Grid of OC'ed Intel Core 2 Duo E6600s -- Hardware Components Help

[intelcore2duogrid]

Hello All,

I'm building a computational grid (24 nodes to start) based around the Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 processors. The machines will run Linux and boot off the network so I have no need for a video card or any drives whatsoever. Would like some help picking the other components (at as low cost as possible!). Thinking about using the ASRock 775Dual-VSTA motherboard (cheap, overclocks well enough, and has onboard gigabit ethernet), and 2 cheap 512MB sticks of PC2 5400. Only need 1GB of RAM (applications are CPU bound and L2 cache of 4MB is very helpful) so was thinking 2x512 would be cheapest.

Any suggestions are welcome! At first I was thinking of putting everything into mini-tower cases, but these don't fit in racks/cabinets at a datacenter well. Will it be possible to cram motherboard, processor+heatsink/fan, and ram into a 2U case? Or do I have to use a mini-tower? Is a 300W power supply sufficient (minimal OC'ing, no video card or drives at all) or do I need 400W? Can I get away with stock Intel heatsink+fan or should I get something else, possibly lower profile, to put in the cases?

Thanks in advance!

 

[VinDSL]

Hrm...

I'll have to think about this (later). Have a meeting in 10 minutes, but...

Are you going to colo these things, or do you have free access to a NOC -- like at a university or whatever?

If you're paying for rack space, 2U is the way to go. They will usually change you extra for bread rack machines...

Gotta run! BBL

 

[intelcore2duogrid]

Going to colo them, but can shove about 16 mini-towers in a standard rack and 24 in custom wire shelving (some more upfront costs and headaches but most likely doable). Would prefer 2U though in case we have to move data centers and the next is not so friendly to our needs.