April Workstations
Sandy Bridge is back! (Finally.)
Intel has fixed the problem with the SATA controller for Socket 1155 motherboards, and a healthy selection of boards are back on the market. The old ones were recalled, so just make sure to buy from a reliable source. For example, any of the boards on this list on Newegg.com
will come with the fixed chips.
Vendors are still having some trouble with keeping these motherboards in stock, so if you want to build one of the configurations below and the motherboard is out of stock, just grab a substitute from the list. Match the chipset (P67 or H61), the form factor (ATX or Micro ATX) and the number of DIMM slots.
These new CPUs are excellent values in the lower to mid range of computers we write about on this site. What they're not good for is the very low end - they start at $125, so they're not going to show up in a $300 PC - and the high end. Later this year, lower end chips will be released carrying the Pentium label, and high end chips will come later with up to 8 cores, quad channel RAM support and more PCIE lanes for better multi-GPU support. The high end will require new motherboards, so if you buy now a later upgrade will be a bit complicated, but the future high end hardware will also be expensive so if you're looking for anything up to a Midrange configuration, now is a great time to buy.
If for any reason you don't want to go with the new Intel line - for example, the multi-GPU motherboard selection is slim - the 6-core AMD 1100T
is down to $230, and at that price I like it a lot. This configuration is a solid 1100T option.
More on Hardware
What I wrote in February about GPUs still holds. I'm not recommending Quadros in any of these systems because the value isn't there, but if you happen to need a 6GB workstation card you want this Quadro 6000. For CUDA work, I actually recommend the 3GB Geforce 580. 3GB is pretty good, the GPU is faster for CUDA than the Quadro's and the price is much more attractive. Either way, you're going to want a high end power supply because these GPUs burn a lot of electrons.
SSD prices are down, and I've included them in several of these configurations. If you install your OS and commonly used programs on it and keep only your active projects on it, the space should be plenty and load times will drop precipitously. If you want to upgrade an existing PC consider this package which includes hardware and software to make moving hard drives simpler. It's an affordable and easy way to get into SSD.
To get the most out of an SSD, with its high speed and relatively small capacity, install the OS and software on the SSD and keep your active project files there, and use a conventional hard drive for the rest of your storage.
Now, on 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
Last time I ran the numbers on Sandy Bridge hardware, there wasn't an option inexpensive enough to use in the Intern. Now that the i3-2100 is available, I'm using it, and by going with its onboard GPU (better than the last generation of onboard GPU, but not good enough for anything beyond the Intern) and taking advantage of its power savings this build is $50 less than the previous Intern. The Micro ATX case minimizes space needs so you can pack more interns in the back room next to the copiers than ever before.
Why go with a configuration like this instead of a $400 generic PC, when it's just for the interns and the non-techies? Reliability. This is the least expensive we can make a configuration like this, without resorting to obsolete or shoddy parts. What's lacking? Expandability. These H61 motherboards give you only what you need to build a simple system, they don't take well to video card upgrades and have fewer DIMM slots than the higher end parts.
The Photoshopper
click here to view/purchase the parts list on Newegg
The Core i7 2600K has been consistently racking up the highest scores ever seen in Photoshop benchmarks, which makes quite a bit of sense, considering the benefits of the new architecture and this CPU's 3.8GHz Turbo Boost capability. With a good motherboard, a solid but extremely efficient video card and an SSD boot disk plus a RAID for working files, in a quiet Antec Sonata case, you've got the best box you can get for Creative Suite applications for under $1300. Not bad, huh?
The RE4 drives bring improved reliability to compensate for the added risks of RAID 0, but 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
The i5-2500K and Radeon 6850 represent the latest, most efficient technology. They match up well and keep this workstation under $1200, making it an easy way to meet the needs of modeling and rendering stills. This is also an ideal configuration for CAD users and with its quiet case and low power consumption, is an excellent choice for an architecture firm's standard desktop PC and a much better choice than the usual single-Xeon-with-low-end-Quadro that Dell et al sell by the thousand to firms that don't read this site.
