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Render Pockets - DIY Renderfarm kit


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  • 1 month later...

Another 2011-v3 mini-ITX announced this time with quad channel DDR4!

 

http://www.anandtech.com/show/9221/asrock-rack-announces-epc612d4i

 

http://www.asrockrack.com/general/productdetail.asp?Model=EPC612D4I#Specifications

 

Mini ITX 6.7" x 6.7"

Socket LGA 2011 R3 Intel® Xeon processor E5-1600/2600 v3 series

Supports Quad channel DDR4 2133/1866 ECC DIMM, 4 x SO-DIMM slots

Support 4 SATA3 by C612

Supports 1 x PCIe 3.0 x16

Integrated IPMI 2.0 with KVM and Dedicated LAN (RTL8211E)

Supports Intel® Dual GLAN ( Intel® i210 + Intel® i217 )

 

Even thought this is a crazy breakthrough for mini-itx mobos, I am a bit concerned about heat issues with this thing, it doesn't have a standard cpu cooler attachement, so it might have a very limited choice of cpu coolers...

 

I wish I could get my hands on this mobo plus an 8 core i7 to see how much heat it produces inside renderpocket, maybe will have to go double drawer design with this, for better air circulation. So 3 x 8 core i7 or 6 core nodes per helmer to be safe.

 

It doesn't specify exactly how much RAM it can handle, but my guess is 64GB? are DDR4 So-DIMMS available in 16GB sticks?

Edited by artmaknev
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So 2015 brought a few more choices for mini-ITX boards:

 

Intel Xeon D-1540 8-core 2.00GHz (45W) Psssmark: 11914 (Supermicro X10SDV-F with up to 128GB RAM) - Very low energy, less heat. 6 per helmer

 

VS

 

Intel Core i7-5820K 6-Core 3.3GHz (140W) Psssmark:12931 (ASRock EPC612D4I up to 64GB RAM?) - Can get very hot! 3 per helmer to avoid heat issues

 

VS

 

Intel Core i7-5960X 8-Core 3.0GHz (140W) Passmark: 16046 (ASRock EPC612D4I up to 64GB RAM?) - Can get very hot! 3 per helmer to avoid heat issues

 

OR

 

Intel Xeon E5-2670 v3 Haswell 2.3GHz (120W) Passmark: 17501 (ASRock EPC612D4I up to 64GB RAM?) - Can get hot also. 3 per helmer to avoid heat issues

Edited by artmaknev
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  • 5 weeks later...

That Intel Xeon D-1540 looks very interesting to me. If Passmark is to be taken into account (I read somewhere in ChaosGroup forum that Cinebench multithreaded is more accurate for CPU rendering) it is almost identical to my 3930K which is a 130W CPU, whereas the Intel Xeon D-1540 is only 45W.

At the time of my writing the Xeon D was not for sale. I only found the following- Intel Xeon Processor D-1520 (4-core) $199.00;

Intel Xeon Processor D-1540 (8-core) $581.00 posted on Hexus under the comments.

I am seriously beginning to think about getting 6 rack render rack system, Art M.

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I am also very interested in Xeon D1540 to upgrade all my nodes, the CPU is actually embedded into the motherboard, so its like 2 in 1 when purchasing. The CPU does indeed require a mere 45W of power and it seems that it doesn;t even need cpu fan, in the pictures its just using passive cooling which is a big plus to reduce the noise.

 

Newegg is starting to sell them, but its already sold out, I found another site that sells it for $900 (CPU embedded in mobo).

http://www.acmemicro.com/Product/14342/Supermicro-X10SDV-TLN4F-Motherboard-Intel-Xeon-Processor-D-1540-DDR4-SATA3-10GbE-GbE-4-ports-PCIe-Mini-ITX

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Jesus, 900 bucks for that is waaay out of my price range. Shame.

Besides, I would like to be able to choose the motherboard myself. Jugging by the images online the motherboard looked too striped down from features.

Then again- I don't think CPU rendering is the purpose for its existence anyway.

 

On a side note, Art M, Corsair just announced its first SFX power supply SF600. Very small size and 600W of power.

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That Intel Xeon D-1540 looks very interesting to me. If Passmark is to be taken into account (I read somewhere in ChaosGroup forum that Cinebench multithreaded is more accurate for CPU rendering) it is almost identical to my 3930K which is a 130W CPU, whereas the Intel Xeon D-1540 is only 45W.

 

I think Passmark is not very well suited to compare render power...

I have done some comparisons in the past and the passmark score showed a completely different picture than the Maxwell Render benchmark (Benchwell) for instance:

 

2x X5690: Passmark: 14,444 | Benchwell: 820

2x E5 2670 v3: Passmark: 22,886 | Benchwell: 1796

 

So the Passmark score for the E5 2670 is only 58% higher while the Benchwell score is 119% higher!

 

The passmark test is a system benchmark that combines various different tests and doesn't show raw rendering performance.

http://www.passmark.com/products/pt.htm

 

But i think that the low passmark score of the E5 2670 v3 is related to the low clock rate so it is possible that the rendering performance of the D1540 is even better than the passmark score.

 

 

http://www.maxwellrender.com/index.php/benchwell/page/1

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Jesus, 900 bucks for that is waaay out of my price range. Shame.

Besides, I would like to be able to choose the motherboard myself. Jugging by the images online the motherboard looked too striped down from features.

Then again- I don't think CPU rendering is the purpose for its existence anyway.

 

On a side note, Art M, Corsair just announced its first SFX power supply SF600. Very small size and 600W of power.

 

Yeah right now its a bit pricey... I think this system is more appropriate for small servers rather than renderfarm nodes, at least until the price drops a little.

 

Thanks for sharing the news about SF600, I guess it can power Titan GPU now!

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  • 4 months later...

Hi guys, just saw today new hardware for sale already which can be perfect for renderpockets!

 

New skylake possibilities, 65W cpu + ITX board with 32GB ram support.

 

i7-6700 - $329

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819117560

 

ASRock H170M-ITX/DL LGA 1151 - $90

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157669

 

DDR4 32GB RAM - $265

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231973

Edited by artmaknev
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