Maxwell

Maxwell

3D rendering software for architects and designers. Maxwell is legendary for its quality and realism, and delivers great results via a simple set-up, which lets you focus on lighting.

Hardware Recommendations

Processor

CPU vs. GPU Rendering

Maxwell 4 takes advantage of the GPU for rendering, however there are some aspects of the rendering process that can only be handled by the CPU. Therefore we recommend a processor with 4 to 6 cores.

Please view Maxwell's CPU + GPU Utilization chart for further information about CPU vs. GPU in this unique application.

Graphics

According to Next Limit, the GPU option speeds up the rendering process greatly... up to 10x faster than CPU rendering! This is possible due to the thousands of CUDA cores within NVIDIA graphics cards.

Maxwell can run equally well on both GeForce GTX and Quadro cards. We recommend an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti graphics cards, which currently offers the best performance to price ratio, but any recent high end NVIDIA card will offer great rendering performance with Maxwell.

While Maxwell does not support multiple GPUs as of September 2017, this feature will be released by the end of the year. Therefore we also have dual GPU recommendations below.

Storage

We recommend a solid-state drive (SSD) for the operating system and software.

In addition, we recommend a 4TB or larger hard drive for storage of the pre-rendered assets or the rendered export files if storing these files locally. Hard drives work well for rendering since it is generally not read or write intensive.

Memory

In general, 4GB of RAM per CPU core is recommended. For example, if you select a single 12-core processor, 32GB will suffice for basic tasks or 64GB for more demanding workloads.


Configuration Recommendations

HP Z6 G4 Workstation

 

  • 16 cores, 2.9 GHz base frequency | Intel Xeon Gold 6226R
  • 64GB (4x 16GB) of 2933MT/s DDR4 ECC Memory
  • 500GB NVMe M.2 PCIe 3.0 Solid-State Drive

HP Z8 G4 Workstation

 

  • Dual 16 cores, 2.9 GHz base frequency | Intel Xeon Gold 6226R
  • 96GB (12x 8GB) of 2933MT/s DDR4 ECC Memory
  • 500GB NVMe M.2 PCIe 3.0 Solid-State Drive
  • NVIDIA Quadro RTX A6000 48GB
  • NVIDIA Quadro RTX A6000 48GB

HP Z8 G4 Workstation

 

  • Dual 12 cores, 2.4 GHz base frequency | Intel Xeon Silver 4214R
  • 96GB (12x 8GB) of 2933MT/s DDR4 ECC Memory
  • 1TB NVMe M.2 PCIe 3.0 Solid-State Drive
  • NVIDIA Quadro RTX A6000 48GB

HP Z4 G4 Workstation

 

  • Intel Core i9-10900X (3.7 GHz base frequency, 10 cores)
  • 64GB (4x 16GB) of 2933MT/s DDR4 Memory
  • 500GB NVMe M.2 PCIe 3.0 Solid-State Drive

HP Z4 G4 Workstation

 

  • Intel Core i7-9800X (3.8 GHz base frequency, 8 cores)
  • 32GB (4x 8GB) of 2666MT/s DDR4 Memory
  • 500GB NVMe M.2 PCIe 3.0 Solid-State Drive

HP Z440 Workstation

 

  • 6-Core 3.6GHz Intel Xeon Broadwell E5-1650 v4 [6-cores / 12-threads]
  • 32GB (4x 8GB) of 2400MT/s DDR4 ECC Memory
  • 500GB NVMe M.2 PCIe 3.0 Solid-State Drive
  • NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti 8GB

Condition

New: Purchased new from the manufacturer or authorized distribution. Package opened for customization process and testing. Ships in original retail manufacturer packaging.

Refurbished: Pulled from corporate environment in working condition. Tested upon arrival at our location and also after customization. Cosmetically grade A or B. Overall in good condition, but could have light scratches / scuffs. Ships in double-wall brown box with durable packaging material.