Computers
VIArts
Posts: 1,496
Hi,
So I'm looking for a new laptop trhat would be good for 3D stuff. I know some ould say a tower is better, but I'd like a laptop for personal reasons.
The one I'm using right now is an older HP Pavilion with 4GB RAM and a 270 GB drive. However, it got knocked down to 32bit Vista the last time I took it to get fixed, and no, I don't have the disc tov get it back to 64bit.
So far I've been looking for one with the highest RAM afnd has white or grey/silver keys (dblack kills my eyes). Most go up to 8 GB Ram, but Origin laptops can give a mighty 15 GB RAM.
Other thAn that, I don't know what to look for.
Any sugestions?
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I've got an Asus N56V, and it's a decent machine with 8GB's of memory, and Win7 64-bit. On it I have what I consider my 'must-have' software: DAZ Studio 4.5 Pro, Photoshop CS4, and that's mainly it.
My computer has 16 gb of RAM, and that's been marvelous. I'd get all the RAM you can afford. Then get the most processor speed, which will affect renders. I'm not familiar with laptop processors, but the more cores and the greater speed the better by far. I really like the Intel brand of processors. I7 is better than I5 which is in turn better than I3. I wouldn't go less than 2.4 ghz on the processor, and the more the better there. And then there's the graphics card. People debate between Intel and AMD. You'll have to make your own judgement there. The better the graphics card, the faster your viewport changes will go, and you can also use a graphics card in luxrender to speed up rendering. Also, the amount of RAM a graphics card can hold is important in how big of a scene you can create if you use the graphics chip for rendering. (I'm fuzzy on the details here, but that's the general idea.) Finally, stay away from integrated graphics chips. The quality just isn't there yet for a resource intensive program like DAZ3D 4.5 pro.
Then, if you like research, you'll want to check to make sure the laptop is getting enough power through the power supply, else the lack of power will act as a throttle on your system. Also, you need to make sure it has an adequate cooling system. Overheating your computer on a long render is not a good thing. Other people can probably give you more details. When I was researching all this, I found the Tom's Hardware forum helpful. There's a ton of information on there about these kinds of things.
Good luck!
Thanks. I'm hunting around. Isn't there somewhere you can hav a custom laptop made?
Man, trhis is kinda likecar shopping. lol. ACheck out this one, it's a monster but I ain' getting it.
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2414967,00.asp
Hmmm... $4000. That was the price of early Sun laptops that ran UNIX back in the early 90s. And that was back when $1 could buy you and your friend a cup of coffee, or a couple of DC Metro subway tickets.
I got a 'custom' laptop made by a 'local' (as in they are based in the UK) company, via their website. Not cheap, but a nice amount of grunt very similar to the one you link to, but with 32GB RAM.
Two other options are craigslist and ebay. After over a month's research in all sorts of places, I ended up getting my custom built desk top off ebay. I've been very happy, and that was almost a year ago. I made sure it had buyer's protection listed on it, as well. If you're careful, you can get a great deal. I got my computer for 600 dollars less than what the parts would have cost, let alone the labor. Sometimes you'll find an almost brand new computer that someone's selling because they decided to get married, etc. So check often - those go fast.
I did a basic search on ebay for gaming laptops. I limited the search by processor speed (2.4 ghz or greater) and RAM (16gb or greater). There was a great option with an intel ivy bridge processessor and 32 gb of RAM for $1700. You can probably get a better deal than that if you work at it.
And if you really want to be in 7th heaven with your new laptop, then I'd recommend getting an SSD drive. The boot up times are fantastic for programs. You'll never want to go back once you've experienced it. You may want a secondary hard drive for storage. If not, get as big of an SSD drive as you can, since you'll put both your programs and your storage on it.
If you want custom-built, with a warranty, by a reputable shop, consider these guys:
http://www.digitalstormonline.com/
They built me a desktop 15 months ago and it has been completely flawless.
...make sure to get a good passive cooling pad for rendering really taxes the CPU. I credit the longevity of my 6+ year old Toshiba to the cooling pad I have.
Notebooks are not known for having the best of cooling (usually only one fan that doubles as intake and exhaust) so they can be prone to overheating, particularly with faster processors and dedicated GPU chipsets. There was one gaming notebook I saw (something in the 2,500 - 3,000$ price range, but don't remember the company) that actually had an active "flow through" ventilation system built in. This is important if you are planning to use an unbiased render engine like Lux (through Reality or Luxus) as renders can take hours, even days to complete.
Even with the old 3Delight I would never let my notebook go for more than two hours without being present to monitor system temps.
I would strongly advise against overclocking as it generates even more waste heat. Bought a second hand one years ago that was overclocked and it basically "cooked itself to death" in about eight months.
The workstation I built has a very "generous" case with five fans plus an aftermarket CPU cooler and the one on the GPU. Even with UE Occlusion sampling turned all the way up, IDL, lots of transmaps and large texture maps it still hasn't broken a sweat.
