Growing into a Render Farm - Need HELP!

[BKE]

I do residential architectural design work - exteriors with grass and a lot of trees, and interiors. I have a large task list of renderings ahead of me, justifying a hardware upgrade. I have a dual 6 core xeon system and I was going to let that become my render node and build a new i7 3930 or 3960 overclocked workstation for setting up the renderings and working in REVIT, etc. When the render is ready to run, I want to send it over to my node and keep working.

Here are my questions:

1) Would I ever need more than 32 gb memory in my V-Ray workstation. (I will let the workstation work along with the node for over night rendering.) I am considering 64gb memory.

2) Should I consider a Tesla GPU to run RT while I am setting up my renders, to see in 'real time' what is coming together? I feel that a 3gb GTX card will not fit most of my scenes. I know some are using RT for production, but I feel like it has a lot of maturing to do. Is ANYONE in architecture using it to simply boost productivity?

Thanks in advance for your suggestions/advice!

[RyderSK]

I am building a i7 3930 machine right now. First, save your money and buy 3930 instead of 3960, half the price, 95perc. of the performance. As you said, you plan to overclock it, I am pretty sure they will run stable at 4,5 - 5 Ghz. My i7 2600k runs at 4,5Ghz for over a year, with unmatched stability and low temperatures.

32 is way more than enough, 64 is oveboard. It's simple render node, not supercomputer.

 

Currect generations Teslas are way too old and slow. Waste of money. If you really consider buying even 64gb, why would you think 6GB Tesla would fit your scene. It propably would, but compared to new i7e it won't provide faster preview at all.

 

Save your money for something more useful ;- ) Choose efficiently

[BKE]

Thanks, Juraj, for your opinion, expressed with conviction! The i7 is actually going to be my workstation - and the dual xeon will be the render node. Juraj - are you using your CPU for Vray RT preview, while you work on your scene? Should I consider using my dual xeon to provide a preview? Your thought about the Teslas being 'old' technology is a valid point. It seems that we are ready for a new, higher memory offering from nVidia.

Thanks again!

[RyderSK]

I actually rarely use VrayRT as I never found it to provide the same result and always needed some tweaks. But if I do, it runs quite fast on i7 already and there is no memory bottleneck because of GPU.

I had big fate in GPU rendering two years ago, when I purchased Octane. But since nVidia only delivered Teslas and Quadros for extreme price it never became a feasible solution for me. I will though, purchase the new 4GB Evga 680 gtx when it hits the market, and maybe use it for smaller interior or design stuff.

 

The current Tesla 2050 for instance is slighly slower than gtx 470 for instance. It's definitely no monster when used alone in workstation.

[Dimitris Tolios]

If you don’t have a really old machine, I don’t see the real benefits.

A proper Sandy E system will set you back anywhere from $ 1700 for the Quad Core 3920, to $2100 upwards for the 6 core 3930. Including GTX 580 3GB and a peppy PSU to allow for some expandability.

 

 

Both CPUs can overclock quite a bit, but I think the 3920 is locked and will cap @ 4.5GHz or so. I believe a 1155 i7 2600K will be a better choice if you think the 3930K is above your budget and you don’t plan on 2x or more GPUs (the 2011 series has more PCIe lanes) and you project the performance increase including O/C speeds, as the 2600k overclocks a bit better and it’s a bit . Otherwise the two quad processors are pretty much equal. And I really don’t know how much faster those would be from what you have now.

 

 

I do believe tho that a GTX580 3GB would be a nice addition to your arsenal (current system) if you don’t have something serious already, and want to get into Vray RT GPU/iRay.

 

 

Teslas and Quadros with more than 3GBs are simply out of reach IMHO. Don’t think those worth the money ($4000 and upwards). Anything less than that, is actually slower or has less mem than the GTX 580 3GB. The C2050 is 3GB / 448 cores, vs. GTX 580’s 512 and retails for 4-5 times more than the Geforce. That’s as much as the whole Sandy E system with the GTX included.

