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Looking for a new rendering computer. Anyone have suggestions? Should I go for 64 bit? Most of our office computers are 32 bit, so we would have to purchase 64 bit software wouldn we?

For a rendering computer, 64 bit is a MUST HAVE. I can only render the smallest of scenes on my 32 bit home computer. Also, most 32 bit software will also run on a 64 bit computer no problem. Load up on RAM and get at least a quad core.

I say with a heavy heart...make sure it's. Windows, Studio from OSX has issues...slow window response, slow object selection. I have not had that issue under Vista.

Good Luck!

I highly recommend going with an i7-920 processor (quad core but with hyperthreading gives you 8 cores with Maxwell), can be easily overclocked to at least 3.8 Ghz (most cpu power for the $). I'm running with 12GB ram but if I had to do it all over I would go with 24GB and of course the mobo to support that. For video card EVGA gtx285. You won't be sorry with this machine.

I pretty much agree with Josephus...I am setup similar to his...i920, 12 gigs of ram and it works great.

I also agree, that if you have the extra money, I would consider going with more than 12 gigs if that is something you think you might need. I personally am planning on upgrading to 24 gigs, just for photoshop use. I didn't think i would ever need that much, but now, sixth months after upgrading, I've been working on very largefiles where photoshop is swapping upwards of 40 gigs over to the HDD. Granted, I could collapse down some layers and try not to have more than one image open, but I'd gladly pay the money to be able to do both of those smoothly

Josephus Holt wrote:I highly recommend going with an i7-920 processor (quad core but with hyperthreading gives you 8 cores with Maxwell), can be easily overclocked to at least 3.8 Ghz (most cpu power for the $). I'm running with 12GB ram but if I had to do it all over I would go with 24GB and of course the mobo to support that. For video card EVGA gtx285. You won't be sorry with this machine.

Agree with Joe ...


Hey Joe .. Aren't you having any RAM issues with giant scenes inside of Rhino ? ...or are you somehow skirting the issue with a method ? Also, ..does anyone have info on Rhino64 ?

Sorry for the mini-jack.

ivox3 wrote:Agree with Joe ... Hey Joe .. Aren't you having any RAM issues with giant scenes inside of Rhino ? ...or are you somehow skirting the issue with a method ? Also, ..does anyone have info on Rhino64 ? Sorry for the mini-jack.

Re: mini-jack...I'm using 64 bit Rhino so I have access to all 12 gb minus overhead, however, I'm having to use Rhino blocks (which convert to Maxwell instances) more and more in order to work within the 12gb limit.

i7-920 is going to be replaced by i7-930 in the end of February.
So it's defiantly worth waiting for a while.

m-Que wrote:i7-920 is going to be replaced by i7-930 in the end of February.
So it's defiantly worth waiting for a while.

So far from the reviews I've quickly looked at is that there will be little performance increase with the i7-930, and it is anticipated that the 930 will overclock to about the same as the 920, but until it's out in production not really confirmed. From what I've read if you were to buy the 920 today that you would have no regrets...however, if you wanted to spend another $800 you could go for the new 6 core (12 threads) Core i7 980X by the middle of March....now THAT would give you a 50% increase in render power, although for not much more $ you could build a second i7-920/930 machine if you have some spare computer parts laying around and double your render output

...what about core i7 860 ? almost the same money for processor as i7 920, but definitely less for mobo. Some reviews refered even more overclocking ability than i7 920. If You are not planning upgrade to 6 core in near future ... anyone have some experience with this processor and maxwell?

PA3K wrote:...what about core i7 860 ? almost the same money for processor as i7 920, but definitely less for mobo. Some reviews refered even more overclocking ability than i7 920. If You are not planning upgrade to 6 core in near future ... anyone have some experience with this processor and maxwell?

i7 920(930) supports triple-channel memory; i7 860 supports only dual-channel.
Plus i7 860 has 1156 CPU Socket while 920(930) has 1366 - the same as the rest of the high-end i7 processors. The 6-core i7 you've mentioned will be having 1366 CPU socket, too. So basically, if you already own a good 1366-socket motherboard you can upgrade to to a more powerful processor later on.