Render Farm for architecture student

[ckelusak]

Hey Everyone,
Im looking to build a server for rendering using Backburner by autodesk, iv spec'd out a system and was hoping i could get some advice.

Intel Xeon E5-2620 Sandy Bridge-EP 2.0GHz (2.5GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 2011 95W Six-Core Server Processor BX80621E52620

SUPERMICRO MBD-X9DRD-IF-O Server Motherboard Dual LGA 2011 DDR3 1600

SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 7950 3GB 384-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card (11196-00-40G)

Kingston 24GB (3 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600) ECC Registered Server Memory Model KVR1333D3D4R9SK3/24G

Athena Power AP-P4ATX60FE 600W Single EPS12V V2.91 SLI and CrossFire Ready Supports Intel Core i7 Server Power Supply

Thanks for any help you can give

 

[g-unit1111]

I've used a lot of Autodesk products but never used Backburner. I think on a rendering build the Xeon E5 might be useless when paired with a 7950. Go with a 3930K and then pair it with an ATI Fire Pro V5900 or V7800, that will be better for drawing the finer details.

And then that RAM is actually made for triple channel X58 systems, it won't work on the quad channel LGA 2011 systems. You'll need 4 x 8GB or 4 x 4GB.

 

[ckelusak]

Thanks for the reply, im looking at the 3930k and its coming up as an i7, is that correct? The reason i didnt spec that out is because the research i did showed me the i7 and the xeon are basically the same chip, except the xeon will work in a dual format where i couldnt find a motherboard that would suport multiple i7's.. I Will look into the other GPU's and am considering running multiples incase i decide to use the gpu rendering tools rather then cpu

 

[g-unit1111]

Thanks for the reply, im looking at the 3930k and its coming up as an i7, is that correct? The reason i didnt spec that out is because the research i did showed me the i7 and the xeon are basically the same chip, except the xeon will work in a dual format where i couldnt find a motherboard that would suport multiple i7's.. I Will look into the other GPU's and am considering running multiples incase i decide to use the gpu rendering tools rather then cpu

Are you going to be setting this up on Linux or Windows 7 / 2008 Server? That will make the difference for what CPU you go with.

Check out the EVGA Classified SRX - that will be able to handle multiple i7's or Xeons. But you won't be able to use this board on an air cooled setup, you'll need a custom liquid loop.

 

[ckelusak]

I haven't figured that out yet and i want to stay air cooled because i want to make a scaleable rack mount system and don't quite understand the liquid loop

 

[g-unit1111]

I haven't figured that out yet and i want to stay air cooled because i want to make a scaleable rack mount system and don't quite understand the liquid loop

A liquid loop would make sense if you're using an XL-ATX tower. If you're going 4U however that might require an entirely different setup.

 

[janusfirst]

actually there're very few render farms which support backburner...

but i have some questions..
WHICH RENDERER ARE YOU USING?
AND DO YOU WANT TO USE THE GPU FOR RENDERING?

Backburner supports GPU POWER FOR MAX IRAY RENDER,
BUT there is no OpenCl version of Iray,
which means ATI won't be available to use the GPU for rendering in Iray,
BECAUSE ATI ONLY SUPPORTS OPENCL.
However, NVIDIA CARD SUPPORT OPENCL AND CUDA BOTH,
and there are lots of "CUDA only" rendering package.
So if you want to use GPU for rendering,
NVIDIA video card is the best choice(personal opinions)