Max # of Cores/Threads?

Hiya.

Just wondering if Carrara's renderer has a maximum number of Cores/Threads it can reasonably utilize. I have a new uber-beast of a computer on the way from Maingear that should be here at the end of the week or early next and am wondering if it's worth putting Carrara on that one, or if I should put/keep it on this one (a Ryzen 7 1800x rig; 8 cores, so 16 threads).

Couldn't find any info on it (or I'm blind!). Thanks!

^_^

Paul L. Ming

Comments

  • TangoAlphaTangoAlpha Posts: 4,584

    I'd put it on the uber beast. At the worst, you can take it off again! There was a thread a while back where someone had got it up to (I think) eighty-something cores with network rendering on a load of second-hand xeon workstations . . . (can't find the link right now!)

  • pmingpming Posts: 44

    Hiya!

    Isn't there going to be a licensing issue if I have it on two seperate computers though? Or is DAZ's license based on the individual, and not the computer? (some licenses I had waaaay back in the day used that...bet some still do).

    The new beast is a Dual Xeon E5-2699 v4, so 44 Cores, giving 88 Threads (128GB ram, a Samsung 2TB M.2, and AMD FirePro W9100 32 GB..really GREAT service with those guys...told them what I was wanting and they let me send in my M.2 and W9100 and they put those in for me! :) ).  And it's got some other bells and whistles, making it a REALLY expensive machine for me...especially after converting to Canadian $$$!

    Anyway, thanks for the info. At worse I'll uninstall, install, and test. Shouldn't be too hard or time consuming.

    ^_^

    Paul L. Ming

  • TangoAlphaTangoAlpha Posts: 4,584

    Render Node can run on up to 10 computers/20 CPUs for network rendering (and Grid extends that to 100 CPUs). Carrara itself is restricted to running on 1 computer at a time, but can be installed on two according to the eula. 

    Mind you, with a spec like that I'me sure the render will be finished before you're done clicking the button! laugh

  • Paul, congratulations.  An insane computer!

    Are you running Win 10?  I still am on win 7, but looking for the pros and cons of moving Carrara to 10.

    Jon's thread about using multiple cores is here.

  • JonstarkJonstark Posts: 2,738

    Hiya Paul, I can't imagine what that beast of a computer must have cost!  Congrats, that thing sounds like it was practically *made* for Carrara.

    My own main pc is a 32 core dual-xeon z620 server that I picked up pretty cheap on ebay, but I have several other dual-xeons that I network render with (only works for batch rendering) and I've gotten up to 100 threads of rendering, but can't get beyond that.  I believe that 'officially' Carrara can run up to 20 cpus before it hits its native limit, and then the Grid plugin can unlock up up to 100.  But this really translates into the number of threads, not actual cpus or even cores (I think the limitations were written into Carara all the way back before multi-core cpus were a thing).  My personal experience though suggests you can run as may threads on your primary computer as you happen to have (well up to the 100 limit anyway) even without Grid, and that Grid is really an unlock to add more threads on network rendering.

  • pmingpming Posts: 44

    Hiya!

    Sorry for the delay. Nice to see actual Carrara application on up to 100 threads! New rig should be here mid to end of this week...SLIM chance of early (where I live it generally takes an extra couple days or more). It'll be nice to put Carrara through it's rendering paces. :)

    I'll try and post some render times for one or two of the GI/Caustics scenes so others can compare if they so desire.

    Oh..that reminds me that I need to get my computer desk all set up and furnature moved around in my studio (got 3 27" BENQ Zowie's and a Huion GT-220 Kamvas while I was at it...tried the Kamvas; still not sold on the whole 'pen display' thing...I think I prefer my plain old Intuos3 or Huion WH1409 tablets; I'm used to them though).

    ^_^

    Paul L. Ming

  • kyoto kidkyoto kid Posts: 41,098
    edited January 2018

    Mind you, with a spec like that I'me sure the render will be finished before you're done clicking the button! laugh

    ...yes

    Post edited by kyoto kid on
  • MistaraMistara Posts: 38,675

    reading the maingear site.  says zero bloatware surprisesurprise

  • MistaraMistara Posts: 38,675

    ryzen threadripper, 16 cores, 32 threads?  is over 20 >.<  what will happen?

  • 3drendero3drendero Posts: 2,026

    Threadripper can be set in BIOS to 16 threads, if needed.

    Or just get GRID on a sale...

