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I regret building this $3000 Pi AI cluster

jeffgeerling.com

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Re: I regret building this $3000 Pi AI cluster

#51

Post by infecto »

shermantanktop wrote: post #14
fidotron wrote: post #3

If Pi Clusters were actually cost competitive for performance there would be data centres full of them.

Like the joke about the economists not picking up the $20 bill on the ground? Faith in the perfect efficiency of the free market only works out over the long term. In the short term we have a lot of habits that serve as heuristics for doing a good job most of the time.

Sure but for commodities, like server hardware, we can say it’s usually directionally correct. If there are no pi cloud offerings, there is probably a good economic reason for it.

Re: I regret building this $3000 Pi AI cluster

#52

Post by ACCount37 »

phoronixrly wrote: post #9
fidotron wrote: post #3

If Pi Clusters were actually cost competitive for performance there would be data centres full of them.

If they were cost competitive for ... anything at all really...

Prototyping and low volume.

They're good for long as the development costs dominate the total costs.

Re: I regret building this $3000 Pi AI cluster

#53

Post by imtringued »

Oh come on Jeff, you forgot to buy GPUs for your AI cluster. Such a beginner mistake.

All you needed to do is buy 4x xtx 7900 used on ebay and build a four node raspberry pi cluster using the external GPU setup you've come up with in one of your previous blog posts [0].

[0] https://www.jeffgeerling.com/blog/2024/use-external-gpu-on-r...

Re: I regret building this $3000 Pi AI cluster

#54

Post by paxys »

hn_throw_250915 wrote: post #43

I read through it and it’s amusing but along with the title being something I’d receive in email from a newsletter mailing list I’ve never subscribed to (hoping it has an unsubscribe link at the bottom), there’s nothing really of hacker curiosity here to keep me hooked. It’s shallow and appeals to some LCD “I did the thing with the stuff and the results will shock you because of how obvious they are now click here” m…

This is just the evolution of clickbait titles. The only thing missing is a thumbnail of an AI generated raspberry pi cluster with a massive arrow pointing to it and the words "not worth it!!"

Re: I regret building this $3000 Pi AI cluster

#55

Post by blobbers »

nine_k wrote: post #38
Almondsetat wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can get a Xeon E5-2690V4 with 28 threads and 64GB of RAM for about $150. If you need cores and memory to make a lot of VMs you can do it extremely cheaply

It will probably consume $150 worth of electricity in less than a month, even sitting idle :-\

The internet says 100W idle, so maybe more like $40-50 electricity, depending on where you live could be cheaper could be more expensive.

Makes me wonder if I should unplug more stuff when on vacation.

Re: I regret building this $3000 Pi AI cluster

#56

Post by IAmBroom »

aprdm wrote: post #27
phoronixrly wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Was it a learning experience? Also no. The guy's a youtuber On the other hand, will this make him 100+k views? Yes. It's bait - the perfect combo to attract both the AI crowd and the 'homelab' enthusiasts (of which the bulk are yet to find any use for their raspberry devices)...

He is not a YouTuber. And even if he was - what's the problem ? Jeff has many useful OSS software used by many companies around the world daily - including mine. What have you created ?

He absolute is a YouTuber.

https://www.jeffgeerling.com/projects

And the inference is that he is doing this for clicks, i.e. clickbait. The very title is disingenuous.

Your attack on the poster above you is childish.

Re: I regret building this $3000 Pi AI cluster

#58

Post by Joker_vD »

paxys wrote: post #54
hn_throw_250915 wrote: post #43

I read through it and it’s amusing but along with the title being something I’d receive in email from a newsletter mailing list I’ve never subscribed to (hoping it has an unsubscribe link at the bottom), there’s nothing really of hacker curiosity here to keep me hooked. It’s shallow and appeals to some LCD “I did the thing with the stuff and the results will shock you because of how obvious they are now click here” m…

This is just the evolution of clickbait titles. The only thing missing is a thumbnail of an AI generated raspberry pi cluster with a massive arrow pointing to it and the words "not worth it!!"

There also needs to be a Face Screaming in Fear Emoji plastered on the other side of it.

Re: I regret building this $3000 Pi AI cluster

#59

Post by causal »

lumost wrote: post #13

I don’t really get why anyone would be buying ai compute unless A) to your goal is to rent out the compute B) no vendor can rent you enough compute when you need it C) you have an exotic funding arrangement that makes compute capex cheap and opex expensive. Unless you can keep your compute at 70% average utilization for 5 years - you will never save money purchasing your hardware compared to renting it.

1) Data proximity (if you have a lot of data, egress fees add up)

2) Hardware optimization (the exact GPU you want may not always be available for some providers)

3) Not subject to price changes

4) Not subject to sudden Terms of Use changes

5) Know exactly who is responsible if something isn't working.

6) Sense of pride and accomplishment + Heating in the winter

Re: I regret building this $3000 Pi AI cluster

#60

Post by jacobr1 »

phoronixrly wrote: post #9
fidotron wrote: post #3

If Pi Clusters were actually cost competitive for performance there would be data centres full of them.

If they were cost competitive for ... anything at all really...

They are competitive for hobbyist use cases. Limited home servers, or embedded applications that overlap with arduino.
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