Looking for a powerful workstation for 3D Rendering

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JeremyLoh

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Mar 21, 2016
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Hi there,

My name is Jeremy and I am looking for a good workstation for the purpose of rendering using 3DS max and Lumion Pro (for building models, and huge projects). (Budget limit about 7-9k USD)

We were looking at this specifications :

HP Z640 Configuration
CPU :Intel Xeon E5-2660 v3 2.6 2133 10C 1st CPU
RAM :32GB DDR4-2133 (2X16GB) 1CPU Registered Ram
Graphic Card : NVIDIA Quadro M6000 12GB DL-DVI(o)+4XDP
HD : HP Z Turbo Drive G2 512GB PCIe 1st SSD
HD :2TB 7200 RPM SATA 1st HD

Would anyone has any comments on the configuration above and what other allternative we can get for a more effective build?

Also, any feedback on how a MAC Pro would compare against the above?

Thanks.
 
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bambiboom



JeremyLoh,

This is a very big subject. In my view there is scope to use both consumer and workstation cards, but if image quality is more important than the speed, the workstation drivers and the enhanced double precision and in upeer level worsktation card EC error-correcting RAM are essential. Many 3D CAD programs run viewports with simultaneous views of the object, photo and...
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bambiboom

bambiboom

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Apr 7, 2012
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JeremyLoh,

For this use, I would suggest a dual Xeon system with two Xeon E5-2637 v3's which are four core @ 3.6 /3.7GHz. This provides he additional PCIe lanes and the E5-2637 v3 has very good Passmark single-threaded performance of 2155 and the dual Passmark CPU mark averages 16904. Comparitively, the E5-2660 v3 has single-threaded performance of 1832 and the dual Passmark CPU mark averages 23493. If the rendering were CPU-based, the E5-2660 v3 would be preferable, but given the GPU rendering of Lumion, the better single-threaded performance of the E5-2637 v3 (the highest of Xeon E5 v3's) instead of a single Quadro M6000, this suggestion uses four M4000's providing four GPU's, 24GB of memory and 6,566 CUDA cores for $3,168 as compared to one GPU, 12GB, and 3,072 CUDA cores of an M6000 for $5,000.

BambiBoom PixelCannon <ModaAnimaeditrendercadagrapharific i3DWork TurboSignature Extreme RenderBlaster 9900 ®©$$™®£™©™ _ 3.22.16

CPU: 2X Intel Xeon E5-2637 v3 4-core @ 3.5 / 3.7GHz $1,910 ($955 each)(Superbiiz)

CPU Coolers: 2X Supermicro SNK-P0048AP4 CPU Heatsink For LGA2011 >$64 ($32 each)

Motherboard: Supermicro X10DRG-Q (4X PCIe x16 GPU slots) > $499 (Superbiiz)

128GB (8 X 16GB) Crucial DDR4-2133 16GB/2Gx72 ECC/REG CL15 Server Memory > $800 (Superbiiz) (This motherboard has four GPU slots)

GPU: 4X PNY NVIDIA Quadro M4000 8GB GDDR5 4DisplayPorts PCI-Express Video Card >$3,168 ($792 each) (This would have to be studied to see if the CUDA processing could be applied to your use.)

Samsung 850 EVO Series 1TB 2.5 inch SATA3 Solid State Drive, Retail (3D V-NAND) > $327

RAID Controller : LSI MegaRAID SATA/SAS 9260-4i 6Gb/s PCI-Express 2.0 w/ 512MB onboard memory RAID Controller Card, Kit--Avago Technologies > $280

3X Seagate Constellation ES.3 ST3000NM0023 3TB 7200RPM SAS3/SAS 6.0 GB/s 128MB Enterprise Hard Drive (3.5 inch) $555 > ($185 each)

Seasonic SS-1050XP3 1050W 80 PLUS Platinum ATX12V/EPS12V Power Supply w/ Active PFC > $194

Case: LIAN LI PC-P80NB No Power Supply ATX Full Tower (Black) > $360

Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Professional SP1 64-bit English (1-Pack), OEM > $139.

____________________________________

TOTAL = $8,296

Cheers,

BambiBoom

1. HP z420 (2015) > Xeon E5-1660 v2 (6-core @ 3.7 / 4.0GHz) > 32GB DDR3 1866 ECC RAM > Quadro K4200 (4GB) > Intel 730 480GB (9SSDSC2BP480G4R5) > Western Digital Black WD1003FZEX 1TB> M-Audio 192 sound card > 600W PSU> > Windows 7 Professional 64-bit > Logitech z2300 speakers > 2X Dell Ultrasharp U2715H (2560 X 1440)>
[ Passmark Rating = 5064 > CPU= 13989 / 2D= 819 / 3D= 4596 / Mem= 2772 / Disk= 4555] [Cinebench R15 > CPU = 1014 OpenGL= 126.59 FPS] 7.8.15

2. Dell Precision T5500 (2011) (Revised) > 2X Xeon X5680 (6 -core @ 3.33 / 3.6GHz), 48GB DDR3 1333 ECC Reg. > Quadro K2200 (4GB ) > PERC H310 / Samsung 840 250GB / WD RE4 Enterprise 1TB > M-Audio 192 sound card > Logitech z313 > 875W PSU > Windows 7 Professional 64> HP 2711x (27", 1920 X 1080)
[ Passmark system rating = 3844 / CPU = 15047 / 2D= 662 / 3D= 3550 / Mem= 1785 / Disk= 2649] (12.30.15)





 
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JeremyLoh

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Mar 21, 2016
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Hi BambiBoom,

Thanks a lot for your reply.

