[fi3er]

Hi All,

Given the fact that I am planning to upgrade to v4, I am also considering a new machine.
May I have your opinions on the below specs?

A little workflow info:
-my renderings can easily go over 10k x 10k pixels and theres a lot of displacement going on in pre-tessellation, hence the 128gb ram.
-I am using a lot of SSS so cant really utilize the new GPU for that as of yet, but would like to have the workstation future proof so that I can get an extra GPU card if needed?
-given the above I am assuming the renderings are gonna be done by CPUs
-all my modelling etc is done in Rhino, if that has an impact on the selection GPU card

the below specs & price are from https://www.utopiacomputers.co.uk/
I dont really know this company, but they seem decent. Anybody could recommend UK based company that does highend 3d workstations?

specs:

CASE: Fractal Design Define XL R2 Chassis (Black)
CPU: Intel Xeon E5-2640 v4 10-Core 2.4GHz [20 Threads, 25MB SmartCache, 3.4GHz Turbo]
CPU 2: Intel Xeon E5-2640 v4 10-Core 2.4GHz [20 Threads, 25MB SmartCache, 3.4GHz Turbo]
CPU COOLING: 2x Thermaltake Water 3.0 Performer C 120mm All in One High Performance Liquid Cooler
THERMAL COMPOUND: Standard Thermal Paste
MOTHERBOARD: Asus Z10PE-D8 WS Intel X99 Workstation ATX
(Dual Socket 2011-v3, Dual CPU Support, 7x PCI-E 3.0 x16, 8x SATA 6Gb/s, 1x SATA Express, M.2 Slot, 8x USB 3.0, 2x USB 2.0, 2x Intel Gb LAN, 4-Way SLI & CrossFireX)
MEMORY: 128GB Crucial/Samsung DDR4 2133MHz ECC Registered for Server/Workstation (8x16GB)
GRAPHICS CARD: 8GB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 GDDR5 [Rating: EXTREME++]
POWER SUPPLY: 750W Corsair RMx Series Fully Modular Silent PSU [80+ Gold Certified]
OPERATING SYSTEM DRIVE 1: 500GB Samsung 750 EVO Solid State Drive [540MB/s Read, 520MB/s Write]
OPERATING SYSTEM: Microsoft Windows 10 Professional 64-bit inc. DVD + Licence

TOTAL £ 5.217

Please let me know your thoughts,

Thanks a lot!

fi3er

[seghier]

check also this website : http://www.boxx.com/

[fi3er]

Hi Seghier,

thanks for the link! I went to their uk site and tried similar setup as the one i posted above and it comes out at £8250, thats 3k extra?
quite a markup, unless I am doing something wrong there... is the UK prices? intense...

1 x APEXX 4 7902 Base Price £ 4,070.00
Processor: 2 x Intel Xeon E5-2640v4 (20 Cores, 40 Threads) 2.4GHz £ 1,248.00
RAM: 128GB RAM DDR4 2133MHZ ECC Reg (8x16GB) 7902 £ 750.00
Graphics Slot 1: PNY GeForce GTX 1080 8GB (2560 Cuda Cores, 8GB GDDR5, 3 x DP, 1 x DVI, 1 x HDMI) £ 627.00
Hard Drive Bay 1 (Primary Storage): 512GB M.2 2280 SSD PCIe £ 180.00
Operating System: Windows 10 Pro 64 Bit

Total Price inc. VAT £ 8,250.00

but thanks anyway, every help appreciated!

[seghier]

i have no idea about prices ; you know every company have different quality
check this one and compare which better for you
https://www.workstationspecialist.com
and it's better if you ask them why the price is very high than the other website

[fi3er]

thanks Seghier!
I have posted them the same setup specs and asked for a quote, will let you know what comes out.
Did you yourself deal with them previously? Can recommend?
thanks a lot

[seghier]

thanks Seghier!
I have posted them the same setup specs and asked for a quote, will let you know what comes out.
Did you yourself deal with them previously? Can recommend?
thanks a lot

No i just asked for quote since long time

[Mihai]

I thought ECC RAM is no longer needed for Xeons so you might save something there by buying regular RAM and get a second GTX. 1070 or 1080. Once Maxwell GPU matures and multi-gpu is supported it could be quite faster than those two Xeons for many types of scenes, but not for your 10 000 pixels renders...

