Cheap PCs from Wal-Mart

[Joel Jaeggli]

On Mon, 2 Jun 2003, Ken Chase wrote:

> On Mon, Jun 02, 2003 at 02:18:06PM -0700, Alvin Oga's all...
>   >> hmm.  for rhetorical purposes, let's compare the numbers from this article
>   >> to two high-end unis:
>   >> 
>   >> 	dhry	whet	mmi	mmf	memi	memf
>   >> e800	1048	285	963	1588	194	208
>   >> e10k	1300	351	1193	1968	233	245
>   >> e10k-n	1591	366	2255	2285	664	389
>   >> p4	6809	9327	22170	13896	5050	5041	
>   >> ath	3319	8855	13011	12217	2912	3080
>   >
>   >I wonder what the specific details was for the aove p4/ath cpus.
>   >
>   >For the $$$ difference betwen a p4/amd and c3 ...  it seems
>   >like a non-issue for performance of spending the extra $50 - $100
>   >for better performance in the above benchmark numbers
>   >
>   >( but, its a bigger price/performance gap for the lastest FSB-800 cpus 
>   >  and runs $300 - $500 or higher
>   >
>   >good stuff in either case ...
> 
> Since power & cooling is almost always free for .edu's, yes, .edu cluster
> design and others' will be extremely different.

I'm not entirely clear on the compatibility of the phrase "Since power & 
cooling is almost always free for .edu's," and the phrase "massive chiller 
upgrade required". clusters especially large ones have real costs 
associated with power, space, and cooling that can't been hidden in your 
general budget...
 
> Not to mention that .edu's cant stand losing nodes in a throwaway 
> design that accomodates tolerable rates of failure. (Anyone operating
> a cluster in this mode? Im very curious as to how you surmounted the
> psychological objections to it!)
> 
> When you say 'TCO' you REALLY have to define what you mean -- "total cost
> of OWNERSHIP" or "total cost of OPERATION"? You can own a really nice
> cluster for $x if you dont have to cut $x into slices to buy it
> AND pay for running power and cooling for it for n years.
> 
> Anyone admit to being in the 'must pay for power and other operationals'
> camp and want to explain how their designs differ? (especially those
> that pay a premium for floor space - these edens start winning on two
> fronts. Low heat = low space requirements.)
> 
> I suspect EDENs will be viable for people in the expensive power & floorspace
> areas (Bay area, etc?)
> 
> /kc
> 

-- 
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Joel Jaeggli	      Academic User Services   joelja at darkwing.uoregon.edu    
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  In Dr. Johnson's famous dictionary patriotism is defined as the last
  resort of the scoundrel.  With all due respect to an enlightened but
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	   	            -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"


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