CPU Render Benchmark

[robcat2075]

Can you make a feature request? It may have more impact coming from you.

 

For the text app? Since it's an external app it's not really a feature request. I think there are people on the forum who could dash that out. I recall someone mentioning a text editor that could do math in its macros. Track that down and you'd be halfway there.

 

 

Fixing NetRender? It probably wouldn't have any weight from me since I'm not a netRender owner. I have one core total. If it got done I'd never be able to test it.

 

Knowing nothing about it, I'm going to guess it's a networking thing. NetRender can't distinguish between different renderslaves that are at the same network address, maybe. So maybe there's a way to trick them into appearing different?

 

I'm just brainstorming. Someone with NetRender and knowledge of how it sees across the network would have to dig into it.

[jason1025]

I dont think anything will come of this. Thanks though. Net render is obsolete in my opinion. I would purchase it for there price if it could do multiple cores but until then Its worth about 100 not $500

[Shelton]

As a owner of netrender it does what it suppose to do. Robert you are correct it is a network thing. Each IP address is tied to the machine and one version of renderslave on that machine.

 

The program is awesome in what it does. Jason you are correct there are some enhancements that can be made. The problem is the cost and development of those enhancements. I wish I could help in that area but unfortunately I am not a programmer. In my opinion, which does not mean a whole lot, netrender is a wonderful addtion to AM. I have found myself watching it running while an animation is being rendered. On a recent rendering I did for a forum member I had 15 machines running and I was glued to the screen watching which machine performed the best. Netrender was flawless.

 

I would love to see netrender take advantage of multicore systems. But I would love AM to do that too. Anyway I can say that netrender for me was a good investment and I will continue to update it as long as they have it available.

 

Steve

[Rodney]

Thanks for the news on Netrender, Steve.

I should be a Netrender user if no other reason than to help make sure its supported and available when I need it in the future.

The hard truth right now is that I don't require that much rendering and can't justify the cost (i.e. its not worth my wife leaving me to purchase). I'd be all about purchasing Netrender if I needed that rendering throughput (i.e. my wife would forgive me once she saw the money return).

 

Do I understand that you are using Webrender in this process or is that something completely different?

[Shelton]

From what I understand Web render is dead. After talking with Jason they have continued to support Netrender since schools have needed this piece of software. I am glad since I will use it help render my projects. I have offered to help others as well.

 

I am currently rebuilding my network after a water loss at my home. The new server is in and Jason advised me a new version of netrender will be available shortly. Once I have that I will rebuild netrender again.

 

Steve

[Rodney]

Thanks Steve,

That's good to know as I plan for the future.

[jason1025]

Hi Steve.

 

Thanks for that info. It makes me want to purchase NR but for $500.00 Its just too steep. But For Multicore support I would pay it. FYi Jason Told me NR users must request updates before he will compile them. So If you want 15.J+ request it.

[jason1025]

ZT sysstem For $579.00 before tax and shipping.

 

AMD 2 X4 3.0GHZ 945 Proc

 

AM Bench Test Scored an unimpressive 9:20

 

Ok for the price its not that bad of a score but I was expecting an 8 second time or lower.

 

I paid Almost $650 for my HP 2.8GHZ AMD 2 X4 2.8GHZ Machine I think it took about 11 seconds or so for the test so like I said for the price it seems to be fine.

 

If you want to paid double the price go with Intell and get about a 35% speed increase.

[robcat2075]

Thanks for that report.

 

I'm probably going a different way now.

 

I remembered i have an Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 and a mother board for it sitting on the shelf from the last time I was itching to build a new computer but never got around buying the rest of the parts. So I guess I'll do that. It's like finding a $100 dollar bill in the couch.

 

I'm trying to shave my remaining parts purchases down to $300

 

The Q6600 is a supposedly very overclock-able version so I'll be curious to see how that does.

[Fuchur]

Q6600 is a good processor, but it is outdated today...

it will (if A:M handles it like the average benchmark) be a bit less fast than AMD Phenom II 945 / 955 but still not bad.

