Setting up a Rendering Farm

Ender

Ender

Ender

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Hey there, not sure if this is the right place to put this but here goes (move if not please)

I use Blender to render images and animations, however at the moment i find that my computer cannot render these fast enough. Looking into setting up a rendering farm and was wondering if anyone has any experience in this?

What would i need to effectively do this ? (I read up on the managing software) but would i just need computers linked on lan (probably running a version of linux) with a accessible network drive?

Also is there any places that often have old computers for sale cheaply as i am on a tight budget.

Thanks for any Help
Oli
 
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Ender said:
Hey there, not sure if this is the right place to put this but here goes (move if not please)

I use Blender to render images and animations, however at the moment i find that my computer cannot render these fast enough. Looking into setting up a rendering farm and was wondering if anyone has any experience in this?

What would i need to effectively do this ? (I read up on the managing software) but would i just need computers linked on lan (probably running a version of linux) with a accessible network drive?

Also is there any places that often have old computers for sale cheaply as i am on a tight budget.

Thanks for any Help
Oli
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I know that certain video rendering/editing programs have the ability to render using several networked computers (vegas, after effects) However I'm not sure about image editing, and if you were running linux, would the software you use run on it?
 
yea, Blender is a open source 3d rendering linux/windows- rendering farms have been set up for it using Dr Queue, but from the sites i looked at it didnt go into great detail about hardware/configurations used.
Il be using linux mainly as it has a faster render time in that app then for windows and its also free :D
 
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mines currently a 3ghz pentium 4 (not brilliant by any standards i know :D ) -do you think one new computer would be better then a farm of cheaper older ones?
 
Ender said:
mines currently a 3ghz pentium 4 (not brilliant by any standards i know :D ) -do you think one new computer would be better then a farm of cheaper older ones?
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normaly yeah
somthing with a core duo would rock, but if you can lay your hands on some relatively well specced old PCs (2ghz etc) cheap then maybe that would rule too
also you can run folding on them all
 
Two Options

Buy a new machine then you have two for a renderfarm, next new machine you buy will become your 3rd node. And just keep going.

Or you could use one of the many on-line render farms where you just submit a job and it renders it for you for a very small amount of money.
 
Wasnt looking to spend lots of money on this project in theory i have £500+, though i wasnt going to spend this till after chirstmas on a new computer. However if you think that building a render farm would be a waste of money and that it would be more efficent to wait and build a powerful dual core computer i will go that route?
 
If it were me I'd use the render farm budget and get a DS3 and an E6300 for local rendering then possibly put the current P4 rig on the network as a rendering machine. If that's not acceptable, sell the P4 and go for the E6600 or a higher-spec E6300.
 
I'd say keep your current PC to add to the farm...try to save a bit more money and go for a core 2 duo e6600...it has twice the cache as the e6300 which will help out with rendering.

Or...you could save up until Quad Core is released and do a new build then...you could even replace your current p4 cpu with a pentium D for now.
 
so bascially look to maybe get 6600/wait for quad core - and also upgrade to a 805 dual core or so? Using that as a second machine would it speed up renders or would i be better of selling that rig (not sure how much id get for it) and then using that to help fund a better single rig.
 
I'd have to say, U;d prefer to make the farm, mainly cos it seems to be a much more interesting venture than to simply build a computer from scatch. I found my school throwns our computers that run XP every year, so getting hold of 20 odd used computers shouldn't be hard if you ask around schools that may be chucking there old equipment out.
 
Rokusho said:
I'd have to say, U;d prefer to make the farm, mainly cos it seems to be a much more interesting venture than to simply build a computer from scatch. I found my school throwns our computers that run XP every year, so getting hold of 20 odd used computers shouldn't be hard if you ask around schools that may be chucking there old equipment out.
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You would have to justify the power/space consumption when setting up a renderfarm. PCs being thrown out of schools might not be fast enough to add to a renderfarm is space is at a premium.
 
Space isn't at premium as such, though constraints are still realistic. I read the article you linked to me (thanks nightwish) and think i might be giving it a go. All in all it will be an experience whether or not it works so its worth a try :D

I guess the easiest way to control them would be with a version of VNC ?

Noise might however be a problem- i could try setting up a oil pc render farm ? :p
 
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