building a dual cpu render machine... need advice

[jinsley]

I want to build a render machine for work to process frames quickly... besides a video card like the GTX 580 to have some GPU capability, I would like it to be dual processor.

 

I would like to use dual i-970 processors to carry the workload because they are fast and a reasonable price... I know that typically Xeon processors would be used for a dual cpu machine (i think), but they get very expensive, very fast for something with a lot of processing power.

 

I am looking at this mobo:

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813182176

 

would this work with dual i7 chips??? could anyone make a suggestion?

 

Thanks in advance.

 

-JI

[Matt McDonald]

Dual CPUs is going to send you down the Xeon route. I haven't been shopping in a while so I can't offer you much specific advice but short of buying xeons you'll probably have to go with a 6 core processor (if your goal is to maximize cores without spending tons of cash).

[AJLynn]

Like Matt said - 6-core i7's and current Xeons both use socket 1366, but only Xeons support dual CPU configs. Also, keep in mind that those dual Xeon MB's usually require ECC memory, which is a bit more expensive.

[jinsley]

Thanks all, I wasn't sure so I just wanted to check... sounds like I should buy 2 x 6 core machines with a faster processor (i-990?) and maybe come out spending the same or maybe a little less than I would for the dual xeon machine.

 

Thanks again.

[AJLynn]

You could do that. Check prices on the 970, 980 and 990 - there isn't a heck of a lot of difference in the speed so a lot of people buy the 970.

[jinsley]

yeah, you're right... 970 = ~$600... while the 990 = ~$1100

 

we want to buy a few machines to render animation and render out of AE... do you think that over a few days the 990 would make a significant difference?

 

Also, we are kind of up against a deadline... 970 processors x 3 will take 2-3 weeks vs. 1 1/2 for the 990's... I thnk we might spend the money just to get the boxes in house faster.

[AJLynn]

For this CPU intensive stuff, and those CPUs being from the same line, so you can divide the clock speed of the 990 by the 970 to get the speed difference as a percentage. You might find that it's worth the extra $500.