Network rendering questions.

[thanulee]

Hi, i was thinking to buy a 2nd workstation at home for network rendering both cpu + gpu based.

- Does it matter what cpus i have in both pcs? It will be different chips and different generations. Both i7 though.
- Can i utilise both machine's gpu's in RT?

Thanks,
Thanos

[king_max]

You can have 10 different configuration in 10 render nodes and utilize all the CPUs or GPUs.

[thanulee]

So the hardware models doesnt matter at all? i wont have any compatibility issues? thanks for the repy

[king_max]

I don't think so. I have a i7, 2 dual xeon v4 and 4 dual xeon x5690 and DR is utilizing all the cpu-s/threads without any issue.
The mixed GPU-s should work the same way.

[thanulee]

Thanks a lot mate!

[Morbid Angel]

You also have to consider that with vray 3 and higher you need licenses for additional render nodes.

Lastly, depending on complexity of your scenes, heavier scenes will take longer to load over the network so you must have at least 1000 Megabit network.

[thanulee]

you must have at least 1000 Megabit network.

Thanks mate. I have 0 clue about networks, so i apologise for asking bs, but the network quality is defined through the ethernet cable or do i need something more? thanks

[Morbid Angel]

No, ethernet cable is just a method of transfer. There are different types, but any one you get at the store "cat5" is fine.

The problem is, multiple computers must all communicated through a switch. Its like a router but its just for internal network. So you have to take all your render nodes and create a network with that switch, where each computer can see the other. Then they must have a central location where they can access all the textures/files.

For a startup setup, you can have your main workstation c drive shared to network then other computers can access it and see the files so they will be able to render correctly.

[thanulee]

Thank u very much for the detailed info. One last question, if i wanna have only 2 computers working together, do i still need the switch?

[Morbid Angel]

No, you can get whats called a cross over cable, its a network cable that's colored red. With that cable you can plug one computer directly to another, and they will see each other. From there they can work together bypassing the switch. Switch is needed when you have more then 2 computers.