Building a rack render farm

[psychicpotato]

Hi all,

We're trying to build a small render farm for our group. We deal with 3D animations as well as video editing, and will use the farm for Cinema4D renders, as well as After Effects network renders (once I figure out how it may work).

We're thinking of building a LACK rack farm (https://wiki.eth0.nl/index.php/LackRack), using these components:
http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWishDetail.aspx?WishListNumber=26561966

Most of these are selected from the tonymacx86 guide:
http://www.tonymacx86.com/446-building-customac-buyer-s-guide-october-2014.html

Mostly because we want the nodes to be running Mac OSX - we've heard some horror stories on cross-platform workflows, and since we're mostly a mac-fitted team we'd figure to err on the safe side.

Will also need to get a gigabit switch, as well as a NAS unit for the rendered files. That being said, we're hoping we could get some feedback on our build, whether or not it's feasible, or if there's anything we've overlooked.

Thanks a lot for your time and guidance.

Albert

 

[k1114]

You don't have an msata slot for the ssd and it's cheaper to just get a sata ssd. Change the mobo to a cheaper one?