Thought Experiment: Hackintosh Compute Node

[EpiGrad]

This is something of an idle musing, rather than "Ordering parts tomorrow, please advise".

Lets say you're setting up a very small grid/cluster for a research ground, mostly as a playground, and thus the potential unreliable nature of a Hackintosh is less of a thing. While you've got the lead server already (an otherwise pretty idle Mac Pro), this particular computational sandbox needs compute nodes.

It would be nice if they were cheap. And it would be nice if they were Macs - exploiting something like XGrid for fun and profit. Normally I'd say Mac Minis would be perfect, except for a small problem: some of the uses these would be for are actually "long serial" rather than expressly parallel jobs, and fairly high memory. The memory limits of the Hackintosh Mini configuration here, or the actual Apple Mini, are a problem.

So what would you set up? The form factor can be bigger than a mini, but preferably not a tower (racks are allowed). Graphics cards are not a thing. A decent processor would be nice, as would a motherboard that allows for a substantial amount of memory (say 24 GB for the sake of argument, but I'd tip my hat if you could do better). Hard drive...not so much a thing either, we'll assume shared storage space.

 

[notshy]

I wouldn't say that hackintosh's are unreliable - they are as unreliable as any self build that isn't stress tested for hardware defaults or incorrect settings.

I am not too sure of your question - most new boards will take a shed load of RAM.

Any of the TonyMac recommended builds are tested to be 100% compatible and error free.

 

[Gordo74]

Well, you could do this under LGA1366 and get a good bit more memory, but I think the 1155 platform would be the sweet spot. I'd also get a 2600k for each, as they are quad core and hyperthreaded, allowing for much more computational power. Tack on a modest 600mhz OC with the change of a number and you're in business. The cheapest I could do for a "node" is....

Chassis (Includes 7 cooling fans to keep it cool if it's going to be running full-tilt 24/7) - $100
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6811147155

Motherboard (Cheapest Gigabyte in the DSDT database with 4 memory slots) - $90
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6813128520

CPU - $315
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6819115070

Memory - $75 for 16GB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820231422

SSD - $40 for 30GB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820227460

Power Supply - $40
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6817371033

Total = $660 per blade for the fastest processor on the market and 16GB RAM capable of running Lion? #winning

Also to note - as the above poster said, they are completely reliable, as reliable as any real Mac once a DSDT is introduced (which it is for this board).

 

[EpiGrad]

I should clarify: Unreliable as in cannot call manufacturer with "Your node is broken, come with a replacement." We have, for example, Lenovo people on-campus, and Apple is a short drive away.

So server-unreliable, rather than consumer-machine unreliable. Which would be true of any system I built.

 

[thefsb]

SSD - $40 for 30GB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820227460

For a grid, can't you net boot the nodes and eliminate this item?

 

[EpiGrad]

SSD - $40 for 30GB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820227460

I don't know that I would - some applications involve a fair amount of writing (or reading) to a file, and it seems like a bad idea to rely on network traffic for intermediate steps.

 

[thefsb]

SSD - $40 for 30GB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820227460

I don't know that I would - some applications involve a fair amount of writing (or reading) to a file, and it seems like a bad idea to rely on network traffic for intermediate steps.

If your grid's app involves such storage then by all means, put in the SSD.

Though even if every node has one, I imagine net-booting would be a valuable administrative time-saver for even a modest number of nodes.

 

[EpiGrad]

If your grid's app involves such storage then by all means, put in the SSD.

Though even if every node has one, I imagine net-booting would be a valuable administrative time-saver for even a modest number of nodes.

Old post is old, but I'm back.

I absolutely agree - net-booting and shared storage space are the way to go. I'd probably keep a small hard drive in there just in case, but yes, that would *really* save on administrative hassle.

We'll see if I can ever get the scratch together to *do* this project.