Autodesk Maya offers versatile features that can adapt to the demands of different industries, such as film, gaming and architecture. A bespoke and tailored Autodesk Maya Workstation can help enhance your productivity and user experience in the industry-leading 3D Computer Animation, Modelling, Simulation & Rendering Software.
A fast and robust Workstation customized to your specific needs can help bring the most out of your Maya workflow. Choosing the right system can make a big difference in your project’s speed and efficiency.
We can help you to configure the ideal Workstation for Autodesk Maya, and we share our insights below.
If you want to talk directly to one of our consultants about your unique needs and preferences, you can reach us at [email protected] or (+44) 0800 180 4801.
How to choose the best CPU for Autodesk Maya?
Modelling is a key part of any Autodesk Maya workflow. It mostly relies on a single core of the CPU. Therefore, a processor with a high clock speed is best to optimise for Maya performance.
We suggest a Workstation with an AMD Ryzen™ processor or an Intel® Core™ processor for fast modelling. These processors have excellent single-core performance and are great value for money.
If you also do CPU rendering or simulation, you need more processor cores. A balanced processor with many cores/threads and a high clock speed for modelling will be ideal. AMD Ryzen™ Threadripper™ Pro and Intel® Xeon® W workstations have many cores and threads with good core speed, making them an excellent choices.
If you use GPU rendering, the AMD Ryzen™ Threadripper™ Pro and Intel® Xeon® W Series are also the best options because they enable your Workstation to support multiple graphics cards.
What is the best GPU for Autodesk Maya?
The graphics card or GPU in your Maya system is a crucial part that affects the Frames Per Second (FPS) in your modelling viewport. You need at least 30 FPS for a smooth viewport experience, and 60 FPS is ideal.
You can also use one or more GPUs to speed up rendering performance in applications like Arnold and Octane renderer, which are common in Maya workflows. If you do a lot of GPU rendering, then you need to optimize your graphics card performance.
Autodesk fully “certifies” both the NVIDIA professional (formerly “Quadro”) and AMD Radeon™ Pro graphics cards. This means they guarantee that your graphics card will work as expected in all aspects of Autodesk Maya, and they are highly recommended for your next Maya Workstation.
The consumer class NVIDIA GeForce RTX graphics cards are only “tested” by Autodesk but are not certified to the same level as the professional ones.
We suggest NVIDIA Professional graphics cards for high-end Maya workstations. But if you have a tighter budget, use GPU rendering with an application like Arnold or work in games development, then NVIDIA GeForce RTX cards are a great choice for you.
How much memory do you need for Autodesk Maya?
We suggest to our customers that 16-32GB is usually enough for Autodesk Maya. If you want to run other applications at the same time or if your projects are very demanding, such as rendering, then 64GB will be a better option for you.
Less memory can affect your system performance significantly. Still unsure? If you already have a Maya Workstation try checking your Windows Task Manager while working on your current Workstation to see how much memory you use in your projects. Alternatively, contact us today for assistance.
How to choose the best storage configuration?
A fast NVMe Solid State Drive (SSD) will perform best for your Maya Workstation. NVMe SSDs are the fastest storage options available today and are ideal for installing your Operating System / applications and storing your active project files.
You could also think about a 2nd SSD to store your active project files. This way, your Maya files will not have to compete with any other operations that your Operating System and Applications may be doing.
We suggest our customers use a secondary traditional Hard Disk Drive (HDD) or Network Attached Storage for long-term bulk storage. HDDs are much slower than SSDs but offer much larger storage capacities at a lower cost.
