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Ask Slashdot: Best Use For a New Supercomputing Cluster?

Posted by Unknown on from the reclaim-heat-for-silicon-diner dept.

Supp0rtLinux writes "In about 2 weeks time I will be receiving everything necessary to build the largest x86_64-based supercomputer on the east coast of the U.S. (at least until someone takes the title away from us). It's spec'ed to start with 1200 dual-socket six-core servers. We primarily do life-science/health/biology related tasks on our existing (fairly small) HPC. We intend to continue this usage, but to also open it up for new uses (energy comes to mind). Additionally, we'd like to lease access to recoup some of our costs. So, what's the best Linux distro for something of this size and scale? Any that include a chargeback option/module? Additionally, due to cost contracts, we have to choose either InfiniBand or 10Gb Ethernet for the backend: which would Slashdot readers go with if they had to choose? Either way, all nodes will have four 1Gbps Ethernet ports. Finally, all nodes include only a basic onboard GPU. We intend to put powerful GPUs into the PCI-e slot and open up the new HPC for GPU related crunching. Any suggestions on the most powerful Linux friendly PCI-e GPU available?"

2 of 387 comments (clear)

  1. Lost some funding? by turkeyfeathers · · Score: 5, Funny

    Start with the cheapest backend that'll get the system up and running, then use your supercomputer to mine Bitcoins for a few days, then use all the money you'll make to buy the InfiniBand backend (you'll probably have enough money left over to buy Monster cables to hook everything up).

  2. Re:Yes, this is legit and no, we're not idiots by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    "I've got 1200 servers shipping to me and my two best engineers are gone and we're not sure what to do with them when they get here."

    Best. IT horror story. Ever.