so concentrate on three things:
-Screen size.
-Resolution. This is not the problem it is in laptops, but what would you rather have - a 22" screen that's 1680x1050, or a 21.5" screen that's 1920x1080?
-IPS/PVA or TN. What you want here is an IPS or PVA panel, not a TN panel. Inexpensive monitors are TN panels, which have much worse color gamuts and viewing angles than better screens. A consumer LCD monitor likely isn't even processing and displaying color in 8 bits per channel, and if you move your desk chair 6 inches to the side the levels change.
So, here are a few options, all good quality IPS displays usable for professional graphics work:
-Eizo 24" CG243W. Let's get this out of the way first. This is a very expensive monitor with freakin' fantastic color quality. This monitor is appropriate for use in high end video, photography and publishing production environments. It is not necessary for most visualization are graphics work, but if you want the best that's available to you without costing more than your car, this is it. Pairs well with The Maxer.
-HP 22" ZR22W. This takes the spot that the Dell 2209WA used to occupy in my recommendations: a budget friendly model that beats a TN display and pairs well with the Intern and Budget systems. However, the newer HP model is a better panel, has a higher resolution and costs less. It's a winner at the lower end.
-HP 24" ZR24W and HP 30" ZR30W. As the names suggest, these are larger models from the same line as the ZR22W. All are great value options and significant steps up from consumer grade displays. You can size you ZR to your budget.
-In 27", I've previously recommended the Dell 27" U2711, but that's become hard to find. An excellent alternative is the NEC PA271w. With improved color reproduction and a resolution usually found in 30" displays, this Dell is a step up from the entry level IPS displays but more reasonable than the Eizo. Best with the High End or the Maxer.
-NEC 30" 3090WQXi. NEC's answer to the 30" Apple monitor. H-IPS panel for high end color and good viewing angles. A step up from the 30" HP, and a step up in price.
As usual, whatever you choose, calibrate it! We're not talking about one of those software functions where you look at the gray square and try to make it the same value as the lines, we're talking about a dedicated hardware calibration device. I use the Eye-One Display 2, but some users prefer the Color Munki, which can also be used with printers and projectors. I can't stress the importance of this enough - without calibration, you'll never be able to match your prints to your screen, whether you're using your system for 3D rendering, graphic design or photography.
Labels: 3D, 3ds max, 3dsmax, architectural, cinema4d, cpu, cuda, firegl, firepro, geforce, gpu, hardware, iray, nvidia, quadro, radeon, twinmotion, visualization, vray, workstations
posted by Andy Lynn at 3:40 PM
34 Comments:
Andy,
The monthly posts are great! How about doing a budget or midrange render node for the 3d hobbyist? Just an OS and back burner.
Thanks
Hmm, interesting concept - I'd been thinking of render nodes as for professional use, but there may be a need for a less expensive one for, say, a student (work on a high end laptop and plug in to render) or somebody doing animation as a hobby.
Let's see here. Take some parts from the Intern, the CPU and RAM from the Midrange, add a small form factor case and MB with onboard video - yeah, here we go:
http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWishDetail.aspx?WishListNumber=14716765
Andy,
Thanks very much for going to the trouble of putting this together every month. Am saving funds at the moment so looking forward to the new list in January. Hopefully the new set of Intel chips will push prices a bit more in my direction (looking at the budget 3d workstation for college work).
Shame we don't have Newegg on this side of the atlantic - very jealous of the prices you're getting. Over here, it's working out at €1000 for $1000 system!
Great service you provide Andy! Say, do you ever recommend use of Ram Disk for cad/adobe scratch disk? It would seem this would be the fastest. I've read there are new ramdisk products that automatically allocate ram between the system and ramdisk so one does not have to think to hard how much to segment for ramdisk. Apparently one can also store an image of ramdisk to HDD upon shutdown, thereby saving one's work. I'm considering this and am seeking guidance from users of cad and engineering/design apps. I've also read that cad is coded such that it uses pagefile even before system ram is exhausted. Seeking confirmation of this...which would be a reason for considering placing a pagefile in Ram Disk, in addition to the system partition. Finally, and sort of a related question...if one does mostly 2D work in CAD and Illustrator what would be a minimum but reasonably sized scratch disk? Thanks for any feedback on these Qs ~ Mike
Thanks for the comments, guys.
