Finally gone back(i mean forward) to a PC!
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Jeff
See link, OpenCL is in the works
http://www.thearender.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=17%26amp;t=15516%26amp;hilit=opencl
At the end of the day it is not really the hardware (well Apple going all in with AMD maybe) that makes me not want a Mac, it's the software, I do not like the Apple operating system, I have an iMac (7 years old now, bought new) I bought it when Vista dissapointed, however Windows 7,8 and 10 are all fantastic.
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Yeah, let's all kiss and Mac up
Oh wait a minute, let me just boot up windows to run "reconciliation.exe" as I can't find a Mac version.
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@olishea said:
OK. You have £1500 to spend. No refurbs or second hand. You must have a full warranty on all parts.
Buy an iMac. Buy a PC. Build a PC.
Click render.
Which one will be quicker?
that's a loaded question...
however, consider this, which s going to be the quickest when something breaks down?
- iMac: all-in-one machine; send it in, they send it away to be repaired, it gets sent back when it's repaired, you collect, hopefully a wipe and reinstall was not required and you can just continue working.
- Buy-a-PC: as above but few PC's come as all-in-one machines, all in one machines follow same procedure as above, where monitor and tower is separate only the one of the two malfunctioning needs to be sent in.
- Build-a-PC: if you went this route chances are you're doing it yourself, and can easily find the culprit, get a faulty part swopped out / replaced rather quickly, and off you go - no waiting on shipping times and wait in line until technician can look at it.
Obviously the above does not take laptops into account, you're pretty much in the same boat as iMac & Buy-a-PC when going this route.
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@juju said:
however, consider this, which s going to be the quickest when something breaks down?
if you depend on your computer for work, you better have a back up.. or at the very least, the means to buy a new computer in the event of a fail.. as well as backed up data.
that aside, why does the iMac have to get sent away etc? like, where are you getting that idea from?
apple aren't the only people allowed to repair macs under warranty (or out of warranty).. there are authorized service centers as well.. probably about 40 of them in my town.. one is a couple blocks away from me.
if you're in a rush, you can usually get something fixed same day.
and that also aside, iMacs aren't welded shut nor are the parts inside all soldered together.. you can fix it yourself if you're so inclined.
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@jeff hammond said:
that aside, why does the iMac have to get sent away etc? like, where are you getting that idea from?
Well when my iMac screen steamed up and hard drive started failing, they told me to take it to the Genius Bar. So had to walk through a shopping centre with a huge iMac.
They would absolutely not take it away by courier.They wiped the screen and gave it back 2 days later. Replaced hard drive.
Steamed up again immediately. Had to take it back to the shopping centre. They wiped the screen and gave it back?!
They said trees in my area must have increased the humidity causing screen to steam up?!!Steamed up again, this time I refused to take it anywhere and they had a courier pick it up along with my macbook pro which had coincidentally suddenly failed (logic board). The macbook pro case was also warping and distorting from the heat, it was a common fault that Apple denied. This was all during a university deadline.
Sent away to Amsys repair centre by Apple under warranty.
Amsys superficially damaged both machines. Dented the macbook pro so badly and claimed I must have dropped it. They also gouged the bezel on my iMac. Again, claiming I was responsible.
What the cheeky little b*stards didn't realise.....I had taken HD videos of both dent-free computers before I sent them away. I even had the CNN homepage open on both screens so they couldn't say the videos had been recorded months before. I treated both my machines very well indeed and this video really covered my ass.
So....Apple said they are refusing to repair both machines because "I had abused and dropped them". The macbook case had warped and twisted because I had dropped it. According to them.
I sent them the video. Silence. No more cocky Apple customer service trying to argue with me.
A week later, both computers were delivered with brand new cases and bezel. All problems fixed with a huge apology from Apple.
Couple of weeks later I sold the macbook pro and the iMac screen steamed up again.
It's still steamed up, but I don't care. I just use it for browsing the web now.
So yeah, not all Apple repairs go as smoothly as you claim! Maybe the US customer service is less obstructive but over here it stinks. They immediately try and blame you rather than say sorry and repair it.
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@unknownuser said:
They said trees in my area must have increased the humidity causing screen to steam up?!!
For my apple display, they said, I was smoking. They replaced the screen panel three times. They replaced power supply the fourth time and now it perfectly works. The power supply was the problem, costed them 4 displays. Nice
The other story with my macpro and the heat sink of the northbridge was funnier though.
When they realized I was right and fixed it, they had to say something…
"we found some hair" they said. Do you have a pet?
"No" I replayed, "these are mine, I'm a huge and hairy guy, and I'm coming to take it back right now"
I'm not huge or hairy but the trick worked.