  • MistaraMistara Posts: 38,675

    maingear page to customize a ryzen

    https://www.maingear.com/boutique/pc/configurePrd.asp?idproduct=2746

     

    gettn cold feet about hitting the buy button.  never dropped a k on a computer before.
    my last i5 was under 500.

    trying to visualize 16 render buckets.  my i5 took 11 days to render 720 pngs of howie's secret lake

  • TangoAlphaTangoAlpha Posts: 4,584

    You can spend a k just on a graphics card these days (& that's still consumer level cards, never mind pro ones!)

  • Mistara said:

    maingear page to customize a ryzen

    https://www.maingear.com/boutique/pc/configurePrd.asp?idproduct=2746

     

    gettn cold feet about hitting the buy button.  never dropped a k on a computer before.
    my last i5 was under 500.

    trying to visualize 16 render buckets.  my i5 took 11 days to render 720 pngs of howie's secret lake

    you should get 32 render buckets

  • Bunyip02Bunyip02 Posts: 8,694

    You can spend a k just on a graphics card these days (& that's still consumer level cards, never mind pro ones!)

    QUADRO P6000 is a little out of my budget !!!!!

  • MistaraMistara Posts: 38,675

    Titan V

    adds about 4k to the maingear build

  • MistaraMistara Posts: 38,675
    th3Digit said:
    Mistara said:

    maingear page to customize a ryzen

    https://www.maingear.com/boutique/pc/configurePrd.asp?idproduct=2746

     

    gettn cold feet about hitting the buy button.  never dropped a k on a computer before.
    my last i5 was under 500.

    trying to visualize 16 render buckets.  my i5 took 11 days to render 720 pngs of howie's secret lake

    you should get 32 render buckets

    with the 8 core, i could use my current i5 quad core to add 4 node buckets. 
    and leaves some moola left over to save for an imac, still have it in my head to use final cut pro. enlightened

     

  • MistaraMistara Posts: 38,675

    omg i clicked the buy button.  they had 1 in stock >.<

    CYBERPOWERPC Gamer Master GMA300 Desktop Gaming PC (AMD Ryzen 7 1700 3.0GHz, NVIDIA GTX 1050 Ti 4GB, 8GB DDR4 RAM, 1TB 7200RPM HDD, Win 10 Home), White

    and

    APC Back-UPS 350VA UPS Battery Backup & Surge Protector (BE350G)

  • good luck happy rendering 

  • Congratulations Misty!  Hope this satisfies your needs.

  • MistaraMistara Posts: 38,675

    ty smiley

    if it can render a mystic gorge scene in under a wekk, i'll be muy happy 

  • MistaraMistara Posts: 38,675

    Hard drive cloners?!

    https://www.amazon.com/CineRAID-CR-H238-Enclosure-Duplicator-Compatible/dp/B01M7P1YRJ

    CineRAID CR-H238 (USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type C Dual Bay Hard Drive Enclosure/Duplicator Dock) RAID Compatible, 10TB Capacity, Windows/Mac/Linux supported

     

    didn't know they made those.  always thought i had to reinstall the os if hard drive crashes.  

    it looks like a toaster  lol.  says can clone a hd to a higher capacity drive.

  • MistaraMistara Posts: 38,675

    these are both M.2 ssd drives

    but look at the connectors, is different?  wd blue has 3 sections, samsung has 2

     

  • TangoAlphaTangoAlpha Posts: 4,584

    The 2-slot ("B + M Key") can use up to two PCIExpress lanes, while the 1-slot ("M Key") can use up to four.

    You'll see the 2-slot key cards typically have read times around 550mb/s, while the 1 slot key cards are 1800-3000 mb/s. You should check which one(s) your mobo supports.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M.2

  • MistaraMistara Posts: 38,675

    head scr'tch

    this my mobo  https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/B350M-BAZOOKA.html

    found a bunch of yt on how to install M.2

    from here it looks like a 2 section slot

     

    i'se curious if putting my content folders on it would speed up my content tab refresh, in ds it can take several seconds

  • TangoAlphaTangoAlpha Posts: 4,584

    When you scroll down that page, click on the red M.2 button to reveal the "Turbo M2" section. There you'll see a Samsung stick siminlar to the bottom one in your earlier post. "Turbo" is just what they're calling NVMe, which is the standard that replaced SATA for SSDs (it's 5 times faster!). So when you search for an SSD to fit, look for NVMe.

    Assuming a content refresh reindexes the files from the HD, it'll definitely be faster, although I don't know by how much. (me, I'm still on a 5600rpm spindle drive, with added "green" slowness...!)

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