Helmer Renderfarm update

[artmaknev]

I was getting excited until I realized I would need 5 more V-Ray licenses.

true, I use corona alot so its okay for me

[Morne]

I was getting excited until I realized I would need 5 more V-Ray licenses.

Recommended price is only $420 for 5 nodes (just upgrade your 10 nodes you got from version 2.0)
Come on Bobby, you do 1 render and you have that more than covered :- )

I would love this system for myself, but once import taxes etc is added the deal is not so sweet. We have a fablab not far from me that can do the laser cuting, but even if I buy all the hardware locally, taxes have already been taken into account. Hardware is just so much more expensive over here. It's like all the sweet deals you guys always mention on ebay etc, sounds good. But again, shipping taxes etc and I might as well just buy new stuff locally

[glorybound]

If you are going to sell your old one, after you build your new one, please look me up.

Bobby Parker www.bobby-parker.com

[glorybound]

Recommended price is only $420 for 5 nodes (just upgrade your 10 nodes you got from version 2.0) Come on Bobby, you do 1 render and you have that more than covered :- ) I would love this system for myself, but once import taxes etc is added the deal is not so sweet. We have a fablab not far from me that can do the laser cuting, but even if I buy all the hardware locally, taxes have already been taken into account. Hardware is just so much more expensive over here. It's like all the sweet deals you guys always mention on ebay etc, sounds good. But again, shipping taxes etc and I might as well just buy new stuff locally

I suppose. I was thinking I would need a full seat for each one.

Bobby Parker www.bobby-parker.com

[Morne]

Does anybody know how to calculate electricity usage for these 6 nodes if they run at 100% for 14 hours each day?

[cheerioboy]

Does anybody know how to calculate electricity usage for these 6 nodes if they run at 100% for 14 hours each day?

I have all my helmer nodes all plugged into a single power strip that is then plugged into a WeMo Insight, then the wall socket. The WeMo gives you estimated power consumption - http://www.belkin.com/us/F7C029-Belk...44CACF502BF6F/ - not sure how accurate it is but it's been a neat feature to have. You can even edit the Cost per kWh.

[artmaknev]

You don't need vray full license for each node, just the node license, I believe it is $350 per node or so.

Power usage can be calculated by what cheerioboy said, but I didn't do it because power consumption for each of my nodes is barely 150-200W at full load, for 6 nodes its about 1000W when rendering at full load and I don't render everyday. I have the 65W i7 CPUs to minimize heat, and in a way it helps bring down the electricity bill too.

Here is an example I found online, with 18 cents per KWh, and 1000W power consumption, running 14 hours /day every day, is about $2.52 per day, $75 per month.

I guess you have to check how much KWh costs in your area to get more accurate pricing.

http://www.rapidtables.com/calc/elec...calculator.htm

[artmaknev]

If you are going to sell your old one, after you build your new one, please look me up.

Bobby Parker www.bobby-parker.com

I might,

[glorybound]

You got it, I might be a buyer.

I might,

[Morbid Angel]

I suppose these are dead quiet?

[3LP]

hi guys, for sale is just the lasercut files, its a 100% DIY Project, with the help of free guide that you can download from www.renderpockets.com

I did all my lasercutting at FabLab (http://www.fabfoundation.org/fab-labs/) and I highly recommend this place, they have locations in most major cities around the world.

Bobby - it costs about $50 to lasercut 1 complete case, so for 6 nodes it costs about $300. For each node, the hardware cost is about $950. The total investment into my own renderfarm was about $4500, that's for 24 core / 48 thread (84GHz total), also bare in mind, the cost will be higher now because of the new 32GB mini-ITX boards, when I built my renderfarm there was just the 16GB mini-ITX available. I split this investment in the span of 6 months, I assembled 2 nodes every 3 months, thats the nice thing about small renderfarm, you can expand slowly and start working right away.

P.S. in about 2 weeks, big discount coming for the Thanksgiving holidays

It seems that your complete renderfarm consisting of 6 nodes is exactly the same speed as a single rig of dual xeon 2699 V3.
Your setup is 24*3.4Ghtz = 81.6 Ghtz / single node ~790 points (could you confirm as I had to calculated this based on a 6700k who is clocked at 4Ghtz in stead of 3.4 for the non K version) so 790*6 = 4700 points
2x 2699 V3 = 2* 18 * 2.3Ghtz = 82.8 Ghtz / cinebench r15 ~4500-4700 points

Your setup is about $4500 with only 16Gb of ram, so would be more with 32Gb, and plus the 6 vray license (~2100$).
Your setup would be cheaper than a 2699 V3 rig, but I'm not sure it's really worth it when you compare the gain you have of getting one node in stead of 6 for the price difference.

With one node you'll have a lot of things that will be way faster : no need of spawning (and that on it's own makes a huge difference with large scenes), light cache calculation, etc

Although I love to get the best deals available for $/perfs, I'm wondering if all this is really worth it.

Stan

[viscorbel]

Your setup would be cheaper than a 2699 V3 rig, but I'm not sure it's really worth it when you compare the gain you have of getting one node in stead of 6 for the price difference.

Look into getting 2696v3 instead of 2699v3. Same processor (or rather an oem version for brand name servers) but you can find them 2 times cheaper

[3LP]

Yes I know about the 2696 but I don't know anywhere where to buy it, no amazon, nor anywhere else.
I would build the node myself as it's way cheaper than going through a reseller like boxx etc.

Do you have any link of where to get this baby?

Thanks
Stan

[3LP]

Apparently it faisable to find some units on ebay as second hand.
Good to keep in mind for sure.

I just wonder if it's not worth waiting for V4 as the V3 where released last year and V4 should be released in Q4 so around now.

Stan

[artmaknev]

It seems that your complete renderfarm consisting of 6 nodes is exactly the same speed as a single rig of dual xeon 2699 V3.
Your setup is 24*3.4Ghtz = 81.6 Ghtz / single node ~790 points (could you confirm as I had to calculated this based on a 6700k who is clocked at 4Ghtz in stead of 3.4 for the non K version) so 790*6 = 4700 points
2x 2699 V3 = 2* 18 * 2.3Ghtz = 82.8 Ghtz / cinebench r15 ~4500-4700 points

Your setup is about $4500 with only 16Gb of ram, so would be more with 32Gb, and plus the 6 vray license (~2100$).
Your setup would be cheaper than a 2699 V3 rig, but I'm not sure it's really worth it when you compare the gain you have of getting one node in stead of 6 for the price difference.

With one node you'll have a lot of things that will be way faster : no need of spawning (and that on it's own makes a huge difference with large scenes), light cache calculation, etc

Although I love to get the best deals available for $/perfs, I'm wondering if all this is really worth it.

Stan

The nice thing about helmer renderfarm is that you can start with small investment and slowly build up more and more nodes, with the 2699 dual xeon or equivalent you have to immidiately spend about $5000 which is hard for many people to find that much money for one machine... There is also another reason, you can render 6 images at the same time vs 1 image on dual xeon, and another reason, if there is a problem with your $5000 machine then you have to explain to clients that you cannot deliver work. So there are advantages and disadvantages for both options, it is up to the person to decide what is best for the current situation, not just the GHz and RAM..