KC, I don't know much about the UK market - all I know is that Scan.co.uk is popular - but from what I've seen it's not all the bad. For example, I priced out this month's Photoshopper, which comes to $1240 US on Newegg, on Scan, and it came to 903 GBP which is $1390. It's the VAT that gets you - the price before VAT is 769 GBP, which is $1185, which is less than the US price. (We usually don't pay any taxes when ordering from vendors in other states.)
Mike, I don't think ram disk would necessarily be a good idea for scratch disk, since any memory used by the ram disk is not available as ram to the software. A 64-bit version of Autocad or Photoshop can use that ram if needed, probably more efficiently.
If you really want a quick scratch disk, use one of these: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148357
Andy,
Thanks for the budget render node post. I'll see if I can sneak that in my house without my wife noticing.
I just upgraded my i7 system to windows 7 with the 80GB Intel SSD as per your posted recommendation. The performance increase for load times is incredible.
Thanks again.LP
Heh,if you needto hide it from your wife, definitely go with the small form factor.
Thank you very much for this very useful page.
I have a question, if you don't mind. What about the Dell Precision M6500 notebook and deskot replacement in general?
I was thinking about the config here below, but I don't know how to judge it; where would you put it in your chart?
1 Intel Corei7-840QM 1.86GHz 8MB QuadCore 1333MHz
RAM 12GB 1333MHz DDR3 double channel
nVIDIA FX2800M 1 GB
HD Serial ATA 320GB 7200 rpm
17in Widescreen WUXGA 1920x1200 Antiglare Silver with White Led LCD Panel
Price is 3450€ (2850€ discounted) plus VAT.
Thanks a lot! NS
Decent system. Not as fast as a desktop, especially for rendering, so I wouldn't call it a desktop "replacement" but as laptops go it's about as good as you'll find without going into the class of laptops (e.g. from Boxx) that use desktop chips, which makes them less practical for portability. The Quadro 2800M is a couple of generations old, it's not going to be as fast for a lot of tasks as, say, a Geforce 460M or a Radeon 5800 series, but for some software it's advantageous. Good screen.
It really depends on how you want to work, since for the money you could get quite a good laptop from some other product line, plus an excellent desktop for the office. So do you need all of your power to be portable, or would it be better to have less portable power but more power at your desk?
Thanks Andy, this is great. another product I would like your input on. BTW, the monitor I asked about a while back came new in the box, full warranty and is fantastic.
This is an HP 17" laptop.
http://dealzon.com/deals/hp-dv7t-laptop#hp-dv7t-select-quad-core-i7
oh, and I'll be using this with the 160GB ssd. Photoshop, max (stills) and some simple video editing in addition to typical office stuff. Thanks!
Glad you like the monitor. That HP looks alright, can't argue with the price. What I don't like about it is the display (1600x900, while other 17" models are available in 1920x1080 or 1920x1200) and the video card isn't ATI's best. If you can budget it, I like this better: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0044XU4IM/?tag=andylynnnet-20
I did in fact cancel my order for that pavillion. I wanted more ram & a faster hdd that the config listed on Amazon, so i spent about 45 mins on the phone with some wonderful cust support people @ HP and they met my requests while honoring the 300$ discount to the envy17". courtesy and directness score here. Thanks Andy!
Scott, good deal on that, getting $300 off. I do like the Envy 17 more than the DV7 in general - there's more metal in the build, where the DV7 has more of a plastic feel to it, and the specs run a bit higher. With the SSD, the memory upgrade and the 5850 that's going to be a seriously good laptop.
Sadly, no ssd on this one, but 500gb 7200rpm. For whatever reason, the only config available with an ssd also included a second hdd and it added 35% to the cost. Thanks again for you insight, I appreciate it.
Hi Andy and thank you for this usefull blog !
I'd like to ask you about the relationship between the display pixel picth and the rendering antialiasing. I mean: I do 3d renderings with 3dsmax. Today I work with 2 old 19" (!) displays (about 0.29mm pixel pitch each). I talk about this because it seems that the pixel pitch is most of the time forgotten whereas it seems to be an important criterion to consider because: no matter how high or low my VRay antialiasing settings are: if my display pixel pitch is too big, all I will see is an ugly aliased rendering, and even if I set very high VRay antialiasing settings, I will still see this ugly aliased rendering because, by nature, my display isn't able to reproduce a fine aliased rendering because of its too big pixel pitch !
