Mobile workstation and external GPUs
Posted: Wed Dec 21, 2016 1:16 pm
Hi,
I am new to Octane render and have some questions regarding a potential setup.
I am a 3D generalist working in product visualisation and character illustration. I currently work on the mac and use C4D, Modo, Zbrush and substance painter.
I have had a chance to demo Octane Render and I am impressed. I currently have a 2013 Macbook Pro with Nvidea GTX750m so the render time are slow. I have a 12 core mac tower (2012 aluminium) and have considered getting a Titan for that but it looks like Apples lack of support for Nvidea will have me jumping through hoops.
I have used Mac for 25 years but am unhappy about the direction Apple are taking regarding pro users so I have decided to jump ship and go with a PC.
From reading the forums it looks like a desktop with multiple GPUs is the way to go. My problem is that I freelance all over London so I need a setup that I can travel with.
I am considering getting a 17" Gaming laptop/workstation as they seem to have good spec for Octane (Dual GTX1070s or 1080s) or maybe a smaller 15" with 1 card. I would then like the option to connect the laptop to more GPUs (at home) when I need faster renders. So, some questions:
Is anyone using a dual GPU laptop? If so, how does it perform with Octane?
What is the best way to expand my GPU setup? Would I need thunderbolt 3 or can I connect to a second computer and access the GPUs via ethernet?
How many external GPUs can a thunderbolt 3 connection see?
Regards
Steve
I am new to Octane render and have some questions regarding a potential setup.
I am a 3D generalist working in product visualisation and character illustration. I currently work on the mac and use C4D, Modo, Zbrush and substance painter.
I have had a chance to demo Octane Render and I am impressed. I currently have a 2013 Macbook Pro with Nvidea GTX750m so the render time are slow. I have a 12 core mac tower (2012 aluminium) and have considered getting a Titan for that but it looks like Apples lack of support for Nvidea will have me jumping through hoops.
I have used Mac for 25 years but am unhappy about the direction Apple are taking regarding pro users so I have decided to jump ship and go with a PC.
From reading the forums it looks like a desktop with multiple GPUs is the way to go. My problem is that I freelance all over London so I need a setup that I can travel with.
I am considering getting a 17" Gaming laptop/workstation as they seem to have good spec for Octane (Dual GTX1070s or 1080s) or maybe a smaller 15" with 1 card. I would then like the option to connect the laptop to more GPUs (at home) when I need faster renders. So, some questions:
Is anyone using a dual GPU laptop? If so, how does it perform with Octane?
What is the best way to expand my GPU setup? Would I need thunderbolt 3 or can I connect to a second computer and access the GPUs via ethernet?
How many external GPUs can a thunderbolt 3 connection see?
Regards
Steve