system quotation

[Da_elf]

a friend of mine quoted me 2,107 USD (approximately) for a system with this in it

---Dual “AMD” 'Opteron Quad Core 2350' CPU 2.0GHz, Socket F (1207), 1000MHz HT, 2MB L2 Cache
---“TYAN” 'S2927A2NRF' Socket 1207 ATX Server Motherboard
---@ Socket F (1207) CPU coolers
---4GB “Kingston” DDR2 Dual Channel Server Memory KVR533D2S4R4K2/2G, 240-Pin, DDR2 533 (PC2 4200), ECC Registered
---“ANTEC” 'NeoPower 650' 650W ATX 12V v2.2 & EPS 12V Computer Power Supply, Active PFC, Supports SATA & PCI-E, w/ 80mm Fan
---“HEC/Compucase” 'RA448A00', 4U Rackmount Chassis w/Optional Fan Control Card, 120mm & 80mm Fans
---“Seagate” 'Barracuda 7200.10 ST380815AS' 80GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive

[AngelStudio]

well i change the cpu to a dual Xeon Quad Core and motherboard of course.

[Da_elf]

why? has anyone here really done any testing on the new quad amds?

[DaForce]

http://techreport.com/articles.x/13176/1
review of the AMD"s compared to intels.

I would suggest the intel xeon 5345, about the same price.. higher mhz. Faster in renders. Uses more power but still.

Better yet, 2 Q6600 systems. Should be cheaper. And faster unless you get a xeon thats over 2.4ghz.

(been talking to Elf over msn about this now)

[werticus]

last time i looked the xeon's were twice the price of the new amd's for the same mhz.

[DaForce]

Mid 500's for a AMD 2350 (2ghz)
And high 500's low 600's for a Intel Xeon 5345 (2.3ghz)

[dlparisi]

I have no idea about their performance but intel just released the new 5400 series xeon chips a few days ago. Comparable speeds to the old 5300's seem slightly cheaper.

[Da_elf]

whats the specs on the Q6600 system system?
what brand PSU, mobo, heatsink (remember i have to deal with tropical heat) and ram...hmmm i think thats all i need for a render slave (oh and HD but i find they cost the same to get here than in the states so ill save on shipping cost by getting the weight down on those HD's and cases

[bhchllc]

We just built a few Q6600 rendernodes w/ 8G of Ram for about $1100 each including OS. The Zalman cooler is amazing. We had cases and HDDs so they aren't included. What is cool about this is the parts were ordered on a Thursday and on our farm and rendering Monday night, what better burn-in than a week of rendering

(EDIT: I edited the totals to reflect curent pricing - WOW, less than $1000)


CPU-Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600-1x$279.99=$279.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115017

CPU cooler-ZALMAN CNPS9500-1x$47.99=$47.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835118003

Motherboard-GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3L-1x$94.99=$94.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128059

Memory-G.SKILL 4GB(2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 800-2x$139.99=$279.98
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231122

PSU-Rosewill RP550V2-D-SL 550W-1x$64.99=$64.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817182030

DVD-LITE-ON Black 16X DVD-ROM-1x$24.99=$24.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827106040

Video Card-ASUS GeForce 6200 LE-1x$29.99=$29.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814121019

OS-Microsoft Windows Vista 64-Bit Business-1x$149.99=$149.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16832116211

Total: $972.91

[Da_elf]

550 PSU is enough? i thought these bad boys usualy take 600 and up? or is it only when its a dual chip machine that you need over 600?

[bhchllc]

The 550s are more than enough for this spec, the machines are only pulling about 250-300W under load (using a wat-o-meter). It is becuase they are only single CPUs with cheap graphics cards and only a single hdd. We have 650s+ in our workstations but they are running dual CPUs with multiple hard drives (RAID) and worktation level graphics cards. There just isn't much in these rendernodes to suck power other than the CPU which only uses about 125W if I'm not mistaken.

BTW, they have been running non-stop for about 4 weeks now with no problems whatsoever. I will stress again how good those zalman coolers are.

EDIT: These things are super handy
http://www.amazon.com/P3-Internation...4985328&sr=8-1

[Da_elf]

awsome. trust me they will get a god work out here. hehe i dont have an AC

[bhchllc]

IMHO, that is all the more reason to be carefull with dual CPU systems. We used to run dual Xeons (pre dual-core days) and dual Athlons and had a hell of a time trying to keep those boxes cool - especially the Athlons.

[Da_elf]

my dual xeon 2.8ghz machine is ok for the chips but the case sucks monkeys balls in my oppinion and its the ram that gives errors when they heat up so i have a normal fan pointing into my case right now

[DaForce]

Those Q6600 specs seem pretty good. I would however recommend a silverstone PSU they are terrific. And for the cooler I would get a thermalright ultra120 extreme.