Chris Drake Posted May 17, 2005 Share Posted May 17, 2005 Hi guys. I can see this has been covered before, but I have written a spec for a renderfarm which I intend to build for work. Please rip my spec to shreds and tell me any problems I might have or any better equipment you might suggest. Node (computer) Specification x 4 • Antec 3U25ATX350XRUK rack mount case £106.37 • Bryson dual xeon server board £254.84 • 2 x Xeon 2.8gb 512k box 533fsb processors £150.98ea • 2 x Heat sink and fan for above £17.22ea • 2 x 1gb PC2100 DDR RAM £74.31 • Seagate 120gb 7200rpm IDE hard drive £43.99 • DVD ROM drive £12.34 • Floppy drive £5 TOTAL FOR 4 NODES £3630.24 Master Computer Same spec as above but including; • Dabs value 19” LCD monitor £174.46 • Keyboard £5 • Mouse £10 TOTAL £1097.02 Rack & Accessories • Rack kit for 6 units £150 • Dabs 16 port 10/100 rack mount hub £29.69 • 6 x cat5e patch cables £1.79 TOTAL £190.43 TOTAL COST FOR RENDER FARM EXCLUDING VAT £4917.69 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ihabkal Posted May 17, 2005 Share Posted May 17, 2005 renderfarms are in demand...animations are being requested more and more... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Drake Posted May 18, 2005 Author Share Posted May 18, 2005 But can anyone tell me if I have put together a good spec or not? Am I missing a key component or using something that wont work as well as something else? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thomas+son Posted May 18, 2005 Share Posted May 18, 2005 would you need a small monitor 15" on each node? Thomas+son Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Drake Posted May 18, 2005 Author Share Posted May 18, 2005 What about a KVM switch instead? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Cassil Posted May 18, 2005 Share Posted May 18, 2005 I think a KVM switch would be better, that way you could see everything from your workstation. The other option is to remotely access the nodes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thomas+son Posted May 19, 2005 Share Posted May 19, 2005 The other option is to remotely access the nodes. yes I just read (MaximumPC) last night- how WindowsXP can remote view the nodes, Sorry for the dumb question. I can't believe your render farm is very affordable, please post your experiences and benchmarks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andronikos Posted March 2, 2008 Share Posted March 2, 2008 You can also use a software that is called "ReFaMo". This is why Ixor has developed it. This softare is like a huge "KVM switch" but with realtime CPU,Mem,Disk IO, etc status information. Link is here: http://www.ixor3d.com/refamo.htm Hope this helps, Andronikos Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tecton3d Posted March 5, 2008 Share Posted March 5, 2008 Hi guys. I can see this has been covered before, but I have written a spec for a renderfarm which I intend to build for work. Please rip my spec to shreds and tell me any problems I might have or any better equipment you might suggest. Node (computer) Specification x 4 • Antec 3U25ATX350XRUK rack mount case £106.37 • Bryson dual xeon server board £254.84 • 2 x Xeon 2.8gb 512k box 533fsb processors £150.98ea • 2 x Heat sink and fan for above £17.22ea • 2 x 1gb PC2100 DDR RAM £74.31 • Seagate 120gb 7200rpm IDE hard drive £43.99 • DVD ROM drive £12.34 • Floppy drive £5 TOTAL FOR 4 NODES £3630.24 Master Computer Same spec as above but including; • Dabs value 19” LCD monitor £174.46 • Keyboard £5 • Mouse £10 TOTAL £1097.02 Rack & Accessories • Rack kit for 6 units £150 • Dabs 16 port 10/100 rack mount hub £29.69 • 6 x cat5e patch cables £1.79 TOTAL £190.43 TOTAL COST FOR RENDER FARM EXCLUDING VAT £4917.69 i just want to point out that the xeons you've spec'd are at least 3 generations old and are not making good use of your rendering engine licenses. You'd be much better off to go with fewer, but upgradeable modern machines (core2, x38 chipset) than more old machines that have reached their end. I built and overclocked 4 nodes from the same generation of xeons you're looking at, and though they were fast at the time, now my whole farm could be replaced by two overclocked Q6600 systems*, consume less electricity, require fewer other parts, take up less space, and generate less heat. *assuming the flexibility of having more machines isn't a concern Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alfienoakes Posted March 5, 2008 Share Posted March 5, 2008 Agree on the Xeons Vs Q6600.. I have dual xeons at work and Q6600 at home and the Quad pulls down the xeons pants, kicks its ass and calls it bitch... ah-em... It is much faster.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJLynn Posted March 5, 2008 Share Posted March 5, 2008 Holy crap. Guys. Look at the dates on the original posts. This is a resurrected thread from 3 years ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alfienoakes Posted March 5, 2008 Share Posted March 5, 2008 Aghhhhhghghghshhahahahahh!! I cant believe I have been tricked into answering this..!! No wonder the Q6600 is faster and cheaper..!! Look.. i did answer the thread quite a way down, and it has been a hectic week......... Anyway Andrew.. anything more to say about the Xeons....??....... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJLynn Posted March 5, 2008 Share Posted March 5, 2008 LOL. I can go on record as saying that paying 2005 prices for 2005 Xeons for your renderfarm would not be very efficient. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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