And, on the opposite, I wonder if I will be able to detect that my VRay antialiasing settings are not high enough if I work on a very fine pixel pitch display (because it may "overrides" my VRay settings). Indeed, and that I don't know it yet, I wouldn't have to say:"OK my rendering is fine", send it to my client, and hearing him saying: "How awfull is the antialiasing !". My renderings must look right on whatever display it is viewed.
In fact I plan to buy a 27" or maybe 30" display, and I see slightly different pixel pitch values, depending on the display (running from 0,233mm to 0,27 mm) ... So, what is your opinion on that please ?
Oh, I forgot: I have to buy a new graphic card too. I know it will be a nVidia GTX 580.
What is the best: DisplayPort or DVI ? Does it matter with color reproduction ? Graphic cards with a DisplayPort are still hard to find ...
You're not alone. I can't stand large LCDs with low resolutions - the worst is on a laptop, dragging around a 17" box just to get 1440x900 or something ridiculous like that, and then they label it "HD" because it's got more pixels than a 720P TV.
But, to get to your question. What you're really trying to do is get the best looking result on whatever the intended output is, right? So if you're going to print, it's probably going to be at a lot more PPI than the monitor supports and your pixelation will disappear. If it's for a web page or a projector, try it at the appropriate resolution.
You're going to have to decide on output with your client at the beginning so your expectations are on the same page, and do some experimenting to see what your monitor is like and what AA settings work for you. But even on a lower res monitor AA will improve the look of the image.
Displayport vs. DVI: Unless you have special needs like a large number of monitors, Displayport doesn't do anything DVI won't. Just make sure to match the monitor(s) to the video card. DVI does the job, even on the higher res 30" monitors. Personally I don't have any Displayport monitors, just DVI and HDMI to output to a TV.
I'm not sure why Displayport isn't in the reference spec for the 580 (and I only see one 580 card that has it) when my much less expensive card has 2 DVI, HDMI and Displayport, but at this point it's not a big deal.
OK Andy, thank you. I'm gonna buy the HP ZR30W. I Hope it's a good display because it is quite expensive but ... I can't stand no more working on these 2 old 19'' !
Thank you.
By the way ... What do you think of these calibration devices (less expensive than the Eye-One Display 2): http://www.amazon.com/Datacolor-DC-S3TV100-Spyder-Windows/dp/B0037255M6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1296053290&sr=1-1
and http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Delectronics&field-keywords=pantone+HueyPRO&x=0&y=0
and http://www.amazon.com/Datacolor-DC-S3P100-Spyder-Pro/dp/B0037258L4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1296053868&sr=1-1
and http://www.amazon.com/Datacolor-DC-S3EL100-Spyder-Elite/dp/B00372561Q/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1296053995&sr=1-1
I forgot to tell you that I am a newbie with this kind of device: what I'm looking for is a tool to help me calibrate my display for having quite exact colors but I don't want to be lost with complicated softwares.
Well, I can't give you a quantitative analysis of which calibrator is best in which situations, though if you asked on CGArchitect or searched the backlogs on Photo.net I'm sure you can find some info. What I can say is that I use an i1 Display 2 myself and it works very well, and that it has a reputation for being more accurate than the Spyder. One of the Spyder models would still work (not the TV one though) but the Huey isn't as accurate.
Thank you Andy !
Hello Andy,
Just a simple question about the GPU choice: what is the best for me given that I do 3D renderings (VRay 2.0 with a little use of VRay RT)and sometimes HD architectural animations, Quadro FX or 580 GTX ? My budget is about 600$. I'm afraid with 580 GTX because it doesn't support 3dsmax performance driver and I know, for using it with my 3 years old Quadro FX 1700, that this driver acts like a real "performances booster" !
Thank you
Okay, so here's the problem - nVidia doesn't make a worthwhile Quadro that's in your budget. The 600 is too weak to consider, the 2000 would be good for moderate viewport-driving use but only has 1GB so not so useful for OpenCL (I'm assuming one of the things you'd like is OpenCL for Vray RT-GPU use).
