[Beowulf] 32 nodes cluster price

[Mark Hahn]

> We are going to buy a small size beowulf cluster with 32 multicore
> processors (INTEL or AMD multicore processor).

does "multi" mean 2 or 4 to you?  also, are you talking dual-socket
or single (or quad)?

> We don't care the network, but we need a big storage disks.

that's even more poorly defined.  how big is big, and does it need to be 
raid, and if so what level of redundancy and hotpluggability?  by big 
do you mean capacity, or do you also mean sustained bandwidth (presumably
you don't mean to maximize random seeks, or do you?)  what space footprint
is acceptable?  are you sure you can't tolerate shared storage of any 
sort, even if over a high-bandwidth media?

> Anybody can give us some suggestions about
> the hardware and the price?

no.  your query could mean "1-socket 1U server with 2x 750G local"
(probably around $1500), or it could mean "4-socket quadcore with 
128G ram and 12 15K rpm SAS disks" (more like $50k).

if you're really taking the extreme of high disk-to-cpu ratio,
HP has a product which puts 14xSATA disks in 2U with a single socket
for about $11k (US list).  sun's thumper is 48x750 in 4U, I think; I don't
know what kind of cpu it has locally.