Re: Distributed build overhead and Mac Mini vs XServe pricing
Re: Distributed build overhead and Mac Mini vs XServe pricing
- Subject: Re: Distributed build overhead and Mac Mini vs XServe pricing
- From: Mark Dawson <email@hidden>
- Date: Sun, 16 Jan 2005 18:16:44 -0800
I believe that the Mac Mini has a 4200 rpm drive so the I/O
performance is not going to compete with the faster disks you find in
the G5 PowerMac or the xServe. However, as you point out the price
for a Mac mini is much lower, so using more Mac Minis may compensate
(don't know since I've never tried).
That's quite slow by current standards (I guess there's quite a price
saving). My PowerBook G4 has the 5400 RPM drive, but that's still a
bit faster. During a distributed build is the local drive used for
retrieving framework headers etc. ? Or does the data coming across the
net include a fully precompiled set of headers with everything in it?
Avoiding swapping would be the other key thing - the minis are really
no bargain at all with the Factory installed 1Gig Ram (add nearly $500
!), perhaps the more modest 512MB for an additional 75 bucks would be
better value.
An Apple refurbished dual 2.5GB machine (512 MB/160 GB SATA) drive is
about 4x the cost of a 512 MB 1.42GHz (new) Mac Mini ($2599 vs $649).
It would be interesting to see which (1 dual 2.5 G5 or 4 1.42Mhz Mac
Minis) would win in a distributed shoot out. Especially if you're
starting out (you local machine) with a dual 2.5 G5. Would the faster
CPU, system (memory, system bus, etc), Ethernet (1 GBit vs 100 MBit),
and drive speeds (7200 SATA vs 4200 ATA) win out over the sheer numbers
of the Mac minis?
It's too bad that RAM disks are not supported on OS X--adding 1 GB of
memory to a G5 is less than $150. If I/O disk speed is important,
having 1 GB of memory, instead of a drive, should be a lot faster (back
in the olden days of OS 7, I remember adding a RAM disk could speed up
MPW C++ compiles by 2x, and even with OS 9/G4s, by up to 40%).
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