Post by: Ravo_5002 on November 04, 2005, 06:37:00 PM
QUOTE(SScorpio @ May 28 2003, 01:56 AM)
Technically you wouldn't even need a modchip.
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Title: Can We Make A Render Farm From Using Xbox's?
Post by: fghjj on November 04, 2005, 09:56:00 PM
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Look at date... more then two years ago.
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Title: Can We Make A Render Farm From Using Xbox's?
Post by: firebane on November 05, 2005, 08:29:00 PM
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Title: Can We Make A Render Farm From Using Xbox's?
Post by: Fokus on May 19, 2003, 08:32:00 AM
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Since I work in the 3d industry I was wondering whether or not you could theoretically network a bunch of xboxes together to a single computer and use it as a render farm for rendering animations? Hmmm it sounds like a plausible idea(and much cheaper than buying a bunch of SGI/SUN/OR intel workstations), any thoughts?
This post has been edited by Fokus: May 19 2003, 03:33 PM
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Title: Can We Make A Render Farm From Using Xbox's?
Post by: radfx on May 19, 2003, 08:45:00 AM
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Hmm - i suppose it could be possible, i mean once you have a modchip and a new BIOS you could write just about anything for it, but remember, using 3d rendering would be a ram/CPU intensive task - just think of the Xbox as a no OS 64meg Celeron 733 - not a great rendering system (but still i suppose $199US or whatever it is over there would be cheaper then a similar spec PC??
interesting..
honestly dont see why not?
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Title: Can We Make A Render Farm From Using Xbox's?
Post by: Fokus on May 19, 2003, 08:23:00 AM
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Well most 3d render farms are mainly just a bunch of cpus...the main computer sends the information over the network and instructs the other cpus to render away(render each frame together, or render alternate frames, whatever). This would sure be something worthwhile to start off, too bad Im not a programmer...
Maybe the Linux people can be of help, but I guess we would need a way for the windows environment to communicate with the xboxs to tell them to help with the render.
Or get windows to properly work on the xbox, but if that were to happen though...well then all hell would break loose I guess.
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Title: Can We Make A Render Farm From Using Xbox's?
Post by: brian on May 20, 2003, 10:16:00 AM
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Don't you have to put things like IRIX on there? You would either have to write a BIOS that launches like a PC would, as render farm OSs aren't generally open source and so can't be made into Xbox compatible files with a normal BIOS. Apart from that and the obvious having to set up USB ports for each one (just for initial installation), it would be a lot of work per each one but it may be worth it.
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Title: Can We Make A Render Farm From Using Xbox's?
Post by: Fokus on May 20, 2003, 06:17:00 PM
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Thanks for the comments Brian...yeah it would be a lot to set up, but if it could be done it would be a much cheaper alternative than buying a bunch of machines...
But if we could get windows to boot, then problem solved, could get them all to communicate throught the lan port...I think I will have to talk with my lightwave distributer mate to figure some more stuff out...
Later
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Title: Can We Make A Render Farm From Using Xbox's?
Post by: Plagued on May 21, 2003, 03:21:00 AM
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someone created a clustered linux server from xbox's and decided it was pointless .. although the xbox is cheap, for say twice the price you could make a PC 4 times as fast, so if you were talking about clustering or creating a render farm it's just not worth it .. it would look cool though :)
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Title: Can We Make A Render Farm From Using Xbox's?
Post by: BrianW1800 on May 23, 2003, 07:57:00 PM
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They arn't using Xbox's but still interesting:
From slashdot: http://arrakis.ncsa.uiuc.edu/ps2/
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Title: Can We Make A Render Farm From Using Xbox's?
Post by: Fokus on May 24, 2003, 05:41:00 AM
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BrianW1800 thansk for the info on that....yeah very cool indeed!
here are some figures to think about... 10 xboxs = 7.33GHZ of power = 1790 bucks, + a modchip each that woudl equal to about 400, wow a much cheaper solution I think than buying a mainframe or a bunch of computers...Just need the software that will make them communicate with eachother...darn it!
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Title: Can We Make A Render Farm From Using Xbox's?
Post by: EvilWays on May 24, 2003, 06:49:00 AM
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I can't remember the website (and I don't have it bookmarked unfortunately), but someone clustered 3 Xboxes together as a University project by using Linux. I don't remember all the details...maybe someone else has heard of this and can shed more light on this.
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Title: Can We Make A Render Farm From Using Xbox's?
Post by: caustic on May 24, 2003, 07:55:00 AM
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http://www.shadowflux.com/xbox.html
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Title: Can We Make A Render Farm From Using Xbox's?
Post by: EvilWays on May 24, 2003, 02:35:00 PM
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That's the one. Thanks caustic!
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Title: Can We Make A Render Farm From Using Xbox's?
Post by: Gimpmaster3201 on May 24, 2003, 03:21:00 PM
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Couldn't you just run Linux, then run something like Maya and render with mental ray across a network, not sure if it would work i've only used Maya on Windows
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Title: Can We Make A Render Farm From Using Xbox's?
