Workstation Comparison for Rhino + V-Ray – Feedback Welcome

Rendering V-Ray
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Hi all,

I’m setting up a new workstation mainly for:

Rhino + V-Ray GPU for fast previews, final images rendered via CPU/GPU what are you experiences here?
I also use VisualARQ .

I’ve narrowed it down to two systems. The main difference: RTX 5080 vs. 5070 Ti.

Has anyone used either GPU with Rhino/V-Ray?
I’m especially interested in stability, viewport performance.

Also:
What kind of workstation setups are you using for Rhino or V-Ray work?** I’d love to hear your experience!

Thanks in advance!

Component System 1 (RTX 5080) System 2 (RTX 5070 Ti)
CPU AMD Ryzen 9 9950X – 16C / 32T @ 4.3 GHz AMD Ryzen 9 9900X – 12C / 24T @ 4.4 GHz
Mainboard ASUS ProArt X870E-Creator WiFi ASUS ProArt X870E-Creator WiFi
GPU NVIDIA RTX 5080 16GB (ASUS TUF OC) NVIDIA RTX 5070 Ti 16GB (ASUS TUF OC)
RAM 64GB DDR5-6000 (2×32GB) 64GB DDR5-6000 (2×32GB)
SSD (NVMe) 2× 1TB WD Black SN850X 2× 1TB WD Black SN850X
Power Supply (PSU) 1000W be quiet! Platinum 850W be quiet! Platinum
CPU Cooler Noctua NH-D15 chromax.black Noctua NH-D15 chromax.black
Case be quiet! Pure Base 501 Airflow be quiet! Pure Base 501 Airflow
Fans 2× Noctua NF-A14x25 PWM 2× Noctua NF-A14x25 PWM
Operating System Windows 11 Pro 64-bit Windows 11 Home 64-bit
Pc build advice and review
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Hi there.

I’m just sharing my personal experience here.

Post to RTX 30 series, Radeon 6000 series, Intel 9th gen CPU, Ryzen 5000 CPU, everything is already being considered fast. Most of visualization can be rendered in real time, or close to real time.

I’ve been working ever since with HP XW9300 back in 2005 and most high end desktop and mobile workstations to date, and now, having ASUS ROG Flow Z13 and X16 in hands. All of them are using Rhino with both Cycles and AMD ProRender. But no longer VRay after I left 3ds Max behind and migrate to Blender, just in case I need to experiment with more things in the visualization like water, atmospheric, etc.

The performance between gaming rigs and workstations is so blurry these day as both performing way beyond what we had in few decades ago.

However, when it comes to support our work, 2 thing are crucial: stability and reliabilty. This is where workstations are mostly designed to lead. I’m actually still using my HP Zbook 17 G6 (Intel 9th gen CPU) now while having RTX A4000 (16GB) and A5000 (24GB) as eGPUs. It’s so stable and I have never experienced any crash when using it with Rhino. I use eGPU through Thunderbolt port in order to separate the heat when using GPU on high loads to keep my Zbook 17 as cool as possible.

I’m not saying that gaming rigs aren’t stable, but with right components it could run smoothly. However, my Asus ROG Flow Z13 and X16, sometimes, experiencing some random crashes when they were on high loads, eventhough I’m also using ROG XG Mobile as eGPU, along side the RTX A4000 and A5000 through its Thunderbolt port (Z13) and USB4 (X16). The Z13 doesnt have any luxury in term of changing RAM as its soldered to the board. However, for the X16, I use Crucial SODIMMs to get it maxed.

So, with that in mind, just look for some information on the web to sort and pick some components to fit your needs. Any should be good. Just browse, for instance, “Component A issue” or “Part B issue” and look for the least or none issue for each component. Try with combined ones as well. Therefore, you’ll have enough information for yourself as others may not have the same exact setup or having different experience even with the same component.

Just my 2 cents.

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thanks a lot for your very informative and thoughtful post – it really resonates with how I approached my own system build.