Was wondering if you have any recommendation on reading material I can read up further on CUDA and CPU / GPU rendering?

Meanwhile, I was thinking of an alternative of going along these lines :

CPU : i7-5930k
RAM 32GB DDR4
Graphic Card : 2X GTX 980 Ti SLI
HD : 512 GB SSD
HD : 2TB 7200 rpm

and renting an online server (AWS) to perform rendering.

We have realized that the biggest issue we have is the time it takes to prepare for the rendering and animation due to the huge file size, such as assigning materials. Our sketchup filesize is about 200mb with 10 towers of office blocks.

What do you think?
 
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JeremyLoh

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Hi Dex Does computers,

Do you mean get a motherboard that supports two socket or get 2 cpus now?

How much memory would you recommend?

Thanks.
 
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bambiboom

bambiboom

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Apr 7, 2012
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JeremyLoh,

The best articles concerning rendering hardware are the series by Matt Bach on the Puget Systems site. That series describes the current transition to increased multi-threaded rendering applications. This trend is paradoxical as more cores is better- but only to a point, often 5-6-8 cores with Adobe software depending in the function and yet Solidworks is fully scalable.

Based on the test results in those articles, Adobe also doesn't like dual CPU's. As your firm is rendering online the emphasis of the system shifts to 3D modeling and for that I suggest that the CPU be chosen primarily on the basis of single-threaded performance.and have a single 8-core as a basis for modeling software and programs such as Revit to develop multi-threading, which I believe they will. this is again base don the Puget articles that show increases in multi-core efficiency up to 5-6-8 cores, however, 8-core CPU's can not have the single-threaded speed of a 6-core.

If you would consider:

Intel Xeon E5-1680 v3 8-core @ 3.2 /3.8GHz, 20MB cache,140W > $2.013 (Amazon)

And this CPU may be specified in an HP z440 or Dell Precision T5810. On Passmark benchmark results, the T5810 appears to have slightly better CPU performance than the HP (highest CPU score = 17362) (HIghest z440 CPU = 17151). in either system, specify a Samsung M.2 SM951 512GB primary drive - top Disk score of 11643.

The Quadro M6000 is fantastic for this use, but you might consider instead having a pair of Quadro M4000's (8GB). In that way, the pair of M4000's provide 2X GPU's, with 16GB memory and 3,688 CUDA cores to the Quadro M6000 which has a single GPU, 12GB, and 3,072 CUDA cores. Better yet, 2X M4000 = $1,586 to 1X M6000 = $4,999. With the savings, buy two really good monitors.

2X Philips 28-Inch 4K Ultra HD LED Monitor w/ 3840 x 2160 resolution (288P6LJEB) > $1,456 ($727 each)

2X Samsung 32" UHD Professional LED Monitor (U32D970Q) > $2,400 ($1,200 each)

Cheers,

BambiBoom






 
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JeremyLoh

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Mar 21, 2016
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Hi Bambiboom,

Kind of curious. You seem to be propogating xeons and quadro. However, I've been doing some reading and many have mentioned that the difference in performance (other than the temperature and the ECC ram ) does not have major impact in terms of its performance for rendering.

Is there a reason for your suggestions as such?

Thanks.
 
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bambiboom

bambiboom

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Apr 7, 2012
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JeremyLoh,

This is a very big subject. In my view there is scope to use both consumer and workstation cards, but if image quality is more important than the speed, the workstation drivers and the enhanced double precision and in upeer level worsktation card EC error-correcting RAM are essential. Many 3D CAD programs run viewports with simultaneous views of the object, photo and video editing /processing needs 10-bit, color-correction, x64 anti-aliasing instead of x16, and there are special batch processing capabilities in CUDA accelerated photo and video editing. As GTX/ Radeon are oriented towards high frame rates, they take a "good enough" approach to image quality. The choice between Quadro /Firepro and GTX/Radeon is between image quality and image quantity.

It's possible of course to use consumer/ gmaing cards for rendering, and this can be very fast as the CUDA cores are cheaper.. However, I tried seriously to use a GTX285 (2GB) fro 2D renderings in 2012 and I had poor results including crashes at 90% completion, poor color gradients, noticeable aliasing, artifacts, flat "lifeless" shadows and so on. I changed to Quadro FX 4800 1.5GB and concentrated on CPU rendering- I had an dual Xeon 8-core Dell Precision T5400 then- and all was solved.I think it was the x16 anti-aliasing that bothered me the most as the FX4800 ran a special Solidworks x128 AA- there was Quadro FX4800 version called the "CX" that was Solidworks specialized and that gave magically smooth gradients and textures.

I think the choice depends on budget and emphasis on speed as compared to image quality. If you are considering a Quadro M6000, budget seems not be a problem, and I would encourage that choice, or possibly a pair of Quadro M4000's which provide 2X GPU's, 16GB of memory to the M6000's 12GB, and 3,288 CUDA cores to 3072 in the M6000. Best of all, two M4000's cost about $1,700 to a single M6000's $5,000. However, research the programs you use or are likley to use interms of the ability to use dual GPU's as Adobe programs may in part not recognize dual GPU's.

Have a look at: Workstation Graphics: 14 FirePro And Quadro Cards by Igor Wallossek on this site in 2013 and although the models are obsolete, notice for example that a $175 Firepro V3900 is 3X faster in Maya than a $1,000 GTX Titan. There was not even an attempt to run Solidworks on GTX.

Content creation hardware has an emphasis on image quality at the expense of speed and the development of the rivers and lower numbers of sales makes them more expensive.

Cheers,

BambiBoom
 
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