Best method for running distributed processing on Mac OSX

I am currently attempting to run a rather CPU intensive application开发者_高级运维 for a research project on a computer running OSX 10.4. There is no way that even a fast MacPro could handle this amount of processing. I'm fairly new to the concept of distributed processing, but it seems to me that I have two options:

1) try to set up a cluster of computers using the Apple Server software with Xgrid.

2) set up a virtual instance of OSX 10.4 with a cloud service like the Amazon Web Service.

Does anyone have any advice as to which option might be better, or if there are any other methods I might use to achieve this task?

Your advice is greatly appreciated!

Best,

Eddie

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I think it greatly depends on what you want to accomplish. How much reliability matters in this case. If the application split are also very CPU consiming, some interprocess/inter-server messages might be lost even on the best LAN network. You have to weigh the pros and cons of the systems based on what you try to achieve.

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The good thing about Amazon cloud is that you can allocate more resources when you need them, i think it's better because you don't need the actual machines (and you can have plenty, virtually)