The Midrange (Regular Edition)
click here to view/purchase the parts list on Newegg
The Midrange builds on the Budget's strengths with a faster CPU, larger SSD, higher end motherboard, better case and a middle of the line FirePro v5800 workstation video card. Depending on your needs, you could easily replace this with a high end consumer card such as a Geforce 570 or ATI's latest Radeon 6970 and expect excellent performance. Serious Cinema4D users, SolidWorks users and Maya users should opt for the FirePro, but it's not so important in Max, AutoCAD and Revit, and if this is for at home use and you also want to game on it (it's okay, we understand) the good consumer cards will give you a performance boost.
Take advantage of the motherboard's excellent SATA3 capabilities to run the SSD and Caviar Black drives at peak speeds. If you're an overclocker, you should also be pleased with this board, but do make sure to research safe overclocking before trying it, since that's beyond the scope of this site.
The High-End (Regular Edition)
click here to view/purchase the parts list on Newegg
There's been less movement at the high end of the market, with the replacement for the Socket 1366 chips still several months off. The six core i7-970 is still very close to the top of the single-CPU heap and the best value going at under $600. The Asus Sabertooth motherboard is still pulling in excellent reviews and is built to last.
The FirePro V7800 is the best thing in this price class for powering your viewports. We're still waiting for nVidia to come out with a Quadro based on a newer core than the inefficient GF100, and until they do I remain reluctant to recommend a Quadro, though if you do have that as a requirement for some reason your best bet in this price class is the Quadro 4000.
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.) Or, if you want to get extreme, you can even buy two of the SSD's and RAID those. There are two SATA3 ports to run the SSD's at peak speed, and the RE4 hard drives are happy on the SATA2 ports.
The Maxer
click here to view/purchase the parts list on Newegg
Attention 3DSMax users! There's a software bug that you should know about. It seems that when running Max 2011 and Windows 7 on a 12-core system with Hyperthreading turned on an an nVidia video card, there is a bug... somewhere, in... some software product. It's really quite unclear exactly what is going on, since none of the companies involved will fess up to having caused the problem, but it makes Max run very slow. This is all I can tell you. There are conflicting reports on whether ATI cards are also affected. But basically, if you have one of these dual-six workstations and Max is running no faster than it would on your grandmother's Pentium II, try turning off hyperthreading in the BIOS settings.
Now, I'm happy to report that there is finally a faster option that the dual X5680. 4% faster, to be exact. Now don't all go running off to buy these at the same time. But anyway, you still won't find a more powerful workstation without overclocking. Not that you can't overclock this one - but considering what you're spending on it, please do be careful.
As for video cards, I'm still sticking with the FirePro v8800 because nothing else has come along to make me change my mind. 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. But please, don't buy one of those Quadros for CUDA. If you want CUDA get the FirePro v7800 2GB and a 3GB Geforce 580.
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.
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
There are now Socket 1155 boards using extra nVidia NF200 PCIE controllers to add multi GPU capabilities. These controllers aren't as fast as the ones built into the motherboard chipset, since they add a couple of layers between the GPU and the CPU, bu they're certainly fast enough for adding CUDA power. So this system uses one of those, a few video cards and an i7-2600K to bring you the best of both worlds: a lot of CPU and a lot of GPU, in as reasonable a package as we can manage.
Here's what you do. Plug the Radeon card into the slot labeled PCIEX16_1 (the one that will be on top when the computer is assembled and the tower is upright). The nVidia cards go in PCIEX16_2 and PCIEX8_2. Why the ATI card, which doesn't even support CUDA? Precisely because it doesn't support CUDA. Plug the monitor into it, and your software isn't going to get confused into loading a CUDA job onto a GPU that's also got a display taking up its onboard memory.
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 560 cards with 2GB RAM onboard. (These are better for CUDA than the Quadro 4000 cards that people who aren't smart enough to read this site buy.)
-More power!
The 2GB GTX 560 is a great option for running software like this, because at only $280 each they replace Quadro 4000 cards costing $780 each, saving you $1000 on a dual GPU system at no cost in performance. You can thank me later.
