best render farm for $500

V

Volk

Limp Gawd
Joined
Mar 20, 2003
Messages
169
I have a main P4 3.0 HT 1gb corsair 3500 radeon 9800 pro Viewsonic 22" + Sony 19". Lately my render times are insane and was looking to speed things up a bit. This is my main pc used for gaming + work.

What would be the best solution for using backburn with 3dsmax? One more box with dual CPUs, or 2 more with individual CPUs? Looking at some dual amd mps. I have a tnt2, hdd, sony 15", a tv tuner card, and case just sitting here already. With the tv tuner can use it as a tv box also.

I can use my main p4 system, plus this one (or two) I am planning to build, plus the amd 1ghz in the other room, should speed up rendering times a bit.

Or any other solutions someone can think of?
 
i think a single dual will perform better. You will have slightly more overhead with more single cpu's.

The best way is a MSI K7D Master i guess. Cpu's.. whatever suits your budget.

i'm sure you can get a dual 2500+(mobile) and a k7d for around 500.
 
Does 3DSM support network rendering? If so, you can just get a bunch of older and very cheap computers... :D

If not, a dual AthlonMP 2500+ OCed would be the best bang for the buck, even though the Athlons aren't exactly rendering powerhouses.
 
I don't fold, so I don't visit the folding section often. But there are quite a few people there who do farm work. You might consult with them.

They may not provide you information though if you wont commit to folding though.

You should be able to set up something involving headless and perhaps even diskless boxes if you're willing to go through the effort.
 
MSI Master-L board
2x XP-Mobile 2600+ OC'd to whatever you want
Probabily ~1 gig RAM to stay in budget (doesnt have to be more than PC2100)
Cheapest vid card possible (doesnt help rendering)
Spare/cheap case
Antec TruePower 412
The only way youll get a fast render ranch under $500 is by unlocking procs. Its not hard. I have bad wrists, the shakes, and no coordination, and I can do it.
 
kronchev said:
MSI Master-L board
2x XP-Mobile 2600+ OC'd to whatever you want
Probabily ~1 gig RAM to stay in budget (doesnt have to be more than PC2100)
Cheapest vid card possible (doesnt help rendering)
Spare/cheap case
Antec TruePower 412
The only way youll get a fast render ranch under $500 is by unlocking procs. Its not hard. I have bad wrists, the shakes, and no coordination, and I can do it.
Click to expand...
That is actually a very well config'ed rig for $500! Good spec... I guess you need to blow another $50 on a modest HDD also. ;)
 
If you do have a bit of extra money, I would suggest getting a power supply that's slightly more hefty than what you need. Running renderings that put the system a peak load for several days will really stress secondary components, such as the PSU. I have literally had a coumputer start emitting smoke after rendering for 72 hours. The processors were fine in that rig, but the PSU had overheated fried itself and the mobo.
 
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