Raspberry Pi 3 Super Computing Cluster Part 1 - Hardware List and Assembly

Part 2 - Software Configuration is now live! • Raspberry Pi 3 Super C...
In celebration of crossing my 1,000,000th Einstein@Home Credit, I'm sharing how I built my Raspberry Pi 3 Cluster. Feel free to contact me with any questions.
B+ Mounting Hole Template:
www.raspberrypi-spy.co.uk/wp-c...
Parts List
Raspberry Pi 3 x 8
www.mcmelectronics.com/product...
Samsung EVO 16gb Micro SD Card x 8
www.microcenter.com/product/43...
Raspberry Pi Heat Sink Kits x 4
www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01...
1' Anker Powerline Micro USB Cables x 8
www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01...
100 Nylon Standoffs 10mm/6mm Male
www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...
TrendNet TE100-S8 10/100 Switch
www.amazon.com/TRENDnet-Unman...
USB to Type M Adapter Cable
www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...
1.5' Cat 5 Cables x 3
www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...
1' Cat 5 Cables x 5
www.amazon.com/iMBAPrice-Cat5...
10 Port USB Power Supply 60W or more
www.amazon.com/Anker-10-Port-...
www.amazon.com/Sabrent-Family...
www.amazon.com/ORICO-Charging...
AC Infinity Dual 80mm USB Cooling Fans
www.amazon.com/AC-Infinity-MU...
Einstein@Home: einsteinathome.org
My Performance: www.einsteinathome.org/show_u...

[@OH8STN]

Absolutely Outstanding!!! I've never been a Pi guy, but this series just opened my eyes. recently I've realized the need for an APRS igate for this part of Finland. seems to me a solar powered Raspberry Pi (Tower Mounted), might just be the ticket. thanks for sharing, I'm seriously enjoying your videos!

[@evoblade2000]

Really loved how detailed you were on the parts list!! I wish everyone else would do the same.

[@samueltrassare]

I love these two videos. They really got me interested in building my own cluster which I've now done. Up to five nodes right now but plan on putting eight together. Thank you!

[@reeceguisse17]

I watched the video just for the "Coolness Factor." That said, I think your organization and clarity of expression are outstanding. I was interested in the process throughout the video even though I have no interest in the topic - Very well done and I hope you gain many, many subscribers.

[@KF7IJZ]

Thanks for the kind words!

[@bigredisthebestest]

i could not have expressed my own thoughts into words better than this gentleman did. this is awesome. I've subscribed and will be learning much more hopefully!

[@fourtwanky]

I fully agree with what Reece said. I wanted to say something similar, but Reece said it better.

[@slygoose6063]

that sums up my take on this video

[@codezoo]

I agree, except for the music. It was ok for a while, but eventually sounded monotonous, so I would suggest changing it about halfway through.

[@ulincsys]

Every time he says "Spooger", it's killing me XD

[@patbrady2574]

This is one of the best instruction videos I have seen on KZbin. Great Job!

[@BlueRedGooGoo]

that top heatsink being sideways so air can't pass through it easily made me want to rip my hair out.

[@rodrigofonyat3489]

Am I crazy or this is incredibly satisfying to watch? Connecting those RJ-45s sounded better then popping bubble wrap! :D

[@DarkStarPDX]

This is a great video, thank you for putting it together (can't wait for part 2)! For people looking to try to save a bit more money, I would recommend looking at the Orange Pi instead of the Raspberry Pi. Instead of Raspbian, they run Armbian, but it's still just a Debian variation so all the existing apps work pretty much the same way.

[@JacobJJake]

Nice setup mate! Will wait for the next part :)

[@machiii7394]

I made one of these to host a minecraft server and it works surprisingly well. Kind of strange that it worked at all, encountered a ton of problems while setting it up, but it's running now.

[@akashaaware3100]

Wow this is splendidly composed, I was shocked to see you only had 2k subs. Keep this up and you'll make 200k before long.

