Kristin Lepping
Tuesday, August 25, 2020 at 5:58 pm

Dear Amarel community,

GPU nodes are increasing in popularity and research computing necessity. While OARC has some stock of GPU’s, most are already owned by Rutgers researchers and very few are available for open access users. We were unable to increase the GPU inventory with our recent Phase 4 node and storage acquisition due to the need to prioritize those items; however, researchers do continue to request them.

With this in mind, we are pursuing quotes from vendors with the goal of making an autumn GPU purchase which would be specifically researcher-owned (i.e., we may not add any or perhaps very few general access GPU’s due to data center constraints and tightened resources). We are trying to gauge the interest of the community. If you or your lab/department would like to be part of this GPU purchase, please let us know and we will work with you to ensure you are included.

The NVIDIA Ampere (A100) is about to come to market and would integrate well with our existing infrastructure. Lenovo has provided us with the following approximate costs:

1x A100 GPU: $17,500 + ~ 2K for 4 year maintenance (total cost)
2x A100: $26,000 + $2,700 for maintenance
3x A100: $34,500 + $3,500 for maintenance
4x A100: $43,000 + $4,200 for maintenance

Each of the above configurations is supported by a server with the same specifications (including memory) as our new Phase 4 compute nodes (available to researchers soon). Configurations with fewer than four A100’s can later be upgraded up to a full complement of A100 GPU’s.

Again, if you wish to purchase GPU’s in this fiscal year, please let me know. Thank you for your continued support!
– Kristin
Kristin Lepping, MLIS
Director, Business Operations, Grants, & Workforce Development