Post by: Fokus on May 24, 2003, 04:54:00 PM
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Thansk for the link, but I cant get that link to work, have you tried it? I alwasy get a server not found error
Oh well, about running linux, yeah that would be great, but I dont run Linux and my rendering software is Lightwave not Maya, so paying for a new 3d package and upgrading my system to Linux would not be that great of an option...
Ill have to do some more digging....I guess
Thanks for the great input so far
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Title: Can We Make A Render Farm From Using Xbox's?
Post by: Gimpmaster3201 on May 25, 2003, 02:52:00 AM
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Fokus, what OS do you run/want to run ?
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Title: Can We Make A Render Farm From Using Xbox's?
Post by: Mage on May 25, 2003, 10:03:00 AM
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Well welcome to the world of distributed processing.
The raw speed isn't the actual performance you'll get.
There are many more overheads, and bottlenecks you normally don't have to put up with on a single system.
The xbox having a single ethernet interface makes it not that good imo.
Not to mention the lack of ram, or cpu speed. Too much money is wasted on the GPU, which you won't be using for rendering in that 3d package.
In the end the MIPS/$ ratio isn't going to be as high as you'd expect.
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Title: Can We Make A Render Farm From Using Xbox's?
Post by: Fokus on May 27, 2003, 07:42:00 PM
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, it is just to unstable...at least with real systems there is a higher rate of stability.
So SScorpio, do you do 3d as well, what package do you use? You also seem to be very knowledgeable with networking, very nice!!
CHEERS MATE!
Post by: fghjj on November 04, 2005, 09:56:00 PM
Post by: firebane on November 05, 2005, 08:29:00 PM
Post by: Fokus on May 19, 2003, 08:32:00 AM
This post has been edited by Fokus: May 19 2003, 03:33 PM
Post by: radfx on May 19, 2003, 08:45:00 AM
interesting..
honestly dont see why not?
Post by: Fokus on May 19, 2003, 08:23:00 AM
Maybe the Linux people can be of help, but I guess we would need a way for the windows environment to communicate with the xboxs to tell them to help with the render.
Or get windows to properly work on the xbox, but if that were to happen though...well then all hell would break loose I guess.
Post by: brian on May 20, 2003, 10:16:00 AM
Post by: Fokus on May 20, 2003, 06:17:00 PM
But if we could get windows to boot, then problem solved, could get them all to communicate throught the lan port...I think I will have to talk with my lightwave distributer mate to figure some more stuff out...
Later
Post by: Plagued on May 21, 2003, 03:21:00 AM
Post by: BrianW1800 on May 23, 2003, 07:57:00 PM
From slashdot: http://arrakis.ncsa.uiuc.edu/ps2/
Post by: Fokus on May 24, 2003, 05:41:00 AM
here are some figures to think about... 10 xboxs = 7.33GHZ of power = 1790 bucks, + a modchip each that woudl equal to about 400, wow a much cheaper solution I think than buying a mainframe or a bunch of computers...Just need the software that will make them communicate with eachother...darn it!
Post by: EvilWays on May 24, 2003, 06:49:00 AM
Post by: caustic on May 24, 2003, 07:55:00 AM
| QUOTE (EvilWays @ May 24 2003, 03:13 PM) |
| I can't remember the website (and I don't have it bookmarked unfortunately), but someone clustered 3 Xboxes together as a University project by using Linux. I don't remember all the details...maybe someone else has heard of this and can shed more light on this. |
http://www.shadowflux.com/xbox.html
Post by: EvilWays on May 24, 2003, 02:35:00 PM
Post by: Gimpmaster3201 on May 24, 2003, 03:21:00 PM
Post by: Fokus on May 24, 2003, 04:54:00 PM
Oh well, about running linux, yeah that would be great, but I dont run Linux and my rendering software is Lightwave not Maya, so paying for a new 3d package and upgrading my system to Linux would not be that great of an option...
Ill have to do some more digging....I guess
Thanks for the great input so far
Post by: Gimpmaster3201 on May 25, 2003, 02:52:00 AM
Post by: Mage on May 25, 2003, 10:03:00 AM
| QUOTE (Fokus @ May 24 2003, 06:41 AM) |
| BrianW1800 thansk for the info on that....yeah very cool indeed! here are some figures to think about... 10 xboxs = 7.33GHZ of power = 1790 bucks, + a modchip each that woudl equal to about 400, wow a much cheaper solution I think than buying a mainframe or a bunch of computers...Just need the software that will make them communicate with eachother...darn it! |
Well welcome to the world of distributed processing.
The raw speed isn't the actual performance you'll get.
There are many more overheads, and bottlenecks you normally don't have to put up with on a single system.
The xbox having a single ethernet interface makes it not that good imo.
Not to mention the lack of ram, or cpu speed. Too much money is wasted on the GPU, which you won't be using for rendering in that 3d package.
In the end the MIPS/$ ratio isn't going to be as high as you'd expect.
Post by: Fokus on May 27, 2003, 07:42:00 PM
| QUOTE |
| After nearly 100 runs of the same test programs my results varied between twice as slow across the three nodes and five times as fast as running the same program on a single node. |
So SScorpio, do you do 3d as well, what package do you use? You also seem to be very knowledgeable with networking, very nice!!
CHEERS MATE!