MADMAN (the ultimate ghetto build)

[minxtech]

Hi.

A long time ago (~5 years), I made a cluster of PCs called "Ghetto Cluster". 12 old Windows-PCs featuring Intel P4s.

It worked perfectly and I was very happy, but there was a problem. About one month ago I had to move out of my (big) lab ( ). The Ghetto Cluster takes very much space (PCs, cables, switches, screens etc.) and therefore a new solution had to be created.

I've already posted a picture of the debug PC for the Cluster in the Ghetto Mods thread on TechPowerUp here, where you can see my old lab in the background. You can also spot a cart, on which the PC rests.

My plan is: Build the whole Cluster INSIDE of the cart. So it will be portable and I can push it around. At the moment I came up with this idea, I didn't realize how insane it was ;-)

1. The old lab (Cleaning & Packing)

So as I was playing around with some settings and cleaning the lab, I decided it was time to take a break and play some games on my phone, but appearently my phone didn't like me, so this happened:

F* it. Back to work...

Everything packed together:

2. The actual build

I'm really sorry, but I don't have as many pictures as I'd like to. So i started working, disassembling the cart, disassembling all PCs. I've figured out that only 8 PCs are gonna fit in the cart. 1 PC = 1 MoBo+1PSU(stripped)+1HDD.

I took all the internals and ziptied (yes, the whole thing is held together by zipties!) them into place. No srews were harmed during the process. I've drilled holes in the wooden boards as mounting points for the zipties. The first 4 PSUs were glued into place:

Beautiful those zipties! It still looks quite clean, but that will change in a moment.

Now it was time to add the remaining PSUs and do all the cable management (means: zipties). I've also added the 16port switch, all ethernet cables and the first HDDs.

Note: This is not, by any means, a proper way to store HDDs. You should never ever do this with any valueable hardware! (unless you use enough zipties ).

Time for some testing! Great, all HDDs and PCs are working fine, airflow is still kinda possible and the noise is reasonable. Time to add the debug screen. For this I'll use zipties again. That's right, I've ziptied a LCD monitor to this cart and fixated it by using old spare metal parts from the former PC cases. Beware of the ziptie monster:

Instead of painting anything, I used black insulating tape:

More improper HDD mounting (WD400 from 2002, 40GB):

Three other metal PC case back parts and one spare metal HDD cage act as a place to keep the debug keyboard. Its covered in duct tape, because ... duct tape (no but seriously, those metal parts have sharp edges, the tape really helps there):

By the way: Old PC speakers (Beepers) are perfect for storing srews:

So far, so good:

This is how the carts look atm:

That's it for today. I'll come back from time to time to post updates about this build. If you have any questions, please leave them here.

So long! ;-)

PS: Thanks SAMSUNG for sending me this much gummy bears with every test unit that I get from you

[AlwaysFSX]

Oooooh, a bunch of hardware.

[Nickolas47]

let me call 911

[flibberdipper]

Wow.

[Kilerbomb]

Holy computer parts, batman!

[minxtech]

let me call 911

Good luck sending them to Germany 

[Nickolas47]

Good luck sending them to Germany 

Haha what is the numer in Germany? In greece its 100

[minxtech]

Its 110 for the police and 112 for ermergencies (ambulance, firefighters ...). However, if you'd dial 911 in Germany, you would be redirected to 110

[Mr.Foxxy]

I want this..... so bad.

[Prokart2000]

woah nice, how many pens!!!!

[minxtech]

woah nice, how many pens!!!!

 

And not a single one of them works.  <_<

[Prokart2000]

And not a single one of them works.  <_<

lol

[minxtech]

lol

 

A classic case of Samsung. It's good until you use it 

[acidydragon]

Mmm pretty

[Me1z]

For a 'ghetto' build, this looks pretty bad ass. If you don't mind me asking, what do you use the cluster for?

[minxtech]

For a 'ghetto' build, this looks pretty bad ass. If you don't mind me asking, what do you use the cluster for?

 

In 2012 I worked at the local university as the supervisor and executive developer in a team project (bioinformatics). I developed several tools and one of them was used to create a cluster out of random x86 PCs. MADMAN is short for "Multiprocessor Asynchronous Data Migration and Analysis Network".

 

The reason MADMAN was created in the first place, was that the government reduced our research funds by several thousand € . However, using MADMAN, the project was still a success  . What you see in this thread is just a small MADMAN. The first one had >500 clients in it (approx. 1,6THz in total).

[MeepLikesToBuildPc's]

thats insane!

[juretrn]

Wouldn't a single 6 core Xeon server outperform this cluster at MUCH lower power consumption?

[minxtech]

Wouldn't a single 6 core Xeon server outperform this cluster at MUCH lower power consumption?

 

No.

 

1. It would have to be an expensive >=12-Core Xeon or Opteron (which is cheaper). Those PCs were free.

2. If you look (closely ) you can spot a Xeon Server beneath the PCs in the old lab. It's used to control and manage the cluster to this date.

3. All PCs consume about 1100W top. A Xeon Server using redundant PSUs would consume about the same.

[juretrn]

No.

1. It would have to be an expensive >=12-Core Xeon or Opteron (which is cheaper). Those PCs were free.

2. If you look (closely ) you can spot a Xeon Server beneath the PCs in the old lab. It's used to control and manage the cluster to this date.

3. All PCs consume about 1100W top. A Xeon Server using redundant PSUs would consume about the same.

Now that is quite hard to believe. Which P4's are you using?