So, my question to those who use p7 with a dual core...
   Is it all that much faster than with a single core?  The reason I ask is that Im going to upgrade and wonder if a dual core is all that?

Im looking at a AMD Dual core 2.8 and as Ive never had one how responsive are they specifically with poser?

I have an Intel 2.8 dual core and do find the rendering process to be quicker.

Thanks!  
     I'm glad to hear that, I don't think Studio is Dual core enabled so i got to wondering what the advantages would be.  Thanks again for the reply.

Mine is a Mac with an Intel chip -  Works nicely for renders. You can see tow halfs of th eimage being rendered at the same time. It isnt very intelegently implemented. One starts at the top, the other in the middle. Quit often one will finish a lot before the other . It would be logican that the one that finished would 'come back' to one still working... but no.  Also could have started one at top  working down and the other and the bottom working up till they meet - no that would be too efficient. Still, better than having only one all the time.
Also, unfortunately it doesnt help with cloth room or hair room simulations, which ifor me is really annoying, I use the cloth room a lot.

I have an AMD 4200 and the renders are fast as you can see during render that it using dual core, and work's a treat.

Dual core won't do anything for POSER... but... having 2 cores means the OS can do hard stuff on one processor, while Poser works full speed on the other. So you will probably see a small improvment over a single core at the same speed.

So you can work faster with two brains? :0/

;0)

LOL

:0)

If you go to file > general preferences > render you will see a slider called "number of threads" slide it to 2 and leave the "single process" box unchecked . Poser will then render half on each core making it twice as fast .

Ah right.....I will have to try that......

When I get my new 'puta ;0)

Thanks for the 'heads up' on that.

See this thread: http://www.renderosity.com/mod/forumpro/showthread.php?thread_id=2703169
Benchmarks of Poser 7 on dual and quad core machines, as compared to single core.
Two cores will not double your render speed, but in many cases you can expect a speed increase of more than 50%

When setting up the scene, Poser will only use one core.

Joe@HFG's comment is valid for Poser 6 and older, and for Poser 7 when not rendering.

Keep in mind that this is very dependent on how the scene is framed - if you have very complex, difficult-to-render elements in one half of the render area, and blank space in the other half, then the blank half will finish very quickly and one processor core will go idle.  This isn't true in most other rendering apps, which have a smarter multi-processing design, but is very frustrating in Poser 7 - I have a quad core processor and it bugs the crap out of me to see 75% idle during a long render.

Since I have upgraded by computer to a Core 2 Duo 2.4 meghertz things render significantly faster--not only in Poser but in other 3D applications as well.   It was well worth the money to me, I never regretted it. 

I have a dual core, and yes... P7 now crashes really really fast.

Using raytracing for your shadows makes for faster rendering when using a multicore system with p7.  Q6600 drop to $266 street price on the 22nd this month... really no reason not to jump to quad if you are a P7 user.

-G

Quote - Using raytracing for your shadows makes for faster rendering when using a multicore system with p7.

Since depthmapped shadows are rendered in a single thread (as you're implying), that's an excellent point I hadn't thought of.

Quote - > Quote - Using raytracing for your shadows makes for faster rendering when using a multicore system with p7.

Since depthmapped shadows are rendered in a single thread (as you're implying), that's an excellent point I hadn't thought of.

Totally!  Using raytracing for the shadows cuts time alot... as all core will rock them for you.  That and I kinda prefer the raytraced shadows... but that is perhaps just because I use them so much and see them all the time.  I wish the 22nd would come around already.  Because I want to build my new system.  I sold my OC'd E4300 @ 3.2 in anticipation for the new rig... so I am sitting on a Barton 2800+ right now.. lol!  Needless to say... I am not rendering right now :(

• Gazukull

Quote - Since depthmapped shadows are rendered in a single thread (as you're implying), that's an excellent point I hadn't thought of.

Shadow maps are being rendered in multiple threads.

Not that I've seen, I'll double check though.
edit: hmm, sure enough.  When did that happen?

Quote - > Quote - Since depthmapped shadows are rendered in a single thread (as you're implying), that's an excellent point I hadn't thought of.

Shadow maps are being rendered in multiple threads.

Not by my tests either. CPU load on a dual core system is only using one core during shadow map rendering, texture loading, etc... The additional cores only kick in once the actual render starts.

svdl already posted the link to the benchmarks we ran. Dual core, or even quad core if you can afford it, are definitely well worth it for Poser 7 rendering. Even if you don't have Poser 7 or other multi-core apps yet, the cost difference between single and dual core processors is miniscule. Multi-core processors really shine with multitasking, if you ever run with more than one app open, the benefits will be very obvious. :)

I think if we aren't there yet, we will soon be approaching the point where the majority of new PCs will be at least Dual Core. More and more applications will be directly supporting multi-cores in the near future, so it's really a "no brainer" at this point imo.

Quote - Not that I've seen, I'll double check though.
edit: hmm, sure enough.  When did that happen?

Are you serious?  Possibly in SR2?  I dunno - I have been without a system for about 2 months.

Not that I would switch back to shadowmaps... or maybe I would depending on which is really faster.

-G

I'm using SR2 and it only uses one core during the pre-render. Maybe someone who is seeing both cores during shadow mapping can shed some light on how that is possible? :)

My motherboard died a few weeks ago and I am actually excited because I GET TO upgrade!  This has been most helpful information since this is just what I was looking for!!!  It is going to be spendy and I can't do it for another 4-5 weeks but it is going to be well worth it,  Thanks everyone for  your input!!!

Quote - Since I have upgraded by computer to a Core 2 Duo 2.4 meghertz things render significantly faster--not only in Poser but in other 3D applications as well.   It was well worth the money to me, I never regretted it. 

The Core 2 Duo has a beautiful architecture. Don't let the seemingly low clock speed fool you, it performs considerably faster due to the elegance of its design.

q6600 dropped to $275 @ www.mwave.com today.  I ordered mine up... I have the case built up on a GA-DS3-DSP / 8800GTS 640MD / 2 GB A-Data Extreme DDR2 800 and a 1TB raid 0.  I should be able to OC to about 3.2 no problem... I will let you know how it compares to my Barton 2800 that I am on currently.  Owwww....