 

 

Want a more aggressive “idea” to spent $2100-2300 on that will probably help you workflow more? The "computer cluster farm in a IKEA Helmer" idea has been around for some time now.

In modern internals:

 

AMD FX-4100 Zambezi 3.6GHz 95W Quad - $110 (edit: the 6x core FX-6100 is actually $130)

ASRock 880GM-LE FX AM3+ AMD 880G - $60

Crucial 2x 4GB DDR3 1600 - $37

Antec 450W - $40

WD 160GB 7200rpm 2.5" - $65

 

Each will be around $340 with tax. $2060 if you go for 6x nodes. LAN Cables, 8port switch, Helmer etc will be a bit more, but you get the picture.

These Quads are not as powerful as an i7, but those do overclock up to 4.5-4.6 GHz with cheap aircoolers (pretty much the same with the 6100), and you get 24 cores (or 36). Now that's some raw power for rendering overnight...or over the hour

 

EDIT: trying to get a workstation myself (working on i7 laptop since I've moved in the US for school), and browsing for 2600K/z68 or 3920-30/x79 configs with GTX gpu(s) for RT that easily break $1500-2200 just for the tower, it's impressive to see that I can buy 24-30 cores >4GHz for the same amount of money as a single i7/Geforce box. I would still get the i7 box as my actual workstation, but the AMD cluster can be build over time as a rendering farm.

 

Cheap Quadros cannot justify their cost vs. AMD offerings imho if it is just for viewport acceleration, and for CUDA are not faster than the GTXs either. I'm also not "buying" the "gaming cards are not designed for vigorus usage, while Quadros are". It's the same piece of hardware, and I could bet that hi-end gaming cards are +)*!#$(_ stressed for amazing lengths of time by their users, being overclocked with uber settings for games etc...surely it's not @ 100% all the time, but neither are Quadros, and designs that are modified from the ref. boards for GTX usually have improved cooling - unlike Quadros that are 99.9% based on ref.

 

So - the big question: does anybody have bench-marked / timed either of the Zambezi chips (quad or 6-core)? How far behind would those be vs. say an i5 2500 or equiv? Some food for our wet dreams . I did not find more than the

xbitlabs review on it

[ATTACH=CONFIG]47451[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]47452[/ATTACH]

The 6100 is not a big upgrade over the 4100, but still you see some improvement. Both are about 55-60% the speed of a i5 2500. That's actually pretty justifiable, as a similar node/cluster featuring i5 processors is about 40% more expensive (heavily dependant on the MoBo chosen for the i5, it's about $2800 with a pretty limited as far as RAM configuration H61 Asus mobo and 2500k, you are realistically looking at $3000 for a newer chipset mAtx - always for the 6-node-cluster). Or you can chose to build a 5-node cluster with i5s for similar cost. Still pretty peppy bang for your buck over any Xeon or i7 "Renderbox"...

Edited April 14, 2012 by dtolios

[RyderSK]

I don't see too much sense in 6 cheap render nodes in regular cases. Too much space/noise/heat/etc. And they still not really overcome single overclocked 3930.

Why do you keep mentioning 3920 ? Is that a typo ? That is mobile processor. 3930 is NOT locked, and they overclock about the same as 2600k. I own both of those systems and both run stable at 4,5 under air, but not much higher, no real reason to go higher for rendering. The 3930 is almost twice as powerful in vray.

 

Slow down.

[Dimitris Tolios]

I don't see too much sense in 6 cheap render nodes in regular cases. Too much space/noise/heat/etc. And they still not really overcome single overclocked 3930.

 

Your actual workstation ofc has to be something powerful. Sandy bridge i7 LGA 1155 / 2011 or Xeon 2011, naturally paired with a proper GPU (even if it's not for GPU rendering). Proper case / PSU / HDD / SSD etc to support that, naturally leads to $1700-2500 tower prices.

He already has something that is not completely obsolete though, and it could be upgraded to respectable performance for modeling and setting up the scenes.

