So I am still looking for a viable PICO itx motherboard supplier … but the concept is rolling along nicely, so here’s a little more information.

The “project” is to make a beowulf cluster but as efficent and therefor green as possible, current “Pico” itx power suppliers advertise a 96% efficency … not bad

So why the pico form factor?

The reason I am going for this form factor is due to it’s size and power draw, because of the lower power draw of this form factor it allow for other (greener) power options to be explored.

So what’s the spec?


The project must have the following:

1. Have at least 4ghz (4 nodes), distibuted processing power
2. Not draw more than a total 30w / GHZ under load (Bringing the 4 node total to just 120w)
3. Fit into a 2u rack chasis.

The lower the power consumption per GHZ the better, obviously, and if I can reduce the power consumption under load enough, this should allow for offsetting the running of the cluster using alternative energy sources.

Anway I have now created a category green_giant and will continue to post more information as the concept progresses, I hope to get some technical diagrams up soon.