If you want even more power, two 3GB Geforce 580 cards can be used with this configuration; however, a 1000 watt power supply would be highly recommended. Three 3GB Geforce 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 High-End (CUDA Rendering Edition)
click here to view/purchase the parts list on Newegg
Back in December I wrote up a high end CUDA workstation with two Quadro 6000's and a FirePro v7800, and it cost $11,000. For some reason, none of you guys bought it. Maybe it was because of my rant on how CUDA hardware was far too expensive and then told you all not to buy it. Fortunately that 3GB Geforce 580 is out now and offers a more reasonable alternative, so at about $5,300 this system is actually a good buy for those who rely on CUDA. I'm leaving in the FirePro, because you'll get more CUDA performance if you have the monitor hooked up to a separate, non-CUDA card.
Now, why do I keep writing 3GB Geforce 580 like that with the Amazon link? Because Newegg doesn't have it listed yet. So the configuration in the Newegg link is incomplete; you must also add two of the 3GB Geforce 580 from Amazon.
Render Power
The Render Node
click here to view/purchase the parts list on Newegg
This system 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.
Render Farms
I don't think a lot of you guys are making your own rackmount render farms, so I'm leaving it out this month and seeing whether anybody objects, as a way of gauging interest. Also, as 've said before, these things are a bit more involved than workstations, so one of your first steps should be to consult with a company that sells dedicated render farm equipment - Boxx is a good choice. 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.
-27" gets you a whole lot of pixels at a more reasonable price point than a 30". The Dell U2711 is a solid option. Another one to consider is the Apple 27" Cinema Display. This gives excellent color, but since it was originally intended to be plugged into a Apple laptop you can really only use it if your video card has a DisplayPort plug, and you add this adapter. (All of the video cards in this month's systems have at last one DisplayPort, but only the Radeon 6870 in the Budget already has Mini DisplayPort and does not require any adapter.)
-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.
Intel has fixed the problem with the SATA controller for Socket 1155 motherboards, and a healthy selection of boards are back on the market. The old ones were recalled, so just make sure to buy from a reliable source. For example, any of the boards on this list on Newegg.com
Vendors are still having some trouble with keeping these motherboards in stock, so if you want to build one of the configurations below and the motherboard is out of stock, just grab a substitute from the list. Match the chipset (P67 or H61), the form factor (ATX or Micro ATX) and the number of DIMM slots.
These new CPUs are excellent values in the lower to mid range of computers we write about on this site. What they're not good for is the very low end - they start at $125, so they're not going to show up in a $300 PC - and the high end. Later this year, lower end chips will be released carrying the Pentium label, and high end chips will come later with up to 8 cores, quad channel RAM support and more PCIE lanes for better multi-GPU support. The high end will require new motherboards, so if you buy now a later upgrade will be a bit complicated, but the future high end hardware will also be expensive so if you're looking for anything up to a Midrange configuration, now is a great time to buy.
If for any reason you don't want to go with the new Intel line - for example, the multi-GPU motherboard selection is slim - the 6-core AMD 1100T
More on Hardware
What I wrote in February about GPUs still holds. I'm not recommending Quadros in any of these systems because the value isn't there, but if you happen to need a 6GB workstation card you want this Quadro 6000. For CUDA work, I actually recommend the 3GB Geforce 580. 3GB is pretty good, the GPU is faster for CUDA than the Quadro's and the price is much more attractive. Either way, you're going to want a high end power supply because these GPUs burn a lot of electrons.
SSD prices are down, and I've included them in several of these configurations. If you install your OS and commonly used programs on it and keep only your active projects on it, the space should be plenty and load times will drop precipitously. If you want to upgrade an existing PC consider this package which includes hardware and software to make moving hard drives simpler. It's an affordable and easy way to get into SSD.
To get the most out of an SSD, with its high speed and relatively small capacity, install the OS and software on the SSD and keep your active project files there, and use a conventional hard drive for the rest of your storage.
