custom cluster cabinets (was Re: 1U P4 Systems)

[W Bauske]

Bari Ari wrote:
> 
> I really don't see P4's for dense clusters. ULV PIIIs and Athlon4 with
> SMP makes much more sense. IA-64 with SMP will probably come out ahead
> in MFOPLS per watt and $$. We're working with parts now that offer 160
> MFLOPS per watt vs. 20 MFLOPS per watt on the P4. Fixed point processors
> are down to 1 watt per 1000 Mips.
> 
> Bari

That's interesting. By ULV PIII's and Athlon4, I assume you mean the chips 
used for laptops. I don't have any specs handy but are you saying say a
933Mhz laptop chip running full out takes less current than a standard 933Mhz
PIII also running full speed? I realize such a chip will use less power
at partial load but how do they compare at 100% busy? Even so, a cluster
will idle some of the time so they should save some power.

In your example, I agree P4 vs laptop chips are not power effective but
I'm comparing them to 21264 Alphas and POWER3+ and POWER4 based systems.
I expect a POWER4 will be the most power effective system but one can't
buy them yet so it's hard to say for sure. Maybe when Intel shrink the
P4 they will get a bit better in the power usage area later this year.

For my codes, P4's substantially outperform Athlons and PIII's and at
around $750 each, they're hard to beat. (as usual YMMV)

Wes