There are lots of farm types and each has its strengths and weaknesses so here is a render farm comparison. I’m going to discuss the most accessible ones in a bit of detail.
Render Farm Pro’s and Con’s
Whether you build your own machines for rendering, or you rent computing time from an online render farm, there are costs involved. I will try summarizing the Pro’s and Con’s for each type in the table below:
| Farm type | Pro’s | Con’s |
| Distributed or collaborative | It’s free | – Your machine must be available for somebody else’s projects – You project is distributed to the computers in the network – your data may become available to others – Long waiting queues – Inconsistent results – the rendering speed depends on the number of computers in the network |
| DIY | – One-time cost for hardware – 100% customized for your needs | – A few thousand dollars investment is needed beforehand, the exact amount depends on your needs – The initial setup requires some tech skills (purchasing the right machines, maybe assemble them, then do the software setup)T – he machines may have an impact on your work environment. They require some space, generate noise and heat, and will require periodic maintenance – cleaning, at the very least – In the event that something breaks, you need to do your own debugging |
| Rented computers in the cloud | – You get access to significant hardware resources – You pay a lower hourly cost, compared to an online farm | – It’s a paid solution – you pay for all the resources you use – Significant tech skills are necessary in order to make it work – You need a good understanding of the cloud concept in order to get optimal results – The time investment can be significant |
| Online render farm | – You get immediate access to vast hardware resources – hundreds of thousands of dollars worth – It’s fast – It can handle every spike in your load – You receive an invoice for the service, which you can pass to your client | – It’s a paid solution – you pay for the processing time – There is a learning curve for using each farm (although it’s very fast for the modern ones) |
Let’s go in details in the next articles!
Cre: blog.render.st