Now, on 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
Last time I ran the numbers on Sandy Bridge hardware, there wasn't an option inexpensive enough to use in the Intern. Now that the i3-2100 is available, I'm using it, and by going with its onboard GPU (better than the last generation of onboard GPU, but not good enough for anything beyond the Intern) and taking advantage of its power savings this build is $50 less than the previous Intern. The Micro ATX case minimizes space needs so you can pack more interns in the back room next to the copiers than ever before.
Why go with a configuration like this instead of a $400 generic PC, when it's just for the interns and the non-techies? Reliability. This is the least expensive we can make a configuration like this, without resorting to obsolete or shoddy parts. What's lacking? Expandability. These H61 motherboards give you only what you need to build a simple system, they don't take well to video card upgrades and have fewer DIMM slots than the higher end parts.
The Photoshopper
click here to view/purchase the parts list on Newegg
The Core i7 2600K has been consistently racking up the highest scores ever seen in Photoshop benchmarks, which makes quite a bit of sense, considering the benefits of the new architecture and this CPU's 3.8GHz Turbo Boost capability. With a good motherboard, a solid but extremely efficient video card and an SSD boot disk plus a RAID for working files, in a quiet Antec Sonata case, you've got the best box you can get for Creative Suite applications for under $1300. Not bad, huh?
The RE4 drives bring improved reliability to compensate for the added risks of RAID 0, but 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
The i5-2500K and Radeon 6850 represent the latest, most efficient technology. They match up well and keep this workstation under $1200, making it an easy way to meet the needs of modeling and rendering stills. This is also an ideal configuration for CAD users and with its quiet case and low power consumption, is an excellent choice for an architecture firm's standard desktop PC and a much better choice than the usual single-Xeon-with-low-end-Quadro that Dell et al sell by the thousand to firms that don't read this site.
The Midrange (Regular Edition)
click here to view/purchase the parts list on Newegg
The Midrange builds on the Budget's strengths with a faster CPU, larger SSD, higher end motherboard, better case and a middle of the line FirePro v5800 workstation video card. Depending on your needs, you could easily replace this with a high end consumer card such as a Geforce 570 or ATI's latest Radeon 6970 and expect excellent performance. Serious Cinema4D users, SolidWorks users and Maya users should opt for the FirePro, but it's not so important in Max, AutoCAD and Revit, and if this is for at home use and you also want to game on it (it's okay, we understand) the good consumer cards will give you a performance boost.
Take advantage of the motherboard's excellent SATA3 capabilities to run the SSD and Caviar Black drives at peak speeds. If you're an overclocker, you should also be pleased with this board, but do make sure to research safe overclocking before trying it, since that's beyond the scope of this site.
The High-End (Regular Edition)
click here to view/purchase the parts list on Newegg
There's been less movement at the high end of the market, with the replacement for the Socket 1366 chips still several months off. The six core i7-970 is still very close to the top of the single-CPU heap and the best value going at under $600. The Asus Sabertooth motherboard is still pulling in excellent reviews and is built to last.
The FirePro V7800 is the best thing in this price class for powering your viewports. We're still waiting for nVidia to come out with a Quadro based on a newer core than the inefficient GF100, and until they do I remain reluctant to recommend a Quadro, though if you do have that as a requirement for some reason your best bet in this price class is the Quadro 4000.
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.) Or, if you want to get extreme, you can even buy two of the SSD's and RAID those. There are two SATA3 ports to run the SSD's at peak speed, and the RE4 hard drives are happy on the SATA2 ports.
The Maxer
click here to view/purchase the parts list on Newegg
Attention 3DSMax users! There's a software bug that you should know about. It seems that when running Max 2011 and Windows 7 on a 12-core system with Hyperthreading turned on an an nVidia video card, there is a bug... somewhere, in... some software product. It's really quite unclear exactly what is going on, since none of the companies involved will fess up to having caused the problem, but it makes Max run very slow. This is all I can tell you. There are conflicting reports on whether ATI cards are also affected. But basically, if you have one of these dual-six workstations and Max is running no faster than it would on your grandmother's Pentium II, try turning off hyperthreading in the BIOS settings.
