The card for 3Ds Max 2013 (Windows) and 10.9 OS X

[Parkol]

Hi!

 

Would you advice the best video card, with a quite easy installation and stability. it has to be quite powerful, because my wife works in 3Ds max 2013 on Windows and at the same time it should work great with 10.9. 

 

Now we have 295 GTX (Lion Os X), it works quite good, but we need a new card for 3Ds Max. We had some problems installing 295 GTX, so I hope to get something better with easy installation. I really want to try new Logic X, so the hackintosh should be built more for the music production than for the gaming or the video editing.

 

Thank you.

[Long Cat]

Depends on several factors…

 

If your wife uses GPU-based rendering (Vray RT or something), you'll probably want a higher end 6 or 7 series GTX card. If she's looking for raw viewport performance though, you could also look into a Quadro (professional) card. Quadros are tailored specifically at CAD apps like Max, so the performance there is usually good, despite not being so great at other things. Keep in mind though, dollar for dollar, they aren't good for GPU rendering (when compaired to the GTX cards.)

 

I use CPU for my renders, so I got a Quadro, and it does give great performance in Max. With the right bootflags and a tiny bit of kext editing to get power management working properly, I've got 100% functionality in OS X too. But it wasn't an easy process. Difficulty will depend on the card you get, but most Nvidia cards seem to work pretty well these days. Once you find a card you like, research the forums first before you buy.

 

You could look at AMD too, the new Mac Pro's will have them... but I think the general consensus for hacks is still Nvidia. Can't really say much else about AMD, never used one.

[Parkol]

Thank you. Quadro is qood, but it's also quite expensive. I think about GTX 780. The good Quadro would be cost about 2 000$ and cheaper models of Quadro are not much better than 780 GTX. My wife renders using V-ray, so the processor does really matter also. By the way, which processor would you advice to buy (socket and etc?) for Max and Hack?

 

Thank you.

[Long Cat]

Yeah, you probably can't go too wrong with a GTX 780, the alternative is only worth it if going above the $1000 mark. Quadro's are expensive, but will handle high poly environments (I'm talking tens of millions) better than a GTX in Max.

 

If you're using Vray, a lot of people here (me included) might suggest a high-end quad-core or a 6-core i7 with a small overclock. I'd definitely suggest you get socket 2011/ x79 mobo. That'll get you awesome performance in Max and 10.9 gives full compatibility seeing as some new Macs use it. There are lots of good resources out there for x79, the i7 3930K/ 4930K has been the standard for the last few years for high-end single-processor hacks. And with a multi-threaded 6 core, you get 12 buckets of rendering power in Max, your wife will really appreciate that!

[Parkol]

Thank you. Don't you think Intel Core i7-4930K, 3.40 will be working much faster than  Intel Core i7-4770K, 3.50? Should I buy 2011 spocket which is more expensive? 

[Rampage Dev]

Thank you. Don't you think Intel Core i7-4930K, 3.40 will be working much faster than  Intel Core i7-4770K, 3.50? Should I buy 2011 spocket which is more expensive? 

 

LGA 2011 is by far the fastest single CPU rendering setup you can build today. When you start applying plugins and begin rendering large amount of files the Quad channel ram and larger L3 cache come into there own were the desktop CPU's (LGA 1150 ect) start bottle necking. 

 

As for your render needs a GTX 780 would be perfect and you can add another one (or more) when you need more CUDA power. 

[Long Cat]

CUDA won't be used for Vray CPU rendering, so you do want the best CPU you can afford. Yes, the 4770K has a slightly higher clock, but only 4 cores. The 4930K has 6 cores, thus much better rendering performance (12 buckets instead of 8). And you can easily overclock it to beyond 4GHz too, a lot of people run them at around 4.2GHz with no special cooling at all.

[Parkol]

Thank you. I've just read that GTX 780 doesn't work well on Mavericks, so should i risk to buy it or should I wait for something else.? 

[Rampage Dev]

Thank you. I've just read that GTX 780 doesn't work well on Mavericks, so should i risk to buy it or should I wait for something else.? 

 

Runs fine. OpenCL on the B versions is not currently working but should be addressed with Nvidia's retail drivers. 

 

CUDA won't be used for Vray CPU rendering, so you do want the best CPU you can afford. Yes, the 4770K has a slightly higher clock, but only 4 cores. The 4930K has 6 cores, thus much better rendering performance (12 buckets instead of 8). And you can easily overclock it to beyond 4GHz too, a lot of people run them at around 4.2GHz with no special cooling at all.

 

Now your talking about something completely different... 4770K is useless as it has to small of a L3 cache... and the ram bandwidth matters more then you are thinking and give credit to. 

[Parkol]

B versions? What is it? Should I check the video card before I buy it. Are there two types of 780 GTX? I would like to buy Gigabyte, I trust this company, they do the amazing hardware (mother boards).

[Rampage Dev]

B versions? What is it? Should I check the video card before I buy it. Are there two types of 780 GTX? I would like to buy Gigabyte, I trust this company, they do the amazing hardware (mother boards).

