I’m brand new to blender, and at the moment I’m rendering on my Laptop. You can imagine it’s slow. I want to buy a desktop computer specifically for rendering. I haven’t even started sorting out all the different hardware parts I need to pay attention to, but first thing’s first:
Am I right in assuming that a computer who’s optimized for fast rendering will also make a good gamer computer? Are the two completely synonymous, so if I search for a good gamer pc I’ve automatically got a good render farm? Or are there some aspects where these two goals work against each other?
Thanks.
P.S. An extra goodie would be if it’s as small as possible, so that I can fit it into a suitcase to take to LAN-parties. So I guess that makes it 3 goals. Yeah I know, this one definitely works against the optimization of the other two.
Thanks for the reply. So do you have a pc like that, or is that just an example? (Cause if you have it: how long does it take to render stuff?)
What online shop did you use there?
So I take it the answer is yes, a pc can easily be a gamer pc and a render farm. (By the way, is “render farm” even the appropriate word for a private PC at home? Or are render farms only what you call the professional stuff that companies use?)
Looks like this thread is gonna turn into a “rate my pc setup”. Mods, let me know if something like that belongs into a different thread or whatever.
I looked for a pc online that was similar to what you put together, and one of the things I found is this: (It’s called “MINI GAMER PC VENDETTA V3”. Noting that down mainly for myself to tell them apart). I can’t post the link cause I’m new to the forum, but it’s got: - Case: BitFenix Prodigy
Processor: INTEL Core i7-4790K @4.8GHz (So that’s weaker than the one you suggested right?) - Cooling System: ASETEK Liquid cooling system
Motherboard: MSI Z97I Gaming AC
Memory: CRUCIAL DDR3-1600 DIMM 240-Pin • Module: 2x 8GB (If I read that correctly, the motherboard doesn’t have space for extra memory, only these 16GB. That’s not so good, is it? I assume it would be better if the option to upgrade is left open) - HDD: CRUCIAL SSD 250GB + 1TB HDD
Graphic card: PALIT GeForce GTX 980 Ti Super Jetstream, 6GB GDDR5 (again, I can’t tell if that’s the same one) - Software: Microsoft Windows 10 Home 64Bit
Total price: 2’119.00 Euros = 2’405.57 USD
And another one: “MINI GAMER PC SECOND ASSAULT V6” is almost identical, except for: - Graphic Card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX Titan X, 12GB GDDR5
2’555 EUR = 2’900.54 USD
And then there’s another pc I found, which is specifically referred to as a render farm: - Case: Cooler Master Elite Mini Tower
Software: Windows 10 Home
1’920,00 Swiss francs = 2’012.45 USD
So the last one has a lot lower storage space on the harddisc. Is it important for a render farm to have a lot of storage space? And anyone know if that Intel HD Graphics 530 card is any good?
That was just an example system, but yes sorry generally a good consumer gaming system makes a good consumer rendering system.
The i7-4790k is quite a decent CPU (and it overclocks nicely), its the one I use.
The first system you listed is quite decent, but I’m not 100% sure on the pricing (AUD vs USD etc…) 16GB is fine, but the option to use 32GB, or have large projects open at the same time can be quite good.
Any GTX 980Ti will generally do fine, the Titan X isn’t really faster, but it can render larger scenes thanks to its 12GB memory vs 6GB in the 980Ti.
The last system has no separate GPU, and the Intel HD Graphics can’t render for Blender at all, and is significantly slower than a 980Ti.
1 x ($219.99) MSI X99A Raider LGA 2011-v3 Intel X99 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.1 USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
1 x ($199.99) G.SKILL Ripjaws 4 Series 32GB (4 x 8GB) 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM DDR4 2400 (PC4 19200) Desktop Memory Model F4-2400C15Q-32GRR
1 x ($30.99) Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO - CPU Cooler with 120 mm PWM Fan
I’m really happy with this system. The CPU can render the BMW27 benchmark in about 2 min. 5 seconds. That is as good as some GPUs, having 12 threads really helps. I have overclocked it to 3.8 Ghz and have no overheating problems at all. I also purchased this case:
It might be a bit big for what you need but it has awesome cooling and tons of room inside, especially with the very large CPU coolers. All together I spent about $1000 US for all the parts.
