Modelling Shared Workstation

[Tomtrubo]

Hey there, am pretty amateur in this matters, i have seen the video where Linus build a Editing Machine for around 6 editors at the time. 

 

I am looking to build the same but for 3D modelling using Revit. 

 

I would like some steps to start this project. 

 

Thanks!!

[goto10]

linus did it but was a massive failure because is not practical

 

you put all your eggs in one basket, when one of the virtual machines crahses the others end crashing or requiring a system restart

 

you basically make a mess of cables, spend way too much on motherboard and cpu

 

better go for traditional workstation, one machine, one user

[Lord Mirdalan]

+1 on what @goto10 said.

 

If you'd like, I'm sure some of the members here (including myself) could suggest single-user machines that would do a great job.

[Jurrunio]

Nah Linus is doing it more for the sake of doing it rather than being practical. Liquid cooling those graphics cards is the first no-no for a system that has to work, since endurance is important and liquid cooling is more prone to failure than air cooling.

[Lord Mirdalan]

5 minutes ago, Jurrunio said:

Liquid cooling those graphics cards is the first no-no for a system that has to work, since endurance is important and liquid cooling is more prone to failure than air cooling.

But -  but I have a machine that's liquid-cooled that I use for work...

 

*feels lied to*

[Jurrunio]

1 minute ago, Lord Mirdalan said:

But -  but I have a machine that's liquid-cooled that I use for work...

 

*feels lied to*

better buy more stuff now just in case some of your current hardware drops out then

[Lord Mirdalan]

1 minute ago, Jurrunio said:

better buy more stuff now just in case some of your current hardware drops out then

I have another machine as a backup when the watercooled rig needs maintenance.

[Tomtrubo]

Well i understand what you guys are telling me but i do have a need and it is portability, i know i can get portable workstations but they are a) expensive, b) not that portable at all and c) i dont really feel very sure about my team carrying 6k US Dollars around in their bags. 

 

Still i appreciate all your answers! 

 

Also i did not meant making a water cooling machine nor a gaming machine for modelling. I would like to make the machine with all the correct components of a normal workstation just with the need3d horsepower to feed 6 or 8 modellers using RDP or any similar solution. 

[goto10]

remember that the difference between a gaming pc and a workstation sometimes is only the gpu

 

make portable a workstation in the way you say you want is a bad idea, more easy to be stolen or damaged in transport

 

i think that what you meed is some good laptops with external gpu enclosures or a good internal quaddro gpu like a lenovo p52 or something bigger

 

the implementation of what you want will always be all your eggs in one basket, no matter what

 

multiple workstations allow you a tremendous flexibility, a single pc will give you 0 flexibility, but that is just my opinion

[dalekphalm]

On 8/4/2019 at 7:31 PM, Tomtrubo said:

Well i understand what you guys are telling me but i do have a need and it is portability, i know i can get portable workstations but they are a) expensive, b) not that portable at all and c) i dont really feel very sure about my team carrying 6k US Dollars around in their bags. 

 

Still i appreciate all your answers! 

 

Also i did not meant making a water cooling machine nor a gaming machine for modelling. I would like to make the machine with all the correct components of a normal workstation just with the need3d horsepower to feed 6 or 8 modellers using RDP or any similar solution. 

You're really not going to save that much money. Consider:

1. You'll still need a Monitor, KB, and Mouse for each "workstation" - The monitor in particular is going to be costly regardless, if you're serious about colour accuracy.

2. You're still going to need a GPU for each workstation - same issue as above.

3. You're going to spend quite a significant amount on a Motherboard, CPU, and RAM to give each user a usable workstation.

 

In the end, you're really only saving money on little stuff like the case and power supply, which are dirt cheap in the grand scheme of a built cost. And,  you may end up finding that a good CPU that can manage the number of users you need is more expensive than just getting each user the correct CPU to begin with.

 

And lastly, if you don't trust your staff with expensive equipment, that's a fundamental problem with your business. You either need to hire (or designate) a trusted employee to manage the equipment (this would be the same whether it was one "multi-user" shared workstation, or multiple individual workstations), or you need to hire better employees that you can trust.

 

If you're worried about them getting robbed, that concern doesn't disappear, it actually increases, because if the person with the one PC gets robbed, now you've got nothing, instead of just a single PC getting stolen. If theft is a major concern, call your insurance company (because as a business, you're insured... right?) and make sure the workstations are all insured against theft.