Building a render server

[efberto]

Hey guys, 

 

so I have to build a render server that takes adobe media encoder files (about 100Mb in file size) and render them. As mentioned before the files are really not that big about 100mb´s each but the server has to do a lot of them every minute, so my question is what sort of Hardware would you guys recommend. Of course I was thinking of utilizing hardware accelerated rendering via the GPU, so here is what I thought would be a good way to go and maybe you guys can give me your input too.

 

Budget around 4500€ ~ 

 

Specs 

AMD Epyc 7401P 24x 2.00GHz So.SP3 WOF

8GB MSI GeForce RTX 2080 GAMING X TRIO Aktiv PCIe 3.0 x16 (Retail)

16GB Kingston Server Premier KSM24RD8/16MEI DDR4-2400 regECC DIMM CL17 Single x4 so 64 gb of Reg ECC RAM in total

1000GB Samsung 860 Pro 2.5" (6.4cm) SATA 6Gb/s 3D MLC NAND (MZ-76P1T0B/EU) x2 

PSU : I need a good recommendation

Supermicro MBD-H11DSi-NT-B Bulk

 

So let me go over the specs and why I choose these parts: 

CPU: For the CPU I choose a AMD Epyc CPU, 24x 2,00 Ghz, it has a good core and thread count and should provide the needed performance. But I have a question what exactly does the P in the 7401P stand for ? 
Also I went for a dual socket motherboard would it be possible to add another CPU as I need more performance or is that not a option with this CPU. 

Also can I run the server with just one CPU for the start and add another later on. 

 

GPU: RTX 2080 is a good GPU should provide more than enough power for rendering maybe even a bit overkill ? 

 

RAM: REG ECC RAM 64 gb should be a good starting point I will add more along the way. Also could someone explain the difference between ECC Ram and Reg ECC Ram.

 

PSU: please help me with this one I need a good recommendation, does it need to be redundant ? 

 

Motherboard: Supermicro MBD-H11DSi-NT-B Bulk I went with a dual socket mb for having the option of adding an additional CPU later on for more power, the question I have would be can I use the CPU I choose in a dual socket config.

 

So these are all the questions I have, I really appreciate any help that comes my way.

 

Sincerely 

efberto

 

[Electronics Wizardy]

26 minutes ago, efberto said:

 

so I have to build a render server that takes adobe media encoder files (about 100Mb in file size) and render them

What type of files? What codec? Resolution?

 

26 minutes ago, efberto said:

AMD Epyc 7401P 24x 2.00GHz So.SP3 WOF

Not a great chip for most adobe stuff. Id get something like a i9 9980xe if you want the fastest rendering chip you can get.

 

27 minutes ago, efberto said:

But I have a question what exactly does the P in the 7401P stand for ? 

p is single socket only

 

27 minutes ago, efberto said:

CPU: For the CPU I choose a AMD Epyc CPU, 24x 2,00 Ghz, it has a good core and thread count and should provide the needed performance.

Adobe stuff really want more clock speed, You really want something like a i9

 

28 minutes ago, efberto said:

RAM: REG ECC RAM 64 gb should be a good starting point I will add more along the way. Also could someone explain the difference between ECC Ram and Reg ECC Ram.

Reg ecc adds a register chip that manages the connection and allows for bigger dimms and further spacing from the chip.

 

 

[efberto]

4 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

Not a great chip for most adobe stuff. Id get something like a i9 9980xe if you want the fastest rendering chip you can get

But its a server its supposed to run 24/7 wouldn´t it be better to go for a server type cpu instead of a workstation cpu ? Also it will run mutliple instances of the media encoder not just one. For instance there will be multiple costumers sending things to render at the same time, in that case wouldnt more cores be more useful then having fewer faster cores ? 

 

17 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

What type of files? What codec? Resolution?

I´ll get back to you on this one. 

 

Thank you very much for the help

[Electronics Wizardy]

2 minutes ago, efberto said:

But its a server its supposed to run 24/7 wouldn´t it be better to go for a server type cpu instead of a workstation cpu ? Also it will run mutliple instances of the media encoder not just one. For instance there will be multiple costumers sending things to render at the same time, in that case wouldnt more cores be more useful then having fewer faster cores ? 

The desktop hardware is still pretty stable and crashes are pretty darn rare. I wouldn't worry about that. If you need it server grade id get a xeon w system.

 

 

Multiple instances should still be faster, but how many are we thinking? Are you using vms, and ame only does one encode at once normally.

 

the epyc system just really aren't geared to video encoding, that normally want 8-16 fast cores, esp intels cores. A i9 will be faster even with multi encodes due to the much higher clock speed and things like better avx.

[efberto]

42 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

The desktop hardware is still pretty stable and crashes are pretty darn rare. I wouldn't worry about that. If you need it server grade id get a xeon w system.

 

 

Multiple instances should still be faster, but how many are we thinking? Are you using vms, and ame only does one encode at once normally.

 

the epyc system just really aren't geared to video encoding, that normally want 8-16 fast cores, esp intels cores. A i9 will be faster even with multi encodes due to the much higher clock speed and things like better avx.

