Hello. I am currently researching constructing a render farm for a small business. We are currently leaning toward a mac construction as most of the design is already primarily mac based, and as we purchase new macs, the "old" macs could be incorporated into the render farm. The idea I have is to take some sort of 4 post rack system structure, face the four outer sides with acrylic or some sort of semi-opaque/translucent material. I then want to basically take the power mac G5's we will incorporate into the farm (about 20 or so to start) and gut them, so I would have the mobo, hd, ram, processors. We would then build some sort of acrylic shelve(s)/bracket(s) that would have slots to basically allow the gutted mobo to slide in and stand vertically/upright. (Following this?) The next gutted mac would basically be rotated 180º vertically in hopes that the offset processor radiators would allow the two boards to "mate" or "interlock", basically sit close to one another, reduce space being used up so we could fit roughly two computers in the space of one. This process would continue on throughout the entire rack system creating a completely custom mother computer. The very bottom of the rack would be faced off with an air filter and an intake fan(s) to draw in cool air from the bottom, the top would be faced off with a fan(s) to suck the heat out of the top of the rack.
I am looking at different mod hardware components to incorporate into this system to help cool the system, as well as power the system. I ran across this device which I thought may help aid in cooling the unit, though I am not completely sure about it's functions and how to incorporate it yet:
http://www.frozencpu.com/products/8541/cas-354/Koolance_ERM-2K3U_Liquid_Cooled_Rack_Mount_Server_System_ERM-2K3U.html#blank
One main question I have is, I would essentially like to get rid of or not use the (overly large) PSU's that the powermacs have in the entire bottom of the cases. I would essentially like to get a PSU(s) that can power multiple of the gutted macs at once. This is where I would need some help/assistance as to if there is anything out there off frozencpu or somewhere else, and how to integrate it into the system. I did find another post linking to this:
http://www.frozencpu.com/products/7137/bus-128/Bitspower_X-Station_Multi_PSU_Module_-_Blue_LED_BP-XSU-BL.html?tl=c38s428b145#blank
so I guess the question is can I plug one PSU into this board, and plug four powermacs into it to get the power they need? Any help is appreciated. This is an ongoing project so I'm sure more questions will come along as we progress unless the custom mod project gets axed. Thank you.
I am looking at different mod hardware components to incorporate into this system to help cool the system, as well as power the system. I ran across this device which I thought may help aid in cooling the unit, though I am not completely sure about it's functions and how to incorporate it yet:
http://www.frozencpu.com/products/8541/cas-354/Koolance_ERM-2K3U_Liquid_Cooled_Rack_Mount_Server_System_ERM-2K3U.html#blank
One main question I have is, I would essentially like to get rid of or not use the (overly large) PSU's that the powermacs have in the entire bottom of the cases. I would essentially like to get a PSU(s) that can power multiple of the gutted macs at once. This is where I would need some help/assistance as to if there is anything out there off frozencpu or somewhere else, and how to integrate it into the system. I did find another post linking to this:
http://www.frozencpu.com/products/7137/bus-128/Bitspower_X-Station_Multi_PSU_Module_-_Blue_LED_BP-XSU-BL.html?tl=c38s428b145#blank
so I guess the question is can I plug one PSU into this board, and plug four powermacs into it to get the power they need? Any help is appreciated. This is an ongoing project so I'm sure more questions will come along as we progress unless the custom mod project gets axed. Thank you.
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