Conclusions
The need for supercomputing, particularly in research institutions
and universities, has definitely increased. But the price of a supercomputing is not
decreasing. The introduction of a Beowulf Class Cluster into the market shows us the
feasibility of creating a supercomputer from commodity hardware which is readily available
at affordable prices. Ordinary people now have access to supercomputing resources without
having to spend an arm and a leg for it.
Fact is, the price/performance ratio of a Beowulf type machine is
between three to ten times better than that for traditional supercomputers. Beowulf
architecture scales well, it is easy to construct and you will only have to pay for the
hardware since most of the software is free.