# So, I am finally pulling trigger on my rendering rig.



## alucasa (Aug 28, 2016)

I've done my researches for a month on parts and have assembled a list of components I am going to get.

This is CPU rendering rig based on 2011-V3.

CPU:  Intel Xeon E5-2683 v3
This is a 14core / 28 threads monster at 2Ghz. I am able to source this on Ebay for 450CAD. This is a non-ES, OEM, CPU.

CPU cooler: ARCTIC Freezer i11

Mobo: Asrock Extreme4 X99

Case: Cooler Master Silencio 352

RAM: G.SKILL Aegis 32GB (2 x 16GB)

HDD: A single M.2 Samsung 256gb EVO SSD (Already own)

PSU: Cx500 500w

OS: Fedora x64 (Blender performance is far superior on unix than on Windows by a clear margin of 10%+)

GPU: AMD *60 75w version to reduce cable.


The rig is solely for rendering, nothing else. If you have any comments and advice, let me know.


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## Kanan (Aug 28, 2016)

Looks good nothing really to add to it other than maybe a stronger psu in the 600-700 range, but then again 500 W should be enough for it.


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## qubit (Aug 29, 2016)

I'm curious what sort of rendering do you have in mind? I will then have a better idea of any suggestions to make.


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## alucasa (Aug 29, 2016)

My main 3D application is Blender.

But I also use Vue and Terragen. I suppose I will use the two on my main rig since it's Windows only application. My final scenes are almost always done with Blender though. GPU rendering is sort of not an option due to needing 10gb-ish RAM.

I've been a hobbyist for some years now and was content with 4c/8t until I started adding particle effect. Things really start to slow down in real time viewport render.

The rig has no need for storage as it will render files on a network storage I have. GPU is there for video output only, so even a cheap 720 will do the job.


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## newtekie1 (Aug 29, 2016)

Once the 1080ti comes out you might be interested in it, it will likely have 12GB of RAM. 

Also, I assume you have renders that take quite a long time to complete, so I hope you have a battery backup.


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## alucasa (Aug 29, 2016)

12gb ram isn't really comforting. It can go over that easily. GPU rendering isn't an option really. For the similar amount of money, I can build this and not worry about anything at all.

Generally, a render takes 4 hours to 10 hours on i7. Rendering is basically calculating lightning, Depends on how complex lightning setup is and how many bounces it makes. I was going to stick with mainsteam socket but Intel ain't bringing 6 core into it and AMD Zen hype is letting me down.


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## EarthDog (Aug 29, 2016)

He meant the Titan Xp has 12GB of vRAM, not your system ram. 

A quality 550W PSU will be PLENTY for any single card operation including overclocking the CPU and GPU with ambient temps. Something like the EVGA G2 550W would be a solid 'bang for your buck' tier 1 PSU.


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## alucasa (Aug 29, 2016)

GPU rendering is limited to GPU's RAM. Render will crash when RAM runs out.


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## EarthDog (Aug 29, 2016)

You said it wasn't an option anyway...

I was only (trying) to clarify what newtekie was saying which (I believe) you misinterpreted.


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## alucasa (Aug 29, 2016)

It is indeed not an option. I am not spending over a grand for a misery 12gb RAM capacity.

With CPU rendering, I can upgrade RAM if needed. With GPU, that's not an option.


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## qubit (Aug 29, 2016)

Doesn't the GPU render a lot faster though?


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## wolar (Aug 29, 2016)

qubit said:


> Doesn't the GPU render a lot faster though?


Doesn't it depend on the application ?


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## alucasa (Aug 29, 2016)

qubit said:


> Doesn't the GPU render a lot faster though?



My Nvidia 760 is slightly faster than i7-6700 (non-K0). That's what I know for a fact.

Against 14c/28t, I am not sure. I reckon GPU will be faster but if I can't render a scene due to lack of RAM, what would be the point?


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## Kanan (Aug 29, 2016)

The point is maybe a AMD FireGL with 32 Gigs of Ram. Then you don't need the 14 core CPU.


