July 2010 Workstations
CPUs
Another month, another round of updates. On the CPU end, the selection of desktop-class 6-core CPUs holds firm at three: the Intel i7-980X at $1,000 and the AMD Phenom II 1055T and 1090T at $200 and $300. AMD's slipped a slightly slower 12-core 6268 in under the 6172 and Intel's Xeons remain mostly unchanged.
So where are the updates? This is the month of the budget CPU. Prices have fallen at the low end and the Intern gets an upgrade, and Intel has introduced two interesting unlocked multiplier CPUs.
A bit of explanation on that. The multiplier is the ratio of the CPU speed to the memory base speed. For example, a Core i7-870 has a multiplier of 22x, and expects the memory to be at 133MHz, for a CPU speed of 2930MHz. An overclocker can control the CPU speed indirectly by changing the memory speed - increase the memory to 150MHz and the CPU goes up to 3300MHz.
An unlocked CPU, used with an appropriate motherboard, allows the user to change that multiplier. Several AMD CPUs, including the 1090T, are unlocked - these are generally recognizable by the words "Black Edition" in the model name. In the past, Intel's unlocked chips were limited to the very expensive Extreme Edition line, but lately they've added a "K" line of unlocked but affordable CPUs. The real winner here is the i7-875K, which has identical stats to the 870 above but with an unlocked multiplier and a lower price tag.
The unlocked multiplier allows the CPU and memory to be clocked independently. It is possible to hit 3466MHz by leaving the memory at 133MHz and increasing the multiplier to 26x. Or, in some applications, speed can be gained by increasing the memory clock to, say, 175MHz and dropping the multiplier to 17x - a negligible change to the CPU speed.
Of course, here at 3DATSTech we're focusing on computers for an office environment, where overclocking is likely inappropriate - but if you were to overclock, the $300 AMD 1090T or the $330 i7-875K would be excellent choices. Both of these CPUs come with the added advantage of unusually high Turbo Boost numbers, allowing for better performance in single threaded operations including many Photoshop functions and 3DSMax viewport functions and animation calculations.
Video Cards
(See my comments on video card power consumption in last month's workstations and commentary posts. Still applicable. The new GeForces maintain the ability to melt polar ice caps.)
In video cards, ATi and nVidia continue to fill out their lines of new generation cards. The nVidia GTX 465 is a welcome under-$300 addition, but at the same price point as the better performing and lower power ATi 5850 it should only be considered by those who require CUDA support - for example, Arion or heavy Premiere CS5 users. (Of course, anybody with serious CUDA needs should bite the bullet and step up to the GTX 470 or 480.)
ATi has recently updated the FirePro (formerly FireGL) line, and the surprisingly reasonable v4800 and v5800 are now commonly available. These are Radeon cards with added features for pro 3D users - the v4800 is a modified Radeon 5670, and the v5800 is a modified Radeon 5770. As such they share those Radeon cards' exceptional power saving characteristics. Regular readers already know how impressed I've been with the Radeon 5000-series.
The FirePro v4800 comes in at $175, compared to $110 for a comparable Radeon 5670, and the FirePro v5800 is $438, versus $170 for a similar Radeon 5770. Your money goes farther in a Radeon or Geforce card, but if you need a "pro" card these are good values. nVidia's aging Quadro FX 580 and 1800 are modified Geforce 9600 series GPUs and aren't competitive at this price point.
At the high end, the 2GB FirePro v7800 and v8800, also introduced this year, are the pro versions of the Radeon 5850 and 5870, and they're very fast. With the v8800 the line maxes out at 1600 OpenCL threads. (!) With this line, a pro card can be used in anything from a Budget system to a Maxer, and they'll be making an appearance in this month's workstations.
nVidia hasn't Quadro'ed the Geforce 400 series yet - it seems like ATi's beating them to market in every segment these days - but it will be interesting to see what they come up with, when they get around to it.
Hard Drives
The Hitachi E7K series has been out of stock for a while. Hopefully they've got something in the pipeline for us, but for now we'll have to make do with other options. I'll continue to recommend the WD Green series for longer term storage, as its low power use translates to less heat and mechanical stress than other options, which are factors that improve longevity.
