Configuration for a render slave

[marksmanguy]

Hey guys, it may a be a little too late to ask for advice on this because I already recently purchased the parts. But I at least would like to ask for your input, as I haven't put it together yet.

-Asus Z10PE-d8 WS Motherboard
-2X E5 2680v3
-Crucial 64gb ddr4 ECC ram
-2 Noctua NHU14s
-Samsung 850 Pro 256gb SSD
-WD Black 2TB for data
-GTX 780 gpu
-Cosmos 2 case
-EVGA supernova 1200W PSU
-windows 7

This seems to be a common setup, but just wanted to run it by the Vray community.

Thanks!

-Alex

[alexyork]

All very nice, almost the same as my recent new system. But I would have gone for win 8.1 pro with Classic Shell. All the benefits of win8, easier upgrade path to Win10 when it comes out later this year, Classic Shell makes it all look and work the same as Win7, same price. Everything else looks great. Personally I'd have gone with H60/80 coolers but that's personal preference.

And you might want to look into a second HDD to use in RAID for backups. Or just as a second drive for manual backups.

Enjoy it!

[Dariusz Makowski (Dadal)]

Its a bummer you didnt check ebay. You could get 16 cpus, 6 core each in 8 node tight system for the price you paid for the server above :/ Is this a render node? I would not put GPU in to it, nor SSD, nor 2tb OF hdd. This is not a render node this is workstation right?

[marksmanguy]

Thanks for the reply guys! Dadal, this is a render node that is also a backup workstation if my primary fails. I went with one single powerful node rather than many smaller ones because of the maintenance. More components equals more risk of failure, and also more management.

[alexyork]

Its a bummer you didnt check ebay. You could get 16 cpus, 6 core each in 8 node tight system for the price you paid for the server above :/ Is this a render node? I would not put GPU in to it, nor SSD, nor 2tb OF hdd. This is not a render node this is workstation right?

I disagree about not using an SSD in rendernodes. For me this has made a big difference with how quickly scenes can be loaded when using DBR. Scene files and materials load far quicker, so they kick in earlier, which really helps for test renders.

[Dariusz Makowski (Dadal)]

I disagree about not using an SSD in rendernodes. For me this has made a big difference with how quickly scenes can be loaded when using DBR. Scene files and materials load far quicker, so they kick in earlier, which really helps for test renders.

Not sure how ? All scene materials goes from ur workstation/server hdd, at 100mb/s max speed due to network link limitation, unless your one is 10gb? If link limits u to 100mb no matter if u have HDD or SSD it still limited to 100mb/s.

[alexyork]

Not sure how ? All scene materials goes from ur workstation/server hdd, at 100mb/s max speed due to network link limitation, unless your one is 10gb? If link limits u to 100mb no matter if u have HDD or SSD it still limited to 100mb/s.

Right, but those files, when transferred across the network, still have to land on a storage drive in the rendernode machine and that's where the files are loaded from by max/vray. So if you do this off an SSD you'll find things much snappier. It's this loading process that still can take a long time if your drive is slow, regardless of network speed. Also makes a good difference generally with network rendering since max loads more quickly if/when you need to restart slaves. If you have vray set to reset the slave with each render (which can be a good idea if you're having issues) then this can make a big difference.

[Dariusz Makowski (Dadal)]

Humh good point. Yeah I guess then its good to go full on SSDs :- )

[alexyork]

Humh good point. Yeah I guess then its good to go full on SSDs :- )

Definitely. They're so much cheaper these days too. You only really need a 60GB or so SSD for your rendernodes and you've got enough space for applications/plugins plus temp frames before they're sent back to your central storage/workstation. Works for me anyway, I'm not sure how the larger studios are doing things these days.

[marksmanguy]

Thanks a lot for the info guys. This is really helpful. I have another question. What is the best way to hook up both computers? By router, switch, hub, or connecting both directly? They're right next to each other. Thanks!

[Dariusz Makowski (Dadal)]

Directly the best.

[marksmanguy]

The main workstation uses a Rampage iv extreme mobo with only 1 ethernet port, while the z10pe has 2. Since I need the port to be available for the internet on the main workstation, should I just go with a switch?

[alexyork]

Yep - switch. Make sure it's a Gigabit switch and use CAT5E/6 cables for both machines to ensure everything's running at gigabit speed.

[Dariusz Makowski (Dadal)]

If I'm not wrong you need managed switch so that it would assign IP to ur pc/slave etc etc. Otherwise they wont work? Not sure I was not able to set it up in past on non-managed one.

[marksmanguy]

Thanks a million guys! Just ordered a netgear gigabit switch and some cat6 cables