The 4000 has 2GB, but it's over budget. Also, while it's great for viewports in 3D apps, from what I'm reading on the Chaosgroup forum it is a slow performer in Vray RT-GPU. It is apparently half as fast as a Geforce 470, 560 or 570. Oops. So, if Vray RT-GPU is a priority, I'm going to make a recommendation that may surprise you but will save you some money: Geforce GTX 560, 2GB version.
My alternate recommendation is an ATI FirePro V7800. It's the best viewport driving, application certified card for $600. Vray RT-GPU for ATI is a work in progress - they have it running on some cards but not all, and it's not running quickly yet, but it will get there and in the meantime if this card is not supported yet you can run Vray RT on the CPU.
Thank you Andy. In my point of view, buying now an ATI FirePro V7800 is taking a risk because I can't be sure that it will be VRay RT ready one day (even if probably yes). So I will buy nVidia. In France, I can't find 2GB Geforce GTX 560 cards, but only 1GB Geforce GTX 560 Ti cards. So my choice is finally a 1.5 GB Geforce GTX 580 and I think that's OK ... But: what about the 720p animations needs ? All I worked on till now was DVD resolution animations but now that I plan to work on 720p resolution animations, I'd like to be sure that a Geforce GTX 580 will be ok when dealing with 720p frames in After Effects and Premiere. Do you think so ?
Thank you in advance for answering me !
The 580 doesn't have the most memory but it's the fastest GPU for using OpenCL on. So you won't be able to run your most complicated stuff on it in Vray RT GPU, but it's not like this is for final renders so it should still be useful.
I don't see why you'd have any problems in After Effects and Premiere.
Just learned today that nVidia announced a soon to be released dual GTX 590 card ... But it will probably be very expensive so I'll buy a 580.
Thank you Andy.
Andy this blog is very helpful. However, I'm a newbie and haven't put together a system since the late 90's. Once the parts arrive from Newegg to my front door step is there a guide to which i can follow to. Perhaps you know a link or two.I'm aiming at the Mid-range. Thanks. Luke
Hi Luke, thanks for writing. Good question. There are a lot of guides to be found by searching - here's one that looks pretty complete: http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleID=1444 but each case, motherboard and CPU heatsink will have different procedures.
Here's a video showing how to install the CPU and heatsink on the type of motherboard the Midrange uses: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MzZQgJDyzGI
The case will have instructions (the better ones can be a bit complex looking because of modular parts like removable motherboard tray and hard drive holder, but these make things a lot easier) and the motherboard will have a step by step guide. Since everything attaches to the motherboard, I think of the motherboard's user manual as a checklist for the system. One of the reasons I like recommending Asus boards is that they tend to have good manuals.
Thank You once again.
Here's another guide that might help you out Luke: http://passwird.tradepub.com/free/w_make23/?p=w_make23.
Hey Andy, thanks alot for going through this to help us out. If you don't mind, Ive got a question of my own as well. I was looking at your render node setups along with the low budget one you put together for a hobbyist/student (of which I am the latter), so my question is this. I am looking at spending approximately $10,000 on a few rendering nodes/a small farm. I primarily work with Revit and 3ds Max (I figured for a farm I would just import my rvt models into max and use BB or DBR) and create 3d real-life images for architectural work. Would you suggest getting only 2/6 nodes of the "Render Farm", 14 of the "Cheap Nodes" or 2 of the "Render Nodes"? I don't plan on purchasing these within the immediate month, so I was waiting for the Sandy Bridge chips to come back as well, maybe be able to hold off until they come out with dual chip boards as well for them.
Thanks again,
Sam
Hey Andy,
Thanks alot for these posts. If you wouldn't mind, Ive got a question as well. I was reading your response about doing a low end render node for a hobbyist/student (I happen to be the latter) and comparing them with the "Render Node" option and the "Render Farm" option. I primarily work with Revit and 3ds Max (I would just import all of my rvt files into max so I could use BB or DBR) and typically render high resolution photo-realistic single images. I am looking looking at building a small farm and have a budget of around $10,000. So my question is this: Would get a faster render by purchasing 2/6 nodes from the "Render Farm" option, 2 of the "Render Nodes", or 14 of the budget render nodes?
Thanks again,
Sam
Post a Comment
<< Home