mini render node build

freelancerTax

1. What is your budget?
£600.

What will be the main purpose of the computer?
render node for 3d animation

3. Do you need a copy of Windows? [Yes/No]
no

4. Can you use any parts from an old computer?
yes - sata 2 3.5" hd

5. Do you need a monitor?
no - i have a 22" vga monitor - no hdmi or dvi

5a. do you plan to upgrade in the near future?
no

6. Do you need any of these peripherals?
no will be headless mostly

7. Are you willing to try overclocking?
no

8. How can you pay?
visa debt card

9. When are you purchasing?
within 30 days

10. If you need help building it, where are you based?
Dont need help building

ok other things you might need to know about this build
1. needs to be quad core 3.4ghz at least - i was thinking the i7 2600k

2. graphics card needs 1gig ram and at least 96 cores - needed for rendering

3. would like mini-itx size as i move quite alot and draging towers around is painful but might make do with mid or micro tower if i have to

4. needs 1000mb ethernet

5. would like it as low powered as possible but not big deal on this

6. need at least 8gig ram

cheers
ft

freelancerTax

possible parts

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/noctua-nh-u12p-se2-dual-fan-quiet-cpu-cooler-intel-775i7i5-and-amd-am2-3-compatible


http://www.scan.co.uk/products/8gb-(2x4gb)-corsair-ddr3-xms3-pc3-10600-(1333)-non-ecc-unbuffered-cas-9-9-9-24-150v

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/colors-it-mtx001b-black-mini-itx-case-with-300w-psu

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/intel-core-i7-2600k-unlocked-s-1155-sandy-bridge-quad-34ghz-8mb-cache-hd3000-igp-850mhz-34x-95w-oem

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/msi-h61i-e35-(b3)-intel-h61-s-1155-ddr3-sata-ii-3gb-s-graphics-on-board-mini-itx




total cost 413.76

not sure if the heat sink will fit the mb an case will have to do some searching

Serephucus

Can the modeling program take advantage of CUDA? I'll assume it can. If you can order by bank transfer, Hardwareversand will be a lot cheaper than Scan or Overclockers. I'm not sure if this was what you were looking for exactly, but a possible start:

Item|Price
Total build cost: €803.57 + €30 shipping (£668 approx.)
BitFenix Merc Beta|€32.63
ASRock Z68M/USB3, Sockel 1155, mATX|€86.69
Intel Core i7-2600K Box, LGA1155|€278.10
Noctua NH-U12P SE2, Sockel AM2/AM2+/AM3/775/1366/1156|€54.89
Point of View GeForce GTX 560 Ti nVIDIA-Design, 2GB GDDR5|€232.33
2 x 8GB-Kit G.Skill PC3-10667U CL9|€31.68
Super-Flower Amazon 80Plus 550W|€55.57


2600K with Noctua cooler, motherboard with USB3 and SATA3, a 2GB 384-core GTX 560 Ti, 16GB of RAM, and an 80+ Bronze PSU for the lot.

Edit: Woops, didn't see the mITX part. Hmm... From the looks of it, HWVS doesn't stock 8GB DIMMs, so you'd have to go with a maximum (for now) of 8GB of RAM if you went ITX, but you could.

Item|Price
Total build cost: €730.07 + €30 shipping (£631 approx.)
BitFenix Merc Beta|€32.63
Intel Core i7-2600K Box, LGA1155|€278.10
Noctua NH-U12P SE2, Sockel AM2/AM2+/AM3/775/1366/1156|€54.89
Point of View GeForce GTX 560 Ti nVIDIA-Design, 2GB GDDR5|€232.33
8GB-Kit G.Skill PC3-10667U CL9|€31.68
Super-Flower Amazon 80Plus 550W|€55.57
Lian Li PC-Q07B - Mini-ITX Tower-Cube - black|€44.87


I think everything will fit in there, but you'd have to do a bit of digging yourself to be sure.

freelancerTax

yes for certain types of rendering it can use cuda - thats why i need the good gpu...


thanks for the build suggestions..

do hardwareversand.de ship to the uk? i am in london btw - can find uk on shipping details page....

Dublin_Gunner

freelancerTax wrote: »

yes for certain types of rendering it can use cuda - thats why i need the good gpu...


thanks for the build suggestions..

do hardwareversand.de ship to the uk? i am in london btw - can find uk on shipping details page....

Yes they do. I'm not a fan though (bank transfer crap, terrible website etc).

Dabs.ie / .co.uk are pretty decent, so try a similar build there, plus you'll have the parts much more quickly, and they're UK based if you've any issues.

freelancerTax

hi dublin_gunner

yeah the price difference is only about 20 - 50 euro and i get free shipping in uk from most uk suppliers so that cancels any benefit of hardwareverand.de out.

im also not a fan of waiting endlessly for parts - seen some threads about it on here and i know scan will deliver next day as i use them all the time.