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## alucasa (Aug 29, 2016)

Kanan said:


> The point is maybe a AMD FireGL with 32 Gigs of Ram. Then you don't need the 14 core CPU.



I'd still choose CPU render simply due to the price. The rig I listed costs around 1,000CAD and upgradable.

Workstation GPU costs way, waaaaaayyyyy, more.

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814195129


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## cdawall (Aug 29, 2016)

Out of curiosity what is the blender performance difference between a single intel 14c vs a pair of amd 16c chips? I feel like you could build a rig for a similar price with a 2P AMD setup (maybe even a 4p)


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## alucasa (Aug 29, 2016)

cdawall said:


> Out of curiosity what is the blender performance difference between a single intel 14c vs a pair of amd 16c chips? I feel like you could build a rig for a similar price with a 2P AMD setup (maybe even a 4p)



You can visit this thread for some info. It took me hours to digest what I should aim for.

https://blenderartists.org/forum/showthread.php?239480-2-7x-Cycles-benchmark-(Updated-BMW)

AMD CPU is so slow compared to Intel's that I ruled it out completely within few tens of minutes. Note that some of results there must be discarded because not all users are reporting it honestly. But you can make out general sense of performance level after a while.

From what I can tell, intel cpu is at least twice faster compared to AMD's. No one in the thead was using AMD server grade CPU, so I wouldn't know but I ruled AMD CPUs out.

Besides, I am looking for 1 CPU system due to wanting to stick to m-ATX. I used to own 2P xeon 1366 system for WCG and I felt it wasn't worth it.


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## qubit (Aug 29, 2016)

alucasa said:


> I'd still choose CPU render simply due to the price.


Seems a fair reason to me. That's some serious dollars there for the graphics card.


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## Kanan (Aug 29, 2016)

alucasa said:


> I'd still choose CPU render simply due to the price. The rig I listed costs around 1,000CAD and upgradable.
> 
> Workstation GPU costs way, waaaaaayyyyy, more.
> 
> http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814195129


Yep, was more like a theory thing, I didn't really expect it. Still interesting. That 14 core CPU has a good price, compared to the new 10 core it's a steal.


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## alucasa (Aug 29, 2016)

Ebay cpu sale link 1

Ebay cpu sale link 2

I was skeptical but user feedback seems to be genuine. Those are non-ES OEM cpus.


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## newtekie1 (Aug 29, 2016)

alucasa said:


> I'd still choose CPU render simply due to the price. The rig I listed costs around 1,000CAD and upgradable.
> 
> Workstation GPU costs way, waaaaaayyyyy, more.
> 
> http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814195129



The point I was making, is that when the 1080Ti comes out, GPU rendering might become an option.  It should have 12GB of VRAM, so if your project uses less than that, you'll be fine, it won't be super expensive(probably about half the price of the Titan XP), and it will be way faster than even a 14c/24t CPU.  You don't need a workstation graphics card, like you said, your GTX 760 is already keeping up with a 4c/8t high clocked CPU.  You don't need a workstation GPU for what you are doing.  The 1080Ti when it comes out, might be something to look into upgrading your rig with.

Also, at least with my admittedly limited experience with Blender, when the GPU runs out of VRAM, it will start to page out to use system RAM.  The nVidia driver is designed to handle this, and it does it with games as well.  It will slow down rendering, but it definitely shouldn't be crashing.


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## alucasa (Aug 29, 2016)

newtekie1 said:


> The point I was making, is that when the 1080Ti comes out, GPU rendering might become an option.  It should have 12GB of VRAM, so if your project uses less than that, you'll be fine, it won't be super expensive(probably about half the price of the Titan XP), and it will be way faster than even a 14c/24t CPU.  You don't need a workstation graphics card, like you said, your GTX 760 is already keeping up with a 4c/8t high clocked CPU.  You don't need a workstation GPU for what you are doing.  The 1080Ti when it comes out, might be something to look into upgrading your rig with.



