Slashdot Mirror
Coolest Cluster Ever
sw155kn1f3 writes "Scientists at Los Alamos National Laboratory built a cheap (less than $1k per unit) 294-unit Beowulf claster dedicated to run astrophysics calculations. According to their website it's 85th fastest computer in the world. Seems cool and promising as it made with cheap components and off the shelf hardware."
Must really have some neat features since they are using these.
He painted a unicorn in outer space. I'm askin' ya, what's it breathin'?
I don't know how they can claim to be the cheapest Beowulf cluster at $1k/unit. That is $1k UDS per unit I assume, which is $1500 CAD (actually more than that due to bad exchange). Okay, let's say $1550 CAD. Well with that I could buy a pretty sweet computer, actually a REALLY sweet computer, considering it doesn't need a monitor, or a fancy video card. I mean, we're just talking mobo, CPU, fan, RAM, network card, case. I could easily make a small cluster. In fact I was using small cluster at work in the summer. It has about 3 or 4 to begin with, and I bet the cost about $1500 CAD, but I'm pretty confident they were less. They were just 1.2 GHz Athlons. We ended up dismantling it (reducing it to only 2 units!) but still, it is cheap. I just don't see how they make that claim.
I don't know about you cluster folks, but these new Beowulf clasters I heard about sound pretty cool.
A Beowulf cluster of those Beowulf clasters would be sweet!