The wall-mounted render farm

Author: Gareth Halfacree
Published: 2nd October 2008
Comments (14) Stumble
The glowing-blue server farm is mounted in the reception of the design company's offices, and takes zero floorspace.

The glowing-blue server farm is mounted in the reception of the design company's offices, and takes zero floorspace.

If you've always fancied your own six-PC render farm but weren't sure how to hide such a beast from your significant other, take a leaf from Frederik Perman and Michael Stabile: flaunt it.

The pair, working for Perman's design form Pacific Design & Manufacturing, took an old six-PC render farm, some acrylic, the mandatory blue cold cathode tubes, and some nice strong wall anchors to create a system that was both functional and a good talking point for visitors to the company – located, as it is, in the foyer.

As reported by Hack a Day, the installation uses an aluminium frame to provide strength with a clear acrylic sheet to provide a look-but-don't-touch cover, a massive ten cold cathode tubes to provide that cool glow, and six blue-LED equipped fans designed to suck cool air in at the base and vent it from the top. Coupled with a wall-mounted monitor, keyboard, and wireless 'presenter' trackball you've got a powerful server farm that provides a discussion point and design statement, all without taking up any noticeable floorspace.

The systems themselves were originally single-processor Pentium 4 systems, although have since been upgraded to Intel Pentium Dual Core to provide a total of twelve discrete processors for rendering projects. The farm is controllable from the single monitor visible in the picture, as the pair have sunk an eight-port KVM switch into the wall. Networking is taken care of via the same wall – on the other side of which, handily, is the company's server room.

More pictures of the farm are available on the DVice website.

Tempted to turn some old hardware into a wall-mounted server farm, or is the idea just a shade too ridiculous for you? Share your thoughts over in the forums.
Quote p3n 2nd October 2008, 13:15
"and takes zero floorspace."

Unless your 3ft tall, in the interest of the internet im going to disagree!
Quote Nexxo 2nd October 2008, 16:06
0% floor space; 100% tasty.
Quote Cheapskate 2nd October 2008, 16:17
Well, unless you're Jet Li, at least you will never kick it p3n.
Quote ParaHelix.org 2nd October 2008, 16:49
It looks like a very inventive work of art, it isn’t most days you see a computer good enough to stick on a wall and for it to be appreciated. Pretty please get water cooling tubes sticking out of it (lol).
Quote [WP@]WOLVERINE 2nd October 2008, 17:35
looking at this from a modders point of view im really not impressed at all. This could have been done ALOT better. First of all the total lack of cable management and the odd generic psus look like absolute crap. The idea is very cool but the execution truly sucks. Hey look at me ive nailed a bunch of parts to a plank and stuck some acrylic on top and finished it off with 6000 ccfls. THanks but no thanks.
Quote pendragon 2nd October 2008, 18:01
i like it :)
Quote HourBeforeDawn 2nd October 2008, 18:50
I dont care for all that blue but the idea is awesome
Quote Yemerich 2nd October 2008, 19:47
well.. its a mod, no doubt. But, why would someone put a rendering farm in a living room? This living room will NEVER get cold! :D
As wolverine said it could be a lot better. But i liked the idea. Even if its not really a very original idea.

EDIT: Hmmm it's a reception area, not a living room. And this 15 inch monitor only shows the progress of renderings. So it is a nice idea after all. Still needs a better design thou
Quote CowBlazed 2nd October 2008, 20:43
Give em a break, all bashing this I'd like to see your wall mounted farm. I think it looks great, with the little access station on the side too like somethin "from the future".

And now the obligatory... but can it play CRYSIS?? lol
Quote Jojii 2nd October 2008, 21:53
All i see is grey power supplies and random metal in the close up pics but I like that he put the effort in to make it all come together.
Quote r4tch3t 3rd October 2008, 04:53
Stumbled across this a couple days back. Interesting idea, but my first though was, eugh badly done. Sure it looks nice from afar, but under any kind of close inspection and it totally pales in comparison to the legendary scope and beauty of the mods that go through this site. I also would have thought they would connect them so that they are accessible through the network, why use a KVM?
I think it's a challenge to a bit modder to create something much more stylish. It does not need to be six PCs, just a wall mounted thing that looks better to show them what it could have been.

Good going to them anyways.
Quote crompers 4th October 2008, 23:33
"Pentium Dual Cores" - that thing is going to be hotter than the sun, stick some Q6600's in it for christs sake you could even down-clock them and undervolt to save on heat and get a gazillion times the performance.

a good idea badly executed imo
Quote Icy EyeG 5th October 2008, 00:30
Quote:
Originally Posted by crompers
"Pentium Dual Cores" - that thing is going to be hotter than the sun, stick some Q6600's in it for christs sake you could even down-clock them and undervolt to save on heat and get a gazillion times the performance.

a good idea badly executed imo

Not to mention that I bet those "Pentium Dual Cores" are really Pentium D processors.
Quote crompers 5th October 2008, 21:11
Quote:
Originally Posted by Icy EyeG
Quote:
Originally Posted by crompers
"Pentium Dual Cores" - that thing is going to be hotter than the sun, stick some Q6600's in it for christs sake you could even down-clock them and undervolt to save on heat and get a gazillion times the performance.

a good idea badly executed imo

Not to mention that I bet those "Pentium Dual Cores" are really Pentium D processors.

correct sir
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