Re: OT: mass installation on XBox
On Thursday 03 October 2002 01:49 am, martin f krafft wrote:
> also sprach Oleg <oleg@tw304h3.cpmc.columbia.edu> [2002.10.03.0048 +0200]:
> > Firstly, you need a mod chip for each Xbox. Secondly, you need to
> > install them into each Xbox. Thirdly, how many Xboxes, mod chips,
> > expensive Myrinet networks, and how much labor would it take to
> > replace *one* dual Athlon 4?
>
> These are valid points that speak for regular machines rather than
> XBoxes. However, in terms of size and stackability, the XBox beats any
> small tower or similar.
A node can be just a motherboard in a big box called "cluster". It can also
have its own case, but it will still be just as small. So I'd even say a
single Xbox takes up as much space as a single regular node.
The fallacy of such comparison is in that it does not take into account the
fact that you need _many_ Xboxes to replace one regular node.
Consider a node that is a _dual_ Athlon 4 at 2000+ MHz. To match it with pure
CPU speed using XBoxes, one will need 6 of them. That's $1000 right there.
Add the mod chips, labor, network costs, maintenance extras, inability to
upgrade; and the XBox option just doesn't seem very attractive to me.
OTOH I wouldn't want to stand in the way of innovation, so if you _must_ make
a Linux cluster out of Xboxes, good luck!
Oleg
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