Comments on: PS3 Grid – Amazing computing power http://www.itulblog.com/AMH/2009/01/ps3-grid-amazing-computing-power/ Web, Tech, Marketing, I-Tul & a Few Random Thoughts Fri, 30 Jan 2009 09:25:36 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Jesse Jones http://www.itulblog.com/AMH/2009/01/ps3-grid-amazing-computing-power/comment-page-1/#comment-29 Jesse Jones Fri, 30 Jan 2009 09:25:36 +0000 http://www.itulblog.com/AMH/?p=83#comment-29 Distributed computing is the future; this can also be accomplished with a network of low-end home PCs though. It would probably be a bit pricier to do it with PCs, but the tradeoff is that you have more power and flexibility -- if your computing tasks are CPU-intensive but require little memory, build systems with quad-core processors but only maybe 512MB RAM or less; if you do a lot of floating-point crunching, throw beefy video cards in there and take advantage of their newfound flexibility (Dr. Dobbs' Journal has an article on this: http://www.ddj.com/hpc-high-performance-computing/206900471). Another argument for using PCs, even when the PS3's computing power seems more cost-effective for a given project, is that PCs are component-upgradeable. A year or two down the road, one will be able to simply buy new CPUs for the cluster at maybe $250 apiece, and get a massive boost in computing power. However, to upgrade the PS3 cluster, one would need to replace the systems entirely -- presumably with next-gen consoles, at a cost of $400+ per unit. Also, if it's discovered at some point that the cluster has insufficient memory, the PC systems' memory can be upgraded for $50-100 per unit... the PS3s simply can't be upgraded at all, and the computing project will have to suffer the bottleneck. Bottom line: building a distributed computing network with PCs instead of PS3s will probably be more cost-effective in the end. The novelty of using a gaming console for distributed computing is not lost on me, and for projects that need to get a cluster up quickly and cheaply, they do probably serve the purpose quite well... but, at least from my perspective, the PC still reigns supreme overall. Wow, I didn't expect to have that much to say! Ah well, I guess I'm passionate about computing and computer hardware ^_^ Distributed computing is the future; this can also be accomplished with a network of low-end home PCs though. It would probably be a bit pricier to do it with PCs, but the tradeoff is that you have more power and flexibility — if your computing tasks are CPU-intensive but require little memory, build systems with quad-core processors but only maybe 512MB RAM or less; if you do a lot of floating-point crunching, throw beefy video cards in there and take advantage of their newfound flexibility (Dr. Dobbs’ Journal has an article on this: http://www.ddj.com/hpc-high-performance-computing/206900471).

Another argument for using PCs, even when the PS3’s computing power seems more cost-effective for a given project, is that PCs are component-upgradeable. A year or two down the road, one will be able to simply buy new CPUs for the cluster at maybe $250 apiece, and get a massive boost in computing power. However, to upgrade the PS3 cluster, one would need to replace the systems entirely — presumably with next-gen consoles, at a cost of $400+ per unit. Also, if it’s discovered at some point that the cluster has insufficient memory, the PC systems’ memory can be upgraded for $50-100 per unit… the PS3s simply can’t be upgraded at all, and the computing project will have to suffer the bottleneck.

Bottom line: building a distributed computing network with PCs instead of PS3s will probably be more cost-effective in the end. The novelty of using a gaming console for distributed computing is not lost on me, and for projects that need to get a cluster up quickly and cheaply, they do probably serve the purpose quite well… but, at least from my perspective, the PC still reigns supreme overall.

Wow, I didn’t expect to have that much to say! Ah well, I guess I’m passionate about computing and computer hardware ^_^

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