Advice to upgrade...

[mimoss03]

Hello, I'm looking for some friendly advice. My computer for the most part is very reliable and quick. I dont do any high end gaming,

(the most CPU intensive game i have is the original Monkey Island )

I do however do ALOT 3D Modeling and Visual FX and at times the the machine really starts to bog down.

I'm looking for advice on what to upgrade without spending $1000.
My computer is well maintained, defraged regularly, virus checked, dust removal from inside about every other week or so. etc etc...

So if you see something that would benefit me please feel free to let me know.

A friend of mine told me to change my Memory, he said its too slow.
He has RAM with a speed of 2700 vs. mine that is 1600 (Corsair Dominator DDR3 1600) Although my benchmark score out did his by almost 1000pts. Could it be that its because i have more RAM installed (my 12GB to his 3GB) or is the amount of RAM a factor that is not taken into consideration for the speed score?

Benchmark Results

Test Name This Computer
CPU - Integer Math2428.6
CPU - Floating Point Math2849.6
CPU - Find Prime Numbers1130.8
CPU - SSE18.1
CPU - Compression8485.3
CPU - Encryption26.9
CPU - Physics418.9
CPU - String Sorting5138.8
Graphics 2D - Solid Vectors1.3
Graphics 2D - Transparent Vectors1.2
Graphics 2D - Complex Vectors51815.9
Graphics 2D - Fonts and Text255.2
Graphics 2D - Windows Interface108.9
Graphics 2D - Image Filters338.6
2D Graphics - Image Rendering325843.9
Graphics 3D - Simple1866.7
Graphics 3D - Medium729.2
Graphics 3D - Complex71.6
Graphics 3D - DirectX 1025.5
Memory - Allocate Small Block6106.9
Memory - Read Cached2612.0
Memory - Read Uncached2471.7
Memory - Write2622.5
Memory - Large RAM8596.5
Disk - Sequential Read113.2
Disk - Sequential Write103.8
Disk - Random Seek + RW2.9
CD - Read7.9
CPU Mark6640.5
2D Graphics Mark59999.5
Memory Mark3009.2
Disk Mark795.2
CD Mark967.5
3D Graphics Mark1612.7
PassMark Rating3437.6

System information - This Computer

System Summary

PerformanceTest 7.0 1021 64-bit
Windows 7 (64-bit)
Intel Core i7 950 @ 3.07GHz
12279 MB RAM
NVIDIA GeForce GTS 450
932GB HDD
CD-RW/DVDRW
System Information

System Name: MIKE-PC
Operating System: Windows 7 (64-bit)
Motherboard Manufacturer: ASUSTeK Computer INC.
Motherboard Model: P6X58D PREMIUM
Motherboard Version: Rev 1.xx
BIOS Manufacturer: American Megatrends Inc.
BIOS Version: 0813
BIOS Release Date: 05/25/2010
Memory Information

Total Physical Memory: 12279 MB RAM
Available Physical Memory: 10398 MB RAM
Slot 1: 2048MB, 1066MHz
Slot 2: 2048MB, 1066MHz
Slot 3: 2048MB, 1066MHz
Slot 4: 2048MB, 1066MHz
Slot 5: 2048MB, 1066MHz
Slot 6: 2048MB, 1066MHz
Virtual Memory: C:\pagefile.sys (12279 MB)
CPU Information

Manufacturer: GenuineIntel
Type: Intel Core i7 950 @ 3.07GHz
Number of CPU's: 1
Cores per CPU: 4
Hyperthreading: Enabled
Measured Speed: 3074.3 MHz
Multiplier: 23X
L1 Instruction Cache: 4 x 32 KB
L1 Data Cache: 4 x 32 KB
L2 Cache Size: 4 x 256 KB
L3 Cache: 8 MB
Disk Information

Drive Letter (Number): C (Physical drive 0)
Model Number: WDC WD1001FALS-00E3A0
Disk Size (Free space): 931.4 GBytes (603.0 GBytes)
Disk Cluster Size: 4 KBytes
File System: NTFS
Drive Letter (Number): F (Physical drive 0)
Model Number: WDC WD1001FALS-00E3A0
Disk Size (Free space): 698.6 GBytes (289.2 GBytes)
Disk Cluster Size: 4 KBytes
File System: NTFS
Video Adapters

Description: NVIDIA GeForce GTS 450
Chip Type: GeForce GTS 450
DAC Type: Integrated RAMDAC
Memory: 1024MB
Video BIOS: Version 70.6.13.0.52
Driver Provider: NVIDIA
Driver Version: 8.17.12.6759
Driver Date: 3-8-2011
Monitor 1: 1280x1024x32 60Hz (Primary monitor)

[David (PassMark)]

You already have a fairly high end machine.
Changing the speed of the RAM wont make a huge impact. Maybe 5% - 10%. Which will be barely noticeable.

You seem to have a single small monitor. Dual monitors would have to help with productivity, as would a SSD. But neither of these will address 3D render times.

You might want to check if the software you are using will benefit from a better video card. (Research if the software supports CUDA, or Direct Compute). If it does, and if your power supply and cooling will take it, consider a video card upgrade and / or dual video cards.

To really step up the performance significantly you are going to need to spend some serious money. Either switch to a motherboard that supports dual or quad CPUs (with Xeon CPUs) to get 12+ CPU cores, or build yourself a render farm.

Check out this article,
How to build your own render farm.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/render-farm-node,2340.html

Oh, and yes, the memory benchmark is influenced by the amount of RAM and the CPU speed.

[mimoss03]

Thanks for the response.

Maya is the main 3D application that i use. And i already know that it does support CUDA, so does my current GPU.

I agree with you that adding a 2nd GPU would help but not sure if i should upgrade the first one that i have first or just add another of my current. (GeForce GTS 450)

My cooling is fairly decent with what i have now...6 fans, plus Corsair H70 Cpu Water cooler. And power supply is Corsair 850W, which should be more than enough. (i think)

I like the idea of upgrading M/B to support 2 CPU's..If i upgraded my motherboard to support 2 CPU's is there a high end M/B that you can point me to that will still support my current CPU (i7 950)?
That way i only have to buy the M/B and 1 more CPU, rather than 2 CPU's?
I believe its LGA 1366 socket.

Oh, yes, Dual monitors is definetly on my list! 3, if i add another GPU

[David (PassMark)]

Years ago it was possible to have dual CPUs with many types of CPUs. I had a dual Celeron moitherboard (ABit BP6) about 11 years ago.

But Intel stopped all that by neutering their desktop chips. You now need to use a Xeon DP processor. Which are very expensive and often don't perform any better than the desktop chips. There is also the AMD Opteron chips, but they aren't too great at the moment.

Look up some Maya benchmarks on various video cards before you decide what to do.