one desktop for renders and one for work...

[hockley91]

Our office wants to have two workstations for our 3D work. Some of us here have revit, sketchup and 3ds max abilities kinda all over the place.

 

The individual workstations are great for work. But, they were thinking of having a separate computer (high end typ) for rendering and output only, while the workstation computers could still be used for work.

 

I was looking at the BOXX 7550 series for that computer workhorse. They didn't want high end, but not low end either. Something that would render out much faster than the typical workstation.

 

I'm going to need a computer also for 3DS Max work and decent rendering times. I was looking at a dual core machine with a NVIDIA Quadro FX 1800 for the video card. I think that would be decent enough for a workstation.

 

During off work hours all the machines could be tied up for distributed rendering for animations and illustrations?

 

Any thoughts?

[BrianKitts]

You're thinking of it in the reverse of what would be the most efficient IMO.

 

The strongest workstation you have should be your everyday workstation to increase your efficiency and cut down the time for test rendering and progress during the day.

 

Any extra machines that you have can contribute to either backburner or DR during the day, but if you are going to put the money into a "high-end" workstation, I would be using it all day and then let it crunch through the night as well.

 

Also, there's no need to put all the bells and whistles into extra render machines, all they need to be is a good board and processor and enough RAM. no fancy video card, or anything else.

Edited July 28, 2009 by BrianKitts

[hockley91]

I would agree with you. That does make sense to me.

 

However, if I had the fastest machine, then the others in the office will be wanting to use my machine to render all the time.

 

On the other hand. If the main fast computer is not in use, then I would be using it during the day anyway I suppose. I see myself using both computers. They want me to start producing some high quality renderings on that machine, but yet have it available for others to use for their renderings.

[BOXXLABS]

Hi Adam,

 

Here are some things to think about-

 

If you plan to offload most or all of your rendering to a dedicated rendernode(s), then the workstations being used by the artists probably don't need especially powerful CPUs. Nice GPUs are good though, if these scenes are complex and have a ton of lit, shaded geometry. This will keep 3D design work moving along efficiently. Oh, and 64 bit operating enviroments with at least 8GB RAM is the norm these days.

 

For dedicated rendernodes, there's no point in buying workstations for this. Workstations typically have nice GPUs and big hard drives and other costly components that aren't needed for rendering. You don't want to buy the fastest CPUs for this either... The best "bang for the buck" is @ 2.26Ghz using the Xeon 5520 CPUs.

 

As long as you're looking at our stuff, you might consider something like this

It's two 8-core rendernodes in a single chassis. Prices start at about $5K

 

*edit* If you need another workstation for artists to use during the day - but want for it to be a "dual-use" system also serving as the primary render unit, then again dual 2.26Ghz Xeons are probably going to provide the best price-performance (bang for the buck) ratio.

 

Cheers -

 

Adam

Edited July 29, 2009 by BOXXLABS

[John Dollus]

here's an article you might find interesting:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/render-farm-node,2340.html

 

if you are only interested in rendering performance, the quad core on page 3 for $610 is a pretty good deal.

There are as many solutions as there are stars in the sky but worth considering.