Vectorworks PC - Best System?

TheSkateyBird

TheSkateyBird

TheSkateyBird

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Hello,
A friend of mine is looking into building an AMD based system for use with a program called "Vectorworks" which incorperates Cinema 4D Rendering software.
The rendering quality looks something like this :http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8yiLUOK-z9U&feature=related

I was wondering what kind of system spec would he be looking at to render this kind of environment without it taking an age to render each frame?
We're working with a budget of around £2000 including dual 24"+ monitors and peripherals. Any advice or system set-ups any of you can provide would be a great help :)
Thanks,
Ross
 
I'm sure someone will provide a full spec for you, but I'd go down the Intel route rather than AMD. You'd want something like the i7 2600K as your CPU.
 
Hmm, i7 2600K is a quad core right? We were under the assumtion that more cores would be better and for the price we could save about £50 and get a six core black edition and overclock it to make up for the performance difference.
 
TheSkateyBird said:
Hmm, i7 2600K is a quad core right? We were under the assumtion that more cores would be better and for the price we could save about £50 and get a six core black edition and overclock it to make up for the performance difference.
Click to expand...

four cores, but 8 threads, i belive the top amd can only do 6 cores/6threads ;)
 
Check out Cinebench benchmarks; they use the Cinema 4D rendering engine, the multiple CPU score will show you their relative speed of rendering using all cores the CPU has.

- The 2600k (Intel 4 core) costs £240 and gets 6.88 points in the latest cinebench
- The 1100t (AMD 6 core) costs £180 and gets 5.9 points

So, you can conclude:

- The Intel has higher absolute performance for this task, and since the AMD model is their current top of the line, they cannot match it.

- The AMD is slightly better value for the test, each cinebench point costing £30.50 vs £34.90 on the Intel.

So, it's up to him to decide, really.

BTW, I got the scores here :
http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/cpus/2011/01/03/intel-sandy-bridge-review/7
 
Here's a 2600k spec:



Gigabyte GeForce GTX 480 SUPER OC 1536MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £249.98

Intel Core i7-2600K 3.40GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - OEM £239.99

Iiyama ProLite E2407HDS 24" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Black (£159.98) x 2 - £319.96

MSI P67A-GD65 Intel P67 (socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard - (Sandybridge) ** B3 REVISION ** £132.00

Coolermaster Silent Pro Modular 1000W Power Supply £124.99

Corsair XMS3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX8GX3M2A1600C9) £79.99

Coolermaster CM-690 II Advanced Dominator Case - Black £73.98

OCZ Vertex 60GB 2.5" SATA-II Solid State Hard Drive (OCZSSD2-1VTX60G) £71.99

Noctua NH-D14 Dual Radiator CPU Cooler (Socket LGA1366/LGA1156/LGA1155/LGA775/AM2/AM2) £69.98

Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 32MB Cache - OEM (ST31000524AS) £43.99

Logitech M500 Laser Mouse (910-001203) £31.99

Logitech K300 Compact Keyboard (920-001488) £17.99

Sony Optiarc AD-7260S 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £15.59

Total : £1,505.50 (includes shipping : £27.55).



Includes OEM version because the retail is out of stock. Only difference is that you won't get the stock cooler but that doesn't matter because...

I included the Noctua D-14 which is one of the best coolers around so you can get the best overclock and the best out of your CPU. If you feel it's unnecessary then downgrade it to a Corsair A50 for £40 less.

I put the GTX 480 incase the sort of programs your using will make use of CUDA, if not you could downgrade it to an ATI 5850.

The GD65 is one of MSI's top of the range boards allowing CF/SLI in the future if you were to require.

Corsair XMS3 will fit under most aftermarket coolers, unlike some of the others which are quite a bit taller.

HDD is cheap and quick (you could include a bigger HDD if you require more space) and an SSD for OS and apps just to speed up the general response time.

1000W modular PSU is probably overkill but will accomodate for future upgrades and, being modular, will help keep everything tidy and improve airflow.

Coolermaster CM690 is a very highly regarded case with good airflow but the case is more of a personal preference depending on what you like the look of so this is just an option.

Don't know too much about monitors but those monitors look fine to me.

Finally, don't know much about peripherals but Logitech are a great make with the highest quality customer service so I including a Logitech mouse and keyboard.
 
I'd still wait or get the retail CPU for the warranty alone. The rest is about what I'd spec too.

Since you have some spare cash for a £2000 budget, you can upgrade the displays to IPS panels, or the SSD to 120GB, or the keyboard to mechanical.

The CM 690 II should be able to take a NH-D14 cooler.

Your basket
HP ZR24w 24" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Midnight Grey £399.98 x 2
Gigabyte GeForce GTX 480 SUPER OC 1536MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £249.98
Intel Core i7-2600K 3.40GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor with FREE Operation Flashpoint Red River Game £239.99
MSI P67A-GD65 Intel P67 (socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard - (Sandybridge) ** B3 REVISION ** £132.00
Coolermaster Silent Pro Modular 850W Power Supply £109.99
Qpad MK-80 LED Backlit Mechanical Gaming Keyboard - UK Layout £99.98
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-00599) £79.99
OCZ Agility Series 60GB 2.5" SATA-II Solid State Hard Drive (OCZSSD2-1AGT60G) £71.99
Corsair XMS3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX8GX3M2A1600C9) £68.39
Coolermaster CM-690 II Lite Dominator Case - Black £57.98
Thermalright Silver Arrow CPU Cooler (Socket LGA1366/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA775/AM2/AM3) £56.99
Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 32MB Cache - OEM (ST31000524AS) £43.99
Logitech MX518 Gaming-Grade Optical Mouse (910-000616) £23.99
Sony Optiarc AD-7260S 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £15.59

Total : £2,083.88

Funky mechanical backlit keyboard, two IPS 1920 x 1200 screens, MX518 mouse (very good all purpose mouse), Win 7 OEM, Silver Arrow cooler (roughly similar to NH-D14), still loaded with a 480GTX OC, which can be downgraded to a 560ti / GTX 460 is not much graphics power required, while still having good CUDA support.
 
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Ok, thank you all for the input. I'll make sure my friend checks this thread out. These set-ups have definetly shaved the cost of the build down by at least £1000
Thanks again :D
 
Build around a 2700K retail, P67 mobo, 8 GB ram (or 16GB but probably overkill), and dual IPS displays (23'' 1080p Dell IPS much cheaper BTW), a good HSF (heatsink and fan) for silent and cool overclock, some ATI or NVIDIA cards if the software takes advantage of CUDA or ATI Stream, 750W+ power supply from a reputable brand, a decent SSD for fast responding OS and programs, (I'd go capacity over sheer speed), a 1TB drive, possibly a backup solution (mirroring + removable hard drive, hot swap or external enclosure). Maybe Win 7 pro if he plans on remote desktop.

Should be relatively easy to have a very quick £2000 build.
 
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