> I have a client who is migrating from an SGI to Linux. He does a LOT of > 3D rendering from thousands of stacks of images. I plan to propose at > least two configurations - a desktop configuration from an integrator, > such as Dell, and one using COTS parts. > > What recommendations would you suggest for RAM, CPU, video card, and Linux > distro? He is also a heavy OS X user but has a need for a souped-up > Linux box. Budget is not an issue. > > I will do my own research, too, and see where suggestions from this list, > along with my own research, lead.
I think you're coming at it from the wrong direction.... it all depends on what rendering software he plans to use. If he has a commercial package in mind, what does the package like to have? Check the "recommended system" specs, and hunt for an online forum to see what people like. (All rendering packages I've seen have such forums.) If he has his own software, what does it want? If it's threaded, get 2 CPUs, if it's not then don't bother. If it uses straightforward radiosity-based rendering then it wants a "moderate" amount of RAM (1-2G or so unless the images are fantastically large), if it's a global illumination system then it wants *gobs*. Can it even take advantage of a fancy graphics card, or is everything done in CPU? Depending on his software, he may be better off with a roomful of the cheapest machines you can find or build, than one supermachine. If he hasn't decided what package to use yet, then it's too soon to pick hardware. And, sorry to say this, but 3D rendering is one of the areas where Windows runs rings around anything else. Most commercial rendering packages are *only* available on Windows. Some people here with Unix backgrounds have a simple Linux machine for e-mail and real work, and a hot Windows box for rendering. I bet there's even more available for MacOS than there is for Linux. FYI, the machine I built most recently for this kind of thing was a dual-3Ghz Intel CPU Dell Precision, 2GB of RAM, 2 fast SATA drives striped RAID0, a $400 graphics card whose model I forget (graphics card models seem to turn over every two weeks), Windows, and 3D Studio Max 6. The graphics card is useful only for on-screen rendering, not for rendering for stored images (this is common). Good luck. _______________________________________________ bblisa mailing list [email protected] http://www.bblisa.org/mailman/listinfo/bblisa
