Chaos Corona Forum

General Category => General CG Discussion => Hardware => Topic started by: Bobbysmith05 on 2019-03-26, 13:39:21

Title: Is this workstation still decent? Anyone using one?
Post by: Bobbysmith05 on 2019-03-26, 13:39:21
Hi

I'm looking at a second hand hp z600

Intel Xeon X5650 @ 2.67GHz x 2
24GB of Triple Channel DDR3 @ 664MHz
Asus NVIDIA Geforce GTX 960
240GB Samsung SSD

I don't have a huge budget to buy expensive or new kit as I do 3D and rendering to earn a bit of extra cash rather than full time occupation. However my current PC i5 4000 series 8gb ram is far too slow for rendering.

Is this hp z600 still a competent machine for rendering at 1920x1080 Res. I plan to use it as a node. Appreciate any advice or experience anyone has with dual x5650 machine
Cheers
Title: Re: Is this workstation still decent? Anyone using one?
Post by: TomG on 2019-03-26, 14:09:11
I have one, it's the slowest of my three nodes. I bought it used some 5 or 6 years ago or so, so there should be even better machines out there now that are just as affordable. For example I bought a dual E5-2660 ("v0") after that for no more money than I paid for the 2 x 5650, and a dual E5-2690 ("v0") after that for not any more money too, all refurbished.
Title: Re: Is this workstation still decent? Anyone using one?
Post by: Bobbysmith05 on 2019-03-26, 14:15:11
Thanks I'm on a tight time frame and there is one nearby on eBay for sub £300
Title: Re: Is this workstation still decent? Anyone using one?
Post by: TomG on 2019-03-26, 14:23:24
Ok - it's not great, but all depends on what performance your current machine is giving really, as to whether it's worth it. About 2 and a half minutes for the benchmark (the other machines are more like one and a half minutes).
Title: Re: Is this workstation still decent? Anyone using one?
Post by: Bobbysmith05 on 2019-03-26, 15:16:33
At the moment I'm using an intel i5 4series with 8gb ram. I'm hoping this Xeon will be a big step up from that. I'm aware it's not the best by any means but if it is a big improvement then I'm happy for the time Bieng. It's also cheap and accessible quickly
Title: Re: Is this workstation still decent? Anyone using one?
Post by: TomG on 2019-03-26, 15:21:10
As mentioned in the other thread, you can run the benchmark on your i5, and then you will know how much of a step up it will be - definitely worth doing before sinking any cash into a new machine, to make sure it really is going to be an improvement :)
Title: Re: Is this workstation still decent? Anyone using one?
Post by: JoeVallard on 2019-03-26, 15:46:08
I'm in close to the same situation as you. Recently i've been doing some work making 3d models here and there, nothing full time. Built my current computer back in 2012, i7 3770k, 16gb ddr3. I've be looking at new cpu's for a few months now, today while browsing I noticed that the AMD Threadripper 1920x is on sale for $279.... it will be here in 2 days no. I still need to pickup a Mobo and some DDR4. But for the price I'm still into less than a New/Used computer.

The benchmarks for the 1920x are slightly better than the X5650. For me, I'll just be picking up the CPU/MOBO/Memory and use everything else that's in my current computer. In the end i'll be around $600 into the Threadripper build (I'll also sell my old stuff to make the cost be even less for me). The sale on the 1920x ends today.

Also keep in mind that the Threadripper has ddr4 and can be upgraded to the 2nd gen Threadrippers. (possibly the 3rd gen coming out later in the year?)
Title: Re: Is this workstation still decent? Anyone using one?
Post by: Bobbysmith05 on 2019-03-26, 15:57:32
The thing with this site is many on here are probably full time or have access to a studio with up to date and very high spec equipment so to those users these old workstation look crap but to someone like me coming from a very low spec borderline non feasible computer they are probably still very capable machines.

I'd certainly be happy if adding this old workstation halved my render times considering it has more the double my current RAM
Title: Re: Is this workstation still decent? Anyone using one?
Post by: Bzuco on 2019-03-26, 16:18:19
If you have exactly i5 4460, then 2x xeon 5650 will be roughly 4.5x faster, and your frame times will drops from 20min to 4.5min. and you will be waiting 225 hours for 3000 frames. If you will be rendering on both machines, it will be less :) .
As you mention, your scene is simple, so 24GB RAM in triple channel will not make rendering significantly faster.

EDIT: roughly math, 184hours (i5 + xeons)
Title: Re: Is this workstation still decent? Anyone using one?
Post by: romullus on 2019-03-26, 16:31:35
Thing is, that you want to make very big job with very low budget in very short time. It just doesn't add up. You need to change at least one corner of this triangle. Either shrink your project, increase the budget, or accept the fact that it will take very long time to render. Even if xeons will render one frame in 5 minutes, it still will take full 10 days to render your animation.

