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Re: [LUG] DIY supercomputer

 

On 1 Sep 2007, at 19:19, Andy Smith wrote:

> Hi,
>
> On Fri, Aug 31, 2007 at 09:06:51PM +0100, Clare Shepherd wrote:
>>    On 31 Aug 2007, at 11:13, Tom Potts wrote:
>>
>>      I want one!
>>
>>    Wow, I want one too. I advise anyone interested in  
>> supercomputers to
>>    follow the link. All that power and it runs off the mains, isn't
>>    cooled and cost under £2500. Thanks for the headsup Tom.
>
> I have to say though, I don't think this is a particularly good way
> to build a cluster.  A cluster that fits on a single desk in the
> footprint of a normal mini/miditower PC, yes.  But to compare that
> to professionally-constructed clusters and claim that the low cost
> per GFLOP means it is better seems to be an er.. interesting use of
> statistics :)
>
> For a start this goes beyond commodity components - they used the
> most bargain basement components imaginable.  MSI motherboards!?  I
> could spend probably twice as much and still be using commodity
> components, and to be honest if I wanted something reliable I
> definitely would.
>
> Then there is the decidedly ghetto construction.  I don't think it
> will scale well beyond 4 nodes, and I don't think it would be
> workable in terms of failure rate of components if you did.
>
> It was an interesting article though - good to see what can be
> achieved even with cheap stuff.
>
> Cheers,
> Andy
>
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Well, that's us all down to earth again. well done Andy. LOL Altho' I  
suspect this discussion will run and run. I for one am fascinated.
Clare


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