Workstations for Blender
Blender’s Cycles renders fastest on the GPU, and each card must hold the whole scene. We size these machines around GPU count and the memory on each card.
What matters for Blender
- NVIDIA GPUs for Cycles through OptiX and CUDA
- GPU memory per card, as each card holds the scene
- High clocks for modelling, cores for CPU rendering and fluid sims
- System memory: 64 to 128GB covers most high-end users
NVIDIA leads Cycles rendering through OptiX and CUDA. Cycles can render on several GPUs at once, and the Blender manual suggests using one card for display and the others for rendering (Blender manual). Each GPU generally has to hold the scene, because memory is not pooled by default, so memory per card limits scene size. Standard pairs the Ryzen 9 9950X3D, which performs well for CPU rendering, with an NVIDIA RTX PRO 4500 32GB. Heavy moves to the Atom with two NVIDIA RTX PRO 5000 48GB cards. Studio fits four NVIDIA RTX PRO 5000 48GB cards in the Nano Pro, which gives each GPU a full PCIe Gen5 x16 link without riser cables, alongside the Threadripper PRO 9965WX. For modelling and animation, clock speed matters; for CPU rendering and fluid simulations, cores do. For most high-end users, 64 to 128GB of memory is the right range. We stop at four GPUs because we have not seen scaling figures beyond that.
Recommended configurations
Blender – Standard
Electron · NVIDIA RTX PRO 4500 32GB
For a single artist or engineer
- CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D
- RAM: 128GB DDR5 6000 2x64GB
- PCIe slots (16x): Nvidia RTX Pro 4500 Blackwell 32GB
- NVMe Storage (Gen 5.0): Samsung 9100 Pro Gen 5 2TB
- Operating System: Microsoft Windows 11 Pro
£11,537.75 inc VAT
£9,614.79 ex VAT
Built to order · dispatched in 4 working days
Blender – Heavy
Atom · 2× NVIDIA RTX PRO 5000 48GB
For professionals and freelancers
- CPU: AMD Ryzen Threadripper 9960X 24 Core
- RAM: 4 × 64GB RDIMM ECC DDR5 6400
- PCIe slots (16x): 2 × Nvidia RTX Pro 5000 Blackwell 48GB
- NVMe M.2 Drives (Gen 5): Samsung 9100 Pro Gen 5 4TB
- Operating System: Microsoft Windows 11 Pro
£35,270.00 inc VAT
£29,391.68 ex VAT
Built to order · dispatched in 11 working days
Blender – Studio
Nano Pro · 4× NVIDIA RTX PRO 5000 48GB
For studios and small teams
- CPU: AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 9965WX 24 Core
- RAM: 8 × 64GB RDIMM ECC DDR5 6400
- PCIe Options: 4 × Nvidia RTX Pro 5000 Blackwell 48GB
- NVMe M.2 Drives (Gen 5): Samsung 9100 Pro Gen 5 8TB
- Operating System: Microsoft Windows 11 Pro
£71,953.02 inc VAT
£59,960.86 ex VAT
Built to order · dispatched in 12 working days
Each recommended system is a starting point. Select Customise to add components or change the specification before you order.
Tell us what you need for Blender
Share your Blender version, whether you render with Cycles or Eevee, your current hardware and the scenes that slow you down. We will review the right configuration and confirm availability before you order.
Frequently asked questions
You choose the cards in Preferences, System, and Cycles renders on all of them. The Blender manual suggests using one card for display and the others for rendering (Blender manual). Each card generally needs to hold the whole scene.
Yes, through HIP (Blender manual). NVIDIA leads Cycles rendering through OptiX and CUDA, so these configurations use NVIDIA cards.
Memory is not pooled across cards by default, so adding cards does not add room for the scene (Blender manual). If your scenes outgrow 32GB, ask us about RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell cards with 96GB each.
The 96-core Threadripper PRO 9995WX is the fastest CPU for CPU rendering and fluid simulations. If fluids are a large part of your work, tell us and we will fit it in place of the 9965WX.
Standard suits a single artist on a budget. Heavy suits a professional or freelancer who wants two NVIDIA RTX PRO 5000 48GB cards for faster renders. Studio is for a studio or team, with four cards in one workstation.
Talk to someone at Renderboxes
Not sure which build is right? Speak to our team and we will help you choose the right configuration for your work.
Send us an enquiry
Tell us what you are working on and we will recommend a configuration.
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