[Beowulf] Re: GPU boards and cluster servers.

[Prentice Bisbal]

Tom Elken wrote:
> 	From: beowulf-bounces at beowulf.org
> [mailto:beowulf-bounces at beowulf.org] On Behalf Of Tom Pierce
> 
> 	 
> 	...  It is a cost effective solution, and Dell clusters keep
> popping up at US Universities as well.
> 	 
> 	Tom  
> 
> The same is true at UK Universities.
> 
> -Tom

I think these trends have more to do with the cheap cost of Dell
Hardware and Dell's sales force  and marketing to upper management than
they do with any technical advantages Dell has over the competition.

I have no problem with Dell Hardware. There's nothing wrong with it, and
Beowulf clusters are *supposed* to be based on affordable commodity
hardware. I didn't see much basis for the earlier post disparaging Dell
hardware.

However, If you're buying a "turn-key" cluster solution based on
advertised "clustering services", I'd be cautious with *any* of the big
vendors, where you're known mostly as a customer ID in their CRM
database, and you're dealing with salespeople and not technical people.
Especially if they offer any kind of "customization" -- more than
likely, any customization will be at additional costs, and you'll still
have to do some reconfiguration to get it set up the way yo want (and is
therefore no longer a turn-key system). I've got a few stories, but the
guilty shall remain nameless.

Getting back to hardware, I've always been impressed with the robustness
of HP Proliant hardware

-- 
Prentice