Render Speed

Quote
StevieJ wrote: I guess I was wrong.....i7s are quads.....

4 cores, with Hyper-Threading means 8 logical cores.

Quote
StevieJ wrote: Also, highly recommended to get the three channel SLI for rendering. Power supply does add $$$.....but I'll pretend until I get my electric bill....

What cards are you going to run in SLI? Quadros?

Quote
StevieJ wrote: You guys are right.....great machines for $2000.....but I feel their speed and upgradability will get outdated much quicker. It's kinda like buying a lexus or Mercedes with prolonged dependability and value.....as opposed to going through a couple of Chevys for the same price......decisions, decisions.....

Computer technology moves so fast it's really tough to build a "future proof" pc. I'm already looking forward to upgrading once the 6 and 8 core chips come around.

Quote
StevieJ wrote: I'm going to look into rendering speed comparisons later on today

I've been doing some tests with FF...
These are all filters that come with the program.

Decorative Tiles
Wood
Organics
Circuitry
Crysta

Rendered those at 10000x10000, 5000x5000, and 2500x2500.
Just used the default preset, with default aa.
After each render was complete I shut down FF and reopened.
I'll post the times and RAM usage later when I can get to the file.

Want to try those out and post your times?

I have 3dsMax 2010 on my pc, and I'm downloading a trial of CS4 so I can let you know how this GTX275 does. Anything in particular you'd like me to try? I don't really know much about 3ds... I use Blender mostly, but I'll figure out enough to run some tests.

Quote
meyendlesss wrote: I use Blender mostly

I looked into that program.....but shied away from it because of the difficult interface. Alot of people want them to change it.....but I got the feeling that they weren't going to.....kinda just because people wanted them to do it and didn't want to be told what to do.....

Quote
meyendlesss wrote: Anything in particular you'd like me to try?

Well....it would take a day or two to render a max resolution image in FF using a slow filter.....so I don't think you want to tie up your machine like that.....but thanx for the offer.....

Quote
meyendlesss wrote: What cards are you going to run in SLI? 3 Quadros?

Actually.....yes.....can get three Quadros at same price as the single CX.....it's about $1400 - $1600 of the total price.....yikes!!! The CX is the second best Nvidia......with the top card being $3500.....

Quote
meyendlesss wrote: Computer technology moves so fast it's really tough to build a "future proof" pc. I'm already looking forward to upgrading once the 6 and 8 core chips come around.

Very true.....but that Ephex has serious add-on room.....so I'll be able to load it up with anything and everything if I want.....but I haven't called in my credit card just yet.....still throwing up what will be the best bang for the buck.....don't want to jump and end up kicking myself.....and i do want to look into building it myself to save big $$$.....as you have suggested.....

KG, I just got done reading about the soft mod of GeForce into Quadro....which would work and save me alot of $$$......so many thanx for that one!!!

Quote
meyendlesss wrote: What's a 'slow' filter?

Any filter that uses external image input with alot of blur, refraction, and noise on a surface result.....Dilla, ThreeDee, and CFandM have quite a few of them....

Quote
meyendlesss wrote: Seriously... I'll try one at max res. I regularly tie up my machine for stuff like this. I'm curious to see how long it will take.

I think max res in FF and PS is 30,000 x 30,000.....not sure though.....I'll check it out.....

Quote
meyendlesss wrote: I thought max res in FF was like 65000x65000.

Yeah, I think you're right.....now remember Vlad saying that.....

I'm going to be doing alot at max resolutions like that.....mostly for fine art digital works that need to look good (no pixel detection) at large sizes.....so that's why a "screaming" rendering machine is so important. The images will then be shot onto slide film and then printed in Cybachrome.....

The way it has been explained to me.....i7, 12GB RAM, 3 SLI channels, and three GPUs is about as good as it's going to get for rendering.....right now anyway.....

KG's soft-mod find on the GeForce cards is a really good money-saver.....so now wondering what I'm going to loose by putting it all together myself.....like warrantees, support, etc.....

Check this out... if it's true then as well as introducing the i5 (or whatever they end up calling it) and the i7 950 and 975, Intel is going to be dropping the 940.

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/hardware...e-i7-920/1

Quote
StevieJ wrote: Figures.... just when I thought that I was getting the latest and greatest, they are talking about releasing the new "Lynnfield" line.....

From what I hear Lynnfield will not be better than i7. They're supposed to be aimed more at gamers and casual users. Who knows...

I've been doing some testing with Photoshop CS4. Max image size is 30000x30000. All GPU accelerated features are working fine. No lag at all when zooming, rotating, using hand-toss tool (that sounds a little dirty), and bird's-eye view. All pixel aspect ratio filtering works too.

