Mac bare bones? renderfarm?

[86point5]

I'm not sure I see how it would pay off.

Assuming the rumors are true, the machine is specced to be a 1.25Ghz G4 for $500.

Cinebench scores for a similar machine are around 115.
A dual G5 1.8 scores around 470 for CB Dual.

So, that's 4 times the performance at about 4x the price. That means that assuming all else was equal it would wash. But the fact that the dual G5 machine is a single machine means that you're not going to lose overhead on the render management (shuttling data over ethernet) as well as likely have lower power costs (running 1 system and spinning one set of disks instead of 4) so in the long run it just wouldn't pay out.

The only thing it would allow you to do would be to set up the farm a little more granularly ($500 increments) but even then, it's rumored to only have 10/100 ethernet - which would slow down data between units compared to the G5's gigabit ethernet.

[dann_stubbs]

I wonder... seems apple is going to release today a headless imac for sub 500 $.
Would this be suitable to make finally a budget friendly mac renderfarm?

well for $500 you can get a nice PC clone that will still whip the crap out of a G4 (as is estimated to go into apple cheap mac)

but if they can manage to stuff a G5 in there at 1ghz with no monitor for $500 then a few of them running osx would be not a bad little farm and with the future ability to run 64bit os etc and the freedoms of memory limits the current 32bit arch imposes... but overall it will be more of a wash in terms of osx vs windows (positive imho) but slower hardware vs amd/intel (negative imho)

dann

[rizon]

you're right...

but i hope this is the start of something that could evolve to an interesting render note. Also i remember a rumor of tiger which saiz something about using the power of other macs...

[Venkman]

If you see this sub-$500 mac out there, remember it is going to be super small, along the lines of the X-serve: skinny, flat, stackable, and cool (temp wise). You could put a renderfarm in a server rack.

I'm guessing this thing will be 5-6 times bigger than an iPod. Look for Apple to make this REALLY small. Otherwise they couldn't compete.

Also, you may be able to stand it on its side, ala the PS2.

Less than 2 hours to King Steve takes the stage.

[Venkman]

Apple does have some technology out there right now for distributing computation over an Apple network. A big speedometer appears on your computer will the total Mhz (or Ghz) available.

I wonder if software has to be specifically written to take advantage of that. Last I checked it was free but I can't remember the name.

I would also look into the sub $500 mac for web, keeping my soon to be new tower (as soon as they update them!) free from Internet risk.

[ooo]

Just read this on macminute. Would this be of any help for C4D. I thought there is some work for a renderman support going on? Anyone know if this is good news?

january 11, 2005 - 08:03 EST** ART VPS today announced the latest release of PURE, accelerated rendering hardware specifically designed to harness the core graphics technologies of Mac OS X and high performance of the Power Mac G5. The new system "employs a modular ray-tracing architecture that accelerates 3D rendering by distributing it across an array of chips. Users can now generate full-frame previews in seconds and utilize advanced features that include multiple area lights, accurate 3D motion blur, secondary illumination, camera properties, and special RenderMan shaders."

odo

[vesalus]

Just read this on macminute. Would this be of any help for C4D. I thought there is some work for a renderman support going on? Anyone know if this is good news?
january 11, 2005 - 08:03 EST** ART VPS today announced the latest release of PURE, accelerated rendering hardware specifically designed to harness the core graphics technologies of Mac OS X and high performance of the Power Mac G5. The new system "employs a modular ray-tracing architecture that accelerates 3D rendering by distributing it across an array of chips. Users can now generate full-frame previews in seconds and utilize advanced features that include multiple area lights, accurate 3D motion blur, secondary illumination, camera properties, and special RenderMan shaders."
odo

it might if you are a maya mac user... (unless they port 3DS or VIZ on the mac or if they plan to support other 3D softwares)

[ArtofacksOne]

You have a link to that article your read. I am a Mac user and I would like to know more. :)

[rizon]

read from bottom to top...
coverage from macrumors,live at the expo


prices for mac mini: $499 and $599
http://webpages.charter.net.nyud.net:8090/mattman7/mini.jpg
available Jan 22
most important new mac 'ever'
another at 1.4 Ghz
1.25 Ghz G4
coming 1st half of 05
half as high as an iPod Mini, surface of a little dish
comes with Panther & iLife 05
analog, digital video out
pizza box style
quiet, fw, usb2, video out, ethernet - very very tiny
very tiny
Mac Mini
Macs
Next - talking about headless stripped down mac

[AdamT]

Wow, that *is* tiny. Other than being really cute though, I don't know why anyone would want one--unless you live in a cardboard box or something and you really have no space at all.

[Venkman]

Trust in Steve Jobs. They will make a killing off this. People spending $400 on an iPod may not think twice about dropping $500 on a whole SYSTEM.

Could make an exciting little renderfarm. Stack those babies on your bookshelf.

[grundgedanke]

as "computer" i wouldn´t know what to do with it but it seems to be a nice thing to be plugged to your tv set :-) is there any good harddisk solution for macs available?

[rendermania]

it might if you are a maya mac user... (unless they port 3DS or VIZ on the mac or if they plan to support other 3D softwares)
Wouldn't help with C4D. Its based on the renderman standard (with its own hardware renderer in practical terms) and I doubt you could use the custom chips in this to accelerate anything C4D or AR does.

[vesalus]

the mini mac is awsome, and for average internet or office work simple and sufficiant enough

[vesalus]

Wouldn't help with C4D. Its based on the renderman standard (with its own hardware renderer in practical terms) and I doubt you could use the custom chips in this to accelerate anything C4D or AR does.

i know all that, maybe if someone finally do the renderman plug for cinema...
:rolleyes: check the link http://cgchannel.com/news/viewfeature.jsp?newsid=3735

[dann_stubbs]

i know all that, maybe if someone finally do the renderman plug for cinema...
:rolleyes: check the link http://cgchannel.com/news/viewfeature.jsp?newsid=3735

also from what i have read this can only help in pure raytracing so toss out any speed improvements for any other types of render. sketch and toon - etc... nothing else will benefit but pure raytracing (that is even if it worked with other stuff)

no mental ray, no turtle, no maxwell, no native renderer - future uses are obviously limited - although the price is pretty fair this year for the power (compared to previous years - this had been around for a long time)

dann

[vesalus]

lets make it clear, for the time being, the pure card on a macintosh is usfull ONLY if you use Maya

[dann_stubbs]

lets make it clear, for the time being, the pure card on a macintosh is usfull ONLY if you use Maya

and only if you use that one render engine and the renderman shaders

dann

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