Caseless computer, any easy way to power it?

[jasong]

I'm thinking about buying a bunch(4 at first, probably) of Atom cpu/motherboard combos, sticking in some RAM, and running them as diskless Linux nodes. No monitor, no hard drive, just some small and spunky crunching machines. Only one problem, I have no idea how to get power to them.

All the searches I entered came up with nothing. I probably just need better search terms, but I have no idea what those search terms could be.:umm:

So, I'm hoping someone...somewhere...perhaps a plumber(hope I remember that right) with a girl's name and an apparent fondness for a certain band with rather odd lyrics("You've been living underground, eating from a can...You've been running away from what you don't understand..." That's about as normal as they get, try this: "Did I ask too much? More than a lot? You gave me nothing, now it's all I've got...We're one, but we're not the same. We hurt each other, then we do it again. You say,'Love is a temple, love the higher law, love...--'" Oops sorry, got carried away there)

Anyway, advice, recommendations, rotten tomatoes, opinions of shock therapy :p , all are appreciated. For those of you for whom I've broken your train of thought :woot: I'm interested in powering a motherboard without a case.

[LAURENU2]

Only one problem, I have no idea how to get power to them.

Most people use a power supply

[alpha]

Is this a serious question? Haven't you seen photos of people's pharms where they've built their own racking and stacked caseless nodes together? Just sit the power supply alongside the motherboard... what's the problem? :confused:

Oh, and have you considered a bootable live CD for each node, rather than tinkering with PXE? You still won't need hard drives, so it's only going to cost you a CD-ROM drive per node, which people will usually be happy to give away if you don't already have some spare. The live CD can be customised to run whatever projects you want, or you can run something like BOINCpe (http://blog.schreiter.info/boincpe-livecd-for-boinc/).

[Fozzie]

running the Atom as a cruncher is a waste of time, it is far too underpowered for that task.

You're far better off buying one quad core combo like the one IB has posted.

You don't even need the case.

[PCZ]

Atom is a waste of time, useless for DC.

Anyhow back to the question.
Use a standard PSU.

Set automatically power on in the bios and your good to go.

Jasong have you ever run a MB outside of a case before ?

[jasong]

running the Atom as a cruncher is a waste of time, it is far too underpowered for that task.
I've been told that Atom's get approximately 720 PPD in Linux BOINC, and at 20 watts and about $100 for a cpu/MB combo, that's not too bad. Just add a 1GB stick of cheap RAM, and away you go.

Atom is a waste of time, useless for DC.

Anyhow back to the question.
Use a standard PSU.

Set automatically power on in the bios and your good to go.

Jasong have you ever run a MB outside of a case before ?
To be perfectly honest, when I told my dad what I was thinking about doing, his first question was,"How are you going to power it?" I assumed from this question that it wasn't simply a matter of plugging it in.

And, no, I've never run caseless. Since my web searches always seem to get non-relevant stuff, I assumed it was more complicated than it sounded. I dunno, maybe people who run caseless have the type of personality that doesn't like to learn HTML. :umm: Anyway, since I bought that AMD stock recently, it's going to take me at least another 4 weeks before i decide to purchase an Atom(s?). Unless, of course, I break my money saving rules, which is a very real possibility since I could simply sell my stock in an emergency.

[IronBits]

Well I had over a dozen links, then got lost :(
This should suffice
http://www.asylumresearch.com/home/clint/farmpics/CubeFarm.html
http://www.ironbits.net/images/pxe_stack.jpg

[jasong]

Well I had over a dozen links, then got lost :(
This should suffice
http://www.asylumresearch.com/home/clint/farmpics/CubeFarm.html
http://www.ironbits.net/images/pxe_stack.jpg
Glad to see you don't hold a grudge. I've been avoiding that "other" thread ever since my last post there, so I'm not sure what happened with that. (I'm sure many have begun to see why I work at KFC even though I've got the intelligence to do much more)

Bookmarking the threads now. :) I'm waiting for a program to install at the moment(signing up for a college class), so I'm killing time right now.

Edit: That last picture on the first URL is like the Mona Lisa of Distributed Computing. :)

[IronBits]

Here is another NICE way to go :)
Because the shelves are made of metal, you will need some sort of wood or plastic standoffs to keep the mobo from touching the shelves.

[IronBits]

And here are a few more ideas to keep you busy ;)
http://bhs.broo.k12.wv.us/homepage/staff/seti/farms.htm (JTrinkle's stack and Steve Watson's is listed, mine is gone, used to be on http://ws9.jobnegotiator.com )
http://www.asylumresearch.com/home/clint/farmpics/CubeFarm.html
http://www.calvin.edu/news/2007-08/microwulf.htm

http://www.extremeoverclocking.com/articles/howto/FAH_Diskless_Farm_1.html
http://www.free-dc.org/forum/showthread.php?t=3847 - thanks to Rsbriggs and PCZ's assistance :thumbs:
http://www.free-dc.org/forum/showthread.php?t=4685

http://www.mindspring.com/~dforcier/pharm1.jpg (http://www.mindspring.com/%7Edforcier/pharm1.jpg)
http://www.nelliott.demon.co.uk/distributed/setistack.html
http://www.nelliott.demon.co.uk/distributed/index.html

What you want to do is figure out which way your going to go,
then get one working well, then add one to your stack, get comfortable with it, then add another, then another...
Good luck and have fun. Be sure to take PICS as you go :D

[IronBits]

http://bhs.broo.k12.wv.us/homepage/staff/seti/CrunchyHog.jpg
http://bhs.broo.k12.wv.us/homepage/staff/seti/gibbowarp1.jpg
http://www.crunchenstein.net/pictures.html
http://www.rokufelr.net/j-rok.htm

[the-mk]

YMMD! http://bhs.broo.k12.wv.us/homepage/staff/seti/CrunchyHog.jpg I like most :D