 

And I do believe that when you spent similar money for a cluster of "cheap" CPUs with a total of 20-36 cores, you do get performance WAY better than that of a 3930K or even 3960K, O/C or not. Remember, the "cheap" guys hit 4.5+ GHz themselves, and tho not nearly as "effective" as a Sandy-E, we are talking 4-6x the cores. With $2500 you can buy 5x i5 2500 Quads...no, you cannot match that even with dual CPU Xeon LGA 2011 systems. I also believe that even 5-6x AMD FX4100 Quads will easily outperform it.

 

Why do you keep mentioning 3920 ? Is that a typo ? That is mobile processor. 3930 is NOT locked, and they overclock about the same as 2600k. I own both of those systems and both run stable at 4,5 under air, but not much higher, no real reason to go higher for rendering. The 3930 is almost twice as powerful in vray.

 

The 3920 is not a K (unlocked) processor, and it's the LGA 2011 Sandy-E quad (not six core, unlike the 3930K and the 3960K).

It's slightly faster than a 2600K (both overclocked and on stock speeds), but it's not a real upgrade over the 1155 platform if you don't get to utilize the extra PCIe bus lanes of the X79. So for single GPU configurations, the 3920 is not really better than the 2600K. It's half the price tha nthe 3930K tho, virtually the same price as the 1155 2600K, so if you want room to grow with a X79 mobo (8 dimms, quad channel ram, triple / quad SLI-crossfire with better PCIe bandwidth, and ofc 6 core CPUs in the future) it's not a bad choice.

 

The 3930K is not twice as fast in VRay than the i7 Brian already has. It's about 30-40% faster than a i7 2600K for sure, and about 160% that of a i5 2500K. Surely powerful, but I do believe that if he is after shear power for production rendering, a cluster will be certainly faster.

 

Upgrading to a better GPU to help him set his renders up faster, and then distributing rendering is a messier, yet easily faster solution.

Edited April 16, 2012 by dtolios

[RyderSK]

There is no 3920 processor atleast get your facts somewhere...you mean quad-core 3820 ? Yes, that one is hardly worth the price increase of chipset.

 

Your problem is you're greatly undercutting the price of "cheap" system and demonizing 3930 solution. My second workstation came at 1400 euros, but it has lot of high end components, 32GB ram, 256GB SSD, nice case and coolers. Just low-end passive GPU until 680 FTW comes to market. And apart from 5 incredibly cheap and noisy render nodes, it's also usable as second good workstation.

 

Buying cheap cluster really just sounds like poor teenager's dream. One will regret it quite soon for buying that.

[RyderSK]

There is no 3920 processor atleast get your facts somewhere...you mean quad-core 3820 ? Yes, that one is hardly worth the price increase of chipset.

 

Your problem is you're greatly undercutting the price of "cheap" system and demonizing 3930 solution. My second workstation came at 1400 euros, but it has lot of high end components, 32GB ram, 256GB SSD, nice case and coolers. Just low-end passive GPU until 680 FTW comes to market. And apart from 5 incredibly cheap and noisy render nodes, it's also usable as second good workstation.

 

Buying cheap cluster really just sounds like poor teenager's dream. One will regret it quite soon for buying that.

Edited April 16, 2012 by RyderSK

[Dimitris Tolios]

Yes, it's the 3820. Apparently i don't remember all "the facts" correctly.

I don't demonize the 3930 - the contrary. I just rationalize upgrade paths differently.

Also you keep mentioning noise - with stock or aftermarket low speed fans, it won't be noisy - at least not that worse than any system with a high end air-cooled GTX if anything (idling or not).

 

The "incredibly cheap" render nodes are using decent components, all with 3 or so years warranty. Most of the have better reliability (user reported) record than most "hi-end" current hardware - especially the X79 mobos which people do have a lot of complains from. And those can be turned into "second workstations" quite easily. Till then the cluster of 5 i5s will cost as much as your second 3930 (€1400 is ~ $1800 and with the 680 it will be around $2300), it will be faster, it won't be that noisier (plus you can keep it in another room) and not really that more energy demanding - counting in that it is faster (less uptime), and the GPU-less systems idle way better.

