Renderfarm with Intel & AMD's

[paulison]

we just got a quote for 6 X2 4600+ systems compared to 6 intel 830 systems. The X2's totalled 20k and the intels totalled 14k. IS there more than a 30% difference in speed between these two chips in vray?

oh about the mixing processor question. I vaguely remember there was a problem when we used maya and mental ray (one pc was intel, the other AMD) where the lighting and shadows for each would not match properly possibly something to do with photon mapping? having noticed a difference in vray though.

[DaForce]

I wouldnt spend the extra money to get the 4600's just get the 4200 if all they will be used for is rendering. The speed increase (200mhz) isnt worth the price hike.

And yes the x2 4400's are just faster by about 33% according to the limited testing on the 830 that i have seen.

See pics and times below

RErender's 830


My X2 4400


Plus i wouldnt be going near the intels, as Intel even admitted that they rushed them out to compete with the X2 and will be replacing them with something fast soon I believe.

[DaForce]

Also can you show a break down of what that 20k is consisted of... seems abit steep to me.

[paulison]

Cool I dont have the component breakdown here but they were from alienware. Aurora 7500's I think with 2Gb of ram and the X2 4600's...they dont sell slower CPU's than this for some reason. would be nice to go for X2's but dont want to assemble them or buy from dodgy computer shops. I didnt realise the speed difference....thats fairly big! a nice row of red alienware cases would be cool though to go with our company colours

[DaForce]

ahh ok well that explains it.

Hoestly i reckon it would be worth while finding a local computer shop that can build them up for you... you would save a packet, and they may very well offer better support than alienware (heard bad things recently)

But yeah the x2's are great

[jujubee]

I agree with Daforce. You can easily save yourself ~$2,000 per computer if you don't mind waiting a week or two. After all, how much do you really use these companies tech support? Just ask around and model one of your rigs like the ones posted in various locations around this handy forum.

[Dynedain]

Alienware focuses primarily on gaming machines... you dont need a good vid card, and all the bells and whistles if you're building dedicated rendernodes.

Check out a local shop, and take a look at www.boxxtech.com