 

The 945 is not equipped with a open multiplicator, or?

Otherwise I would recommend to overclock it a bit... should work quite nice on the AMD PIIs.

 

See you

*Fuchur*

[robcat2075]

Q6600 is a good processor, but it is outdated today...

 

But I already have one. That makes it my cheapest path to 64-bit Windows7, which is what i need to get to.

[higginsdj]

OK, Each machine runs 15j+. No idea how many cores AM is actually using (can't see where this can be set or seen anymore)

 

Acer Aspire Laptop

i5 M430 2.27Ghz CPU

4Gb DDR3 RAM

Win 7 64bit

Render Time: 9:23

 

27" iMac

Core 2 Duo 3.06Ghz CPU

8Gb DDR3 RAM

OSX 10.6.3

Render Time: 33:32

 

27" iMac

Core 2 Duo 3.06Ghz CPU

8Gb DDR3 RAM

Win 7 64bit

Render Time: 8:43

 

Note that the last 2 are the same machine - just different partitions on the HD. So who would even bother buying AM for a Mac (Edit - I should say - for OSX)?

 

Cheers

[jason1025]

OK, Each machine runs 15j+. No idea how many cores AM is actually using (can't see where this can be set or seen anymore)

 

Acer Aspire Laptop

i5 M430 2.27Ghz CPU

4Gb DDR3 RAM

Win 7 64bit

Render Time: 9:23

 

27" iMac

Core 2 Duo 3.06Ghz CPU

8Gb DDR3 RAM

OSX 10.6.3

Render Time: 33:32

 

27" iMac

Core 2 Duo 3.06Ghz CPU

8Gb DDR3 RAM

Win 7 64bit

Render Time: 8:43

 

Note that the last 2 are the same machine - just different partitions on the HD. So who would even bother buying AM for a Mac?

 

Cheers

 

 

I had something I said removed regarding that. I believe AM for the mac is going through some sort of translation and AM for mac is not actually programed for the mac in Apples native language.

[robcat2075]

Why? Because some one has a Mac, doesn't run windows on it and wants to use A:M.

 

As far as translation... Martin has said in the past that A:M is developed in a codebase crafted so that it can be compiled for PC and compiled for Mac. It's not written for PC then translated to Mac or translated by the mac. The Mac version is "mac code".

 

There was a window feature in V11 that went away in V11.1 because there was no way to do it in the Mac OS. That's an example of the codebase being conformed for both of them.

 

I'm sure the code is "written" on a PC but that's a just working in a text editor.

 

A lot of things are different in the two compiler results and obviously the Mac version isn't as fast. Why? That would probably take some serious technical diagnosis from Apple (or Microsoft, which wrote the libraries that make mac compilation possible). Microsoft no longer supports its Mac libraries, and Apple obviously wont support them either. If you're developing apps for Mac and PC these days you're on your own.

 

So says Martin.

 

Apple is currently screwing one of their oldest developers, Adobe, over Flash. They could probably get together and fix whatever is supposedly wrong with it, but the real problem is it's not Apple's. So i imagine the prospect of a small company like Hash getting help from Apple is dim.

[jason1025]

Although I love apple products and they are some of the best products I have ever owned, its probably a good thing they did not get the market share Microsoft got because Steve's ego is huge and he has an attitude of viciously attacking other companies that don't fall into line with what Apple wants. Its very one sided.

[higginsdj]

In the end, if OSX is going to take 4 times longer to render than windows........ Personally I'll be buying Win 7 64 bit installs for both my iMacs now and won't be buying any more OSX subscriptions.

 

Cheers

[jason1025]

In the end, if OSX is going to take 4 times longer to render than windows........ Personally I'll be buying Win 7 64 bit installs for both my iMacs now and won't be buying any more OSX subscriptions.

 

Cheers

 

 

When I purchase my Mac web installers for AM 15 they threw in the PC versions for free. I did request that before buying.