Monitors
If you don't already have a preference, and you're heavily into graphics, get this: Dell UltraSharp U2410 24" and calibrate it with this: X-Rite Eye-One Display 2. There are cheaper options out there, but there's no better way to get this much real estate with color this good at a reasonable cost.
Now, on to:
The Workstations
For an explanation of the methodology behind these configurations, please refer to the Workstations Introduction page. For an overview of a workstation’s parts, please refer to the Workstation Parts page.
For the readers' convenience, I am providing links to the parts lists I made on Newegg in the course of planning this article. If the Newegg lists differ from the tables shown here, it's because I noticed that a part was out of stock or discontinued, and made a change. You'd be amazed at how quickly computer parts turn over.
The Intern
click here to view/purchase the parts list on Newegg
I love what they're doing with prices these days. Three cores, four gigs and a competent video card, still under $600. I could have gone a bit higher on the video card, and if for whatever reason you want nVidia, look at the GT 220. The AMD CPU beats the Intels at this price, the motherboard is good but a money saver and the case with included power supply provides good value. This is the entry level AutoCAD, Microsoft Office and light Photoshop system.
The Budget
click here to view/purchase the parts list on Newegg
The AMD 1055T remains the price/performance winner at $200, being a competent renderer at a price where other CPUs are merely competent Photoshoppers. At only $884, this system represents the best value in entry level machines for rendering. This month we stay under $900 while getting a better case, USB 3.0 support and better peripherals. I've been including these cheap keyboards and mice with the less expensive systems, and while I'd give them to an intern I wouldn't use them myself. Everybody's got different hands, keyboards and mice are simple devices that don't require much support, and the smart IT guy will let the users choose their own keyboards and mice.
Alternates:
If your Budget system is for CAD, Revit or Photoshop but not rendering, you are in the "fewer but faster cores" market. Substitute this CPU.
If you need nVidia, look at the GeForce 250 1GB version. If you need a "pro" video card, the FirePro v4800.
The Midrange
click here to view/purchase the parts list on Newegg
The Midrange features AMD's higher end 3.2GHz six-core CPU and one of the fastest video cards available, the Radeon 5850. Price drops have allowed me to go to a 2GB version of the 5850 while keeping the same price point as last month. Why 2GB, when you're hard pressed to make Max use 512MB? We're getting to the point where it's reasonable to start spec'ing hardware to use with OpenCL, and the extra video memory will improve performance in, for example, Vray for GPU.
Use the Caviar Black hard drive as your C drive and the Green drive for archiving and extra storage, and make sure you're letting that Lian-Li case cool the drives by leaving air space above and below them - the Caviar Black runs warmer than any of the other drives listed on this page. Use one of the incremental backup or file sync programs to keep copies of your project files on both drives for another layer of safety.
Some alternates: If you want to take advantage of the multiplier unlock to do some heavy overclocking, the 890FX motherboard included is a good choice, though some will say the Asus Crosshair IV is better. DDR3-2000 RAM would help. If you want to make this an OC'ed Intel system, which will perform a bit better in Photoshop and Revit and a bit worse in rendering, substitute that i7-875K CPU mentioned above and the Asus Maximus III Formula motherboard. Either way, you're also going to want an upgraded CPU cooler.
If you need CUDA, the nVidia GeForce GXT 465 or 470, but be warned that if you use one of those and overclock the CPU you'll be running up against the limits of this power supply and you'll need at least a 750W power supply. Look at the Corsair 750TX and the Antec TP-750. If you need a "pro" video card, take a close look at the FirePro v5800.
The High-End
click here to view/purchase the parts list on Newegg
There are still only three six-core desktop class CPUs, and the Intel i7-980X is still the fastest, and the most expensive, by a respectable margin. The Radeon 5870, with 1600 stream processors, is a beast in Max viewports or OpenCL, and with this 2GB version you won't be lacking for anything. The SSD is a new, faster model, and the hard drive is server grade - best replacement I could come up with for the now very hard to find Hitachi E7K.
Alternates: The 980X is an unlocked CPU; buy faster DDR3-2000 RAM if you're a tweaker. If you really must buy an nVidia card, at this price point you can afford the GTX 480, but don't say I didn't warn you about the power draw. Better still, if you want a "pro" card, a FirePro v7800 or v8800 keeps the OpenCL performance and energy efficiency of the Radeon 5850 and 5870. If you've got some serious OpenCL needs, the most computing power available on one video card is the Radeon 5970 4GB with 3200 stream processors. No, that's not a typo.
