Advice for a rig to render faster in 3ds Max?

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audacity10

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I'm looking at upgrading my PC to achieve faster render times in 3ds Max / Realfow / etc, with the added bonus of being able to play the latest games without a hitch :)

My price range is ~$1000 (~£600) and I'm looking at replacing the CPU, motherboard, RAM and graphics card.

//a point of concern; 3ds Max renders with Mental Ray which is Nvidia - does this mean I must stick to an Nvidia card or would a Radeon still work with Max?
 
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I have looked through the parts and it seems like everything sould work without a problem. If you are ok with the higher price, then you made a good choice with the processor + graphics bundle, because you are getting the 3930k six-core processor which will do a great job in processing and with the GTX 780 you can play all new games (BF 4...) on ultra without any lag and so you will be able to do with new games that come out, because the GTX 780 is a great card (if you have the budget you might want to grab a 780ti, but that will add quite a lot to the price ). So in my oppinion all the parts you selected will work and you should get a massive ammount of power for rendering and gaming.
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k1114

k1114

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Mental ray is cpu based so gpu is irrelevant. They tried making it gpu accelerated which resulted in a new renderer, iray, which also comes with max and is cuda only. Max also comes with quicksilver, a gpu renderer that can use either amd or nvidia. Realflow will also work with either. You might want to list the "etc." software jus tto make sure. Do you want $ or £ because it will affect part prices depending on where you are from.
 
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audacity10

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Thanks for the reply K1114.

My 'etc' software would be Adobe After Effects and Adobe Premiere, but I'm not sure they would be affected in the same way since they're fundamentally 2d editing programs?

I live in the UK but I put both dollars and pounds because I've noticed Newegg.com undercuts pretty much all the prices of UK items and might still be cheaper even after import duty.
 
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KOKOJUMBO

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If you are looking for an upgrade that will make your rendering faster then you should focus on getting a new cpu. I would go with an Intel i7 series processor. You can get some pretty good mobo + cpu bundles on NCIX and on newegg you can get a i7 3930k 6-core processor in the cybermonday sale for 450 bucks (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116492). For your mobo you need a one with the LGA 2011 socket (I would chose an Asus or MSI, but thats my personal preference). As of the graphics card a GTX 760 or 770 would do just fine for current gen games and you will not need a super high end GPU for your 3Ds Max.
 
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audacity10

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Ok I've been looking through your advice Koko, and come up with a bundle (which is probably too expensive but it's a start!).

CPU + graphics card; http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.1490654

Mobo: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131855

RAM: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820104382

Will these components be compatible, and suitable for what I'm after based on the software I use?

BTW, the 1st link doesn't seem to work properly unless you copy/paste it into your browser.
 
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KOKOJUMBO

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Dec 2, 2013
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I have looked through the parts and it seems like everything sould work without a problem. If you are ok with the higher price, then you made a good choice with the processor + graphics bundle, because you are getting the 3930k six-core processor which will do a great job in processing and with the GTX 780 you can play all new games (BF 4...) on ultra without any lag and so you will be able to do with new games that come out, because the GTX 780 is a great card (if you have the budget you might want to grab a 780ti, but that will add quite a lot to the price ). So in my oppinion all the parts you selected will work and you should get a massive ammount of power for rendering and gaming.
 
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audacity10

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Great thanks for checking that over, Koko. I actually bought all those parts last night so it's a relief to see it get a nod of approval! Together it blew my budget completely but it looks worth it. Cheers :)
 
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k1114

k1114

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You pretty much got top end on both cpu and gpu which is good if you can afford it. I'd suggest trying to get away from mental ray and use iray or quicksilver. It can't use all the materials that mr can use but it'll render 10x faster. For after effects and premiere, you will need to add the gpu to the cuda list to have gpu acceleration. After effects's cuda is only for 3d raytracing so you may not need it although it is really easy to add it. In "Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Premiere Pro" there is a "cuda_supported_cards.txt" that you just add "GeForce GTX 780". In the after effects folder, it's called "raytracer_supported_cards.txt".
 
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audacity10

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Good advice there K1114, I'll definitely give both iray and quicksilver a shot - certainly while I wait for my new hardware to arrive. I'll be sure to add the GPU to the Cuda list for both Premiere and After Effects too. Really looking forward to getting that extra kick of power which has been so lacking with my current machine.

This has been invaluable advice guys, really appreciate it!
 
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