From: jjv5@psu.edu
Newsgroups: comp.parallel.mpi
Subject: Re: multi-cpu machines and mpi
Date: Fri, 21 Aug 1998 14:43:46 -0500
Organization: Penn State University, Center for Academic Computing
Message-Id: <jjv5-2108981443470001@mica2ppp161.cac.psu.edu>
References: <6rcen0$qju$1@node17.cwnet.frontiernet.net>
    <35DA7D53.8B7F6B24@mufasa.informatik.uni-mannheim.de>
    <01bdcbc1$687003a0$a7b2ba9b@tlabs-heirich>


In article <01bdcbc1$687003a0$a7b2ba9b@tlabs-heirich>, "Alan Heirich"
<alan.heirich@tandem.com> wrote:

> Hi guys
> 
>  I know we all love Intel cpus but please don't forget that the Alpha is
> now (almost) as
> affordable as Intel as a building block for making cluster computers.  At
> least it will be
> true in a couple months when Compaq's new machines hit the streets.  For
> MPI applications
> that use floating point it's the way to go. 
> 

   There's a lot more to making a usable parallel machine than price. You
can buy a pile of cheap machines clunked together with bailing wire and
think you have a real deal on your hands, then spend $10,000 in salary
getting the thing to work and trying to keep it working, or you can spend
that $10K on a real machine, plug it in, forget about it, and get your
work done.