Best render node...again!!

[DaForce]

Thats right.... the 7 x2's would be faster.

So aslong as space, noise and power isnt a problem then go for the x2's

[arobbert]

Yeah, the space and noise and heat is a bit of an issue for me. I'm going to build a cabinet in my basement to hold the farm. It's going to have filtered air forced into it from multiple locations. I'll vent it into the upstairs for winter heat (save some bucks on heat) and vent outside for summer. I'll draw the air from upstairs in winter and the basement in summer because it's alwys 10 degrees cooler down there. It should be quite a contraption when it's done. I'm sure the government will want to know just what I'm doing down there.

[jujubee]

You sound like an ex-pot grower.

[DaForce]

you sound like you know what your talking about

[apexmotion]

For those Canadians in Vancouver that don't want to bother with brokerage and importing from the US. I just bought 2 render boxes from Gigatech Systems in Vancouver:

AMD X2 4200+ $416 CDN
A8N-VM-CSM $100 CDN
1GB PC3200 $106 CDN
WD 80GB 7200 $63 CDN
Case $45 CDN
Fan $19 CDN
XP Pro 64Bit $172.50 CDN
---------------------------
TOTAL $921.50 CDN = $808.33 USD

Plus taxes. Can pick up locally.

I made the mistake of dropping $5k on a dual Opteron system last year for my workstation. Now these boxes are almost as capable.

[andrius]

I also am at the verge of updating my render farm. I was thinking about getting 10 rack mounted computers with these specs:

DUAL OPTERON,244
ASUS,A7000/T/64,AGP
MICROSOFT WINDOWS-XP,PRO
2GB RAM
120 gig hard drive
floppy and DVD drive

For $1,600.00 a piece and $1,000.00 for the chasis to mount them in.

Seems pretty good to me but I'm curious to get your thoughts on that price...??

[gilpo]

Andrius,
If you're going the rack mount route, might I suggest taking a look at rackmount.com's non-proprietary blade servers. If you'd be willing to step down to a single operton system, you could fit up to 50 blades in a rack. I called a rep and they said the dual opteron cases would be out sometime in March and would allow 40 blades per rack. Might save money/density/power in the long run.

[serge]

I also am at the verge of updating my render farm. I was thinking about getting 10 rack mounted computers with these specs:

DUAL OPTERON,244
ASUS,A7000/T/64,AGP
MICROSOFT WINDOWS-XP,PRO
2GB RAM
120 gig hard drive
floppy and DVD drive

For $1,600.00 a piece and $1,000.00 for the chasis to mount them in.

Seems pretty good to me but I'm curious to get your thoughts on that
price...??

have a look at this thread

http://www.chaosgroup.com/forum/phpB...ic.php?t=12220

244 are not dual core
for me the best quality/price render node at this time is athlon x2 4200

i'm waiting for the cutdown price of the dual opteron dualcore

[DaForce]

andrius:
Dont get those mate, they are not dual core. Either get an X2 4200 or spend some more and get a 2 proper dual core opterons.

[arobbert]

For those Canadians in Vancouver that don't want to bother with brokerage and importing from the US. I just bought 2 render boxes from Gigatech Systems in Vancouver:

AMD X2 4200+ $416 CDN
A8N-VM-CSM $100 CDN
1GB PC3200 $106 CDN
WD 80GB 7200 $63 CDN
Case $45 CDN
Fan $19 CDN
XP Pro 64Bit $172.50 CDN
---------------------------
TOTAL $921.50 CDN = $808.33 USD

Plus taxes. Can pick up locally.

I made the mistake of dropping $5k on a dual Opteron system last year for my workstation. Now these boxes are almost as capable.

I'm curious. Did they put them together and warrant them for that price?

[apexmotion]

No warranty beyond the manufacturers warranty on the separate pieces. I'm taking a bit of a chance that I wouldn't take if it were my main workstation. I'll have to wait and see if the reliability is there.....

[arobbert]

That's a great price. Did they assemble them?

[apexmotion]

They're building them right now. They didn't quote an extra build fee, but I'll see the final bill on Tuesday when I pick them up. I'll let you know.... I have a good relationship with them, since I've puchased some other stuff.

[apexmotion]

OK final price for my X2 4200+ render boxes is $967 CDN = $840 USD. They talked me into adding a DVD since XP 64 bit comes on DVD.

With taxes it's $2205 CDN = $967 USD.

They didn't charge a build fee/shipping or warranty.

I installed them last night and it works fine.

[meanadam]

The default max bench isn't a comparison with vray (right?) - dual core = more advantage to the bucket renderer. That is why our test on this forum was important.

I was NOT satified with my Monarch purchase or service. They sold me a wrong size dvd drive for a no-so-small-form case. You would think they would know what size fits.... The cheap MB they used shorted out the onboard sound and ruined 2 sets of headphones, and I was past the "return period". Plus the "Hornet" case is a pile of dogshit.

The machine was not really "a bargin" and it took weeks on weeks to get here.

Now we put them together from newegg in Aopen XC cubes with all the bells and whistles for less than $1000. Machine is up and running less than 48 hrs after order. Although now we are running out of floor space, and I too was looking at 275s - but they are too much money. Time to go vertical...

Also, not that AMD vs. Intel is in question here - the dual core AMD run about 1/2 the ram the xeons do.