I’ve followed a similar path: researching individual components carefully, checking for known issues, and comparing setups before deciding on what looked like the best match on paper for my workflow.

When looking into the RTX 5080, I came across just two potentially relevant concerns:

  1. CUDA 12.8 instability with some V-Ray GPU versions (reportedly resolved in recent Studio drivers)
  2. Early black screen issues under heavy load – now fixed in driver updates post 576.xx

That said, as you rightly pointed out, actual stability and reliability in real-world usage are what truly matter.

:backhand_index_pointing_right: So I’d love to hear from anyone who has real experience running a similar setup – especially in combination with Rhino and V-Ray GPU.

Any feedback on long-session behavior, viewport performance, or thermal stability would be very helpful.

Thanks again!

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I have been using V-Ray daily for years and for very complex scenes such as large train interiors. I am very happy with the stability. I use a quite old CPU AMD Ryzen Threadripper 2950X with 2x3090 and 2x2080ti. As long as the CPU manages to feed the GPU, I haven’t done any more expensive CPU upgrades.

I had tried GPU+CPU rendering in the past, but it wasn’t worth it. No idea if it runs better with today’s CPU, if the computing power of the CPU brings so much compared to GPU power.

In any case, I can only recommend V-Ray after about 20 years. Chaosgroup has continuously expanded the plugin over the years and the result is an extremely feature-rich plugin, very well integrated into Rhino. And recently, Bongo has also been supported with motion blur and simplified scene loading.

If there are any problems with the 5090 at the moment, I would trust that these will be solved in the near future. Chaosgroup has delivered quality all these years, they will not capitulate now. :laughing:

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If I look at your system data, then I would go for 128GB RAM because I render complex scenes. I would choose the best GPU and not focus so much on the CPU. It’s so easy to replace and upgrade the GPU, I see more scope for the future of the workstation.

I would choose the power supply as big and quiet as possible, so you can easily add GPU later without running out of power. You can use a good power supply for many years, if not decades.

I use a 1500 watt be quiet! Dark Power Pro PSU and am delighted with its power and quietness.

I have installed a compact water cooling system from Corsair for the CPU. I would do it again.

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I think when building a PC, it’s good to think about how you want to proceed in the future. Do you want a completely new PC in 5 years’ time or will you simply add the latest GPU and more than double the computing power?

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Hi @bimolicense

That’s because Rhino is a great program that doesn’t really tax a computer system. If you want to see your system burn use blender. Then you will see any system even the strongest will crash. Thankfully blender has command line rendering which is much less taxing on the system and gpu when you have to get the job done.

Your system looks awesome but I think your disk space is too small. I’d add a cheap 7200 rpm drive with 8 to 10 or more terabytes for buffer/storage and don’t go for the one terabyte drives go for the 2 terabyte drives totaling four. I noticed that everyone who so far asked about computer specs undersized their drive space. Blender uses and creates lots of caches if your doing water, fire, smoke and particles etc. Unreal is an incredible drive space hog. Movie editing needs huge amounts of drive space. I’m amazed at how fast two terabytes can be filled.
RM

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Hi @3dsynergy

Thanks for the kind recommendations.

So fortunate that I’m being supported by my previous company and HP to do personal research. My rigs are as following:

  • Flow Z13 with only 16GB memory
  • Flow X16 with 64GB memory
  • Zbook 17 G6 with 64Gb memory
  • HP z820 with 128GB memory
  • 2x HP DL380 dual xeon servers with 128GB memory each
  • 1x Supermicro dual xeon server with 64GB memory

Also, I use total of 12TB external drives of U.2 enterprise SSDs aside from own storage inside different rigs. So I have the flexibility of moving the data around one system to another while still retaining high speed transfer using TB4 or USB4 ports. This happens with eGPUs as well.

