![](/i/fill.gif) |
![](/i/fill.gif) |
|
![](/i/fill.gif) |
|
![](/i/fill.gif) |
| ![](/i/fill.gif) |
| ![](/i/fill.gif) |
|
![](/i/fill.gif) |
|
![](/i/fill.gif) |
| ![](/i/fill.gif) |
| ![](/i/fill.gif) |
|
![](/i/fill.gif) |
>> How is this any different to me just going out and buying a big computer?
>
> Or going out and buying a couple hundred big computers? To do a
> week-long render? Then what?
The average person can't afford to buy a hundred big computers. But
then, the average person can't afford to rent a hundred big computers in
a cloud either. So it seems like a moot comparison to me.
>> (And as we all know, buying is usually cheaper than renting except for
>> one-offs.)
>
> It depends on how much you get with your rental. Maintenance? Backups?
> Rack space? Electricity? Disaster planning? You still have to pay to
> run the things, and you still have to have stand-by capacity for overloads.
If things like maintenance, backups and disaster planning are important
to you, then yes, cloud computing probably makes a lot of sense. But if
you're just some dude trying to render stuff with POV-Ray, it makes far
less sense.
> Of course, with something like Amazon, you can rent until your capacity
> warrants buying processors. And then you can use Amazon to handle the
> overflow, or the seasonal rush, or the new product announcement, or
> whatever.
Only makes sense if you're using the system to provide a service to
somebody else. If you're just running a computation for your own benefit
then there aren't going to be "rushes" or "overflows".
--
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*
Post a reply to this message
|
![](/i/fill.gif) |
| ![](/i/fill.gif) |
| ![](/i/fill.gif) |
|
![](/i/fill.gif) |
|
![](/i/fill.gif) |
| ![](/i/fill.gif) |
| ![](/i/fill.gif) |
|
![](/i/fill.gif) |
Orchid XP v8 wrote:
> The average person can't afford to buy a hundred big computers. But
> then, the average person can't afford to rent a hundred big computers in
> a cloud either.
Nonsense. Amazon's computers are like $0.09/hour.
http://aws.amazon.com/ec2/#pricing
100 "small" amazon computers are $9/hour.
> If things like maintenance, backups and disaster planning are important
> to you, then yes, cloud computing probably makes a lot of sense. But if
> you're just some dude trying to render stuff with POV-Ray, it makes far
> less sense.
It depends how fast you need things.
> Only makes sense if you're using the system to provide a service to
> somebody else. If you're just running a computation for your own benefit
> then there aren't going to be "rushes" or "overflows".
You asked for a good reason; I gave you several. Some of us actually make
money with computers.
--
Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
Forget "focus follows mouse." When do
I get "focus follows gaze"?
Post a reply to this message
|
![](/i/fill.gif) |
| ![](/i/fill.gif) |
| ![](/i/fill.gif) |
|
![](/i/fill.gif) |
|
![](/i/fill.gif) |
| ![](/i/fill.gif) |
| ![](/i/fill.gif) |
|
![](/i/fill.gif) |
>> The average person can't afford to buy a hundred big computers. But
>> then, the average person can't afford to rent a hundred big computers
>> in a cloud either.
>
> Nonsense. Amazon's computers are like $0.09/hour.
>
> http://aws.amazon.com/ec2/#pricing
>
> 100 "small" amazon computers are $9/hour.
...which works out to $216/day or $1,512/month - which is slightly
outside most people's budget.
By contrast, buy a big computer, put it in your loft, leave it running
all year. It'll cost maybe £500 to buy in the first place, but at the
end of a year you'll have a finished result.
> You asked for a good reason; I gave you several. Some of us actually
> make money with computers.
Some *companies* make money with computers; it's news to me that
individual people can do this.
--
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*
Post a reply to this message
|
![](/i/fill.gif) |
| ![](/i/fill.gif) |
| ![](/i/fill.gif) |
|
![](/i/fill.gif) |
|
![](/i/fill.gif) |
| ![](/i/fill.gif) |
| ![](/i/fill.gif) |
|
![](/i/fill.gif) |
Orchid XP v8 wrote:
> ...which works out to $216/day or $1,512/month - which is slightly
> outside most people's budget.
What, $2/day for a 24-hour pov-ray renderer? If you only need 100 compute
rs
for a day, $216 is really not a whole lot of money.
> By contrast, buy a big computer, put it in your loft, leave it running
> all year. It'll cost maybe £500 to buy in the first place, but at
the
> end of a year you'll have a finished result.
Well, sure. You can buy one computer and take a month to do something, or
rent 100 and take a couple hours to do something. Note that if your progr
am
takes a year, that's 100 computers for about 1.2 days, so you come out
ahead. Admittedly, you don't have the computer at the end of the year, bu
t
you saved a year's worth of time and electricity too.
> Some *companies* make money with computers; it's news to me that
> individual people can do this.
Uh, OK. I'm sorry to hear that.
--
Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
Forget "focus follows mouse." When do
I get "focus follows gaze"?
Post a reply to this message
|
![](/i/fill.gif) |
| ![](/i/fill.gif) |
| ![](/i/fill.gif) |
|
![](/i/fill.gif) |
|
![](/i/fill.gif) |
| ![](/i/fill.gif) |
|
![](/i/fill.gif) |