For Cycles and non-cycles.
Im looking at building a dedicated media/file server and for $ 800 extra I could get 2 sixcore Xeons,that I could also render on.
Ive never touched Cycles, and last I read, the support or development just isnt their or for GPU rendering?
So, do I do the multi cpu server or go dual GPU on my main/Gamer system?
No doubt, go CPU only way if you can. GPU work very nice in selected scenes, but CPU have no restrictions and render anything. More important, it will accelerate not only Cycles render but all other work. go GPU way only if you very well know what you doing (you must absolutely know how GPU memory managed, have low/mid res textures only that fit in GPU RAM in any possible movie frame, count every bit of heat/enegry consumption, etc)
Thanks.
I didnt even think about the GPU memory. With the planed 20-30min(ea) shorts, Im looking at large/res textures and still in the air doing 1080 or 720p for the fin output…
Sounds like the dual Xeon, 2 sixcore at $400(ea) will be a sweet deal and give me a few yeas of service, lol…
Hi, two Xeon six core for 800$ sounds like very old hardware.
Do you have the exact CPU number?
If it is so a modern i7 quad is a way faster with less power consumption too.
Cheers, mib.
There is actually a modern, 6-Core Xeon for 400$. It’s the Intel Xeon E5-2620. However, it’s running at 2.0GHz - up to 2.5GHz with Turbo.
If you don’t need it asap, I’d wait 2 - 3 months. Ivy Bridge-E processors are just around the corner and will provide 22nm layout, less power consumption, higher performance for the same amount of money and they will cause Sandy Bridge-E CPUs to drop in price.
If you’re going to build a media / fileserver anyway, just go for the Dual Xeons.
Oh, may i misunderstood thought he meant a server system for 400$, you get sometimes such servers on ebay. :o
Cheers, mib.
Ya, Im waiting (& cash) till IB-E.
looking at $1.5K_ish for the server and $1.2K_ish for my main(Kepler Geforce/Single IB-E) system.
Whats the current/no babysitting render’R for Cryengine3 game models and a animated shorts?
And what flav of Linux, also will be running Windows media to a Tivo box, havent bought the Tivo yet.
Vray…
CryEngine3? 
Probably not a no babysitting one
So, you also want to upgrade your Workstation aswell? Then, I would consider getting a monster workstation and a “tiny” server. The problem with a render server and Cycles / Blender Internal Render is, that it will only render full images. This will accelerate animations, but still images won’t benefit from a server. So, if you’re upgrading your Workstation anyway, you might consider getting 2x Xeons like 6-Core Xeon E5-2630 or Ivy-Bridge Equivalent, running at 2.30GHz and 2.8GHz Turbo (most of the time they will run at Turbo speed anyway, if your cooling solution is good enough). The Intel W2600CR2 looks like a promising Dual-Socket Workstation Mainboard. I would try to save on the server and put it into your monster workstation.
Im currently running an Intel i5-3570K in my Server (it’s more than enough for a home server, running XBMC, live transcoding media files for PS3, running Apache / PHP / MySQL, a Minecraft Server, WebDAV over SSL / SFTP / Samba and NFS share, software RAID-5 and of course Blender 2.68 in Slave mode and LuxRender). And it still has plenty of resources (of course, when I’m not rendering stuff on it). Also, I’ve chosen a Mini-ITX Mainboard and picoPSU to save space and energy. This server is idling at under 30W (with 4x WD Red 2TB (WD20EFRX) HDDs spinning).
Having a single powerful workstation will give you the advantage, that you can accelerate all your renderings, not only animations (going for an alternative renderer, like Mitsuba, will fix this though). Also, you don’t have to mess up with networking or what else. If you’re going to upgrade your workstation and server anyway, then this might be a good solution.