On 7/14/2010 12:09 PM, Darren New wrote:
> Jim Henderson wrote:
>> Well, yeah - but I'm not going to find it going to the local Best Buy,
>> that's what I mean. :-)
>
> It is indeed not a "Personal Computer" sort of thing. :-)
>

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=6426353&Sku=E145-2082

I'm thinking one that supports 4-way SLI is probably a gaming system. ;)

Supports up to 48GB of ram, dual hex-core xeons ... yeah..

A bit pricey, though.

-- 
~Mike

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On 7/15/2010 10:32 AM, Invisible wrote:
>>> Presumably that's not x86 though.
>>
>> I didn't look into it that deeply. Why would you think it's not?
>
> I got the impression that x86 CPUs are designed to communicate with only
> a fixed number of peers.

http://www.cray.com/Products/XT/Specifications.aspx

Opterons ... x86 ;)



http://www.ewiz.com/detail.php?p=MB-H8DGUF&c=fr&pid=ea8e96795a53689a8306610b250b775faaf92905edde9d71f42a3e02a2c3931c

So, its a dual chip mobo ... unless you make it yourself like Cray ...
24 cores is probably enough.

> Given that the reviews talk about 1-chip, 2-chip, 4-chip and even
> 8-chip, I very much doubt anybody has bothered to design a 96-chip part.
> Who would they sell it to, after all? (And wouldn't it need 96 extra
> pins??)

Cray has, but then, it's a purpose-built machine.
-- 
~Mike

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On Thu, 15 Jul 2010 08:35:00 +0200, Le_Forgeron wrote:

> Well, a 24GB system is expensive but main-street now. (I built one in
> june):

The fact that you built it demonstrates it's not "off the shelf" - it's a 
custom build. ;-)

Jim

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On Thu, 15 Jul 2010 08:36:30 +0200, scott wrote:

>> GIYF. ;-)
>> 
>> Hint:  It's not your typical off-the-shelf desktop PC.  We're talking
>> very specialized hardware here.
> 
> What like this:
> 
> http://www.ebuyer.com/product/173974

Yes.  Now go to Best Buy and buy a system based on that system board.  
That's what I'm talking about when I say "off the shelf".  I can get 
laser pointers pretty much anywhere I go, but to get something more 
powerful, you have to go to a place like Wicked Lasers - yes, you can buy 
stuff "off the shelf" from them, but they're a specialty vendor, which is 
my point.

Jim

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>> http://www.ebuyer.com/product/173974
>
> Yes.  Now go to Best Buy and buy a system based on that system board.

It seems nearly all boards for i7 take up to 24 GB, and certainly in the 
"mainstream" shops here you can buy i7 systems for a normal price.

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>> I got the impression that x86 CPUs are designed to communicate with only
>> a fixed number of peers.
> 
> http://www.cray.com/Products/XT/Specifications.aspx
> 
> Opterons ... x86 ;)

Yes, a conspicuous number of supercomputers use Opteron and not Xeon.

>> Given that the reviews talk about 1-chip, 2-chip, 4-chip and even
>> 8-chip, I very much doubt anybody has bothered to design a 96-chip part.
>> Who would they sell it to, after all? (And wouldn't it need 96 extra
>> pins??)
> 
> Cray has, but then, it's a purpose-built machine.

I meant that the CPU has to be designed to operate with X number of 
peers - so you'd have to design a Opteron or whatever with pins for 96 
other peers. Which presumably AMD haven't done.

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Invisible wrote:

> I got the impression that x86 CPUs are designed to communicate with only 
> a fixed number of peers.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beckton_%28microprocessor%29#Beckton

"The 75xx models have four QuickPath interfaces, so it can be used in 
up-to eight-socket configurations, while the 65xx models are only for up 
to two sockets."



Also... They make 8-core Xeons now?! o_O I bet those a cheap.

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Invisible wrote:

> Also... They make 8-core Xeons now?! o_O I bet those a cheap.

Bugger that:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_AMD_Opteron_microprocessors#Twelve-core_Server_processors

Heh. 12-core chips in a 2- or 4-socket configuration? That's, like, 48 
cores or something! That's crazy...

(Then again, last I heard Opteron isn't as fast as Xeon.)

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On Fri, 16 Jul 2010 09:46:53 +0200, scott wrote:

>>> http://www.ebuyer.com/product/173974
>>
>> Yes.  Now go to Best Buy and buy a system based on that system board.
> 
> It seems nearly all boards for i7 take up to 24 GB, and certainly in the
> "mainstream" shops here you can buy i7 systems for a normal price.

Shows how recently I've purchased a system. :-)

Jim

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Jim Henderson wrote:
> 
> Though it'd be nice to have one or three. ;-)
> 

I actually have pretty free access to about 50 computers of about this 
capability, but exactly the opposite problem -- not enough free time to 
do any serious POVing that would warrant their use.

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