New Mac mini cluster? what do you think?

[MrGando]

hi guys, I am stuck with my Dual 1.8 ghz G5. It's a great machine, specially with the ATI 9700 pro in it. It's pretty decent. the only problem is that it's dropping it's price faster and faster. So I think I could sell it and buy 2x 599 mac minis to cluster them. I study computer science, so I do C/C++ coding, and also work a bit with audio and video.

I also host a webserver and it would be interesting to run Mac os X server on one of this minis. So I can Xgrid them out and also Xgrid my MacBook.

how effective do you think a 2x Mac Mini cluster would work ? faster than my G5 for Video editing ?

Suggestions/Info welcome

PS: My programs are getting bigger and bigger since I advance in my CS career.

 

[nkawtg72]

i can't give you a technical answer, but i had a similar situation i'll share.

i had a 450mhz G4 tower (Sawtooth w/ AGP2x). bought it in 1999 and over the years i've upgraded it. it now has a 1ghz g4 processor, 2gb ram, ATI Radeon 8500, dual superdrive, 3 scsi drives on a scsi raid controller, and 6 ata drives.

up against my other macs, and powerbooks, and a macbook, it runs circles around them even though they all have faster processors.

i think what's important to note here is that i don't think the speed of a machine, especially a tower, is dependent on it's processor speed. in my opinion you have a g5 tower that has upgrade potential. a mac mini is limited in that department.

also of note: the g5 actually performed better, in some areas, against the first generation of the intel mac pro.

i think if you look at options for your G5 instead, you could have a pretty good system to work with for quite a long time.

hope this helps

 

[MrGando]

Yeah , I was thinking about that... the only thing that I like about the minis are their Core 2 Duo processors. But you can't even put a decent HD in them. The graphic processor of the minis won't let me open Final Cut pro ( which I use from time to time ) . ( Since non integrated GPU is needed to use FCP Studio ).

I would love to build the dam cluster, but I think that maybe I should upgrade the ram of my G5 to 4gb and let it be . ( I also have an ATI 9700 pro in it )

But I am listening to any suggestions or feedback, since the price of the G5's is dropping fast.

 

[FatSweatyBlldog]

Great performance and upgrade report on your G5. Definitely an intriguing option, as prices drop.

As for there not being a decent HD available for the mini: if you can get it open, you can upgrade the HD to a 200GB 7200 RPM 2.5 drive. Or, you can get the stock HD, get a 7200RPM (or heck 10,000) SATA drive of your choice and put it in a miniStakv3. One of those will also add an eSATA port, and addition firewire/usb ports.

 

[colorspace]

I remember someone a couple of years ago posting an article to the tune of the "world's slowest supercluster" (20 or so minis if memory serves). If I remember correctly, they came to the conclusion that while interesting and fun it was definitely not worth it. + isn't any potential gain completely offset by the SW not being optimized for clusters?