Opinion on the computer spec

[Mikla]

Hi;

We are in the phase of changing our PC's to switch to the GPU based rendering. The idea is to have a decent cpu and couple of 970's on the network. We need a decent cpu cause we are working on After Effects as well. We are planning to buy 3 PC's with 2 GPU's each and use network rendering with Octane.

Here are the specs:

Mainboard: MSI X99A SLI PLUS INTEL X99, DDR4, LGA2011-v3, SATA6Gb/s, USB3.1, PCI-E 3.0 ATX
CPU: INTEL Core i7-5930K 3.50GHz, 15MB, DDR4, 22nm, LGA2011-v3
Fan: NOCTUA NH-U12S 2011/2011-v3/1150/1155/1156&AMD, 1ad NF-F12 PWM FAN, NT-H1
Memory: KINGSTON HX424C12PBK4/32 HyperX Predator (T2) DDR4-2400Mhz C12 32GB (4x8GB) QUAD (12-13-13) 1.35V
PSU: COOLER MASTER RS-A00-SPM2 Silent Pro MII 1000W 80+ Silver
GPU: 2 X GALAX GTX970 EX OC BLACK EDITION GTX970, PCI-E16 3.0, 4GB/256bit GDDR5, HDMI, 2xDVI, DisplayPort
Case: COOLER MASTER HAF 912 Advance

We decided to go with a DDR4 system to make it future proof. Also picked 5930k instead of 5820k for a better GPU bandwidth.

What are your thoughts on this system? Do you think the DDR4 system with a Haswell chip worth the money or a 4930k with a DDR3 system do just as good?

Thank you.

[smicha]

Here
http://render.otoy.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=47678
is a list of what I am building just within hours. Stay tuned for deeper analysis of its performance.

[Mikla]

That's great! Looking forward to the results.

[decade]

I think the 5930k is pointless for CG artists - I would only consider 5820k (6-core, cheaper) or 5960x (8-core, more expensive).
Why ? vs 5820k, it only offers a tiny boost in clockspeed + more pci-e lanes but that's not useful for Octane or after effects, & anyway, it still has more pci-e lanes than the socket 1150 cpus like the 4790k (which, also, is not really a problem for Octane).
If you will really not use CPU-rendering ever, I would go with the 5820k, because After Effects certainly doesn't benefit that much from more cores.

Actually, socket 1150-based 4790k would even better choice apart form a few factors :
- socket 2011-3 (x99 chipset) allows (much) more system RAM
- almost all 2011-3 boards are high end with many pci-e slots
- 4790k has become too expensive, so 5820k imo is better value.

Don't get too caught up on expensive motherboards for x99 - all x99 motherboards are high-end because the chipset is so expensive no one makes cut-down boards for this socket. You really only need to look at the spacing of the pci-e slots.
For example, MSI x99 sli is perfectly good & has good spacing on 3 pci-e slots.
Edit - funnily enough, exactly the board you already chose, lol.

[Mikla]

I think the 5930k is pointless for CG artists - I would only consider 5820k (6-core, cheaper) or 5960x (8-core, more expensive).
Why ? vs 5820k, it only offers a tiny boost in clockspeed + more pci-e lanes but that's not useful for Octane or after effects, & anyway, it still has more pci-e lanes than the socket 1150 cpus like the 4790k (which, also, is not really a problem for Octane).
If you will really not use CPU-rendering ever, I would go with the 5820k, because After Effects certainly doesn't benefit that much from more cores.

Actually, socket 1150-based 4790k would even better choice apart form a few factors :
- socket 2011-3 (x99 chipset) allows (much) more system RAM
- almost all 2011-3 boards are high end with many pci-e slots
- 4790k has become too expensive, so 5820k imo is better value.

Don't get too caught up on expensive motherboards for x99 - all x99 motherboards are high-end because the chipset is so expensive no one makes cut-down boards for this socket. You really only need to look at the spacing of the pci-e slots.
For example, MSI x99 sli is perfectly good & has good spacing on 3 pci-e slots.
Edit - funnily enough, exactly the board you already chose, lol.

Thanks for the feedback! We may use one of our old Quadro4000's as a 3rd card just to feed the monitors. I've read somewhere that having more PCI-e lanes is especially more beneficial for CUDA operations and thought it would run the cards more efficiently but don't know if thats the case for Octane.

When we need serious CPU rendering we do it in the render farm anyways, but I thought more clock speed would be beneficial for After Effects. But then i found this benchmark and i guess the difference doesn't worth the price difference in my case: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/int ... 918-5.html

[smicha]

First of all - I just finished the build on 5930k and M.2 drive and 2xXs - this M.2 is sick!!! 2.2gb/s read. I'll write more about it in the build log.

Second - all 40pci cpus are great (5930,5960, xeons e5), and 5930k over 5820k (28pcie lanes 'only') gives many advantages:
-with 2 gpus you'll not be able to run 2x x16 config on 5820k, unless you go with 2xPLX chips mobo like asus x99-e ws or asrock ws e, asrock extreme 11.
-Additionally when you use M.2 on 5820k some PCI slots will be cut off completely, restricting potential for further gpu expansion (this info is from the asrock x99ws manual).
-5930k always goes at least 4x x8 over 4x x4 for 5820k (two times faster geometry transfer, which for animations does matter a lot - sometimes transferring a scene is longer than rendering)
- no quad sli support with 5820k (SLI actually does not matter for octane, that is why I list it as last).

So adding 200EUR and getting 5930k benefits a lot.

Don't get 3 pci slot mobo - it is a waste of money.

[glimpse]

another thing to mention bout CPUs (their lane count) & MultiGPu rigs - workstations with fast storage..

for nVMe or other fast drives You need to have 4x lanes directly to CPU that on CPUs that have lower lane count ould disable some of them on PCIe slots - thus leaving You with physical slot that doesn't work. so..there is advantage getting 500$ CPU especailly if You already onto x99 platform (spending on costly things as DDR4) - other wise simply get lower end system.

[Mikla]

Thanks for the feedback guys. Going with the 5930k.

[smicha]

Thanks for the feedback guys. Going with the 5930k.

Wise

[Mikla]

Hi;

We've received most of the parts today and setup is under way.

Just a quick question: We are planning to use two 970 (Galax Hof) and one Quadro 4000 on MSI X99A SLI Krait Edition MB. What should be the order of the cards? The 970's need to be on the faster lanes as the quadro is only there for the monitors.

Thanks.