4 ms·

Unless I misread something that is a single node. The key point about the Mac Minis is you can have TWO nodes in 1RU. And given that the data centre costs will

Unless I misread something that is a single node. The key point about the Mac Minis is you can have TWO nodes in 1RU. And given that the data centre costs will be more than the hardware it makes the overall proposition very compelling.

maratd 14y ago
If you look at the picture carefully, it's clearly 4 minis in 1RU. The problem isn't that. The power draw and heat generated will be ridiculous. You'll pay big $$$ to keep them running 24/7.
- taligent 14y ago
  Right. I use more established solutions which only allows for 2 Mac Minis and has roughly same power draw/heat as my previous dedicated. http://www.sonnettech.com/product/rackmacmini.html http://www.sonnettech.com/product/rackmacmini.html
virtuallynathan 14y ago
If you want 'real' servers with that density: http://www.supermicro.nl/products/nfo/FatTwin.cfm http://www.supermicro.nl/products/nfo/FatTwin.cfm http://www.supermicro.nl/products/nfo/2UTwin2.cfm http://www.supermicro.nl/products/nfo/2UTwin2.cfm http://www.supermicro.nl/products/nfo/MicroCloud.cfm http://www.supermicro.nl/products/nfo/MicroCloud.cfm Those would all be cheaper than the Mac Mini
- taligent 14y ago
  I already mentioned those. They aren't cheaper.
  - moe 14y ago
    Sorry, that makes no sense. For around $1200 you can buy an 1RU supermicro with 6-core i7, 32G Ram etc. that will smoke your mini ($1500, 4 cores) on every metric. If your rackspace is precious you could fit two of them into one RU with a half-sized case or by leaving out the case altogether (not much more esoteric than stacking mac mini's imho). I love the mini (I have one under my desk!) but suggesting apple consumer gear (including the apple tax) would be a cheaper alternative to generic x86 consumer-gear is a little nuts.
    - shiftpgdn 14y ago
      Where did you get that price? I just did a server build out and couldn't put together a good 1U i7 for that much.
      - moe 14y ago
        Well, "good" is a relative term when you use a non-ECC board for a server. ;) I just summed up the component prices for similar servers that we have built - that's the ballpark if you are willing to assemble it yourself (takes around 45mins when you're not doing it the first time). For a pre-assembled box google found me this (first hit): http://www.nixsys.com/products/intel-rackmount-servers/intel-core-i7-servers/nx58-2hd.html http://www.nixsys.com/products/intel-rackmount-servers/intel... That comes out at $1735 for a 6-core, 12G Ram, 128G SSD or $1385 if you use the 4-core equivalent to the mini. Rather expensive but in the ballpark and already cheaper than the mini (if you buy RAM and disks separately you can probably shave another $300 off).
  - virtuallynathan 14y ago
    I can get a MicroCloud chassis for $500 per server (x8), with the rest of the hardware working out to around another $700-800 per node (x8 again). Slightly lower density, but not too bad.

maratd 14y ago

If you look at the picture carefully, it's clearly 4 minis in 1RU. The problem isn't that. The power draw and heat generated will be ridiculous. You'll pay big $$$ to keep them running 24/7.

taligent 14y ago
Right. I use more established solutions which only allows for 2 Mac Minis and has roughly same power draw/heat as my previous dedicated. http://www.sonnettech.com/product/rackmacmini.html http://www.sonnettech.com/product/rackmacmini.html

virtuallynathan 14y ago

If you want 'real' servers with that density: http://www.supermicro.nl/products/nfo/FatTwin.cfm http://www.supermicro.nl/products/nfo/FatTwin.cfm http://www.supermicro.nl/products/nfo/2UTwin2.cfm http://www.supermicro.nl/products/nfo/2UTwin2.cfm http://www.supermicro.nl/products/nfo/MicroCloud.cfm http://www.supermicro.nl/products/nfo/MicroCloud.cfm Those would all be cheaper than the Mac Mini

taligent 14y ago
I already mentioned those. They aren't cheaper.
- moe 14y ago
  Sorry, that makes no sense. For around $1200 you can buy an 1RU supermicro with 6-core i7, 32G Ram etc. that will smoke your mini ($1500, 4 cores) on every metric. If your rackspace is precious you could fit two of them into one RU with a half-sized case or by leaving out the case altogether (not much more esoteric than stacking mac mini's imho). I love the mini (I have one under my desk!) but suggesting apple consumer gear (including the apple tax) would be a cheaper alternative to generic x86 consumer-gear is a little nuts.
  - shiftpgdn 14y ago
    Where did you get that price? I just did a server build out and couldn't put together a good 1U i7 for that much.
    - moe 14y ago
      Well, "good" is a relative term when you use a non-ECC board for a server. ;) I just summed up the component prices for similar servers that we have built - that's the ballpark if you are willing to assemble it yourself (takes around 45mins when you're not doing it the first time). For a pre-assembled box google found me this (first hit): http://www.nixsys.com/products/intel-rackmount-servers/intel-core-i7-servers/nx58-2hd.html http://www.nixsys.com/products/intel-rackmount-servers/intel... That comes out at $1735 for a 6-core, 12G Ram, 128G SSD or $1385 if you use the 4-core equivalent to the mini. Rather expensive but in the ballpark and already cheaper than the mini (if you buy RAM and disks separately you can probably shave another $300 off).
- virtuallynathan 14y ago
  I can get a MicroCloud chassis for $500 per server (x8), with the rest of the hardware working out to around another $700-800 per node (x8 again). Slightly lower density, but not too bad.