Workstations for Arnold
Arnold renders on the CPU or on NVIDIA GPUs, so we size these machines for both: more cores for Arnold CPU and more cards for Arnold GPU.
What matters for Arnold
- CPU core count for Arnold CPU rendering
- NVIDIA GPUs for Arnold GPU
- High clocks for modelling in your host application
- GPU and system memory for the size of your scenes
Arnold runs on the CPU or the GPU, and the choice depends on your budget and how much memory your scenes need. On the CPU, Arnold scales well with more cores, and for most CPU render engines twice the cores is almost twice as fast. Arnold GPU needs an NVIDIA card from Maxwell onwards, on Windows or Linux (Autodesk Arnold requirements), and Autodesk says multiple GPUs improve performance (Autodesk Arnold GPU guide), though it publishes no scaling figures. So the range grows on both fronts. Standard pairs the 16-core Ryzen 9 9950X3D with one NVIDIA RTX PRO 4500 32GB for single-artist work. Heavy steps up to the 64-core Threadripper 9980X, 256GB of memory and two NVIDIA RTX PRO 5000 48GB cards. Studio uses the 96-core Threadripper PRO 9995WX with four RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell Max-Q 96GB cards in the Nano Pro, which gives each GPU a full PCIe Gen5 x16 link. We stop at four GPUs per machine because there is no published scaling data beyond that.
Recommended configurations
Arnold – 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
Arnold – Heavy
Atom · 2× NVIDIA RTX PRO 5000 48GB
For professionals and freelancers
- CPU: AMD Ryzen Threadripper 9980X 64 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
£38,555.07 inc VAT
£32,129.24 ex VAT
Built to order · dispatched in 11 working days
Arnold – Studio
Nano Pro · 4x NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell Max-Q 96GB
For studios and small teams
- CPU: AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 9995WX 96 Core
- RAM: 8 × 64GB RDIMM ECC DDR5 6400
- PCIe Options: 4 × Nvidia RTX Pro 6000 Blackwell Max-Q 96GB
- NVMe M.2 Drives (Gen 5): Samsung 9100 Pro Gen 5 8TB
- Operating System: Microsoft Windows 11 Pro
£115,641.58 inc VAT
£96,368.01 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 Arnold
Tell us whether you render Arnold on the CPU or GPU, which host application you use, and the scenes that slow you down. We will review the right configuration and confirm availability before you order.
Frequently asked questions
It depends on your budget and on how much memory your scenes need. Each configuration here pairs a many-core processor with NVIDIA GPUs, so you can use either engine and compare them on your own scenes.
No. Arnold GPU needs an NVIDIA GPU from the Maxwell generation onwards, on Windows or Linux (Autodesk Arnold requirements). Every configuration here uses NVIDIA cards.
Autodesk says multiple GPUs will improve performance (Autodesk Arnold GPU guide), but it does not publish scaling figures. We stop at four GPUs per machine, and recommend more machines beyond that.
Maya’s modelling and animation are primarily single-threaded, so a large render machine is not needed for that work. If rendering is not your bottleneck, our Maya configurations are a better fit.
Standard suits a single artist on a budget. Heavy suits a professional or freelancer who renders on both CPU and GPU, with 64 cores and two cards. Studio is for a studio or team that needs the most cores and GPU memory 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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