In reply to: Kevin Roe <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Intel/Linux questions are so abundent b/c it is the cheapest way to
> build an SMP box. Alpha/Linux and Alpha/Tru64 UNIX both cost
> significantly more money...although they are definately more
> powerful and faster than a Intel/Linux SMP box. For example I can
> build a 2 processor PIII-450 machine with U2W SCSI hard drives, fast
> video card, 17" Monitor, etc. for about $2000. To buy an older
> Alphaserver (i.e. AS1200 (2 proc), AS4100 (4proc), etc) it will cost
> you in the range of 5-20,000 dollars if you are a Compaq employee. I
> would have an alpha at home if they didn't cost so damn much!
You can now purchase a dual processor 500Mhz 21264 Alpha system (512MB
RAM, 4MB cache/CPU) from Microway and other Alpha PC vendors for about
$13K. Normalized for clock speed, the SpecFP results for the Alpha
are about four times those achieved by the Intel PIII. Can you buy
eight 500Mhz PIII systems for $13K? Even if you could, it wouldn't be
as convenient for purely serial jobs.
A question: I've heard that in the 21264/EV6 SMP design all interrupts
are handled by CPU0. Is this true? Can anyone report on the impact
this has on the behavior of these systems in Beowulf configurations or
anywhere else with lots of network or disk I/O?
- C
--
Chance Reschke
University of Washington Astronomy
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