[chedda]

My old machine a power mac G5 is unused at the moment. I'd like to add it to my new mac pro 12x2.93 as a render node. I notice PPC is still supported by next limit although i guess this will end at some point. The machine is a dual 2.0 GHz machine with 8 GB of ram. The question is it really worth it considering the electricity, cost of render node license etc. I fear not although every little helps i guess ? I wish benchwell was still around so i could estimate any gain i could make.

[nachob]

Hi chedda,

Yes, there is still ppc support but it won't last long. Apple is not supporting them anymore, and to have a good support for it from a developer stand point (debugging problems) a working ppc machine is needed, and even just compiling for ppc was recently dropped from Apple developer tools.

Probably ppc and OSX 10.5 support for Maxwell will be dropped when Apple releases OSX 10.7 Lion (probably this summer or autumn) , it will allow us to improve performance a bit in many cores machines (using some of the new stuff that appeared with 10.6 like Grand Central Dispatch, that was not possible to use in older systems ). From a performance stand point i would say that hole machine is probably quite less powerful than one of your 12 xeon cores, so probably it's not worth the expense for something like 5-6% improvement in raw time (without considering the sending scene time and mxi merging time).

nachob

[chedda]

Thanks Nachob, it's a shame but you have confirmed my suspicions. The trouble is it's in perfect condition after 7 years it just won't die ! I think your 5-6% is also a little generous lol. I will wait for the i7 mac mini as a node if it ever gets released. I think the best bang for buck would be linux nodes but i am lost in this area.

[glassbathroom]

Hi chedda,

If I was you I would be sticking Snow Leopard on it and trying to sell it on ebay. There are still lots of people who would be able to make use of it now. Once Lion comes out it will drop considerably in value I think. Macs always seem to retain a bit of value. You might find you can make enough to buy most of a new mac mini!

Just a thought. I had a G5 like this a while back. Definitely built to last.

glassbathroom

[glassbathroom]

Hi chedda,

it will allow us to improve performance a bit in many cores machines (using some of the new stuff that appeared with 10.6 like Grand Central Dispatch, that was not possible to use in older systems)

nachob

There is a silver lining to every cloud. Good to know that we might be able to eek out a little more power!

[numerobis]

sell it on ebay, i would say too.
but i don't know if a mac mini would be the right choice for a render node: heat, notebook hardware, very limited ram options...

[chedda]

I think leopard was the last OS for PPC guys. Now i am thinking of using it as a nas when i build my farm/cluster would this free up my faster machine in any way ? Regarding ebay i live in cyprus a tiny dusty dot down near Israel/Egypt the shipping alone would make it a right off lol. Yeah the mac mini only has the form factor/economy thing going for it heat will always be an issue i think. I know the best way is to build my own linux nodes but i have no idea does anyone know of affordable systems of the shelf which are suitable ? I think i don't need a dedicated graphics card or too much ram it's all about the processor right ?

[glassbathroom]

I think leopard was the last OS for PPC guys

You are correct. I should have left off the snow.

[Bubbaloo]

I think i don't need a dedicated graphics card or too much ram it's all about the processor right ?

You're right about the graphics card, but you need the RAM. It doesn't affect speed, but RAM determines the size of scene you are able to render.

[caustics]

FYI current mac-minis with Core Duo 2 processors are 64bit and support up to 8GB of RAM.

Regards.

I think i don't need a dedicated graphics card or too much ram it's all about the processor right ?

You're right about the graphics card, but you need the RAM. It doesn't affect speed, but RAM determines the size of scene you are able to render.