 

Till then, we agree that we disagree.

Sorry that my "teenager" dreams are not up to your expectations. Try to take it less personally and answer accordingly next time - perhaps in ways to help the OP instead of demoralizing your arguers.

Edited April 16, 2012 by dtolios

[Tommy L]

I do residential architectural design work - exteriors with grass and a lot of trees, and interiors. I have a large task list of renderings ahead of me, justifying a hardware upgrade. I have a dual 6 core xeon system and I was going to let that become my render node and build a new i7 3930 or 3960 overclocked workstation for setting up the renderings and working in REVIT, etc. When the render is ready to run, I want to send it over to my node and keep working.

Here are my questions:

1) Would I ever need more than 32 gb memory in my V-Ray workstation. (I will let the workstation work along with the node for over night rendering.) I am considering 64gb memory.

2) Should I consider a Tesla GPU to run RT while I am setting up my renders, to see in 'real time' what is coming together? I feel that a 3gb GTX card will not fit most of my scenes. I know some are using RT for production, but I feel like it has a lot of maturing to do. Is ANYONE in architecture using it to simply boost productivity?

Thanks in advance for your suggestions/advice!

 

Well Ill try and keep it simple, heads spinning a bit after reading the above posts...

Sounds like you need a farm because you are super busy, a very nice problem to have. The 'buy a rack system from IKEA' solution is one that Im tempted by myself now my farm is becoming inadequate. However, I (like you by the sounds) dont have a spare three days to put the thing together.

Taking the rendering load away from your workstation is a given for ALL artists. Those that work and render on one machine are masochists or part-timers. When you can buy an i7 based node for around $800 and double your productivity overnight you'd be crazy not to.

Nodes should be MORE powerful than your workstation (CPU) have more threads and 16GB of RAM should be plenty. If an AMD cpu comes in a couple of hundred bucks less but is half the speed of i7 then get the i7. You can never have enough power. You can never have enough money either, but the faster CPU will earn its keep.

I agree with Juraj on the GPU rendering. I just find it fiddly and inaccurate. Once you have enough nodes for DR, DR is just as fast as GPU rendering anyway.

I currently run 9 x i7 machines, 2 of which are workstations, total cost of around $10k.

[Dimitris Tolios]

Well, definitely the "Helmer / AMD" proposition was not the "engineered" to be the best $/TFLOP or Watt/TFLOP answer (it might be close / or not), but or sure will add some "bang" for its buck - at least way more cost efficient than a c2050 or an xtreme 3960.

More powerful FX processors are on sale every now and then, closing the gap in performance with the mid-range i5s.

 

GPU rendering is impressive under certain circumstances, but when you start looking into 2-3 dozens of the latest breed of CPU cores, even the underdog FXs, you can fine-tune lighting and materials pretty fast, and way closer to the final output. Not that a proper GPU is not desirable, but c2050...meh...if you cannot do it with GTXs, you can buy an impressive cluster for the price of a single med-hi-end Quadro / Tesla.

[Damien March]

Hi,

 

Have been searching online for more info about the Helmer Render Farm and came across this thread.

 

I like the format of the six node AMD FX6100 with the ASRock 880GM-LE FX motherboard.... I was wondering about the spec for the power supply/fan and hard drive - would there be a 10000RMPM model you'd recommend for greater speed?

 

Any advice would be appreciated!

[Dimitris Tolios]

Hi,

 

Have been searching online for more info about the Helmer Render Farm and came across this thread.

 

I like the format of the six node AMD FX6100 with the ASRock 880GM-LE FX motherboard.... I was wondering about the spec for the power supply/fan and hard drive - would there be a 10000RMPM model you'd recommend for greater speed?

 

Any advice would be appreciated!

 

Today, there are very-very limited reasons to go for 10,000rpm drives - especially in render nodes where technically there are no capacity issues.