I guess my rigs will keep me busy for the next few more years before getting them replaced. And when I launch all servers, my working room will experience an Airbus engine sound level as I don’t have separate room for them :sweat_smile: that’s the moment where I wear ear protection while working/researching. It helps :rofl:

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Hi @bimolicense

Too funny sounds like you have plenty of storage and noise protection.
I would still go with 2 terabyte internal drives instead of the one terabytes.
RM

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Hi @3dsynergy.

Each of my laptop carries at least 3TB storage. The Z13 itself carries 2TB NVME 2230 SSD and 1TB of high speed MicroSD :blush:

Other have more multiple 2280 slots so, bigger storage than Z13. Even the Zbook 17 has 8TB of SSD. The U.2 is simply an external high speed shared storage.

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thx for your input! Very straight forward.

That’s a good point. I’m looking for a theoretically very stable system, and now I want to go for a setup like this:

SSD 1: Samsung 990 PRO 1TB
Slot: M.2 Slot 1 (onboard)
Use: Windows + Software
Reason: Fast and reliable boot drive, ideal for OS and applications like Rhino, V-Ray, etc.

SSD 2: Corsair MP600 PRO NH 2TB
Slot: M.2 Slot 2 (onboard)
Use: Projects, scenes, VisualARQ files, assets
Reason: Stable and high-capacity SSD for managing large working files and models.

SSD 3: Corsair MP600 PRO NH 2TB (planned via PCIe adapter)
Slot: PCIe x4 (via expansion card)
Use: V-Ray GPU cache, temp files, scratch space
Reason: Separates heavy write operations from project and system drives. Improves stability during long renders.

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Hi @user2745
Looks great nice setup!

Depending on how much storage you need or use you might still want a cheap 7200 rpm drive with at least 8 to 10 terabytes for backup and storage but looks like you’re good to go.
RM

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Hi @3dsynergy

Looks like your next system would be great rig.

After having some posts on this thread, I’m so curious about doing some more experiment with my ROG Flow X16, which I did last night.

A successful experiment to deliver stable and reliable machine using way beyond what the company (Asus) recommends.

I upgraded and over-ram-ing the memory to 96GB, and successfully allocated 16GB of system RAM to become dedicated VRAM on Ryzen 9 6900HS integrated graphics, Radeon 680m. It now carries 16GB of dedicated VRAM, alongside 6GB from RTX 3060.

This is the system info for the Radeon 680m

============

Rhino 8 SR21 2025-7-7 (Rhino 8, 8.21.25188.17001, Git hash:master @ 2e05bb7e11ec03aa58cc543d92330d59df05d32b)
License type: Not For Resale Lab, build 2025-07-07
License details: Cloud Zoo

Windows 11 (10.0.26100 SR0.0) or greater (Physical RAM: 80GB)
.NET Framework 4.8.9290.0

Computer platform: LAPTOP - Unplugged [65% battery remaining] ~208 minutes left

Non-hybrid graphics configuration.
Primary display and OpenGL: AMD Radeon™ Graphics (AMD) Memory: 16GB, Driver date: 5-14-2025 (M-D-Y). OpenGL Ver: 4.6.0 Compatibility Profile Context 25.Q2.250514
> Integrated accelerated graphics device with 5 adapter port(s)
- Windows Main Display is laptop’s integrated screen or built-in port
Primary OpenGL: AMD Radeon™ Graphics (AMD) Memory: 16GB, Driver date: 5-14-2025 (M-D-Y). OpenGL Ver: 4.6.0 Compatibility Profile Context 25.Q2.250514
> Integrated accelerated graphics device with 5 adapter port(s)
- Windows Main Display is laptop’s integrated screen or built-in port

OpenGL Settings
Safe mode: Off
Use accelerated hardware modes: On
GPU Tessellation is: On
Redraw scene when viewports are exposed: On
Graphics level being used: OpenGL 4.6 (primary GPU’s maximum)