(Added bonus: get the "Eyefinity" version of the video card, with six Displayport plugs, and wire it up to six 60" DLP HDTVs in a 3x2 grid. Game on.)
The Render Node
click here to view/purchase the parts list on Newegg
This month I've ditched the 24-core workstation. With its relatively low per-core performance, it's just not a good choice in a high end workstation. But the same motherboard and CPUs used in a render node configuration deliver price/performance you just can't argue with. This is a significant step up in render speed over what the High End has onboard and not far behind the Maxer.
This render node should not be confused with a render farm. A farm is a collection of machines meant for rendering with, it's a must for complex animations and it should be done as a unit, based on racks, blades or other compact solutions and made for you by a company like Boxx. Get this if you want to add one or two render boxes, making individual nodes more practical than a farm.
The Maxer
click here to view/purchase the parts list on Newegg
When I brought down the cost of the high end system by making it single CPU, some CGArchitect readers were actually disappointed. It seems I'd been underestimating the market for $8,000 workstations. So this is the configuration for that class of high-end, one might say "Texas-size," user. This is why there's more than one reason it's called The Maxer.
No, it's not the most expensive thing you can buy - I'm not trying to get you to throw your money away on needlessly expensive parts like SLI'ed Quadro cards. At the high end of the price/performance curve you double the price to add 1% to the performance; this system falls that 1% short of the top.
Coming in just shy of the $8,000 target, this beast features dual 3.33GHz six-core CPUs, allowing it to render twice as quickly as the High End system. The chassis and motherboard are designed to go together, and for use with X5600 series CPUs. The FirePro v8800 is a new addition - a "pro" version of the Radeon 5870, the fastest single GPU available (with 1600 stream processes and 2GB memory) and the 24GB of RAM in twelve slots will ensure that you're never held back by lack of memory. For an added bonus, put the two SSD's in a RAID.
If this box can't handle your scene, you're doing something wrong. Estimated Cinebench rendering score: 17.
Another month, another round of updates. On the CPU end, the selection of desktop-class 6-core CPUs holds firm at three: the Intel i7-980X at $1,000 and the AMD Phenom II 1055T and 1090T at $200 and $300. AMD's slipped a slightly slower 12-core 6268 in under the 6172 and Intel's Xeons remain mostly unchanged.
So where are the updates? This is the month of the budget CPU. Prices have fallen at the low end and the Intern gets an upgrade, and Intel has introduced two interesting unlocked multiplier CPUs.
A bit of explanation on that. The multiplier is the ratio of the CPU speed to the memory base speed. For example, a Core i7-870 has a multiplier of 22x, and expects the memory to be at 133MHz, for a CPU speed of 2930MHz. An overclocker can control the CPU speed indirectly by changing the memory speed - increase the memory to 150MHz and the CPU goes up to 3300MHz.
An unlocked CPU, used with an appropriate motherboard, allows the user to change that multiplier. Several AMD CPUs, including the 1090T, are unlocked - these are generally recognizable by the words "Black Edition" in the model name. In the past, Intel's unlocked chips were limited to the very expensive Extreme Edition line, but lately they've added a "K" line of unlocked but affordable CPUs. The real winner here is the i7-875K, which has identical stats to the 870 above but with an unlocked multiplier and a lower price tag.
The unlocked multiplier allows the CPU and memory to be clocked independently. It is possible to hit 3466MHz by leaving the memory at 133MHz and increasing the multiplier to 26x. Or, in some applications, speed can be gained by increasing the memory clock to, say, 175MHz and dropping the multiplier to 17x - a negligible change to the CPU speed.
Of course, here at 3DATSTech we're focusing on computers for an office environment, where overclocking is likely inappropriate - but if you were to overclock, the $300 AMD 1090T or the $330 i7-875K would be excellent choices. Both of these CPUs come with the added advantage of unusually high Turbo Boost numbers, allowing for better performance in single threaded operations including many Photoshop functions and 3DSMax viewport functions and animation calculations.
Video Cards
(See my comments on video card power consumption in last month's workstations and commentary posts. Still applicable. The new GeForces maintain the ability to melt polar ice caps.)
