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Renderfarm suggestions

M

mleonard

Member
I?m considering making a small renderfarm to speed up some 3D Studio Max rendering on my workstation. I?d like to spend very little per node, keep each in a short 1U chassis, and have 1gb networking.

I?ve been researching, and the price of these 2 systems come to about the same price:

Used Dual Xeon:
- Dell Precision 530, 400fsb (from ebay)
- (2) Intel Xeon 1.7ghz, 400fsb (from ebay)
- 1GB (2pcs512) PC2100 DDR266 memory (new)
- 10/100/1000 NIC (new)
- Supermicro SC512L mini-sized 1U chassis

New Pentium D:
- Asus P5RD2-VM, 800/533fsb (built-in 1gb NIC)
- Pentium D 805, 2.66ghz, 533fsb
- 1GB (2pcs512) PC3200 DDR400 memory
- Supermicro SC512L mini-sized 1U chassis

So which would give better performance? Also a question about the chassis. Supermicro says the SC512L is for a single P3 or P4 processor, but is half the cost of a Pentium D or DP Xeon chassis. Is it safe to modify this SC512L chassis? It looks like the only difference are the fans and air shroud. Thanks.

---------
My Workstation:
- Dual Xeon 5130 (Woodcrest) 2.0ghz
- Supermicro X7DAE
- 8MB PC5400 FB-DIMM
- nVidia Quadro FX 1500).
 
Pentium D. You're gonna need to run those fans at max. So I'd hate to be in the same room as those.
 
You might be better off with core 2 since even an E6300 beats a dual 3.6 GHz P4 in most benhcmarks while running much cooler.

1 E6300 might beat _2_ dual xeon 1.7 nodes, while an E6400 is faster than 1 1/2 PD 805 nodes.

When you figure the cost of RAM, HD, case, etc., 2 x E6400 nodes makes more sense to me than 4-5 xeon nodes or 3 P4D nodes.
 
Either way I don't see you running either of those in one of the 1u cases
200 watt psu isn't enough besides the fact that the Dell board probably wouldn't fit

What would it cost for a single E6300 node compared to those 2?
Maybe 600 or so

I have to agree and say that would be a better idea
 
E6300 seems like a good idea, it shouldn't cost too much more than the 805D and will offer much better performance. Also it won't cost as much to run due to the lower power comsumption
 
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