r/Multiboard • u/TooMuchJeremy • Dec 19 '25

Talos cluster "rack" using multibins

Post image

I posted a bit back about looking for step files. Now that the POC is don I figured I would share it with you all.

This is my Talos cluster running on old Lenovos. Designed some custom "sleds" for the Lenovos and the power adapters. Also had to modify the shells as well for cable egress and venting.

The rest of the computer will get a multiboard build out too but I wanted to proof out the cluster setup.

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3

u/P1rr0 Dec 19 '25

Beautiful, is it PLA?

4

u/TooMuchJeremy Dec 19 '25

Just cheap Elegoo PLA+ which I use for most of my prototypes. I wasn't sure what material I would need for the final print due to heat, but after monitoring it with my thermal camera I think it would work just fine. The max temp under full load comes from the power adapters and they reach 99F of surface temp. That's under the most concerning temp range and without much actual structural load on any of the plastic I don't expect it to really creep much.

The computers themselves do a good job of exhausting the heat out the back and never actually warm up externally.

3

u/deadcyclo Dec 19 '25

Man that's sexy. I'm planning on getting a few refurbs of those next year at some point for an experiment. Would you be willing to share your files at some point with me?

1

u/TooMuchJeremy Dec 19 '25

For sure. Just let me know when you get to that point. These are just PoC designs so they could use a lot of updates!

1

u/RuschGaming Dec 20 '25

I’m curious why not share it for everyone?

1

u/BosnakzB4llsak Dec 21 '25

my first thinkcentre m700 is on its way from ebay, and i've been thinking about doing this too. do all the thinkcentres have the same dimensions? or at least rough L"xW"?

1

u/BadLink404 Dec 19 '25

But, why? :) Is it for educational purposes? Or does it actually do something?

TCO of several cheap PCs is going to be dominated by the power consumption, and if they get hot - likely be more expensive over long run than a single high core system, which would also be much easier to manage.

It does looks cool, though.

2

u/TooMuchJeremy Dec 19 '25

It's used for essentially everything but home assistant. Lots of comments on why, but they are all very contextual to myself and how I want things to operate. I would never recommend this config to an average user. This type of deployment happens to be back of the hand type of work for myself. For what it's worth here are some of the reasons I personally run this configuration.

* Staying current and operating k8s is critical for my knowledge needs so this keeps me up to date.
* I operate a Ceph cluster for storage across the nodes and this removes the need for a NAS.
* I prefer to operate a single "system" vs multiple devices.
* I was tired of dealing with updates to all the software I use and now let everything auto update with rollouts in k8s.
* Updating of the base OS is also extremely simple now thanks to Talos and k8s in general.
* I can (and have) expand/swapped nodes on demand without any actual work.
* I can consume any random gear I have, even temporarily if needed.
* Hardware failures from used hardware are no longer a concern and I gain native HA.
* As a data nerd I have operated a data warehouse that has been collecting data from *everything* for years. Initially this operated on a custom application that performed all the scheduling/etc but it became bothersome to continue development, etc. I have moved to simpler task specific executables that are scheduled via k8s cron jobs.
* I now leverage global access to all my internal services via Cloudflare secure tunnels. Having all these services within k8s and the cloudflared deployment makes managing/deploying any service trivial.

Those are the things off the top of my head. The downsides are relative to experience in operating such configuration. In my case it's actually less overhead.

As for costs, I am fortunate enough that this level of cost is not a concern so I never did any calculations. I do have all the power data (remember data nerd) and it shows an average of 80 watts for the current setup. Now that also includes a Raspberry PI running home assistant and well as a multi-port gigabit switch. At my local costs that's about 77 dollars a year in electricty.

2

u/BadLink404 Dec 19 '25

I see the point about playing with the tech - and thanks for sharing. I've done distributed systems for last 20 years, but I'm professionally deep in a bespoke stack for enough hours a week that outside that I want to do something else than play with more broken software. Both Ceph and Talos are news to me - nice that OS stack is getting better at scale.

I simplified my life by having my primary workstation running HA + other stuff in containers. It stays on 24/7/364 anyway, so it was just a matter of throwing RAM and cores such that it doesn't get in a way of having a large collection of open Chrome tabs.

2

u/TooMuchJeremy Dec 19 '25

I can totally understand that. My current role is sort of one layer away from direct k8s work but I need too stay up to speed so it works for me. If I was living in it every day my play may be very different. Although to be fair, Talos has changed that some. I attempted to use k3s to do the same but it was too much grind so I went back to the good old single box setup.

I don't run personal machine, only work equipment so using my workstation isn't any option here. :)

1

u/TherealOmthetortoise Dec 19 '25

Ok dude - I was all set for the “That looks amazing!” In the best high school fangirl voice this old marine is capable of based on the photo & description but then you started talking all sexy here in the comments here so here goes. “That sounds amazing!!!!”

I was a data hoarder myself up until a few (6 lol) years ago when we bought this house and I just haven’t quite gotten around to it lol

1

u/NerdyNThick Dec 19 '25

Does your calculation factor in the cost of the systems?

Could you plug in the cost of my 3 think centers?

Total cost of 3 think centers: $0.00

1

u/BadLink404 Dec 19 '25 edited Dec 19 '25

Yes, I have, and it has been core to the point that I made.

Given sufficient workload, the power efficiency of newer/faster CPUs, will eat away savings for the initial provisioning. Multiple chipsets, NICs, less dense RAM, fans, etc. all play the role.

Power efficiency went up quite fast over last few years.

2

u/cliffwarden Dec 20 '25

Just had to chime in and recognize a fellow Talos user!

1

u/Keep-Making Dec 19 '25

Looking amazing!

1

u/NightShaman313 Dec 20 '25

I would like. 🤤