Cinema 4D Render Farm: Redshift & Octane Speed Test on 8× RTX 4090
We benchmarked Cinema 4D 2026 with both Redshift 3.6 and OctaneRender 2024 on iRender’s dedicated RTX 4090 servers. Test scene: a 250-frame motion graphics animation at 1920×1080. Redshift on 8× RTX 4090 completed in ~22 minutes (93% scaling efficiency). Octane on 8× completed in ~26 minutes (88% scaling). Total cost for the Redshift run: ~$35; Octane: ~$41. Redshift scaled more efficiently and rendered faster, but Octane produced marginally better caustic and SSS quality in our particular scene. Both engines benefit enormously from multi-GPU — something only IaaS farms like iRender can offer on a single node. No SaaS farm supports C4D + multi-GPU Redshift or Octane in the same way.
| Engine | GPUs | Render Time | Scaling | Total Cost | Cost/Frame |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Redshift 3.6 | 1× RTX 4090 | ~2 hr 40 min | 1.0× | $21.90 | $0.088 |
| Redshift 3.6 | 4× RTX 4090 | ~42 min | 3.8× | $22.90 | $0.092 |
| Redshift 3.6 | 8× RTX 4090 | ~22 min | 7.3× | $35.10 | $0.140 |
| OctaneRender | 1× RTX 4090 | ~3 hr 10 min | 1.0× | $25.90 | $0.104 |
| OctaneRender | 4× RTX 4090 | ~52 min | 3.7× | $28.40 | $0.114 |
| OctaneRender | 8× RTX 4090 | ~26 min | 7.0× | $41.30 | $0.165 |
Redshift vs Octane on Cinema 4D: Which Is Faster on Multi-GPU?
Image Source: Newplastic Gumroad
Redshift wins on raw speed. At 8 GPUs, Redshift finished 4 minutes faster than Octane (22 vs 26 minutes) and scaled more efficiently (93% vs 88%). The cost difference reflects this: $35 vs $41 for the same 250 frames.
But speed isn’t everything. Octane’s spectral rendering produces slightly more physically accurate caustics and subsurface scattering. For product visualization and photo-real close-ups, some artists prefer Octane’s look. For motion graphics and animation where speed matters more than light-bounce precision, Redshift is the practical choice.
Here’s what’s more important than the engine debate: both engines scale beautifully on multi-GPU, and neither works properly on SaaS farms. GarageFarm and RebusFarm render C4D scenes on distributed CPU nodes — not multi-GPU on a single machine. That means no Redshift multi-GPU scaling, no Octane multi-GPU scaling. If you’re a C4D artist using either engine, IaaS is your only cloud option. Your renders, your rules — and in this case, your engine of choice actually running the way it’s designed to.
What Does a Real C4D Project Cost on iRender?
Our 250-frame motion graphics test cost $35 on 8× Redshift (22 min) or $21.90 on 1× Redshift (2 hr 40 min). Most C4D artists would choose the 4× configuration as the sweet spot: $22.90 for 42 minutes. That’s a 3.8× speedup for only 5% more cost per project.
Add weekend Credit Back (20%) and the 100% first-deposit bonus, and the math gets even better. The 4× Redshift render drops from $22.90 to an effective $9.20 for new users rendering on a Saturday. That’s less than the cost of a movie ticket for a complete motion graphics render.
The billing risk applies here too: an 8× RTX 4090 server costs ~$65.60/hour. If your 22-minute render finishes and you don’t disconnect for 2 hours, that’s $131 in idle charges. For multi-GPU configs, the shutdown alarm isn’t optional — it’s critical.
- Cinema 4D + Redshift + 8× RTX 4090. Renders that used to take hours, done in minutes: Set up your C4D server
- 100% first-deposit bonus. Credit Back 20% weekends. Install C4D + any renderer. Your Renders, Your Rules.
