You could get a pair of used epyc 7601 and a motherboard for like $1200. Unlike a hundred little pentium cores, these 64 cores can run real workloads ~4x as fas

You could get a pair of used epyc 7601 and a motherboard for like $1200. Unlike a hundred little pentium cores, these 64 cores can run real workloads ~4x as fast as a modern desktop in the same price range. Alternatively an old 4 node server could get you there even cheaper if you don’t care that they are separate computers in one chassis. I got a used C6100 with 24 cores across 8 CPU sockets for $600 6 years ago. You could probably get >100 cores for the same price today.