The thing is, 12gb is too limiting. What if I want to experiment? I don't use 4k textures but what if I want to use that? A fairly busy scene will eat 10gb. What if I add few more objects? It could go over 12gb. A GPU may be fast but offers no upgrade path. I have to swap out for a new unit.
On the other hand, CPU renderer gives me flexibility with RAM. And with windows, if a render exceeds RAM, it will try to use pagefile to some level before deciding enough is enough. CPU rendering is far more flexible than GPU rendering.




newtekie1 said:


> Also, at least with my admittedly limited experience with Blender, when the GPU runs out of VRAM, it will start to page out to use system RAM.  The nVidia driver is designed to handle this, and it does it with games as well.  It will slow down rendering, but it definitely shouldn't be crashing.



Nah, the render will stop and crash when vRAM runs out. I've experienced that shit ton of times with my 760 w/ 2gb. Any scene with even low-res textures will exceed 2gb easily. Bah.


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## Kanan (Aug 29, 2016)

alucasa said:


> Ebay cpu sale link 1
> 
> Ebay cpu sale link 2
> 
> I was skeptical but user feedback seems to be genuine. Those are non-ES OEM cpus.


These are so cheap because lots of server cpus get sold on a bunch, with "lots" I mean thousands - it really inflates the price of these CPUs in a massive way. Normally these aren't really affordable.


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## alucasa (Aug 29, 2016)

Kanan said:


> These are so cheap because lots of server cpus get sold on a bunch, with "lots" I mean thousands - it really inflates the price of these CPUs in a massive way. Normally these aren't really affordable.



Still need to be careful because I've seen such CPUs from China with fake IHS but those two appear to be genuine.


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## Kanan (Aug 29, 2016)

alucasa said:


> Still need to be careful because I've seen such CPUs from China with fake IHS but those two appear to be genuine.


http://feedback.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAP...25&interval=0&searchInterval=30&mPg=89&page=2
This user is genuine, CPUs seem to be fine, the other one is not. I just found negative comments in german that said that it's a fake.


> Vorsicht! Diese sind gefälschte ES CPUs. These CPUs are fake. Engineering Sample


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## alucasa (Aug 29, 2016)

Actually, I forgot to add the 3rd link which is the one I am keeping my eyes on.

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/231986513629?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

Happens to be the cheapest as well.


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## newtekie1 (Aug 29, 2016)

alucasa said:


> The thing is, 12gb is too limiting. What if I want to experiment? I don't use 4k textures but what if I want to use that? A fairly busy scene will eat 10gb. What if I add few more objects? It could go over 12gb. A GPU may be fast but offers no upgrade path. I have to swap out for a new unit.
> On the other hand, CPU renderer gives me flexibility with RAM. And with windows, if a render exceeds RAM, it will try to use pagefile to some level before deciding enough is enough. CPU rendering is far more flexible than GPU rendering.



That is why I'm not saying anything about changing the rest of the rendering rig.  All I'm saying is, in the future, when the 1080Ti is out, it might be worth considering _adding_ to the rig you plan on building now.  So on projects that don't use more than 12GB, you can render them on the 1080Ti much quicker than on the CPU.  If you want to experiment, and the project goes over the 12GB, then you use CPU rendering.  You aren't loosing any functionality, just the option of much faster renders on project that are less than 12GB.



alucasa said:


> Nah, the render will stop and crash when vRAM runs out. I've experienced that shit ton of times with my 760 w/ 2gb. Any scene with even low-res textures will exceed 2gb easily. Bah.



Yeah, you're right.  I just fired it up and tried with my 2GB 960.  I don't know why I remember doing renders on the GPU and going way over the VRAM limit.  Oh well.


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## Countryside (Aug 29, 2016)

Totally decent build, good picks nothing to be added here


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## alucasa (Aug 29, 2016)

newtekie1 said:


> That is why I'm no saying anything about changing the rest of the rendering rig.  All I'm saying is, in the future, when the 1080Ti is out, it might be worth considering _adding_ to the rig you plan on building now.  So on projects that don't use more than 12GB, you can render them on the 1080Ti much quicker than on the CPU.  If you want to experiment, and the project goes over the 12GB, then you use CPU rendering.  You aren't loosing any functionality, just the option of much faster renders on project that are less than 12GB.



