Mac mini: someone explain chaining them

insliderinslider
Posted:
in Current Mac Hardware edited January 2014
So is Xgrid only for scientific number crunching, or can Xgrid combine the power of multiple Mac minis to create a Finder that runs multiple-times faster? If not Xgrid, can this be done? And if not the Finder, could an app be written (perhaps combined with some additional hardware) that would offload intensive Photoshop calculations to the group? Could the drives be RAIDed with Firewire to create a single drive? What is the potential here?

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 4
    johnqjohnq Posts: 2,763member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by inslider

    So is Xgrid only for scientific number crunching, or can Xgrid combine the power of multiple Mac minis to create a Finder that runs multiple-times faster? If not Xgrid, can this be done? And if not the Finder, could an app be written (perhaps combined with some additional hardware) that would offload intensive Photoshop calculations to the group? Could the drives be RAIDed with Firewire to create a single drive? What is the potential here?



    None in particular, no more than any other sub-Xserve Mac. Might as well ask:



    So is Xgrid only for scientific number crunching, or can Xgrid combine the power of multiple iBook G4 to create a Finder that runs multiple-times faster? If not Xgrid, can this be done? And if not the Finder, could an app be written (perhaps combined with some additional hardware) that would offload intensive Photoshop calculations to the group? Could the iBook drives be RAIDed with Firewire to create a single drive? What is the potential here?



    Nothing inherently special about the Mac mini aside from form factor.
  • Reply 2 of 4
    stoostoo Posts: 1,490member
    Interactive applications don't cluster very well, as the network latency is far too high. Clustering tends to favour processes that can be split into chunks easily, including rendering 3D, compilng source code or number crunching.
  • Reply 3 of 4
    scottscott Posts: 7,431member
    If you need multiple boxes to run the Finder then the Finder has lost its purpose.
  • Reply 4 of 4
    a_greera_greer Posts: 4,594member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by inslider

    So is Xgrid only for scientific number crunching, or can Xgrid combine the power of multiple Mac minis to create a Finder that runs multiple-times faster? If not Xgrid, can this be done? And if not the Finder, could an app be written (perhaps combined with some additional hardware) that would offload intensive Photoshop calculations to the group? Could the drives be RAIDed with Firewire to create a single drive? What is the potential here?



    Dude, in stead of chaining 4 or 5 of these together, just buy yourself a dual

    2ghz g5.
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