> I'm reading all these interesting methods for gaming clusters > and such, > but after all the information coming in, it still seems like a single, > multi-CPU machine would be better for these types of tasks. > Is this not > the case?
I would tend to agree. > It seems like it'd be cheaper, too, judging from > some of the > costs I've seen here. Agreed, until you go beyond a dual CPU machine. That 6 CPU cluster that guy built, if you don't attribute a $$ value to his time building it, is far cheaper than a 4CPU x86 SMP box. Assuming he used fast ethernet for the switch fabric, he still spent far less money than he would have on a 4-way box. A current 4-way Xeon (either the older 1.6Ghz, or the new 2Ghz with 2MB L3 cache) is going to set you back a minimum of $10,000 to $20,000 US, even buying one of the Intel white-box "to be relabeled" machines: The chassis: http://program.intel.com/shared/products/servers/platforms/srsh4/index.htm Pricing on the chassis: http://www.emicrox.com/eShop/product.aspx?cid=-1&more=1&keywords=SRSH4&pid=5 56383 Pricing on processors for this chassis: http://www.emicrox.com/eShop/product.aspx?cid=324&pid=477846 http://www.emicrox.com/eShop/product.aspx?cid=324&pid=477850 http://www.emicrox.com/eShop/product.aspx?cid=324&pid=477853 As you can see, the chassis alone for this Intel white box 4-way, without CPUs, memory, or HDs, is $4200 US. The CPUs range from $1200 US to almost $4000 US *each*. If you look into a 4-way box from Dell, HPQ, or IBM, you're looking at a $20,000 to $25,000 MINIMUM with all 4 CPUs. Example: IBM's xSeries 360 base configuration with 2 CPUs starts at $15,799: http://www-132.ibm.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CategoryDisplay?catalogId=- 840&storeId=1&categoryId=2344267&langId=-1&dualCurrId=73 I configured an X360 with 4 1.6Ghz Xeon MP 1MB L3 cache, 2GB RAM, 3 18GB HDs (no RAID), and the total came to $28,122 US. I doubt the cluster guy put much more than $5,000 US into that cluster design. So, as far as cost, the cluster is far cheaper than a 4-way SMP (although it will have performance hits for FPS servers during process migration). So, most bang for the buck will be multiples of 2-way SMP boxen, with or without clustering. But, most of you already knew that. ;) StanTheMan TheHardwareFreak http://www.hardwarefreak.com rcon admin at: Beer for Breakfast servers <http://bfb.bogleg.org/> 209.41.98.2:27016 (CS multi-map) 209.41.98.2:27015 (DoD) 209.41.98.2:27017 (CS militia/dust2) Dallas, TX _______________________________________________ To unsubscribe, edit your list preferences, or view the list archives, please visit: http://list.valvesoftware.com/mailman/listinfo/hlds_linux