I'm on a tight budget too, my 5 year old pc renders benchmark in 5 minutes, but i wouldn't ever consider to render 3000 frames interior animation in HD resolution on it. Not with Corona or any other high quality offline renderer. Maybe indeed it's worth to think about real-time engine for your project? Of course that would take huge amount of work and learning new skills if you haven't practise. Anyway, you always need to make compromises between amount of work, budget and timeframe that you have.
Title: Re: Is this workstation still decent? Anyone using one?
Post by: Bobbysmith05 on 2019-03-26, 16:40:00
I thought with simple textures and no complex models it wouldn't be too much an issue. I've much less than 3k frames left now more like 1200 I can always keep buying old machines and adding them to build a somewhat ramshackle render farm. Again I'm not going to justify spending even £600 in this unless my client base trippled
Title: Re: Is this workstation still decent? Anyone using one?
Post by: Bobbysmith05 on 2019-03-26, 17:28:23
Just checked I've actually got an i5 4570 running the benchmark took 11min 53 seconds. The eBay seller is going to run it and I'll see what the difference is.
Title: Re: Is this workstation still decent? Anyone using one?
Post by: Bobbysmith05 on 2019-03-27, 08:26:02
If you have exactly i5 4460, then 2x xeon 5650 will be roughly 4.5x faster, and your frame times will drops from 20min to 4.5min. and you will be waiting 225 hours for 3000 frames. If you will be rendering on both machines, it will be less :) .
As you mention, your scene is simple, so 24GB RAM in triple channel will not make rendering significantly faster.

EDIT: roughly math, 184hours (i5 + xeons)


How about this system I've just spotted is a better one than the dual x5650 it's about £30 more expensive?

HP Z600 Workstation 4 x Xeon X5672  3.20Ghz 12 GB RAM
Title: Re: Is this workstation still decent? Anyone using one?
Post by: Philip kelly on 2019-03-27, 08:35:35
How come you won't use a render farm for this project?
Sounds like your under pressure and this would get you past the deadline and so you can concentrate on the next project.
Title: Re: Is this workstation still decent? Anyone using one?
Post by: Bobbysmith05 on 2019-03-27, 08:46:25
I have used a render farm the problem is that I'm working for a company who is dealing directly with the client, the client has repeatedly asked for major changes AFTER we have already spent considerable money to render the job.

 This is despite Bieng provided a preview and them OKing it only to then change their minds. We no longer have any budget left to use a render farm.

I'm thinking of buying a couple of these cheap workstations to make a budget farm.
Title: Re: Is this workstation still decent? Anyone using one?
Post by: Philip kelly on 2019-03-27, 09:08:06
Ok Fair enough, but that is not a good situation to be in.
Is the client being charged for the changes, if not, then the company need to set a standard form of contract or even an email, saying  2 changes and then charged per hour after the fact.
It's not good for you either, the stress will have a bad effect over time, and it's not your fault.

Seriously , your all being screwed when this happens, and it happens to us all.
get set up by all means , but you should not be paying for it, financially or stress wise.
Title: Re: Is this workstation still decent? Anyone using one?
Post by: Bobbysmith05 on 2019-03-27, 14:57:08
Ok Fair enough, but that is not a good situation to be in.
Is the client being charged for the changes, if not, then the company need to set a standard form of contract or even an email, saying  2 changes and then charged per hour after the fact.
It's not good for you either, the stress will have a bad effect over time, and it's not your fault.

Seriously , your all being screwed when this happens, and it happens to us all.
get set up by all means , but you should not be paying for it, financially or stress wise.

True but the business isn't going to want to tell the client stuff they don't wanna hear they are the ones paying the bill at the end of the day  the client seems to of the opinion that they can keep swapping and changing things left right and centre with no problem they don't se m to realise there work and cost involved.
Title: Re: Is this workstation still decent? Anyone using one?
Post by: Bzuco on 2019-03-28, 16:30:07
How about this system I've just spotted is a better one than the dual x5650 it's about £30 more expensive?

HP Z600 Workstation 4 x Xeon X5672  3.20Ghz 12 GB RAM
Compare benchmark results here https://corona-renderer.com/benchmark/results   and you can search for additional CPU information (number of cores, max turbo multicore frequency) here http://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/Xeon/Intel-Xeon%20X5672%20-%20AT80614005922AA.html
Title: Re: Is this workstation still decent? Anyone using one?
Post by: Bobbysmith05 on 2019-04-08, 16:47:00
*Update*

Finished the project and have more so I need to get a more powerful system. Is this a good one?

Dual (two) Intel Xeon X5680 3.7GHz Turbo Processors - with 12 physical / 24 logical cores.
Huge 96gb (ninety six gigabytes) Samsung RAM (12 x 8GB).

120GB SSD for Operating System (Windows 7 installed) + Two High Speed (15K) 300GB SAS Drives in raid 1 (duplicates and distributes data evenly to both SAS drives for ultimate file security).

Asus Strix ROG (Republic of Gamers) Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 6gb (Factory Over Clocked) 'Windforce' triple fan Graphics Card complete as new

Seen on eaby my budget isn't huge as I only do 3d part time. I just need to increase my rendering capabilities.

Would one system like be better than buying 2 old hp z600-800 with Xeon E55s?