Dublin_Gunner

freelancerTax wrote: »

hi dublin_gunner

yeah the price difference is only about 20 - 50 euro and i get free shipping in uk from most uk suppliers so that cancels any benefit of hardwareverand.de out.

im also not a fan of waiting endlessly for parts - seen some threads about it on here and i know scan will deliver next day as i use them all the time.

Go with them or Dabs (I have to say I've had a few bad experiences with Scan, so wouldn't personally use them).

The price difference is very little when it comes down to getting your parts more quickly, and having a UK based company to return to if needs be.

You should be looking at:
2600K
Z68 motherboard (so you can use quicksync if any of your work requires rendering / transcoding video)
16GB ram
560Ti 448 core if possible.

I'd also take into consideration the case you wish to buy. As this will be a fairly beefy computer, there will be a lot of heat to get rid of should it be stressed a lot while rendering, so a decent case with good cooling, that can take a decent CPU cooler and of course the graphics cards size should be what you're looking at.

Personally, I'd steer clear of a small format build for this.

While the Bitfenix Merc that has been suggested is a decent case (and cheap), you'll have to shell out for the extra fans you'll need, and it has no USB 3 ports.

I'd rather go for something like these:
http://www.dabs.ie/products/fractal-design-arc-midi-tower-black-mini-itx-case-7FHL.html?refs=12&src=2

http://www.dabs.ie/products/fractal-design-define-r3-black-pearl-mid-tower-usb-3-0-case-7QQ2.html?refs=12&src=2

freelancerTax

perhaps you're right about the min-itx build dublin-gunner i dont want problems with heat and when its rendering it will be on all the time at 100% load so i dont wanna chance it

had a look at buiiding micro-atx instead

Total build cost: £474.99 (inc Delivery £0.00 and VAT £79.16)
8GB (2x4GB) Corsair DDR3 XMS3, PC3-10600 (1333), Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 9-9-9-24, 1.50V £33.36
Noctua NH-U12P SE2 Dual Fan Quiet CPU Cooler, Intel 775,i7,i5 and AMD AM2/3 Compatible £50.72
Gigabyte GA-H61M-USB3-B3, Intel H61, S 1155, DDR3, SATA II - 3Gb/s, PCIe (x16), VGA On Board, Micro ATX £46.33
Intel Core i7 2600K Unlocked S1155, Sandy Bridge, Quad, 3.4GHz, HD3000 IGP 850Mhz, 8MB Cache 95W Retail £248.60
Antec NSK-1380 MicroATX Cube case inc 350 Watt 80+ PSU, 4 Drive Bays, Front IO £95.98

the case is maybe a bit expensive for what it is - id like something no bigger than that though.
i still want a smaller than mid tower case - and have left out the gpu as i dont need it right away and will get that separately later....

freelancerTax

have decided to abandon small form factor in favour of power -

now looking to overclock to about 4.5 - any budget boards recommended for this and a good mid tower case and hsf?

ft

Serephucus

The first build I posted will do all that for you. If you want, maybe look at a better case, but that's about it.

Dublin_Gunner

freelancerTax wrote: »

have decided to abandon small form factor in favour of power -

now looking to overclock to about 4.5 - any budget boards recommended for this and a good mid tower case and hsf?

ft

You can get really good mATX sized boards for very reasonable these days. Even full ATX sized boards have dropped in price.

Here's an excellent Z68 board for £80
http://www.dabs.com/products/asus-p8z68-v-lx-s1155-intel-z68-ddr3-atx-7PGM.html?src=2

This board should give you the capability to give your CPU a good overclock, plus being Z68, allows you to use the IGP of the CPU for display, and quicksync

That board also has USB 3.0 as well as the now standard SATA 600.

freelancerTax

great thanks guys - gonna research prices and get a final list

good hsf for overclocking ??? was thinking the Scythe Mugen 3 cause i dont wanna spend 100 quid on the Prolimatech Megahalems although i hear its the best
will the mugen keep me cool at 4.5ghz?

ft

Dublin_Gunner

freelancerTax wrote: »

great thanks guys - gonna research prices and get a final list

good hsf for overclocking ??? was thinking the Scythe Mugen 3 cause i dont wanna spend 100 quid on the Prolimatech Megahalems although i hear its the best
will the mugen keep me cool at 4.5ghz?

ft

Depends on how much you're willing to spend. Something like an enclosed water unit such as the Corsair H60 would be excellent, and quiet.
http://www.dabs.com/products/corsair-memory-cooling-hydro-series-h60-high-performance-cpu-cooler-7JSM.html?refs=4294946085&src=3

freelancerTax

hi dublin_gunner -
i am only going to be using air cooling - no water systems......

thanks ft

Dublin_Gunner

freelancerTax wrote: »

hi dublin_gunner -
i am only going to be using air cooling - no water systems......

thanks ft

Do you know what the H60 is? Its a completely self contained water cooling unit. Extremely quiet, takes up very little space, doesn't cost the earth, and cools excellently. So many advantages of air cooling, and no mess like traditional water cooling.

