Mac rendering speed

[Anonymous]

I've been told by GS developers that the Mac os/hardware currently renders faster than PC's. Let's say money were no object...do any of you have any first hand experience between high-end PC's vs. Macs specifically when rendering that would justify this claim?

Thanks,

[Karl Ottenstein]

Hi Eric,

Well, my hardware is no longer high-end, being a few years old. But, comparing LW renderings on my desk machine (3 GHz P4 HT - 1.5 GB memory) and behind-my-back machine (dual 1 GHz G4 OS 10.3.9 - also 1.5 GB memory), I found nothing more than a direct GHz correlation.

LW uses up to two processors, so I found the Mac rendered as if it were a single 2 GHz processor relative to the 3 GHz P4.

Unless the G5 offers something that boosts the effective speed beyond its GHz rating, then potentially a dual Pentium/Zenon/Etc machine (or the new dual-core Pentiums) would do better than a dual G5. Of course, I'd go for whichever system had the larger on-die processor cache, the faster FSB and faster dual-channel memory speed since that will affect things too.

2 cents,
Karl

[Djordje]

Eric wrote:
I've been told by GS developers that the Mac os/hardware currently renders faster than PC's. Let's say money were no object...do any of you have any first hand experience between high-end PC's vs. Macs specifically when rendering that would justify this claim?

Thanks,

One thing where Mac excels is the memory usage. If you do need more than 2GB (and you do on large models at high resolutions) you are stuck on PC, while you are not on the Mac.

[stefan]

Djordje wrote:

Eric wrote:
I've been told by GS developers that the Mac os/hardware currently renders faster than PC's. Let's say money were no object...do any of you have any first hand experience between high-end PC's vs. Macs specifically when rendering that would justify this claim?
Thanks,

One thing where Mac excels is the memory usage. If you do need more than 2GB (and you do on large models at high resolutions) you are stuck on PC, while you are not on the Mac.

The 2 GB limit on PC's is something from the past. There are full 64-bit OS's (XP in beta and Linux in full), 64-bit apps (Cinema4D, Lightwave, XSI...) and 64-bit processors (Athlon and Intel).
In fact, at SIGGRAPH 2005, Boxx-technologies demonstrated a PC with 4 Dual-Core Opteron processors (giving 8 CPU's), using 8 GB of RAM. The motherboard could host 32 GB of RAM and could be coupled with an additional 4 Dual-Core Processors. Add a dual-graphics-card (SLI), for which there seemed to be too little place in the test machine and can start to render away 😉
http://www.digitalvideoediting.com/articles/viewarticle.jsp?id=33905
http://www.amd.com/us-en/Corporate/VirtualPressRoom/0,,51_104_543_5730~100411,00.html

And today you can buy a Dell Workstation with up to 16 GB of RAM. That is not even a prototype anymore.
http://www1.us.dell.com/content/products/compare.aspx/workstations?c=us&cs=555&l=en&s=biz
According to this site: " To utilize more than 4GB of memory requires a 64-bit OS."

[Djordje]

stefan wrote:
The 2 GB limit on PC's is something from the past.

Until every PC runs 64 bit OS it is not.

[stefan]

Djordje wrote:

stefan wrote:
The 2 GB limit on PC's is something from the past.

Until every PC runs 64 bit OS it is not.

Well, so many PC's still running Windows 98, AutoCAD r14 etc...

But we are also not comparing them to an old MacOS 8.6 here 😉 You are making a comparison with Dual CPU G5-Macs, so you should compare with PC workstations.

My Dell Precision 370 has Win XP Pro (a 32-bit OS), but an Intel EM64-capable processor, so that means it can adress higher amounts of RAM (EM = Extended Memory). You don't necessarily need XP 64-bit.

[Anonymous]

Now that the new quad G5's are out I'm curious what the multi-processor limitations of lightworks are. Can LW take advantage of 4 processors? If so, I may have to go to the apple store and run some benchmark tests.

[Karl Ottenstein]

Eric wrote:
Now that the new quad G5's are out I'm curious what the multi-processor limitations of lightworks are. Can LW take advantage of 4 processors? If so, I may have to go to the apple store and run some benchmark tests.

AFAIK, the ArchiCAD implementation of LW will not utilize more than two processors.

Of course, you might still want to go to the Apple store and run a benchmark, since with the quad you could render at nearly full speed at the same time that you're updating a layout book with BG AC, working on another project, etc.

The Quad announcement is very exciting, and with Microsoft's watered down Longhorn operating system not arriving until late 2006, I think it will be interesting to see how many new customers Apple gains with the quad, followed by the Intel-based quad (cheaper and faster), all running on an OS that is faster and more secure than XP. Hey, even I may switch which computer is in front of my chair and which is behind it. 😉

Let us know if you go play. 😉

Karl

[Anonymous]

Thanks Karl, that sounds like a homework assignment. 😉
Maybe tomorrow at lunch.

FYI, I emailed GS to find out if they have any benchmark info on the quads yet. I'll let you know what they say, too.

[Anonymous]

Update:
GS doesn't have any benchmarks with the G5 quads and my local apple store doesn't expect any until next week at the earliest. I'll let you know when I can do some tests.