PC build for Keyshot 3D software (CPU focused)

Jamie Slimmon · 8 Oct 2019 at 15:22

Hello all,

I'm looking to buy a PC that works well with Luxion Keyshot. Keyshot is CPU based software. So I'm looking to prioritise the processor above all else. The more cores the better from the (very) little I know.
I'm currently on a MacPro with a 2.7 GHz 12-Core Intel Xeon E5 + 64 GB ram + AMD FirePro D700 6144 MB graphics card. And it can't handle Keyshot.

I have a total budget of £3000.

Any guidance would be really appreciated.

Cheers
JAmie

EsaT · 8 Oct 2019 at 17:27

For that price you can get lot processing power.
Ryzen 3900X gives 12 cores/24 threads for fair £500 and 16c/32t 3950X is coming in next month.
Along with Zen2 based Threadrippers reaching up to 32 cores, though initial first release wave might come with "just" 24c/48t.

With Intel dropping their HEDT prices AMD could also cut prices some soon.
Anyway Zen2 brings notable performance improvement over current old Zen+ Threadrippers.
So best to wait for that before buying.

Jamie Slimmon · 9 Oct 2019 at 09:35

Thank you so much for your reply. Very much appreciated!

Cheers
Jamie

orbitalwalsh · 9 Oct 2019 at 11:10

Jamie Slimmon said:
Thank you so much for your reply. Very much appreciated!

Cheers
Jamie

@EsaT

only problem is 3900x is above £500, £550 and on Pre-order - hardest thing about the CPU is shortages

---***** scratch that, saw the £3k budget ... no need to worry lol

x299x and i9 10-18 cores hoping to come out cheaper then Thread ripper 3 or force AMD to go lower then they would have hoped for. TX40 boards are pretty costly

you've got damn good options! if you can wait a little bit ! dont run a 16 core ryzen on B450 BOARD to save cash though~!

Bit old, and doesn't take into account Zen 2 tweaks for Ryzen 3900/3950x and huge memory tweaks for Thread Ripper 3*** cores

https://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/a...-14-16-and-18-core-Skylake-X-Processors-1044/

have a feeling you'll be going TRX40 board and highest core CPU you can squeeze in for the cash

another spanner , Ray Tracing

https://blog.keyshot.com/keyshot-support-nvidia-rtx-ray-tracing-ai-denoising

Jamie Slimmon · 9 Oct 2019 at 13:38

Thanks orbitalwalsh. Much appreciated! I will wait a few weeks and see what comes out. Cheers for your thoughts guys.

orbitalwalsh · 9 Oct 2019 at 13:47

Jamie Slimmon said:
Thanks orbitalwalsh. Much appreciated! I will wait a few weeks and see what comes out. Cheers for your thoughts guys.

@EsaT is also a badass at PSU knowledge !!!!

Would you be doing any Ray Tracing in scenes/ images ? seems they have designed it to switch between CPU and GPU rendering on the fly on your needs. So still looks like CPU is the key at the moment .

gauging a rough pricing on TRX40 boards, add 40% mark up to current x399 line and your got your guesstimate . Tread Ripper pricing I couldn't even guess, now that Intel have cut £1k off its 18 core chip to undercutting current current TR 2970WX 24 core- BUT resellers will be very slow to get Intels stated pricing at that Price !

if 32 core thread ripper drops in price, might be worth a look at

EsaT · 9 Oct 2019 at 20:14

orbitalwalsh said:
Bit old, and doesn't take into account Zen 2 tweaks for Ryzen 3900/3950x and huge memory tweaks for Thread Ripper 3*** cores

https://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/KeyShot-7-CPU-Comparison-New-14-16-and-18-core-Skylake-X-Processors-1044/

Zen2 Threadripper is going to make big difference to those "first gen" Zen1 results.
12 core 3900X pretty much equals 16 core Zen+ Threadripper in many things.

And don't see AMD wanting to give Intel per core price advantage.
So in month or so there should be some pretty darn powerfull CPUs available.

orbitalwalsh · 9 Oct 2019 at 20:19

@EsaT I don't think anyone saw such a dramatic price cut with intel, £1k off the flagship 18 cores.. bit would take a LONG time for resellers to get it to that price ...

@Gibbo Intel doing rebates to big resellers ???

To be honest, was hoping from AMD R&D side of things they would have been able to mark them up high but still cheaper then intel , looks like they won't have the chance to milk as much profit . could have easily.come out swinging 48 cores at £2k !
though great for consumers .

seabiscuit · 9 Oct 2019 at 20:58

I know you have said mainly CPU based, but Keyshot 9 which should be coming out "soon" looks like it can be GPGPU accellerated, and maybe even RTX accellerated. It may be worth keeping an eye on Luxions blogs to see what version 9 will bring to the table, and see if it's hardware use/ will differ from previous versions.

orbitalwalsh · 10 Oct 2019 at 12:44

seabiscuit said:
I know you have said mainly CPU based, but Keyshot 9 which should be coming out "soon" looks like it can be GPGPU accellerated, and maybe even RTX accellerated. It may be worth keeping an eye on Luxions blogs to see what version 9 will bring to the table, and see if it's hardware use/ will differ from previous versions.

EsaT said:
Zen2 Threadripper is going to make big difference to those "first gen" Zen1 results.
12 core 3900X pretty much equals 16 core Zen+ Threadripper in many things.

And don't see AMD wanting to give Intel per core price advantage.
So in month or so there should be some pretty darn powerfull CPUs available.

Jamie Slimmon said:
Thanks orbitalwalsh. Much appreciated! I will wait a few weeks and see what comes out. Cheers for your thoughts guys.

(you will) Be needing new socket boards with new Thread Ripper - bit of a shame but should mean X399 boards and 24/32 Core Gen 2 TR lower down in price. would mean you could grab a solid RTX Card for Ray Tracing if needs be

matt wilder · 18 Oct 2019 at 21:54

I'm a similar situation and budget.

We do single shot, static product renderings of furniture. The models are not complex. Chairs, sofa, tables. Using only maybe 2-3 materials at a time. (Currently lower res materials, maybe 1k. But we'll be bumping those up.)

If we get say the 24 core threadripper. Is it safe to assume at 2k, or even 4k images that the rendering time will be very quick. If not instant?

Is 24 cores over kill? We do tend to set up say 20-50 renderings in per session.

A lot of the benchmarks with keyshot that i find are for FPS and i don't know how that translates to just one frame...i guess.

Quartz · 18 Oct 2019 at 22:05

Jamie Slimmon said:
I'm looking to buy a PC that works well with Luxion Keyshot. Keyshot is CPU based software.

You might want to look at a low-end Epyc Rome CPU. You can get a 16 core / 32 thread chip for $1000 (don't know UK prices so I'm guessing £1000) and upgrade later when funds permit. You will also have 128 PCIe lanes to cope with multiple GPU accelerators.