hi, i was wondering if anyone knows of any develpoment (like a plugin) for blender and the dual core cpu’s. it would be cool if both cores could be used to render and stuff. so if anyone has any info about it. or agree with my idea. reply:) 
Yes, they can. Just select the “Threads” button on the render settings.
I have Dual-core, it makes about 30% difference activating this.
Alex
Only ?
on the mac bi-G5, it is around 190% faster
Or are you speaking of hypertheaded cpu ?
Hyperthreading would do ABSOLTELY nothing for blender. All you’d have is two threads on the same CPU, which is useless. And, hyperthreading=P4=crappy piece of sh*t. Now, if you have a dual core amd, then you should be getting improvements of at least 100%.
your comment is complete BS
dual core doesn’t result in a 100% improvement, and hyperthreading does result in an improvement [though much less often than dual core, and sometimes at a loss]
weird thing intel is doing, their dual core chips probably will come with hyperthreading… WHY!!!
[if I had several grand to blow I’d get a dual opteron 875 system [dual dual core]]
coz then you get 2 procs using 100% of their power rather than the standard 70% they can do on single threads.
all hyperthreading does is basicly line up two things at once.
its mroe efficient to have a ticket office letting people into a theme park then the people lining up, rather than collecting tickets as people get on the ride. you can use the downtime of one person to do the next…
dual core and hyperthreading are indipendant.
they are thinking that logically OS’s will be seeing 8-32 processors (whether virtual or real, or dual core)
Dual core, Dual CPU, hyperthreading computer would be up to 8 logical procs.
Alltaken
One of the issues that you all may be running into here is that raytracing is way more often RAM limited then CPU limited. Due to the random way the rays go through the scene the cache is basicly useless, so it comes down to how fast the ram can send information to the CPU. So having dual channel RAM can really help in some situations.
Athlon X2 4200+ = 2*2200Mhz A64s
Mac = unix
My test = XP
Most people will use = XP
190% faster =47% less time
My test =30% less time
Not that different considering I tested it on a crappy microsoft OS. Next test will be on gentoo once I can be bothered to run it.
So for people not using Macs (i.e. all dual core (not dual proc) people at the moment, this will be the difference tey actually see.
Alex
I’m going to buy a new machine. I will install both Windoz and Linux os. I had never buy the lastest new component because I think you just pay something much more expensive for just 6 months of delay…
…So what’s the best cpu to buy today considering price/power ?
Is dual core interesting to buy today ?
use : very large images files in photoshop (5000*3000) with a lot of layers
and…Bllllendeeer.
I wrote a short article about Blender and Hyper Threading processors and the improvements that can be obtained, might be of interest.
http://www.digital-air.co.uk/2005/07/intel-hyper-threading.html
–
Ricky Dee
I bought a socket 939 Athlon 64 a while back and I’m loving it. I could go to an X2 but I’d be really tempted to go with a dual dual core opteron on the next upgrade (in about a year and a half or so).
You might be able to save some cost from the latest dual-core chips by looking at dual-CPU boards and putting in (2X) 6+mo.-old chips in the sockets - and get similar performance advantages. Would highly recommend it - isn’t PS multi-threaded?
i actually advise against mixing ages of components.
i also advise agaisnt upgrading (unless its essential), rather its more economically viable to buy an entire new computer every 3 years (only keeping things like montiors and keyboards). you will have a more balanced computer that performs well when bought, and by the time its 3 years old will still be running balanced and well (i.e. will still be an ok computer).
i say this because FSB, dual channel ram, CPU features… change so quickly. that if you buy a new CPU, ram, or Mobo, you may as well change the rest (basicly a new computer)
Alltaken
I agree with you Alltken, personaly I have never upgrade a computer ( only buy a completly new one ). My question was about cpu, I 'm not up of date conserning all this new stuff (64 bits, dual core,…)
Concerning two cpu, I was thinking about that. I think it worth it but I realy don’t know if that kind of computer is stable. Very warm, and what about Tyan motherboards ?
and yes, PS is multi-threaded
Tyan mobos are really good from what I have heard. If yout want multi-core get a socket 939. With prices the way they are, there’s no reason not to. Dual channel ram is really nice as well. PCI-e is also a must for any serious 3d graphics. I “upgraded” my system recently keeping only the HDD and DVD/Rom and case for the following prices:
Whitebox (newegg) Athlon 64 3000+ - $100
Chaintec 939 mobo (refurbished) - $50
1GB RAM (dual channel) - $100
Powersupply (ATX 2.0 required by new board) - $75
GeForce 6600 (refurbished) 256MB - $80
The thing runs like the wind it’s great. It can play most games at the highest settings at greater than 30fps. Blender is solid as a rock.
Meant 6-month-old technology - like karpov was saying earlier. Performance is still great, while the price has dropped a bunch - to make way for the latest.
The tech’s been around for a long time and the OS/software support is definitely there, esp with the dual-core coming on strong. You’d probably be just fine with most well-known brands. Tyan makes good boards, tho a little pricier. I’ve had good luck with both Soyo and Gigabit. Might as well go ahead with 64bit, if you go AMD, too. May provide a foundation for future software directions for you.
This is reason enough, tho the benefits are multitude. I plan to get a dual-CPU/dual-core setup for my workstation on the next go-round (probably in the Spring of next year) for a total of 4 cores. Will I use 'em? Who knows? Maybe Blender’s renderer will get another update. Didn’t think I’d use my current dual-Xeons as much as I have. (Now, if I could just get Windows to let me choose which core to use for which process/thread, I’d be golden.)
Try the Ars system guide
http://arstechnica.com/guide/system/
generally their recommendations are excellent for the various price points.
LetterRip
Check this mobo out. Now Quad dual cores would be really nice…
ATI controller? Nah, not for me. But the rest looks very neat.
Oxman, I was thinking the same thing.