Possibly brilliant, possibly not.

[Tommy L]

I would like to start a semi serious thread about keeping a renderfarm outdoors.

I decided space is a real issue and Im looking at renting a studio, basically becouse my renderfarm has outgrown my house. Considering the farm probably has a year left in it before the cloud and GPU rendering makes it obsolete, Im considering 'oudoors-ifying' my nodes. Im thinking a big tool box (think Snapon, Matco etc) and some way of cooling it in the summer.

Your thoughts and ridicule would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Tom.

[Francisco Penaloza]

Funny thought but valid I guess

Lets go for the basics first, what are the main problems of computers, if we remember at the beginning of time, they supposed to be in a very clean environment, dust and smoke free, this changed with the time, and now usually they collect more dust that your vacuum cleaner , still I think trying to keep PCs in a dust free environment extend the life of it, mostly because of heat, dirty Fun, or heat dispersion do not perform well and they tend to keep the heat instead of disperse it.

Number two would be Water or humidity, no need to explain that, now an interesting variant is condensation too, I had some problems with a photo camera shooting outside in the snow then when I waked in to my house it was all went because of condensation.

how many computers are we talking about here?? there is a possibility to take them out of the cases and mount them in a rack or something instead, in the garage (if you have one) also maybe buy one of those small shed from Homedepot instead, may give you extra storage for the house and keep your PC's more isolated from temperature and humidity changes.

I live in California the weather is more stable here, but still lots of winds and extreme heat in summer, I used to live in Houston TX, the humidity over there was horrible I think a PC would rust in a week if I left them outside.

You may have better change maybe putting them in the attic?? just figure out a good cooling system?

[Tommy L]

no garage or shed Im afraid.

My issue is that they overheat my house in summer and they take up too much room. I am moving to a smaller place, I lose my home office and gain a large private rooftop terrace. I may as well get a studio, which is probably what will end up happening, but this ungainly mound of superheating computers is going to come with me and annoy whomever I share space with. I really think its life is limited, but I am totally reliant upon it for my current workflow.

If the USA kept up with Korea et al per the internet infrastructure I'd be using Amazon cloud already. Im going to laugh at the bulk of my current setup in just a few years.

[heni30]

When they coined the phrase render "farm' I don't think they intended it to be taken literally:) .

 

The attic is the hottest place in our house.

A small beat-up trailer might be gotten for not too much and re-sold afterwards if you have yard room..

[laszloadrian]

How about a freezer or fridge. You may find a used one on craigslist.

[Tommy L]

It can't look ghetto. Im thinking one of those plastic garden tool storage things, just worried about overheating the machines in summer. I think moisture egress and keeping bugs out would be pretty easy. How can I cool it? Just rely on passive cooling through vents?

[Scott Schroeder]

Yeah, in a Chicago summer where you aren't sure if you are still in a steamy shower or outside those things are going to get nice and baked just not even being on. Humidity control will be on the forefront almost as much as temps.

 

One option to cool it is to get the smallest possible window AC unit and mount it on the side. That would control the temp and relieve some humidity in there. You could look into getting a dock storage kit like you would see on a dock. Those things are often water tight and keep things pretty well out of the elements since.

[Francisco Penaloza]

I would like to know how many computers are we talking here, 5? 10? 25? 3?

The investment in build something plus keep it dry and cool outside in the patio may be similar to replace 10 old quad cores for maybe 2 or 3 Xeon 6 cores out of lease. I just bough 2 dual 6 cores xeons for a total of $1300 they'll will make my little home office hot for sure this summer, but that is when I plan to put them on the garage with some fun system to keep them cool.

Also remember the IKEA cabinet concept, no need to repeat the whole crazy idea but maybe forget about individual cases and put all of them in one big cabinet, with a fan extracting hot air strait to the outside. I would think a few possibilities to keep them inside before buying or building something to put outside some decent equipment.

[Tommy L]

6 small format PCs and 6 x atx.

[Justin Hunt]

you would also want to keep the wild life out of it, rats and ants can play havoc with electronics.

Would distance from the house to your workstation be an issue? ie running cables etc?

 

Must say since building a large shed for the kids to use as a rumpus room for the playstation and their crafts was one of the best things we have done. I have also considered moving the studio into it as well.

 

jhv

[Tommy L]

you would also want to keep the wild life out of it, rats and ants can play havoc with electronics.

Would distance from the house to your workstation be an issue? ie running cables etc?

 

Must say since building a large shed for the kids to use as a rumpus room for the playstation and their crafts was one of the best things we have done. I have also considered moving the studio into it as well.

 

jhv

 

I used to be in a drafty old studio on the west side and had mice living in my nodes. Never did any harm, a bit gross though.

Ill be 6 stories up so hopefully the vermin will be minimal. I'd mesh any openings.

[heni30]

I can see how they'd be attracted to the nice warm power supply. Our cats do a good job of keeping vermin in check.

 

We moved into one place in CA that had a detached washer/dryer + storage-room shed that I turned into a studio and that physical separation from the main house was INVALUABLE for being free from distractions and getting a LOT more work done. Those pre-fab sheds are very reasonable and you can buy a cheaper one and reinforce it yourself.

 

You can't beat not having to commute or dress up for work.

[Devin Johnston]

I've got to be honest I don't think that storing them outside will work, eventually moisture will find it's way in. You really have to find a way to deal with the heat exhaust, what about building an enclosure for them and piping the exhaust outside?

[CliveG]

Yep, I'm afraid I agree with the general drift, you're not onto a long term solution here. If I just leave my tools (let alone my pc's) outside in my big old Snap-on toolbox they're rusting within a couple of weeks and I'm in one of the warmest driest parts of the world.

 

Condensation is your enemy and it will occur at any temperature differential if there is moisture in the air. So putting heat producing equipment in a confined space is going to create your temperature differential and then somehow striving to avoid them overheating is going to bring them in contact with fresh, probably moist air. So there will be moisture condensed out of the air.

 

It works to keep them in your house or office because of insulation and sheer volume of air at a more constant temperature, trying to get this idea to work, long term, in a confined space with little temperature control presents some very real challenges.

 

Personally I'd look for an alternative.

[joelmcwilliam]

Maybe i'll say something stupid, but how about looking at picture's on the web of bitcoining rigs and getting an airco.