If you could have your dream system? 2

[Razberryjones]

I have the opportunity to purchase/build a system of my choice. I currently have the need to produce the best high end renderings possible it the shortest amount of time possible. I am looking for input on what the best OS/ and hardware system would be to run Solidworks and any information on 3rd party rendering softwares.
Thanks in advance for any input!
Craig

 

[Razberryjones]

Lol,,... I got ya, but to tell you the truth, I'll believe that one when I see it! I no longer view new releases of SW with optimism. I will test 2008 for a month on my home system prior to loading at work.
If photoworks can actually render glass and metal again against a plain white background WITHOUT having to use caustics, I'll be happy. If anything, the more they have tried to jazz photoworks up, the worse it has become. This however, is the whole reason I will be allowed a budget for a new system. So viva la Solidworks!

 

[pdybeck]

maxwell render

http://www.maxwellrender.com/

Supposedly the render times are longer than photoworks, but some users claim the setup is much easier as they have to do less fussing. The quality of renders is quite amazing. SolidWorks seems to be flirting with purchasing them. They are advertised on the SolidWorks website and a plug-in exists between them.

http://www.solidworks.com/pages/products/solutions/MaxwellRender.html

As I said the render times are longer, but with your killer machine it may not be too bad. I think the latest version of Maxwell focused on the speed as well...

Pete

 

[rockguy]

Maxwell does create amazing images. If you decide to go that route you'll definately want processing power (as many cores as you can afford). Maxwell will use them all and want more. Maxwell licensing works per machine so it's to your advantage to install on a machine purposely built for it's use.

Rob Rodriguez CSWP

http://www.axiscadsolutions.com

http://www.robrodriguez.com

http://designsmarter.typepad.com/rob_rodriguez/

Eastern Region SWUGN Representative

http://www.swugn.org

http://www.nvtswug.com

SW 2007 SP 2.0

 

[Theophilus]

Maxwell--that's what I was trying to remember. One cool thing with Maxwell is that you can tweak the lighting in real time to adjust shadows, highlights, etc. Very cool feature, very long render times. Get multiple cores (or even multiple workstations, which can be linked to create a render farm).



Jeff Mowry

http://www.industrialdesignhaus.com

Reason trumps all. And awe transcends reason.

 

[Eltron]

Maxwell is definately a sweet rendering system, but how much does it run per seat? Will it be within the budget you were speaking of earlier?

Dan

http://www.eltronresearch.com

 

[StefanHamminga]

Better late than never, right?

I did some research for this one...

First off, I will start with saying SW decided somewhere in the SW 2007 service pack path they sharpened the OS requirements.
That means SW will only install on supported operating systems.
So no more Windows Server 2003(/2008). Too bad...

SolidWorks 2007 supported operating systems are:
- Windows XP Professional (32-bit)
- Windows XP Professional x64 Edition

SolidWorks 2008 supported operating systems are:
- Windows XP Professional (32-bit)
- Windows XP Professional x64 Edition
- Windows Vista 32-bit
source

According to Microsoft that leaves us with only 2 processor socket systems. source
The number of CPU cores does not matter.

So we will look for the best performing 2-socket mainboard & processor system.

Some additional requirements are: 1 or 2 PCIe 16x slots for the NVIDIA Quadro's.

Simply put, the best video card for SW today is the Quadro FX 5600, the only competitor could be the FireGL V8650, but no word on its performance yet...

If money is no object I would get:
- CPUs: 2x Xeon 5355 (or whatever is the fastest quad core Xeon),
- Videocard: NVIDIA Quadro FX 5600
- Motherboard: SuperMicro X7DA8
- RAM: 4x 4GB ECC 667MHz FB-DIMM (no less than 4, more is possible)
- IO controller: Areca ARC-1680 with 2GB and BBU (any load taken off the CPUs can be used for rendering!)
- Hard drives: Get whatever 4 15K SAS drives you like, run them in RAID 10. As long as you stay away from Maxtor you'll be fine.
- Cooling: A very good and professional watercooling setup

That about sums it up hardware wise.

