ADVICE ON MIXING SERVERS

jpvd · 22 Mar 2017 at 14:04

Hi All

Newbie here in need of some advice please...

Basically I am setting up a rack server to use as a 3d rendering farm and media server. I'm looking at doing this with 5 blade servers, with each one setup as a render node and file server when not rendering. The 3d rendering package i use can spread the rendering over unlimited pc's, with each working as a render node. I will be using secondhand blade servers, with max cores as possible for my budget.

My questions is can you mix AMD and INTEL blade servers?....

My understanding is they will effectively run as separate machines on the same network, so shouldn't cause a problem - is this correct?

I'm still learning about clusters - but not sure if this the setup i would need, as i am happy for them to all work independently on the network - not as one - if that makes sense - am i right to think this way?

For reference my current main workstation is an 8 core amd, networked with 2No standard dual core intel desktops acting as file servers for backup and storage, with additional external hard drives, etc.

Many thanks in advance

Paul

jpvd · 22 Mar 2017 at 14:39

thanks for your help...much appreciated!..

this is what i am now thinking:

I'm looking at buying 1No. poweredge server with 2No. xeon X5650 processors running 6 cores each (12 cores in total)

then 4No. TWIN AMD quad core servers running 2.1ghz providing me with 8 cores each, so 32 cores in total

this gives me a total of 38 additional cores for rendering.....plus the 8 i already have on the main workstation

I've priced it up and can do it for around £350 with second hand servers....already have a rack case, etc...

I don't want to form a cluster - happy to have them all working individually - but will they all talk to each ok and does this sound feasible?

thanks again!

jpvd · 22 Mar 2017 at 16:16

thanks again gents...like i say i'm still learning....

RAM isn't a massive problem - 16gb max is needed - its mainly the number of cores that's important, as the software will access as many as available for the rendering. The system i am running now is a few years old now, amd bulldozer 8 core running at 3.8 or 4.2 when O/C, which is old by todays standards - but runs all my software perfectly. The motherboard is a SATA2, with solid state HDD's and 16gb of 1333 ram, which again works fine.

so not too bothered about having the very latest hardware, as i can always upgrade in a few years.....

ryzen processor alone will cost me £300, plus the motherboard - but i do note it will give me 16 threads as you state - so worth thinking about....

jpvd · 24 Mar 2017 at 15:28

Hi All, thanks for the feedback, but think everyone is misunderstanding this...

first off I'm builder a server setup in a cabinet with 1U rack servers (maybe saying blade was incorrect)....this is a given, as I need this setup so my office can expand with it as required in the future.....i'm not concerned about heat or noise as that is dealt with....

I'm not asking whether I should do this, I am asking whether an intel and amd rack server will work together ok of if I should stick to all the same brand of cpu, etc.

cheers

jpvd · 30 Mar 2017 at 11:50

thanks again all....

what do you guys reckon to this as an option >

DELL R905 SERVER
4X AMD OPTERON 8356 QUAD 2.3GHZ
32X2GB ram
4X36GB+4X146GB
2X PSU

about £200 and each cpu has a similar benchmark to my current amd fx8150 8 core....

jpvd · 30 Mar 2017 at 11:51

benchmark here > http://cpuboss.com/cpus/AMD-Opteron-8356-vs-AMD-FX-8150

jpvd · 2 Apr 2017 at 01:42

hi gents

right i took on board all your comments and did some experimenting...

first i sourced a dell poweredge 905, with 4 cpu sockets and 4 cores on each with 96gig of ram. Installed windows 7 after what seemed like hours of messing around and problems, then finally got it installed and it worked a charm, other than i did not realize it only supports 1 cpu or 2 cpu if pro - dammit - face palm - stupid mistake - So i looked into windows server software - 2008 was in my price bracket, but tried it and none of my software worked on it and it was like stepping back in time....

played around with it for a couple of days, got fed up and took it back....the company i purchased it from were great and had no issue in swapping it - so exchanged for a i7 desktop, with 4 gig of ram for £200.....Brought this home, banged in a hdd and another 4gig of ram, installed windows 7 and created a rendering node.....

now my current everyday work rig is an amd fx-8150, 16 gig ram, SSD's, etc, etc - ran a test render with a 300dpi image, which included mirrors, lighting and reflections - too 30 minutes from start to finish. Then I setup the i7 node and ran another render (with both rigs rendering) and this time it took 13.40mins......so by adding just one additional desktop I have reduced the render time by over half....!... DAM i was impressed.....

So I hold my hands up and stand corrected - you guys were bang on the money....

I did learn a lot about RAID and how it works from getting the server, which was great to finally get an understanding of - which i wouldn't have done if i hadn't bought the server - plus i learnt how bloody loud they are - like a jet engine....drove me nuts....!!!!

so plan is to buy a few more i7's over the next few months and take it from there....

so thanks again guys - appreciate your feedback and help with this....turned out great!

jpvd · 2 Apr 2017 at 20:48

i used cpuboss to compare the processors i was looking at against my current system - this gave me a good understanding of how it will perform....

Will look at a ryzen system in a couple of years when the prices level out.....for now my current uprated setup is perfect for my current needs, so all is well.....