[@KF7IJZ]

Thanks for the kind words - please like, share, subscribe :)

[@SkyWatch555]

I love IT professionals who are as well ham radio guys :) we need more in the community. 73, K7CSA ; Solutions Architect

[@alanb9308]

An exceptionally well presented instructional video. Great job!

[@linuxgaming69]

Music when you're talking is always a great idea!

[@wmoule]

The clicking of the LAN cables was oddly satisfying.

[@MikeeCZ]

Temperature in your room is about 75°C? wow man, you can survive higher temps than camels :)

[@KF7IJZ]

Good catch :) I think there are at least two other mistakes in there to be found :)

[@grugamerZi]

another one is at 2:20, you said that meter is saying 3.4-3.7 watts... but he's saying 3.4-3.7 AMPS! and W=I*V (Current times voltage) that means 17-18.5 Watts per PI.

[@KF7IJZ]

The Pi is 5V and each is drawing ~ .75A at full load, so < 4 watts. If you notice, there is a -P-, above the reading, which means the meter is in Power measurement mode, but the reading happens to be on the current display.

[@grugamerZi]

KF7IJZ ah!, mah mistake so!, i didnt think in the possibility of this meter have "modes".

[@skorpion1298]

W=V*A formula: P=U*I you missspelled something there ;)

[@ryhu4755]

I am still confused as to what these can do. I will check to see if you have any videos of it in action. I really liked your video and am looking to get into both rasberry pi and ham radio. You have a great knack for teaching. I taught Infantrymen how to use/secure/maintain radios when I was in the Army.

[@tedvanmatje]

nice little tidy build and well presented......but the music sounds like something off of a 70's B-movie ;) thanks for posting....now off to watch the following episodes

[@Mobi2525]

Thank you thank you thank you!!!.. I have been trying to do a cluster of Seti@home for ages but could not get it off the ground! Looking forward to the rest of this series! Please show how to setup the software.

[@KF7IJZ]

I'm working on that now - the one big difference is that I believe you have to compile the source for S@H for the Pi, but I'm not sure. I'm using prepackaged software on this cluster because versions available now are new enough to be performant. I used to have to run compiled BOINC to support fftw wisdom files to improve performance, but that's not necessary now.

[@Peabody1929]

I look forward to Part 2!

[@y2ksw1]

Very nice and easy to follow, professional advice!

[@joechurchill8055]

i actually like the music and dont find it distracting. Its cheerfull

[@georgiosf.1223]

This is an awesome guide! Thank you so much for sharing it!

[@cjlowe1650]

Great video. Microcenter is like Home Depot for geeks. I'm lucky to have one about 20 miles away. Actually on the way to visit my family.

[@CrazyCoupleDIY]

This is amazing, I have been thinking of doing something similar for long long time

[@billpeiman8973]

Please drop ALL background music.

[@mmlvx]

Sometimes I don't mind background music, but this was so distracting that I couldn't focus on the video. I put it on mute and turned on the auto-generated closed captioning (which had the side benefit of being funny in places).

[@TheSimonScowl]

Wow. Somebody just got triggered! Good job, Bill! But I couldn't agree more.

[@ariat3381]

@@bobsagget823 the background music is shit

[@Hellhamster]

@Evi1M4chine take meds

[@insanecuckooman8342]

fucking music everyone puts them in their videos,

[@patrunks3906]

Thank U so Much Brother i am in the Bahamas.

[@93Thiagosf]

Subscribed for the part 2 =)

[@josuegotvids]

What is a cluster used for? Like what practical use does it serve? If anyone can enlighten a brother out. I would love to hear from you.

[@Ryan-nq3qp]

The perfectionist in me wants to see all the USB power cables custom made into 1 single main cable powering each individual Pi in parallel, this would be especially doable since the Pi's only need power and most Micro USB cables come with data wires as well, which only adds to the thickness of the overall cabe. This would get rid of the cluster which you don't want. You could say something similar for the ethernet cables.

