http://area.autodesk.com/forum/ The Area en Copyright 2010 2010-03-19T05:12:52+01:00 http://area.autodesk.com/forum/autodesk-3ds-max/installation---hardware---os/max-hardware-q--/page-last/ http://area.autodesk.com/forum/autodesk-3ds-max/installation---hardware---os/max-hardware-q--/page-last/#When:15:07:01Z Hey all.. I'm looking at a 64bit Dell T5500 box to use as a 'Max workstation - currently consisting of; - Win7 Pro - dual Intel Xeon W5590 - dual 1GB Nvidia Quadro FX3800 - 24GB of DDR3 mem - and dual 500GB drives Question is - at around 10G's, I'd like to know how capable 'Max is of taking advantage of such a rig? Is/are some of the hardware 'overkill' or are there any better Dell alternatives? Just wanted some alt POVs. TIA - la 2010-03-19T15:07:01+01:00 http://area.autodesk.com/forum/autodesk-3ds-max/installation---hardware---os/is-this-good-hardware/page-last/ http://area.autodesk.com/forum/autodesk-3ds-max/installation---hardware---os/is-this-good-hardware/page-last/#When:06:45:57Z Compaq Presario CQ5320F Desktop PC with AMD Athlon II X2 240 Dual-Core Processor & Windows 7 Home Premium Item Description The Compaq Presario CQ5320F Desktop PC is perfect for checking email, surfing the web, and making calls over the Internet. With a clean, functional industrial design, this streamlined PC blends easily into any home. Whatever your personal needs are, Compaq Presario PCs provide you with the best bang for your buck. Key Features & Benefits AMD Athlon II X2 240 Dual-Core processor 2.80 GHz, 4000 MHz System Bus, 2 MB L2 Cache 3 GB PC3-10600 DDR3 system memory Enough memory to handle today's most memory-hungry applications 500 GB 7200 RPM SATA hard drive Store your music, videos, photos and documents with plenty of space to spare SuperMulti DVD burner with LightScribe Technology Play and create CDs and DVDs with this DVD/CD burner drive Wired Ethernet Connect to a broadband modem with 10/100 Ethernet; Includes a 56k modem NIVIDIA GeForce 6150 SE Graphics with 256 MB graphics memory Additional Features 1 x Headphone/Microphone port, 6 x USB 2.0 ports, 1 x VGA, 1 x Microphone/Line-in/Line-out, 1 x LAN port Compq USB keyboard and mouse AC power supply included Software Genuine Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit (To learn more about the features of Windows 7, click here) Microsoft Works Norton Internet Security 2010 Support & Warranty 1-year Limited Hardware Warranty with Toll Free Support Do you have questions about this product? Ask a question. Top of Page Specifications Processor Type: AMD Athlon II X2 240 Dual-Core Hard Drive Size: 500 GB Processor - Clock Speed: 2.8 GHz Operating System: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit Monitor Size: N/A Graphics Type: NVIDIA GeForce 6150 SE Resolution: N/A System Ram: 3 GB Type: Without Monitor Model No.: HP CQ5320F Shipping Weight (in pounds): 12.5 Product in Inches (L x W x H): 16.87 x 6.54 x 15.11 Assembled in Country of Origin: USA and/or Imported Origin of Components: USA and/or Imported Link if confusing: http://www.walmart.com/ip/HP-500-GB-HP-CQ5320F/13377120 and it's the most i'll pay for( high schooler=broke) 2010-03-19T06:45:57+01:00 http://area.autodesk.com/forum/autodesk-3ds-max/installation---hardware---os/failing-to-install-3dsmax-2010/page-last/ http://area.autodesk.com/forum/autodesk-3ds-max/installation---hardware---os/failing-to-install-3dsmax-2010/page-last/#When:21:33:19Z Hello, I am trying to install an educational version of 3dsMax 2010 that I got with the entertainment suite but I get this error when I try to install it "1:5 2 :Failed to load FNP_ACT_Installer.dll.3: 126" It then fails to install. I tried installing the trial version as well and it failed. How can I fix this? Thanks, Ant 2010-03-18T21:33:19+01:00 http://area.autodesk.com/forum/autodesk-3ds-max/installation---hardware---os/3ds-max-on-ati-randeon-5770-or-nvidia-gts-250/page-last/ http://area.autodesk.com/forum/autodesk-3ds-max/installation---hardware---os/3ds-max-on-ati-randeon-5770-or-nvidia-gts-250/page-last/#When:13:23:13Z Hello guys i have two graphics card option ATI Randeon 5770 and Nvidia GTS 250. Please tell me which will be better from these two. My System specs are Core 2 quad 2.66 GHz 4 GB RAM 660 gb hardisk gigabyte g41 chipset board and 600w psu 2010-03-18T13:23:13+01:00 http://area.autodesk.com/forum/autodesk-3ds-max/installation---hardware---os/norton-or-mcafee/page-last/ http://area.autodesk.com/forum/autodesk-3ds-max/installation---hardware---os/norton-or-mcafee/page-last/#When:06:40:20Z In a few months Comcast plans to switch from McAfee Anti-virus to Norton Security. They make this a free service, part of the package. I recall that some years ago we experienced a conflict between MAX and Norton. Is this still an issue, has anyone had a problem with Norton? Thank you. John R. 2010-03-18T06:40:20+01:00 http://area.autodesk.com/forum/autodesk-3ds-max/installation---hardware---os/radeon-5770-or-gtx260-40216sp41/page-last/ http://area.autodesk.com/forum/autodesk-3ds-max/installation---hardware---os/radeon-5770-or-gtx260-40216sp41/page-last/#When:06:36:20Z