A few hardware questions about that fancy M.2 NVMe stuff and how max works.

[Anonymous]

Hey I am building a new system on which I plan to run Max/Maya.  I have done tons of research on the rest of the machine and at this point and am looking at filling one of my M.2 slots with a Samsung flavored  drive.  I plan on using this for my operating system, my software, texture maps and stuff.

We have two different options: (simplified explainations)

1.  PRO which features a MLC Storage solution.  This is the higher quality option but more expensive option.  It is faster and has the advantage of being able to perform transfers without taking a breath as a result of its architecture it also offers better a better warranty.
2.   EVO which features a TLC storage solution.  This Drive also kicks butt.  The main differences are TLC has a limited cache (Frankly its huge) so at some point it bottle necks and slows down.

In my limited understanding of how Max/Maya works  when you are working on stuff like modeling in wire-frame that happens with your CPU on one core in DRAM between your GPU and only dumps to your hard drive as a backup every (x) depending on you settings.  Also as your scene/simulation gets bigger than your DRAM capacity Max/Maya will Swap so you have room in DRAM to tweak your vertices and what not.  This changes a bit when you start adding materials and working in your view port but primarily its all done in the CPU GPU DRAM environment. Your hard drive helps a bit whenever needed and gives you something to save/load your work to but doesn't really get involved too much for this part of the process.

When everything is tickety boo and ready to render things change.  Your CPU opens up all of its cores and threads and depending on your renderer of choice your GPU gets involved as well in processing all that hard work into final images.  It does this by calling all the parts stored on your hard drive and putting them into DRAM for your processing system to deal with. Things such as your material maps and animated textures perhaps it calls on objects you have squirreled away as proxies then frame by frame it magically mixes them and stores them on whatever drive you specify.  I does this with the help of a cache drive that somehow hold onto stuff that is being worked on and passes it around where it is needed.

Correct me where I am wrong. Please!

So here are my questions:

1. Will there ever be a time when I say Darn I wish I would have spent the extra $(x) on PRO/MLC because now Max/Maya is bottle necking? How much does hard drive speed affect Max/Maya?
2. Besides being able to boot my system and open up Max/Maya in record times is there a specific reason to run m.2 Nvme drives instead of SATA 6GB SSD drives.
3. At render time how much does the speed of your hard drive matter?
4. At render time is having the sustained read/write capabilities of PRO/MLC help or matter?
5. Does anyone have any recommendations as setting up and combining PRO/MLC and EVO/TLC on the two m.2 slots I have available? Should I get 2TB of 960 PRO/MLC and 2TB of 970 EVO/TLC? I am open to sugestions
6. At render time will writing to a slower SATA 6GB SSD drive slow processing?
7. Will calling assets like Texture maps from slower SATA 6GB SSD slow down Processing?

For me spending the money on a super fast drive will only make sense if It will make a difference for performance of the work I am doing with the software I am planning to use. 

I have been cherry picking sales and saving to build this machine while watching the prices fall on components for the last 6 months or so.  I have enjoyed this process of learning.  It has afforded me the opportunity to connect with people and hear about their experiences while they have shared their knowledge.  I have been humbled by the hard work and creative efforts we as Artist/Engineers invoke from our collective imaginations to entertain, to teach and share, to shape our world and future.  Knowing that by simply sitting down and crafting a question I can reach experts and armatures alike globally  to consider my quandary makes me grateful.

I truly appreciate your time and consideration of my questions.

Render like the wind my friends. Render like the wind.

C

[hagen.deloss]

Hello @Anonymous

Thanks for posting such a detailed breakdown of your hardware specs! This 3DS Max certified hardware list can offer some insights, as long as your machine meets the minimum requirements on the above link, you should be in good shape.

I hope this helps 😄

Please select the Accept as Solution button if my post solves your issue or answers your question.

[Anonymous]

Hey Hagen

Thanks for the links and unfortunately they do not address my question at all.  I am well aware that I need a good Graphics card and I have that covered.  I have done extensive research concerning all of the components needed in my system and those links do not even begin to offer useful information about Autodesk 3d system builds.  They are a fail. Fortunately there are other communities that are very supportive and interested in 3D artist that offer experience and information that is useful.  Perhaps you did not take the time to read my question properly but I dont think I even mentioned a GPU except in reference to render time computing.  Perhaps I missed something in the link you posted but I am pretty sure that there is no reference to NVMe drives or how Max works.  If i did please let me know.

Thanks for trying and have a great day.

[hagen.deloss · Accepted solution]

@Anonymous

I'm so happy that you have other communities that you are finding helpful! It would be awesome if you wanted to share them with the 3DS Max community here 😄

I found some good discussion on this CG talk thread, and also  asked a colleague for further advice on the topic, and he said with an SSD, scene interaction/loading will be faster. Also performance will improve if a Max scene is loading all its bitmaps from an SSD.

I also found some potentially useful information about SSD vs HDD rendering in 3DS Max in this thread here.

Having a fast SSD/NvM won't speed up your rendering at all, unless you're running out of RAM and Max/Maya are paging to disk. (That is, Windows may be paging to disk.) If so, then having your cache/paging file on a fast SSD will help.

But for pure rendering, CPU/GPU (depending on the renderer) and RAM are the most important factors. Render performance is mainly handled by the CPU, so whatever hard drive you have won't really effect the render time.

It sounds like you have a lot of knowledge on the subject, thanks for posting on the forums to engage these types of conversations, I haven't seen too many hardware conversations on here lately! I hope this helps!

Please select the Accept as Solution button if my post solves your issue or answers your question.

[Anonymous]

Thanks Hagen this really helps allot.

I really appreciate you taking the time to revisit my questions.  I honestly appreciate you reaching out to your network and digging up these ancient yet pertinent threads and finding these answers.  I have visited both and found the discussions there in enlightening. 

The right side of my brain is satisfied with your answers and that is the important side because that is where the crazy lives.  The left side has just enough information to seduce it to a happy abeyance so it wont feel like a total chump dropping more cash into this system.

The adventure of this build started over a year ago when I was thinking about running dual xeons just to get 8 cores.  When the Ryzen 7 appeared I decided to step back and wait.  My story with 3d studio started in 1994 at digi pen (before it was called Max, before digital cameras, basically before the internet) so it has been a long and convoluted one.  I promise I will be sharing both tales once I am up and running.  I love spinning yarns and I have had the opportunity to work with a variety of impresario's across many different mediums and media.  I have learned all great stories need an end and thanks to your valiant efforts I am closer to mine.  You are a scholar and a gentleman.

hip hip

C.

[hagen.deloss]

@Anonymous

Happy I could help!

Looking forward to hearing more of your story, I'm sure  I will be hearing more as you engage with folks here. Sounds like you have a lot of technical knowledge to share with the community! spin those yarns!!

Talk to you soon 😄