Energy standpoint

[yaschan]

I'm curious what you guys think. What will be more efficient from energy standpoint, rendering with three machines via screamernet, or simply with a single machine through Lightwave, patiently waiting the render to finish?
If I have time to wait, but not the money to pay the electric bill, which should I choose?

[JonW]

Sorry this is so long, but it does cover a lot of issues.

I run all my computers via an MGE Evolution S 3.0 kva UPS with 2 EXB units (extra batteries). With 6 PCs & 2 Mac + router + usb + 24” + 30” screen. With all 40 cores rendering....... 2150 Watts, about 30 minutes back up!

My most economical box is the W5580, it may seem odd with 2 x130 watt CPUs , but it is spitting out frames so fast it works out to be the cheapest box to run per frame.

Its also extremely good on power when idle or fiddling around in Modeler using only using 1 core.

W5580 V8 570 watts (240 watts idle)
E5450 V8 540 watts (390 watts idle)

(the boxes aren’t exactly the same but close enough, & what I would say would be typical for the period when each were bought)

One other test I did was after removing 3 graphics cards. There was a saving of 115 watts.

Once you start running a few computers, heat in most cases will be a real issue. I had a problem & replacing all the heatsinks with Noctua coolers has really helped. I still have the heat but it being shifted out of the computers more easily.

For example the W5580, even if the room is really hot with minimal exchange of air from outside the MB is barely powering up the variable speed fans.

Having said all that, one needs to get the frames spitting out as quick as possible, i7s & x55xx are very economical. x54xx & similar generation are pretty ordinary, my E5335 V8 is just woeful, I quite often don’t run this box as the disadvantages outweigh the advantages.

Firstly most jobs need to be done as quick as possible, so this is going to out weigh the electrical costs. Less boxes with fast CPUs will only help with the first point.

I would say that 1 box with a 920 with 12 gb ram would be one of the most economical boxes. If it’s going to be a work station, then look at the power consumption of the graphics cards. This is a real issue & there is lots of info at Techreport or Anandtech. The Noctua fans are very low wattage, they are a little slow & you may need an extra one or two, but their wattage is so low you are still in front.

Rendering via Lightwave or Screamernet, you will not be using 100% of your CPU resources 100% of the time. For example if you look at Windows Task Manager while you render a frame you will typically get about 90 - 95 % CPU. To use the remaining CPU resources, you can run a second, third or even fourth instance of Lightwave or if rendering via Screamernet, run two or more nodes. If you run two nodes you will need twice as much ram, if you start using virtual ram you defeat the whole purpose.

With 12 gb ram one can usually run two nodes & have 99.5% CPU usage. (also stagger node number between computers helps fill gaps better)

As I said earlier my W5580 is my most economical box for electricity per frame, but the box was relatively expensive, I haven’t tested the 920 or 940 but the feeling I get from the UPS is that they are next in line for being the most economical, & with 12 gb ram you can use all the CPU resources.

[yaschan]

Wow. Sounds pretty powerful system you have there.
So, what I understand from your post is that less boxes with more powerful CPU's is most energy efficient way to render?
How would you consider Mac Pro or MacBook pro's energy consumption? I am using the built in Nvidia GT with the Mac Pro, not Ati's "the power pig" built-in option.
I heard Mac Pro's Nehalem can shut down the idle cores when doing stuff in Modeler, etc, I guess Intel's latest multicore chips can do that.
The heat is kind of interesting thing. Here in Japan, houses usually don't have any kind of built in heating or radiators, so during winter, so it gets chilly inside. I was just thinking, which takes more energy, couple of Mac Pros doing heavy rendering constantly, or couple of halogen heaters? I doubt the macs will provide sufficient heating, but I bet macs can warm up my work room quite a bit, so that it's not so chilly when I wake up and wander into the room with a mug of hot coffee in my hand. Just a thought, not to waste the BTU's of my macs..

[JonW]

I was in Japan in 82 for 3 weeks, & loved the scenery, to remind me have 3 books by Katsuhiko Mizuno....


Since the extra heat can be used then it will be useful.... I do believe it can get really hot & humid in some places in summer.

Whether its a Mac of PC the MB will use a similar amount of power. The graphics card you can find the power consumption at Techreport & Anandtech together with systems.

Mac Rumours http://www.macrumors.com/ might have more info.

The other issue is if you have one Mac pro box there is doing to be a hell of a lot less cables compared to a handful of Minis. The Mini’s power pack is a pest as well.

[yaschan]

Oh, where did you go in Japan?
Yes, true. The summer is very hot here in Japan and it leads into another problem when rendering - we must use air conditioner just for the equipment's sake. If I let my house to warm up to the natural 32C, its already too hot for computers to be running in full blast. Even today, it's still so hot that I must use aircon, and its soon october.
During the rainy season in June it's so humid that if I take my Macbook Pro from cooled coffeeshop to outside, I will notice water mist on the aluminium and inside the case maybe.. So I usually pack it to the laptop bag, or warm it up before taking it outside.
Same with cameras, especially lenses.
I will be using Mac Pro as a main machine for rendering for the time being now. I think it's most efficient way to render. Maybe later if I get another Mac Pro, I will hook them up to Screamernet.

[Zimtower]

Efficiency gets better if you can fit more CPUs in a box. I find the cost and performance to be the same comparing 4 boxes to 1 server with 4 CPUs. But with 1 central server, you cut electricity usage because you don't have to have all those drives/fans/input+output devices running for 4 boxes. Plus it saves a ton of space.

I suggest you take a look at opteron multi-cpu servers. Good quad-core opteron CPUs are out there and they are very cheap, I was able to order 8 quad core 2.2ghz opterons for $75 a piece. Just keep in mind that server memory is the most expensive part of building and running servers.