Do you guys have any observations how these 2 cards perform in 3DS Max? Which will deliver more viewport performance? And what's the thing to look at when buying a new video for modeling and viewport navigation - Pixel fill rate, Bandwidth... or something else? 2010-03-18T06:36:20+01:00 http://area.autodesk.com/forum/autodesk-3ds-max/installation---hardware---os/geforce-vs-quadro-benchmarks-40actual-tests41/page-last/ http://area.autodesk.com/forum/autodesk-3ds-max/installation---hardware---os/geforce-vs-quadro-benchmarks-40actual-tests41/page-last/#When:06:26:36Z Hello, all. This is a book, but necessary to cover points. Recently, I bought a new machine, and wanted to determine, once and for all, if it's really worth buying quadro video cards over geforce, as well as HD speed testing between SSDs and traditional drives in RAID. This is relvant to everyone who reads this forum. I did this for my own reasons, wanting to have the best performing machine possible, because I don't have time left for waiting unnecessarily. I own my own studio (just me ATM), and have 10 machines in my farm. When I buy new, I want to spend my money where it will get me the most bang for the buck. Life happens, and while I was well intentioned on making a very in-depth article about this, I just don't have the time. However, I do think that it would be of benefit to all to read this. I will likely post it on my site at some point so it can be found after it stale dates here. My software is Max (2008 in these tests), and I tested on both x64 & Vista 64, using a GTX 285s in single and SLI, a Quadro 5600 and 4500, together and apart. On the hard drive side, I compared 6 OCZ Core SSD drives, and 16 500GB Seagate 7200RPM drives on a Highpoint RocketRaid card. (Full system specs later.) All tests were done on an i7 extreme system. If anybody is interested in the full spreadsheet, just ask. I did each test 3 times, on a clean install, with nothing other than OS, necessary drivers, and software tested. I used the benchmarks noted and two of my own scenes. the 9.1MP scene is free to anyone who asks. These are not truely exhaustive tests, I admit, but represent a lot of the type of work that I do. HD performance: (see hdperformance.jpg) Tests were done with IO meter in different configurations. As you can see from the graph, you can get a lot more performace out of HDs as more drives are added, as you would expect. Probably more performance is available with some other (more expensive) RAID cards. This test determined, for me, that SSDs just are not raid-friendly enough to compare to a larger traditional raid array. Especially when you consider that a 6 disk raid 5 array in this case was $600 (excluding card) for a 160GB array. The same array in traditional drives would cost $540 for a 2.5TB array... prices from 5 months ago. (I was seeing if it made sense to have 6 SSDs, and 10 7200.11 drives was faster than 16 7200.11 drives... because I also need at least 2TB of working space.) Ultimately, I chose 16X 7200.11 drives, with 4 RAID 5 arrays, because I didn't want to chance my system to a drive failure. (Even though I have extensive Ghost backups.) Which is fortunate, because a drive failed on me two months ago in the middle of a project. Card performance: I was most interested to see how the Quadro cards stacked up against the GeForce cards; I've bought many Quadro cards over the years (always used, on ebay), but even then, a pair of brand new GeForce cards would always have been 40% less than the used pro hardware. I also did this test with Vista, which, for the most part, was so slow it wasn't worth doing more tests. Exception being DX10, which doesn't work in max, anyway. Specview: (see specview.jpg) As you can see, in this benchmark, the Quadro cards all significantly outperform their gaming counterparts. The benchmark obviously hit a wall with Maya, where all the Quadro configs rated at maximum. I wasn't satisfied with this, however, as Spec doesn't necessarily represent what I would see... and the 'real world' test below confirmed that. Max specific: (see bismarck.jpg & 9pt1mil.jpg) At the time, the only relevant 3D software I had was max. (I now have SolidWorks, but no time for testing.) These were done on basic setups, the first being a large scene of the battleship bismarck that you can see on my site, copied once, with the camera spinning around. The second was a flythrough of copies (not instances) of a piece of geometry, totalling 9.1 million polys. Vista performance was crap, but we know that. The most surprising thing for me was that the margin between the 285s and the 5600 was minimal, ultimately only made larger by maxtreme drivers. Around 2% without drivers, 18% with. The 285 SLI setup was marginally slower, unless I had one monitor plugged into each card (which makes most sense.) You can, therefore, decide if it's worth an extra $2400 for an 18% gain... there may be more of a gain from going with SLI 5600s, but I wouldn't want to finance that. :) I averaged wireframe