A little late for this conversation, but here is my experience:
Dual is better - almost 2x. With new HT (2.4 xeon or better) - you get 2 buckets per cpu. Dual machines are typically less than 2 separate machines - so you are getting almost 2x the render power for less than 2x the cost. Not to mention the space, maintenance requirements, and overhead costs associated with 1/2 the machines.
Ram will make the biggest difference - Max out whatever you can get. It is also better to get 1 gb of DDR2 than 2 gb of DDR whatever. Yes, Xeons are faster (bigger cashe). Yes, heat is an issue - get at least 2u boxes and put fans in front and back for flow.
We run dual 2.4 xeons with 2gb of Ram in 4U cases. These machines are about 8 months old.
Now, who wants to talk about HD arrays and stripe configurations?
a
PS - just saw this post - http://www.chaoticdimension.com/foru...ic.php?t=10391
There is your anwser right there.
Dual is better - almost 2x. With new HT (2.4 xeon or better) - you get 2 buckets per cpu. Dual machines are typically less than 2 separate machines - so you are getting almost 2x the render power for less than 2x the cost. Not to mention the space, maintenance requirements, and overhead costs associated with 1/2 the machines.
Ram will make the biggest difference - Max out whatever you can get. It is also better to get 1 gb of DDR2 than 2 gb of DDR whatever. Yes, Xeons are faster (bigger cashe). Yes, heat is an issue - get at least 2u boxes and put fans in front and back for flow.
We run dual 2.4 xeons with 2gb of Ram in 4U cases. These machines are about 8 months old.
Now, who wants to talk about HD arrays and stripe configurations?
a
PS - just saw this post - http://www.chaoticdimension.com/foru...ic.php?t=10391
There is your anwser right there.
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