Calculating phoenix simulations - Virtual machines

Hi,

I’m looking for a good workflow to allow me to calculate phoenix simulations before uploading to a render farm.

I’m currently using xesktop virtual machines for calculations and then sending to garage farm to render.
The rendering I’m happy with, however, I’m wondering if there’s a better solution for running the calculations.

Has anyone got a good work flow for this?

Antony

ps. I’m not using my own machine as it’s not got enough RAM or anywhere near as fast as virtual machines available.