Mixing Chip Brands AMD & Intel when Rendering

[conrad8]

Hi Everyone,

 

This is actually my first post, I tried searching but nadda.

 

I'm going to purchase a render box, and naturally want to go for an Intel q6600 over an AMD phenom because of performance, price and overclocking abilities.

 

So, is it crucial to only stick with the one brand when setting up a small render farm as the workstation I currently use is an AMDx2.

 

I understand that it's not wise to mix operating systems, becaus of the flickering issues caused by calculation differences between x64 and x86 windows.

 

But if I was running the Intel Q6600 render box could my Dual Core AMD workstation jump in and share the network render load?

 

Mike

Edited August 13, 2008 by conrad8

[frank1331]

I have know a few people that have run 2 separate machines with different chips. Never ran into any issues with it.

[conrad8]

Thanks Frank,

 

So can we say quite confidently that there are indeed no issues with rendering on a farm with Mixed CPU's?

 

Just want to see if anyone else knows of any issues, as it's a big outlay if there is a problem that could appear down the track.

 

Cheers

[Matt McDonald]

I've always read that the problems pop up most when you use a lot of procedural textures but I don't have any personal experience in the matter to say.

[tecton3d]

So can we say quite confidently that there are indeed no issues with rendering on a farm with Mixed CPU's?

 

be sure to check the forums of your specific render engine... i've heard of different chips on the same image or animation (AMD/Intel respectively) creating a lot of headaches.

[RenderSpeed]

I believe the main reason is because the floating point calculations could be ever so slightly different. I would not mix on a single project unless you have to.