Abstract
We present a Beowulf type computer built using off-the-shelf hardware and freely available software. Its performance in raw computational power and parallel efficiency is compared with an SGI Origin-2000 computer using two different N-body codes. The impact of this technology in opening up the possibility of making routine N ~ 10^6 particle simulations with a ``home made'' computer is discussed. The effect of higher numerical resolution is shown with simulations of a cold dissipationless collapse and of the vertical heating of the disk component of a spiral galaxy evolving in isolation.