 

Yes. One is a A version and the newer one (witch is 10% faster) is the B version. 

 

Um... Gigabyte in reality does not make amazing boards. More of middle grade BS and never dives into the high end quality and performance end.. stop drinking the Tmac BS and wake up!

 

EVGA are by far the best warranty and 3rd party cooling providers for non reference Nvidia cards. 

[Parkol]

Thank you! http://www.ulmart.ru/goods/530219 Zotac AMP! EDITION ZT-70203-10P, GTX780, 3072МБ, GDDR5, Retail. Is it good? I also think about this motherboard Gigabyte GA-X79-UP4. Is it ok for Mavericks?

[Long Cat]

That's the motherboard I happen to have, the x79-UP4.

 

As far as Hack/ Mavericks compatibility goes, it's as good as you'll get. It's a well featured board for the price - 8 ram slots is always a plus and lots of room for expansion. If you want built-in wifi and bluetooth you can get the x79-UD5, although I have no idea if these would work natively with OS X. I'd be more inclined to get separate cards should you want those things. Build quality is good, performance has always been decent and I haven't encountered any critical issues with it as of yet. On the down side, if you like boot races, don't get this mobo. It takes a good 20-25 sec to get from power on to bootloader, even if loading the OS thereafter only takes a fraction of that. And the bios/ UEFI interface sucks - some things don't work the way they should in there.

 

Yeah, I got this board (when I was a total noob) primarily because I read on tonyhitlermacx86 that Gigabtye boards are the only ones that work with hacks. While still a noob, I know better now. I'm still very happy with the board I got, it's certainly up there with some of the best choices. But yeah, if you haven't, look at other manufactures too (primarily Asus) for reviews and the features you want.

[Rampage Dev]

 Gigabyte GA-X79-UP4 is a good entry board for LGA 2011. Solid price point for the options it has. Lower end when it comes to this socket but a good board overall. 

 

That GPU should work fine but keep in mind it may be a B version. 

[Parkol]

Thank you. So If I buy B revision of GTX 780 it wil not be working (grey screen and etc...)? I want to buy it in the internet store and I couldn't find the revision number. Does it really matter how much RAM do I use for 3Ds Max 2013? I still think about 32 Gb of RAM, some resources advice to buy even 64 Gb. Will it help with renders, V-ray and etc? O r should I buy 16 Gb and it will be enough for 3Ds Max? I also use After Effects and Premiere, probabli it would be useful to have 32 Gb of Ram (slow motion renders in AE are very long on my PC now)...  3ds Max Modeling & Animation http://config.boxxtech.com/solutions/3dsmax_solution.asp

[Rampage Dev]

B version has no OpenCL atm. Nvidia retail drivers should address this soon. I have a B version 780. 10% faster then the A version and CUDA still works. 

 

I have 64 GB and I love it. 

[Long Cat]

In Max, it all depends on how complex your scenes are. Back in the day when I was using a 32-bit system with under 4GB of ram, I'd frequently get failed renders because the system ran out of memory. I upgraded to 8GB 64-bit and still got the errors occasionally. Since getting a new system with 32GB, I haven't had any problems.

 

But a good rule of thumb with 3D is that you can NEVER have enough memory. Buy as much as you can reasonably afford, as the more you have, the more complex your scenes can become without failing.

 

Then again... I bought in at the bottom of the market when DDR3 was at it's cheapest. Nowadays 32GB of 1600MHz reputable-brand ram can cost over $400... this time last year it was only $220. Unfortunately it's not a good time to buy ram right now...

[Parkol]

Thank you, Long Cat, Rampage Dev. Probably I will buy 32 Gb. The prices are getting higher, yeah, but what can I do? I didn't upgrade my PC since 2010, so even Lightroom 5 works not so fast now, even on 920 socket i7 and even on 2 cores (295 GTX) - which was the most expensive card when I bought it.

 

If I, for example, buy the revision B of GTX 780 - will it be working on Mavericks or it won\t be working in any case? I mean, if I buy revison B - I have no chance to install Mavericks and there is no chance to work in Mavericks?

 

 

Also the question about Windows. Should Install Windows 7 (64 bits) for 3Ds Max 2013 or Winows 8 (64 bits) would work much better with the Autodesk latest soft? The scenes are like that. 

[Rampage Dev]

I have a B version GTX 780 and install and the system works fine. Just no OpenCL until Nvidia add it to there Retail drivers. 

[Long Cat]

For Windows... it really doesn't matter. Max will run the same on Win 7 or 8, as long as it's x64. It's up to you really, as Win 8 is mostly just interface changes on top of a Win 7 core.

 

Judging by that render, 32GB should be enough. Can't say for sure, but that should be heaps.

[Parkol]

Thank you. So I don't need any special drivers for 780 GTX, just installed official web driver from Nvidia site and it will work fine? Have you seen any instruction for installing 780 GTX? THANK YOU SO MUCH!