Some notes: This mainboard is the only Xeon mainboard I've seen that has succesfully been overclocked (see here, user RottenMutt).
Overclocking might void your warranty (so they say), but is not very riskfull if you keep it sane and use proper cooling. It will not damage hardware when cooled properly.

When you have your system get back to us about the software tweaks (or us the search to find my previous software tweak messages)

Stefan Hamminga
EngIT Solutions
CSWP/Mechanical designer
Searching Eng-Tips forums

 

[rockguy]

Maxwell costs about $1000 per license.

Rob Rodriguez CSWP

http://www.axiscadsolutions.com

http://www.robrodriguez.com

http://designsmarter.typepad.com/rob_rodriguez/

Eastern Region SWUGN Representative

http://www.swugn.org

http://www.nvtswug.com

SW 2007 SP 2.0

 

[Razberryjones]

Stephan, I want to thank you for those system specs! I have recieved approval today to build a systems based upon your reply. I have been pricing all the options with Xi computers. What is your opinion of them as a company? I will be purchasing the Adobe Production Suite, and Lightwave 3D, or Rhino as well as Maxwell Render. Need advice in that dept. as well. I'm not (obviously) an utterly tech minded person.
I'm wondering, Upone purchase and shipment, am I even going to know how to set it up? etc. etc.

Source info as follows...
Many x64 computers use a combined RAID and SATA controller. These controllers do not have native drivers in the released version of Windows XP Professional x64 Edition, so you need to download a driver from your hardware manufacturer, or the manufacturer of the controller, or from one of the community sites that are providing driver agglomeration such as

http://www.planetamd64.com/.

When you have the driver, you'll need to copy the driver files to a floppy disk, and use the F6 option to install the drivers during initial setup.

Thanks Again! I've even been given the go ahead to allocate 2 days a week to doing nothing more than learning new software apps.

 

[kd1959]

Razz, I purchased from XI.
(The Bad)The mother board fried in the first week.
(The Good)The service was easily contacted, the problem diagnosed, and a replacement was sent overnight.
2 years now and no additional issues.

More on computer quality -
My last three computers all failed and required repairs in the first two weeks.
The first was the worst for me. It was a Dell. I lost the hard drive in the second week, a day or two after I had cleaned out and deleted everything out of it's predecessor. Lost all my personal files, email history, viewers, and everything that had not been sent to the vault yet.
That was a hard lesson learned.
The second was my office desktop, the XI I am now on and is the one described above.
The third is my Laptop. A smokin' unit from Hypersonic called the "Aviator FX7 Turbo". It has one AMD Athlon FX-60 Dual-core CPU and seems to run Solidworks as well as the XI. It's graphic card, a Nvidia Quadro 1400 died on the third day.
Service from all three companies was good and replacement components were sent immediately. I did have to do the work, which I was a little uncomfortable with.
The moral of the story is expect the worst and be prepared, no matter who manufactures the computer. I now have two computers with three hard drives all containing the same information plus a nightly back-up service.


kd1959
Solidworks 2007 SP3.1, PDMworks
4GB Ram,3GB switch
2x AMD Opteron 254,2x 19" Viewsonic
Quadro FX 3400

 

[Razberryjones]

Hello, I too have experienced Dell "Hell". However it was on my home system. Dell's lack of service was infuriating, they were also quick to misdiagnose the problem and have a service tech come and install "new" but actually refurbished components. My current Dell is why I will never go back, but I realize they are all pretty much the same.
I have ran a home built AMB system as well, and so far it has been the best performing CPU I've ever used. That computer is still up and running and is someone elses hands.
Hopefully playing games! It had a mid range Quadro card.
The system I am using right now is a Dell Precision 490. It smells like I'm burning toast when I use it, and it spends more time thinking than I do, even with 4 GB ram and 3 GHZ Xeon processor.

My boss feels all of our problems with "high end renderings" can be solved by throwing money into a super computer. When in actuality we need more bodies, doing more work. After all, digital circuits are made from analog parts, Right?

