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Thread: X4 Ray Tracing - Optimal CPU
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05-11-2012, 10:08 AM #1Registered User
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- Aug 2006
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- 258
Question to those of you truly into machine specs and premium performance.
I am a long time builder of my own machines but am tired of messing with it. At this stage all I want is a solid machine that offers mutliple options for what ever I may care to do during the life of that machine and not just running Chief.
That said, I have been interested in the all in one machines that Apple offers even though they are quite expensive (around $2600.00 for bare bones top end I-Macs).
The one I really like ended up quoting at $3668.00 with the following configuration:
3.4GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7
16GB 1333MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 4x4GB
1TB Serial ATA Drive + 256GB Solid State Drive
AMD Radeon HD 6970M 2GB GDDR5
It also comes with an optional Thunderbolt Raid external drive setup which holds 4 TB for an additional $1150.00 and 12 TB for $2500.00 (Wow!)
You have to buy a Thuderbolt cable for this option which adds yet another $50.00. (Just money is all)
Obviously this is a pipe dream as I am too conservative to ever spend the bucks for something like this which WILL be outdated in a year or so.
The specs I AM looking at:
3.4GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7
8GB 1333MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 2x4GB
1TB Serial ATA Drive
AMD Radeon HD 6970M 2GB GDDR5
This setup takes the cost back down to $2680.00 which is still extreme but doable. I figure the cost of a good box will run $1500.00. A good 27" monitor is going to be another 4 or 5 hundred so we are already at the $2000.00 mark. The difference gets me two OS systems and everything combined not to mention a great looking machine backed by an extremely reliable warranty and service package along with an out of the box setup. So I figure I will end up spending about 8 hundred more than I would on the standard machine type I have used for years.
I really thought about a laptop. The Asus machines have some really great specs and are truly desktop replacement machines. The one thing about this I don't care for is they are still laptops. I hate how the track pad can get in the way of typing (how many times have I wiped something due to an accidental brush of a finger on the trackpad). Mavis Beacon I am not! Too small for everyday use too.
Getting to my question, does anyone have any experience using an apple I-Mac machine dual booted for Windows 7? I really do like the idea of getting rid of all the various paraphernalia spread out over and under my desk. The I-Mac is a truly beautiful machine with everything all in one package. Another obvious advantage is being ready for the Chief version for Mac! (I would bet that isn't too far off). My wife has a MacBook Air and really loves it after years on Windows based laptops.
Any input?
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05-11-2012, 02:00 PM #2Architect
- Join Date
- Jun 2003
- Location
- Townsville, Australia
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- 249
Max,
I don't know if Apple support dual boot for Windows. I have no idea what CPU they use. Traditionally, Apples used Motorola, then IBM PowerPC for the CPU and never used an Intel CPU common to Windows. As a result, an emulator software was needed to provide an abstaction layer between Windows and the Apple hardware so that Windows thought it was running on Win-PC hardware. Emulators usually add overhead that can reduce performance by 10% or so.
If you can get Chief and ray tracing running on a Mac.... please report the results. I doubt that they will be quick.
What a difference a week can make.
The Intel i7 3770 was released end of April. It went on sale in Australia last week. Am ordering one for the new system. Gave up on AMD.
The i7 3770 clocks about the same base and turbo clock speeds as the i7 2600, but it is on finer wafer die which reduces power consumption and heat and reputedly runs about 10% faster than the i7 2600.
The i7 2600 chip architecture was called Sandy Bridge. The new i7 3770 chip is called Ivy Bridge. While it is socket compatible with the previous chips, it needs a BIOS upgrade and new Win 7 drivers. All of which Shuttle have... so it's a Shuttle barebones to build into.
If you want a good looking desktop look at micro-ATX form factors instead of the traditional ATX PC boxes. The Shuttle is approximately a 12 inch cube. All aluminium. Liquid cooling (which is now fanless). I have built up 4 of them. As luck would have it, the first (the one I'm sitting with now) uses an Intel P4 Prescott CPU that is the hottest (as in temperature) Intel released before cutting the speed and going multi-core in 2006. The other three Shuttles I built a year later all used AMD Athlons - which were faster and a lot cooler than the Pentium.... and if anyone didn't guess... one reason for starting this thread and asking is the AMD chip faster at ray tracing than the Intel was that in 2006/2007 the answer was in favor of AMD.
Cheers.
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05-11-2012, 03:39 PM #3
Macs can use Bootcamp to dual boot to Windows
I would recommend a Mac PRO if you want to run windows and chief
also be sure to get a video card that supports OpenGL
and has 1 GB+ of video ram
LewLew Buttery
Castle Golden Design - "We make dreams visible"
Lockport, NY
716-434-5051
www.castlegoldendesign.com
lbuttery at castlegoldendesign.com
CHIEF X5 (started with v9.5)
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05-11-2012, 03:53 PM #4Architect
- Join Date
- Jun 2003
- Location
- Townsville, Australia
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- 249
Lew,
Any idea of the relative ray tracing performance?
Cheers.
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05-11-2012, 04:31 PM #5
Ian:
no clue
I don't use a Mac
and I don't do raytraces
LewLew Buttery
Castle Golden Design - "We make dreams visible"
Lockport, NY
716-434-5051
www.castlegoldendesign.com
lbuttery at castlegoldendesign.com
CHIEF X5 (started with v9.5)
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05-16-2012, 11:57 AM #6Registered User Promoted
- Join Date
- Jun 2011
- Location
- North Central PA
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- 139
Max, I do have experience running Chief X4 on an iMac. Mine is a bit outdated, late model 2009 27" iMac, 8 gigs, 1 tera HD, but only 512 video ram. I run windows 7 Pro 64 bit and it runs flawlessly. I have been using this combo for a year and I am a bit surprised how well windows 7 runs on the iMac in bootcamp mode, very stable. The 27" monitor makes up for the lack of the video ram. The clarity and size makes working on prints a very pleasant experience. I am considering upgrading and I will will will be buying another Mac. I am simply waiting to see what the new upgrades bring with the Mac Pro and the new iMac models.
So if you are a Mac man do not hesitate (in my opinion).Chris Haley
Imac 27
i7, 8gigs
Bootcamp
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05-19-2012, 10:01 AM #7Registered User Promoted
- Join Date
- May 2012
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- 4
Just built this:
Intel i7 3770K Ivy Bridge 3.5GHz easily OC’d to 4.0 GHz on stock air cooler
32 GB CORSAIR DOMINATOR GT DDR3 1866 MHz (PC3 15000) CMT32GX3M4X1866C9
EVGA 680GTX 1084Mhz GPU, 2GB DDR5 (6208 MHz Memory Clock Speed)
GIGABYTE GA-Z77X-UD5H LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX
Storage: 240GB OCZ Agility III, (2) 10k Raptors RAID 0 (striped), 1TB WD SATA III, CD/DVD:none
Corsair HX850W PSU
Fractal Design Arc Silent Insulated Case, Amazingly quiet!
(3) Noctua HF-F12 PWM fans
(1) Noctua NF-P14 FLX 750 rpm ultra low noise
W7 x64 ULT
58 sec. (@ 4.0 GHz)