Yeah they could save a bunch on those; the USB LEDs are things they could make themselves, stick them into the gpio pins. Actually they don't need those.

If your parts are more expensive than the rPI itself, you're not going to need it. Those cases aren't cheap either.

I help to run a once-a-week STEAM program for kids. Here's what we've found about cheap tools.

+ When they are new to a program, kids and parents care about how tools look. We have a nicely organized wall of tools and six identical work tables. It helps get participants excited and helps convince parents that the program is legitimate.

+ Once they buy in, kids don't care about how a tool or project looks. Some of our most popular projects are built from scrap wood or cardboard.

+ Even after they buy in, kids get easily frustrated when a tool doesn't work.

I think it makes perfect sense for the Titan team (or anyone without a pre-existing relationship to a group) to make everything nice-looking since it helps to establish credibility. If you're making something at home or you've already established credibility, you could absolutely cut some corners by using cheaper parts or making parts yourself. Make sure to use quality parts, though. If you rig something that constantly requires little fixes or nudges to stay running, your audience is going to quickly lose interest.

It needs to be presentable and easy to understand. Whilst those things may not be required for someone with a basic understanding of parallel computing, they probably make it easier to explain the concepts to someone going in with zero knowledge.

Considering it's sat in front of a Titan super computer, it was probably easy to get the thousand dollar budget considering how much went into the box behind it :P