RenderStream Workstation Review

[Tim Saunders]

I just thought I would share my experience, give the crew a shout out, and a recommendation for future shoppers. This might not be the best place to post this, but I couldn't find a more appropriate place. Perhaps a reviews section

We just picked up three new workstations from RenderStream. The three workstations are used for the graphics team in a mid-sized Architectural Firm. The team does 3d modeling in 3ds Max, Sketchup and Revit. Some 2d cad work is done in AutoCad. We also do a lot of Photoshop post-rendered compositing, as well as high resolution graphic design. Our graphics team does a mixed share of video editing, Flash presentations, vector Illustration graphics and web-based design. Due to the range of different work done on our graphics workstations, we needed fairly versatile systems.

When I first approached John from RenderStream, I informed him of my limited budget, and he was more than helpful, giving me options within my budget, as well as making performance suggestions that might best utilize my dollar. I think what sets RenderStream apart from the others is how willing the team has been to help configure the system that best suits my team's needs, while trying their best to stick with my budget. Since I am more of an expert of using hardware than knowing about it, it was very helpful to have the suggestions of the RenderStream crew with some of my needs. Although RenderStream already had some pre-configured boxes that would easily suit my needs, we simply don't have that kind of budget at the moment.

I told John I needed good rendering power, but mainly for test renders, not final, high resolution rendering. I told him we had a small farm we would utilize for final, high resolution output. I wanted a lot of RAM and a good video card. Lastly I told him I wanted a secondary (small, but fast) hard-drive for Photoshop scratch-disk use.

After reviewing my needs, a couple configurations were made and new suggestions were made. The RenderStream guys took what I asked for and bumped it up a notch. Not only would I be getting a fast secondary media drive, I would be getting 3 - 320gb RAID drives @ 7,200rpm each with 16mb cache. Since I knew nothing about RAID technology, this was a helpful suggestion to optimize my scratch disc performance. They also upgraded my power supply, helped me select the best processors for rendering, and went WAY out of their way to make sure I ended up with the video card I wanted.

When I suggested a decent gaming card, they had a great card in mind for me, and I tried it out for a while. After I decided I was not impressed with the card, John rushed an upgraded card to me, and I was in business, and my machine is running as good as I could have hoped. Below is the final system configuration:
RenderStream Workstation
Motherboard: 2 Processor - LGA1366,12 DIMM slots, 2 PCI Express 2.0 x16 , 1 PCI Express x8 ( X4 mode ), 3PCI, SATA - 6 device(s) w/RAID, 6 x Hi-Speed USB, 1 xMouse - PS/2 style, 1 x Keyboard - PS/2 style, 1 x Serial -RS-232, 1 x Audio - Line-out - Mini-phone stereo 3.5 mm, 1x Audio - Line-in - Mini-phone stereo 3.5 mm, 1 xMicrophone - Input - Mini-phone 3.5 mm, 1 x Audio - Line-out (side surround) - Mini-phone stereo 3.5 mm, 1 x Audio -Line-out (back surround) - Mini-phone stereo 3.5 mm, 1 xAudio - Line-out (center/subwoofer) - Mini-phone 3.5 mm,
IEEE 1394
Dual 2.26 GHz E5520 Nehalem Xeon Processor
24 GB Memory (12X2GB DDR3 1333MHz non-ECC)
Nvidia QuadroFX 3800 Graphics Card
Boot Drive: 320 GB, 7,200 rpm, 16 MB Cache
Media Drive: 3 X 320 GB, 7,200 rpm, 16 MB Cache RAID0
Sony 18X DVD Player
Sony 24X DVD±RW
Card Reader: All-in-one Internal Card
Audio: Realtek ALC883 7.1 Channel High Definition Audio
Windows 7 Professional 64-bit w/virtual Windows XP
Lan: Dual Gigabit
Enclosure: Workstation with 700W PSU
ISO9001 Compliant Facility
Installation: 5-Stage Quality Testing & 24hr @ 94F Burn-In
3-year on-site service contract

I have been so impressed with how much RenderStram values the partnership between our companies. Not only is my system exactly what I want, but my proposed budget is right on target. I got the partners of the company to spend a few extra bucks on ram and the better video card. I have tried the mainstream/mass computer manufacturers as well as other specialty graphic workstation specialty companies, and I have never had the speed and customer service I have experienced with RenderStream. I'm confident we will use RenderStream in the future, and I strongly suggest anyone from large studios to freelance artists to at least talk with the team at RenderStream. I'm sure you will see, they are genuinely interested in what system works best for you, not just making the money from another sale.

[James Insley]

Good review Tim, I recently have had a horrible experience with a local outlet of one of the larger companies and it makes me happy to hear that there are other options out there, other than the big players... now I just need to find one in the Lower Mainland.

[John Petersen]

Good review Tim, I recently have had a horrible experience with a local outlet of one of the larger companies and it makes me happy to hear that there are other options out there, other than the big players... now I just need to find one in the Lower Mainland.

RenderStream sales and services systems all over the world, I think the LM is no problem.