TiBook: 550 vs. 667 for rendering

[cb911]

I was going to hold off buying a TiBook until after Tokyo but it looks more likely that they will be released at NY. anyway all this means that i'll probably have to choose between the 550 & 667MHz TiBooks.

i'm not sure who it was, but they mentioned that it really doesn't matter if a Mac is a few seconds faster than another. the real difference is if one renders in say, 5 hours and another in 3 hours. that got me thinking that i might not have to spend more cash and get the 667MHz TiBook.

so my question is to anyone who has experience in 3D etc. when performing long and complex operations such as rendering, is there a big difference between the 550 & 667MHz TiBook? i.e. 30 minutes to an hour? does the extra system bus and MHz make a very big difference?

sorry for the long post, thanks for reading!

 

[krossfyter]

im sorry i cant answer your question directly but im sure the other cats on here might be able to help a lot more than i can.....like the tech guys.

however maybe the following test is some interest to you...
perhaps you have seen it already.

 

[cb911]

what the......?

i was going to ask about the iBook 600. does stuff like rendering make use of the G4 or is the old G3 good enough.

thanks krossfyter, but those results from the graph don't help me much, only because it's the time in seconds. a marginal advantage of a few seconds won't be enough to convince me to get the 667MHz TiBook.

i really need some expert advice here. doesn't anyone have any comparisons of long renders like 4 or 5 hours?

 

[jouster]

I render 3D movies, usually about 25 seconds long, in Cinemascape format. I do this for a hobby......I know its kinda unusual!

Point is, I use a PowerBook G3 at 333Mhz - so the renders take a long time, specifically the last one took thirty hours at 24fps.

So while Krossfyter's chart seems to show faster speeds for the G3, my experience doesn't support this.

I would post a time for Rock Island if I knew what it was.

 

[agreenster]

ahhhhhh.......rendering

My least favorite word.

I feel your pain guys. Im a 3D animation student scrambling to get his senior project done, and rendering is hell. I animate on my TiBook 550, and render on a dual 800 w/ a gig of ram. I still end up with 24+ hours of rendertime, for scenes that only last 10 seconds or so.

As far as the TiBook 667 goes, I would still wait until after Tokyo. You never know. Dont base your buying on speculation alone. If nothing else, there may be a price cut, and you'll be kicking yourself in the butt. You know they wont raise the prices, and its only one more day.

--------

Also, this Bryce test is probably based on one frame of an animation, or just a screenshot. Typically, if a processor renders a frame in 45 seconds, and another in 55 seconds, you've got a hell of a faster system. Just multiply these findings by 24 and the number of seconds (minutes?) your clip is and you'll be suprised how much time you save. A ten second clip will take 3 hours with the 667 and 3.666 hours with the 550. (24fps) Thats a pretty tiny render, but you save about 45 minutes.

However, I somehow doubt a Pismo would outperform a new TiBook. Who knows though.

I use Cinema4d primarily to animate and render. What do you guys use?

 

[krossfyter]

Re: what the......?

Originally posted by cb911

thanks krossfyter, but those results from the graph don't help me much, only because it's the time in seconds. a marginal advantage of a few seconds won't be enough to convince me to get the 667MHz TiBook.

Sorry man. Tried to help ya. I gave it a shot. I hope you get your questions answered.

Also doesnt a few seconds make a big difference in longer time? Minutia adds up doesnt it? Im not versed on the 3d world of rendering so bare with me.

 

[Mr. Anderson]

wait

Its only a day, wait and see what happens.

I have a Ti 667, 1 Gig RAM, 48 Gig Drive. The main reason for getting this, besides the 21% speed increase is the 133 MHz bus instead of the 100 MHz in the 550.

If you plan on 5 hour renderings, it might make a difference. I spent 100 hours rendering on one project and I can tell you I'm glad I spent the extra money for the 667.

But another concern is what software you're planning on using. I use Lightwave 7.0b - just upgraded last month. The speed difference between 6.5 and 7 was upto 4x on some renders, I was stunned.

Sorry I don't have nice graphs for you, but I figured real results might just do.