Interested in building Pentium 3 Linux cluster...parts??

S

suryad

Veteran
Hey guys,
I am very interested in getting parts to build a Linux cluster just for the heck of it. :oops: It will be an interesting learning experience. I am looking at a 10 processor system as of now. All are to be 1.13 Ghz P3s. If anyone has better suggestions for a cheap, but powerful processor like the P3 Tualatin used to be please let me know. So each box would have 512 mb of Ram for starters, and a 20 gb hdd would be ok.

Now I know the basic idea of clustering and am in the process of reading up on it and stuff...the reason I posted here is cause I am very awed by the amount of knowledge in one forum...I usually (when it comes to graphics) dont know anything that you guys talk about.

So if any of you know where I can go and get parts and stuff for cheap from a recycling center or websites...please let me know...any links, info, books to read on a cluster that would be great.

I did read of one of the mods I believe who built a cluster at home or something like that at hexus and that kind of sparked my interest.

Thanks in advance.

-Surya
 
I wonder why you seem to believe the P3 would be particulary cheap... Typically, AMD offers the price (and often performance) advantage.
 
I agree with Guden, 1.13 P3s aren't exactly cheap. You might be better off using some low level Opterons.
 
Hmm for some odd reason I was of the mind set that the P3s were having more power.

Now that you guys have convinced me I shall look into procuring some AMD machines. I was leaning towards it but then my friend asked me why not Pentium 3s. :rolleyes:

Back to the hardware hunt...
 
Right so a cluster is a group of machines that you are going to distribute a bunch of high end workload like for example graphics, or some other kind of simulation, something that requires a lot of horsepower basically. So you can imagine stringing together a bunch of machines and making them work as one you might say.

So basically in most clusters you have a powerful box that is the load balancer and where you can enter the program to run. So it will be connected via a fast network to other boxes and they will have similar hardware and software usually installed in them. So the load balancer takes the task and distributes it as it thinks is optimal across those machines, and they chomp away at it.

The catch is that the code written for the program you are going to run on the cluster has to be parallelized so it can take advantage of all those cpus. Thats a cluster in a nutshell. Sorry if I could not explain any better but here are some links I have found that would hopefully clarify my rather Layman's explanation.

http://www.gdargaud.net/Hack/ClusterNotes.html
http://www.mcsr.olemiss.edu/bookshelf/articles/how_to_build_a_cluster.html

Those are the 2 links I think will be appropriate.

As for Linux, well it is the alternate OS to Windows. You can create a cluster based on Windows but nowhere near the operating efficiency of what Linux can provide. You can just search for Linux via Google and get a deluge of information on what is quite possibly the best home grown OS on the planet. Did I mention it was Open Source? Meaning it is free to download :D
 
Well an update as to my search for hardware, it is a daunting task. Never thought finding old boxes would be this hard hehe. I would like to go with dual procs if possible...so 2 to a box...and 5 boxes and that would be a good start and so I have been looking at the Athlon MP 2800. Nice but expensive. Seems like a 2 way Opteron would be the better way to go but they get expensive...so to get at least a functional cluster I need to get 2 boxes.

Well I am off to do some more research and snooping around.
 
Dual proc systems have an inherent additional cost just because they are dual proc.
You most likely would be better off going for single processor systems unless you get the lowdown on some cheap dualie stuff.
Some day I plan on building one to fullfill my goal of world domination, but I think that's still a spell off, well that and I have to do a rendering farm first. :?
 
Yeah I agree. But I think it would be wise for me to stick with dualies at least because that way I wont have so many darn boxes laying around. I figured as I was thinking about all this that, I can be patient and save up a bit more and get a 2 way specced out Opteron setup...and then save for another and another slowly...and just build on from there. But for now I am trying to get my head around all the crazy setup of the OS and various other softwares that need to be done...its quite mindboggling.

Top that with studying for my final, and graduating after that and taking my GREs and my Java Cert exam and working on a side software project (Open Source) I fear my cluster dreams for world domination will have to wait a bit.... :cry:
 
If you REALLY want dualy today, your choices immediately narrow down from Athlon XP or Sempron as being best price/performance to either lowest-end Opteron (not nearly as cheap) or second-hand 1-ish GHz P3s - not tualatins, because they were purposefully MP-crippled - (hard to get, no warranty etc) or any variety of xeons (not cheap at all).

Just bite the bullet and buy single-CPU boxes... You're just making it harder for yourself by wanting dual.
 
Yeah Guden Oden, I am taking everybody's advice into account. Problem is I dont know where to go and who to approach. But I then again I have only been at this for a couple days. My hopes are strong! :devilish:
 
Yeah I have been looking at blade like boxes. They seem to be the best space saving idea. I found a whole bunch at www.pricewatch.com and there are some good deals. Thanks for the input so far.

Now back to some studying for a final. I will continue my search afterwards.
 
Well I have not given that much thought yet. I am gonna try the gigabit ethernet first and then move on to something more powerful given the appropriate funds. At the end I hope to be able to deploy the cluster online and maybe do folding on it while waiting for some jobs that people would like to run on the machine...maybe even charge so as to cover the electricity bill!!! :oops:
 
You seem to be wanting to do something similar to what I do with my own cluster. I use dual P3 systems for about 11GHz of compute power. If anyone has 18 spare 1GHz P3s, let me know :LOL:

Anyway, you can find my cluster blog here: http://g0ng0r.com/cluster/

I've not done much with it in a while, but there's info on Myrinet there, Rocks Linux and some pictures and whatnot.

I'll switch the beast on this weekend again methinks, for a tinker.

Rys
 
Why not build your own rack? You can fill it with any cheap / second hand motherboards you come across. Use a keyboard / mouse / monitor switch to get them up and running. You might even consider foregoing CD and harddisk drives and just using a USB stick to boot them, if the motherboards support that. That's about as simple, cheap and compact as it gets, I think.

Edit: the simplest rack would be from wood, like this (with ================== being the motherboards):

Code: 
--------------------
|                  |
|==================|
+-                -+
|                  |
|==================|
+-                -+
|                  |
|==================|
+-                -+
|                  |
--------------------

You just have to be able to put the motherboards inside, no need to fasten them or whatever.
 
I believe Athlon XPs can be pin modded into Athlon MPs, that might work for a cheap dual processor system.

Make sure it's cheap though, as I think the mp motherboards are based on antiquated chipsets and a single athlon 64 stands a good chance of outperforming the duals.

BTW, low end opterons aren't too expensive...
http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=OSA240BOX&sourceid=qIq2QkIkxESNAmpXLwbY
$129 for a 1.4ghz 1MB L2 cache cpu. In athlon 64 model numbers, that'd be probably an athlon 64 2600+.(athlon xp based sempron 2200+ can be had for around $53, and could very well be doubled in performance by this)

http://www.monarchcomputer.com/Merc...PROD&Store_Code=M&Product_Code=120803
$158 for a 1.6ghz, which would be a 2800+.

And so on and so on it continues slowly up, $203 for a 1.8ghz, hmm...well maybe not so slowly, the next dual processor capable opteron goes for $307.

https://www.computerinternetneeds.c...p;mainCatagory=Products&product=amdopt844
And 4 way opterons start at $550.95 for a 1.8ghz, hmm, so would $3000 for a decked out 4 cpu system be cheaper than what you could take out two dual cpu systems for?
 
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