Well, The rack is finished. It’s time to power all of these machines up. I have installed the fans, custom power cables and wired everything. Once powered up I expect the entire rack to use less than 30 amps. I have done some testing with 80 machines running full power and with the fans running half speed the machines stay considerably cooler then expected. If you remember when I initially tested the machines in this configuration I had core temps hovering around 210F. That was hot… Now that I have them installed and the fans running I am seeing core temps around 85F, a drastic improvement.
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what is the purpose of the rack?
the company I work for has a need to have large numbers of machines to build and test the software we make.
You should sell those 4-mini racks. I know I’d buy at least 2.
from the software point of view, how did you manage the resources? do you have any dashboard and you can select test this app in this MiniMac? or how do you “control” the system?
Seems a very good job!
Thanks,
We use a home grown build and test system that will run one test session per core on each system, so for example if I have an 4 core i7 processor with HyperThreading that means our system will be able to run 8 test sessions per machine.
I figured I would post a reply here as it would be easier for you to see. First off, very nice, I quite enjoyed your implementation, having worked in a software company I can completely relate to the need for such a rack. I noticed someone suggested the use of a plastic sheet to help with airflow and that you had said:
“That is a great suggestion.. I have been trying to source some thin plastic sheeting, but I can’t find a sheet large enough, but I’m still looking”
I thought I would pop in and make a suggest that you contact your local sign making company. They typically have the material and tooling to make exactly what you need. I would recommend that you look into using Coroplast, its a corrugated plastic that is frequently used to make those annoying political signs that we all see littering the side of roads. The material is fairly rigid and very light and could work well for your application. Also it has the added benefit of being fairly cheap. Any sign shop should be able to source and cut this material to your suit your needs.
Thnks for the post. That is an excellent idea. I’ll be working on that today. Thanks for taking the time to post and making a great suggestion.
What are the brand and the model of those big ass fans?
They are Flex-a-lite 12v fans
The company that I work for has plastic (PVC, CPVC, PP) sheeting in a variety of thickness and colors. If interested, http://www.hipco.com.
Thanks David. I’ll check it out tomorrow.
We’ve just bought some of these rack mounts! Where did you get hold of the 1 to 4 Y cables? I’m ideally looking for c7 to c14