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

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.

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)