Ok, my weak knowledge of hardware is showing a little. Some questions:
What does that mean? Is that referring to the size of the blender file that can be rendered with it? I just made a scene that’s in my opinion quite large, and it’s only 500MB, so I doubt you meant that.
Where do you see if a system has a separate GPU?
And wow, you’re saying that last system would be completely unable to render anything from Blender? That seems so hard to believe, since the manufacturer specifically calls it a render farm. Where did you get the information that the Intel HD Graphics can’t render for Blender?
Am I right in assuming that the Intel Cores i7-4790K, i7-5820K, i7-6700K are increasingly better the higher the number? Or is there some other numbering system there?
On a side note: anyone know if Linux is somehow inherently faster at rendering than windows? I’m a Windows-user, but if there turned out to be some kind of advantage there I’d put Linux on a second boot.
I’m off to get out the measuring tape to decide what the maximum size is I want the tower to have…
I’m assuming your looking to render with Cycles on the GPU (as well as CPU), many people do as high end GPU’s are generally 2-10x faster than high end CPU’s.
When you render, the mesh (geometry), render engine code and textures (world image etc…) all get copied to your GPU to render, so the larger your GPU vRAM, the larger a scene you can render. For example your 500MB .blend file could take 3-8 GB to render (see how much Blenders RAM usage increases when you render)
Where do you see if a system has a separate GPU?
Basically most GPU’s that are branded NVidia (GTX, Telsa or Quadro) or AMD/ATI (Radeon, Firepro) are separate discrete GPU’s, while any Intel GPU’s (HD, Iris, Iris Pro etc…) are built into the CPU and don’t have the capability to render.
And wow, you’re saying that last system would be completely unable to render anything from Blender? That seems so hard to believe, since the manufacturer specifically calls it a render farm. Where did you get the information that the Intel HD Graphics can’t render for Blender?
They are probably referring to rendering on the CPU, where the CPU in that system is quite powerful. Many render farms are CPU only, as CPU rendering has less limitations on the really high end than GPU’s, but cost more and are slower (in most cases)
Am I right in assuming that the Intel Cores i7-4790K, i7-5820K, i7-6700K are increasingly better the higher the number? Or is there some other numbering system there?
The i7-4790k and the i7-6700K are Intel’s general consumer line of CPU’s, where the i7’s with a ‘k’ are the fastest, overclock able CPU’s in that line. Both of these are Quad-Core CPU’s.
The i7-5820k is part of Intel’s enthusiast line, and is a Hexa-Core CPU, that also overclocks. The platform (CPU/Motherboard/RAM) required is generally more expensive than the consumer line, so going for an consumer i7 + a higher end GPU can end up with faster rendering for the same money (such as the 980Ti or Titan X)
On a side note: anyone know if Linux is somehow inherently faster at rendering than windows? I’m a Windows-user, but if there turned out to be some kind of advantage there I’d put Linux on a second boot.
Depending on how the software (ie Blender) is compiled (code turned into an executable) there may be better optimisations for your CPU than on a Windows build, and the Linux system may use less resources. Best way is to give it a shot on a scene similar to what you expect to be rendering.
I’m off to get out the measuring tape to decide what the maximum size is I want the tower to have…[/QUOTE]
So if it uses 8GB, that would mean a GTX 980Ti can’t render it, and I’m better off with the Titan?
Come to think of it, now we’re talking about the RAM of the Graphics card. How does the regular RAM affect how much you can render? Do the two just get added up?
By the way, my cousin pointed out to me that the two Mini-Gamer-PCs I posted are watercooled and it’s therefore not plausible to transport them out of the house for a Lan-Party. :-/ With that in mind, I think I’ll take a look at some of the bigger towers also.
He also said I should stay away from the GTX titan X or TI chips cause it’s totally overpriced and I’ll “never find a gaming need that requires such power”. (He recommends the GTX 970 instead.) Think it’s the same for rendering needs?
