render machine help

toasty1435 · August 14, 2018, 07:05:16 PM

Not sure if this is the right topic to post this under so apologies.

Looking at potentially creating a render machine, I'm currently on a mac so I was debating about getting one of the older 2012 mac pros and upgrading the cpus to dual 6 core (2x Xeon X5690's). I like this idea bc I could have a modern day mac desktop system while still maintaining the modularity aspect, however not sure if this is the best bang per buck in term of cpu power. Thoughts?

mattjgerard · August 15, 2018, 05:54:35 AM

Get ready to duck because you have the potential of a lot of information being tossed your way!

Short version- No.

Long version- for the render node, if that is all you will be using it for, windows will end up giving you more cores for the money. With the advent of the new Threadripper chips and being able to build a whole machine for under 2K with current up to date tech, you won't be able to match the core count or speed with that gen of mac. This is coming from a 20+ year mac user, and has made much of his income working macs, and in the last few years massaging those 2012 machines for all their worth. My last macpro tower (which I miss dearly) had so many upgrades stuffed into it, GPU's, SSD's, IO boards, and aux power supplies, etc. It looked like it was on life support with all the cables coming out of different holes, CD tray door, even cut a hole in the side for the GPU PSU. It ran like a champ. But, it still was hampered by slow bus speeds, slow RAM speeds, low PCIE lane counts. When I quit that job I totalled up what it would cost to rebuild that machine and it was near 3k. Those towers are still so expensive! So, I built a 24core PC for $2400 and it runs circles around it I couldn't believe how fast it was.

I do miss OSX dearly, and I toy with the hackintosh idea. But, if it was just for a render node, you will get more bang for your buck with a threadripper system. And they just dropped the new gen 2 TR chips, so you can either go that route or see if they start to drop the price of the gen 1 chips. There will probably be a glut of used gen 1 chips on ebay soon too.

Hope this helps. I lament the idea of recommending windows over OSX, but in this case I have to.

toasty1435 · August 15, 2018, 06:24:40 AM

Thanks for the input, I had similar thoughts when I saw the new 32 core chip AMD was coming out with but I love OSX and its interface so its hard to face that reality. Odds are I'll probably spec something out using the 2990wx for maximizing the cpu per dollar.

Furniture_Guy · August 15, 2018, 10:25:29 AM

Matt knows of what he speaks.

I too am a Mac refugee. If the differences were even close I would have stayed but sadly that's not the case. And with animations we're talking minutes vs hours. As I've said before on this forum, maybe next year with the new 2019 MacPro but I bet you'll REALLY pay through the nose for it...

Perry (Furniture_Guy)

mattjgerard · August 15, 2018, 12:45:53 PM

Quote from: toasty1435 on August 15, 2018, 06:24:40 AM
Thanks for the input, I had similar thoughts when I saw the new 32 core chip AMD was coming out with but I love OSX and its interface so its hard to face that reality. Odds are I'll probably spec something out using the 2990wx for maximizing the cpu per dollar.

And seeing how most of the current crop of 399x MB's will work with the new chips, there is a large and mature selection of them to go with. Waiting to see if anyone can hackintosh with a threadripper. Not sure if its even physically possible, but would be interesting to pursue.

mattjgerard · August 15, 2018, 12:48:02 PM

Quote from: Furniture_Guy on August 15, 2018, 10:25:29 AM
Matt knows of what he speaks.

I too am a Mac refugee. If the differences were even close I would have stayed but sadly that's not the case. And with animations we're talking minutes vs hours. As I've said before on this forum, maybe next year with the new 2019 MacPro but I bet you'll REALLY pay through the nose for it...

Perry (Furniture_Guy)

Thanks Perry. I've done a lot of under the hood stuff on macs, I embarrassingly don't even know where to start in windows. It was great to be able to know so much about a platform, what can and can't be done with it, I really enjoyed it. I just wish they didn't price themselves out of 90% of the market. Its getting to be more appropriate to compare their pricing to BOXX workstations, but when you do that the specs just go all lopsided.

toasty1435 · August 15, 2018, 05:22:41 PM

With a build centered around key shot rendering, I should focus a majority of the budget towards cpu correct? The GPU does not really affect keyshots rendering capability from what I understand so I would need basically the minimum recommended?

Also heres my build list so far...just need that 2990WX to be released

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/vDtqP3

mattjgerard · August 16, 2018, 05:51:36 AM

Yes, CPU is the only thing that really matters. Having some fast ram and storage helps too, but GPU as far as I know is only for Keyshot interface stuff, so not used at all on a render node.