Budget Rendering System ? I7 vs Xeon / GF vs R9

Getoiu,

There have been some very good suggestions so far and I'd only like to suggest a different approach from building a system.

An architectural system, because there is both 3D modeling and rendering, needs to have high performance in every subsystem- a fast CPU for 3D modeling, as many cores at a high speed as is practical, a fast workstation GPU for Open GL applications, and plenty of RAM for big files, and etc. 3ds Max is very demanding.

My solution for a limited budget is to upgrade a Dell Precision T5500 or better, a T7500 which can use a pair of Xeon X56xx CPU's.

I have two systems for architectural / industrial design work:

HP z420 (2015) > Xeon E5-1660 v2 six-core @ 3.7 / 4.0GHz > 32GB DDR3 ECC 1866 RAM > Quadro K4200 (4GB) > Intel 730 480GB (9SSDSC2BP480G4R5) > Western Digital Black WD1003FZEX 1TB> M-Audio 192 sound card > Logitech z2300 > Linksys AE3000 USB WiFi > 2X Dell Ultrasharp U2715H (2560 X 1440) > Windows 7 Professional 64 >
[ Passmark Rating = 5064 > CPU= 13989 / 2D= 819 / 3D= 4596 / Mem= 2772 / Disk= 4555] [Cinebench R15 > CPU = 1014 / OpenGL= 126.59 FPS] 7.8.15

Pending upgrade: HP /LSI 9212-4i PCIe SAS /SATA HBA RAID controller, 2X Seagate Constellation ES.3 1TB (RAID 1)

2. Dell Precision T5500 (2011) (Revised) > Xeon X5680 six -core @ 3.33 / 3.6GHz, 24GB DDR3 ECC 1333 > Quadro K2200 (4GB ) > Samsung 840 250GB / WD RE4 Enterprise 1TB > M-Audio 192 sound card > Linksys WMP600N PCI WiFi > Windows 7 Professional 64> HP 2711x (1920 X 1080)
[ Passmark system rating = 3490 / CPU = 9178 / 2D= 685 / 3D= 3566 / Mem= 1865 / Disk= 2122] [Cinebench R15 > CPU = 772 / OpenGL= 99.72 FPS] 7.8.15

With a Quadro 4000 the 2D=684 and 3D = 2000, with a Quadro K4200, 2D = 683 and 3D = 4708

Pending upgrade: PERC H310 PCIe SAS /SATA RAID controller, 2X WD Black 1TB (RAID 1)(Converts disk system from 3GB/s to 6GB/s

The results from these systems is quite different, but the HP purchased today would cost more than six times the amount spent on the T5500. And the T5500 has to potential to produce a quite a bit higher CPU score in Cinebench as I can add a 2nd Xeon X5680- this requires a CPU / Memory / Fan riser- about $120 in the US, another X5680- about $200, and three PC3-10900R (that= DDR3 1333 ECC registered) modules to populate the riser. The T7500 riser has 6 RAM slots.

The reason the T5500 can best the HP z420 in the CPU test is evidenced by the results for a pair or Xeon X5650' s. The X5680 is 6-cores / 12 threads @.3.33 / 3.6GHz and the X5650 pair is 12 cores 24 threads @ 2.66 / 3.06GHz. Still, the Cinebench CPU score of a pair of X5650's is 1279 - as compared to the 1014 of the single E5-1660 v2. This means that for rendering, the slower but more-cores of the X5650 will be an advantage.

My recommendation is then, that you consider buying a Dell Precision T7500 and change the specification to: 2X Xeon X5680 (6-core A 3.33 / 3.6GHz) or X5690 (6-core @ 3.47 / 3.73Ghz) , 48+GB RAM ( the X58 chipset uses memory in sets of 3) so the 12 motherboard slots as 12X 4GB = 48GB + the riser slots as 6X 4GB or 6X 2GB. The GPU I recommend is the Quadro K2200 (4GB) which are being sold used in the US for about $300-350.

If the budget is very tight, the system can be done with a single CPU, 24GB RAM and a Quadro K620 (2GB). The K620 has a performance somewhat better than a Quadro 4000 (2GB). The K1200 is Displayport only but with 4GB has a quite good performance- in the Quadro K4000 category.

Then add an SSD of 250 or 500GB for the OS /programmes in one partition and a partition for active files and a 1TB maech’l drive for storage, media, and separate partition for a system restore image.

When the system is up and running, add a PERC H310 PCIe SAS/SATA RAID controller and this will convert the system form 3GB/s to 6GB/s.

This sounds a bit of a fuss, but I think it’s still easier than researching, ordering, assembling, configuring, and testing a new system.

When I bought the T5500- which cost $190 including shipping, it was:

Dell Precision T5500 (2011) (Original): Xeon E5620 quad core @ 2.4 / 2.6 GHz > 6GB DDR3 ECC Reg 1333 > Quadro FX 580 (512MB) > Dell PERC 6/i SAS /SATA controller > Seagate Cheetah 15K 146GB > Windows 7 Professional 64-bit
[ Passmark system rating = 1479 / CPU = 4067 / 2D= 520 / 3D= 311 / Mem= 1473 / Disk= 1208]

The revisions I made: CPU /RAM /GPU, and Disks cost about $800, so the total is under $1,000.

And if I had to, I could have loaded programmes and used it as is- that is, been back to work in two or three hours, then when the new CPU or GPU arrived, plug it in and the system is never out of use more than an hour or so.

Anyway, that’s an alternative option to lead to a dual CPU system with very both good 3D modeling and rendering performance that a single CPU system can not equal- and for not a large amount of money.

Cheers,

BambiBoom

-ex Architectural Association, London