Oops, I guess I misunderstood the point of your post then. My apologies.
Still, in my whole life, I never purchased any GPU worth more than Nvidia *60 line because my budget per a component is around 300 CAD. Spending the dough for 1080ti will probably not bode well with me. I never had lagging issues with *60 line GPUs, so I don't generally get the hype about getting anything better.




newtekie1 said:


> Yeah, you're right.  I just fired it up and tried with my 2GB 960.  I don't know why I remember doing renders on the GPU and going way over the VRAM limit.  Oh well.


Yeah, 2GB GPU sucks ass. Can't even render a character with decent texture.


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## newtekie1 (Aug 29, 2016)

alucasa said:


> Oops, I guess I misunderstood the point of your post then. My apologies.
> Still, in my whole life, I never purchased any GPU worth more than Nvidia *60 line because my budget per a component is around 300 CAD. Spending the dough for 1080ti will probably not bode well with me. I never had lagging issues with *60 line GPUs, so I don't generally get the hype about getting anything better.



If anything, when the 1080Ti comes out, sign up for newegg premier for $24.99.  Grab a 1080Ti off newegg.ca, and try it out.  If you don't like it, or you don't think the performance is worth it, then just send it back. You've got 14 Days(or maybe its 30).  With Premier you get free shipping to you, and free returns and newegg pays the return shipping.  So you get to play with an awesome GPU to see if it is worth it, and you'll only be out the $24.99 you paid for premier.  And if you buy enough stuff while you have premier, what you save in shipping pays for premier pretty quickly.


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## alucasa (Aug 29, 2016)

newtekie1 said:


> If anything, when the 1080Ti comes out, sign up for newegg premier for $24.99.  Grab a 1080Ti off newegg.ca, and try it out.  If you don't like it, or you don't think the performance is worth it, then just send it back. You've got 14 Days(or maybe its 30).  With Premier you get free shipping to you, and free returns and newegg pays the return shipping.  So you get to play with an awesome GPU to see if it is worth it, and you'll only be out the $24.99 you paid for premier.  And if you buy enough stuff while you have premier, what you save in shipping pays for premier pretty quickly.



I am not so keen on that idea, heh. 
The best GPU I will probably get is 1060 6GB in which case I could fire up two different renders by telling Blender to use 26 threads for the first scene and use remaining 2 threads + CUDA for second scene.


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## johnspack (Aug 29, 2016)

Staxrip and a 1080ti?


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## qubit (Aug 29, 2016)

alucasa said:


> Nah, the render will stop and crash when vRAM runs out. I've experienced that shit ton of times with my 760 w/ 2gb. Any scene with even low-res textures will exceed 2gb easily. Bah.


That's rubbish programming. You'd think they'd have fixed that by now. 

You ok to post a couple of your renders here? I'm really curious to see what they look like.


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## jaggerwild (Aug 29, 2016)

alucasa said:


> It is indeed not an option. I am not spending over a grand for a misery 12gb RAM capacity.
> 
> With CPU rendering, I can upgrade RAM if needed. With GPU, that's not an option.


 
 EVGA Micro board, only has 4 memory slots. Sorry, im late


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## P4-630 (Aug 29, 2016)

qubit said:


> That's rubbish programming. You'd think they'd have fixed that by now.
> 
> You ok to post a couple of your renders here? I'm really curious to see what they look like.



I'm also curious what OP is rendering. 

I used to do some photoworks solidworks rendering with intel e7200, HD4870 and 4GB ram back in the days 

We could start a rendering club thread! 

I still have a few to post then.


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## EarthDog (Aug 29, 2016)

alucasa said:


> My Nvidia 760 is slightly faster than i7-6700 (non-K0). That's what I know for a fact.
> 
> Against 14c/28t, I am not sure. I reckon GPU will be faster but if I can't render a scene due to lack of RAM, what would be the point?


You really need to differentiate between system ram and vram....or risk confusion again!


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## alucasa (Aug 30, 2016)

EarthDog said:


> You really need to differentiate between system ram and vram....or risk confusion again!



