Need a PC for simulation,fluids,fur using Houdini... please help

#1

Hello,
I am student and I want to specialize in Simulations,Hair,Fluids,Dynamics using Houdini, Realflow, Maya and, Lighting and Rendering using iray and mantalray and I am studying for Nvidia CUDA Certification.

Please suggest a PC suitable for my needs

I would like to use Linux as the OS (I dont’t know whether it makes any difference. )
and I don’t want to try overclocking.

do I need integrated graphics along with a dedicated graphics card especially while rendering with CPU

also will there be any dfifference between 1333MHz vs 1600MHz ram when rendering with CPU/GPU or while playing back simulations in viewport

EDIT: budget is around $1300

I am looking for a complete PC including monitor

Pl Note : Sorry for adding to my orginal post because even though I did post fresh reply it will take some time before my post gets reviewed by administrator and gets displayed

#2

The onboard GPU is a moot point if you plan to do anything with CUDA, you’ll need a Nvidia GPU. What does your budget look like and do you have anything already like a display or do you need everything? Are you comfortable building something from components or are you looking for something you can just plug in and use?

#3

I am looking for a complete PC including monitor

I no know nothing about building a PC. I am looking for PC from HP, Dell or any other trusted vendors

My Budget is between $1000 to $1500

Actually what I meant to ask is whether I need integrated graphics in addition to a dedicated graphics card especially when rendering with CPU

Also will there be any difference in 1333MHz vs 1600MHz ram durig CPU/GPU rendering or when playing simulation in viewport

#4

If there’s a discrete graphics card installed then the system won’t use the integrated graphics at all. Some laptops can switch between the two to save battery but desktop systems don’t do this.

There will be a difference but not a discernible difference, a few percentage points at most. If there’s a good deal on the faster memory then why not, but it’s not worth paying an extra $100 for.

If you want HP or Dell here are some options from them that would get the job done. The HP Phoenix 810qe has 8GB of memory, i7-4770K processor, GTX 745, and 2B drive for about $1,100 shipped (not including a display). The Dell XPS 8700 is similar but with a 1TB drive, GTX 720, and costs slightly less. Both are customizable of course but that’s the base configuration. If you’re comfortable adding memory yourself you could bump it up to 16GB or 32GB for a lot cheaper than through HP or Dell.

#5

thanks a lot, it is very helpful

what should I look for in a graphics card when purchasing a system for use for fluid simulation, dynamics using houdini and iray

In different forums it is written that ASUS graphics card with direct CU II is the best in terms of cooling, is it really so

I have read somewhere that a graphics card may not be able to use all the VRAM it is said to have. Has anyone come across such graphic cards

#6

Rendering with Iray requires graphics cards with an Nvidia chipset. Houdini uses OpenCL instead of CUDA and can leverage graphics chipsets from any manufacturer. The more memory the better.

As long as the device doesn’t overheat the cooling is a moot point. Manufacturers will add elaborate coolers, LED lights, free bundled games and other nonsense to differentiate themselves since the graphics card products are otherwise indistinguishable. The one thing that I look for to differentiate graphics card products that actually matters is the warranty period, some are one year, some are several years (or lifetime).

Some higher end graphics cards have two chipsets, basically two independent graphics cards stuff onto one circuit board. Software will see these graphics cards as two independent devices and the memory will be split between the two chipsets. So a high end graphics card with 6GB of memory and two chipsets might as well be one cheaper graphics card with 3GB of memory because that’s all you’ll be able to use of it in most software.

#7

thanks a lot, you are very helpful

Actually what I read was about a gtx 760 4gb, that it is able to use only 2gb

i7-4820k has quad channel memory support and i7-4770k has support for dual channel does it mean I should go with i7-4820k or should I go with a CPU without ‘k’ as I won’t overclock

Also I have heard that during rendering, it is better to switch off hyperthreading,
If yes, am I better off with an i5 than an i7

I am sorry for asking too many questions and look forward for your helpful, informative reply

#8

Can you post the link where you are seeing this information?

Those two processors are for different platforms and offer different features (LGA2011 and LGA1150). I would look at the benchmarks for each and compare that to the budget to see if it’s worth the difference. The motherboard will be more expensive for LGA2011 too so take that into consideration.

Some software will perform worse with Hyper-threading enabled, Nuke is a fairly well known example of this. Most applications will benefit slightly from Hyper-Threading though.

#9

Thanks a lot for all your help

http://www.reddit.com/r/buildapc/comments/1txahl/stop_trying_to_buy_4gb_gtx_760s/

Also please have a look at this website:
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/core-i7-4960x-4930k-4820k_7.html

according to this website i7-4770k is able to render much faster than i7-4820K, does it mean that, it is better to go with i7-4770k

#10

They are saying it doesn’t make sense to buy the 4GB version of the GTX 760 for gaming because the GPU isn’t fast enough to render resolutions that would need that much memory and that high of resolution textures. They are not saying it’s limited to 2GB of memory.

For general purpose computing on the graphics card like CUDA and OpenCL you want as much memory as you can get. For example the resolution of Pyro simulations in Houdini are limited by the memory of the graphics card (if using OpenCL for processing). Half the memory would mean half as many voxels in the simulation in that example.

In terms of bang for the buck the Core i7-4770K (LGA 1150) is pretty good but the i7-4820K (LGA2011) has a few advantages like support for more memory slots and PCI Express lanes. If you don’t need those things then the i7-4770K would be a good buy.

#11

Sorry could not post earlier.

Thanks a lot it is very very helpful.

I hope GTX 760 4gb will be sufficient to work with houdini and Iray as I can’t afford anything costlier or should I go with 5xx or 6xx series graphics card.