[rescue] SMP on intel wasteful?

[Francisco Javier Mesa-Martinez]

>   To recap, this was when you suggested that, since a few dozen labs and
> colleges have built big Linux clusters, rooms full of cheap PeeCees
> will obviously replace all of the powerful computers in the world.

Well about 70 of the top500 computers belong to that category. And since I
am in an academic setting, you would be surprised at how many more are
coming online in the next half a year or so. Heck even Cray had to phase
out the T3s with a cheapo cluster of PCs.

The truth is that discussions like these are moot. Vector is hardly used
anymore, and when it is usually specialized SIMD approaches are used in
that field. Granted each approach has its niche, clusters are better for
non coupled data problems, whereas vector/SIMD machines are better for
data parallel problems. Once you have specified your problem, then by al
means chose the RIGHT tool to solve it, And let's stop this pissing
contest, please.

Also the line between FeeCees and Workstations is no longer existant. The
latest generations of workstations are more and more PC-like, and
vice-versa. PCs are getting faster not by using a clever architecture, but
simply because they have better fab/production technologies. And can push
the envelope in ways that the traditional workstations mnfgs can't, simply
because we are talking about different economies of scale. Specialized
workstations with their price tags no longer make sense, specially when
compared with run of the mill PCs. The reason is that most of these
workstations are single user, and usually single task machines. And in
those scenarios is where the latest Intel/AMD processors shine. And it gets
really hard to justify the order of magnitude extra cost for a recent
workstation, when there is not even an order of magnitude of performance
advantage over their PC counterparts, even in some cases there is a
performance drop (case in point the SGI fuel... granted it is an
specialized machine, and it is very good at certain tasks...)

At least SUN got it, and they released the SB100. It is pretty much a PC,
and not a very good at that... but it gets the job done. And it is cheap.
So it allows SUN to still remain an option for shops that are noticing
that cheap PCs now can also run UNIX (sort of)... when it comes to buy a
new generation of machines. Of course I am just concentrating on the
workstation market, the server space is a totally different ball park....

These debates will always exist. In the 80s was the attack of the "killer
micros", where workstation manufacturers were starting to beat the Mini
people at their own game (heck, there are still people that swear how
great their Pr1mes were...). And in the 70s it was the minis that were
taking over the mainframes. And I assume pretty soon it will be the PDAs
taking over the PCs. And so on and so forth. I guess things get smaller,
and get cheaper... not necessarily better. And as always the best
technology doesn't really win the "war"....