GPU rednering always uses vRAM. There is no other way around it.

Anyway, I need to change the mobo. Upon further googling, it seems Asrock Extreme 4 is the only one that supports full list of Xeon including the one I am keeping my eyes on.


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## EarthDog (Aug 30, 2016)

I get that but.. English/grammar...

I digress...


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## alucasa (Aug 30, 2016)

I don't usually post my renders as I do only for self-satisfaction.

I really dig space, so I usually do sci-fi. Here is one. It uses around 6gb RAM to render and takes 2 hours at 900 sample. 900 sample is the minimum level I'd do for anything final. 2,000 sample is what I prefer but takes ages, so until I get the xeon, that's out of my option.

Every mesh in that render is mine. I modelled them from groundup. The only thing that ain't mine is the Earth texture which was taken from NASA website.

Only Blender was used to create this. No other application was involved.


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## P4-630 (Aug 30, 2016)

Little of topic, but I was able to create and render these with intel e7200/HD4870 and just 4GB ram back in the days


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## qubit (Aug 30, 2016)

alucasa said:


> I don't usually post my renders as I do only for self-satisfaction.
> 
> I really dig space, so I usually do sci-fi. Here is one. It uses around 6gb RAM to render and takes 2 hours at 900 sample. 900 sample is the minimum level I'd do for anything final. 2,000 sample is what I prefer but takes ages, so until I get the xeon, that's out of my option.
> 
> ...


Cool, I really like it, especially the sci-fi angle.  Thanks for posting it.


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## alucasa (Aug 30, 2016)

Core 2 is still usable to this day. I can even find benchmark scores for it. Blender supports AMD GPUs now via Open GL. I think it's even faster than CUDA at this point.

Rendering is calculation of how light rays are reflected, so simplier light setup is, faster it will render. Less bounces light has to make, it's going to be faster as well.

I guess I have it easier since I deal with space mostly (Empty space where far lesser light rays will bounce).



P4-630 said:


> Little of topic, but I was able to create and render these with intel e7200/HD4870 and just 4GB ram back in the days
> 
> View attachment 78354
> View attachment 78355
> View attachment 78356





qubit said:


> Cool, I really like it, especially the sci-fi angle.  Thanks for posting it.



Thanks and np. I am hoping to create scenes like Venus terraformation one day  For now, I am just not good enough to bring the image in my head into the world.


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## alucasa (Aug 31, 2016)

I will be ordering stuff in middle of September because I am buying the first wave of stuff a day before my CC cut off date and then make another wave of purchase to pay a month later.

While my CC limit is far more than few thousands, I placed a self limit, so I do not wish to go over my limit. The rig initially will have only 8gb (1 stick) of ram.

I can't wait to get this Xeon.

View attachment 78373


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## EarthDog (Aug 31, 2016)

Get the ram as a matching pair out of the gate. Don't split up things that shod be together like ram. What happens if you can't find that single matching stick?


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## newtekie1 (Aug 31, 2016)

EarthDog said:


> What happens if you can't find that single matching stick?



You buy a different stick with the same specs or better, and use that.


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## EarthDog (Aug 31, 2016)

And risk issues? All you! 

Buy both up front and save yourself some potential issues.


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## alucasa (Aug 31, 2016)

Either way, Asrock X99 Extreme 4 mATX mobo has been ordered today from Super Biiz.

I ordered from USA because it's going to be end up 50 CAD cheaper. Bah and they have 10 bucks off promotion until 5th of Sept. I wasn't going to miss that.

Edit: I told myself "Fuck this" and ordered CPU as well.


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## alucasa (Aug 31, 2016)

Update. 

I made the order for CPU. The user's e-mail is yahoo.co.jp but seller's name is Chinese. I will see where the chip is being shipped. If it turns out to be an ES, I guess I can get a partial refund. An ES chip is still very much usable anyway.


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## alucasa (Sep 8, 2016)

Just an update.

All parts are here, except for the CPU. CPU is expected between Sept 9th to 19th according to Ebay ETA. It was sent off from Tokyo via air mail (trackable).


