Boxx Apexx5 Dual Xeon E5-2683v3 2.0GHz, 32GB DDR2, NVIDIA Quadro K5200 240fps

[Gordon]

I am so in love with this Boxx (240fps)...  It's even better than the benchmark makes it out to be since I am typically rendering entire vehicles with huge poly counts.  I just started a Keyshot VR on this machine an hour ago and it's already ahead my Lenovo CAD workstation (59fps) that had a 24 hour head start.  It's rendering each 1600X881 frame in about 4-5 seconds vs 4-5 minutes. 

Configuration
240FPS (Keyshot 5)

DUAL XEON E5-2683v3 2.0GHz, 35MB cache, 9.60 QPI (Fourteen-Core)
32GB DDR4-2133 REG ECC (8 - 4GB DIMMS)
Sound Blaster Audigy Fx Card PCIE
NVIDIA Quadro K5200 8GB
240GB SSD SATA 6Gb/s Intel 730 Extreme Performance
20X Dual Layer DVD–RW Writer
Microsoft Windows 7 Professional Edition 64-Bit
USB Keyboard
Logitech M500 Laser Corded Mouse
BOXX 3 Year Limited Warranty
Model Specifications
Intel Xeon E5-2600v3 Processors Liquid Cooled
Intelfi C612 Chipset
RDIMM ECC DDR4-2133Mhz
. . (16) DIMM Slots
(10) 6GB Serial ATA 3.0 ports
. . (RAID 0, 1, and 10)
(1) VGA port
(1) IPMI port
(2) Gigabit Ethernet ports
Audio
. . Front Panel Mic + Audio Out
(5) USB 3.0 Ports:
(3) Front, (2) Rear
(4) USB 2.0 Ports:
(2) Front, (2) Rear
1250W Power Supply
4U: 6.825"w x 17.815"h x 24.65"d

[PhilippeV8]

A hint on the price of this machine would be greatly appreciated over here 

[Speedster]

Philippe, you don't want to know!  Just kidding!

My BOXX is almost identical, but with a slightly older chip and 16 cores, which I run hyper threaded.  The other difference is mine has 3x 1TB drives running as RAID 5.

Came in at $13,000 US.  Best investment I've ever made!!!

FYI- Also use an EIZO 21" high-end monitor- a perfect match to the BOXX!

Bill G

[Gordon]

$11,858 as configured.
I have it hooked to a 50" 4K TV right now so I can do demos.
Could probably get the price down under $10k by going to a lesser graphics card.  Even with a 4k monitor, a K2200 would do just fine.

[Speedster]

I have it hooked to a 50" 4K TV right now so I can do demos.

Hi guys;

I don't want to sound like an old phart, but this concerns me, as my primary profession is a medical device designer, so I'm really alert to stuff.

Several years ago I had a large 32" ViewSonic, which I used 8-10 hours a day.   For some reason my "mouse" shoulder was killing me, as were my traps.  I mentioned it to my chiropractor (life-long herniated disc- sucks!) , and he told me he was seeing many younger to middle-aged patients with exactly the same complaint.  The issue is that, with large monitors and many hours a day, you can develop a micro-tear in your rotator cuff, due to the large (but not large enough) mouse movement required, as compared to a smaller monitor.  He said it was primarily an issue with those in the CG, animation, product design and movie industries.

By coincidence, the ViewSonic power supply blew up (not uncommon!), so I decided to replace it with a smaller 21" EIZO high-end monitor.  My rotator cuff problem went away within two weeks, as did my tight traps.  And I must say- that EIZO is way over-the-top!

Anyway- just an observation and word of caution based on experience...

Bill G

[edwardo]

Interesting Bill. Some time ago I set the sensitivity of my mouse way up (so my hand doesn't have to travel as far) and my ache wrist went away pretty soon (within days).

[Speedster]

Yep.  And the problem is that with a large monitor, even with the mouse settings fast, or high, you then transfer the motion to small movements of your shoulder, which is the most complex part of your skeletal structure.  And you're not even aware of it at first.  It's the "micro-movement" of the shoulder that causes a micro tear in the rotator cuff.  If you are really sweeping the mouse around in large movement, there's no problem.

It's a tough compromise for us.  It helps to take breaks often!  Good for the eyes also!

Bill G

[Justin M]

Question for those that are using 4k displays, is there an option to upscale the UI in KS? I recently upgraded to 4k screens (2-28" Samsung UHD's) and the UI is extremely small. Other programs that I use do a good job at upscaling the UI (Adobe AE, PS, IL, Maya 2016, Cinema 4D) the only 2 that I use that do not are Keyshot and 3dsmax. Keyshot isn't unbearable to use at 4k, just a bit small, 3dsmax on the other hand is completely unusable at 4k. BTW, your computer specs make me want to rob a bank so I can buy one

[Jake Carter]

Hi there, I am running some tests, trying to decide on a new system.
I was hoping you could help me out.
I would like to know the time it takes you to render the camera.bip scene with these settings: Output: .jpg 1200x831 all 28/56 of your cores, samples 16, ray bounces 8, AA 3, shadow 3, Gi 1, Pb 1.5, Sharp shadows checked, STF unchecked, GIC checked.

Time in seconds.

I would really appreciate the help. Thanks!

[Speedster]

Time in seconds.

Jake, on my 16 core (32 threaded) BOXX I mentioned above, it rendered in 13.5 seconds using your requested settings.  But I render using 30 cores, leaving two for other work.

Note:  This is on KeyShot 6.2.23 beta. 

Bill G

[Jake Carter]

Time in seconds.

Jake, on my 16 core (32 threaded) BOXX I mentioned above, it rendered in 13.5 seconds using your requested settings.  But I render using 30 cores, leaving two for other work.

Note:  This is on KeyShot 6.2.23 beta. 

Bill G

Thank you very much! So is yours a v2 chip?

[Speedster]

So is yours a v2 chip?

I have no idea!  Tell me how to find out and I'll tell you...  All I know is it's an Intel Xeon ES-2687W0 @ 3.10 Ghz (x2).  My BOXX is about 3 years old now, hard to believe!
Bill G

[Jake Carter]

Based strictly on core count, I would say its a v2. The v3s have 10 cores.