All the studios I've worked for so far have just used the employee stations as the farm. So when people went home, the farm took over the PC and rendered frames out. Seems to work well.
Of course that's not as customizable or convenient as a standalone farm.
In that case, if you don't have the space for multiple systems, even 1 u's. And the electricity they will be sucking even when idle. There is always like the nvidia tesla, though the programs have to be recompiled to take advantage of.
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Of course that's not as customizable or convenient as a standalone farm.