Okay so you are suggesting a intel I9 with Ecc Memory for the fastest render times ? It should be server grade because every crash could potentially cost us costumers. But is server grade hardware really more stable then workstation hardware ? There should be one VM running on Windows Server. 

What about the GPU is that fine ? 

And can you recommend what type of PSU I should go for ? 

 

[Electronics Wizardy]

52 minutes ago, efberto said:

Okay so you are suggesting a intel I9 with Ecc Memory for the fastest render times ? It should be server grade because every crash could potentially cost us costumers. But is server grade hardware really more stable then workstation hardware ? There should be one VM running on Windows Server. 

What about the GPU is that fine ? 

And can you recommend what type of PSU I should go for ? 

 

you can't use ecc on a i9, but im guessing ecc won't be that important here. Yea it crashes a bit less, but I have had systems without ecc go years without crashes.

 

 

Also if uptime is that important, id get a server from a big brand like hpe, dell or lenovo.

 

If crashes are that important, id make a cluster.

 

Gpu should be fine here.

 

What is that one vm running? How are you running multiple instances? I don't think adobe wants to do multiple renders on one rig.

[bloodthirster]

There's an EPIC 16 core high clock model. https://www.servethehome.com/amd-epyc-7371-review-now-the-fastest-16-core-cpu/

 

Things about Epyc.

It likes 2666Mhz ram better

If you can populate one DIMM per channel (generally it's easier to get the memory running at 2666)

Update the BIOS

They can fit threadripper AIO/water blocks.

 

Personally, I think the 7371 with an AIO /beefy air cooler would be pretty beast.  You could get all core turbo to 3.6Ghz and you'll have plenty of memory BW.  You also have ECC RAM and a ton of PCIE lanes for fast storage, networking, and graphic cards.   That being said, I'm not too familiar with Intel's high end desktop or workstation products (generally because they're much more pricier).

 

If money isn't an issue and Intel has started to produce CPUs with fixes for all the security bugs they've been having, they're worth looking at IMO. 

[efberto]

1 hour ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

you can't use ecc on a i9, but im guessing ecc won't be that important here. Yea it crashes a bit less, but I have had systems without ecc go years without crashes.

 

 

Also if uptime is that important, id get a server from a big brand like hpe, dell or lenovo.

 

If crashes are that important, id make a cluster.

  

Gpu should be fine here.

 

What is that one vm running? How are you running multiple instances? I don't think adobe wants to do multiple renders on one rig.

So I just talked to one of my devs and he told me we are using a resolution of 1920x1080p, with the h264 to create mp4 files and then use ffmpack for linux. 

 

You have a point if we went with workstation type cpus we would get better results at less of a cost compared to server grade.

But ECC memory would be good, can threadripper use ECC memory ? like the 2950x ? 

 

1 hour ago, bloodthirster said:

There's an EPIC 16 core high clock model. https://www.servethehome.com/amd-epyc-7371-review-now-the-fastest-16-core-cpu/

 

Things about Epyc.

It likes 2666Mhz ram better

If you can populate one DIMM per channel (generally it's easier to get the memory running at 2666)

Update the BIOS

They can fit threadripper AIO/water blocks.

 

Personally, I think the 7371 with an AIO /beefy air cooler would be pretty beast.  You could get all core turbo to 3.6Ghz and you'll have plenty of memory BW.  You also have ECC RAM and a ton of PCIE lanes for fast storage, networking, and graphic cards.   That being said, I'm not too familiar with Intel's high end desktop or workstation products (generally because they're much more pricier).

 

If money isn't an issue and Intel has started to produce CPUs with fixes for all the security bugs they've been having, they're worth looking at IMO. 

I haven´t found a single place that sells that cpu for some reason looks like a good pick though.

 

[Electronics Wizardy]

6 minutes ago, efberto said:

You have a point if we went with workstation type cpus we would get better results at less of a cost compared to server grade.

But ECC memory would be good, can threadripper use ECC memory ? like the 2950x ? 

 

2950x would be fine, but no real server boards.

 

Id probably get a premade server, it just works better for things like this.

 

If you want server features and high clocks + intel look at xeon scaleable.

[bloodthirster]

4 hours ago, efberto said:

So I just talked to one of my devs and he told me we are using a resolution of 1920x1080p, with the h264 to create mp4 files and then use ffmpack for linux. 

 

You have a point if we went with workstation type cpus we would get better results at less of a cost compared to server grade.

But ECC memory would be good, can threadripper use ECC memory ? like the 2950x ? 

 

I haven´t found a single place that sells that cpu for some reason looks like a good pick though.

 

If you don't mind consumer motherboards, threadripper as previously mentioned.   The problem with the 24 and 32 core threadripper is that 2 dies aren't connected directly to memory channels, so for some work loads they'll suffer because of that.   Of course, threadripper 3000 might change that so.  Assuming it follows the die topology that the server and client parts are going to use, it might be more perform better with 32 cores than the 2000 series.