Looking to build out some robust computers for my Touch projects and am leaning towards a 4 RU rack mount solution. Do you have any source/distributor recommendations?
I’ve found several sites with the rack mount chassis in a speck-to-order fashion but just thought I’d ask here first. No reason to re-invent the wheel…
Thanks.
Brain.
I built my own 4U servers, as I find it more cost effective since I’m in Canada, then getting a ton of stuff shipped over the boarder.
If you’re in the US, B&H has good prices on a lot of components, as well as Newegg.
Don’t have any recommendations, but we have looked into it before. One thing to be careful of is many server rack type chassis are not built to hold the the graphics card perpendicular to the motherboard like normal workstation parts. 4Us are better for this, but just double check it will accept the guts you are putting in it.
We have used both Boxxtech and HP standard workstations and those companies offer rack mounts that attach to the side to slip them into racks. Its an option should your 4U server approach be difficult.
@Elburz
I have (4) 4 RU builds right now that are built-out for Watchout with AMD cards but really wanted to stick with NVIDIA for TD. I usually buy from the same 2 vendors you mentioned but appreciate the note.
@Ben
Thanks for the Boxxtech and HP tip. The 4 RU solutions are not a problem and are much preferred because of their easy-to-configure nature. We tend to xrent upwards of 30 - 40 rackmount PCs per year on the big shows when our inventory can’t cover the need.
One of the major benefits of the 4 RU PCs is the optional seat-belt (for lack of the proper term) for the video cards: a rail-type feature with approx. 12 slots for brackets that keep the video card from moving up-down-left-right. Very robust solution for computers that are thrown in a truck and moved around the country in between gigs.
Still thinking the NVIDIA cards are the way to go though…
Happy new year!
–
Brain.
Yes if you can, NVIDIA is our preferred recommendation for TouchDesigner. All machines we spec for installations are NVIDIA based.
Ya, and highly recommended to stay in the Quadro line to avoid tearing for live use. If they’re just in-house machine, you can probably get away with GTX 780’s, those are blazing fast, reasonably priced, but no guarantee you won’t get tearing.
K5000 is the go-to card. K4000 if you’re tight on the budget. It can still do 4 outs, via DisplayPort chaining, but I’ve never personally tried it.
elburz,
to revive an old thread, who do you use in canada to supply your parts for rack mounting? It looks like i might need to spec one out and any tips would be great from a fellow canadian on a reliable source here…
I mostly shop on canadacomputers.ca, newegg.ca, and ncix.ca. In that order, only because there’s a Canada Computers store near my office that I can go check stuff out before buying. I think Newegg had the largest selection of rackmount cases last time I checked.
Just make sure you confirm that the case comes with the rack ears. All the pictures will likely show it, but a number of them dont actually include the ears, which you’d then have to try and track down from the manufacturer. This was a pain a couple of orders ago when I purchased a cheaper chinese case, and it didn’t come with the ears, and I couldn’t find anyone to sell me just the ears for the life of me. I had to retrofit some on and drill my own holes, which wasn’t ideal, but worked.