[Beowulf] X5500

[Ellis Wilson]

Vincent Diepeveen wrote:
> Bill,
> 
> the ONLY price that matters is that of ECC ram when posting in a cluster 
> group.
> 
> 
> If there is 1 commission that EVER puts a signature underneath a 
> production cluster
> without ECC ram using x86 processors (gpu's is yet another new thing 
> that is interesting
> to discuss), then please inform me, as they qualify for a full and 
> thorough investigation
> by a range of shrinks and psychologists, on how group behaviour could 
> lead to such a
> total unqualified and naive and total wrong decision; resulting of 
> course in the direct
> firing of the entire commission and decommissioning them to north part of
> Norway where they can count the number of iceblocks they see afloat, 
> this for the rest of
> their life until retirement age,.
> 
> So in short i can completely ignore your posting.
> 
> ECC is a requirement, not a luxury.

Though entertainingly put, it would be an error to say "ECC is a 
requirement" for everyone in a "cluster group".  I can think of more 
than just a few purposes for clusters that truly do not require the 
accuracy guaranteed by ECC RAM.

Actually as far as errors of the grossest nature go, the only truly bad 
one to make on this list is to take something that is true for one 
sector of clustering and apply it to the whole.  Now thats just dumping 
oil on the torches.

Ellis