John, Thanks for your comments.
> > > > > > 2. reasonably fast interconnect (IB SDR 10Gb/s would suffice our > > > computational needs (running LAMMPs molecular dynamics and VASP DFT > codes) > > > 3. 48U rack (preferably with good thermal management) > > > > "thermal management"? servers need cold air in front and unobstructed > > exhaust. that means open or mesh front/back (and blanking panels). > > > Agreed. However depending on the location if space is tight you could > think of an APC rack with the heavy fan exhaust door on th rear, and > vent the hot air. > Space is not tight. Computer room is quite spacious but air conditioning is rudimental, no windows or water lines to dump the heat. It looks like a big problem, therefore, consider to put the system somewhere else on campus, although this is not quite convenient. > > > > - 2x Intel Xeon E5420 Hapertown 2.5 GHz quad core CPU : > 2x$350=$700 > > > - Dual LGA 771 Intel 5400 Supermicro mb > : > > > $430 > > I'd recommend looking at the Intel Twin motherboard systems for this > project. Leaves plenty of room for cluster head node, and RAID arrays, a > UPS and switches. > Supermicro have these motherboards with onboard Infiniband, so no need > for extra cards. > > One thing you have to think about is power density - it is no use > cramming 40 1U systems into a rack plus switches and head nodes - it is > going to draw far too many amps. Think two times APC PDUs per cabinet at > the very maximum. The Intel twins help here again, as they have a high > efficiency PSU and the losses are shared between two systems. I'm not > sure if we would still have to spread this sort of load between two > racks - it depends on the calculations. > > You also need to put in some budget for power - importantly - air > conditioning. > > Many thanks, this is very exciting opportunity. I can get 20 1-U units in 42U rack, a lot of space for thermal management and other infrastructure items. Do you know any system integrators that can build 40-node cluster from Supermicro twin units? Are there similar solutions for AMD cpus?
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