Multi processor Blade servers

[Andyk5]

I am looking in to get in to multi core and multi processors systems again. Well the first time I wanted to do it, I was looking in to a 4p folding machine and it ended up being too pricey for me so I did not go thorugh with it. I was looking around ebay and started seeing these cheap servers like
http://www.ebay.com/itm/HP-BL685c-S...509340?pt=COMP_EN_Servers&hash=item5af3183fdc

or a Del 1650 version of these things. They are usually 5-8 years old, have small hard drives in Raid configuration come with anywhere from 1 to 4 cpu's (xeon, opteron) and a good amount of ram.

My purpose is to learn server enviroment, maybe run my own server from home for simple older games like counter strike or communication software like ventrillo or mumble. I will not be doing any bitcoining or folding, I just want to have the cool factor of having a multi processor server at home and play around with it.

Questions:
1) I think these blade style servers need enclosures? Can I run them on their own?

2) What do you guys thing about single core 800FSB Xeons. I can get a system that has two of these but is it going to be much more different than a dual core single cpu?

3) I would much rather have a 4p 4core system (AMd or intel) just to see how it works, do some parallel programming on it and learn how to shift load from core to core, what are my options?

4)I know this is a vague question but what is the cheapest way to build a 4p system like a normal server box not these blade things. I am totally open to used and not top of the line stuff as long as they still work. I would definitely want 4 processors (2 minimum) , a raid hard drive setup( SSD or 10k+), min 8 gigs of ram and a means to project all these on a screen with about 720p or so resolution.

 

[Nathan_P]

I would still browse the DC sub forum, recent threads have shown how to get a 24 core machine for only a few hundred bucks based on the amd 6 core opterons.

If you are folding you can get them really cheap from team members.

Personally I think you would be better of with a multi core machine running off 1 cpu if not folding - multiple cpu's in one box gets expensive when you want to install windows

 

[AndyE]

Look up all the threads with "Dell C6100" on Servethehome
Here is the starter thread: http://forums.servethehome.com/f18/dell-c6100-xs23-ty3-2u-4-node-8-cpu-cloud-server-1247.html

If you intend to run your server 24/7 I'd go with a Xeon E3 CPU and 32 GB and a Hypervisor for multiple VMs. Cheaper, almost no noise, super low energy consumption and fast. Great for "playing around".

Andy

 

[zandor]

Those blade servers are ancient, and you need the blade chassis to power them up. A blade chassis is usually large (8-12U or something like that), weighs a few hundreds of lbs, and power supplies that can handle several kW. For home use the best use of something like that is usually stripping it for CPUs, RAM, and disks.

IMHO anything with a front side bus is too old to learn MP programming on. The difference between programming single and multi CPU machines isn't multiple cores any more, it's the non-uniform memory architecture all modern MP systems use. Local memory attached directly to a socket is faster than memory attached to a different socket. Doing a good job of managing where each thread's memory is can help performance quite a bit. FSB = no NUMA usually... unless it's something really fancy, like a big IBM machine.

The cheapest thing you'll be able to get with a NUMA architecture is a Socket 940 Opteron machine. 1-2 cores per socket, up to 8 sockets, DDR1 memory. On the Intel side you're pretty much looking at Nehalem or newer. That'll cost quite a bit more than an old socket 940 box.

As far as newer stuff goes, you could look at socket G34 Opterons. G34 has two NUMA nodes per socket. Memory on G34 is not quad channel, it's two dual channel memory controllers per socket. Each channel is local memory for half the cores in one socket. A dual socket G34 machine looks more like a quad when you're programming it. An actual quad might be more fun, but a G34 system will use less power and take up less space. Another bonus is these machines can run "Pro" versions of Windows. Quads need a server version of Windows.

 

[bigted]

zander, those arent the same kind of blade servers. the c6100 is a 2u chassis with 2 PSUs and the 4 blades are housed within the 2u chassis. there's no huge rack to buy. and they are socket 1366 with ddr3 memory.

 

[Blue Fox]

For learning, a single modern dual core or quad core desktop system running a bunch of VMs will be more than what you need. Don't waste your money on anything else.