New Computer Benchmarking?

#1

So I have recently got my new computer put together, I’m wondering do I need to run tests on the machine such as benchmarking it? What’s the best application to do the benchmark?

Also I would like to know, how do you know if your machine is optimised for 3D? How do you check if your CPU or RAM or GPU is performing at it’s best? The RAM is the only thing I changed by enabling XMP.

The computer will be used for modelling, rendering and maybe some compositing. Mainly Maya photoshop and maybe after effects.

#2

Hey man,

Cinebench seems to be the most common one used for 3D workstations. You don’t have to run them though. Prime95 is a great way to max out your CPU to test temps.

HWmonitor, CPUID, and Windows Task Manager are great for monitoring your hardware. AMD also has some nice tools if you’re on that platform.

-AJ

#3

memtest86+ is standard for RAM testing:

http://www.memtest.org/

prime95 is great for temperature checks on the CPU as it seriously thrashes it.

hard drive manufacturers each have their own integrity checking software.

looks like passmark has aquired memtest, but they have a few suites (not free)…

http://www.passmark.com/index.html

#4

If youre just looking to check that the machine is broadly performing as it should, cinebench will give you a good idea.

Download here
http://www.cinebench.com

check your scores here
http://cbscores.com

#5

Thanks guys I have tested my machine with Cinebench and the results seemed okay. I still have to test it with Prime95. Thanks imashination for the cinebench results, very interesting to see. The CPU 7.17 but OpenGL was 24.88, a bit low but still work able and probably upgrade GPU in the future.

I’ll probably do a batch render of a scene tonight or tomorrow night to see how it does too.

Are there any tips to make your computer perform it’s best or better when working with 3D?

#6

Well if you want a little more rendering performance, you could overclock your CPU. :stuck_out_tongue:

#7

What is your GPU?

#8

I don’t really want to overclock the CPU because if something went wrong, I can’t afford to buy another one.

The GPU is only a Quadro 600 because it was cheap and stable with Maya, couldn’t afford to get more expensive GPUs but it will work fine for now and I will upgrade in the future.

I’ve batched rendered a scene last night to test the machine and it went okay and it was really fast. However I did lower the res and amount of rays a bit. I’m going to render another scene that has a higher res and more rays tonight to see how that will do too. Also the temps when rendering were okay, te maxium temp was around 50-52c but that was the VCore temp and the rest were in the 40’s, I was just looking at the temps with Asus’ Thermal Radar cause I have a Sabertooth board.

Hope you can ignore my ignorance as this may sound silly but I’m wondering, as I’ve never checked the CPU usage before(windows task manager) but when I was rendering, the usage would jump from a low value to say 80% and back down again, and back up again to a high value, is this normal? or should the CPU be at a high value or 100% all the way through the render?

#9

Hey man,

It usually does that when its rendering photons or indirect illumination.

What CPU do you have? If it has an unlocked multi, you could easily squeeze a few more percent out of it without any risk.

-AJ

#10

I don’t think my CPU is unlocked, it’s a i7 3820.

#11

You cant damage a cpu by overclocking these days, they have plenty of failsafe mechanisms which will slow down or switch off the chip if it ever hit a temperature which wasnt safe.

Simply, in your bios, raise the frequency a few mhz at a time and give it a go. The name of the setting varies, blk, host frequency etc, but it will be a number around 160MHz (this gets multiplied by about 20 or so to give the full cpu speed.

Youll generally be fine adding another GHz to the cpu speed before you need extra voltage or cooling. If its any help, Ive had my i7 overclocked from 2.6GHz to 4GHz for over 4 years now, used day in day out, rendering days on end.

#12

This thread has been automatically closed as it remained inactive for 12 months. If you wish to continue the discussion, please create a new thread in the appropriate forum.