[MattWBradbury]

So from what I understand, the netrender allows you to render many animations at once, by putting an instance of A:M on each processor? Or is this more like one single instance rendering on many processors at once?

[jason1025]

Net render utilizes one proc from each computer on the network. Basically on your main system you use net render to start rendering a single project. net render uses one proc from every system. I believe one proc from each system is working on its own frame out of the animation. As soon as a particular system is done with its frame it moves on to render the next frame which has not been assigned to another system.

 

Who is Net render for currently?

 

In my opinion its for a user with many systems say 5 or more. Unfortunately Net render needs to be updated to utilize multiple procs from dual, quad or hex core systems. I am not aware of any further development with the product. I feel that because the product is so outdated and can not utilize multiple procs or run multiple instances it is not worth the hefty $500 price tag. I would gladly pay say $100.

 

If you are a school with say 20 or more dusty single core systems then this product is a steal for $500.00

[robcat2075]

I believe Net Render also lets you queue jobs, something A:M doesn't do even on one CPU.

 

NetRender was created back when a 30MHz mac was "fast". There was an obvious need for it. I had NetRender at work circa 1997 and occasionally rendered stuff on our office of Macs. But now my one core Athlon 3200 has more CPU power than all those macs put together. So in a certain sense the need for it has dissipated.

 

The price may not be attractive, but it's not like they're pushing it or even mentioning it very much.

 

I still think with a little scripting wizardry someone could get multi-core net rendering going, but I'll leave that to the scripting wizards.

[Shelton]

Net render is a client server based piece of software.

 

The server sets up the project file to be rendered. It allows you to change all the settings and render output from the netserver. You then save those settings as a file to be rendered. Each one of the computers that will be rendering the animation will be the client and they will run netslave and rendermessenger. They are connected to the server via these pieces of software. From that point you drop a net salve into the rendering project from the pool of computers listed in netserver. Each frame is rendered my a individual computer in the pool. Once it completes the frame it goes to the net server and asked for the next frame to be rendered. This continues until the animation is completed. I still get a kick out of all the machines rendering at the same time.

 

I would like it to upgraded to take advantage of multi core systems, but it would take a rewrite to recognize each core of the slave machine. Right now net salve recognizes the ip address of the slave machine as only one cpu.

 

Anyway it is a cool piece of software!

 

Steve

[thekamps]

14.0c

18:46

P4 2.79 GHz

1 core

2 GB Ram

Win XP SP3

[robcat2075]

I would like it to upgraded to take advantage of multi core systems, but it would take a rewrite to recognize each core of the slave machine. Right now net salve recognizes the ip address of the slave machine as only one cpu.

 

Is it possible for a computer to have more than one IP address? If it had more than one network adapter?

[Shelton]

Is it possible for a computer to have more than one IP address? If it had more than one network adapter?

 

I asked Jason this and his answer not at this time.

 

Steve

[fae_alba]

I would like it to upgraded to take advantage of multi core systems, but it would take a rewrite to recognize each core of the slave machine. Right now net salve recognizes the ip address of the slave machine as only one cpu.

 

Is it possible for a computer to have more than one IP address? If it had more than one network adapter?

 

yes it is possible...it is called dual hosting. I used to do it on a web server i had set up (many many moons ago). It can be a real pain to get it up and running, but it is possible. However, I don't see how you could get each network adapter to be assigned to an individual cpu within a multi cpu machine.

 

To me it would be a bit better/easier to have a rack set up with a couple of blade servers (single cpu) and use netrender as it was designed for...Just think of all the sci-fi'ish blinky lights!

[robcat2075]

Is it possible for a computer to have more than one IP address? If it had more than one network adapter?

 

yes it is possible...it is called dual hosting. I used to do it on a web server i had set up (many many moons ago). It can be a real pain to get it up and running, but it is possible. However, I don't see how you could get each network adapter to be assigned to an individual cpu within a multi cpu machine.

