I'm thinking of getting a new 'puter and want to know who's got what, and what is best (I know I want a 64bit and NOT Windows 8):

• Brand

• Cores

• CPUs

• Processor type
• OS
• Graphics card
• etc.

Can't tell you what's best, you can really only do that yourself by looking into the specs and the performance that real users are actually getting from the various components.  I can give you my personalopinion, but those using other brands probably won't agree.

When I built my current system, I was lucky enough to use Amazon, and the good thing about that is you get to flush-out the crap and hang onto the good through trial and error.

All I'll say is that two things became very obvious to me regards quality after a lot of messing and swapping around of components.  If "quality" is important to you, I recommend you stick to ASUS components absolutely everywhere possible.  My motherboard, graphics cards, soundcard, and monitor are all ASUS and every one of them are well designed, quality products - even the packaging for them is a quality affair (even better packaging than Apple in most cases).

As for the processor, AMD or Intel?

Again, I went for quality.  I personally think the AMD processors are physically better built than the Intel processors and the AMD stock cooler totally blows the Intel effort into oblivion (at least this was the case when I built my current macine).  That said, I think the Intel is probably a better 'performance' processor - although not by much - and at a lot more expense.

So basically, I started by building an ASRock/Gigabyte/Intel machine but ended up only being satisfied with an all ASUS/AMD machine.  I'm happy, it feels every bit as fast as the Intel build did, it's absolutely way better quality, and amazingly quiet for what is really quite a powerful machine even by todays standards.

As for rendering machine basics; I'd go for as high a clock speed and as many cores as you could afford.  Get a sensible amount of RAM, and if you plan to do any GPU-based rendering using Octane, you'll need an nVidia-based card with as many CUDA cores as possible.

Hope that helps!

I pretty much agree with pumeco.  By building (or having someone build) a machine you should save some bucks over trying to find a prebuilt machine.  

I might add consider a full sized gaming case with lots of cooling fans for those long, long renders.  

One thing I did was install dual hard drives running Raid 1 so they are mirroring each other all the time.  I still backup my files occasionally but I like the secure feeling that there are always two copies being saved automatically.  Any slow down time in read/write to HD is imperceptable.  

Yes, purchase as much machine as you can afford because by the time you plug it in there will be something newer and greater out there. 

In the other thread pdrawbridge mentioned rendering multiple cores.  I only have 4 cores running Win XP 64 bit Pro.  When I set Bryce render to priority it will use all 4 cores.  I don't know how it behaves with more cores than that. 

And lastly that GPU based rendering will be a blessing if you ever get into video editing. 

Attached Link: http://bryceblog.bryce-alive.org/

but if you have it on Mac only have it if you have either Leopard, Snow Leopard or Mavericks as it is incompatible with Lion and Mountain Lion. It is said Bryce needs a computer with at least 2 gigabyte of Ram(which is the processor speed I would say 4 Gigabytes would be great depending how you use Bryce) so it doesn't need to be as powerful as some of the other modelling programs. Personally if I have it on Windows I would go for XP because it is the most popular with a lot of people. As for Graphics card I have heard NVidia is pretty good here is a link to a site they may answer you questions better than I can. Good Luck and keep Brycing

Karl

I've done a lot of testing and spoken to the techs at DAZ.

Bryce can see only one CPU.  Dual CPU systems mean nothing to it. (I have a dual E5 system and the second CPU does not work for Bryce renders.)

Bryce sees up to 8 actual cores only.  If you have an Intel 4 core with 4 virtual, Bryce can use the 4 actual to about 85 percent and the four vritual to about 15 percent.  The faster the cores the better.

Formula ... cores x speed = index number.  The higher the number the faster the render.

For AMD just use the cores of the processor, so 8 cores at 4ghz is 32 for an index.  Pretty fast.  You will have to put Bryce on High priority render setting to get all 8 cores.  Medium is half of what you have, low is one core.  Priority is all you have up to 8.

For an Intel I7 6 core at 2.4ghz... 6x2.4 (cut it back a bit) plus 2 x 2.4 (and cut that back to ten percent).

So I think the fastest system for Bryce render is a high speed AMD 8 core.  Which is way cheaper than an Intel 8 core CPU (8 actual).

Don't go hog wild on the GPU.  Any modern GPU will work.

If you have win 7, 16g Ram is overkill, no need to go more.

Keep in mind that Poser PP2014 will take about all you can throw at it.  It loves Inel and will use dual E5 CPU's with QPI. 

Vue and TG2 and 3 use all you can throw at it.  TG1 is a single core app no matter what you have.

Autodesk takes whatever you can throw at it.

Keep in mind that bryce lightening can tap into multiple computers.  I have used it.  I can't tell you how many cores it uses over that bridge because I did not test.

Quote -  Vue and TG2 and 3 use all you can throw at it.  TG1 is a single core app no matter what you have.

guess that's why I spend more time in TG2_3 than Bryce of late.

I Personally think bobby although Terragen 2 is good it doesn't quite have as much going for it as Bryce because in bryce you can make practically anything terragen 2 is more for landscapes but Bryce is capable of so much more. Not trying to make out it isn't good I just think for some things bryce is easier. I would like to see some of your work one day I bet its amazing

Regards

Karl

I have some other posts in this forum, but after testing a lot and asking the guys at DAZ, here is what I have learned about the last release of Bryce (7).

Bryce cannot see any more than 8 core and that is only if you have render priority set to max.

Bryce cannot see a second CPU.  So dual CPU machines like my duel E5 mean nothing to Bryce.

On Intel, where there are virtual cores, Bryce sees the actual cores at about 80 percent and the virtual cores at about 10 percent... up to a total of 8.

AMD seems to be the winner.  8 actual cores.

Speed of the cpu is also a big factor with Bryce.

8 core 4ghz amd (8x4=32) is fast for Bryce.

4 core intel at 3ghz (and it has virtual cores) - (4x3=12 minus 20 percent = 9.6 plus 4 virtual at 10 percent is 1.2 added which comes up to about 10.8).

Compare the $300 intel I7 4 core at 3ghz to the AMD 8 core 4ghz which is about the same price or slightly less and nealy triple the speed.

I'm not saying AMD is better or faster for everything, just Bryce.  Poser and Vue and Autodesk and Terragen 2 and above soak up the dual cpu's and virtual cores. 

Terragen classic will use only one core.  Bryce will use 8 and no more.

Best machine?  Dual CPU.  8 core Intel, high speed.  Bryce will tap into the first 8 actual cores and use the speed.  All your other apps will go into hyperdrive when they see the playground, but, that is a bit of a spendy combination.