Can I ask what you need these huge rez renders for?

[fi3er]

Hi Mihai,

thanks for your reply - so you think its not worth investing in dual xeon? should I go with i7 ?

I am rendering artworks that are mounted into large scale lightboxes. Unfortunately cant post a link as I am under NDA, but basically printing 1.5x1.5 meter transparencies at (minimum) 200dpi that are then backlit and displayed in gallery settings - so observed from up close, therefore cant reducte the dpi/pixelcount...

I understand that the roadmap is towards multi GPU but need to start producing the images asap, so the investment needs to allow for an immediate utilization, be able to handle SSS and heavy displacements.

thanks regarding the RAM, I was not aware of thatone, good tip!

best,
fi3er

[Mihai]

With that budget I would still definitely invest in a dual Xeon system. They will be MUCH faster for CPU rendering than an i7, even though GHz wise they seem slower.

[fi3er]

great! good to know. thanks Mihai! is the E5-2640v4 good one in regards to performance/price ratio or should I get higher one?
thanks for your help,
fi3er

[Mihai]

I have no idea I just know Xeons kill in every render benchmark I've seen. You can probably find some that compare price to speed ratio. But look specifically for render engine benchmarks. Cinebench seems the most popular.

[abed-sabeh]

Fi3er, check this company out!

https://www.mediaworkstations.net/

I am considering to dump my old MAC in the bin (since I don't see any light at the end of the tunnel from Apple on what's next, and I am frankly fed up) after all these years and go with one of those monsters, but I am not sure yet on which one. I think the i-X2 has some potential since it has a dual Intel Xeon E5 and it can go up to 44 cores and it takes 4 GPUs . it is a workstation and a render farm. The price all falls on your configuration and on how much you want to boost it. You can always send them an email, they are very helpful and they will configure the machine for you as per your need.

Please let me know what you think since I haven't decided yet.

Abed

[fi3er]

abed-sabeh,
well these look sexy thats for sure.
I`ve speced it with the same config as in my previous posts.

i-X2 | The Ultimate WorkstationEdit options
Dual Intel® Xeon® E5-2640 v4 (25M Cache, 2.40 GHz, 10 Core, 90W)
128GB (8 x 16GB) DDR4-2400 ECC RAM
Samsung 850 Pro 512GB SATA3 SSD (550 MB/s read, 520 MB/s write)
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 8GB Founders Ed. (1 x HDMI, 3 x DisplayPort 1.4 Ready, 1 x Dual Link DVI-I)

total $7,360
thats £5,800 (but not sure if it includes VAT as the quotes from other companies in my earlier posts did)

seems the US prices are not that far off. But still - I need UK based company so that -in case of trouble- I can get them to fix stuff asap.

...or shall i open the pandora box and start considering building a machine myself...?

[abed-sabeh]

abed-sabeh,
well these look sexy thats for sure.
I`ve speced it with the same config as in my previous posts.

i-X2 | The Ultimate WorkstationEdit options
Dual Intel® Xeon® E5-2640 v4 (25M Cache, 2.40 GHz, 10 Core, 90W)
128GB (8 x 16GB) DDR4-2400 ECC RAM
Samsung 850 Pro 512GB SATA3 SSD (550 MB/s read, 520 MB/s write)
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 8GB Founders Ed. (1 x HDMI, 3 x DisplayPort 1.4 Ready, 1 x Dual Link DVI-I)

total $7,360
thats £5,800 (but not sure if it includes VAT as the quotes from other companies in my earlier posts did)

seems the US prices are not that far off. But still - I need UK based company so that -in case of trouble- I can get them to fix stuff asap.

...or shall i open the pandora box and start considering building a machine myself...?

Yes, I totally understand the VAT issue, as I have the same problem too. I also considered building one myself, but frankly it's not worth the headache and the trouble since it's gonna cost you more or less the same, and not mentioning the issues once the machine is running and you are on some serious project with a SYSTEM FAILURE. This is my concern I have zero knowledge with Windows and I am really scared for such a jump I think I have to do some more research and take it easy for now