 

Sounds like a hassle. I was just brainstorming and thinking that since you can get a USB network adapter for $4 now maybe that would get you that extra IP address or some other avenue of access. But it sounds impractical.

 

To me it would be a bit better/easier to have a rack set up with a couple of blade servers (single cpu) and use netrender as it was designed for...Just think of all the sci-fi'ish blinky lights!

That's interesting. I didn't' even know what a blade server was. But it seems like all the economical, high performance CPUs are multi core now ( or are they?) so you still have that apparent problem of not being able to use them all.

 

Wouldn't you also have to have a Windows license for each "blade"?

[MattWBradbury]

It doesn't even look like you can buy single core Server CPUs anymore, and the vast majority of them on the market are quad-core. You can still find a few single core Desktop CPUs, but most are duel or quad-core. If you can handle having tons of computers in your house, it would be a great time to just buy a bunch of single core processor computers offline and use something like netrender to get the job done. Putting together a $2k single core computer form circa 2000 would probably only run you about $150; most of these single-core processors are running for less than $40.

[jason1025]

In my opinion. It would behoove Hash if AM V16 was and Net Render were one and the same. What an easy way to add a great feature at such a low cost to them. I dont know if there are any plans to make a V16 of AM. Its been at least 3 years now since a full version upgrade so I am guessing there isn't much money behind it. But If they did this even with NO multi core support and were able to make AM V16 a true 64bit program than wow that would be enough for me to fork out $300.00 for a new CD.

 

Even with Net Render only using one core per machine it would be nice to have for small projects because I have 8 systems and for small projects the convenience of only having to set off one instance vs 8, well that would be nice. But like I said not nice enough to shell out $500.00

 

Jason if your reading this and you want to make an easy sale email me, I will buy Net render right now but I need it at a discount.

[yoda64]

I'm working on a solution for the netrender/multicore problem ,availableness planed for V16 .

[jason1025]

I'm working on a solution for the netrender/multicore problem ,availableness planed for V16 .

 

 

Ok now I am excited. Really really excited. AM V16 and a Net Render Multicore. Sold. Set up a pre order on the store, I want to be first in line.

 

This is great news Yoda

[MattWBradbury]

That would be a dream come true.

[Shelton]

Stefen

 

This is wonderful news. I will update / upgrade willingly.

 

Steve

[Xtaz]

V16 beta 3 64bit

5:03

Intel Core2 Duo E6750

2.67 GHz

2 core

4 GB RAM

Windows 7 64bit...

 

this 64bit version is pretty fast ..... thank you Hash Team .... you are doing a great job there

[jason1025]

V16 beta 3 64bit

5:03

Intel Core2 Duo E6750

2.67 GHz

2 core

4 GB RAM

Windows 7 64bit...

 

this 64bit version is pretty fast ..... thank you Hash Team .... you are doing a great job there

 

 

That time is remarkable. I think that is the best time yet for the am bench test.

[Fuchur]

Nope... have a look at this thread:

Thread: Inexpensive Renderpharm

 

See you

*Fuchur*

 

PS:

- PII 955 x4 3,2 GHz > 4:59 min (4GB DDR3-RAM, singlecore rendering with Netrenderer)

- PII 1090T x6 3,5 GHz > 4:04 min (8GB DDR3-RAM, singlecore rendering with Netrenderer)

 

Both with v16beta3. -> This is a huge performance-win! Early tests on the PII x4 are much slower.

On a singlecore-bench, this one will very likely be much faster so: "CPU Brand and model Intel I7 975". (someone has got that processor here).

 

On price/power-ratio it will loose so.

 

See you

*Fuchur*

[NancyGormezano]

version of A:M (see Help>About A:M)

render time min:sec

CPU Brand and model

Actual CPU speed in GHz

how many cores A:M is using

RAM

OS

 

ver 15e CD

8:31

Dell 3GHz Intel Core2Duo E6850

1 core? 50%?