I doubt that it will make much of a difference anyways in the long run, but if I wanted the most cost-effective yet fast solution, I would opt for 64GB SSDs. Prices in many cases are half of what it used to be back in April when this thread was started, so I see no reason going for a much larger HDD: the cheapest HDDs you can find cost more or less the same, and considerably slower - unless you opt for a 2.5" Drive, which again will be slower.

 

Also if the FX6100 is apealing to you, then make sure you check out the FX8120 too...occasionally on sale cloes to $130 - usually $20-25 more than the FX6100 - is definitely a good "upgrade" given you can find a suitable mATX board (that supports 125W+ CPUs - the 6100 is 95W).

[Damien March]

Searched online today to make price comparisons between the original spec and the FX8120/FX8150.

 

I'd like to max out the sytem with the third or fourth option below...but I'm still not sure about the hard drive and power supply....could be better?

 

6CORE (3.30GHz) x 8GB NODE

CPU Six core AMD FX6100 (3.3GHz, 3.9GHz Turbo) = €107.11

Motherboard - ASRock 880GM-LEF (Socket AM3+, AMD 880G, DDR3, S-ATA 300, Micro ATX, Supports AM3+ Processor, 8-Core CPU) = €52.98

Memory 8GB- Crucial 2 x 4GB DDR3 1600 = €44.30

Power supply with fan - Antec 450W = €49.35

Hard Drive - WD Scorpio Black WD1600BJKT - Hard drive - 160 GB - internal - 2.5" - SATA-300 - 7200 rpm - buffer: 32 MB = €40

Cost of node: €293.74

 

8CORE (3.10GHz) x 8GB NODE

CPU Eight core AMD FX-Series FX-8120 Black Edition Eight Core Processor (3.10 GHz, 16MB Cache, Socket AM3+, 125W)

Part Number: FD8120FRW8KGU = €144.19

Motherboard - ASRock 880GM-LEF (Socket AM3+, AMD 880G, DDR3, S-ATA 300, Micro ATX, Supports AM3+ Processor, 8-Core CPU) = €52.98

Memory 8GB- Crucial 2 x 4GB DDR3 1600 = €44.30

Power supply with fan - Antec 450W = €49.35

Hard Drive - WD Scorpio Black WD1600BJKT - Hard drive - 160 GB - internal - 2.5" - SATA-300 - 7200 rpm - buffer: 32 MB = €40

Cost of node: €330.82

8CORE (3.10GHz) x 16GB NODE

CPU Eight core AMD FX-Series FX-8120 Black Edition Eight Core Processor (3.10 GHz, 16MB Cache, Socket AM3+, 125W)

Part Number: FD8120FRW8KGU = €144.19

Motherboard - Asus M5A78L-M/USB3 HDMI Motherboard (Socket AM3+, Up to 16GB DDR3, USB 3.0, uATX) = €63.43

Memory 16GB - Kingston ValueRAM - Memory - 8 GB : 2 x 4 GB - DIMM 240-pin - DDR3 - 1333 MHz / PC3-10600 - CL9 - 1.5 V - unbuffered Part Number: ECCKVR1333D3E9SK2/8G €33.59 x 2 = €67.18

Power supply with fan - Antec 450W = €49.35

Hard Drive - WD Scorpio Black WD1600BJKT - Hard drive - 160 GB - internal - 2.5" - SATA-300 - 7200 rpm - buffer: 32MB = €40

Cost of node: €364.15

 

 

 

8CORE (3.6GHz) x 16GB NODE

CPU Eight core AMD FX-Series FX-8150 Black Edition Eight Core Processor (3.60GHz, 16MB, L3 Cache, Socket AM3+,125W)

Part Number: FD8150FRGUBOX = €173

Motherboard - Asus M5A78L-M/USB3 HDMI Motherboard (Socket AM3+, Up to 16GB DDR3, USB 3.0, uATX) = €63.43

Memory 16GB - Kingston ValueRAM - Memory - 8 GB : 2 x 4 GB - DIMM 240-pin - DDR3 - 1333 MHz / PC3-10600 - CL9 - 1.5 V - unbuffered Part Number: ECCKVR1333D3E9SK2/8G €33.59 x 2 = €67.18

Power supply with fan - Antec 450W = €49.35

Hard Drive - WD Scorpio Black WD1600BJKT - Hard drive - 160 GB - internal - 2.5" - SATA-300 - 7200 rpm - buffer: 32MB = €40

Cost of node: €392.96 I read somewher that in a CPU/Motherboard bundle of the above it uses 32GB? Cant find that info on the manufacturers website!