In video cards, ATi and nVidia continue to fill out their lines of new generation cards. The nVidia GTX 465 is a welcome under-$300 addition, but at the same price point as the better performing and lower power ATi 5850 it should only be considered by those who require CUDA support - for example, Arion or heavy Premiere CS5 users. (Of course, anybody with serious CUDA needs should bite the bullet and step up to the GTX 470 or 480.)
ATi has recently updated the FirePro (formerly FireGL) line, and the surprisingly reasonable v4800 and v5800 are now commonly available. These are Radeon cards with added features for pro 3D users - the v4800 is a modified Radeon 5670, and the v5800 is a modified Radeon 5770. As such they share those Radeon cards' exceptional power saving characteristics. Regular readers already know how impressed I've been with the Radeon 5000-series.
The FirePro v4800 comes in at $175, compared to $110 for a comparable Radeon 5670, and the FirePro v5800 is $438, versus $170 for a similar Radeon 5770. Your money goes farther in a Radeon or Geforce card, but if you need a "pro" card these are good values. nVidia's aging Quadro FX 580 and 1800 are modified Geforce 9600 series GPUs and aren't competitive at this price point.
At the high end, the 2GB FirePro v7800 and v8800, also introduced this year, are the pro versions of the Radeon 5850 and 5870, and they're very fast. With the v8800 the line maxes out at 1600 OpenCL threads. (!) With this line, a pro card can be used in anything from a Budget system to a Maxer, and they'll be making an appearance in this month's workstations.
nVidia hasn't Quadro'ed the Geforce 400 series yet - it seems like ATi's beating them to market in every segment these days - but it will be interesting to see what they come up with, when they get around to it.
Hard Drives
The Hitachi E7K series has been out of stock for a while. Hopefully they've got something in the pipeline for us, but for now we'll have to make do with other options. I'll continue to recommend the WD Green series for longer term storage, as its low power use translates to less heat and mechanical stress than other options, which are factors that improve longevity.
Monitors
If you don't already have a preference, and you're heavily into graphics, get this: Dell UltraSharp U2410 24" and calibrate it with this: X-Rite Eye-One Display 2. There are cheaper options out there, but there's no better way to get this much real estate with color this good at a reasonable cost.
Now, on to:
The Workstations
For an explanation of the methodology behind these configurations, please refer to the Workstations Introduction page. For an overview of a workstation’s parts, please refer to the Workstation Parts page.
For the readers' convenience, I am providing links to the parts lists I made on Newegg in the course of planning this article. If the Newegg lists differ from the tables shown here, it's because I noticed that a part was out of stock or discontinued, and made a change. You'd be amazed at how quickly computer parts turn over.
The Intern
click here to view/purchase the parts list on Newegg
I love what they're doing with prices these days. Three cores, four gigs and a competent video card, still under $600. I could have gone a bit higher on the video card, and if for whatever reason you want nVidia, look at the GT 220. The AMD CPU beats the Intels at this price, the motherboard is good but a money saver and the case with included power supply provides good value. This is the entry level AutoCAD, Microsoft Office and light Photoshop system.
The Budget
click here to view/purchase the parts list on Newegg
The AMD 1055T remains the price/performance winner at $200, being a competent renderer at a price where other CPUs are merely competent Photoshoppers. At only $884, this system represents the best value in entry level machines for rendering. This month we stay under $900 while getting a better case, USB 3.0 support and better peripherals. I've been including these cheap keyboards and mice with the less expensive systems, and while I'd give them to an intern I wouldn't use them myself. Everybody's got different hands, keyboards and mice are simple devices that don't require much support, and the smart IT guy will let the users choose their own keyboards and mice.
Alternates:
If your Budget system is for CAD, Revit or Photoshop but not rendering, you are in the "fewer but faster cores" market. Substitute this CPU.
If you need nVidia, look at the GeForce 250 1GB version. If you need a "pro" video card, the FirePro v4800.
The Midrange
click here to view/purchase the parts list on Newegg
The Midrange features AMD's higher end 3.2GHz six-core CPU and one of the fastest video cards available, the Radeon 5850. Price drops have allowed me to go to a 2GB version of the 5850 while keeping the same price point as last month. Why 2GB, when you're hard pressed to make Max use 512MB? We're getting to the point where it's reasonable to start spec'ing hardware to use with OpenCL, and the extra video memory will improve performance in, for example, Vray for GPU.
