What computer set up are you using for AE / VFX / 3D ?

[Darby Edelen]

Core i7s are a fine buy if you cannot afford a pair of Xeons.

The Xeon is better for those who can afford it and use applications that take full advantage of multi-threading like After Effects and most 3D renderers.

For example, I chose to go with 2x 8-core Xeons for my next system because Cinema 4D will be able to render 32 buckets simultaneously instead of the 12 buckets that you would get out of your Core i7. So while the overclocked Core i7 may render a single bucket faster than a Xeon, it would have to render almost 3 times as fast to keep pace with the wealth of threads that the Xeons can handle.

In my experience Cinema 4D handles multiple threads much more effectively than AE. In the end the Xeon to i7 comparison in After Effects might favor the Xeon less, but it’s still going to be damn hard for the i7 to beat out a pair of Xeons.

Ultimately it comes down to what you can afford though. Xeons are very expensive.

Darby Edelen

[Kim Taylor]

Yep, that makes sense. I suppose by that logic it’s only really worth going the Xeon way if you’re going to have two CPUs. 1 x 8 core Xeon running at 2.6 GHz might not offer much advantage over a 6-core i7 running at 3.4 GHz.

I am condsidering this system https://3xs.scan.co.uk/ShowSystem.asp?SystemID=1092
Which pitches itself as a Video Editing workstation.

Intel Core i7 3930K, 3.2GHz, 12MB Cache, overclocked to 4.2Ghz
Asus P9X79 Motherboard – X79 Chipset
16GB RAM DDR3 1600MHz (will upgrade to 32GB)
1GB EVGA GTX 550 Ti

It is overclocked (still not sure if this is a good idea following posts earlier, however given the system has been built and tuned for purpose as a NLE system I’d hope it is stable)

Thoughts?

[Roland R. kahlenberg]

Just so that you don’t forget, an SSD for AE or PPros cache/preview files are crucial if you want to leverage on the speed prowess of the apps. Also, ensure that 3-4GB per core is available.

HTH
RoRK

Intensive AE & Mocha Training in Singapore and Malaysia
Adobe ACE/ACI (version 7) & Imagineer Systems Inc Approved Mocha Trainer

[Martin Tew]

Hello, I am in a similar situation looking for a new computer for AfterEffects. But I have always used mac.

I would like to ask: Wouldn’t an 8-core mac pro be better than the 6-core PC that you are considering? Or is there more to it than the number of cores?

[Walter Soyka]

[Kim Taylor] “It is overclocked (still not sure if this is a good idea following posts earlier, however given the system has been built and tuned for purpose as a NLE system I’d hope it is stable)”

As long as the cooling system and power supply is adequate, this should be fine. If you cannot keep the CPU cool enough, overclocking will lead to overheating, which leads to crashes and possibly shortened CPU life. If you can keep the temperature of the CPU down, it should be fine.

If your vendor offers a good warranty for your system, I’d consider it a viable option.

Walter Soyka
Principal & Designer at Keen Live
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
RenderBreak Blog – What I’m thinking when my workstation’s thinking
Creative Cow Forum Host: Live & Stage Events

[Walter Soyka]

[Martin Tew] “Wouldn’t an 8-core mac pro be better than the 6-core PC that you are considering? Or is there more to it than the number of cores?”

There is no current 8-core Mac Pro (and arguably there is not current Mac Pro at all), and in terms of raw computation, a stock 6-core i7 matches the fastest stock 8-core Mac Pro from 2010.

If you overclock the 6-core i7 3930k, you can get a CINEBENCH score of 14.23 [link] that very nearly matches the CINEBENCH performance of a stock 2012 12-core Mac Pro at 15.1 [link].

CINEBENCH is not a perfect proxy for After Effects performance, but it’s very good for estimating C4D performance and it’s a pretty good measure of overall computational power.

The Mac Pro is running on a dated system architecture and I wouldn’t rate it a good buy right now.

Walter Soyka
Principal & Designer at Keen Live
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
RenderBreak Blog – What I’m thinking when my workstation’s thinking
Creative Cow Forum Host: Live & Stage Events