Computer spec's and 3d Work

synergy11

Hello, I am looking for advice on upgrading my computer.

I have an older quad core system running in 32 bit vista with 4 gigs of ram. I am running out of ram when I try to bake pretty high poly objects in xnormal or using Ultimapper in Softimage.

So my question is to work on really dense high poly models I need lots of ram?

In order to get past 4 gigs of ram I need to use 64 bit windows, correct?

The one thing I'm worried about as far as going to 64 bit windows 7. Is that I own a older copy of Softimage Foundation Version 6.

Thanks.

jimmypopali

I can answer that, yes, for over 4gb ram would would benifit from a 64 bit windows install. I'd say the best thing is to either email the company who deals with Softimage and see if 64bit is supported, or google it, or go on a softimage forum.

Kwramm

The ram a single 32 bit application can use (without any tricks) on a 32 bit system is 2 gb.
Adding more ram without getting a 64 bit version of your app will only allow you to use more applications next to each other, but the app itself will still be limited to 2 gb.

synergy11

Really! Only 2gb. Ugh. I didn't know that.

I hope my version of Softimage is 64 bit compatible.

As a side note. What determines how many polygons your machine can handle smoothly in a 3d app?

Is it mostly ram? Or does CPU have more to do with that aspect.

EarthQuake

Depending on the app, but some programs are going to be limited by video card, others limited by cpu(like zbrush), i'm not sure how much ram will be a limitation for viewport polygon performance, ram is more of a problem when it comes to massive amounts of objects, and really complex scenes, not necessarily dense models. With sculpting apps, ram is going to become a big bottleneck when you get over a certain limit, for regular type modeling, probably less of a concern.

That said the best thing you can do is upgrade to 8 gigs, get a SSD and a copy of win 7 64, it will feel like a brand new computer.

Just as an example, if I have a model that is 8,000 polys in modo, and a add a sub-division with a bunch of levels, so that its about 1.2 million polys, I only see a very minor spike in ram like. However, if I convert that to polys(not just the realtime sub-d display) the ram usage jumps up about 10x. So, if you're dealing with a massive amount of raw geometry ram is going to be a bottle neck, if you're doing standard sub-d type work in a 3d app, probably much less so.

Generally speaking, even the most dense sub-d cages I end up doing are like 300,000K pre-subd, whereas sub-divided it might be 5 million, and while i'm not going to edit the 300,000k mesh all at once with great performance, I can certainly get a smooth framerate in the viewport just rotating around. This was true with my old XP install, and true with my Win7 install.

Softimage may perform vastly different however, I would suggest opening up task manager, and finding out how much ram it is using doing various tasks.

synergy11

Oh thanks! Good to know about zbrush needing better CPU.

I had some issues working on 5 subtools at 2-5 million each subtool.

But also I was having ram issues trying to bake down a huge mesh in xNormal. I kept getting not enough ram errors.

I'm going to upgrade to windows 7 64 as soon as I figure out if Softimage 6 works in 64 bit!

Solid state drives make a big difference?

Thanks again for all responses.

Entity

Will you be doing any rendering work? If so having lots of ram definitely comes in handy. Mental Ray (most raytracers really) gobble ram up like nobody's business.

PolyHertz

SSD's make at huge difference in general PC performance, and any apps that are heavy on virtual memory usage (zbrush) will get a nice boost as well.

In ZBrush's case specifically it uses its own page file separate from the standard Windows Virtual mem, which stores all the subtools when they are inactive or going over the ram limits that zb has due to still being 32bit only. So switching between subtools becomes a snap, where as on standard HDDs it can sometimes take a while when switching or re-activating subtools (ie Compacting Memory is no longer an issue).

synergy11

Can I run a 32 bit application in a Windows 7 64 bit environment?

My version of Softimage Foundation 6.5 is only 32 bit. But I have other apps that can use 64 bit.

Thanks folks.

xvampire

^ yes you absolutely can run 32 bit app in 64 bit windows

metalliandy

If you get a good gaming PC, with a ton of ram, you wont go far wrong
8GB+ ram is a good amount.

skylebones

I'm running Softimage Essentials 6.5 on my 64 bit windows 7 with no problems at all.

synergy11

Softimage XSI Foundation 6.5 only came with a 32 bit version on my copy. I assume that's all they made for Foundation.

UGH. I need to save thousands of dollars and upgrade. Or I could get Modo...
But Softimage is just so user friendly I find.

I guess upgrading my system with tons of ram and 64 bit OS won't help me with Softimage. But my zbrush and xnormal performance increase would make it worth it!