and shaded viewport runs. Gaming: (3dmark.jpg, ut.jpg, crysis.jpg) Not that this is relavant to a work machine, but I figured it worth doing the tests when I was at it. No big surprise here - the gaming cards cleaned the clock of the quadros. Conclusions: Unless you're in a 'money doesn't matter' or 'when every second counts regardless of cost' situation, don't waste your time with Quadros. If you do, save 66% and buy on ebay. I did do some non-scientific testing of scenes that used more extensive features, like real-time shadowing and the like, but I didn't have time to do definitive tests. (Damn the need to make a living.) It appeared that the Quadros had a little more headroom here, amplified by drivers, but you could just get yourself VRay RT, and use your old machines (or even buy a couple of small, cheap systems) to solve that problem for less than the cost of the higher-end card. And then have a bigger render farm to boot. Notes: I've got the Quadros (both) in my machine right now, due the benefits of maxstreme in 2008. I've just installed 2010, and I will be testing the 285s, and see how they work out there. In talking with a SolidWorks rep recently, he told me how he has had personal experience with gaming cards overheating to the point of fire when put into heavy SW environments. I don't know what other mitigating factors may be there, like insufficient airflow, but my guess is if you're dealing with scenes that heavy, you likely have the budgets for Quadros. As far as hard drives, large arrays of 7200RPM Sata2 drives are the most cost effective. SCSI drives are just so expensive, and the RAID controllers are even more. SSD have issues with write/rewrite which can cause many other issues, and simply are not as RAID ready right now. The newest generation may be better than these. As it is, with my current system, I see VERY fast load/transfer times, due in large part into the way that the arrays are divided. System: Intel i7 extreme /w CoolIt Freezone Elite Peltier Cooler Biostar X58 motherboard 12GB OCZ Platinum DDR3 (4X3GB) 16 Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 drives SilverStone Strider 1200W 80Plus PSU Highpoint RocketRaid 2340 16 Channel Raid Lian-Li V2000Plus Chassis, custom printed front vented/fan mount front grille 3X120mm 140CFM fans, 2X60MM 50CFM fans. I hope that some of you will find this useful. Kris. Mafic Studios, Inc. www.maficstudios.com 2010-03-18T06:26:36+01:00 http://area.autodesk.com/forum/autodesk-3ds-max/installation---hardware---os/backburner-and-3ds-max-design-2010-problems/page-last/ http://area.autodesk.com/forum/autodesk-3ds-max/installation---hardware---os/backburner-and-3ds-max-design-2010-problems/page-last/#When:22:32:42Z I have recently installed 3DS Max Design 2010 (with SP1) and the new backburner (2008.1.1) software on my farm at work. I have noticed that backburner has changed the way it writes its running files so that now there is a different setup depending on the user currently logged onto the machine. My problem is that when I go to render on the farm and tick the 'include maps' button, everything gets sent to the manager except the xref files. I mean all the maps and the master file get archived and sent to the manager but it fails to take the xrefs with it. I then get the error 'scene xref... could not be found'. I totally dont understand what is going on. Is anyone out there getting the same issues as I am? 2010-03-16T22:32:42+01:00 http://area.autodesk.com/forum/autodesk-3ds-max/installation---hardware---os/3ds-max-r4-compatibility-with-windows-7-64-bit/page-last/ http://area.autodesk.com/forum/autodesk-3ds-max/installation---hardware---os/3ds-max-r4-compatibility-with-windows-7-64-bit/page-last/#When:16:58:03Z My current PC is a dinosaur - windows 2000 with 3DS Max r4 (blush) The lifecycle of my OS is on the horizon & im getting costs for a new workstation. I've been told that windows 7 64 bit doesnt support a lot of older programmes, so my concern is that i wont be able to run my old version of 3DS Max r4 on the 64 bit OS. Could somebody please confirm that this is the case. Also, if i go for the 32 bit version, will i be able to run it on there? Cheers andy 2010-03-16T16:58:03+01:00 http://area.autodesk.com/forum/autodesk-3ds-max/installation---hardware---os/choosing-hardware-more-processors-but-slower-or-fewer-but-faster-processors/page-last/ http://area.autodesk.com/forum/autodesk-3ds-max/installation---hardware---os/choosing-hardware-more-processors-but-slower-or-fewer-but-faster-processors/page-last/#When:18:57:08Z In choosing a system on which to use 3ds Max Design 2010, is it better to lean toward more but slower processors (such as a dual quad core system) or fewer but faster processors (such as a quad core system). We use 3ds Max 2010 Design mainly for product design and creating photo-realistic renderings. Many of our objects are organic and have high-poly counts. We do not do animation, although we do use Mudbox and zBrush for some modeling. EDIT: We will be using Windows 7 64 bit. 2010-03-11T18:57:08+01:00