Now, I'm happy to report that there is finally a faster option that the dual X5680. 4% faster, to be exact. Now don't all go running off to buy these at the same time. But anyway, you still won't find a more powerful workstation without overclocking. Not that you can't overclock this one - but considering what you're spending on it, please do be careful.
As for video cards, I'm still sticking with the FirePro v8800 because nothing else has come along to make me change my mind. 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. But please, don't buy one of those Quadros for CUDA. If you want CUDA get the FirePro v7800 2GB and a 3GB Geforce 580.
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.
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
There are now Socket 1155 boards using extra nVidia NF200 PCIE controllers to add multi GPU capabilities. These controllers aren't as fast as the ones built into the motherboard chipset, since they add a couple of layers between the GPU and the CPU, bu they're certainly fast enough for adding CUDA power. So this system uses one of those, a few video cards and an i7-2600K to bring you the best of both worlds: a lot of CPU and a lot of GPU, in as reasonable a package as we can manage.
Here's what you do. Plug the Radeon card into the slot labeled PCIEX16_1 (the one that will be on top when the computer is assembled and the tower is upright). The nVidia cards go in PCIEX16_2 and PCIEX8_2. Why the ATI card, which doesn't even support CUDA? Precisely because it doesn't support CUDA. Plug the monitor into it, and your software isn't going to get confused into loading a CUDA job onto a GPU that's also got a display taking up its onboard memory.
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 560 cards with 2GB RAM onboard. (These are better for CUDA than the Quadro 4000 cards that people who aren't smart enough to read this site buy.)
-More power!
The 2GB GTX 560 is a great option for running software like this, because at only $280 each they replace Quadro 4000 cards costing $780 each, saving you $1000 on a dual GPU system at no cost in performance. You can thank me later.
If you want even more power, two 3GB Geforce 580 cards can be used with this configuration; however, a 1000 watt power supply would be highly recommended. Three 3GB Geforce 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 High-End (CUDA Rendering Edition)
click here to view/purchase the parts list on Newegg
Back in December I wrote up a high end CUDA workstation with two Quadro 6000's and a FirePro v7800, and it cost $11,000. For some reason, none of you guys bought it. Maybe it was because of my rant on how CUDA hardware was far too expensive and then told you all not to buy it. Fortunately that 3GB Geforce 580 is out now and offers a more reasonable alternative, so at about $5,300 this system is actually a good buy for those who rely on CUDA. I'm leaving in the FirePro, because you'll get more CUDA performance if you have the monitor hooked up to a separate, non-CUDA card.
Now, why do I keep writing 3GB Geforce 580 like that with the Amazon link? Because Newegg doesn't have it listed yet. So the configuration in the Newegg link is incomplete; you must also add two of the 3GB Geforce 580 from Amazon.
Render Power
The Render Node
click here to view/purchase the parts list on Newegg
This system 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.
Render Farms
I don't think a lot of you guys are making your own rackmount render farms, so I'm leaving it out this month and seeing whether anybody objects, as a way of gauging interest. Also, as 've said before, these things are a bit more involved than workstations, so one of your first steps should be to consult with a company that sells dedicated render farm equipment - Boxx is a good choice. 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.
-27" gets you a whole lot of pixels at a more reasonable price point than a 30". The Dell U2711 is a solid option. Another one to consider is the Apple 27" Cinema Display. This gives excellent color, but since it was originally intended to be plugged into a Apple laptop you can really only use it if your video card has a DisplayPort plug, and you add this adapter. (All of the video cards in this month's systems have at last one DisplayPort, but only the Radeon 6870 in the Budget already has Mini DisplayPort and does not require any adapter.)
-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: 3dsmax, architectural, ati, autocad, autodesk, cad, core i7, cpu, cuda, firepro, geforce, gpu, intel, photoshop, quadro, radeon, revit, sandy bridge, vray, workstations
posted by Andy Lynn at 7:26 PM
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