[Beowulf] A Cluster of Motherboard.

[Robert G. Brown]

On Sat, 5 Nov 2005, oxylabtech at gmail.com wrote:

> Hello

> It would like to know if is possible to make a cluster of
> motherboards? I don't speaking in a cluster of PC's, but of
> motherboards. Somebody already saw? If it is possible, Could someone
> help me?

Yes, it is possible and it has been done a number of times.  Several of
them are documented, more or less, in the list archives -- GIYF here.

If I recall, most of them just attach the mobos directly to shelving and
use a special wiring harness to drive them off of oversized power
supplies.  All pretty much OTC parts, although the counter in question
is that of Home Depot for a lot of it.  Fans are often mounted to blow
over the shelves.  Somebody posted a whole series of pictures on at
least one such effort.

With micro ATX boards with integrated network and maybe video, you could
probably work out a vertical mounting that gave you near-blade
densitites.

Two minor pieces of advice:  Try to stay safe -- electrical devices
start fires, so watch the connections to e.g. wooden shelving.  Try to
stay within codes (include FCC codes for EM emissions) both to stay safe
and because if you pack things too close together without shielding you
could conceivably get some electrical oddities that destabilize things.

Jim Lux, IIRC, had a bunch to say on these latter points in previous
discussions to this point.  He's the list's EE guru as much as anybody
and builds all sorts of "interesting" microclusters.

    rgb

> Thankx³
>
> --
>
> Fernando.

-- 
Robert G. Brown	                       http://www.phy.duke.edu/~rgb/
Duke University Dept. of Physics, Box 90305
Durham, N.C. 27708-0305
Phone: 1-919-660-2567  Fax: 919-660-2525     email:rgb at phy.duke.edu