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## cdawall (Sep 8, 2016)

I just ordered a 12c/24t 2.9ghz xeon myself. ES chip, but a us one so we will see how it does as well.


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## alucasa (Sep 8, 2016)

cdawall said:


> I just ordered a 12c/24t 2.9ghz xeon myself. ES chip, but a us one so we will see how it does as well.



This thread will be very useful for you in the future.

https://forums.servethehome.com/index.php?threads/es-xeon-discussion.5031/


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## alucasa (Sep 12, 2016)

Still waiting for CPU.

Meanwhile, assembled the rig. I should have really gone for modular PSU. I was thinking the case would have enough space behind the mobo to hide the cables but nope. I couldn't even get the main power cable behind the mobo tray. The case will have only one front fan and CPU fan. I am still undecided on GPU, so I left the GPU power cable loose for now.


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## alucasa (Sep 14, 2016)

CPU was in mailbox at my work today. Yay.

I will boot the rig up tonight by using my main rig's 760. Never had 14c/28t stuff at my disposal before. I am kinda excited how much time I will save with this thing.


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## alucasa (Sep 15, 2016)

I am in awe.

As far as I can see, this is indeed OEM (not ES) CPU. The CPU looks battered but functions fine. It's hard to see all the scratches in camera though.







Since I had no spare GPU, I took my 760 from my i7 rig.

















It's BMW benchmark file used by Blender community. I scored 1:51.  1:42 (as can be seen in bottom right) is scored by 770.

FYI, my i7-6700 scored 4:02.

Interestingly, when in full load, all scores are turboed to 2.48. A big bonus, I guess. It turboes to 3.0ghz in single thread performance.

Not bad. Not bad at all. It was the same price as i7-6700k in Canada.


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## Kanan (Sep 15, 2016)

Very nice, I like those big Intel CPU's, the IHS is way bigger than on E CPUs.  So everything went smoothly, congratz.


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## alucasa (Sep 15, 2016)

Kanan said:


> Very nice, I like those big Intel CPU's, the IHS is way bigger than on E CPUs.  So everything went smoothly, congratz.



Yep, rendering is the ultimate CPU test, so since it survives rendering, it's working perfectly fine. In next month, I will get 3 more RAM sticks and that's it. Man, 14 cores at 2.48ghz is nuts.


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## Kanan (Sep 15, 2016)

alucasa said:


> Yep, rendering is the ultimate CPU test, so since it survives rendering, it's working perfectly fine. In next month, I will get 3 more RAM sticks and that's it. Man, 14 cores at 2.48ghz is nuts.


Yep that will be a boost, Quad Channel rocks! Also look at a 18 Core haswell, IHS is even bigger, is at it's package limit  I don't like those small Intel CPU's , I'll probably never buy any of those, lol.






edit: actually it's same size hahaha


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## alucasa (Sep 15, 2016)

I had better CPU choices if I went for an ES but chose to gamble on OEM chip this round. I don't have a problem with using an ES as I've occasionally purchased ES CPUs. 

I think I saw Broadwell-e 22c/44t ES chip for a little more than I paid for this chip.


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## alucasa (Sep 15, 2016)

One last update before going out for a drink.

I rendered a scene I posted here. On i7-6700, I vaguely recall taking around 1 hour and 40-something minutes.

On this xeon, it took 35 minutes.


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## Kanan (Sep 15, 2016)

Nice increase, very nice indeed.



alucasa said:


> I had better CPU choices if I went for an ES but chose to gamble on OEM chip this round. I don't have a problem with using an ES as I've occasionally purchased ES CPUs.
> 
> I think I saw Broadwell-e 22c/44t ES chip for a little more than I paid for this chip.



Wow that 22C/44T would've been a killer, I would have bought it and tried and if it was okay, okay great, and if not sent it back. But whatever, 14 cores is very nice too!


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## alucasa (Sep 16, 2016)

Just throwing two HWinfo screenshots.

Idle temp is avg 35c.

Full load temp is avg 70c.

