Need advice on a new rig

[super gnu]

i didnt look super recently but last time i checked (a few months ago..) the intels all overclock -way- better than the amd chips. if you take into account overclocking, things tip even -more- in favour of intel.

[Dariusz Makowski (Dadal)]

Rack case is expensive. Its like 200$ per 4U rack, u might get away with 2/3U... Can u maybe write specs/price here please?

[super gnu]

i think he was planning to build his own rack...

[Dariusz Makowski (Dadal)]

:O ! Can I has 10 too plox ?

[phildlight]

I actually picked up a brand new 42u dell rack for $100 off of craigslist. In fact, I'm going to pick it up today! I also bought 7 poweredge servers for $40 each! They've got 2x 3.0 ghz xeons, 4gb ram and 73gb hds. Not sure how they'll render.

[super gnu]

ha.. i wonder what generation of xeons they are.

reminds me of a time way back when.. i had a friend at Framestore, and was given the opportunity to buy 200 dual xeon 1u renderboxes for about 20 quid each. they were dual 2.6 ghz xeons, 32 bit machines with 2 gb ram, just as everythng was going 64 bit. (why they were ditching them)


now 400 2.6 xeon chips is still a hell of a lot of rendering grunt, but just imagine the leccy bills, and the space and cooling requirements. and, iirc they had just been used to do one of the harry potter films (iirc) so had most definitely been thrashed to within an inch of their lives.

[phildlight]

Well, yes, the power consumption and cooling is a concern I have. The lot was so cheap I couldn't pass it up. Even if I end up re-selling or donating the setup. I think I have the cooling sorted out and I have the power to run it, just depends on the cost. I'll setup the nodes with WOL so they're only spinning when I need them. The xeons are single core irwindale. So I'll only get 4 cores per node (2 physical hyperthreaded cores) but what the hey. Even if they can handle a couple hundred frames it takes a little load off my good machines.

That 200 server lot would have required one hell of a "box" to put them in! The guy I got all these servers off of said he paid $6,000 USD each for these new. Can you imagine what framestore paid for that setup? What's unfortunate about headless servers is there is virtually NO aftermarket for most of them. That's why you can pick them up so cheap.

I'm still interested in building a little cluster unit out of micro atx boards. Seems more efficient and more bang for your buck than retired servers. I just have to get through some of this work before I embark on a big hardware build.

[super gnu]

likewise.. i have big plans for a little diy rendercluster myself.. but currently saving to buy a house so its rather on the backburner.. plus, im waiting for the ivy bridge chips to come out. similar performance to the sandy bridge, but apparently much more energy efficient = better overclocking=cooler running=lower power bills

[Dariusz Makowski (Dadal)]

Dont buy the E5 xeons.They dont overclock...

[super gnu]

yes i know.. those are sandy bridge.. by all accounts the ivy bridge xeons will fix this issue.. although im likely to use the mainstream parts rather than the xeons.. better bang for the buck.

[super gnu]

hm looks like i spoke too soon.. the new ivy bridge chips dont overclock very well.. or rather, they overclock ok, but if you increase the voltage they get very hot, very fast, meaning the absolute limits are somewhat lower than sandybridge. dammit. looks like ill be waiting for Haswell now :P

[phildlight]

Haha. It's like buying an Apple product man. You just gotta jump in at some point!

[RUBIN_POSTAER]

Boxx Tech machines

We have been using Boxx tech machines for over 8 years now and have yet to have one, and I mean 1 problem whatsoever with the hardware.

We have only had issues with software crashes and nasty 3rd party driver issues.

Current config on our 3d and compositing machines is:

Intel Xeon CPU X5680 @ 3.33GHz X 2 processors. Dual 6 core, liquid cooled

48 gigs RAM

4 X Quadro 5000

1 X 500GB system drive

2TB raid 5 storage.

We had tried the CUBIX solutions and had nothing but problems for the time we had them, but having everything internally, BTW Boxx was the only company who
could fulfill our order, all the build your own gaming companies etc, HP and so on could not honor our request.

We have 3 machines in this configuration and we got them for a total of $26,000 delivered and ready to install our own software.

They do follow-up every mmonth or so and let you know about new firmware or anything in general that theythink may help you stay up and running.

In my opinion, money well spent.

This company makes great computers at great prices with excellent tech support. Much less expensive than Boxx but you can choose whatever components you want
in your machine, both through affordability and quality.

Good luck, envy you in your new position.

Torskk

torskk@gmail.com

If u can builb - build U will save LOADS of money and get 50% faster systems.

I wont go in to details but

Home build workstation 48 gb ram is cheaper than mid range BOXXX.

Home build slave u can get probably 50% more speed for 1/2 price than BOXXX.

About HP/Boxx/DELL - they crash alot and give blue screen - prepare urselfs for wrath of bluescreens - as far as my experience goes with them so far...