Use the Caviar Black hard drive as your C drive and the Green drive for archiving and extra storage, and make sure you're letting that Lian-Li case cool the drives by leaving air space above and below them - the Caviar Black runs warmer than any of the other drives listed on this page. Use one of the incremental backup or file sync programs to keep copies of your project files on both drives for another layer of safety.
Some alternates: If you want to take advantage of the multiplier unlock to do some heavy overclocking, the 890FX motherboard included is a good choice, though some will say the Asus Crosshair IV is better. DDR3-2000 RAM would help. If you want to make this an OC'ed Intel system, which will perform a bit better in Photoshop and Revit and a bit worse in rendering, substitute that i7-875K CPU mentioned above and the Asus Maximus III Formula motherboard. Either way, you're also going to want an upgraded CPU cooler.
If you need CUDA, the nVidia GeForce GXT 465 or 470, but be warned that if you use one of those and overclock the CPU you'll be running up against the limits of this power supply and you'll need at least a 750W power supply. Look at the Corsair 750TX and the Antec TP-750. If you need a "pro" video card, take a close look at the FirePro v5800.
The High-End
click here to view/purchase the parts list on Newegg
There are still only three six-core desktop class CPUs, and the Intel i7-980X is still the fastest, and the most expensive, by a respectable margin. The Radeon 5870, with 1600 stream processors, is a beast in Max viewports or OpenCL, and with this 2GB version you won't be lacking for anything. The SSD is a new, faster model, and the hard drive is server grade - best replacement I could come up with for the now very hard to find Hitachi E7K.
Alternates: The 980X is an unlocked CPU; buy faster DDR3-2000 RAM if you're a tweaker. If you really must buy an nVidia card, at this price point you can afford the GTX 480, but don't say I didn't warn you about the power draw. Better still, if you want a "pro" card, a FirePro v7800 or v8800 keeps the OpenCL performance and energy efficiency of the Radeon 5850 and 5870. If you've got some serious OpenCL needs, the most computing power available on one video card is the Radeon 5970 4GB with 3200 stream processors. No, that's not a typo.
(Added bonus: get the "Eyefinity" version of the video card, with six Displayport plugs, and wire it up to six 60" DLP HDTVs in a 3x2 grid. Game on.)
The Render Node
click here to view/purchase the parts list on Newegg
This month I've ditched the 24-core workstation. With its relatively low per-core performance, it's just not a good choice in a high end workstation. But the same motherboard and CPUs used in a render node configuration deliver price/performance you just can't argue with. This is a significant step up in render speed over what the High End has onboard and not far behind the Maxer.
This render node should not be confused with a render farm. A farm is a collection of machines meant for rendering with, it's a must for complex animations and it should be done as a unit, based on racks, blades or other compact solutions and made for you by a company like Boxx. Get this if you want to add one or two render boxes, making individual nodes more practical than a farm.
The Maxer
click here to view/purchase the parts list on Newegg
When I brought down the cost of the high end system by making it single CPU, some CGArchitect readers were actually disappointed. It seems I'd been underestimating the market for $8,000 workstations. So this is the configuration for that class of high-end, one might say "Texas-size," user. This is why there's more than one reason it's called The Maxer.
No, it's not the most expensive thing you can buy - I'm not trying to get you to throw your money away on needlessly expensive parts like SLI'ed Quadro cards. At the high end of the price/performance curve you double the price to add 1% to the performance; this system falls that 1% short of the top.
Coming in just shy of the $8,000 target, this beast features dual 3.33GHz six-core CPUs, allowing it to render twice as quickly as the High End system. The chassis and motherboard are designed to go together, and for use with X5600 series CPUs. The FirePro v8800 is a new addition - a "pro" version of the Radeon 5870, the fastest single GPU available (with 1600 stream processes and 2GB memory) and the 24GB of RAM in twelve slots will ensure that you're never held back by lack of memory. For an added bonus, put the two SSD's in a RAID.
If this box can't handle your scene, you're doing something wrong. Estimated Cinebench rendering score: 17.
posted by Andy Lynn at 8:53 AM
21 comments
