Maxwell

Processor

CPU vs. GPU Rendering

Maxwell 4 takes advantage of the GPU for rendering, however there are some aspects of the rendering process that can only be handled by the CPU. Therefore we recommend a processor with 4 to 6 cores.

Please view Maxwell's CPU + GPU Utilization chart for further information about CPU vs. GPU in this unique application.

Memory

In general, 3-6GB of RAM per CPU core is recommended. For example, if you select a single 12-core processor, 32GB will suffice for basic tasks or 64GB for more demanding workloads.

Storage

We recommend a solid-state drive (SSD) for the operating system and software.

In addition, we recommend a 4TB or larger hard drive for storage of the pre-rendered assets or the rendered export files if storing these files locally. Hard drives work well for rendering since it is generally not read or write intensive.

Graphics

According to Next Limit, the GPU option speeds up the rendering process greatly... up to 10x faster than CPU rendering! This is possible due to the thousands of CUDA cores within NVIDIA graphics cards.

Maxwell can run equally well on both GeForce GTX and Quadro cards. We recommend an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti graphics cards, which currently offers the best performance to price ratio, but any recent high end NVIDIA card will offer great rendering performance with Maxwell.

While Maxwell does not support multiple GPUs as of September 2017, this feature will be released by the end of the year. Therefore we also have dual GPU recommendations below.

Chassis

The HP Z8 G4 Workstation is recommended if you would like dual processors and/or multiple high performance graphics cards.

The HP Z6 G4 Workstation is recommended if you would like to start with a single high-end processor and single high-performance graphics card with the potential of upgrading in the future. With the Z6 G4, you can add a second matching processor and double the memory using the optional second processor riser. The power supply will also support two mid-range graphics cards.

The HP Z4 G4 Workstation is recommended for majority of workflows. Since Intel now produces single Core i9 and Xeon processors with up to 18-cores and high clock speed, there is no need for dual processors unless you will have heavy CPU rendering or intensive tasks demanding more than 18-cores. Also, the HP Z4 G4 has an optional 1000W power supply that will support the most powerful graphics cards inluding the GeForce RTX 2080Ti and Quadro RTX 6000.

Specialty Hardware

For massive computes, we carry NVIDIA Tesla K80 and P100 accelerators installed in worlds leading Cubix Xpander Rackmount series expansion chassis. The top selling, Xpander Rackmount 2, Gen 3 expands one PCIe 3.0 x16 slot in the HP Z Worskation into two dual-slot PCIe 3.0 x16 slots for passively cooled cards. Add 2 4 8 or 16 Tesla compute processors to for extreme compute power to take on any advanced product. Shave hours, days, or weeks off your estimated completion time to maximize your productivity.

For rigorous rendering and advanced deep learning solutions, we carry the Cubix Xpander Desktop Elite series expansion chassis ideal for NVIDIA GeForce GTX and RTX GPUs. The most popular in the series, Xpander Desktop Elite, Gen 3 - 1500w, expands one PCIe 3.0 x16 slot in the HP Z Worskation into four dual-slot PCIe 3.0 x16 slots for actively cooled cards. The 1200w model also available for a mixture of GPUs and specialty hardware cards, and the 8 and 16 GPU model for a grid computing solution.