Single Node Picture

Tasty.

Here is what the final compute node looks like.  The thumb drive is meant to be used as scratch space, so this machine does not have any local persistent state.

1. 4Gx4 G.SKILL F3-10666CL9Q-16GBXL memory kit (85$ Canadian)
2. Intel DH67BL  mATX socket LGA1155 motherboard with one PCIe x16 slot (101$ Canadian)
3. Kingston Datatraveler 101 G2 16GB USB2.0 flash drive (12$ Canadian)
4. Coolmaster Elite 460W power supply with power cable (33$ Canadian)
5. Intel i7 2600K (CPU heatsink with fan included) quad core 3.4Ghz (299$ Canadian)
6. 10Gbe ethernet card (loaner - free!)

The integrated 1Gbe is not really meant for application data, but does support administrative functions, NFS mounting, and core system-level functionality.  The high-speed networking (10Gbe) interface is meant to handle business payloads at the application level.  Building the above node took about 20 minutes including time to configure the BIOS to net boot (PXE).