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alligator · Dec 19, 2003, 11:14 AM

I'd like to take my 1.8 G5 and start to build a cluster to improve rendering times for FCE. Has anyone done this? Is it possible? Where can I go for more information?

hadocon · Dec 19, 2003, 02:16 PM

Originally posted by alligator:
I'd like to take my 1.8 G5 and start to build a cluster to improve rendering times for FCE. Has anyone done this? Is it possible? Where can I go for more information?

Clustering is not an option for this. FCE does not support it and heres why: To use the extra CPUs they have to be able to see the data. Even gigabit ethernet is not fast enough for this... clustering is for applications that have data that can be broken into many small chunks- I guess this could be done with DV, but no one has done this for FCE... not even FCP.

There are many resources online that can explain the nature of clustering - check them out.

thetman · Dec 20, 2003, 04:23 PM

tech used infini band pci-x cards to get 20Gb b andwidth between machines, so if money really isnt a problem you could try that as thats a bit faster than the built in 1Gb

powerbook867 · Dec 20, 2003, 07:35 PM

here's some info on clustering....

http://www.gdargaud.net/Hack/ClusterNotes.html

I plan on setting up a Linux cluster after christmas for the experience and redundancy. I'm doing it for failover purposes for my mail/web/ftp/backup server I'm going to setup.

While I think what you want to do is possible, is this out of necessity because you need the raw horsepower to crunch numbers(FCE) or are you hacking around? Whether you need the horsepower or are learning about such things, your best bet is probably intel hardware and linux. You can setup a headless Athlon system for probably about 300 to 500 dollars a node, dependant on how you do it. Just my opinion, write back when you get the chance....

Also as hadocon states, ethernet would not be fast enough...the Sun 15k's we have clustered at work utilize fibre channel for max performance...

hadocon · Dec 20, 2003, 07:55 PM

Originally posted by thetman:
tech used infini band pci-x cards to get 20Gb b andwidth between machines, so if money really isnt a problem you could try that as thats a bit faster than the built in 1Gb

True, but regardless of $$$ FCE does not support clustering.

hadocon · Dec 20, 2003, 07:57 PM

Originally posted by powerbook867:
here's some info on clustering....

http://www.gdargaud.net/Hack/ClusterNotes.html
Whether you need the horsepower or are learning about such things, your best bet is probably intel hardware and linux. You can setup a headless Athlon system for probably about 300 to 500 dollars a node, dependant on how you do it. Just my opinion, write back when you get the chance....

The guy is obviously a newbie. How does telling him about Linux and Athalons help him with his question... You are bringing him into the land of confusion

powerbook867 · Dec 20, 2003, 09:02 PM

sorry...cluster and newbie don't ever mix well IMHO...hell, I just took a Veritas class this past week and I feel like a newbie!!

CatOne · Dec 22, 2003, 12:12 PM

Originally posted by alligator:
I'd like to take my 1.8 G5 and start to build a cluster to improve rendering times for FCE. Has anyone done this? Is it possible? Where can I go for more information?

I believe FCP can do this, but not FCE. If you wanna build a render farm, you can spring the extra $500 for FCP over Express.

hadocon · Dec 23, 2003, 12:17 AM

Originally posted by CatOne:
I believe FCP can do this, but not FCE. If you wanna build a render farm, you can spring the extra $500 for FCP over Express.

There is no "render-farm" option for FCP.

powerbook867 · Dec 23, 2003, 07:31 AM

although aligator hasn't commented, lots of people have been looking at this thread. If anyone is interested in offloading digital media work to other macs, here is a write up on apple's site on what shake can do...

http://www.apple.com/shake/featureoverview.html