Dual (or multi) motherboards?
 

I was browsing, and found a 2000 watt power supply for $650 here:
[url]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817101033[/url]

That should be enough to power 6+ motherboards, but it only has a single 24-pin main connector. Splicing that main connector may be possible, so it may have promise.


For $385, you can buy a case that holds dual motherboards:
[url]https://www.arcticmod.com/computer-mod/mountain-mods-u2-ufo-duality-computer-case-black-powder-coat-uv-yellow-acrylic-panels.htm[/url]

It looks like it is designed for use with two power supplies also, and since it is more than twice the size of a normal ATX tower, it would have plenty of room for all your devices. I don't know if cooling would be impacted by the large open space or not.

I don't have the money to build a giant custom system, but it is certainly something that I've thought about. I would have a lot of fun with such a project, but I don't have any justification for spending the money on such a beast (prime95 is not a valid justification).

Has anyone else built a multi-motherboard system? If so, how well did it work?

[QUOTE=uigrad;143785]Has anyone else built a multi-motherboard system? If so, how well did it work?[/QUOTE]Yup. but probably not in the way you're thinking of it.

When at MSR I built a 16-mobo system, each of which was fitted with 2 cpus, 2G RAM, a small SCSI fisk and dual gigabit ethernet. It fitted into two 19-inch racks and we called it a "cluster".


It worked well when built around 6 years ago. I must find out whether it's still working well.

Paul

[quote=xilman;143787]When at MSR I built a 16-mobo system, each of which was fitted with 2 cpus, 2G RAM, a small SCSI fisk and dual gigabit ethernet. It fitted into two 19-inch racks and we called it a "cluster".


It worked well when built around 6 years ago. I must find out whether it's still working well.[/quote]
Must've been pretty darn fast for the time to have those stats per mobo.

[QUOTE=uigrad;143785]Has anyone else built a multi-motherboard system? If so, how well did it work?[/QUOTE]There were folks doing the 2 mobo per psu thing a while back on stripped down systems. There were several people who ran boards naked (sin caja). A nice shelf is cheaper than 2 cheap cases and will hold a lot more. PrimeMonster (search the forum for postings about his PrimeMonster), built a 12? node "monster" that was working in the 44M range (IIRC). He figured that for the cost of a pack-a-day cig habit, he could add a new node ~every 2 months.

[quote=Uncwilly;143798]He figured that for the cost of a pack-a-day cig habit, he could add a new node ~every 2 months.[/quote]
Funny to compare GIMPS to a nicotine addiction...:newcat:

Here's what a splitter looks like :smile:

Here it is in action. :wink:

10 headless nodes via PXElinux :smile:

[QUOTE=Mini-Geek;143788]Must've been pretty darn fast for the time to have those stats per mobo.[/QUOTE]Performance was adequate.

It did a good number of NFSNET matrices, found many ECM factors and lots of pseudoprimes of the form x^y+y^x. Other members of MSR made good use of it but, for obvious reasons, I'm not quite as familiar with the details.

Paul

[QUOTE=xilman;143832]Performance was adequate.
[snip]
Paul[/QUOTE]

Your answer made me think to Seven Of Nine...

Luigi

[QUOTE=ET_;143840][QUOTE=xilman;143832]Performance was adequate.
[snip]
Paul[/QUOTE]Your answer made me think to Seven Of Nine...

Luigi[/QUOTE]I thought it was more like Rolls Royce.