[-Adrian]

Chris, you'll have to run two instances with 4 threads and merge later on

[Hervé]

he he your computer is fast compared to mine Max... hehe.... like Tom once said, I don't think the comp. is soooo important...(of course the faster the better). the man behind is... no.?

I had the money here some time ago to buy one new , but I finally decided to invest in softwares... I love buying the intelligence that I miss... he he

[Maximus3D]

Hervé, but heh.. if mine's slightly faster than yours then yours must be horribly slow, i mean seriously sloooooow. Noo no way that can be true, you gotta have something faster than this Hervé tell me you're just joking with me hehe

Buying software is very good too but it's even more expensive than buying hardware. O well with your kickass renderings you sure need a better and faster machine Hervé. My new machine should arrive at the end of this week, or at the beginning of next week..

/ Max

[Hervé]

he he.. sad but true.. Max we should have a competition about the lowest computer that can run Maxwell... ehhe..

[lebbeus]

here's my first speedtest (I just got a new machine)

MacPro
CPU: dual 2.67GHz dualcores (5150)
Cores: 4
Ram: 2GB

low priority render from Studio

OSX results
time: 00:46:05
bench: 142.52
XP32 (bootcamp) results
time: 00:39:44
bench: 166.44

anybody know why XP is faster??

**EDIT**

ran it again on OSX - low priority switch off
time: 00:45:57
bench: 143.19

and just for fun, here's the results from my previous machine:

Alienware Area51m laptop (four years old)
CPU: Intel P4 2.67GHz
Cores: 1
Ram: 1GB

time: 06:56:12
bench: 15.87

[-Adrian]

anybody know why XP is faster??

Known issue that affects all MacOS users, can't say why.

Maybe the 64bit version and Leopard will play better. I'm really looking forward to compare 1.2 on Linux.

[thxraph]

Mihai: ...you might be onto something, .. it seems to have a regular cycle of hanging out around 100% then doing a dip to like 35%, ..quick spike to 75% then back to 100 for awhile. So, ..maybe there's something there during the write times ... I'll check it out. Still, shouldn't it just pin the cores at 100 ?,

Hey Ivox!

same here, look's like MR stop using all cores/cpu when updating/writing the picture, basicly it makes it on 1core, as you have kind off outstanding, awesomely, fantasticly.....blowing fast beast it is so fast that it doesn"t have the time to show the lower value as it already get back to render using all cores

lucky you how much if i can ask? (=> if not just say expensive ^^)

Raph

[ivox3]

Hi Raph ...

Yes, ...Mihai was right. ...it's just Maxwell cycling through write/render times.

I'm still waiting on the extra ram to arrive, ...the vendor sent a different brand, ...so I sent it back and I'm waiting the replacement. ...maybe that'll help a little with the RT's. ...like Greg M. had mentioned about things competing for the FSB.

Meanwhile, ..my general experience with using the machine is pretty great. 8 cores is still 8 cores, .. ...it's definitely a hard core multi-tasking machine. I tend to do a lot of cpu intensive things at the same time, ...so the flexibility you get with having the extra cores is nice thing. For example, ..I can set a render to just grab 5 cores[low priority unchecked], ...allocate 2 threads for video encoding and leave a single one for emails/web stuff and as a user you simply don't notice any unresponsiveness. ...plus, ..if you leave the machine and the render has to continue; ... I just re-enable all 8 for mxcl.exe on-the-fly.

Anyway, ...there's lots of scenarios that can be setup. Certainly, the trend is definitely toward cores vs. clock speed ...

..that's my petite review.

btw: ..I don't mind the question of cost. ...the breakdown.

2 ES5345 @ $1000.00/$2000.00
Intel S5000XVN $450.00
Ram: 4GB FB 667MHz Dimms $720.00
eVGA 7950 GT KO: $300.00
Thermaltake 600W PS(server variety) : $250.00
Plextor PX-760A optical drive :$100.00
2 74GB WD Raptor's $320.00
LianLi PC-70 $200.00
xp64 : $150.00

...so, ... around $ 4.5K

** Already, I see that a few hundred can be saved on the cpus alone. I saw them for around $850.00 yesterday ...

The best I can ever do is upgrade (maybe) someday to the 2.67Ghz ES5355's. ...again, ...that's a maybe.


One other thing, ...we really need the material preview to be multi-core, ..it's really bottleneck otherwise. I know that's been mentioned before, ...but I'm saying it again. Changing that single thing might just be the biggest performance hike in workflow that NL could do, ....and that's IMHO.


A couple of pics ...

[Mihai]

I can set a render to just grab 5 cores[low priority unchecked], ...allocate 2 threads for video encoding and leave a single one for emails/web stuff

Wow, with all that going on, I'm surprised you still find the time to devour Maxwell boxes with such tenacity

[ivox3]

If I could set a thread to do the devouring, ... I would !

[Mihai]

Btw, how many fans in the box? What are the three little fans for?

[glebe digital]

Btw, how many fans in the box? What are the three little fans for?

That's what I was wondering, ram coolers perhaps?
Cool system Chris, that price is not bad either.

[Maximus3D]

Chris: I'm not sure what to say.. but the pricetag in itself is just as amazing as the hardware is holy mother of all computers, wow!

I mean you could almost rent out threads to people if they wanna render something big on your system, and yet you still got threads left for other stuff

Sigh, my new rig can't even come close to being compared to yours in a lifetime

/ Max

[ivox3]

There's 13 if I count every fan including the PS.

Yes, Glebe .... The three little fans are a single unit made by Corsair for memory cooling, ...the FB dimms get exceptionally hot, ..as in, burn you hot.

btw: ...you'd think it was a freight train sonically, ...it's not, ...it's actually whisper quiet-- even without the sides on it. I acutally like the way it sounds ,...kind of like a pleasant hum.


thanks Stu..

[ivox3]

come on Max, .. I remember when you were rocking that single threaded P4 ...was that right?

At any rate, ... if there's a will, ..there's a way. ...sorry for the cliché ..and the rhyme.