[@KF7IJZ]

So Dave Jones from the EEVBlog is trying to do something MUCH neater - www.eevblog.com/2016/10/15/eevblog-934-raspberry-pi-supercomputer-cluster-part-1/

[@bensonyau2302]

I chuckle every time someone calls a cluster of Pi a "Super Computer".

[@furukikami5158]

A cluster of RPI is a SUPER PI :)

[@PhaQ2]

A spooger is what I carry between my legs, a spudger (spud-jur) is the name of the tool you used....

[@nikobellic570]

exactly what i thought - lol

[@tyronebillingsley5363]

ok, I'm glad I'm not the only one to have that thought.

[@BlueRedGooGoo]

Pha Q you call your genitals a Spooger?

[@vladimirvasilev8631]

Does software connect GPU part of them? Can I use them like PC for video or 3D scene render?

[@aurunator5907]

Amazing Buddy :-) Did the same with the new Pi4 @2.1Ghz OC BOINC and GRIDCOINWALLET runching Universe@home and TNGrid

[@MSTCND]

Great video! Would it be possible to use a top hat to convert these Pi boards to being powered by the network cable?

[@luqy12]

Im creating a 4 node raspberry pi cluster using raspberry pi 2s and was wondering what watt usb charger would suffice for the 4 pis, switch and cooling fan?

[@entriphy]

"Hey Home Depot, got some of them SPOODGERS?" xD

[@Cryptonat]

Great video.. But music is too loud and whats with your drill press? That thing has quite a bit of wobble at the bit.

[@HempThief]

hello sir can you please tell me what you do with clusters and the capabilities of it?

[@dynamichunter843]

Just a thought, but wouldn't facing the heatsinks so that the fan's air can pass through all of the fins (instead of just hitting the first one) make the cooling a lot more efficient?

[@dynamichunter843]

EDIT: I noticed at the end of the video that it's just the top one that is rotated. Why is that?

[@KF7IJZ]

That's intuitive, but I haven't noticed a difference at all.

[@MontyChimera]

That's the first thing I thought as well when I noticed the fins weren't facing all the same direction.

[@DataStorm1]

there would be more sense making a sidefence to direct the air towards the RPI's. The heatsinks direction doesn't matter much, for the flow over it will cause it to circulate between anyhow....

[@fourtwanky]

he probably wasn't thinking about that while placing them on there. But I would want to align the fins for the air flow direction also, even if it "didn't make a difference"

[@aliakbaramirkhani3265]

this is insanely awesome :D

[@TheBlondfrog]

Great work keept it on!

[@mrdot1126]

i know this is the most cost effective way, but why not 3Dprint a casing/cage that holds the switch and has the structure for the Pi and for the fans?

[@corporategamingtechnologie748]

nicely done

[@memphisartguy2]

RPi3 can net-boot over Ethernet hence saving you a bundle on the SD cards. You should do a video with that.

[@KF7IJZ]

At least, once this feature is out of beta i will look forward to doing this. For BOINC projects, each machine will still need its own image due to some GUID stuff that helps identify which machine reported results.

[@CarlosLandaetaL]

Nice video, keep the good work - subscribing!

[@DihelsonMendonca]

After creating all of this, adding more nodes, can one create on the top, a virtual machine that runs windows, so we can run for instance, MS compatible games with the power of this supercomputer ?

[@SmartLifeEnthusiast]

Hey, Great video, I look forward the following videos! Will you put these videos in a playlist? It'd be easier to follow your videos that way.

[@KF7IJZ]

Good suggestion. Once I get part two done, I will. I actually need to spend time organizing my channel in general, but I've taken a long hiatus from being active in videos so I'm just catching up!