3GB Ram

XP pro sp3

 

EDIT: with ver 15g CD

9:33

 

EDIT2: with ver 14c

8:18

 

ver 15j+

9:34

 

ver 16beta3 32 bit

7:19

Edited September 22, 2010 by NancyGormezano

[Xtaz]

some thoughts ...

-No matter how much memory is installed ( 8Gb Corsair XMS2 Extreme here ), A:M uses only 1.30 Gb to render

-The only way to reduce the rendering time is to use a more powerful processor

-A:M only uses 1 core .. always

 

A:M is able to open just one instance here ... did I miss something?

[robcat2075]

some thoughts ...

-No matter how much memory is installed ( 8Gb Corsair XMS2 Extreme here ), A:M uses only 1.30 Gb to render

You mean on this scene, right?

 

-The only way to reduce the rendering time is to use a more powerful processor

or overclock the one you have.

 

-A:M only uses 1 core .. always

almost always, calculating particles will use more (not obvious excepton long prerolls), "finding Patches" does too i think.

 

 

A:M is able to open just one instance here ... did I miss something?

Multiple instance seems to be gone. Use the Netrender now.

[NancyGormezano]

some thoughts ...

-No matter how much memory is installed ( 8Gb Corsair XMS2 Extreme here ), A:M uses only 1.30 Gb to render

-The only way to reduce the rendering time is to use a more powerful processor

-A:M only uses 1 core .. always

 

A:M is able to open just one instance here ... did I miss something?

 

Are you asking: For this particular benchmark, using same version of A:M, rendering 1 frame only, same chor, using same rendering parameters, is there any other way to reduce rendering time, other than to use a more powerful processor (or overclock)?

 

Some settings in A:M? faster/more cache? faster HD? faster RAM? faster bus? something else?

 

Are there some items that can be tweaked in the OS (or elsewhere) ?- like virtual memory allocation?, processor utilization ? use 64 bit OS versus 32 bit (probably) and who knows what else? I'd like to know too. Is win7 faster than xp pro? Is 64bit win7 faster than 64bit xp pro?

[robcat2075]

Are there some items that can be tweaked in the OS (or elsewhere) ?- like virtual memory allocation?, processor utilization ? use 64 bit OS versus 32 bit (probably) and who knows what else? I'd like to know too. Is win7 faster than xp pro? Is 64bit win7 faster than 64bit xp pro?

 

Does your current OS show more than one core available for the system?

[NancyGormezano]

Are there some items that can be tweaked in the OS (or elsewhere) ?- like virtual memory allocation?, processor utilization ? use 64 bit OS versus 32 bit (probably) and who knows what else? I'd like to know too. Is win7 faster than xp pro? Is 64bit win7 faster than 64bit xp pro?

 

Does your current OS show more than one core available for the system?

 

Yes - with xp pro Task Manager, it shows 2 - I've never tried to run 2 instances rendering with A:M (pre 16) - as I am not sure how to get 2nd instance running on 2nd core (versus both instances consuming same resources on 1 core).

 

Nor have I've tried to use ver 16 netrender (yess...I am a gurly wuss scaredy pants)

[robcat2075]

Yes - with xp pro Task Manager, it shows 2 - I've never tried to run 2 instances rendering with A:M (pre 16) - as I am not sure how to get 2nd instance running on 2nd core (versus both instances consuming same resources on 1 core).

 

Run two instances and open the task manager. Go to the Processes tab and on one instance of master.exe and "Set Affinity" to CPU 0 then do that for the other instance of master.exe and "Set Affinity" to CPU 1.

 

Try it.

 

 

Nor have I've tried to use ver 16 netrender (yess...I am a gurly wuss scaredy pants)

 

try the tutorial that Fucher wrote

[NancyGormezano]

Yes - with xp pro Task Manager, it shows 2 - I've never tried to run 2 instances rendering with A:M (pre 16) - as I am not sure how to get 2nd instance running on 2nd core (versus both instances consuming same resources on 1 core).

 

Run two instances and open the task manager. Go to the Processes tab and on one instance of master.exe and "Set Affinity" to CPU 0 then do that for the other instance of master.exe and "Set Affinity" to CPU 1.

