[Beowulf] RS: 512 atoms in a box

[Alan Ward]

Just found this:

  http://www.raspberrypi.org/

The ARM11 does not pack much punch, there is no networking (though it should not be too difficult to add) and it is not even in production yet. But it does seem fun. Plus, $1000 would get you 40 units ...

Cheers,
-Alan


-----Missatge original-----
De: beowulf-bounces at beowulf.org en nom de Mark Hahn
Enviat el: ds. 28/05/2011 05:59
Per a: Beowulf Mailing List
Tema: [Beowulf] 512 atoms in a box
 
I was thinking about the seamicro box - 512 atoms, 64 disks and 
either 64 Gb ports or 16 10G ports.  it would be interesting to 
look at what the most appropriate "balance" is for mips/flops 
of cpu power compared to interconnect bandwidth.  maybe the seamicro
box is more intended to be a giant memcached server - that is,
the question is memory bandwidth/capacity versus IC bandwidth.

in any case, you have to ponder where the amazing value-add is - 
compactness?  I'm not sure it competes all that well compared to 
48 core-per-U conventional servers (whether mips/flops or memory-based).

here's an idea, more commodity-oriented (hence beowulf): suppose you 
design a tiny widget that gets all its power via POE.  maybe Atom or 
ARM-based - you've got 15-20W, which is quite a bit these days.
for packaging, you need space for a cpu, nic and sodimm.  maybe some leds.

plug them into a commodity 1U 48-port Gb switch, then stack 10 of them
and you've got a penny-pincher's approximation of a Seamicro SM100000!

not going to win top500, but...
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