Ghetto Renderfarm

[digitalvanilla]

Hi.

I just got this idea and had to see if it´s at all doable.

I´m researching a new computer for mainly 3d, video- and photoediting.
But that´s not what this thread is about.

While looking around and drooling over renderfarms and such that are way, WAY out of my budget, I started wondering if it were possible to build something like that for homeuse out of really cheap old computerparts that I could somehow cluster to make what would amount to an impressive renderfarm.
That way I wouldn´t have to be too aware of making my new workstation top of the line. I could simply just send animations and other 3d-scenes to the renderfarm.

So, how would I build this and what do I need to keep in mind (mainly about compatibility between processors, motherboards and such).

As you may understand I´m not very knowledgeble about computers, but this would be a super fun project.

If you don´t want to write an indepth answer please tell me if you think this could be done within a small budget (ideally cheaper than a midend gaming computer) I live in Sweden so writing a $ or £ figure could be misleading as prices vary quite abit over the world, but as cheap as possible while still making it powerful enough to be worth the effort.

Thank you.

 

[n3f0ur]

What`s your budget? And what e-stores do you shop at?

 

[digitalvanilla]

well, as I said it´s a bit misinformative to state a fixed budget as if I say $1000 and you look up stuff in a US based e-store my guess is that I will have to pay about 25% more here in Sweden (or after tolls and taxes if I shop abroad)
Without knowing much about prices in US or UK for example I´d say that ideally I´d like to spend under 1000 euros.

But the general idea here is to get as much power as possible for as little cost as possible.
Also I can say that for it to be worthwhile the build has to have more renderpower than an i7 or C2Quad (3ghz) workstation as that is what I´m thinking about buying alongside the budget build.

I don´t have any set e-stores. THe one I´ve most frequently used if any is www.komplett.se , but it´s swedish.