Any particular reason you wouldn't use one?

freelancerTax

ha i didnt know what it was i assumed it was a water system with external pipes ect...

looks good and seems to have good reviews...
ft

Dublin_Gunner

freelancerTax wrote: »

ha i didnt know what it was i assumed it was a water system with external pipes ect...

looks good and seems to have good reviews...
ft

I had a feeling when I read your comment! They are really easy to install (as easy as an air cooler), no mess, no water to fill, and takes up very little space around the CPU - much less than a decent air cooler.

There is a radiator that you would fit to the rear or top of the case, but that's it. Really quiet, great performance.

Have a look at a couple of reviews on the net. You will certainly get air coolers that may perform better, but they'll be big, and most are quite expensive.

freelancerTax

decided against the h60 in the end as i ended up seeing mixed reviews of it
got a normal mid sized case and atx motherboard - so i will get 8 gig 2 * 4 gig modules and can later upgrade to 16 with 2 space slots.


Total build cost: £491.84 (inc Delivery £0.00 and VAT £81.98)
Intel Core i7 2600K Unlocked S1155, Sandy Bridge, Quad, 3.4GHz, HD3000 IGP 850Mhz, 8MB Cache 95W Retail £248.60
Asus P8Z68-V LX, Intel Z68, S 1155, DDR3, SATA III - 6Gb/s, SATA RAID, PCIe 2.0 (x16), D-Sub/ DVI-D/ HDMI, ATX £81.22
8GB (2x4GB) Corsair DDR3 XMS3 PC3-12800 (1600), Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 9-9-9-24, 1.5V £38.59
NZXT Gamma All Black Mid Tower Performance Case w/o PSU £32.38
Noctua NH-D14 Dual Radiator and Fan Quiet CPU Cooler £64.18
450W PSU, Coolermaster RS450-ACAAD3-UK, 85% Eff', 80 PLUS Bronze, EPS 12V, Quiet Fan, ATX v2.31 £26.87

freelancerTax

got some advice of someone else to get the antec neo eco 520 for this build
and to swap the case for the nzt source 210 elite (with usb 3.0 in front header)
also swaped the mother board out for a version up as i have heard there may be some problems with overclocking on the original board

hoping to get this baby up to about 4.8 ghz on air. but will settle for 4.5 if i have to for stabilitys sake

gonna add a nvidia geoforce 450 gt? later for about £75 - 100


Total build cost: £572.66 (inc Delivery £0.00 and VAT £95.44)
Intel Core i7 2600K Unlocked S1155, Sandy Bridge, Quad, 3.4GHz, HD3000 IGP 850Mhz, 8MB Cache 95W Retail £248.60
8GB (2x4GB) Corsair DDR3 XMS3 PC3-12800 (1600), Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 9-9-9-24, 1.5V £38.59
Noctua NH-D14 Dual Radiator and Fan Quiet CPU Cooler £64.18
Asus P8Z68-V/GEN3, Intel Z68, S 1155, DDR3, SATA III - 6Gb/s, SATA RAID, PCIe 3.0 (x16), D-Sub/DVI-D/HDMI, ATX £136.42
NZXT Source 210 Elite Black Mid Tower Gaming Case with USB 3.0 w/o PSU £33.85
520W Antec Neo Eco Modular PSU 82%Eff', 80 PLUS Bronze, SLI/CrossFire, EPS 12V, Quiet Fan, ATX *Scan Exclusive* £51.02

freelancerTax

ok final spec changed slightly
total cost £689
will post final specs tomorrow

put it together tonight.... no power ... no lights on motherboard
checked all leads... still nothing...
stripped it and hotwired the psu to test it (connect the live and ground pins on 20 pin motherboard lead) and the psu started.. not a dead psu then
rebuilt again and it worked!

not very small or quiet but im hoping it makes up for this with speed when i overclock this to 4.5 ish

ft

Dublin_Gunner

Good stuff. Post up the spec:)

Osmosae

Why do you need a good graphics card for a render node ? Rendering doesnt use the graphics card, onboard memory should suffice, and gpu renderers arent really good enough at the moment.

VRay is the only renderer that takes use of CUDA that i'm aware of, and that has serious glicthes at the moment once you get into its customisation, and isnt really production ready from what i've heard.

Maybe you have different info than me though

Dublin_Gunner

Osmosae wrote: »

Why do you need a good graphics card for a render node ? Rendering doesnt use the graphics card, onboard memory should suffice, and gpu renderers arent really good enough at the moment.

