Re: Need a HOT system. K7 and Linux?
>
> I hope this is not too far OT for the list ...
>
> I teach chemistry at a local community college and am seeking grant monies
> for the creation of a hub of high power PC's to perform heavy quantum
> mechanical calculations using GAMESS and the like (for you chemists out
> there .. ;). I really need some input on system design in order to quote
> intelligent prices for this proposal. I have some thoughts, but don't know
> about Linux support (our school is a Windoze repository of ineptitude). Can
> anyone advise me about these? (I want to implement Linux, if it isn't
> obvious. But I'm still at the early stages on the learning curve.)
[...]
> 2) the Pent. II 400/450 with a 440BX MB is the obvious choice for this very
> intensive FPU stuff now, but I'm reading about AMD's K7 and the "better"
> DEC-based MB's. Anyone have ANY thoughts/knowledge about the K7/MB and Linux?
Fast alpha's (the newer 5xx/600MHz ones) are really fast. But they are
not that cheap, and there are far less people able to help you out if
you get into trouble. The K7 has one big disadvandtage I can see now:
it isn't on the market yet. Also, when it will be introduced, it
probably won't be cheap. But maybe you can wait a year.
> 3) SCSI absolutely. AHA2940UW quoted constantly, but I've heard others on
> this list complain about them. ??? yes/no/alternatives?
Think about it twice. Good scsi performs better than ide, but not by a
spectacular margin for most things. Good scsi is also notably more
expensive than ide. If you intend to support a lot of users or
processes that use the disk intensively, you may benefit from scsi. If
you are just going to run computations that read some data, run for
a long time, write some results, and exit, scsi won't buy you much.
Spending the money instead on memory will gain you far more in most
cases.
> 4) Good SCSI drives? I know nothing about these.
>
> 5) Is a second drive the best backup device? (using its 1st partition as
> swap?)
I'd consider a CD (re)writer. Also great for storing data you might
need some time in the distant future (or not).
> 6) A number of the apps I am considering are OpenGL/Mesa. From Tom's
> Hardware page it seems that the Diamond Fire GL 1000 Pro (3DL Permedia 2
> chip) is an "obvious" choice. Linux and this card?
I'm not quite sure if there are drivers already. Don't take the newest
video card, take one that is well supported (ww.xfree86.org). This will
save you a lot of trouble.
[...]
All this is just my "humble" opinion ;)
HTH,
Eric
--
E.L. Meijer (tgakem@chem.tue.nl) | tel. office +31 40 2472189
Eindhoven Univ. of Technology | tel. lab. +31 40 2475032
Lab. for Catalysis and Inorg. Chem. (TAK) | tel. fax +31 40 2455054
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