OTOY Forums

Hi guys!

I'm a full-time 3d artist and planning to get back into some light freelancing and want to get a new rig.

Because I live in a very small apartment, I don't have enough space for a full workstation, so I am thinking about getting a laptop.

My budget is around 2000USD, and I came up with 2 options:

1. Get an RTX 2070 laptop, use it mostly for preparing the scene, and rendering it in the octane cloud.

2. Get a GTX 1660ti laptop + an external graphics card box + desktop RTX 2070.

Both options are with a core i7-9750H CPU + 32GB DDR4.

I'm planning to do mostly still images, and maybe some short videos.

Has anyone tried rendering with an external graphic card box on a laptop? Has anyone tried working with a laptop for small projects? Are thermal issues a deal-breaker?

Thanks!

I would also be interesting about the current state of development here and if it could be an alternative to a second computer...
I would really appreciate it, if some of the hardware gurus here could help us out, because most of the commercially available stuff I see, seems to be gaming related and I have no idea if this would work together with octane...

best

Andreas

Good day Guys.

Laptop as device is not actually something You would like to render for prolonged periods.

I would ask myself first if I would have a need for laptop, am I going to do the work on the move, do I really need laptop.

Load any modern laptop 100% and You can start looking for power outlet. So in this case I would ask how portable this tool is compared to small computer if You have to sit tethered to power source?

As for Cloud, at the moment the only legal solution is ORC (OctaneRender cloud) and few supported render farms. The rest operate against EULA, that do not allow to rent licences. And to be honest, that's not the cheapest solution either.

The benefit of laptop is that You get everything into single package and it's pretty light. Many users work on them to setup scenes. So it's doable. You should try to use any computer and compare experience in terms of render speed and available RAM/VRAM to what You can get for similar or the same budget if You choose to get regular box.

The benefit of getting a box, at least for me is upgradability factor. If You plan a bit You can start with pretty simple system and change things as You grow, like: start with 4 core and upgrade to 8 core, add 32GB and upgrade to 64/128GB, start with value based 8GB card and upgrade to 24GB card or even add multiple cards..

If You wish, You can also build pretty small system, based on mITX, that could be portable enough and unlike laptop be up gradable. the biggest problem for portable mini systems is lack of good portable screens, but if You do not need perfectly accurate unit for color critical work, there are solutions that do not cost a fortune.

I wrote all of this not to discourage You from getting a laptop, just pointing some options and raising some ideas that might be left unexplored. Laptop + eGPU is an option, but external box comes for at least 200 and more like 500 for better one + laptop better have TB3 or at least TB2.

Here is a small box I got for myself, as a portable solution on the move. Screen connects via USB type C to get not only signal but also power. In this case I can upgrade anything: CPU, GPU, RAM, PSU, MOBO.. I started with smth simple 8700k, got to test 9900k, but ended up with 9700k (as it's enough). 32GB is present but will change mobo and add 64GB (usign 2x 32GB sticks) instead, also might switch GPU to RTX Titan from 2080ti (and 2070super that was before)..- You do not get this type of flexibility with any laptop. For me that is important because I can get what I need now and not to buy over build unit based on what I might need in the future.

* GPU ontop is only for size reference.

Hi glimpse,

Thank you so much for the reply!

For me I would be using it as almost 100% desktop replacement, so most of the time plugged in, except for when browsing or light coding on the couch. The appeal for me is the form factor, you have everything in one, keyboard screen, and computer. My biggest limitation now is space, I don't have any physical space to squeeze in a desk with a full monitor and everything. But a laptop with a mouse, I can fit that on the dinning table. I definitely won't be rendering a movie on it, but I was hoping it could handle rendering up to max 4k images, in theory would be like an intense gaming session.

I would definitely go for a workstation with all the perks if I had the space.

Do you know if it's legal to rent a workstation in the cloud and use that as a "network" renderer?

I'm looking into this as an option right now: the Gigabyte AERO 15, with OLED, color calibrated panel, and rtx 2070, for arond 2400$

Ended up going with the MSI p65 creator, with RTX 2060, as the difference to the rtx 2070MQ is not as big as the price difference, six core i7, and 64 gb of ram and 512 GB NVME .
Ended up paying about 1,900 $.

It's going to arrive in 1 or 2 days, i'll keep you guys posted on how this pans out.

Gonna put it head to head with Corona. As I just finished a small project with it, and it rendered out surprisingly well for an i5 processor. Couldn't get Octane to render on my old laptop, not sure if it was drivers or something else, didn't have enough time to debug.

Hey,

I’m actually going through something similar to you! I’m on the move always and currently have a gaming laptop with RTX 2060 so it does pretty well as I work. However, it still takes forever for me to render my finished products so I’m looking to invest in an External GPU. So from your experience, does the eGPU actually helps Octane Render work faster, and would Octane use both the rtx 2060 and the eGPU at the same time to render?

I’m a newbie in the field so apologies if I don’t know much

I would like to reinforce what Tom said - MiniITX is far better than a laptop. A laptop will get too hot (just not enough fan's), and the cooling system ends up clogged with dust, and is very difficult to remove. Whereas as good MicroITX case can have up to 4 large fan's and everything in it is replaceable/upgradeable.

Paul