To put it simply, Vue7I has a horribly slow rendering engine, and poor multithreaded network rendering. I use an 8-core Mac Pro for my primary work station, and 2 quad cores for Rendercow usage. With all the hoopla over Vue7I, I thought I would see some overall rendering improvements with Vue7. I waited several months before upgrading from Vue6I, and it seemed that -- for the most part, things were going well with Vue7I.

My objective first impressions were a bit mixed, but I thought that the enhanced clouds, and improved procedural terrains made the upgrade worth it (yes, there are a few other enhancements, but hardly anything that makes one hop about in graphic joy!).  That is, until I started using Rendercows for some larger scenes.  It seems my 8-core Mac only has 4 cores max under Rendercows, as the CPU usage (Vista Business 64-bit, 14 GB RAM) runs between 13 and 50% usage during a render. The quad-cores run between 25 and 100%. So, the Rendercow module does not see 4 lovely Xeon cores! Also, the CPU utilization overall seems too unthreaded and inefficient.

Now, some may think this issue is a bit esoteric, as most don't use 8-core PCs, but by this time next year that may likely change, as 8-core PC roll-outs are soon to come.

What is interesting, is that if I use the Mac in an internal render, I get a 100% CPU usage (also, Vue 6I works just fine using Rendercows).

I sent in a ticket to Eon, and it was forwarded to the developers, so at this point I'll be patient; however, if, within an unspecified period of time, this "unlimited CPU" Vue7I package doesn't pan out, I'll return Vue7I and continue with Vue6I.

So far, Vue7I = ~5.5 out of 10.0 on the upgrade value vs. cost renderometer.

I remember reading somewhere that Windows wont use more than 4 cores at the present time.

Vista Premium is 4 cores. Vista Business & Ultimate will see 8 cores.  Vue 6I sees all 8 cores in any render option, Carrara also uses all 8 cores.

The problem is Vue7I rendercow implementation.

Well
Thanks for that info, when I get another Vista I'll know which one to buy.

I think I found the cause of Rendercows dropping 4 of my Macs 8 cores during a network render. When using the Hypervue option of "Force tile size to", for some reason, hyperview only will direct 4-core max render threading.
If I do not select this option, and use the default tile size, all 8 cores are utilized.  This has been reported to eon.

BTW, the new Intel 7i CPUs (out now) are 4 core, with Hyperthreading.  The 7i CPU Hyperthreading is much more efficient than the P4 Hyperthreading of the past, so we now effectively have 8 cores on one CPU.