CGTalk - CPU versus RAM

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01-13-2002, 06:48 AM

which configuration do you think would work better ?

20 P4 1,7GHZ with 256 MB RD-RAM

or

40 P4 1,7GHZ with 128 MB RD-RAM ?

My current configuration is 40 pcs with 128 mb - but that sucks. takes 7000 seconds for one frame where the same frame takes only 700 seconds on my P3 800 Dual with 512mb.

so the big question is, would it be worth it, changing the pcs specs down to 20 with 256 mb ?

halo

01-13-2002, 01:23 PM

surely 128mb of ram is less than the price of a pc......why not go for a gig in each and be done with it...128mb is just enough for the OS...

max uses ram like its going out of fashion, see what your average peak memory usage is over a few renders and i'd go for that amount....even 4 machines crippled by not enough ram will be slower than one with an adequate amount

Taoizm

01-13-2002, 01:27 PM

MAXr4 I wouldn't use anything under 512mb personally. Prices are really cheap right now so I agree with Halo...upgrade.

Avatar

01-13-2002, 02:04 PM

I would have never bought pc`s with this configuration... but they are not mine. They are usually used as game servers and the owners of the pc`s don`t want to upgrade anything *sigh*

btw I rendered some test shots with both of the above mentioned configurations. The 256 Ram version renders complex scenes more than three times faster =)

s2a-adamk

01-17-2002, 06:44 PM

I have some insight on this one.... have used many different machines - at one time I managed a MAX render farm of 90 machines. From this I learned:

1. cpu is most important in rendering (especially when raytracing)- Dual cpu computers are always better.
2. ram doesn't make much difference past 512. Sometimes the difference between 256 machine and 512 was 3 seconds.
3. graphics card doesn't make a difference. I will never buy another $1000+ vid card.

This said, when it was time to buy machines for my firm, I got dual p3s with 512, and 1 gb (because it is so cheap now, why wouldn't you). The dual 933s still kick butt, even with the $80 best buy vid card (render slaves).

good luck.
a

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