daniohayon Posted March 3, 2007 Share Posted March 3, 2007 I've been going through some configurations for a render farm lately and was wondering if this is a good way to get more power for the $$$ I don't have a bunch of old computer to utilize their CPU for a render farm, so I have to get everything new and since two cpu are better than one dual core with the same speed, I want to get more seperate stations as components in the farm. So I was thinking to find a combination of simple MoBo and a pretty fast cpu(one generation old) with 1gb of ram. Put that in a cheap box that will have sufficient cooling, all for about $500-$600(maybe a bit more). At this price I can get few boxes and add more as I go. Good idea? (stop laughing!) Any idea about a hardware combination? Thanks, Dani Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJLynn Posted March 3, 2007 Share Posted March 3, 2007 Erm, no: First, two CPUs are not faster than one dual-core, unless you're talking about Netburst chips (P4 and equivalent). Also, more cores in one PC is better than multiple PCs with the same total speed. And costs less, because in addition to the CPU you need to pay for the rest of the PC. One $1000 box, put together correctly, will usually (in the current market) be better than 2 $500 boxes, but you'll need to do the math for your case. Second, Core2 chips, which are only available in dual and quad core, have the best bang per buck available now. And they overclock like nothing else. There is no reason to buy P4, Pentium D, pre-5100 Xeons, most of what AMD sells, etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daniohayon Posted March 4, 2007 Author Share Posted March 4, 2007 two CPUs are not faster than one dual-core Would it be better to get a server with two Xeon X5355 processors than two QX6700 systems? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mtutaj Posted March 4, 2007 Share Posted March 4, 2007 Dani, What software are you using? I have a mixture of all those systems in my setup now, been putting together for a while now. I'm using Max with FR. Just got done rendering out a 2500 frame animation using my systems and some systems at the firm I'm doing the animation for, and they all worked thru BB at the same time fine. Ram is the biggest thing, but it also is dependent on what you are rendering. and how you want to render. for animations I render thru Backburner. for stills I render using Finalrender DR. For DR I use only the fastest systems. but when sending to BB, I'll use any system I can get my hand on, the more Ghz you can throw at the multiframe job, the faster it will get done. Yes having all the systems quad or dual core systems would be the best. but lets say you had 2 duo core systems and it takes 20 minutes a frame. but you also have 10 older systems that take 60 minutes a frame. for the 100 frames, it would be faster for the 10 systems (10 frames an hour) compared to the 2 duo cores (6 frames an hour). I can get you more info on some tests if needed. for comparison. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quizzy Posted March 4, 2007 Share Posted March 4, 2007 if you're rendering scanline in MAX, buy yourself a single core fast CPU..... if rendering with anything else (Brazil, MR, Vray, FR), core2duo's are much much faster. /says me with a dual quad core...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJLynn Posted March 4, 2007 Share Posted March 4, 2007 Would it be better to get a server with two Xeon X5355 processors than two QX6700 systems? That's not what I meant at all. Two single core CPUs are not faster than one dual core, all other things being equal. A Xeon 5355 pretty much is a QX6700, except you can use two of them, so that would of course be faster. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ernest Burden III Posted March 4, 2007 Share Posted March 4, 2007 Also consider the cost of either a bunch of keyboard/monitors or setting up a K/M switch, the cost of power to run all those machines, the noise that your cooling will make, that each box need a full OS licence...and the space--real estate isn't free, either. The idea is fine, overall. I've thought the same thing. But you can probably do better with a well-planned farm of multi-core units vs. many more single-core boxes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mtutaj Posted March 4, 2007 Share Posted March 4, 2007 you don't need extra monitors or a KVM switch or extra keyboards or mice I only plug in a system if it goes south. otherwise I run UltraVNC on them all. works like a charm, and run it as a service. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daniohayon Posted March 4, 2007 Author Share Posted March 4, 2007 A Xeon 5355 pretty much is a QX6700, except you can use two of them, so that would of course be faster. With that said, I can see that dual quad systems is the best way to go considering the overall investment per system. I can start with two of them (16 cores) and get more as I go. I'm using Max 9/MR/VRay/Premiere and want to create a powerful workstation with a multi core render farm that will take advantage of VRay's unlimited threads(10000 I think). The idea was to get more power for the buck and it looks like dual quads will get there faster, more quiet and smaller in size(cases). If I understand it correctly, only MR needs extra license per 8 cores (right?) and all the rest is just OS license and setup. VNC is the main idea for updating and controlling each of the components. Can anyone detail the hardware that a farm pc should have beside the MoBo, CPU, HD and RAM? And also, what would be a sufficient ram per system without overkilling? Thanks guys, it is greatly appreciated. Dani Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mtutaj Posted March 4, 2007 Share Posted March 4, 2007 minimum amount of ram I would say is 1 gig per core. FR is only limited to the about of Backburner threads, which I belive is 1000 as well in single scene mode, DR is different. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ernest Burden III Posted March 5, 2007 Share Posted March 5, 2007 Related qurestion: If you make a multi-core machine and figure 1GB/core, will the cores share the memory? So if one core need 750MB is the other 250 MB available for the other CPUs should they need more than 1 GB for a thread they're working on? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJLynn Posted March 5, 2007 Share Posted March 5, 2007 Yes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daniohayon Posted March 5, 2007 Author Share Posted March 5, 2007 Are four 1gb sticks(total 4gb) better than one stick of 4gb for a quad core system? Why? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJLynn Posted March 5, 2007 Share Posted March 5, 2007 It only matters in terms of how many slots you have and how much you want to put in. You seem to have a lot of questions like this. I'd recommend reading up on PC hardware sites instead of graphics sites... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sterealkey Posted March 5, 2007 Share Posted March 5, 2007 I dont know much about renderfarms, but I've been on a mission to read up about hardware to build such a farm. A friend of mine at the Autodesk school is also a computer salesman, and he pointed the following gear out and he seems very confident that this is what you'll need to build a kick*ss farm. It is easy to maintain, and super easy to add on, you can start the farm with 1 or 2 blades, and then add on as you have the money to spend. The chassis can take up to 14 blades, that means 28 Xeon processors I'm not too much of a fundi when it comes to hardware, so I would like to get feedback on this setup. Would it work? Server Blade This server blade accommodates two Intel® Xeon® processors on an 800 MHz system bus and features up to 8 GB of addressable memory, flexible I/O, and storage expandability. and Server Chassis The Intel® Blade Server Chassis SBCE integrates complex components and eliminates cables to simplify data center management. It even has communal DVD rom, USB ports, mouse, keyboard and screen output which can be assigned to any of the blades. P.s. I can supply links to more in-depth specs if anyone wants to read more Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daniohayon Posted March 5, 2007 Author Share Posted March 5, 2007 Perfect! http://www.intel.com/design/servers/blades/sbx82/index.htm Looks like the right way to develop a system for a long term. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clown10 Posted March 12, 2007 Share Posted March 12, 2007 I think already for some years about building a renderfarm, but everytime I calculate the cost of computing power, it comes down to that the newest processors are the cheapest. This especially if one considers all the other stuff that is needed ( mobos, ram, etc). Now I only buy what is really needed to do the job, because , first, stuff is always getting cheaper, and second, due to changes in pc architecture in my opinion one should not plan longer than max a year. In my calculations the cheapest machines (power per buck) are the core2duo quads. But if you have some older systems you can go with the core2duo 6400 and a asrock board. I did this, and am quite happy with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
divici Posted July 4, 2007 Share Posted July 4, 2007 Renderfarm: what beasts should be chosen For building a renderfarm with more than ten computers in a cost effective matter, it would be sufficient to just buy the required hardware. So just motherboard, cpu, ram and cheap harddisk. Even the case could be replaced and just these hardware components set in a box, screwed on boards. There would come ventilators in and placed in an air-conditioned room. As Daniohayon mentioned, stop laughing ... What choice should be made in MB? Athlon has had it best days, Intel has made a long jump again. Keeping in mind cost should be as low as possible, what is a good quality choice? MSI offers a good balance between cost and quality, are there others? For CPU, athlon, intel ... what choice can be made and what type offers best quality-speed in combo with MB. Opteron seems one that is suitable for rendering. Is 1024 Mb ram sufficient for rendering? As for 3D studio Max, to run the program itself it is better to have 4 Gb, but maybe for a renderfarm this is money thrown away. Does the speed of the HD (for instance Raptor 10000 rpm) helps speeding up? Is onboard graphic sufficient, as the software doesn´t have to work, only cpu. Sterealkey, I would like to see those specs of those server blades, which brand are they? I appreciate any suggestions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tommy L Posted July 10, 2007 Share Posted July 10, 2007 It is easy to maintain, and super easy to add on, you can start the farm with 1 or 2 blades, and then add on as you have the money to spend. The chassis can take up to 14 blades, that means 28 Xeon processors This server blade accommodates two Intel® Xeon® processors on an 800 MHz system bus and features up to 8 GB of addressable memory, flexible I/O, and storage expandability. The Intel® Blade Server Chassis SBCE integrates complex components and eliminates cables to simplify data center management. It even has communal DVD rom, USB ports, mouse, keyboard and screen output which can be assigned to any of the blades. P.s. I can supply links to more in-depth specs if anyone wants to read more Cheers sterealkey: does each blade need a windows licence? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kulbir bal Posted July 17, 2007 Share Posted July 17, 2007 I don't think windows will run on these blades Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tommy L Posted July 17, 2007 Share Posted July 17, 2007 I don't think windows will run on these blades Then it has to be a linux system? maybe server 2003? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tecton3d Posted July 18, 2007 Share Posted July 18, 2007 Perfect! http://www.intel.com/design/servers/blades/sbx82/index.htm Looks like the right way to develop a system for a long term. you linked the older 50xx series xeon blade system. Make sure the processors you get are the 51xx or 53xx of this newest generation. They consume less power, produce less heat, and are much faster. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
divici Posted February 9, 2011 Share Posted February 9, 2011 What suggestion would need to be done these days for expansion in type of servers? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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