[Beowulf] Intro question

[Lombard, David N]

On Tue, Dec 02, 2008 at 02:12:09PM -0800, Robert G. Brown wrote:
> On Tue, 2 Dec 2008, malcolm croucher wrote:
> 
> > Hi  Guys ,
> > 
> > I am still thinking about my cluster and most probably will only begin
> > development next year june/july .
> > 
> > Question :
> > 
> > If i develop my system on  10 computers (nodes) which are all normal
> > desktops and then would like to place this in data hosting facility which
> > has access to real time information . I am going to need to buy new servers
> > (thin 1 u servers ). Would this be the best choice as desktops take up more
> > space and therefore will be more expensive . how do you guys get around this
> > problem ? or dont you ?
> 
> I'm not sure I understand you, but let me try.
> 
> (my own choice for development would be no more than four machines, each
> with one quad core processor or two dual core processors depending on
> just where I expected to be internally bottlenecked, OR a single dual
> quad).

Agreed.  Four nodes should see any issues that 10 would also see.  Less
and you can miss concurrency issues.

> To put it another way, I THINK that you should probably just get 1U
> systems from the beginning, but there are so many variables you haven't
> given us I can't be sure.

An acoustic concern. A 1U is quite a bit louder than the normal desktop as
(1) they use itty-bitty fans and (b) there's no incentive to make them
quiet, as nobody is expected to have to put up with their screaming...

-- 
David N. Lombard, Intel, Irvine, CA
I do not speak for Intel Corporation; all comments are strictly my own.