what in most of your opinion is the best  setup to make Bryce render more quickly?

for me I use an ati 9600, amd xp 2500+ (barton) cpu, and only 2 gig of ram (its the older socket a thing) I know I need to invest and move up..any suggestions for a guy who isn't all that rich?  lol

I am sure ram is one factor for certain

and.. what do you all think of vue.. from what I have read / heard about about vue, Bryce is still better I think

Vue is not a 3d app. It is the work of the devil and only used by heretics!

LOL..ok

just remember bryce only recognizes up to 3 GB memory right now maybe they will upgrade it to to recognize more like windows xp64 4GB memory  in the next build LOL

Look for machines that have a q6600 quad core processor.
I think they are about the best bang for the buck processor on the market.
You should be able to get 4GB RAM, q6600 machine for under $1,000...depending on video card and other hardware, of course.
If you build your own machine, knock 20% to 30% off the cost, or so.

Processor is by far the most important thing for software rendering. Vid card is for viewport and real time rendering.

RAM only matters for scene size, and if you run out of physical RAM, then the machine will have to access virtual RAM, which is many times slower and will bog down any processor during rendering.
If you are using, or planning on using 64-bit apps, then load up the RAM, upto 16GB (4x4 GB modules) if you can afford it. For 32-bit apps, 4GB will be all that can really be used (3GB per app, minus system and hardware driver requirements)

Oh, Vue.
I like it, because of the ecosystems, which are really cool.
It has advanced lighting setups; but it is ungodly slow when you use them. Like crawling through mud on your belly. It does have very nice results though. It is also very system intensive, especially if your are using Poser in tandem (both apps have to be loaded into RAM at the same time.)
Nice trees too...

To render more quickly, its all about the cpu, get a faster one, or a dual core, better yet a quad core.

thanks you guys..I been watching ebay for just this :)

one thing that baffles me is this new 16 gb ram thin with just 2 slots.. if I am understanding this right..it is multiplier on the ram .. and depend on  the cpu be it quad or dual.. right?

sorry I am still in the dark ages about the newer stuff..

I seem to manage ok on a 2.6ghz processor, 1.2 gig of ram and a bog standard intel graphics card. Its not what you got its what you do with it!

Well everyone has just about summed it all up, buitr since I have to say something now i've answered this thread..... Between Bryce and Vue, it's what you know best that is best.

Quote - .............Its not what you got its what you do with it!

You've obviously been reading too many magazines one finds in waiting rooms LOL! :laugh:

I would like to add one minor comment to this mix regarding RAM memory and rendering. It will also depend on what kind of operating system you are using. Some OS's use RAM differantly than others. ( No doubt there are a few people who might debate the following - so be it, as the XP and RAM argument/debate has been around for some time)

If you use XP or XP Pro ( Like I do) it will only allow you to use 2 gigs of RAM for applications and all the rest of the RAM is used for background processes, OS, etc. In other words, if you use Bryce with XP Pro and you have 4 gigs of RAM, Bryce will only be able to use the first 2 gigs of this. So if using XP with Bryce, adding a bunch of extra RAM is not going to make any type of big difference.

My system is an AMD Athlon 64X2 Dual Core processor 5200+0 MHz, XP Pro  SP 3 with 4 gigs of RAM and this works just fine for my Bryce work. As when I disable all background stuff like network, firewall, AV, etc. I have 2048.00 MB RAM available for working in Bryce.  A memory check when I have everything disabled and before I start Bryce shows my RAM at 100%

Although one last late note on this - This OS RAM issue pertains to 32 bit XP and not to 64 bit OS.

Quote - Vue is not a 3d app. It is the work of the devil and only used by heretics!

That comment slipped right by...
I had heard that you were switching to Vue for your landscaping...
:b_grin:

So what I am gathering here is that no matter how much ram you have, Bryce will only access the first 2 gig? In that case I guess cpu power is more the factor..yes? :)

two words: render farm

CPU, Video Card, Ram. They all pitch in with the various tasks needed, but here is the basic tasks each one carries;

CPU - Rendering. Faster the cpu and/or the more cpu's/cores you have to render, the faster the render will complete.

Video Card - Display. How quickly/well do the meshes appear on your viewport? Better the card, the more polys you can display without lag times between moving the main viewport around in 3D space.

RAM - Scene content. Meaning, if you have a scene with large amount of polys and/or large image textures, you will want as much ram as you can get as this will speed up scene loading/saving times.

Like I stated, all three components share in the various tasks of loading, creating, saving and rendering, yet each do have a main task.

• But, there is no secret anything for making render times go faster, it is ALL about cpu speed and how many cores or cpu's (network rendering) you can have.

• If you want to be able to use more than a couple of GB's of ram for ANY program, you have to go with a 64-bit Operating Sytem, period. But, yet again, more ram does not truly equal faster render times.