[@v.gedace1519]

Awesome! Thinking to do it with a Skull Canyon! Main problem: Where to buy a CPU/GPU cooler that fits for the Intel Skull Canyon NUC? Any idea?

[@sheshankjoshi]

The idea of assembly and neat package always worries me and prompts to buy stuff instead of making them. Thanks to you now I am releived.

[@KF7IJZ]

I'm usually the same way, but the third party solutions (like from bitscope) are prohibitively expensive, so I was forced to get creative!

[@CA.papaBear]

have you considered PoE for your Pi cluster? just curious

[@rxmas7234]

Would there be any added value to the einstein project to run multicore software on the Pi's?

[@televisionandcheese]

16:34 'Hey Now' starts playing ;)

[@DUIofPhysics]

Great job placing the fan so it blows against the side of the CPU heat-sinks rather then through the fins like it's designed :^)

[@KF7IJZ]

No noticeable difference whatsoever between the two positions.

[@qbaker20]

Nice project, but how well does it do versus a low budget PC in terms of Einstein Credits per hour per dollar? Seems that the costs of everything involved add up pretty quick.

[@KF7IJZ]

So I haven't compared directly, but I'd bet that the low end computer for the dame $$ is a better deal for now, HOWEVER, there may be work units coming that are more tailored for the CPU on the Pi 3 which would increase performance significantly. I have an i5 NUC that was doing a LIGO work unit in about a day while a single Pi was taking 6 days to do that.

[@mieszkogulinski168]

Also I wonder if it costs a bit less to power the Pis through GPIO from a 5 V power supply (or multiple ones) than use a huge powered USB hub. Just and idea, I haven't check the prices. Anyway, congrats on an interesting build!

[@blackfedora81]

What was the overall cost for this project? It would be curious to see how a pi cluster performs in comparison to a normal server if you factor in the cost.

[@kenin3526]

I am now your fan, plus one subscriber :)

[@EricBliesener]

you. you nailed it!

[@DavidEvans_dle]

With a single power supply, are the individual boards surge protected? Would hate to lose all of my boards from a single power supply surge failure.

[@nikkifiz9822]

You need to turn down the music as it gets in the way of your explanation

[@jordonmason2821]

instead of using a trend net switch could I use a Cisco switch or would it be best to use trend net because of compatibility issues?

[@nuovovideo]

Is it possible to have differen operative system between them?

[@akkudakkupl]

Reorganize the thing so that the heatsinks get convection cooling. Daisychain the +5V through the pin header.

[@leexgx]

The newest pi 3 b+ now has POE support on network so makes the mess of usb power cabling down to just 1 network cable per device (just need compatable POE Switch) and use the USB power off the pi to power the odd fans you need Just don't be so annoying with music so loud (I assume you corrected that on your later videos)

[@ownd86]

02:20 shouldn't you place the heatsink 90° turned ? not sure but imho would make more sense

[@justinlabarge8178]

Just a note, that top pi, the heatsinks is rotated 90 degrees from the rest. Your fan will hit the first flat edge and the air will disperse, cooling it less. The fins facing the fan will be cooled better, but I doubt it will actually matter because it is the top pi and thus should be the coolest

[@nixietubes]

You should mount the heatsinks so that the fins are in line with the airflow...

[@PrimeToolbox]

When i heard switch case, the switch case statement comes to my mind lol

[@hanslanger4399]

what is you only connect the first PI to the AC and all the rest to the USB of his previous PI?

[@PaulJohnsonM]

Nice demoscene tunez.

[@uhtjgu8ojo89]

Does the cluster upgrades the amount of RAM and processing power?

[@explorethesky3067]

Do you have a parts link for the watt meter you used?

[@vitocraftlp]

why 60Watt power supply? for a 2 or 3 PI cluster a 40 or 30 Watt should be enough right?

