A render farm is a group of computers that render frames while your artists keep working. For a studio in India the real choice is between building your own nodes, renting nodes by the month, or paying a cloud service per frame. This guide helps you size the farm, pick GPU or CPU nodes and decide whether to own one. Serverwale's render farm page shows reference builds, and its cloud workstation page covers remote GPU desktops for artists.
| Choose | When | Watch for |
|---|---|---|
| GPU nodes | Your engine renders on GPU: Redshift, Octane, Blender Cycles on GPU, V-Ray GPU | The scene must fit in the card's VRAM. Serverwale's reference farms use RTX 4090 (24 GB) and RTX A6000 (48 GB) |
| CPU nodes | CPU engines such as Arnold CPU or V-Ray CPU, heavy simulations, very large scenes in system RAM | Core count and ECC RAM per node. Serverwale says dual Xeon or EPYC nodes are available |
| Mixed | A studio with several engines or a mix of stills and animation | More complex to manage, but render managers handle both |
For the CPU side, our Xeon vs EPYC guide, single vs dual socket and multi-node vs scale-up explain the trade-offs. For GPU memory thinking, see GPU VRAM sizing, written for AI but the VRAM logic is the same.
Example, purely illustrative: a frame takes 12 minutes on one node, the job has 3,000 frames and you can allow 48 hours. Total work is 36,000 minutes or 600 node-hours, so about 13 nodes at full use, before headroom. Always test your own scenes first.
Nodes sit idle if they wait for textures and caches. Serverwale's page says its builds integrate NAS storage with 10GbE or 25GbE networking. Plan shared storage with our NAS buying guide, SAN vs NAS and network card speed guide. Serverwale's NAS rental page lists storage options. Keep a real backup, because RAID is not a backup.
A GPU node can draw several hundred watts under load. Check circuits and UPS capacity with the UPS sizing guide and PDU guide, and plan airflow using the cooling guide. If nodes will sit in a studio room rather than a data room, noise and heat matter as much as price.
| Option | Best for | Trade-off |
|---|---|---|
| Build your own farm | Steady monthly render load; assets that must stay on site | Upfront cost, you manage it. Serverwale states a 5 to 10 day deployment and a 3-year warranty on nodes, so confirm for your order |
| Rent nodes | A seasonal rush, one big project, or testing before buying | Monthly cost adds up. See GPU servers buy vs rent |
| Cloud render service | Rare, spiky jobs | Per-frame bills and uploading assets. Serverwale claims on-premise cuts per-frame cost 70 to 90 percent; that depends on utilization, so run your own numbers |
Compare with GPU server prices and Serverwale's GPU servers page. For artist desktops, the workstations for rendering guide compares machines, and the cloud workstation page covers remote access to GPU workstations from a laptop. Studios that need a larger AI and rendering mix can also read AI infrastructure in India.
How many render nodes does a small studio need? Time one hard frame, multiply by your frame count and divide by the hours you have. Serverwale lists a 4-node GPU starter for small studios, but your own timing decides the number.
Is a GPU or CPU render farm better? GPU nodes suit GPU engines such as Redshift, Octane or Cycles if the scene fits in VRAM. CPU nodes suit CPU engines and very large scenes that need lots of system RAM.
Is an on-premise render farm cheaper than cloud rendering? It can be when you render steadily every month, because you stop paying per frame. Serverwale claims 70 to 90 percent lower per-frame cost; for a rare job, cloud or monthly rental may still cost less.
Can I rent render nodes instead of buying? Serverwale says nodes can be bought or rented monthly. Ask about minimum term, deposit and whether rental can convert to purchase.
What storage does a render farm need? Fast shared storage so nodes do not wait for assets, typically a NAS on 10GbE or faster, plus a separate backup copy.
Do artists need local workstations if I have a farm? Usually yes for interactive work, or they can use remote GPU workstations. The farm handles final frames, the workstation handles scene setup.
Tell us your render engine, scene size, frame count, deadline and budget, and we will suggest a node layout and quote it. Serverwale · Phone +91-87962-44410 · WhatsApp https://wa.me/918796244410 · Burari, Delhi 110084, India. See enterprise solutions, browse live stock or server AMC plans.
Sources: Serverwale render farm page and cloud workstation page, read 2026-10-10. Node specs, warranty, deployment time and savings figures are Serverwale statements, not independently verified.