The temp could be improved since I am using only one intake care fan. But this is good enough. 
And, again, all cores turbo to 2.49Ghz under full load.


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## NumberCruncher (Sep 20, 2016)

That is impressive


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## JCOecksler (Sep 20, 2016)

alucasa said:


> Just throwing two HWinfo screenshots.
> 
> Idle temp is avg 35c.
> 
> ...



Thats great! I want exactly this processor, but for Cinema4D and After Effects.

As long as the cinebench 15 is a reference for multicore rendering power, could you do a test and share a printscreen, please?

Congrats for the rig.

Cheers.


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## JCOecksler (Sep 20, 2016)

Kanan said:


> Yep that will be a boost, Quad Channel rocks! Also look at a 18 Core haswell, IHS is even bigger, is at it's package limit  I don't like those small Intel CPU's , I'll probably never buy any of those, lol.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



You guys rock! Is the ES model as powerful as the OEM 'normal one? Your cpu (picture) is very much like new (compared to what we see in the listings). 

Can you share details of the purchase (howmuch/link/timetoarrive/etc)?

Thanks!


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## JCOecksler (Sep 20, 2016)

alucasa said:


> I am in awe.
> 
> As far as I can see, this is indeed OEM (not ES) CPU. The CPU looks battered but functions fine. It's hard to see all the scratches in camera though.
> 
> ...



I tried to benchmark with GPU rendering (as follows). Have you tried the same scene?


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## Kanan (Sep 20, 2016)

JCOecksler said:


> You guys rock! Is the ES model as powerful as the OEM 'normal one? Your cpu (picture) is very much like new (compared to what we see in the listings).
> 
> Can you share details of the purchase (howmuch/link/timetoarrive/etc)?
> 
> Thanks!


It's from Google - I own a 3960X.
ES cpus can be as powerful as release or oem version but can also be somewhat faulty it depends and is somewhat risky to buy that's why he got a oem cpu.

On other questions: I think he already shared those informations. It's a 14 core oem haswell xeon for about 300 bucks from eBay as I remember. Just choose a seller that is trustworthy, that gives guarantee that the cpu is genuine.


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## alucasa (Sep 20, 2016)

Here is Cinebench.


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## JCOecksler (Sep 21, 2016)

Kanan said:


> It's from Google - I own a 3960X.
> ES cpus can be as powerful as release or oem version but can also be somewhat faulty it depends and is somewhat risky to buy that's why he got a oem cpu.
> 
> On other questions: I think he already shared those informations. It's a 14 core oem haswell xeon for about 300 bucks from eBay as I remember. Just choose a seller that is trustworthy, that gives guarantee that the cpu is genuine.



Cool, thanks! But I was interested in a real world experience about the ES thing. 

I replied your post because you posted a xeon 18core 2.9ghz image.


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## JCOecksler (Sep 21, 2016)

alucasa said:


> Here is Cinebench.
> 
> View attachment 79053



Single chip with more than 1700 points! And for what?! 400 bucks. I will consider very buying this! 

Thank you!

Cheers.


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## alucasa (Sep 21, 2016)

300 bucks.


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## Kanan (Sep 21, 2016)

JCOecksler said:


> Cool, thanks! But I was interested in a real world experience about the ES thing.
> 
> I replied your post because you posted a xeon 18core 2.9ghz image.


Yeah it was just for the looks of it. Don't buy es, buy OEM instead.


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## alucasa (Sep 21, 2016)

Buying an ES chip is okay. What's more important is finding later stepping.

ES chips are almost guaranteed to function. What it does not guarantee is CPU features. The most common deficiency is inability to hit target turbo or failing to turbo all together. Another common deficiency is malfunctioning CPU instrcuctions. VT is the most common deficiency. 

A QS chip is safe to buy. Ebay seller will mark QS chips so. ES -> QS -> OEM


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## alucasa (Sep 26, 2016)

It's been over a week since I started using this rig now. There is no going back for me to mainstream, desktop, i7 with 4c/8t. No way in hell.

