I finished day 1 and came up with some simple discoveries, but let me guide you through some of the steps that have led me to this point.

Shopping List (per node):

• SUPERMICRO CSE-512L-260B Black 14″ Mini 1U Rackmount Server Case
• ASUS P5QPL-AM LGA 775 Intel G41 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard
• Intel Core 2 Quad Q8200 2.33GHz 4MB L2 Cache LGA 775 95W Quad-Core Processor
• Kingston HyperX memory – 4GB (2×2 GB) – DIMM 240-pin – DDR2 (CL5) (1 stick per node)
• Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 80GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5″ Internal Hard Drive
• Dynatron P199 80mm 2 Ball CPU Cooler

Realization #1: If you’re budget conscious like we are, the software that exists in our price range is dreadfully underdeveloped. If you have the money, I would highly recommend going with a tried and true software solution. (There’s also a reason why certain companies charge thousands for what they’re offering, at least, I hope they are…) Despite that, without boring you with why some of the other solutions failed, I’ll let you know which program we did settle on: Amleto by Nodalideas.com. The programmers specifically targeted Lightwave, which is the software of primary concern for us, and was the most simple in terms of what it’s software did. We still need to troubleshoot frame slicing, as it is producing some unwanted results, but overall, we are very satisfied with it, primarily because it doesn’t rely on Windows file sharing to push the files across the network. The lead programmer even wrote us back an e-mail with rewritten code! I look forward to communicating with him further with our troubleshooting needs.

Realization #2: Memory isn’t that big an issue. We sent render tests to the nodes and registered negligible gains from having two sticks of memory versus having one. We will distribute the remaining memory across all the nodes.

Realization #3: Make sure to have a few extra computer cables and doo-dads along with you. I was so spoiled by purchasing full towers in the past, which gave you a variety pack of all the cables you need to adapt molex to sata, or molex to case fan. Everything in the above shopping list more or less played nice with each other, except the Case. It has a proprietary 16-pin power/reset/LED cable and you need to make sure Supermicro gives you the adapter to work with your non-Supermicro motherboard. It’s not the end of the world, though. Just make sure you have the underlined and you should be able to make the shopping list above work.

This week, I am embarking on a brand new, technologically geeked out adventure:

the construction of a render farm.

Over the last few weeks I’ve been doing some prep work, figuring out which parts to order and how all the open source software will ultimately interface with our programs in question, namely Lightwave and After Effects.

For some of you this probably seems strange for a guy like me who works in production. But to those of you who really know me, this really isn’t anything out of the ordinary.

I’ve been known for ‘geeking out’, yes. I can’t help it. And all avenues of filmmaking interest me, whether it’s production or post. In this instance, it happens to be with something a bit off the beaten path. Keep posted for updates. I’m hoping that by the time I’m done blogging about this, I will have made a pretty intensive guide for setting up the aforementioned warez.