1

We currently purchase render nodes that fit well into our server rack. They're 3U in height and 1.9/19inch in width and about 3 feet in depth. We're considering building these ourselves and wondering if it's possible to find cases/motherboards in this shape or if they're custom made. Basically we're looking for a low profile way to have dual CPU servers. Any ideas?

enter image description here

Copy Run Start
  • 724
  • 1
  • 9
  • 27
  • 2
    I won't say you _can't_ find those, but it certainly _looks_ highly customized. – Michael Hampton Mar 27 '13 at 14:16
  • That's what I feared. So basically my follow up question is almost a shopping question... How can one make the most efficient use of a well cooled server rack with self-built render nodes? Are there any specific form factors I should look into? – Copy Run Start Mar 27 '13 at 14:23
  • 2
    You'll need to contact resellers about this. Some resellers can get you anything you want, for the right price. Custom options in low quantities won't be cheap, however. Blades and blade chassis are more readily available and are widely used in render farms. Have you considered that route? – Stefan Lasiewski Mar 27 '13 at 14:30
  • 1
    I'll second the blade servers suggestion. Sounds like you want high density and CPU bound - that is a classic use case for blades. – Thaeli Mar 27 '13 at 14:46
  • I'll investigate that option now. Is "half-height" blade the smallest they come? – Copy Run Start Mar 27 '13 at 14:55
  • 2
    Looks like you are being sold blades without an array chassis? – jwbensley Mar 27 '13 at 19:43
  • 1
    @javano I was wondering the same. Some blade-chassis (with rear IO) are just passive frames for the nodes. You can get better density by just stacking the nodes as closely as you can pack them. Of course vibration might cause them to slide out of the rack. I also would be worried about life-span of the HD's because of vibration. The frame usually dampens some of that. – Tonny Mar 27 '13 at 20:01
  • @Tonny That does make good sense to get more in a single rack, but I am just looking at that picture thinking he has been miss-sold :) – jwbensley Mar 28 '13 at 21:49

1 Answers1

2

It's 4U, but something like a Dell C8000 might meet your needs without needing to go custom.

http://www.dell.com/us/business/p/poweredge-c8000/pd

Supermicro makes a 3U "Micro Cloud" chassis with 8-12 nodes, but I'm pretty sure they're all single-socket.

Jason Litka
  • 148
  • 1
  • 3
  • 2
    Those supermicro's are single cpu only yes. They have dual-cpu blades too, but density limited to 20 nodes (=40 CPU's) in a 7U chassis. 2 12-node cloud-chassis on top of each other would give you better density and more LAN bandwidth per node. – Tonny Mar 27 '13 at 19:56
  • 1
    Oops... I meant to say "less density", but more LAN bandwidth. – Tonny Mar 27 '13 at 20:03
  • Yea the 3U Micro Cloud looks almost exactly like our servers but they only support 1 CPU. I'm currently looking into just buying another rack and buying/building 1U servers. I found a post here though that says building servers is "bad practice" but if I just copy the specs that a supermicro reseller uses, I don't see the problem. @jason I requested a quote from Dell on those, thanks. – Copy Run Start Mar 28 '13 at 15:56