MacPro not good enough? C'mon Octane!

[cgreenleaf]

Can someone please help me understand what my problem is. I had a IMac that was a 3.4Ghz I7 (32GB Ram) and a NVIDIA GTX675 1024 MB - purchased only a few months ago new with high hopes.

There have been some amazing and patient individuals that have helped diagnose the fact that my machine lacked the juice to power anything worthwhile, and that it was necessary that i get more machine to handle my work.

So like a hungry consumer I went out and purchased a new computer just so that i wont have problems any more. I got a new MacPro 12-Core Xeon E5 with 64 GB and an AMD FirePro D700 6144. I figured at this price I wouldn't have issues anymore. I was told this was going to be a sure thing!

And as it turns out I was just recently told that this is not going to work to Run Octane, that I need another piece of hardware to plug into my Pro. This is the complete opposite of what I had been told. And Im not going to spend another dime to make this work. So does this mean I need VRay instead of Octane? Or is there someone that can help me understand where I sit.

Thank you for your knowledge and know how. Im tired, and do not understand my challenge.

[acc24ex]

I think you should use V-ray, with that many issues, octane is not destined for you..

- maybe, if you asked a question on this forum in the first place - than you wouldn't need to buy a whole new expensive machine

- only thing you needed to upgrade was the graphic cards - like buy 4 NVIDIA 780 Ti, with an external box to fit them in if you cannot fit it inside the mac pro box -

- the only thing octane doesn't run on is AMD/ATI which you purchased - while someone reassured you this was the best option, it is not - that someone doesn't have a clue

- I run a 4 year old PC machine, 12 gb ram, plugged in 5 nvidia graphics cards, octane runs great.. go figure

[inlifethrill]

Indeed, the information provided by Otoy is very clear. It is strange you spent that money on a machine that isn't even close to the hardware requirements.
Fancy processors and plenty of RAM are surely useful but not essential with Octane. As suggested above, with your current configuration, you are better off with VRay. Octane runs fine when you give it what it needs.

[indexofrefraction]

its really hard, but actually …
an old mac pro 2012 (2x6core) would have been cheaper and better for rendering .)
i own one of these and for cpu rendering it's not much slower than your newer one (1x12core),
i can pop in an nvidia gpu, or attach a pcie gpu extension (which is faster than thunderbolt)

sadly those new pros are really really really bad machines for rendering.
they are not cost effective at all for cpu rendering,
and an absolute no go for gpu rendering because they use ati cards in a proprietary form factor.
if apple continues with this strategy for mac pros it will kill the vizualisation business on macosx

anyway, my advice is :
a) inform yourself about thunderbolt gpu extension,
b) or sell the machine and buy one which is better suited for gpu rendering,
c) or forget gpu rendering and work with cinema4d with or without vrayforc4d.

… in any case you will need to spend a reasonable amount of dimes

[rodross]

I hate Apple...for a very logical set of reasons. Anyways, without making this a Mac vs. PC argument, in this business, I suggest you take an hour to watch a tutorial on buying parts and building your own PC. It's really not hard, and when something goes obsolete, you replace ONLY that part. I've rebuilt my PC 3 times. I sell the old parts, which pay for half of the new ones, and I'm ALWAYS top of the line by the end of the year for usually under $800, after selling the old parts. That's CPU, GPU(s), motherboard, ram, and watercooling. Plus you get twice the power for half the price (1/4 of the price if you count selling "old" parts). GPU is the way of the future, at least it's looking that way. Apple does not fit into that future for now, not as long as they are cramming useless OpenCL GPUs, even in the new trashcan model, while the rest of the world focuses on NVidia and OpenGL. To each their own on mac vs. PC preference, but I personally have never understood the appeal of being limited in my choices of software and hardware.

[dotcommer]

Another option is the way I went:

I have a 2012 Mac Pro, the last of its kind before the fancy trashcans came out. I shoved in a Titan Black, special order from MacVidcards on Ebay, and threw in a dvd bay sized PSU in place of my dvd drive to power the hungry Titan. Works beautifully, and I can still customize the internals, and have both mac and PC partitions to work on. Its quite a super flexible rig.

[glimpse]

sort of to the same theme of MP
(how BOXX put things down =DDD)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KK2NAwULUA

& if You (or anyone is looking to get rid of their new bins)..
here's a simple video explaining some things (You can find more)
to help You build an alternative even if You don't have too much knowledge.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KeIW7PAi6_o
or
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XrOHPm_7PDo

[indexofrefraction]

lets not turn it into a pc/mac war…

the op simply should have informed himself…
but i also admit… its not that easy for beginners