AMD Opteron 1216 vs Intel Q6600 for 3D rendering?

[cheerfulskeptic]

Hello everyone...
We're building a renderfarm for our 3D animation studio, and were wondering what a good choice of hardware would be?
We use 3DS Max 9/2008 (Mental Ray/Vray) as well as Maya 8.5/2008 (Mental Ray/Vray) for our rendering. We only do 3D animation, and are not into architectural viz, if that helps.

We just received an great offer from Dell to buy their PowerEdge T105 Server with a Dual Core Opteron 1216 @ 2.4GHz.
Now the problem is that it's the same cost as getting an assembled (with quality branded components) Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 at 2.4GHz.

I've searched for reviews/comparisons for AMD 1216 vs Q6600 but havent found anything.

Both systems have 4GB of RAM, and are going to be running WinXP 64-bit along with 64-bit versions of their software.

If anyone well versed in 3D rendering can point us in the right direction, that would be great. Performance-wise, should we go for the 2.4GHz Dual Core Opteron 1216, or the quad core intel 2.4GHz Q6600?

Also, I'm not too familiar with Opterons - are they AMD's answer to the Xeon? ie, professional range of CPU's?

Thanks in advance

 

[Zstream]

The Intel chip would be faster at 3d rendering.

But for a studio I would think you would go 4-8 way cpu's instead of single CPU. If you went the multi cpu then AMD is good at 4-8 way.

 

[myocardia]

That's a ~$100 processor, so a system built around it should be pretty cheap. A Q6600 is more than twice as fast as a single Opteron 1216, though, at least using the software you've listed. Zstream is right, though. Your company would be much smarter to invest in a quad socket AMD system, with all 4 sockets filled with the fastest quad-core Opterons they can buy.

 

[NXIL]

Over the past year or so, 8 people reviewed the Opteron 1216:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16819105018

2067 have reviewed the Q6600; would guestimate that the q6600 outsells the Opteron by about 250 to 1 or so....Intel makes more, sells more, drops price, etc.....the wisdom of the crowd says to go with the q6600.

Video processing is generally a function that uses multiple cores well: you can get 2 x 2.4 cores, or 4 x 2.4 cores.....I would choose 4....[edit: see below re: 8400]

Or, as someone mentioned, dual quad core or quad quad core, depending on your budget, and the work load.

Get lots of memory, and fast hard drives. If your render times are long, ECC memory is best....

Here's 8 v 4 cores on the Mac; note, however, that the Mac version is 32 bit only....

http://www.barefeats.com/octopro1.html

And, re: quad core:

http://www.digit-life.com/arti...-c2x-qx6850-page1.html

http://xtreview.com/review212.htm

Hmm ,looking here, a 3.0ghz dual core does beat the q6600 4 x 2.4:

http://www.techspot.com/review...2-duo-e7200/page7.html

So, I would get that 8400 before I got an Opteron running @ 2.4....

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16819115037

HTH

NXIL

PS: looks like you guys are artists, and don't have an electronic gadget fetish: that's good. Getting a Dell (dude!) is a great idea, but maybe you need a contact there who knows your software better? Also, remember it's not just the CPU: you need a good video card (not a standard gaming card), lots of memory, and good drive subsystem. Oh, and back up, and floss.

GL

 

[mooseracing]

Originally posted by: cheerfulskeptic


I've searched for reviews/comparisons for AMD 1216 vs Q6600 but havent found anything.

you are comparing a server cpu to a desktop cpu, not many people do it that way.

Originally posted by: cheerfulskeptic
Also, I'm not too familiar with Opterons - are they AMD's answer to the Xeon? ie, professional range of CPU's?

Yes opterons are server cpu's like xeons.

Originally posted by: NXIL
ver the past year or so, 8 people reviewed the Opteron 1216:

2067 have reviewed the Q6600; would guestimate that the q6600 outsells the Opteron by about 250 to 1 or so....Intel makes more, sells more, drops price, etc.....the wisdom of the crowd says to go with the q6600.

This is comparing apples to oranges, look at the reviews for Intel xeons, only a couple per cpu.


If you are building a desktop machine that doesn't need ecc ram, then go with the q66 since that has teh extra cores for what you are doing, but if you want to build a high scaling bandwidth server, the optys can't be beat.

 

[NXIL]

This is comparing apples to oranges, look at the reviews for Intel xeons, only a couple per cpu.

Well sort of like Fuji apples to Red Delicious to oranges. Lots of "Xeons" are desktop cores in a fancier box--it's a nice box, with those cool hologram things.

Xeon Wolfdale:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16819117165

Xeon Kentsfield, also socket 775.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16819117129

ETc

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16819117129

Yorkfield core, socket 775 ("Desktop"):

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16819117167

There have been some posts comparing the Xeon boxed versions to the "desktop" versions, and from what I have read, it doesn't seem that the Xeons are better binned or overclock higher.....but, I have just sort of glanced at those threads, and I do not have first hand experience....

NXIL

 

[iooiioio]

i think the xeons referred to for servers are the socket 771 models, not the desktop 775 models. Just like the socket AM2 optys vs. the socket F optys.

 

[aigomorla]

Originally posted by: NXIL

So, I would get that 8400 before I got an Opteron running @ 2.4....

why is it that your immune from attacks after this statement and mark and i get crucified?

Why not step up to a yorkie instead of a kentsfield as well? The price is dropping on the yorkies.

exactly what kind of budget we looking at?

 

[Markfw]

BTW, the op had his first post here, and hasn't replied since.

There is no comparison needed on the two chips mentioned for the purposes stated. Q6600 wins. If he posts back with a 10-20k budget, then I say start talking quad dual-core AMD on a server bard, otherwise, lets let this die....

 

[NXIL]

why is it that you're immune from attacks after this statement and mark and i get crucified?

Dear ai,

first, you did, in fact, purchase a Phenom: this puts you in league with Viditor, AMD's Minister of [mis]Information. Yes, you foisted it off on an unsuspecting relative, but still the stigma remains.

Other than that, I have no idea; I always find your posts thoughtful & informative. Same with Mark, who owns more 6600s than the entire populations many small countries.

Mooseracing did berate my guestimate on the relative popularity of the Opteron vs. Intel's current lineup--seeing the actual sales volumes of each CPU model would be pretty cool I think, but I suppose that is considered a trade secret by AMD and Intel.

Regardless, I greatly appreciate your being a magnet for abuse. I will try to continue to fly under the radar, and will try to refrain from bringing up that Phenom debacle over and over.....

Have a great weekend,

NXIL