PC build for Animation use - Advice needed please
- Thread starter Listy
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any highend gpu is useless in pure rendering in 3ds max
unless there is some software i know of that enables utilisation of gpu in rendering which i don't know of.any highend gpu is useless in pure rendering in 3ds max
Ive used a fair bit of modelling software and there can be a real boost from a decent GPU - that being said the CPU is always a more valued resource and the high end GPUs dont really hold any benefit over a mid range alternative.
Only had one model cause my 9800GX2 to noticeably lag - and thats when I had SLI disabled with one GPU per screen.
There's various methods for forcing gaming cards to use the fire / quadro drivers at which point they contribute a bit, but I wouldn't consider a 5850 for a moment here. I'm using an 8800gt which spends most of its time idling, but performance goes down in its absence/when using geforce drivers. This is in 3D cad, though maya and so forth show the same trend.
A much cheaper graphics card and cheaper psu (the 400W corsair perhaps) will free up funds that are better spent elsewhere. I strongly suspect you want one of the ocuk overclocked i7 bundles with 6gb of ram, probably with the H50 and built in one of the antec P180 style cases.
A 4ghz i7 is lovely for cad work, so I suspect it's excellent for animation as well.
A much cheaper graphics card and cheaper psu (the 400W corsair perhaps) will free up funds that are better spent elsewhere. I strongly suspect you want one of the ocuk overclocked i7 bundles with 6gb of ram, probably with the H50 and built in one of the antec P180 style cases.
A 4ghz i7 is lovely for cad work, so I suspect it's excellent for animation as well.
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there is some truly aweful advice in this thread....
i do 3d animation professionally. you need:
1) as fast a CPU as possible for rendering
2) as much and as fast as possible RAM for rendering
3) as fast a graphics card as possible for viewport performance (will be d3d or oGL)
To be clear:
The only component that matters at all in 3d viewport performance (i.e. realtime) is the gfx card. any gaming grade card will do - i've used quadros and fireGLs and unless you're working with enormously complex scenes there is no reason to spend more than about £250 on a card for viewport work.
RAM and CPU are both *equally* important for rendering. If you don't have enough RAM you simply cannot render, even after tweaking BSP trees and other things. Go with tripple channel 6GB DDR3 at a minimum and obviously make sure you're on Win7 64-bit.
You should also consider a fast and large HDD for storing rendered frames and for pulling frames off fast for editing/post production.
It worries me when people say things like "ram isn't important for 3ds max for rendering" or "Animation doesn't need a lot of processing power", when both statements are so fundamentally wrong.... it's like saying "you don't need an engine in a car" essentially.
and another FYI - processor power won't make jack difference to viewport FPS performance unless you're using things like particles. everything else is handled by the GPU.
i do 3d animation professionally. you need:
1) as fast a CPU as possible for rendering
2) as much and as fast as possible RAM for rendering
3) as fast a graphics card as possible for viewport performance (will be d3d or oGL)
To be clear:
The only component that matters at all in 3d viewport performance (i.e. realtime) is the gfx card. any gaming grade card will do - i've used quadros and fireGLs and unless you're working with enormously complex scenes there is no reason to spend more than about £250 on a card for viewport work.
RAM and CPU are both *equally* important for rendering. If you don't have enough RAM you simply cannot render, even after tweaking BSP trees and other things. Go with tripple channel 6GB DDR3 at a minimum and obviously make sure you're on Win7 64-bit.
You should also consider a fast and large HDD for storing rendered frames and for pulling frames off fast for editing/post production.
It worries me when people say things like "ram isn't important for 3ds max for rendering" or "Animation doesn't need a lot of processing power", when both statements are so fundamentally wrong.... it's like saying "you don't need an engine in a car" essentially.
and another FYI - processor power won't make jack difference to viewport FPS performance unless you're using things like particles. everything else is handled by the GPU.
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by the way you will also need a good monitor and colour management too. something like the spyder3 will do the job, or colormonkey.
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correct yeh. dx11 still not used in max. actually neither is dx10, so any good dx9 card will be fine.
Duly noted. So I'm now thinking along a build of these lines:
i7 920 OEM + H50-1 cooler
Asus P6T SE
6GB 12800 Cas8 DDR3 (brand undecided)
Samsung F3 1Tb
ATI 4890
550w Modular PSU (brand undecided)
CM-690 v2 case
DVD drive (brand undecided)
Dell Ultrasharp 24" TFT
Look OK?
i7 920 OEM + H50-1 cooler
Asus P6T SE
6GB 12800 Cas8 DDR3 (brand undecided)
Samsung F3 1Tb
ATI 4890
550w Modular PSU (brand undecided)
CM-690 v2 case
DVD drive (brand undecided)
Dell Ultrasharp 24" TFT
Look OK?
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why not go for an ocuk overclocked i7 bundle? me and a mate are running one and they're excellent.
because its cheaper to buy the parts and overclock it your self...........
@ the list to me it looks fine and its what i might buy by end of month if all goes well, be sure to post some rendering figures up and other stats when its built if you and the owner don't mind
Quite a simple reason really, price!
£751 bundle vs £536 for more or less the same if bought separately.
Looks good. I'm prob going to spring for a new workstation/render pc soon and was thinking along similar lines. Regarding the graphics card, you might be advised to check out max forums at cgtalk and the like, as I've always had problems with ati cards (specifically drivers). I use softimage though, maybe max is more forgiving. Most of my colleagues use a gt250/260 which do the job just fine.
Also consider a raid solution for the data storage. You can get though a lot of space storing frames (especially at HD res) and raid would give you more room than a comparable ssd for the price.
Also consider a raid solution for the data storage. You can get though a lot of space storing frames (especially at HD res) and raid would give you more room than a comparable ssd for the price.
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hey matt long time no speak! good to see you on here!
good advice. although i've not had any problems with 5xxx series ATI cards in max. XSI is another question though. nvidia are generally reliable for sure.
good advice. although i've not had any problems with 5xxx series ATI cards in max. XSI is another question though. nvidia are generally reliable for sure.
Hey Alex, I knew I recognised that nick from somewhere! I'm on here quite a lot, just lurking normally. Nice rig in the sig
Good to hear ati are more solid in max...
I have been using an ATI 5870 in my current rig with Maya, 3ds Max, XSI & ZBrush with no problems, although I still prefer Nvidia.
XSI needs serious poly shifting abilites; especially considering the giga-poly core. Max and Maya are more tolerant, but Maya gets very laggy when high poly counts are involved and the Nvidia cards are much more capable of dealing with it. This doesn't mean the ATI cards can't cut the mustard: far from it. I have had no issues so far with the 5870 with D3D, but Open GL will have certain functions disabled by default, which can be a pain sometimes.
I have a feeling fermi will just be overpriced and not worth the price Nvidia will put it at, unless they learned so new things off AMD/ATI