hi all..

Currently i'm using a Q6699 at 2.6 Ghz, 4Gb RAM and i would like to speed up the renders.

One possibility is to use Amazon, but unfortunately the highest network bandwidth available in my location (WIMAX) isn't sufficient.

Another option is to improve the CPU. The core i7 920 is highly overclockable, and Cinebench results (C4d renderer) show it can achieve markedly better performance than the Q6600, but based on some earlier posts i'm not sure whether Mantra will make use of the hyperthreads in Houdini 11. The core i5 750 is slower and cheaper since it lacks, among other things, hyperthreading - maybe it is the better choice. The Q6600 may go as high as 4 Ghz on a better motherboard, but the cost is comparable to upgrading to the newer processors with DDR3. The Nehalem Xeons are quite pricey still IMHO. The Apprentice Mantra allows multithreading, but not multiprocessing so this may also influence the decision.

Another option is increasing RAM. I'm not sure this will necessarily increase speed for typical renders but it will allow for larger particle simulations.

This all assumes that Houdini 11 Apprentice will not allow hyperthreading, interfacing with external renderers, or built-in GPU-based rendering.. any of which would be nice.

thanks.. any ideas would be appreciated!

The i7 875K is an interesting choice as well. At around $300, it gives you 4 HT cores @2.93Ghz and a fairly aggressive turbo boost (3.6GHz when running 1 thread). It also happens to be multiplier unlocked if you're okay with overclocking, though I don't recommend it for a workstation.

The main issues are that it is a socket 1156 i7, with dual channel memory instead of tri-channel memory, and the upgrade path may not be as good.

I recently went from a Q6600 to an i7 980X (3.33 clocked to 4.0), and the difference in most applications, including Houdini rendering & sim cooking is big; around ten times faster (well, up to…it's not a universal constant!)

I'd certainly not actually recommend a 980X unless you have money to burn (and if you do, go for dual 6c Xeons) as you don't get four times the power for four times the cost…but I'd guess any of the i7 range is a good step up from what you have at the moment.

Thanks to both of you for your help. I went with an i7 930, 12Gb on a GA X58A UD3R board and the performance is significantly better than the Q6600 for both interactive and rendering work. It's currently running at 3.3Ghz but should overclock to 4 if necessary. I looked at the 875K, but the price was roughly equivalent, the turbo boost advantage is apparently not great at higher clock speeds, and upgradeability was a factor.