Ultimate node?

[Tommy L]

Ive been looking at buying more nodes. Leaning more and more towards blades (probably Boxx) but Im also thinking that I should fully explore desktop solutions before making my mind up.

Ive seen some Dell workstations on ebay:

(http://www.ebay.com/itm/Dell-Precision-T7500-Dual-2x-Six-Core-Xeon-3-06GHz-X5675-2GB-4000-24GB-8900-/350502430951?pt=Desktop_PCs&hash=item519b92a8e7#ht_2862wt_1396)

$5k for a dual 6-core 3.0ghz

That looks like they'd do the job and I'd rip the graphics cards out and use them for workstations; 2GB nVidia Quadro 4000 (are these any good?)

However, Ive heard that Dell are tricky to tinker with as they do stuff like glue the parts together, not intended for user upgrade et al.

 

Anyone else gone down the high-end-desktop-as-node route?

\

Tom.

 

EDIT: thats like $5k with a free graphics card whilst the equivalent Boxx blade is $7150.

Edited October 27, 2011 by Tommy L

[AJLynn]

I don't really like these Dells off eBay - they say something like "factory reconditioned" but you don't know where they've been and you're not going to get a warranty or anything. Instead, if you want a workstation-shaped node, I'd just make a modified version of the Maxer (look at the link in my signature) by removing the fancy video cards and SSD and stuff, substituting this case: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005ZUZD2K/?tag=andylynnnet-20 and this hard drive: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003SALVN4/?tag=andylynnnet-20 - that would bring it down to about $5000, and save another few hundred if you substituted two of this CPU: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004NSG1DU/?tag=andylynnnet-20 which would bring it down to the 3GHz spec.

[Tommy L]

Thanks Mr Lynn. Full of knowledge as always

[AJLynn]

You're most welcome

[kmanus]

How about 4 of these:

 

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=557085&CatId=4928

 

You can't overclock since it's locked (but you probably wouldn't want to anyways for a node.) It comes out to $3200 ($1800 cheaper) and you get 16 cores at 3.4GHz (32 with hyper-threading) vs. 12 at 3.06GHz (24 with HT) with the machine on ebay. With the money saved you could buy one or two of these GFX cards (or 2-3 more nodes) and still come in under $5000:

 

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=606066&Sku=M452-0582

 

The only down side would be that these are not server class computers. I actually use one of these Gateways for my web/graphics/development work and it's pretty solid. In a jam I'll use it as a render node and it blows the doors off my current nodes (3GHz Quad Core AMD Phenom X2) and renders frames in almost half the time. It only has a 400 watt Power unit as well and doesn't suck up much juice...

 

Also, AJLynn knows far more about this stuff than me so take my suggestion with a grain of salt...

[Tommy L]

Thanks Kevin. I have 7 of those (i7 2600k) machines, 2 workstations and a laptop. Im thinking my network is as complex as I want it to get. I figured I'd take a couple of machines home and put 2 kick-ass machines on the farm instead. Or maybe its time to buy a blade outfit thats actually designed for this stuff.

Whatever happens, I just know that we are being bogged down with animation frames. Or maybe its just time for Rebus.

[Scott Schroeder]

Have you looked into the stuff from Renderstream? They have solutions for mid size studios, though still high priced if you are a smaller studio. http://blog.renderstream.com/2010/06/artie-a-turkey-solution-for-small-to-mid-size-studios/

 

I guess the thing with going to an online render farm versus buying new boxes/blades, is when does the cost of the farm as a per-project cost of say rebus outweigh the initial investment for blades/boxes? Especially when meddling clients get in the way and you have to re-render things. Online farms are fantastic as a buffer if you need that extra power every so often, but as a constant solution? I'm not sure.

[kmanus]

Thanks Kevin. I have 7 of those (i7 2600k) machines, 2 workstations and a laptop.

 

Your set-up sounds a lot like mine, 7 nodes (Phenom x2's), and 2 workstations (one for CG, the other for Graphics, web dev, Adobe Suite, etc). I also have a laptop for home use/training... Well, best of luck in your search!