 

Let me know what you think. I

[Dimitris Tolios]

The PSU is a bit pricey - Basic Antec 450W for 55 euros? Ouch...Am I out of Europe for that long?

 

The HDD will work fine for the price, but low platter density @ 160GB disk won't deliver much speed-wise. 7200rpm or not. With 60/64 SSDs in the €50-55 range I would go for those. Again, in the bigger scheme of things, I don't know what difference it will make: both HDD and SSD will be faster than the GBit connection that will be feeding the nodes, so I don't know if you will have much more than faster boot-up and a silly reduction in power draw with the SSD.

 

Unfortunately the mAtx offerings for the FX processors are pretty limited atm. Mainly for providing very limited overclocking with the CPU and not supporting more than 8GB Ram. Only one Asus does I think. There is no mAtx with the 9xx series chipset.

I know O/C sounds greedy for many, but when you can have a 25-30% performance gain throughout your nodes with O/C for "free" or for €10-20 more on the mobo (ok, electricity bill does take a hit too!), its feels a waste not to. FX chips are taking O/C pretty good

 

So You have to pretty much choose if you really have to stick with mATX for the shake of the IKEA Helmer, or move on and look into more open, DIY cases, were ATX would work just fine:

 

 

 

 

I know - not that pretty, but good for brainstorming.

 

Another Idea would be cutting the back of the helmer, to mount the PSU or even the mobo hanging/being cantilevered partially from the back.

 

EDIT: and the coolest looking DIY computing cluster yet...

Edited September 12, 2012 by dtolios

[Damien March]

I have no problem moving away from the "Helmer"....I actually prefer the idea of making something bespoke!

O/C sounds good to me....the more I can clock out of the setup the less time I spend rendering! Have just looked at WD website WD Green HDD...if they use less juice dont mind spending the extra money especially if they speed up the system.

What did you think of the mobo and CPU set up.

Things have got pricey this side of the pond with the Euro going downhill.

[Dimitris Tolios]

I have no problem moving away from the "Helmer"....I actually prefer the idea of making something bespoke!

O/C sounds good to me....the more I can clock out of the setup the less time I spend rendering! Have just looked at WD website WD Green HDD...if they use less juice dont mind spending the extra money especially if they speed up the system.

What did you think of the mobo and CPU set up.

Things have got pricey this side of the pond with the Euro going downhill.

 

As I've told you, mATX 8xx chipset boards are fine if you can live with the RAM limitations, and you don't care about O/C.

 

WD Greens or Blues do save energy, but...we are talking 5Watts here and there - thats less than a 120mm fan, and pretty much nothing in the bigger scheme of things when you have node that will draw 150-200W (depending on O/Cing or not) under rendering load. 5W +/- is within statistical errors or adding / removing a fan into the equation.

 

If you want to save on energy, you pretty much limit your choices to more efficient PSUs: 80+ Silver or Gold will save you multiple times the difference of switching to a Caviar Green instead of Black. Greens don't speed up the system, are technically slower than the Blacks to save more energy, and actually Samsung and Seagate low power HDDs are even more economical. 6.5W vs 7.2W or something ridiculous like that doesn't worth mentioning, unless you are trying to maximize your battery runtime on a mobile device.

