casting about for opinions/advice

[tcarroll]

Hi,
I'm about to build my own cluster; I've helped to build two previously, but this one will be "mine." I'll be using ScaLAPACK, primarily to diagonalize large matrices. I've been soliciting some advice in various hardware and software fora.

Any comments on the following would be appreciated (specifically as to how ScaLAPACK will perform):

I'm currently struggling with the processor choice: Intel vs. AMD. From my research, it seems like a dual core AMD is better suited to tasks like matrix diagonalization due to the better memory bandwidth. It SEEMS like an AMD opteron would be even better, but most of them are intended for server applications and the requisite motherboards are beyond my budget (~20k). There is a socket AM2 opteron, but I have no idea how to compare it to the Athlon 64s.

I'm planning on 8GB of RAM per node, 24 nodes, and a GigE interface.

Ok, thanks for any comments!

-tom