Schloss Holte-Stukenbrock, 29 January 2019 – azultec, provider of an eco-friendly concept for cloud computing, introduces the WizardMachine 300, a high-performance, water-cooled render server for the industry, built with highly optimized hardware and software. Thanks to these optimizations, the WizardMachine 300 works up to 25 percent more efficiently than traditional rendering solutions. This also leads to an increased reliability and lifespan of the components and enables additional services for use in a professional environment.
Cloud rendering services: more in demand than ever
The need for rendering resources is enormous: in addition to well-known software giants and Hollywood studios, other business segments such as 3D studios, animation studios and advertising agencies also need as much computing power as possible to render their productions. This is where the azultec WizardMachine 300 comes in: thanks to its high computing performance, the water-cooled workstation is predestined for these tasks.
For industrial use: azultec WizardMachine 300
The azultec WizardMachine 300 is an industrial entry-level solution for cloud computing in the industry-standard 19-inch server rack format (3,5U). Every WizardMachine is delivered “plug and play”-ready and supports a quick and easy installation in the data center – a complex, time-consuming and expensive setup by specialists is not necessary.
Water-cooling extends hardware lifespan
Thanks to a unique design, up to eight graphics cards can be installed, all of which are connected to just one motherboard. Instead of using multiple fans that interfere with each other, the waste heat from the graphics cards and processor is kept at bay by a water-cooling radiator. This eliminates any heat issues and increases the life of the hardware, as it operates at lower temperatures.
High performance out of the box
Render tasks in the WizardMachine 300 are processed by 8 GeForce GTX 1070 cards (each with 4 GB of GDDR5X) and 4 GB of DDR4 RAM. The graphics cards are water-cooled. A 2TB hard drive provides internal storage. The power consumption averages at 1,450 watts. In practice, the WizardMachine 300 achieves an Octanebench score of 1,077 points and a Ethereum hashrate of 310 MHash/s.
Example revenue scenario
This example illustrates how lucrative cloud rendering with the WizardMachine 300 can be: take the expected monthly revenue for cloud computing (€600-€2,200), subtract the electricity bill (€292), and that leaves you with a positive monthly result of €308 to €1,908. The WizardMachine 300 itself has a retail price of €6499 and would be paid off in full within 3 to 21 months. Please note that this is a very conservative calculation, which corresponds to a workload of the WizardMachine of only 25 percent.
Outsourcing rendering with OTOY plugin
Currently, smaller rendering processes often still run on desktop PCs. However, these cannot be used productively during this process, since the workload of the systems is almost at 100 percent. Thanks to an optionally available plug-in from OTOY, the world’s leading cloud graphics company, such tasks can now be outsourced to the WizardMachines. To give an example: render jobs that would take almost 40 minutes even on a 32-core CPU can now be performed on the render servers within two minutes. This saves time and allows even higher productivity.
A license of the OTOY plugin costs 300 Euros and supports a variety of 3D animation programs, including AutoCAD Inventor and SolidWorks. A complete list is available through this link on the OTOY website.
Significant cost savings
In addition to optimized heat dissipation, the WizardMachine 300 offers another cost saving feature: its custom cooling blocks cost around 80 percent less than conventional models. They also eliminate the necessity of riser cables or elaborate air-cooling hardware for external GPU arrays. This makes the WizardMachine cheaper and more mobile.
Better performance thanks to custom BIOS
azultec has also fine-tuned the system on a software level. The graphics cards in the WizardMachine 300 include an improved version of the BIOS, developed with the manufacturer’s approval, allowing the GPUs to work much more efficiently compared to regular air-cooled models. For example, the cards offer a higher clock speed out-of-the-box, which is made possible by the effective water cooling.
One-year warranty, technical support, and software included
All WizardMachine products have a one-year warranty. This also includes technical support, which will be available in case of questions or problems relating to the devices, as well as support over remote access. The purchase price also includes a pre-installed, pre-configured Microsoft Windows 10 Pro operating system and Eset antivirus software.
Relying on more than 20 years of experience
azultec combines the expertise of three renowned German companies from the IT and high-tech sectors: Aquatuning is the world’s largest distributor of DIY liquid cooling systems for PCs. Alphacool is a water-cooling manufacturer with clients in the IT, automotive and enterprise business. technikPR is the most technical PR agency with some of the world’s top Fortune 500 technology companies as clients. azultec can rely on long-term contracts with well-known hardware manufacturers for the production of the WizardMachine.
Price and availability
The azultec WizardMachine 300 will be available on Amazon or Aquatuning’s online store starting at the end of January 2019 at a suggested retail price of €6,499/$6,999. More information on the azultec WizardMachine 300 can be found in the press material at the end of this document, or requested by e-mail.
Reminder: azultec ICO starts March 5th!
The official launch of the azultec ICO is March 5th, 2019, at 3 pm (CET). This is to optimize the production of water-cooled rendering workstations as well as to finance the development of the world’s largest decentralized cloud computing network. Pre-registrations are already accepted!
Click the button below or follow this link for pre-registration or to read more about the ICO:
