Improve Render Times

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skacore_dan

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Nov 9, 2006
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Hi all,

I would like to improve my home pc, and turn it into a workstation that would be dedicated towards single frame still renders (not animation fly throughs), for architectural visualisation.
edit - software primarily used is - 3DS MAX + Vray

I am on OS - Win 8.1

My current spec is the following;
Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD5 Intel X58
Intel® Core™ i7 965 3.20GHz Extreme
Corsair XMS3 12GB (6x2GB) DDR3 1600MHz
1x Samsung Evo SSD - 250GB
1x Samsung Evo SSD - 500GB
2x 500GB 7200RPM SATA II HDD
Nvidia Geforce GTX 780 ti
Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium.

I have up to £2000 to spend in upgrading my rig.
Would I see much of difference between a 10 core and 12 core cpu?
Should I bump the RAM to 64gig?

How much of a speed impact would going from my old generation quad core, to a 10 or 12 core cpu be? Would we only be talking fractions of a second, or large boosts?

This is what I was looking at;
CPU - Intel Xeon E5-2670v2 2.50GHz 10-Core with Hyperthreading & Turbo (Socket 2011) - Retail
MOBO - Asus Rampage IV Extreme Black Edition Intel X79 (Socket 2011) DDR3 Motherboard
RAM - Kingston HyperX Beast 64GB (8x8GB) PC3-17100C11 2133MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX21C11T3FK8/64X)

Bring it to a total of - £2,089 (I could probably shop around to bring this down to £2k)
What are ones thoughts on this? How will that improve rendering times? Is it worth it?

Thanks
Dan.
 
Solution
k1114
Third time I'm saying this but the 5960x is overpriced and dual cpu is cheaper and better performance. The higher you go the lower the value. If you go with 2x 6 core, like 2630v2 if you won't wait til next month, it'll be better than either of those builds. Pcpartpicker isn't good when looking up non gaming builds. They are missing a lot of xeons and don't have the majority of dual socket mobos. There is only 1 mobo and newegg has 52.
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Bean007

Bean007

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Feb 18, 2005
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Well don't know what software you're using and you need to find out 1st if they currently support more then quad cores. It's possible they do and then perhaps not. If not then find out if they will cause if they won't then those xtra cores won't be good for what you're wanting to do right now unless you change software. More ram is always good for loading up a lot of plug-ins. But 1st need to find out the software and what it currently supports and if it will be changed if it doesn't support what you're looking at.
 
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ingtar33

ingtar33

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Dec 17, 2012
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single frame rendering is almost entirely a single core exercise... so overclocking a high end cpu would probably give you the best results... here are some parts to look at.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor (£236.34 @ Aria PC)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i 77.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler (£78.73 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: MSI Z97-G45 Gaming ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£89.96 @ Scan.co.uk)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance Pro 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory (£123.45 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance Pro 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory (£123.45 @ Amazon UK)
Case: Fractal Design Define R4 w/Window (Black Pearl) ATX Mid Tower Case (£84.98 @ Novatech)
Total: £736.91
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-08-15 02:30 BST+0100

I upgraded the ram to some faster ram, increased the size of the ram as well, so you can look into a ramdisk (i'm assuming you don't have windows 7 home premium, if you do you'll be limited to 16gb of ram), i sorta think you'll be disappointed going to a 10 core because as i said. single frame rendering is almost entirely a single core process, so a fast single core will do you better then many slower cores. a 10c/20t chip is awesome for a server though... if you plan to turn the pc into a server then i can give you some other suggestions.

I included a case in the event yours does not support a 240mm radiator.
 
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ingtar33

ingtar33

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Dec 17, 2012
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mmm... well that's a little different then single frame rendering... that's 3d rendering. 3d rendering will definately benefit from more cores... just as it will benefit from faster cores. according to their website 3ds max will support up to 16 cores...

I would suggest you wait for the new 8C/16T i7-5960X to come out... that will hit your wallet for arround £1000, grab a x99 motherboard and 16gb+ of ddr4 ram and you'll be out £1500 or so... toss in that h100i and the case and you'll be bumping up against that £2000

Understand the main reason i'm pointing at a i7 instead of a xeon, is because of the overclocking potential. Throw in the ddr4 ram and you should see a nice jump in performance in your rendering.
 
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k1114

k1114

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May 2, 2010
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I'd suggest waiting for the new cpus as well which will be out next month. But I'd say to get 2 cpus, it should be cheaper. I would to say a dual socket mobo would cost more but it's cheaper than what you chose.

Max's max is not relevant as it's not rendering, vray is and it doesn't have a reachable limit on a single system, at least not with today's available cpus.

When talking about performance increase, you don't talk in seconds. The reason is render times vary. From a i7 965 to 2670v2 would more than halve your render time.

