[Beowulf] Beowulf Storage Node

[Mark Hahn]

> Will such a Storage Node (E8400, 2x 1 GB DDR2 PC6400 RAM, iG33 integrated video) be comparable in
> performance with the same computer as a Storage Node, but with PCI-Ex8 3WARE 512 MB SAS RAID 0
> controller installed with 2x 147 GB 15000 rpm HDDs? There will be 2x PCI-Ex1 GLAN NICs.

it depends too much on the workload and how you configure.
for instance, if the sw raid is configured to respect filesystem
barriers, but the hw raid has battery-backed cache, there may be 
a huge difference in throughput for small randomish writes (either
content or metadata).  of course, a conservative config with raid0
is a little contradictory...

for bandwidth, you're already set, either way: current 7200 rpm sata disks
(I looked at seagate es.2) peak at > 100 MB MB/s (and probably ~70 on 
slow/inner tracks).  a cheetah 15k.6 sustains between 110 and 171.