Render Farm - Different CPU nodes?

[Zigiy]

Hello forum!

I am interested in setting up a basic Render farm for my 3ds max work. Basically I have a i7 2600 on my desktop PC, but as any 3ds max renderer will tell you, its not enough! So, Im trying to be cheap about this setup and rather than doing what I think will be a good setup (i5's for around $400-$500 a node) I get like 5/6 old un-used computer CPU's (Most of them around Dual core 2.0GHz Pentiums or Celerons) and buy a small 200w PSU which will allow me to set them up for around $200 each. Alot cheaper.


But im wondering, is it possible to set it up with different CPU's/motherboards.

Please answer, cause if its possible it'll literally save me thousands!

 

[mikeonbike]

Hello forum!

So, Im trying to be cheap about this setup and rather than doing what I think will be a good setup (i5's for around $400-$500 a node)

I get like 5/6 old un-used computer CPU's (Most of them around Dual core 2.0GHz Pentiums or Celerons) and buy a small 200w PSU which will allow me to set them up for around $200 each.

Alot cheaper.

Not really. You need to do the math on the price/performance of each node configuration.

An i5-2500 is at least four times faster than a Pentium E2180 (2.0ghz). At your price comparison of $200 for a Pentium node and $500 for the i5 node the i5 is at least 1 1/2 times more cost effective not taking into account the electric bill. Two i5 nodes will do the work of eight Pentium nodes and cost $600 less to build.

If you are going to spend ~$1000 get two i5 nodes and get 60% more performance than if you spent $1000 on the old Pentium systems.

http://coyoteridgeobservatory.blogspot.com/2012/03/clusterf-24-core-linux-cluster-in.html