Practical Use - 2600 vs 3930

[michiback]

Hello All.
I'd really appreciate it if I could get some practical advice here.
I'm looking to build a system within the next few days. This new machine will strictly be for 3D rendering (Studio Max), and within a week's time, will essentially be going 24/7 (for about one month straight).
I've read previous threads and benchmarks, however I'm not sure how those figures will affect the day-to-day usage. From what I gather, the 6 cores in LGA2011 would definitely be of use in 3D rendering... is that correct?

To clarify, I use another machine (previous build, 2600K) to design and construct the 3D files, so the new machine will really just be a render slave, not to be used for 'productivity' apps.

In my head, I can't see how the 3930 machine could out-render 1.5 2600's (same price point for total builds), but then again, not easy to build half a machine .

Any suggestions would really be appreciated. Thanks for reading!

 

[aaksheytalwar]

For your use 3930k is worth it

 

[exar333]

2011 is the way to go. There are 8-core Xeons you can get for the platform today, and IB-E down the road with likely 8-10C as well. For rendering, it will be an amazing platform. You can also squeeze 64GB RAM on there, if need be as well.

 

[tweakboy]

If your doing video editing grab a 3930k with 16GB RAM and a solid video card like 5xx or 6xx ..... 650watts psu.. RAM 4x4GB ... let us know whatcha up to .. gl

 

[michiback]

Wow, thanks a lot for the quick and relevant answers! I'm no longer on the fence with this.
Ok, so seems like I'll be going with a 3930 with 32gb ram.
ExarKun, yes, once considered the Xeons, but for my line of work, just too much! Maybe one day...
Tweakboy, nothing too out of the ordinary, just some processing-intensive animations that a client wanted the last second . So from start to finish: modeling/rendering/animating a museum, then compositing and colour grading in post. Both '2D' and 3D rendering, so it's important I make the right decision on my rendering rig.

Thanks again!

 

[tweakboy]

Wow, thanks a lot for the quick and relevant answers! I'm no longer on the fence with this.
Ok, so seems like I'll be going with a 3930 with 32gb ram.
ExarKun, yes, once considered the Xeons, but for my line of work, just too much! Maybe one day...
Tweakboy, nothing too out of the ordinary, just some processing-intensive animations that a client wanted the last second . So from start to finish: modeling/rendering/animating a museum, then compositing and colour grading in post. Both '2D' and 3D rendering, so it's important I make the right decision on my rendering rig.

Thanks again!

Yes my friend. Its a whole new ball game when you buy a CPU not for gaming but for video editing.

Is 3930k have 6 core ? You will benefit more if you have more cores rather then core speed which is already super fast. Nice job with the RAM .. I think your safe and wont recieve out of memory messages lol,,,

What video card you want, cuz that is as important as CPU when it comes to modeling and 3D stuff you do.

If you have money grab a 570 GTX.

What PSU you have in there, do you plan on OCing your CPU ? or GPU ? thx gl

 

[michiback]

Yeah, I feel 32gb is a bit overkill as I've never had memory issues with my 3D files on my current 16gb outfit... but why not :sneaky:!
Deciding between 560/570 right now, but won't make all that much difference for me, as 80% of the time the computer will be accessed remotely... will still set up all files on my current computer.
For PSU, going to pull one from one of my older setups, which is 750W... should be fine, no?
And as for overclocking... I'm scared . Considering I run my studio on these computers, I don't really trust myself in that regard!

 

[Xoleros]

If it is just going to be a render slave, maybe its better to setup a render farm instead? It might be a bit more of a hassle to get it together though.

I'm interested in the same subject because I might get a dedicated renderer myself in a few months.
This article is about 2 year old, but maybe it can help a bit:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/render-farm-node,2340.html

According to the article you might not even need a GPU, and I think you shouldn't overclock on a dedicated renderer.

Don't bash me if I'm wrong though, I'm new to these kind of things (planning a first build pc right now!) so I might be completely wrong :hmm:

 

[michiback]

Hi Xoleros.
Thanks for the suggestion.
I used to have a farm (24-node). It was great and all, but it was actually a lot more involved than I had initially thought. Since you were considering it, just putting down a few thoughts I wish someone else had told me years back :
1. 12 to 18month cycle of upgrading parts... in my case 24 computers. $$$
2. If you'll be having more than 6-8 computers going, you'll need to take into consideration the bandwidth involved. For example, I had a few NAS's. The spindle speeds could barely keep up!
3. Space! Sure you could go for blades, but then we'd be talking about a different budget entirely.
4. Heat. Being in London, doesn't get that hot, but my render-farm was warmer than my heater... great for winter !
5. Software licenses. Rendering applications change faster than major Socket changes, and with most main packages, you'll have to pay for each rendering node.

But of course, you could run each node straight through integrated graphics.

So rather than chaining a farm together, I've since decided it's better to get a few fast computers, using them directly as workstations, or having a (super) mini-farm when needed (now just 6).

Hope this helps! Definitely not a bash, as your circumstances may allow a better experience than I've had with a farm.

 

[Xoleros]

Good to know, thanks! I'll keep this in mind when the time comes for me

I see you have way more experience than me, so I guess I got nothing else to add
Good luck with getting the build together and with the rendering!

 

[greenhawk]

According to the article you might not even need a GPU,

with a SB-E you will need a GPU of some sort as there is none onboard. The SB chips can get away without a GPU as the CPU has a inbuilt GPU that can be used (with the correct motherboard).

but as you do not need GPU performance (espically if connecting remotly) then the cheapest you can find will work fine (espically during the inital setup of the system)

 

[LOL_Wut_Axel]

I don't know... yeah, cores matter in 3dsMax, but it seems to hit a wall when you get above 4C/8T.

OP, I think it would be a better idea to make two 3770 or 2600 boxes.

 

[mv2devnull]

Windows 7 Pro or "better"? Win 7 HP supports only 16 GiB of RAM.

It is true that a dual Xeon unit is somewhat more expensive than single 3930, but it has quite many cores too and it is still "just one node".

 

[batmang]

LGA 2011 > LGA 1156, period.

If you're doing anything with rendering or anything memory intensive, go with a LGA 2011 setup.

 

[michiback]

Great, lots of perspectives!
LOL_Wut_Axel, yeah, that was my original dilemna, perhaps considering 3x2600's vs 2x3930 (again, comparable build costs on my end)... but that's essentially double what I had in mind to spend.
Going by the number of opinions here, I think LGA 2011 is a must