Anti-alias mode: 4x
Mip Map Filtering: Linear
Anisotropic Filtering Mode: High

Vendor Name: ATI Technologies Inc.
Render version: 4.6
Shading Language: 4.60
Driver Date: 5-14-2025
Driver Version: 32.0.21010.10
Maximum Texture size: 16384 x 16384
Z-Buffer depth: 24 bits
Maximum Viewport size: 16384 x 16384
Total Video Memory: 57222 MB

Rhino plugins that do not ship with Rhino
C:\Users\Personal\AppData\Roaming\McNeel\Rhinoceros\packages\8.0\AMDDenoiser\0.5.3\AMDDenoiser.Windows.rhp “AMDDenoiser.Windows” 0.5.3.0
C:\Users\Personal\AppData\Roaming\McNeel\Rhinoceros\packages\8.0\AdaptivePartsEnvironment\1.0.65.3\Rhenso.Ape.rhp “Adaptive Parts Environment” 1.0.0.0
C:\Users\Personal\AppData\Roaming\McNeel\Rhinoceros\packages\8.0\ProRender\1.0.1.5\ProRender.Windows.rhp “ProRender” 1.0.1.5

Rhino plugins that ship with Rhino
C:\Program Files\Rhino 8\Plug-ins\Commands.rhp “Commands” 8.21.25188.17001
C:\Program Files\Rhino 8\Plug-ins\rdk.rhp “Renderer Development Kit”
C:\Program Files\Rhino 8\Plug-ins\RhinoRenderCycles.rhp “Rhino Render” 8.21.25188.17001
C:\Program Files\Rhino 8\Plug-ins\rdk_etoui.rhp “RDK_EtoUI” 8.21.25188.17001
C:\Program Files\Rhino 8\Plug-ins\NamedSnapshots.rhp “Snapshots”
C:\Program Files\Rhino 8\Plug-ins\MeshCommands.rhp “MeshCommands” 8.21.25188.17001
C:\Program Files\Rhino 8\Plug-ins\RhinoCycles.rhp “RhinoCycles” 8.21.25188.17001
C:\Program Files\Rhino 8\Plug-ins\Toolbars\Toolbars.rhp “Toolbars” 8.21.25188.17001
C:\Program Files\Rhino 8\Plug-ins\3dxrhino.rhp “3Dconnexion 3D Mouse”
C:\Program Files\Rhino 8\Plug-ins\Displacement.rhp “Displacement”
C:\Program Files\Rhino 8\Plug-ins\SectionTools.rhp “SectionTools”

=========

AMD ProRender runs very stable with higher allocated VRAM. While Asus mentioned on the tech specs of the ROG Flow X16 to have max system RAM of 64GB, slapping 2x48GB onto it seems to give more benefits: 16GB allocated for Radeon 680m VRAM and still 80GB for system RAM. Still greater than it’s official maximum RAM :laughing:

I tried to set it to 32GB, but it’s having stability issue, so I set it back to 16GB and problem seems to be away after dozens of tests.

Oh, I tested it with local LLM, and both dedicated and shared GPU memory are good. It reached 15.9GB for dedicated VRAM and 36.9GB for shared GPU memory while Compute 0 on Radeon 680m going max consistently.

I’m also using Radeon Pro Driver instead of Adrenaline Edition and it proves to be much more stable and problem free.

To bad my ROG Flow Z13 only carries 16GB soldered RAM :sweat_smile:

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Hi @bimolicense

Much of what your saying is beyond my skill level. I only use computers I don’t build them so my advice is just for people who might make a mistake of not getting enough hd space where it would be harder for them to update that after purchase. My approach is to throw a few complex scenes at the computer and see if it works.

Sounds like you got an awesome machine and thanks for the post it’s amazing how much there is to buying and setting up a computer.
RM

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Here’s a screenshot of Task Manager on how the laptop’s APU worked under heavy load, using dedicated 16GB VRAM and 40GB shared GPU memory, as both are taken from system RAM.

Screenshot 2025-07-20 054105
Screenshot 2025-07-20 0541051374×969 132 KB

Quite interesting as this laptop is now “having” total of 56GB of VRAM :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:

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