So I've got the go ahead, but I know full well it isn't going to "solve" anything, and just create more work and tension for myself. I am not sure what running RAID will do for actual rendering quality and speed since I've never seen it in action. The new Nvidia Render Box may be the key?
I don't know. I've gotten alot of great advice and insights here and have been educating myself to the point of stupidity. All I really need to do is be able to set up and save decent renderings, and continue to model at the same time.

 

[Razberryjones]

Ok, Here goes... This is the system that I have proposed. Along with the purchase of Maxwell Render Plug In for Solidworks. Thanks to all who have helped out, and any more advice would be welcome!

Intel® Xeon™ to Quad Core & 32GB FB-DIMM SDRAM!
Xi Computers won: 1998 BYTEBest, 1992-2001 CADalyst HR, 2000 PC-WORLD BestBuy, C-NET & ZD-NET EDITOR CHOICE
Xi® MTower™ 2P64X Workstation Base Price: $1,439.00



l Xi® MTower™ 2P64X Workstation (Base Configuration) $1,439.00
Upgrades And Options:

l 2 x Quad-Core Intel® Xeon® X5365 3.00GHz 1333FSB 8MB L2 Cache EM64T $2,599.00
l 8192MB DDR2 667MHz FB-DIMM ECC 4x2GB Dual Rank Interleave heatspreader $1,349.00
l nVidia® Quadro FX 5600 1536MB DDR3 PCIe 2x DVI Dual Head SLI Capable $2,799.00
l 22" VX2255wmb Viewsonic® OptiSync® Wide LCD 5ms. 1680x1050NR Speakers+ 1.3MPix. Camera $219.00
l 150GB 10000RPM SATA 150MB/s WD Raptor X NCQ 16MB Cache <9ms $169.00
l Optional 150GB 10000RPM SATA 150MB/s WD Raptor X NCQ 16MB Cache <9ms $205.00
l HD Ctrl. According To Motherboard and HD Type Selected $0.00
l RAIDMode O Performance RAID (IDE or SCSI RAID Ctrl. Requires 2x identical HD) $39.00
l DVD 16x40x Reader $0.00
l DVD+RW/DL/+R-R LightScribe™ Double Media 4.7/8.5GB 16x w/SW-Media $79.00
l USB 2.0 Flash Memory Drive 4GB + 1.44Floppy $45.00
l CreativeLab X-Fi Xtreme Audio 7.1 24bit Digital Sound $89.00
l On board Intel® 82540 10/100/1Gbit Ethernet $0.00
l Logitech® Cordless Desktop® MX™ 3200 Keyboard + Laser Mouse $69.00
l No mouse ($8.00)
l Genuine Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional-64 CD-ROM w/manuals/act.reg. $129.00
l Resource CD - contains Diagnostic links & Drivers $0.00
l Quick Reference Guide and @Xi Computer Manual (PDF) $0.00
l File System: NTFS File System selected $0.00
l Arcsoft Digital XPressions Suite (No Vista) $0.00
l 3D Games Bundles Game ON Extreme Action (No Vista) $0.00
l Microsoft® Office 2003 Professional on CD-ROM 60days free evaluation copy $0.00
l Antivirus one year subscription BitDefender® Standard 9th Edition one user (No Vista) $0.00
l Genuine Microsoft® Office 2007 Small Business Edition. System installed + License $249.00
l ADOBE® Creative Suite 3 Standard Ed. for Windows $1,199.00
l SuperMicro® intel® 5000X C.S. X7DAE 2xPCIe 3xPCI-X 1xPCI 2x 1GB Ethernet up to 16/32GB DDR2 667/533Hz FB-DIMM 6xSATA2-RAID 0/1/5/10-AC97 (NO SLI, req. ATX case) $119.00
l 850W OCZ GameXStream™ Quiet 12cm BB Fan PowerWhisper™ UL $119.00
l Three Years Parts & Labor + One Year On Site Service $199.00
l Xi® MTower™ ATX Black Front Grid w/USB/1394-12 bays- 2x12cmxBB Fans.-Locked Meshed Side Pan. Enermax CS-718 $59.00

Sub Total:
$11,165.00

$11,340.24 Shipped.