@ingtar, Just curious, but what do you think single frame rendering is?
 
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ingtar33

ingtar33

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Dec 17, 2012
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a single 2d frame~ is typically what it means. Which is 100% a single cored affair in pretty much any program i've seen... should have thought it through though... architectural uses would certainly include 3d modeling.
 
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skacore_dan

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I really appreciate the replies, so I should wait untill the next CPUs come out next month?

So can I try and sum things up, I do apologise as Im not to tech savvy;

8Core, 16Thread i7-5960X when its released? £1000 is the estimated price?
Get DDR4 ram when its available. How much? dependant on pricing - 16, or 24 gig?
an X99 mobo when they are released
Corsair H100i to cool the cpu - Will this fit all the new hardware?

There was mention of Dual CPU. Was one suggestion to get two of the 8Core, 16Thread i7-5960X?
Can one elaborate on this more?

If this is not overclocked, will I still half my render times, if not more with this upgrade?

Cheers
Daniel.
 
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k1114

k1114

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May 2, 2010
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You can't get dual i7, you have to get xeon which would be cheaper than getting an overpriced 5960x. Even getting current dual cpus should beat the 5960x at that price. You'd also save time from not having to oc and can save money with cheaper coolers.

You'd probably get at least 32gb ram.

I suspect the 5960x will be similar performance to the 2670v2 so it'll still be half.
 
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skacore_dan

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Here is where i am at now, with what I am thinking of upgrading to, may i have some feedback on this;

CPU - 8Core, 16Thread i7-5960X - what speeds will be avail?
MOBO - MSI X99S - http://www.guru3d.com/news-story/msi...ard-photo.html
RAM - Crucial Ballistix Elite 32GB (4x8GB) DDR4 2666MHz

GPU - 2X 870 GTX
For now I will stick with my single GTX 780 Ti WF3, and wait to see about the 870.

Case, im tempted to get a new case and go with a Corsair Air 540

Cooling, im really unsure, perhaps the h100i AIO?
I do like the look of Tuniq Tower 120 extreme, if they do an adapter for the new haswell, that or a Dark Rock Pro 3.
I am so very tempted to try an EK watercooling setup, but as I have never even touched watercooling, this could be a great risk.

Im still not sure if spending this sort of money is badly spent on the hardware I listed.
What are your thoughts?

Cheers
 
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Amencerment

Amencerment

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Check out this setup, I'll explain the parts and reason for it.

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/Wd8fxr
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/Wd8fxr/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Xeon E5-2640 V2 2.0GHz 8-Core Processor ($859.99 @ Newegg) <-- 8 core beast with computing power craziness with out dropping $$$$ on more juice.

Motherboard: Asus Z9PE-D8 WS SSI EEB Dual-CPU LGA2011 Motherboard ($504.98 @ SuperBiiz) <-- Start with 1 CPU and if you feel like you want more, you can add another to the mix...

Memory: Corsair Vengeance 64GB (8 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($669.99 @ Newegg) <-- Max it out because RAM is your rendering friend

Other: Swiftech H20-320 EDGE HD Series Liquid Cooling Kit - CPU Block (Universal Mount) ($239.99) <-- This has the ability to expand to more than 1 water block if wanted, this can cool 2 CPUs with one all in one unit and it pushes allot of air and you can add 3 more fans to the RAD for push pull configuration.

Total: $2274.95
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-08-30 17:31 EDT-0400
 
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skacore_dan

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So i put together 2 part pickers, 5960x build and a xeon build. The Xeon is more expensive, however if it can be afforded, would it be a significant increase over the 5960x

Xeon;
http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/user/Redstar_dan/saved/dG8bt6
This manually put into cart on scan.co.uk is;
£2,800 ish

5960x
http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/user/Redstar_dan/saved/gZM48d
This manually put into cart on overclockers.co.uk is;
£2,400 ish

I would like to note, ive not overclocked before, so the 5960x would be left at stock i would guess, knowing what im like.
 
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Amencerment

Amencerment

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I completely agree, I just put together with what you can get at this very moment.
 
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skacore_dan

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Instead of going with a duel mobo, could I just use the parts i picked in my 5960x partpicker link, but hold out for the Xeon 10C E5-2660 v3 2.6GHz 25MB, would that be significantly better than the 5960x?

Are there 2011-v3 socket duel mobos previewed anywhere?
 
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k1114

k1114

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May 2, 2010
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Third time I'm saying this but the 5960x is overpriced and dual cpu is cheaper and better performance. The higher you go the lower the value. If you go with 2x 6 core, like 2630v2 if you won't wait til next month, it'll be better than either of those builds. Pcpartpicker isn't good when looking up non gaming builds. They are missing a lot of xeons and don't have the majority of dual socket mobos. There is only 1 mobo and newegg has 52.
 
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