RenderMan

Processor

Rendering

RenderMan is a CPU-based, multi-threaded rendering application, therefore the more processor cores the better.

Graphics

GPUs are an important aspect of the future direction of rendering that Pixar is currently researching, some of which has already demonstrated in public. RenderMan 21 introduces GPU accelerated denoising, with further GPU support planned in upcoming releases. Therefore given current software design decisions, your budget is better spent on more CPU cores rather than multiple graphics cards. We recommend the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 for this application.

Storage

We recommend a NVMe SSD for the operating system, applications and project files. 1TB is the most common capacity for RenderMan workstations. 1TB is fine if your projects are moderately sized. 2TB is recommended if your projects are large and you will you will use the workstation for a variety of professional applications.

If your projects are complex, are running multiple applications as the same time, and you want to maximize performance, we recommend two SSDs:

1. Primary NVMe SSD: operating system and applications
2. Secondary NVMe SSD: dedicated to active projects

For storage or backup, we recommend a SATA SSD or Hard Drive.

M.2 NVMe Gen4 SSD performs at ~5,000MB/s
2.5-inch SATA SSD performs at ~500MB/s
3.5-inch SATA Hard Drive performs at ~250MB/s

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.