Xeon coolers - 1u

sampo · 27 Mar 2014 at 11:19

Hi,

My partner has just started her own interior design business and needs to invest in a small private render farm. She's asked me to sort the hardware and I've determined that for the software she uses (3DS max + VRay for final frame renders), a CPU-led render farm is the way forward. I'm thinking of building 10 nodes around Xeon E3-1245V3 processors, with 16 GB ram, 60 GB SSD, mATX mobo and Win7 pro per node. This will give 40 cores and sufficient performance for the work flow she anticipates.

Having never built a server before, I am a little unsure about the physical layout. I'm hoping to use 1u cases to reduce the space required (the E3-1245 has onboard graphics so there will be no pci-e cards to worry about). Do the stock Xeon processor coolers fit in 1u cases (do they even come with a stock cooler?) and if not what are the best options? Is there any reason to stay away from 1u?

Cheers,
Chris

nickcardwell · 27 Mar 2014 at 13:26

render farm rent?
see how things go before purchasing your own?

http://rentrender.com/3ds-max-render-farms/

sampo · 27 Mar 2014 at 14:34

Hi Nick,

This is a route she has looked at but decided against. The company is new but she is not new to the industry herself; having your own system avoids queue issues and generally allows a more rapid response. She also project manages which often means rapid re-rendering as a build progresses in response to unforeseen issues or clients changing their minds. Anyway, the investment required to set up this kind of farm is not huge; not that much more than some spend on a top end gaming rig! While it is not rendering I will steal time on it for CFD modelling for my own company; quite small fry compared to the resource I have access to (although do not own), but every little helps...

I may just go with a 2u build, more space required but quieter in return.

Xelene · 27 Mar 2014 at 20:50

Network is cheap, just burst up compute heavy instances in the cloud as and when you need them.

Yamahahahahaha · 27 Mar 2014 at 21:28

Use linux for your render slaves.

If she has sufficient WAN bandwidth I reckon uploading it to another render farm would work out cheaper... Unless she can ensure high levels of utilisation then you're going to have kit sitting around costing money and doing nothing.