Utilizing MAC mini servers to create rendering clusters

Question

Level 1

0 points

Utilizing MAC mini servers to create rendering clusters

My plan is to purchase 2 miniMAC servers , boost the RAM to 8GB and use them as slaves for rendering Compressor jobs.

My other option was to use 4 lower specs MACmini , say 2.3GHz with 4GB each .

The first option would give me 8 i7 CPU cores to use and the second option would give me 8 cores but i5 CPU's

When creating clusters like this what is the most crucial elements ? Amount of cores, amount or RAM or CPU types? I am assuming that hard disk amount and speed is not that relevant in this scenario?

Hardware used:

iMAC 3.4Ghz i7

16 Gb RAM

iMac (27-inch Mid 2011), Mac OS X (10.7.4)

Posted on May 24, 2012 5:14 PM

Reply

Answer 1

May 26, 2012 12:01 AM in response to exPOL99

You bring up an interesting scenario for setting up a cluster.

I'd opt for the two Mac minis simply to cut down on power cosumption and cables (power cables, ethernet cables, etc.).

-Warren

Reply

Answer 2

exPOL99 Author

Level 1

0 points

May 26, 2012 2:08 AM in response to Warren Heaton

Would you go for standard MAC min's or the MACmini servers? Is there much difference between i5 and i7 when it comes to video rendering?

Reply

Answer 3

May 26, 2012 5:14 AM in response to exPOL99

Actually the Mac Mini's are 4 cores. And yes the is a big difference between i5 and i7 in performance. But, (there's always a bit) for the price of the two i7s you could (almost) buy 4 of the i5s. If it were me, I would go with cheaper Mac Mini... You would have 16 cores ( Hyper-Threading lets each core run two threads, so OS X multitasks even more efficiently.) Making a total of 32...

This would be something I would go into an Apple Store and check out first. Specs this and that...

Reply

Answer 4

May 26, 2012 5:36 AM in response to David M Brewer

Check and see if the i5 has Hyper-Threading. I don't think the i5's have Hyper-Threading.

Reply

Answer 5

exPOL99 Author

Level 1

0 points

May 27, 2012 3:36 AM in response to David M Brewer

Just did the checking and it appears that i5 doesn't have Hyper-Threading , only i7 does. That reduces my options to i7 server MACmini . All I need now is someone with a crystal ball to tell me when is Apple likely to release a new MACmini model. Otherwise I'm ready to go shopping.

Reply

Answer 6

May 27, 2012 9:23 AM in response to exPOL99

Reply

Answer 7

May 27, 2012 6:56 PM in response to exPOL99

If and when you get this up and running, please post back of the outcome.

Reply