Topic: Comments on this computer :)

[Niclasbladh]

Is this computer enough to creat good renderings? Anything that I should change?

http://www.inet.se/kundvagn/visa/2500528/2012-11-04


Thanks for answear

[Morten]

Hi Niclasbladh, it looks fine (I'm guessing you can't afford a GTX 680, and that you picked the 660 due to a limited budget).

[Niclasbladh]

It is a little bit over budget, would it make big different in the renderings quality or just the time?

[Morten]

The renderings would look the same, but the GTX 680 would render them faster than the 660.

A GTX 680 with more onboard memory would also allow you to make more complex scenes with more detailed models and higher-resolution textures, without compromising the framerate and the general responsiveness in Lumion as much as with the 660.

[Ecuadorian]

I see you're spending more on the CPU than on the GPU. I recommend doing the opposite.

Get a Core i5 instead of a Core i7, and use the savings to get a GTX 670 or 680.

[Niclasbladh]

Aha okey great! My goul is to creat as photorealistic pictures and videos as possible, not the rendering time (ofcourse its nice with a fast working computer). Is there anything you would change compared to my budget?

16 gig RAM compared to 32?
I7 vs I5?
GTX 660, GTX 670, GTX 680 or HD 7970 3GB?

Thank you so much!

[Ecuadorian]

Well, I don't know what software you use, but if you use SketchUp + Lumion, then you should be fine with:

8GB RAM
SketchUp can't use more than 4, anyway. I'm perfectly happy with my 8GB... RAM usage never goes beyond 70%, even with SketchUp and Lumion both open. 32GB sounds like a waste.

Core i5
The only difference between Core i5 and i7 is that in the i7 each core can handle 2 threads. But SketchUp is not multi-threaded, and Lumion benefits more from a single fast thread than from multiple threads... So the hyperthreading in the Core i7 becomes a waste.

GTX 670 or 680. Try to get a model with more memory.
Don't buy ATI cards, as you won't be able to use them with some GPGPU renderers such as Octane, Cycles and the upcoming Thea GPU... and also because ATI has some problems with SketchUp (I bought a notebook with ATI and could not use it with LightUp for SketchUp)

[Niclasbladh]

I also want to use the computer to rendering programs such as V-ray, Maxwell and so on. Is there any different compared to Lumion?

The memory of the card only degrease the rendering time or does it affects the quality also?

[Ecuadorian]

I also want to use the computer to rendering programs such as V-ray, Maxwell and so on. Is there any different compared to Lumion?

The memory of the card only degrease the rendering time or does it affects the quality also?

I don't use V-ray or Maxwell. I believe their SketchUp versions are still CPU-only. Most modern rendering programs are moving towards using the GPU, such as Octane, Thea (soon to get a GPU engine), Cycles, iRay, etc.

About memory in your graphics card, so far I've managed to do all my animations with just 1.25GB of video memory (GTX 570). And only once I needed to use the "low memory mode", which decreased the quality of textures, but in the final product nobody noticed it... not even myself. Of course, the more video memory you can get, the better. This way when you leave V-ray behind and upgrade to a realtime GPU-based raytracer, you'll be better prepared. 

[Niclasbladh]

Ah okey, thank you for the information! Wich program do you use to renderings? I really look forward to start rendering on a better computer then my laptop.. xd

I think the final product will be something like this?

http://www.inet.se/kundvagn/visa/2500991/2012-11-04

[Ecuadorian]

I guess you'll be installing Windows, Lumion and some other software in your SSD, right? Then you might need more than 128GB.

BTW, I currently use Twilight Render for photorealistic rendering, but I'm going to switch to Thea as soon as it gets a GPU engine in the next release.