CPUs for a Beowulf

[Josip Loncaric]

hanzl at noel.feld.cvut.cz wrote:
>>>>Administrative costs can easily be THE dominant cost
>>
>>My first non-small HPC cluster was 64 nodes, and it took 28 hours of
>>labor to set up, of which only 8 hours was my time
> 
> And the first small one?

Anyone getting started on clusters has to negotiate a learning curve, 
regardless of whether they build it themselves or buy a turn-key system. 
  This part of the administrative cost is unavoidable for a new cluster 
user.  For lots of people, learning on the system you built yourself is 
preferable.

Manpower costs are dominant in most projects, but most manpower costs 
are related to using the machinery, not administering it.  When 
administrative costs exceed the cost of equipment, people tend to buy 
different stuff with lower overall life cycle costs.

Sincerely,
Josip

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