Sorry, I did not read in order the post. Brian Dobbins made the same point few hours earlier in the very same way.
Joshua ------ Original Message ------ Received: 05:52 AM CEST, 04/06/2013 From: "Joshua Mora" <[email protected]> To: Beowulf Mailing List <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [Beowulf] Often favorable to hire HPC specialists over more hardware > Similar rational arguments apply to why you want to invest into a good > compiler. > I find though easier to justify these things in terms of the metric money > rather than performance metrics. Just HPC people are not that used to use the > metric money. > In other words it becomes a business decision. > > Example : Compiler A, 10% better than Compiler B in terms of performance for > 80% of applications on HPC infrastructure of cost 1M USD. Compiler A costs 30K > USD. Compiler B is open source (nothing wrong against GCC or Open64). It means > you can aproximately reduce your computing infrastructure and electric bill > and maintenance cost by a factor of 0.10*0.80=0.08 (8%). Total cost of system > is 1MUSD (HW). So you can have an impact on the savings in hardware about 80K > USD. That by itself will compensate to pay 30K USD on the compiler. Add to > that savings the power savings and maintenance savings in the same percentage > for 3/4 years of life of the infrastructure. So 30K saved you 80K on HW+80K on > electric bill for 3/4 years and 80K for maintenance of 8% fewer nodes. Total > investment 30K , total savings 240K-30K=210K. > > Finally, with those 210K you hire a good HPC guy to optimize the code for a > solid year ;) > > Joshua > > ------ Original Message ------ > Received: 03:30 AM CEST, 04/06/2013 > From: Robin Whittle <[email protected]> > To: Beowulf Mailing List <[email protected]> > Subject: [Beowulf] Often favorable to hire HPC specialists over more hardware > > > Parts of the "Roadrunner shutdown" thread developed into a discussion > > about the benefits of hiring specialized HPC programmers as an > > alternative to spending more money on hardware. > > > > For the benefit of folks searching the archives, here is one of the > > messages in that sub-thread, from Brian Dobbins, which contains many > > points of interest: > > > > http://www.beowulf.org/pipermail/beowulf/2013-April/031271.html > > > > including: > > > > Why it may be worth hiring a good developer if there are a moderate > > to high number of nodes in the system already - with rough dollar > > cost estimates. > > > > A number of programming- and compilation- level things which can > > easily be fixed by a programmer with the right expertise, which > > will greatly improve performance, but which might not be known by > > programmers who are primarily interested in science. Also, how > > common they are. (I wonder: if this is true, then perhaps half or > > more of HPC cluster time is being wasted on this stuff, in > > environments where many types of jobs are being run. I figure > > the people who devote clusters to one or a few programs probably > > invest in writing and tweaking those programs well.) > > > > Having a skilled programmer to ensure to that the results are > > correct, not just that there are results at all, or results > > faster than before. > > > > "So that's my lengthy two cents in defense of why it's /very often/ > > favorable to hire HPC specialists over more hardware . . ." > > > > I know many people tend to like short chatty messages on mailing lists, > > but I like ones like this, for which Brian's apology: "(PPS. Sorry for > > the length!)" absolutely does not apply. > > > > - Robin > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Beowulf mailing list, [email protected] sponsored by Penguin Computing > > To change your subscription (digest mode or unsubscribe) visit > http://www.beowulf.org/mailman/listinfo/beowulf > > > _______________________________________________ > Beowulf mailing list, [email protected] sponsored by Penguin Computing > To change your subscription (digest mode or unsubscribe) visit http://www.beowulf.org/mailman/listinfo/beowulf _______________________________________________ Beowulf mailing list, [email protected] sponsored by Penguin Computing To change your subscription (digest mode or unsubscribe) visit http://www.beowulf.org/mailman/listinfo/beowulf