 

Small form factor PSUs like this one could do the job, being Gold Certified: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151113

[jackbird]

Wondering what you think of the following bottom-dollar render node config, using what I understand to be your recommendations above (all parts retail @ Microcenter, rebates counted in price):

 

BIOStar A960G - $0

AMD FX 6100 - $110 (Would go for the 8120 for $30 more, but for motherboard wattage limitation)

Win 7 Professional OEM - $139 (can I go with Home to save a few bucks in a 1-CPU box? Or Windows Home Server 2011 ($50!) to save many bucks?)

OCZ Technology Vertex Plus R2 60GB SSD - $30

Antec Earthwatts 350W PSU - $40

Crucial 2 x 8GB DDR3 - 1600 - $100 (Motherboard Specs claim 16 GB support, but you mentioned above that wasn't possible...)

PowerSpec TX-381 mATX case - $30 (IKEA bashing sounds fun but I can't commit the time right now)

 

Total: $449

Edited September 24, 2012 by jackbird

[Dimitris Tolios]

Wondering what you think of the following bottom-dollar render node config, using what I understand to be your recommendations above (all parts retail @ Microcenter, rebates counted in price):

 

BIOStar A960G - $0

AMD FX 6100 - $110 (Would go for the 8120 for $30 more, but for motherboard wattage limitation)

Win 7 Professional OEM - $139 (can I go with Home to save a few bucks in a 1-CPU box? Or Windows Home Server 2011 ($50!) to save many bucks?)

OCZ Technology Vertex Plus R2 60GB SSD - $30

Antec Earthwatts 350W PSU - $40

Crucial 2 x 8GB DDR3 - 1600 - $100 (Motherboard Specs claim 16 GB support, but you mentioned above that wasn't possible...)

PowerSpec TX-381 mATX case - $30 (IKEA bashing sounds fun but I can't commit the time right now)

 

Total: $449

 

The MS Home vs. Pro debate boils down to capability for more than 16GB of RAM which is already limited by your board, Remote Desktop (which might be an issue but you can always control your nodes by hooking up KVM switch or USB mouse/kb and monitor on the fly etc). I doubt you will need domain join or network backup etc. I really don't know what the limitations of Home Server are (if any).

 

The FX6100 does drag behind the 8120. The extra expense for the 81xx is justified, but we run in Mobo limitations, given the mATX requirement (if it has to stand).

 

The mobo you chose does support 16GB properly. Issues were found with mobos supporting the 8120 + 16GB in the mATX format, where the available boards use a specific version of the 8xx AMD chipsets that is limited to 8GB usually. The 760 chipset in that particular Biostar 960G does 16GB.

 

In a nutshell, if you want to stick with mATX and 16GB RAM, and that's your top dollar budget, the node should work just fine for you.

[jackbird]

I'm not wedded to mATX, but it appears going full-size ATX adds $100 to the motherboard (since this one is on sale for $10 before/$0 after rebate) and some to the case as well. Add the $30 for the processor bump and we're significantly higher.

 

After looking at the Newegg reviews for that motherboard (yikes!) and deciding raw CPU speed is more important than >8GB scenes, I have:

 

ASrock 880GM - $17

AMD FX 8120 - $140

Win 7 Home Premium - $109

OCZ Technology Vertex Plus R2 60GB SSD - $30

Antec Earthwatts 350W PSU - $40

Crucial 2 x 4GB DDR3 - 1600 - $40

LinkWorld LC323 ATX case - $20

 

Total: $396

 

Do I need an aftermarket cooler for this if I don't OC?

Edited September 24, 2012 by jackbird

[Dimitris Tolios]

Sorry if I don't see the rebate etc (did not mess with add-to-cart @ Microcenter), but I would go with Asus M5A78L. Appears to have all the basics there (including 16GB support @ mATX), and its $5 or so more than the asrock (guess diff will be the same after combo pricing). Not that you have to have 16 GBs, but...

 

If you get the boxed 8120 with a factory cooler, you should do fine using it.

Edited September 24, 2012 by dtolios

[jackbird]

Thanks. Getting Win7 System Builder from Amazon instead of Microcenter saves about the price difference so the whole build stays under $400.