Some of the 3d features in PS also use the GPU, but I haven't figured out how to use those yet. The render doesn't appear to use the GPU much, if at all.

http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/404/kb404898.html

If you're going to get 12GB of RAM you may want to look for 1333MHz instead of 1600. It would be cheaper and perform pretty much as well. Unless you overclock it'll only run at 1066Mhz anyway.

Quote
StevieJ wrote: Oh, I thought it was supposed to be a faster architecture all round....

Have a look at this article...

http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/...spx?i=3570

There's more info out there, but it's still hard to say what will happen.

Quote
StevieJ wrote: It kinda doesn't make sense that FF is a PS plugin that will only handle up to 65000x65000.....when PS handles up to 300000x300000.....should be the same.....

PS max is 30,000...

Quote
StevieJ wrote: I don't understand this yet.....but I will.....

1600MHz RAM will be faster, but it probably won't be terribly noticable. I have 1333MHz and it's fine and was much cheaper. The i7's (well, the motherboards actually) have RAM set to 1066MHz by default so whatever you get you'll have to mess around in your BIOS to get the correct settings. You could get 1066MHz RAM if you definatly do not plan on overclocking.

Quote
StevieJ wrote: LOL.... I just realized that we have an "eye-ball" avatar theme going on here.... LOL.....

Quote
StevieJ wrote: It says that max is 300,000 x 300,000.....copied directly from help..... Photoshop supports a maximum pixel dimension of 300,000 by 300,000 pixels per image.

You're right. I tried to open one 35,000 x 35,000 and got an error. Guess I should have read it before I clicked 'ok'. It just said that images larger images may not be supported by older versions. Not that it matters much to me personally... the only Photoshop I have is Elements 5 which came free with my wacom tablet. I can't afford good software. If I hadn't gotten FF for free I probably wouldn't be using it.

A blank 300,000 x 300,000 file in PS is 251.5GB...

Quote
StevieJ wrote: Well.....I can't say "never".....I definitely want to game with it too.....

I'm curious why you think overclocking is only good for gaming? If you have a stable overclock it will render just fine. It may take you a little time to get there, but it's definately worth it.

Not only do you get a free performance boost, but it's fun too!
Be careful though, you may get hooked and end up spending half of your time messing with your hardware

Quote
StevieJ wrote: just imagine what highly detailed images will be.....

Quote
StevieJ wrote: Multiple sales people and 3ds Max users have repeatedly mentioned that it's not stable to do when rendering.....high probability of incuring errors......where in games, errors don't really matter.....

I have yet to encounter a stability problem now that I've got my system setup, and I use it 90% for 3d/2d work... I don't game much at all. Perhaps those people didn't take the time to do it properly, or maybe they just didn't know/learn how. You will likely experience errors while tweaking your overclock, but that's normal unless you know everything already. I got blue screen after blue screen until I got things stable, but now that I have it all set up properly my system doesn't flinch at anything. I've run a 24hr Prime95 test which puts the CPU under 100% load... it also tests RAM stability. If my machine can withstand 24hrs sraight at full load it's more or less rock solid. There are also other tests I've run with no errors. I can render large images without any errors... You don't have to believe me, but my system is flying here at 3.8GHz and I paid for a 2.6GHz chip. Temperatures are good, and voltages are within Intel's specifications. Makes me happy! I suggest you talk to some people who actually overclock on a regular basis. Whether or not you decide to overclock is up to you though.

Oh... and that pc you linked to from Maingear is overclocked.
What do they say about stability?

Quote
StevieJ wrote: I've already been sucked into the abyss of messing around with what hardware to buy.....so I'm a goner when I actually get it.....

It really is fun, and easy to get hooked on. If you start to overclock and can get past the first errors you won't want to stop. There have been many days I've spent more time in my BIOS than in Windows. I'm still learning, and don't want to be too reckless with my hardware just yet though. There are risks involved, but you'd have to push pretty far before it'll do any damage.

Then you get the fun of watching all the parts you bought go down in price... .
Hardware value drops almost daily it seems, and there are always great sales on at different online shops. Almost makes me want to buy a system... play with it for a few months... then sell it and buy new parts to play with. Anyone want to buy a computer???

nice suggestion.......
sales tracking software

well, any top-end box is going to be mostly for those that do graphics and such professionally. if you have a render farm, time is money and you more than make up for the higher prices in time saved. but, that's doing things at a pro commercial level. for us peons, you can put together a good rig for half the cost of some of those i listed and even less if you know where to shop.

but, it's always fun to drool