Craig Tierney wrote: > On 2/9/11 7:38 AM, Prentice Bisbal wrote: >> I don't think Numascale/ScaleMP has much of a cost advantage anymore. >> >> About 6 months ago, I purchased a couple of Dell PowerEdge R815s with >> 128 GB of RAM and 32 cores. We looked at similar RAM configurations a >> couple of years ago. and the cost premium for that much RAM was >> prohibitive (the price for additional RAM seemed to go up exponentially >> with the amount of RAM) so we stayed at 32 GB. This time around, the >> premium for the additional RAM seemed marginal. Not sure how large you >> can go and keep that "marginal" relationship, but it's much larger than >> it was a couple of years ago. >> > > There is only so much memory you can put in a box, regardless of the > cost. ScaleMP/Numascale let you get around that issue. What if I need > a TB of RAM? Yes, I might be able to convert my algorithms, but if I can > add $3k per node to get cache-coherent memory, why not go that route?
Agreed. I was going to add the caveat that there are limits to how much RAM you can add to a single box, or there eventually be a point the amount of RAM in a single box vs. price is no longer nonlinear, but then I got lazy. ;) > > >> And don't forget to figure in the cost of the interconnect. I don't know >> what Numascale requires, but ScaleMP require IB, which can add >> significant costs if you don't have an existing IB fabric to use. >> > > ScaleMP is a software solution, Numascale is a cache-coherent hardware > solution. > The list cost of the 3D torus version Numascale card with 4GB Ram (highest > end card). > Cables are similar to IB, about $120 each. > > It would be really cool to build SMP system to sit next to my cluster. When > users > need large memory, or want to do things with UPC or other similar languages, > an SMP system like this would be handy. > > - I am not advocating for Numascale, or any other products here. I am just > trying to provide information to the community. > > Craig > > > >> Prentice >> >> >> Douglas Eadline wrote: >>> Although I wrote about the SMP and the Numascale hardware, >>> I have not yet had a chance to use it. >>> >>> To me there are two issues worth considering. First, >>> if you need a big SMP this might be a low >>> cost solution. Second, should your application >>> not scale best in a node-based ccNuma system (ScaleMP >>> or Numascale), MPI is still an option. Indeed, no need >>> to rewrite the codes. And, management is probably >>> much easier. >>> >>> Of course for large systems, clusters work best. >>> >>> -- >>> Doug >>> >>> >>>> On Thu, 2011-02-03 at 09:45 +0000, Hearns, John wrote: >>>>> Also look at ScaleMP and Numascale >>>>> Here's a damn good article from Doug Eadline: >>>>> http://www.linux-mag.com/id/7947 >>>>> >>>>> I must admit though I don't know how far a budget of 30K takes you >>>>> there! >>>> My understanding is that the Numascale cards cost "a bit more" than IB >>>> cards but you don't need a switch (it's a 3D taurus I think) so it would >>>> be worth looking into. >>>> >>>> Rob >>>> >> _______________________________________________ >> Beowulf mailing list, Beowulf@beowulf.org sponsored by Penguin Computing >> To change your subscription (digest mode or unsubscribe) visit >> http://www.beowulf.org/mailman/listinfo/beowulf > _______________________________________________ > Beowulf mailing list, Beowulf@beowulf.org sponsored by Penguin Computing > To change your subscription (digest mode or unsubscribe) visit > http://www.beowulf.org/mailman/listinfo/beowulf > -- Prentice Bisbal Linux Software Support Specialist/System Administrator School of Natural Sciences Institute for Advanced Study Princeton, NJ _______________________________________________ Beowulf mailing list, Beowulf@beowulf.org sponsored by Penguin Computing To change your subscription (digest mode or unsubscribe) visit http://www.beowulf.org/mailman/listinfo/beowulf