Below is a render I've been working on for few weeks now and what you see is a sample render @ only 700 samples, not final (usually 2000 samples and more depending on how grainy it looks). Still, it would have taken an hour just to get it out with my i7 6700 and I would have to let it run for over night for higher quality, final, render because it'd take 4 hours or so and I can't really use the rig while rendering.

Just 20 minutes needed with this CPU and I let it use only 26 threads so that I can use the rig for web browsing and stuff with 2 free threads.
No regret at all with this build. In fact,  I am waiting for E5 v4 CPU to come down in price. That's be my upgrade path.


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## NumberCruncher (Sep 26, 2016)

The power of using the right tool for the job


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## EarthDog (Sep 26, 2016)

alucasa said:


> Buying an ES chip is okay. What's more important is finding later stepping.
> 
> ES chips are almost guaranteed to function. What it does not guarantee is CPU features. The most common deficiency is inability to hit target turbo or failing to turbo all together. Another common deficiency is malfunctioning CPU instrcuctions. VT is the most common deficiency.
> 
> A QS chip is safe to buy. Ebay seller will mark QS chips so. ES -> QS -> OEM


Rarely anything wrong with ES cpus you find in the wild, note. 

How do you ID a 'QS' cpu? I've never seen it on cpuz...is it on the IHS?


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## alucasa (Sep 26, 2016)

EarthDog said:


> What the hell is a QS?



Qualification Sample, a fancy name for final ES stepping.


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## JCOecksler (Dec 6, 2016)

Hello Alucasa. I followed your advice and bought the used 2683v3 OEM (not the same vendor, it was unavailable at the time I needed it).

It work perfectly and I am very happy. Thank you! There is a picture of the Asrock A-Tuning with the config:

(Xeon E5 2683 V3 - 64GB ECC Kingston - There's a M.2 Ultra Plextor 512GB - GTX 1070 (will stack 4 of thoses):


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## Ensefalon (Dec 21, 2016)

alucasa said:


> I've done my researches for a month on parts and have assembled a list of components I am going to get.
> 
> This is CPU rendering rig based on 2011-V3.
> 
> ...



For me having a power hungry renderfarm myself, I approve...I have nothing really to add except I'd prefer you using the C602 chipset instead of X99, It negates any possible issues you might encounter.

EDIT: You might want to try adding a few disks and putting them in RAID, so you don't have to worry about bad things happening while the server is under utilization


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## Caring1 (Dec 22, 2016)

Ensefalon said:


> I have nothing really to add except I'd prefer you using the C602 chipset instead of X99


I thought Asrock X99 used the C602 chipset already, otherwise it wouldn't be capable of running Xeons.


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## cdawall (Dec 22, 2016)

Caring1 said:


> I thought Asrock X99 used the C602 chipset already, otherwise it wouldn't be capable of running Xeons.



X99 runs xeons fine none of the boards I have seen have an issue with xeons it's the ES broadwell-e chips you have to use specific brands for.


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## alucasa (Dec 22, 2016)

The only benefit of having C602 would be 2 CPU option which I wasn't going to use at all, so X99 was the logical choice.


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## Krei (Dec 28, 2016)

You have an MB/CPU with quad-channel memory support, yet only two memory modules. Did you see any rendering performance increase when going from the single 8GB stick to the 2x16GB kit? That would be due to the (theoretically) doubled memory bandwith, and you could double that yet again with an additional 2x16GB kit later.


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## alucasa (Dec 28, 2016)

Memory speed has virtually no impact on rendering. Rendering is all about calculation of light bounce which is all about either CPU or GPU CUDA/OpenGL.

I do plan to add another 8GB stick soon because I ran out of memory more than few times, resulting render crash.


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## jboydgolfer (Dec 28, 2016)

Asrock makes some of The Sexiest Boards....gotta Love 'em

enjoy the Renderer


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## alucasa (Dec 28, 2016)

It is about 120% faster than i7-6700 (non-K) in rendering. That speaks volumes. 

I am waiting for Zen now to replace/upgrade my i7-6700 secondary, media, rig. Of course, it will depend on minor details like price and actual performance though. I was going to go for an ES Xeon chip but I can wait.


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