Rackmount Render Farm Build

[MorkS]

Hello everyone,

My friend has started a business and has asked me to help build him a rackmount render farm as he knows very little about the hardware aspect of computers.

This is my first attempt at anything like this, I've made plenty of office/gaming pc's but never something like this.

He is using Cinema4D I'll be setting up Netrender (although this may change to TeamRender if he upgrades Cinema4D).

From what I gather having a bunch of nodes is preferable to putting your eggs all in one basket so to speak. That way if one goes down then you still have the majority of your power at your disposal. The budget right now is about $5000 (for the computer hardware only) with the possibility of an increase to $10000 (depends on some funding that may or may not come through).

[strike]I've considered about dropping in an Intel Core i7-5820K Haswell-E 6-Core for an extra $90. However my main concern is that with a much higher thermal it will be quiet a bit hotter and the power requirements might not work with the 1U chassis?[/strike] I just realised this is 2011-V3 and needs a dedicated video card, bringing the price/performance ratio down.

I've gone with Newegg Canada out of ease of use but I don't really care where I get the stuff from. With all of that in mind I've thought of the following...

1U i7 4790S $861.05
Athena Power RM-1U1210B30 http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811192214

MSI H81M-P33 http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130731

Intel Core i7-4790S http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116988

G.SKILL NS Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231645

Kingston SSDNow V300 Series SV300S37A/120G 2.5" 120GB http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820721107

SILVERSTONE AR04 80mm CPU Cooler http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835220065


I've debated going to a 2U system and Changing to the following. It's about $70 cheaper, which adds up quickly...

2U i7 4790S $792.60
NORCO RPC-230 2U http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811219032

MSI H81M-P33 http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130731

Intel Core i7-4790S http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116988

G.SKILL NS Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231645

Kingston SSDNow V300 Series SV300S37A/120G 2.5" 120GB http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820721107

SeaSonic SS-300ET Bronze 300W ATX12V http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151086

I'd love your input! Thanks everybody!

 

[Bossyfins]

So you need a computer for editing, and cinema4d? Right?

 

[MorkS]

He has the computer for editing already. This is only for rendering cinema4d.

 

[kanewolf]

Your budget needs to account for network infrastructure and shared storage all these nodes have to have access to.

How "remote" is the plan to have this rack compared to the regular desktop? If it is not convenient to access, you might want to look for motherboards with true server functions like IPMI. Also, if this will be rendering on nights and weekends, IPMI would allow remote reboot or other diagnostics.

Looking online a little, it looks like Netrender can take advantage of CUDA. You should investigate if an NVIDIA GPU will improve your performance.

Is this being setup in a commercial or home environment? I don't know what power you believe you will have to run this rack. Long term, you only want to load to 80% of the rated capacity of the circuits.

 

[MorkS]

Hey Kane,

This will be very accessible and will be in the basement of my friends house (also his office). The budget he's having me work with is outside of the cost of the rack/switches/whatever else we need. I've already hooked up a NAS for him as well that he's using with his current setup (a bunch of office computers and his content creation computer).

I am already aware (and have made him aware) that he may need to run some more electrical. Maybe a couple of dedicated 20 amp circuits. It will also depend on how many nodes we end up building. Great advice though!

I was not aware that netrender can take advantage of CUDA, I will have to check that out. Again this is a new world for me so this is awesome! Kane do you happen to have a source for this? I can't seem to find it with a quick google search.

Thanks a ton Kane =D

 

[kanewolf]

Since this is a "residential" rather than commercial installation, you can run 240VAC. Autosensing power supplies will handle it just fine. Smaller gauge wire required from the breaker panel. A single 30A 240VAC should be able to run 5500 W with no problem. A smart PDU would allow recording of power usage to document it as a business expense. Obviously, electricity is the recurring cost. If you don't want to spend the extra for a smart PDU, I would recommend that you get a KILL-A-WATT meter and measure actual usage for a node while rendering so that you have an idea of what your actual electricity usage is.

 

[MorkS]

Kane, those are AWESOME ideas! You rock man.

 

[Bossyfins]

I am not very educated within the electrical field, trust kane alot.

 

[kanewolf]

I am not very educated within the electrical field, trust kane alot.

I have been around "just a few" true datacenter designs and installations....

 

[Bossyfins]

😉