Serious Renderfarm from Boxx

[Resolution01]

http://www.boxxtech.com/Products/Ren...m_Overview.asp

"80 cores in 4 us - 800 cores in a full rack!

So is anybody getting one of these?

Cheers
Renato

[Blitterswitch]

I am confused, they are only offering quad cores in each node? Why is there not an option for dual quads? It seems frighteningly expensive as well.

[AJ Jefferies]

My knowledge of hardware has been dwarfed by the recent progressions into dual/quad core...etc.

But that does seem astronomically expensive.

Am I missing something?

Do the Boxx units come with a free car?

[Blitterswitch]

Yeh, made of a single carved diamond.

Only for a limited time mind

[dlparisi]

I am confused, they are only offering quad cores in each node? Why is there not an option for dual quads? It seems frighteningly expensive as well.

They're quad quads in each node.

[percydaman]

boxx is expensive no doubt. But while they use mostly the same hardware anyone else does, they differentiate themselves in their service and the amount of time they spend in making sure their systems are rock solid.

Its like 2 people buying porsches from 2 different dealers. One hands you the keys and basically did little in way of dealer prep. The other spent a considerable amount of time tuning the car and taking it onto the race track and putting it through its paces to ensure your going to be happy with it in the end. They then charge more for it. If you can afford all that good stuff, boxx is a good way to go. But if you dont need that expensive peace of mind, then boxx isn't really necessary.

[gilpo]

I can't imagine that Boxx is building these cases and mobo's from scratch themselves. If we could find the supplier, I'm sure we could build them for our own use a ton cheaper.

I know that Supermicro makes a dual system 1u rack unit. (that's 2 complete dual-processor systems in a 1u case). That would be 16 procs in 4u's as opposed to Boxx's 20.

If anyone gets a lead on the manufacturer of these cases, let me know.

[Morbid Angel]

we had boxx at one company I used to work for. And yes, they are rock solid, their service is superb. We had one boxx with bad ram. Without a question they sent a new ram the next day.
I wonder how much such render farm costs?
haha must be in hundreds of thousands. And funny thing is, in several month it will become obsolete

[Sawyer]

I have a Boxx and I have to say their support is wonderful. Next day service on any part. The only other workstations I have had have been Dells and the difference is very strong. With Dell service I had nothing but frustrations I felt I was constantly trying to pass some sort of test to see if I had a problem worth of their attention but with Boxx you call up they know everything about your system and they fix it. My dad got one and it had a problem with the OS and he sent it back and they fixed it and sent it back the next day the whole thing only took 3 days.

[timmatron]

I think we are the only company that has had bad Boxx's.

Their level of QC is very much in question to me. The first two we bought were defective - one had bad ram, the other a bad hard drive, both were problems evident within the first day or so. Those hardware problems should have been caught before they were shipped out. We ended up ordering a total of three boxes a few months apart, and all three of them have had a lot of problems.

Their customer service is pretty good though, so that is a plus. Although they were not as accommodating when I told them I was having problems with my quadro video card. They didn't want to shell out for that one.

But now we just build our own and save a lot of money.

[percydaman]

lol we own some of the very first boxx machines ever sold. They still to this day perform mundane tasks afaik.

[timmatron]

Wow, we really got screwed!

I really believe they are a good company and put out good products. But after our bummer experience it kind of ruined their reputation for us. Plus I like shopping for & building pc's so it's really fine with me.

[percydaman]

oddly enough the boss here wont purchase them anymore either. He might have had a bad moment or two. I think alot of it is its hard to justify their price these days.

[arobbert]

They build their own cases so you won't find one on the market. Has anyone seen other quad quad cores on the market?

[Da_elf]

ive worked on boxxs for a while and all were brilliant out of the box. it would be sacralidge to open a boxx and tinker with it hehehe. the one ive got now was one of the early dual opteron models and even though they are single core chips they still run as good now as they did when i 1st got it