 

Try it.

 

 

Nor have I've tried to use ver 16 netrender (yess...I am a gurly wuss scaredy pants)

 

try the tutorial that Fucher wrote

 

Thanks - had to go hunting for tut.

 

For my sake & others:

 

Here is where Fuchurs TERRIFIC Tutorial of Netrender starts

[Xtaz]

Finally I'm in the game again...

 

My new desktop is running fast and furious:

 

MB - EVGA X58

Processor - QuadCore Intel Core i7 950, 3051 MHz (8 threads) (overclocked to 4,0 Ghz) ( cooler Zalman X10 Extreme )

Memory - 24 Gb Corsais X3 DDR3

Graphic - GT 480

 

v16 64BIT beta 5:

4:14

 

[robcat2075]

v16 64BIT beta 5:

4:14

 

Very impressive!

[jason1025]

Finally I'm in the game again...

 

My new desktop is running fast and furious:

 

MB - EVGA X58

Processor - QuadCore Intel Core i7 950, 3051 MHz (8 threads) (overclocked to 4,0 Ghz) ( cooler Zalman X10 Extreme )

Memory - 24 Gb Corsais X3 DDR3

Graphic - GT 480

 

v16 64BIT beta 5:

4:14

 

 

 

Wow that is extremely fast. Can you try running 4 instances at once and post the render times?

[HomeSlice]

That is a fast time Xtaz! But Fuchur's Phenom 1090T still has you beat That surprises me though, I thought the Core i7 950 was way way way faster than anything AMD made.

 

Hey Fuchur, what motherboard do you have?

 

- PII 1090T x6 3,5 GHz > 4:04 min (8GB DDR3-RAM, singlecore rendering with Netrenderer)

 

Both with v16beta3.

 

See you

*Fuchur*

[jason1025]

Report:

Version 15.H

render time min:sec 42:34

CPU Brand and model 2006 Intel Zeon Woodcrest 3GHZ Processor

Actual CPU speed in GHz

how many cores A:M is using: single core I think unless 15.H is capable of harnessing the power of multiple cores for render to file.

RAM 12GB 666MHZ

OS Snow Leopard OSX 10.6

 

 

mine was:

V15.H

42:34

late 2006 Apple Mac Pro Tower intel

Intel Zeon Woodcrest 3GHZ Processor

1 core

RAM 12GB 666MHZ

OS Snow Leopard OSX 10.6

.

 

 

 

UPDATED

 

V16RC

[bentothemax]

V 16 rc01 64

3:57 seconds

AMD 1090t phenom x 6 black ed. 3.2ghz (stock)

4gb ddr3 corsair 1600 mhz ram

windows 7 64

 

VS

 

v15J

8:32

same specs

 

Amazingly faster on v16!

[Fuchur]

That is a fast time Xtaz! But Fuchur's Phenom 1090T still has you beat That surprises me though, I thought the Core i7 950 was way way way faster than anything AMD made.

 

Hey Fuchur, what motherboard do you have?

 

- PII 1090T x6 3,5 GHz > 4:04 min (8GB DDR3-RAM, singlecore rendering with Netrenderer)

 

Both with v16beta3.

 

See you

*Fuchur*

 

Sorry HomeSlice - saw only just now that you asked that.

Motherboard is an Asus M4a89GTD Pro. (nice one)

 

AMDs are only much slower than these 1000 Dollar processors of Intel. For the same bug you get the same or more power (since AMD is quite inexpensive, the i7 950 for example costs more than the 1090T and is only a 4core-system. 1090T is a 6core and less expensive at a more or less equal speed per core and more cores... this depends on the application of course, but especially for A:M this is true).

 

But keep in mind: Mine runs at higher GHZ and is slightly overclocked. Compared to that, bentothemax has a faster system...

Maybe because of the RAM he has... mine runs only at 1333 MHz.

 

See you

*Fuchur*