Need to add 50 micro-pcs to my homelab (dabbing in AI / clustered computing) - Seeking advice on how to rackmount. by StartupTim in c/homelab@selfhosted.forum
[-] StartupTim@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago

I've already done testing and hardware validation, so we're beyond that point. Simply put, the mini PC hardware just has better price/performance than any server counterpart that I've seen or tested as of yet.

All my testing shows that, from a price and performance perspective, this would be the route to go. So at this point, I'm just looking for the rackmount solution.

Need to add 50 micro-pcs to my homelab (dabbing in AI / clustered computing) - Seeking advice on how to rackmount. by StartupTim in c/homelab@selfhosted.forum
[-] StartupTim@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago

build a custom rack with aluminum profiles, such as 2020, 3030 or 4040.

Could you go on about what you mean by 2020, 3030, 4040 etc? Would definitely like to hear more, thanks!

Need to add 50 micro-pcs to my homelab (dabbing in AI / clustered computing) - Seeking advice on how to rackmount. by StartupTim in c/homelab@selfhosted.forum
[-] StartupTim@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago

Dell poweredge fx2s with 4 x fc630

From a cost to performance perspective, I don't believe the solution you mentioned would be very attractive. For example, what I am looking to build, would be 700 pretty fast physical CPU cores (4.4ghz) @ $23k (and more cores/speed, for incremental price increase). I haven't found any server solution, used or new, which can compare to that in raw processing power.

Need to add 50 micro-pcs to my homelab (dabbing in AI / clustered computing) - Seeking advice on how to rackmount. by StartupTim in c/homelab@selfhosted.forum
[-] StartupTim@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago

Why not VMs? Dell poweredge fx2s with 4 x fc630

It is a fair question! The price/performance metric for what I am building far exceeds what you're looking at.

For example, with my setup for $23k, I'll have 700 CPU Cores and 1.6TB of memory, in addition to (not needed) 25TB of NVMe storage, as well as decent amount of clustered GPU compute, albeit not the goal.

700 fast processing cores for $23k is just not possible using server architecture at this time.

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Need to add 50 micro-pcs to my homelab (dabbing in AI / clustered computing) - Seeking advice on how to rackmount. (alien.top)
submitted 11 months ago by StartupTim@alien.top to c/homelab@selfhosted.forum
10 comments fedilink

Hello all,

I'm going to be adding 50 micro pcs to my homelab, something similar to this: https://i.imgur.com/SvVeHLu.png Each unit is roughly 4.5 in x 4.5 in x 2.5 in and has hardly any weight to it.

I'd like to find a way to rackmount these in the most space efficient manner. For example, having each of these units slotted in from the top/down, similar to this mock-up I made: https://i.imgur.com/zRc4b7G.png

My research so far has shown me this: https://i.imgur.com/AWznyB5.png which is a simple rackmount on a slider that is metal. I imagine I could maybe build some sort of support framework on top of it to handle sliding things in, albeit I am not entirely sure how. Maybe I could 3d print something.

Would anybody have any ideas on how I could build a server rack that would support something like this, ideally something that is on slide-out bearings?

Note: I have a pretty healthy budget to buy whatever or modify whatever, so that should help option some options.

Thanks in advance!

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Any homelabbers have a rackmount case that can handle 2 to 4 motherboards? (alien.top)
submitted 11 months ago by StartupTim@alien.top to c/homelab@selfhosted.forum
2 comments fedilink

Hey there,

I saw a link earlier for a 2U rack which handles 2x ITX motherboards, and it got me thinking, are there any other racks which can handle 2, 3, or even 4 ITX/mini-ITX motherboards?

Here is 1 I have seen so far, a twin ITX rack from 2013: https://www.genesysgroup.com.tw/s208b-twinitx.htm

If anybody knows of any, could you please post some links?

Thanks!

StartupTim

joined 11 months ago