best TG system but reasonably prized?

Started by Dune, June 20, 2015, 03:20:41 AM

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archonforest

Quote from: Dune on June 23, 2015, 09:36:40 AM
You may be right about the card, the vendor also says it's on the light side. So perhaps go for the other one. If TG can't handle that 4-channel memory, its no use for me', but I can't imagine it can't. Matt?
Regarding hybrid drives; if your ssd goes down, the hd part is also worthless, I'd say. So I'd rather go for 2 separate items.
I've got a 2008, but brandnew system for sale: asus P5Q iP45, asus videocard GeForce 8500GT silent 512MB, 4GB DDR2 memory, Core 2duo E8600 3.33GHz. Stood there as backup for my current machine, but hardly ever used. Hope to get some bucks for it still.
Dune why dont u using the card u have already? the GeForce 8500GT silent 512MB?
Nevertheless I said that the card you planning to buy is enough for TG. It is on the light side for sure but TG will not make it sweat for sure. So I think u are fine with that also.
Dell T5500 with Dual Hexa Xeon CPU 3Ghz, 32Gb ram, GTX 1080
Amiga 1200 8Mb ram, 8Gb ssd

Oshyan

Your config sounds good  Ulco, though I'd go for 8GB DIMMs for maximum future upgradeability. Get 32GB *now* if you can, or 16GB in 2x8GB config. IF the motherboard is quad channel for memory then do either go for 4x8GB (32GB total) or 4x4GB to take advantage. Quad channel memory is not something that an application needs to do anything whatsoever to take advantage of, it simply provides more memory bandwidth to the system as a whole. Sure you could say that some applications *benefit* more from multi-channel memory (i.e. applications that are more memory-bandwidth limited), but it's not something the app is necessarily doing to take advantage of it. Memory-bound applications should inherently benefit on such systems.

As for the graphics card, it will be acceptable for TG use and it's quite cheap. You can always upgrade later if you want more, so I'm in favor of the basic solution, especially if you can spend the extra money (rather than the 2x expensive card) on more RAM. :D

Laptops are not usually designed for long periods of constant 100% CPU use, so there *can* be heat issues. This can generally be mitigated with proper surface placement and potentially active cooling (laptop cooling stand with fans) if needed. Most laptops will do OK for occasional rendering if you ensure it's placed on a flat, hard surface (e.g. desk) and that air entry/exit paths are clear of obstructions.

- Oshyan

efflux

I've got the Samsung 850Pro 256 GB. I've had SSDs for years. I upgraded because larger capacity ones are now cheaper. Have another spinning drive if you need more space. Once you have an SSD you will never go back. However, make sure you are prepared in case the SSD dies. They aren't like disk hard drives where you get warning. They instantly fail. I had one do this a few years back. Fortunately it was under warranty.

As for graphics cards, I think the cheapest graphics card that works on current systems will do the job for Terragen. If it's good enough to make the desktop run smooth then it's good enough for Terragen. Graphics cards have advanced hugely recently which is beneficial if you don't need a high powered one because it will be dirt cheap. I have to upgrade mine but that's because I use other apps like Modo and 3D Coat which absolutely rely on decent GPU to handle huge meshes, even more so with some other apps that can actually render on the GPU. This is useless with Terragen though.

Oshyan

Newer SSDs are pretty darn reliable. But everyone should have a good backup system/process in place, regardless of whether you're using an SSD or HD. As long as you have good backup in place, you're set.

- Oshyan

Dune

Thanks guys, almost there. I'll go for 4x8GB in case I need 64. I already need 32, as yesterday I was croprendering part of the museum wall (the reduced size of 16000x8000) and that already needed 15GB, so with all the houses and people it'll crash for sure. Renderfarm should work fine, but I want to be able to do my own also.
The samsung 850 pro behaved very good in tests. And I always back up stuff, triple in fact.

I can rip stuff out of my older machine, but I'd rather try selling it as a whole, it's a good working (hardly used) machine for those who don't need that much, and now for half price  ;)

Tangled-Universe

Samsung 850, you barely can't fail with that choice. I'm happy with mine too.

archonforest

I saw a test on SSD. It was a "Let's see when it will die" test. A program was 24/7 writing/deleting data on the drive. The drive died after 4-5 weeks. Now they calculated how much data was written all together. Then they calculated that an average user might move 2-3 gigs per day so they divided the total amount of data with this and calculated that the drive could be used more than 50-60 years. So yes SSD is definitely getting there.
Dell T5500 with Dual Hexa Xeon CPU 3Ghz, 32Gb ram, GTX 1080
Amiga 1200 8Mb ram, 8Gb ssd

Dune

That's the test I was referring to, yes. I'll do that one.

Oshyan

#23
Archonforest, I'm curious what test you saw. The one I saw had the drives die after over a *year* of writing data, and after nearly 2 *petabytes*...

- Oshyan

Dune

So what happens if it suddenly dies? You stick a new one in, partition it if necessary (I'd have 2 on the SSD perhaps: one for software and one as 'working' area), install all soft again, and the remaining partitions on the HD are still intact.... My worry is the partition structure.

archonforest

#25
Quote from: Oshyan on June 24, 2015, 07:01:57 PM
Archonforest, I'm curious what test you saw. The one I saw had the drives die after over a *year* of writing data, and after nearly 2 *petabytes*...

- Oshyan

I was looking for it but I cannot locate the page anymore. I read that article almost a year ago so not sure if I can dig that up with ease.
Dell T5500 with Dual Hexa Xeon CPU 3Ghz, 32Gb ram, GTX 1080
Amiga 1200 8Mb ram, 8Gb ssd

Oshyan

Dune, I would recommend doing image-based backups on a regular basis, along with frequent incremental file-level backups. This way you just get an equal-or-larger size SSD to replace whatever failed, then restore a system image, combined with the most recent file-level backup. This gets you all your partitioning back, etc.

Of course partitioning is potentially archaic as a strategy, depending on your intentions with doing it.

- Oshyan

Dune

Thanks Oshyan, but could you please elaborate on your last sentence? I learned a long time ago that it's wise to partition. And I probably need to again, as the tgd files will look to import objects from a certain drive letter and folder. My library is in partition H, for instance, while working from E, and when a commision is finished I move the tgd files to drive G.

Tangled-Universe

Many (if not all) SSD's come with cloning software.
So if you would like to have your SSD replace your E, G and H drive then it should be possible to clone those to your brand-new SSD.
Usually -but not necessarily- this goes via a 2xUSB cable and after the cloning process you disconnect the HDD and replace it directly with the cloned SSD.

Dune

Thanks Martin. I will have a large HD for those partitions and files plus an SSD for software. So probably I need to have the SSD as one partition, install win 7 plus all softwares, then divide the new HD into D...H for TG to be able to read the object files from the proper partitions/folders. Then copy all files from my backup disk or use an image.
I am always reluctant to start working on these new setups, as I hate to mess it all up, but usually I get it done.