The other downside of notebooks is that they are very limited in what you can upgrade. Unless you are real tech savvy, about the only two components you can change are the RAM and HDD. As with any system , adding newer more powerful components will put more of a load on the PSU. This is not an easy component to swap out as it is in a desktop/ workstation and usually requires going to a technician (and more $$$) to have done.
Okay, I think I found one, but... How do I explain to someone ho doesn't know anything about 3D what rendering does to the computer?
It uses all the cores at 100%, and uses considerable amounts of memory too. Currently it doesn't use the GPU for rendering, though you do need good OpenGL (NOT DirectX) support for the viewport while working.
In the mean time whoever "fixed" your computer has essentially halved the RAM available to any application that needs it. 32bit vista allocates a max of 2GB RAM to any open application. Your computer can see it, but you OS can not effectively use it but ou can change that
http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/ps/dl/item?siteID=123112&id=9583842&linkID=9240617
And 15GB RAM? Is that a typo? RAM (single chip) generally runs 1,2,4,6,8,12, or 16 GB
If you can't get a desktop for personal reasons what's your laptop budget? If moneys no object I'd say Mac Power Book running Win7 or Win 8 or ASUS which has crap tech support but great product. If your like the other 99.99% of us and money IS an object Id say stay the hell away from HP, they make crap and while their support guys show up in 24 hrs I see them far too often in my building for repeat offenders.
A good gaming laptop out of the box is going to be a good rendering system as long as it has adequate RAM. Gaming laptops tend be have zipper CPU's and decent graphics cards. Rendering iin 3Delight is a purely CPU/RAM affair as already mentioned but several other rending options can utilize the video cards power to render. A slow display navigating on screen is the direct result of your video card.
Your computer is going to be as fast as it's slowest component. Since this is a laptop expect to pay a premium for that power. Your not buying a laptop to look at spreadsheets and FB post as it's mainstay, your going to buy the sports model.
...truth. I was rendering a pic the other day and all 8 processing threads were pegged at 100%. I was also using about 28 - 30% of my total (12G) available memory.
The only time you will need to be concerned about GPU attributes (such as CUDA threads etc) is if you use an "unbiased" engine like Octane, LuxRender (via either Reality or Luxus), or Blender's Cycles engine that supports GPU assisted/accelerated rendering.
However, the memory on the GPU also does affect viewport performance (camera moves, object transition, etc) particularly when working with content that has large and/or highly detailed texture maps.
Most dedicated GPUs on the market today support OpenGL4.0 and there are driver updates available.
There is one caveat to the DirectX requirement, the MoodMaster 2 plugin requires DirectX10 to function. I found this out after I installed it on my old notebook which only supports ver 9.
...OK had to do a bit of digging around but found the notebook that has the "flow through" cooling
It's the ASUS G75VW. Definitely a bit expensive (2000$+) but it uses dual fans one for the CPU and one for the GPU It draws air in from underneath the front and has dual exhaust ports in the back of the unit. The fans also have easy access for periodic cleaning.
The base model (just over 2100$) comes with a 2.4gHz i7 CPU (clockable to 3.4) nVidia GTX 670m GPU w/3GB DDR5 16GB Dual channel RAM (4 x 4GB) (expandable to 32GB) 256GB SSD boot drive + 750 GB 7200 SATAII HDD.BUily in wireless and WIn8
If this is primarily going to be used for is 3D CG production & rendering, for an additional 250$ I would suggest stepping up to a 7200RPM 1TBHDD, 16GB configured in 2 x 8GB sticks (which leaves two open slots for later expansion), WIn7 Pro (which is needed to support more than 16GB), & swapping out the Blue Ray Combo drive for a standard DVD/CD R/W (unless you plan to watch Blue Ray DVDs on this a lot - The optical drive swap saves you 50$).
The first link is to a PC World Review, and the second is to a custom house that lets you configure the system for your needs.
ASUS G75VW Review
Power Notebooks ASUS G75VW configuration.
I would have a custom HP made with Windows 7 installed. If you go to the HP Online store you can customize your own machine for your own price. If I were you I would wait a while because I am fairly sure that New Machines are coming out by the end of this year with DDR4 memory. The good thing about buying a machine custom made is you can pick your OS and Pick a either a solid state or Hybrid Drive. For Laptops Either a High End Amd CPU a Quard Core or an I7. I would stay from anything with windows 8. I run an small computer repair shop and I have gotten a lot of machines in to remove windows 8 and install windows 7. The bad thing about the newer machines is that not only does the software suck but the hardware sucks as well. The newer boards are really weak and several machines have been recalled.
Stay away from any Ultra Book they all suck.
Good companies. Lenovo is basically IBM, they can't be beat. MSI, ASUS. IF you buy from them on line you buy directly from the manufacturer.
I prefer AMD Machine because intel is no loner manufacturing chip-sets for motherboards either portable or desktop boards. I don't know what company will be providing the new chip-sets.
I hate windows 8 and am not servicing windows 8 computers at my shop.
These two already come with quadro cards built in and for 3d they are the best.
http://www.msimobile.com/level2_productlist.aspx?id=114