Boxx RenderPro - anyone have one ? What's inside :)

[JezUK]

It was kind of a rhetorical question as I suspected that that Xeon wouldn't be faster, though I can't see why there'd be such a massive mark up (a mark up, yes, but not by that much).

I'm kind of going off the idea of getting a dual xeon render box, even if I make it (a lot) cheaper myself - I just simply can't get my head around the cost & cost justification (i7 seems the way I feel).

[andybot_cg]

I have one of those, and have had it for about 2 years now. It is expensive, but I bought it at the end of the year when I had some cash to spend (a tax issue.) I prefer to build my workstations, but getting that many threads in a small form factor is sweet.

However! It is very noisy at full load. It has a variable speed fan, and it's very quiet when it's running normally, but when all the cores are full use, that fan ramps up, and very loudly. It is indeed like a small vacuum cleaner running. I end up using it mostly when I have a batch of renders running overnight. I can't stand to have it running constantly during the day when I am in my office. I use it for test renders all the time, that is bearable, but not full time.
Hope that helps.

Andy

[JezUK]

I have one of those, and have had it for about 2 years now. It is expensive, but I bought it at the end of the year when I had some cash to spend (a tax issue.) I prefer to build my workstations, but getting that many threads in a small form factor is sweet.

However! It is very noisy at full load. It has a variable speed fan, and it's very quiet when it's running normally, but when all the cores are full use, that fan ramps up, and very loudly. It is indeed like a small vacuum cleaner running. I end up using it mostly when I have a batch of renders running overnight. I can't stand to have it running constantly during the day when I am in my office. I use it for test renders all the time, that is bearable, but not full time.
Hope that helps.

Andy

Thanks Andy,

Noise and heat are two of my biggest bugbears so I wouldn't be a happy bunny with one of those under my desk toasting my legs (my old Xeon used to do that).

In fact, I love how silent (and cool) my i7 is

[posterus]

Hi Stan,
No offense taken at all. It’s a common comment. If it's just a bag of parts conversation then we won't win that argument. BOXX has never tried to be the low cost leader. For a one person operation who has the ability to build their own systems then I completely agree with you. There are plenty of organizations that don’t want to build and support their own systems – but this is still just speaking to the components. For example, there’s a lot of engineering effort that goes into selling and ultimately supporting thousands of liquid cooled, overclocked workstations (with 3 year warranties).

Why do we overclock? - http://www.boxxtech.com/landing-pages/the-boxx-workflow

We put considerable effort into understanding your workflow. Users often say our machines just “feel” faster within their applications. BOXX employs people like me (I used to be a V-Ray user like you http://3dspeedmachine.com/joe/portfolio.htm) so that I can train our sales and support staff. Our competitors don’t do this, they don’t care. If you call BOXX support and say “my textures aren’t showing up on my render nodes” we actually know what you’re talking about.
There’s a lot of little things we do that go far beyond the list of components in the machine. And I know we’re not for everyone, but we are certainly adding value for those who need it.

Best,
Joe

[Donald2B]

@Joe,

I think that's the biggest hurdle most people see when comparing company X computer vs custom built. There's a LOT more to it than just a kit of parts! I build all of our workstations and our renderfarm, but that's due to serious budget constraints. I also see the HUGE value a company like BOXX provides when it comes to support. The down time if a problem arises is usually MUCH shorter with BOXX than it would be for me to order a new part and then have to deal with getting a replacement or whatever.

Sometimes the business side of things get lost in the shuffle, especially for the smaller shops. I've been pretty fortunate not to get "bit" by a strange hardware issue during a major production push, but things can go wrong at the worse possible time. If you don't have a contingency plan in place, you may be screwed. Anyways, I'm a former BOXX owner and now custom build everything...I look forward when I can go back to just picking up the phone and having new workstations arrive ready to go and all I have to do is some minimal software installation and get them on the network!