6 Replies Latest reply on Apr 24, 2012 3:28 PM by Todd_Kopriva

Feedback on new Render Computer

RPPatrick Apr 23, 2012 8:01 AM

Hello Adobe people!

At our company we are increasingly getting more projects that require more time to render.

Sometimes going up to 9 hours.

While the computers are ok to work on, they are not really dedicated for rendering.

Now we were looking at a new computer with some extendabillity to render some of our projects on while we can work on other projects.

Since this is rather new for us in that sense I would like some feedback on this setup if it has a good enough power to render decently (i don't expect the renders to go from 9 hr to 1 hr or something)

So here we go;

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z77M-D3H (4x DDR3 Slots)

Processor: Intel Core i7 3770 Boxed (Ivy Bridge)

Memory: Corsair XMS3 CMX32GX3M4A1600C11 (4x8GB)

Power: OCZ ModXStream Pro 500W (500 Watt powersupply)

Case: Antec Sonata Proto

OS: Windows 7 Proffesional (to go beyond the physical 16 GB cap of Home Premium)

Total Cost: +/- 900 euros (which is decent I believe)

I know it's difficult to tell if I can win some time with this, cause it's losely based on the type of project but we mostly do HD (1080p) video's inside with some motion graphics (sort of like Showcase video's, Kinetic typography etc)

To give some info on our fastest render machine now :

iMac 27" (late 2011)

Intel Core i7 3.4 GHz

12 GB DD3

OSX Lion 10.7.3

(rest is iMac defaults)

Thanks in advance!

1. Re: Feedback on new Render Computer

Dave LaRonde Apr 23, 2012 8:30 AM (in response to RPPatrick)

Would the inability to render Quicktime issues in the ProRes family of codecs be an issue?
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2. Re: Feedback on new Render Computer

RPPatrick Apr 23, 2012 8:32 AM (in response to Dave LaRonde)

Could ypu clarify a bit?

I'm not the Animator, so If you could explain a bit to me I could relay it to him.
I'm more of the general IT guy.

Like I said my knowledge now on this subject is purely from research on here and google.

Thank you for helping!
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3. Re: Feedback on new Render Computer

Mylenium Apr 23, 2012 8:32 AM (in response to RPPatrick)

Depends what plug-ins etc. you use. If you are using OpenGL plug-ins or stuff like Timewarp, than a core 7i would be okay, but then in fact you don't need more than 16GB at all to do those single instance AE renders. If that is not an issue, go with a Xeon, 32GB RAM and use MP rendering plus think about how to deal with teh footage I/O by putting a fast RAID in the machine.

Mylenium
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4. Re: Feedback on new Render Computer

Mylenium Apr 23, 2012 8:34 AM (in response to RPPatrick)

Quicktime on PC does not have any of the Mac specific Final Cut CoDecs. That's what Dave is saying. If that is critical, then I'm afraid you can forget your plans and have sold your soul to Apple, meaning your only option is another Mac.

Mylenium
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5. Re: Feedback on new Render Computer

RPPatrick Apr 23, 2012 9:03 AM (in response to Mylenium)

Ah.

The drive setup is a a SSD for the media Cache and a NAS with 4 TB over a Gigabit network.

As for the rendering we are mostly rendering to mp4 (h264 and WMV) (WMV we are using wmv conversion from flip4mac)
and sometimes we do use quicktime move but not much
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6. Re: Feedback on new Render Computer

Todd_Kopriva Apr 24, 2012 3:28 PM (in response to RPPatrick)

See this page for information about hardware for optimum performance with After Effects:
http://adobe.ly/pRYOuk
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