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@unknownuser said:
Build-a-PC: if you went this route chances are you're doing it yourself, and can easily find the culprit, get a faulty part swopped out / replaced rather quickly, and off you go - no waiting on shipping times and wait in line until technician can look at it.
For those that can, hands down, building is the answer. I regret not learning how to repair my car from the beginning considering I was going to drive one all my life.
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@michaliszissiou said:
"we found some hair" they said. Do you have a pet?
They tried that one with me too!! Seriously!
I took my brother's iPhone to the "Genius" Bar as it kept losing signal....
30 seconds in, after an otoscope inspection, the "genius" condescendingly pulled out a single dog hair with some tweezers.
They tried to say the hair is causing the problem. A dog hair! Anyway, 2 hours of arguing later they gave me a new phone.
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Please Oli,
My message was, be like a hairy huge guy. It works. Give them something to thing about.
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Where's the render test??!! I scrolled through all of that 'man waffle' for NOTHING???!!!
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haha yeah i should do comparisons to my old rig it would be quite amusing!
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So you haven't tested the render times yet?! I'd be taking a day off work to do that!! So jealous that you have an i7! I'd love a dedicated rendering workstation. I'm still using my DELL laptop!!
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Has anyone seen a thea test scene anywhere? For render times. There is a twilight one knocking about that I could test with too. Can compare then with other PC specs.
Oh I know it's rapid, I just don't know how much more rapid than my old setup!
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Oli, get on with your work and enjoy your new setup.
The rest of the gibberish and testing is irrelevant unless .............
so many different and unrelated settings and hardware configurations.
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@olishea said:
Has anyone seen a thea test scene anywhere? For render times. There is a twilight one knocking about that I could test with too. Can compare then with other PC specs.
Oh I know it's rapid, I just don't know how much more rapid than my old setup!
Oli try this one here for Thea, 32 spp and 2048 spp and post results. Quite a few different cards tested in that thread.
https://thearender.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=93%26amp;t=16544 -
Thanks cadmunkey. That's exactly what I'm looking for.
I know Box, I'm not really one for comparing but would be interesting to see anyway. If even just to see how much quicker than my old Intel Core 2 Duo!
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Don't forget about temps Oli. You got one hot cpu - not sexy hot- and I know that, running some benchmarks (I think the last version of Prime) will make the cpu to throttle. I didn't find to much info about the temps when rendering, so, that's why I'm so curious.
Anyway, if you are below 70 degrees Celsius, you should be fine.
Cheers!
Ps: I almost had the money to build a similar rig, based on the same cpu, but something came up, and now I'm breaking my bones again, for extra income. Tough times. -
@olishea said:
So yeah, not all Apple repairs go as smoothly as you claim!
i didn't claim they go smoothly.. i said there are other ways to have a mac fixed besides it being shipped away and wiped clean (in response to juju)
and saying this again:
@unknownuser said:
it's about nearly anything to be said in a mac vs pc argument, there are also valid counterpoints.. from either side.
i'm not arguing 'mac is better'.. i think if you re-read some of what i wrote, you'll see thats not my stance..**
build your own.. right. cheaper, more customizable, more fun if that's what you're into, easier user serviceability (i mean, you built the thing.. swapping out a part should be cake), etcetc.. that's fine and i really don't think people are arguing against that.. but at the same time, you (in general) have to recognize the majority of people don't build their own computers.. it's not as if people don't understand what you're saying and that we need it explained.. just that most people would rather buy a plugnplay electronic.
on the mac side of that, there are people building their own and using osx.. either hackintosh or buy a 4.1 box then pimp it..
probably easier for this stuff to happen with a windows based mindset but it's not the only way nor is it the best way.. to a certain degree, whatever is best for that individual is what's best.** on the bit about repairs though, i would actually argue mac is better.. but it's not really an argument.. this is year after year from consumer reports and the like:
@unknownuser said:
In our latest reader survey of computer technical support, Apple bested its own scores from last year's survey and walloped other brand-name computer manufacturers.
The company scored far higher than the other big companies for the elements that make for successful online and phone support: ease of contacting staff, clarity of advice, technical knowledge, patience, and time for follow-up.
Apple's in-house technical support service, the Genius Bar, rated as high as support provided by phone or online. Whatever way readers asked for tech help—by phone (the most common way), online, or in person—Apple was also able to solve more computer problems. Independent shops that make custom computers came closest to Apple.
Clearly, there's room for improvement in tech support: 24 to 40 percent of respondents who sought phone or online help from makers of Windows-based computers said the staff's patience, knowledge, or clarity was fair at best.
(though in my experience at least, macs don't break to begin with.. probably most other computers don't break either)
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