i can still use the version i have purchased from Redshift, also because basically nothing has been done on softimage since then or very little, then probably use Maxwell Render (tried version 5 and with gpu is quite great), or Blender+Cycles, or 3ds Max with Arnold, havent decided yet. there Is also Maverick render which was the old arion fryrender, which is quite impressive i must say.
Quite glad I don't have to share my workstation with my sons, don't know what would end up on there, but probably more paw patrol than rlm 
Lets say there are plenty alternatives, i just want to stick with softimage as long as i can, because reaching the same level of productivity on another software is just too annoying for me at the moment. I dont like any other software, altho im good with 3ds max because .. who doesnt know 3ds max lol.
on another note its quite dumb in my opinion where this market is heading. back then you could afford a cutting edge gfx card for 500$, now we talk about thousands. I mean i think they are litterally ripping off the whole world.
Prices went up instead of down, its like the phone market when they were bashing their head to make something small so you could bring it with you, remember the first portable devices? they were as giant as a brick. then they started with Motorola Star-Tac and try to make them smaller, now they make phones as big as a tablet, whats the point?
Hardware market is the same, i just think its getting worse and worse. with 2k$ (price of a 3090) you could buy a whole rig.
