Devin Johnston Posted December 15, 2010 Share Posted December 15, 2010 I'm putting together 5 new render nodes, I'd appreciate any advice on this configuration I don't want to get something that will be substandard as these will need to last for at least 3-4 years. Thanks -Windows 7 Pro 64bit -Motherboard http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131378 -Memory 12GB http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148259 -Hard Drive http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233124 -Processors http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819117231 -Case http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811152112 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slinger Posted December 15, 2010 Share Posted December 15, 2010 (edited) Looks good. Never seen the Asus board. I would just make sure you have enough clearance with the cpu fans in the case. Also, you may wait on the SSD till the OCZ vertex2 is released with the sandforce s1200 chip on it. Here is why: http://www.behardware.com/news/11200/vertex-2-and-agility-2-25nm-from-ocz.html http://thessdreview.com/latest-buzz/sandforce-firmware-update-confirmed-great-news-for-new-ssd-buyers/ Edited December 15, 2010 by Slinger Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Devin Johnston Posted December 15, 2010 Author Share Posted December 15, 2010 I realize these SSD's are super fast compared to standard spinning drives but beyond opening the programs and booting up quickly will they really impact render times significantly? I know Max does use disk caching but in theory if you have enough ram to hold the entire scene in memory disk access should be minimal.....right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ricky Doherty Posted December 16, 2010 Share Posted December 16, 2010 I know Max does use disk caching but in theory if you have enough ram to hold the entire scene in memory disk access should be minimal.....right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Devin Johnston Posted December 17, 2010 Author Share Posted December 17, 2010 I've just had a major rethink on these nodes, instead of going with 5 of the X5650 dual processor systems I'm going to go with 10 of the i7-980X systems. The Xeon motherboards only support DDR3 1333 ram while the i7 boards can use DDR3 1600 which will give me a big boost in performance along with the much faster processor. Can anyone see any reason why I shouldn't go with this configuration? Also I'm running everything over a 1GB network, I've been told that if I add a 10GB switch to my network any bottle necking I'm experiencing will be minimized, does anyone know if this is true? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJLynn Posted December 17, 2010 Share Posted December 17, 2010 DDR3 1333 vs. 1600 is not much of an influence on render speed. Actually, I'm pretty sure that in this case it would do nothing. You could look this up but I think the default on an X58 board with a 980X is either 1066 or 1333 - this is regardless of the speed rating on the RAM, which should be looked at as the manufacturer's recommended maximum speed. To take advantage of the faster RAM you actually overclock it, which with the 980X you can do without also overclocking the CPU because the X and K CPUs have unlocked multipliers meaning you can drop the multiplier while increasing the RAM speed to keep the CPU speed the same. As for the network. This really needs to be addressed by your IT staff because there are going to be particularities in any network (the rating and quality of the cable and net drop installs, esoteric LAN topologies, etc.) that are specific to any network. But 10Gb equipment is exotic - we're talking $500 per PC for the network card alone - so I can't imagine it's worthwhile to even try. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F J Posted December 18, 2010 Share Posted December 18, 2010 I realize these SSD's are super fast compared to standard spinning drives but beyond opening the programs and booting up quickly will they really impact render times significantly? nope. i've said this before.. my render nodes got normal drives in them n i only see them adding render buckets only a couple seconds behind the workstation.. from that point on its all up to the CPU.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Devin Johnston Posted December 20, 2010 Author Share Posted December 20, 2010 Just to let you guy's know I've been able to get these 10 i7 systems for about $1500 more than the 5 Xeon systems. I'd have preferred a smaller number of total machines because maintnance and updates would have been simpler but overall I think I'm getting a lot more power for such a small amount of money. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F J Posted December 21, 2010 Share Posted December 21, 2010 yep, for the same price per CPU (between those mentioned ones) u r clearly gettin' a substancial increase in performance: http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu_lookup.php?cpu=Intel+Core+i5-2400+%40+3.10GHz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slinger Posted December 23, 2010 Share Posted December 23, 2010 (edited) i've just had a major rethink on these nodes, instead of going with 5 of the x5650 dual processor systems i'm going to go with 10 of the i7-980x systems. The xeon motherboards only support ddr3 1333 ram while the i7 boards can use ddr3 1600 which will give me a big boost in performance along with the much faster processor. Can anyone see any reason why i shouldn't go with this configuration? yes...don't order the 980x. They will not work right. why do you ask...they are not dual QPI chips, which is what you have to have for them to both run on one motherboard. Or maybe you have a completely new build around the 980x??? Edited December 23, 2010 by Slinger Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Devin Johnston Posted December 23, 2010 Author Share Posted December 23, 2010 No I'm building 10 single processor systems with the 980X. Man you scared the sh%t out of me, all I read was "they will not work right" and I was thinking OMG I just ordered 10 machines that won't work I'm screwed!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slinger Posted December 23, 2010 Share Posted December 23, 2010 Sorry Devin, I miss understood your new build too. Can you post the set-up specs? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Devin Johnston Posted December 23, 2010 Author Share Posted December 23, 2010 Case http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811156198 Power Supply http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817822004 Memory 12GB http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820178271 MoBo http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128423 Processor http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115223 HD http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233130 System cost per unit is $1724.00 including OS and build. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJLynn Posted December 23, 2010 Share Posted December 23, 2010 Those parts should all work well together. Just throw in the cheapest video cards you can get and a KVM switch to help manage it all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tommy L Posted December 23, 2010 Share Posted December 23, 2010 You could save yourself 5 grand over the ten machines by dropping down a couple of notches on the processor. edit, oops, I see they are the 6-core. Ignore me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F J Posted January 6, 2011 Share Posted January 6, 2011 oh man, look at that i5 2500K, almost 5 times cheaper than the 6core n it almost catches up, being just a 4core n all.. [ATTACH=CONFIG]40697[/ATTACH] Source Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJLynn Posted January 6, 2011 Share Posted January 6, 2011 The 2500K is clearly the new go-to value CPU. I'd hold off on evaluating the CB numbers until there are a statistically significant number of CB 11.5 results out in the wild. 10.0 is not as efficient a multithreader, it undervalues multiple threads. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fernando Lino Posted January 7, 2011 Share Posted January 7, 2011 depending how much you want to expend....if you initially wanted you get 5 new nodes, I'll buy first 5 nodes and if you still need extra power I'll buy the othet ones later....and you stil get latest proccessors. I7 950 are on sale now for $250, they are 3.06GHz Quad Core....my I7920 (2.66GHZ) after overclocked is running at 3.9 with air cooler system if do it with 950 you still have a super fast computer for low price....I would put some money as well in a good cooler system if you want OC them....Corsair has a good one for very low price too(water cooler system) regarding the case, Cooler Master has a good ones, with a lot fans and water cooler system space to be conected.....so far they have very ggod reviews too. about network what I did is installing mirror copy of my main library drive locally, MAX files still thru network....library drives have textures and proxies...they pick the projects very quick!!! Why do you need SSD for nodes? once they load MAX in memory you get much benefit of those drive I think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now