Re: 64 vs 32bit systems: implications

[Anthony Rossano <arossano(at)omation.com>]

Hi all -
Yup, we are building a 64 bit Linux backend right now, and while I have 
to be sensitive to disclosure rules, etc, I can shed some light.

1) one benefit is that newer, faster, stronger hardware is now available 
for 64 bit, including multicore machines, so we get 4 way machines that 
share a memory pool. This has performance benefits, and reduces data 
transfer loads (compared to two separate dual proc machines connected 
over ethernet)

2) More addressable memory.  Bigger scenes. More instances. More texture 
in RAM, without the hit of MAP files on disk.  Less crashing renders!!!!

3) A significant speed increase on much of our rendering. Why? I don't 
know.  More efficient processor design? bigger native floating point 
calculations? Who knows?

4) Perl and Python are both parts of a base lin64 install. Don't know a 
thing about window 64. We use a lot of PHP to avoid platform issues.

5) Farm management....... Win64 has the same dearth of built in 
commincation tools that make it hard to use windows 32 machines for 
large, headless, remote controlled operations. You'll have to be tricky, 
and write some custom stuff.

6) plugins.  This is a big issue.  Native windows plugins written in 
.net are difficult (to say the least) to port to lin 64.  They seem to 
run on Win64 (Opteron), but I have not tested extensively. We're 
thinking of just using mental ray on the 64 bit farm to avoid those 
problems.

so - our path is a bit different (mental ray on Lin 64) but in general, 
from a perspective of hardware and performance, 64 bit is a really big 
help for rendering.
Lastly, Softimage has been AWESOME in providing the 64bit base shaders 
and a 64 bit ray3, with the support needed to use it.

Later -
ATR

Patrick Boucher wrote:

> Hi all,
>
>     we're currently investigating the possibility of moving our 3D 
> operations on 64bit Windows systems. This means a lot of things 
> obviously and turns up a lot of questions:
>
>     - Render farm management
>     - XSI 32bit plugins runnable in XSI 64bit?
>     - Application support
>     - 32bit applications on 64bit systems, possible?
>     - Perl on 64bit systems
>     - Python on 64bit systems
>     - What do 64bit systems mean to a 3D department beyond larger memory 
> addressing?
>
>     If anyone would like to share their experiences and/or performance 
> observations I'd really like to hear.
>
>     Thanks!

--
/*      Anthony Rossano
       Technical Director
      arossano(at)omation.com
        anthor(at)mesmer.com

  "Philosophy is written in this immense book that is continuously
  open in front of us (I mean the universe) but it is impossible to
  understand it without knowing its language, and the characters,
  in which it is written. It is written in mathematical language,
  and the characters are triangles, circles, and other
  geometrical figures, without which means it is impossible
  for man to understand a single word; without these means
  it is like wandering in a dark maze."

	Gallileo Galilei,  Saggiatore, 1623
*/

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