VRay is the only renderer that takes use of CUDA that i'm aware of, and that has serious glicthes at the moment once you get into its customisation, and isnt really production ready from what i've heard.

Maybe you have different info than me though

Well he stated it in his specs that whatever renderer he's using can utilise CUDA for acceleration.

Furryball & Ruins for Maya use CUDA, Octane uses it, Slicer does and I'm sure there's probably more.

Osmosae

No i realise that maya can take advantage of CUDA, the iray in mental ray also uses it, but things like that you wouldnt be using on a render node, you'd be doing them on your workstation. Last i'd looked furryball or octane weren't anywhere near as good as was being advertised.... but i didnt mean to come across as telling him he was wrong , he knows his requirements better than me. I was just wondering what the reasoning behind it was. If your not utilising a gpu renderer the whole time, your workstation will allow you to experiment, and you could offset buying a card until they were better advanced and get better bang for your buck at that time

EDIT: Also the 1gb card mentioned i dont think would be powerful enough to be used for gpu redering solely .... anyways again though i'm only meaning to enquire into his prospective rendering pipeline

Dublin_Gunner

TBH I think the term 'render node' has been used a little loosely here. I'd imagine the build to be a workstation that will also be doing the rendering, most likely in a home office.

I really don't think the build is technically a rendering 'node' as that would imply a part of a small render farm setup - and I certainly wouldn't be recommending desktop components for that.

Osmosae

aye you could be right there, didnt think about that

unless you're actually going for a professional farm i'd probably stick with desktop parts. Can work out cheap to have your own little render farm at home something like this guys ikea cabinet link ..... *drool* :pac:

Dublin_Gunner

Osmosae wrote: »

aye you could be right there, didnt think about that

unless you're actually going for a professional farm i'd probably stick with desktop parts. Can work out cheap to have your own little render farm at home something like this guys ikea cabinet link ..... *drool* :pac:

That is quality

freelancerTax

hi guys

specs and final prices (individual prices show ex vat - dont know why they do this) totals include vat - everything bought on scan.co.uk - very happy with scan , never had a problem with them

Intel Core i7 2600K Unlocked S1155, 1 £204.99
NZXT Source 210 Elite Black Mid Tow 1 £26.99
8GB (2x4GB) Corsair DDR3 Vengeance 1 £30.99
Asus P8Z68-V/GEN3, Intel Z68, S 115 1 £108.99

---

Net Total £371.96
Carriage £0.00
Scansure £13.80
Total £460.15

1GB EVGA GTX 460 SuperClocked, 3800 1 £86.99
620W Antec Neo Eco Modular PSU 82%E 1 £51.99
Noctua NH-D14 Dual Radiator and Fan 1 £50.99
2m UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead Type 1 £1.39

---

Net Total £191.36
Carriage £0.00
Total £229.63

grand total £689.78

regarding the gpu - i will probably use the gpu in my current work station as an upgrade - will be rendering with iray in mental ray - as well as trying to take advantage of the gpu in other areas

its a desktop system simply for price - could not afford a rack of the same power for a similar price and i am not a studio just an individual - the main reason for this is so i can render tests while working and keep it fast...

cheers for all input
ft

Monotype

Hey ft, I see you got the neo eco from scan. I was looking at that recently but there's a few models floating about so I was wondering - is it actually labelled 80+ or 80+ bronze and secondly, what cables did you get with it?

freelancerTax

hi monotype

its marked 80+
no power cable (kettle lead) no modular cables included
has
20 pin atx cable
8 pin cpu cable
1 pci 6 8 pin cable
one molex cable with 3 molex and 1 floppy
one sata cable with 3 sata

takes another modular pci-e if you want to sli i think

also its ultra quiet - when i hotwired it to test it i didnt know it was on only for i saw the fan spinning....

Monotype

Great, thanks. I have an old modular Antec that's probably fit for the bin so when you count that this is a modular PSU, it's not a bad deal if you already have the cables.

Monotype

Actually, I was just thinking about this again. I remember reading that Seasonic, the maker of this Antec PSU, usually passes on revisions onto the manufacturers that rebrand them (e.g., Antec, Corsair, XFX). This is most likely built on their S12II PSU, the current edition which has the bronze rating.
The Neo Eco is an older brand (although not usually available around Europe) and Antec might not bother getting it recertified. I think it is quite likely that this is the same PSU as Antec's HCG series (also available in 520W & 620W) - less the cables and an alternative shell. Having two brands with different ratings separates the markets which could help them make more money. Scan might be well aware of this and that's their reason for listing it as bronze despite it not being labelled as so.

I found a review which kind of backs up what I'm saying.
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cases/display/psu-600w-850w_6.html