[@mieszkogulinski168]

I know that with Raspberry Pi 1 it's not cost-effective to make a cluster, compared to a PC (or cluster of them) with similar power. Cluster of RPi 1 will cost more and also will use more electricity. Is it still true for RPi 2 and 3 with 4-core processors with higher clocks and newer cores?

[@ShrikeGFX]

How does that stack up (pun not intended) against a normal i7 CPU per example?

[@smartgeorgian735]

good work, but for what you can use it? can you install windows on this "super pc"? can you play games or even do some job in MS Office? _ So what do you get from this Pi Rig ? Only home group storage?

[@SirCharles.]

you maybe should've aligned all the heatsinks with the fins running horizontally to the length of the Pi, so that the fan can actually blow air through the fin channels. but not like it would really matter lol

[@eLFuetee]

Nice!!! I love the pie and I love microcenter. by the way what is this good for again?

[@KF7IJZ]

Mine contributes to the Einstein@Home Project

[@saibamoe]

won't a very small mini ITX case do just fine, packed with an i5 or i7? Can learn docker on that as well :3

[@tommcmahon14]

wait do all the CPUs work.at once? how powerful is it versus a game?

[@galaxymyt4834]

Hey man i have good ideas can you make this with old smartphone it's so cheap

[@georgegardei8074]

I bought thr switch your recommended. Amazon recommended I bundle it with those usb cables and fans you showed us. LOL

[@SMCGPRA]

How to add HDD storage to pi cluster, is it to master or slave pi

[@robertl6711]

Love micro center every time I drive by it I have to stop.

[@hikaru-live]

Update: you can now net boot and USB boot the Pi's now. So only the first node need the SD card or a USB hard drive, and all remaining nodes would net boot off the first node over DHCP.

[@unknown-hr2rt]

陈北宗 уйди бурят

[@tommymccloud2881]

Are your mini PCs still in use today? You never endure years without problems? I think this is a reason that servers cook certain design, high-performance cooling and longevity?

[@Snitchy1989]

what exactly does this cluster do?

[@MyCallOfDuty]

that's really awesome not bad

[@phillipfrost2699]

So does a cluster multiply the abilities of one Pi by 8??? What's it's new operating specs???

[@1234mattyman]

could I use the pi clusters as a game server for let say Minecraft or use them for web/file server something like that

[@KF7IJZ]

I know that Minecraft can run on a Pi (not sure if it's the full version or something special for the Pi), but I don't know how you would parallelize the workload across multiple Pis. Doesn't mean you can't, I just don't have the answer.

[@KF7IJZ]

Someone shared this below: github.com/mappum/redstone

[@flourfree2K]

Could this be used to build a render farm for Blender 3D?

[@EDGARBASTO25]

ESTO SIRVE PARA VÍDEO JUEGOS O EDICIÓN 3D O DE VÍDEO???

[@randominternetfrog]

Amazingly informative video. Excellent Job. BUT...Mistake #1: Do not wear jewellery (including rings) while operating machine tools (drill presses).

[@vladimirvasilev8631]

Does software connect GPU part of them? Can I use them like PC for video or 3D scene render?

[@vladimirvasilev8631]

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GPU_cluster or how to search?

[@t00by00zer]

lay the stack on its side and you could probably do away with the fan. Rather than disassemble the switch, just get some 5 minute epoxy, attach the standoffs to a Pi, apply a little epoxy to the end of the standoffs and set the Pi on top of the case. Putty epoxy will work too.

[@JellyJofool]

Does this work with different version of Raspberry Pis?

[@blade8147]

Does it have to be a raspberry pi or can I use other single board computers

[@ravimareedu]

hi thanks for great video. when should we expect part 2 ?

[@KF7IJZ]

Honestly probably near the end of September. Two young kids and a full time day job. I have actually shot most of the screen captures for it, just need to finish that and edit together.

[@kimbleangus7321]

Two young kids and a full time day job, what?

[@willn8664]

I wonder if it is possible for Bit mining with a Raspeberry Pi???