Multi Core / Multi Processor Systems

Kevin James · April 13th, 2007, 12:41 PM

Mike, could you post the components/os of your beast machine? Thanks!

Mike Kujbida · April 13th, 2007, 01:13 PM

Kevin, it's essentially John Rofrano's Core 2 Quad system - which was based on John Cline's system.
JR's specs are at http://johnrofrano.com/pcequipment.htm
JC's specs are at http://www.johncline.com/quad.htm
My changes were:
drive 1 (system): 200 GB Seagate SATA;
drives 2 & 3 (capture & edit): 500 GB Seagate SATA (i.e. no RAID);
24" Dell monitor;
Geforce 7900 video card;
M-Audio Revolution 5.1 sound card;
basic Logitech surround sound speaker system.
Total price was around $5K Canadian.

Be advised that the QX6700 has been replaced by the QX6800. Tests show that it's marginally faster.
Also, after April 22, a drop in Intel CPU prices has already been announced.
Scroll down to craftech's response (last one on the page) in the http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/...0355&Replies=6 thread on the Sony forum for pricing details.

Mike

Kevin James · April 13th, 2007, 01:20 PM

Thanks Mike, I've already got my eye on the new e6420.

Mike Kujbida · April 14th, 2007, 09:54 AM

OK Ian. You're going to either hate me or love me :-)
After it crashing on me 3 times (all at the same point in the motion blur section, of course), I changed the number of rendering threads in Prefs from 4 (the default) to 1.
SUCCESS!!
It took 2 hr. 10 min. 31 sec. but it did do it.

Mike

Ian Briscoe · April 14th, 2007, 03:56 PM

Mike

Thanx so much for that and for tracking down a partial solution. I'm glad it's not just my system. It also seems to work OK on 2 threads (that one region took 47 minutes). One for Sony support I think; although I would never render anything as complicated as that, I do think it's a bug.

As an experiment I rendered the frst 5 seconds of that test and the results for each number of threads are:
4 threads - 2:12
3 threads - 2:47
2 threads - 4:14
1 thread - 8:35

I also ran the original VASST render test:
4 threads - 0:14
3 threads - 0:17
2 threads - 0:24
1 thread - 0:46

Thanks again.

Ian

April 13th, 2007, 12:41 PM	#16
Kevin James Major Player Join Date: May 2004 Location: Orlando, FL Posts: 204	Mike, could you post the components/os of your beast machine? Thanks!

April 13th, 2007, 01:13 PM	#17
Mike Kujbida Inner Circle Join Date: May 2005 Location: Windsor, ON Canada Posts: 2,770	Kevin, it's essentially John Rofrano's Core 2 Quad system - which was based on John Cline's system. JR's specs are at http://johnrofrano.com/pcequipment.htm JC's specs are at http://www.johncline.com/quad.htm My changes were: drive 1 (system): 200 GB Seagate SATA; drives 2 & 3 (capture & edit): 500 GB Seagate SATA (i.e. no RAID); 24" Dell monitor; Geforce 7900 video card; M-Audio Revolution 5.1 sound card; basic Logitech surround sound speaker system. Total price was around $5K Canadian. Be advised that the QX6700 has been replaced by the QX6800. Tests show that it's marginally faster. Also, after April 22, a drop in Intel CPU prices has already been announced. Scroll down to craftech's response (last one on the page) in the http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/...0355&Replies=6 thread on the Sony forum for pricing details. Mike

April 13th, 2007, 01:20 PM	#18
Kevin James Major Player Join Date: May 2004 Location: Orlando, FL Posts: 204	Thanks Mike, I've already got my eye on the new e6420.

April 14th, 2007, 09:54 AM	#19
Mike Kujbida Inner Circle Join Date: May 2005 Location: Windsor, ON Canada Posts: 2,770	OK Ian. You're going to either hate me or love me :-) After it crashing on me 3 times (all at the same point in the motion blur section, of course), I changed the number of rendering threads in Prefs from 4 (the default) to 1. SUCCESS!! It took 2 hr. 10 min. 31 sec. but it did do it. Mike

April 14th, 2007, 03:56 PM	#20
Ian Briscoe Major Player Join Date: May 2005 Location: Southport - UK Posts: 208	Mike Thanx so much for that and for tracking down a partial solution. I'm glad it's not just my system. It also seems to work OK on 2 threads (that one region took 47 minutes). One for Sony support I think; although I would never render anything as complicated as that, I do think it's a bug. As an experiment I rendered the frst 5 seconds of that test and the results for each number of threads are: 4 threads - 2:12 3 threads - 2:47 2 threads - 4:14 1 thread - 8:35 I also ran the original VASST render test: 4 threads - 0:14 3 threads - 0:17 2 threads - 0:24 1 thread - 0:46 Thanks again. Ian