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Cheap crunchers?

oh nvm

if you oc that cpu it might be worth it.

but one E220 or even one E2160 or 2180 even @ stock speeds would more than 2x blow away a sempron.
 
I have a computer with that same CPU and used to have exactly the same cooler on it. The heat sink had a very hard time keeping the processor cool under 100% utilization, even at stock speed. At stock speed the CPU isn't a good cruncher at all. With a really good heat sink the CPU is happy at 2.32Ghz and running BOINC moderately well, but it's a high end heat sink (that I luckily got for free) that would negate any cost benefits of buying the other parts.

If you just want a cheap machine that will work, the combo you listed would be OK. However, unless you already have DDR memory to use with your combo, I'd take a look at this one instead. It costs a little bit more but it's all retail components (so has more than 30 days warranty), will be much faster out of the box, uses significantly cheaper DDR2 memory (you'll save more than the difference in cost of the combos just in the cost of 1GB of memory), and is an AM2 socket so you can easily upgrade to an Athlon X2 for a huge performance increase down the road. It also has an AGP slot so you can put a decent video card in and use the machine for more than just crunching if you want to.

Edit: As narreth said, the best choice would be a low end Core 2 Duo system, but that's going to cost more. If you are planning on putting together multiple machines, there's really no reason not to go with the Core 2.
 
A Sempron 2600 is deathly slow by today's standards, and socket 754 was killed off years ago. If you're talking about spending for 3, get one Core2 machine.
 
Sorry, I should be more positive 🙂 I did a quick search on Newegg for a board with integrated video:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16813130130
MSI is a trusted name. $50. The reviewers mention that it can overclock, but research the actual options before buying to make sure. It can also support quad cores if desired.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16819115031
E4500 Core2/Allendale 2.2GHz, 2MB cache. $125
Or there's the E2160, 1.8GHz, 1MB cache, $75. (edit: didn't come up in my original seach? huh... Low cache chips bother me, though.)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16820134045
1GB DDR2-667 Kingston ValueRAM. $20!


Add an Antec Earthwatts 380, which seem to always have rebates making them about $25, a flash or CD drive to run notfred's custom boot disk, and your total is $250 + shipping for a barebones, caseless folder. 3X your proposed cost, should output 4X as many points.
 
Originally posted by: Foxery
Sorry, I should be more positive 🙂 I did a quick search on Newegg for a board with integrated video:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16813130130
MSI is a trusted name. $50. The reviewers mention that it can overclock, but research the actual options before buying to make sure. It can also support quad cores if desired.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16819115031
E4500 Core2/Allendale 2.2GHz, 2MB cache. $125
Or there's the E2160, 1.8GHz, 1MB cache, $75. (edit: didn't come up in my original seach? huh... Low cache chips bother me, though.)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16820134045
1GB DDR2-667 Kingston ValueRAM. $20!


Add an Antec Earthwatts 380, which seem to always have rebates making them about $25, a flash or CD drive to run notfred's custom boot disk, and your total is $250 + shipping for a barebones, caseless folder. 3X your proposed cost, should output 4X as many points.
Click to expand...

Nice MSI board. I looked up CPU support and it even supports Wolfdale E8x00 series with the proper BIOS flash.

See here...
 
I planned on using quads for all my crunchers, as for points, not really that important to me yet 😛 I was just wondering what the cheapest possible cruncher without a case would be, I suppose a dual core would make more sense even with the extra you pay but still, just wondering what the cheapest cruncher would be 🙂 Thanks for the replies though 😀
 
Originally posted by: krnmastersgt
I planned on using quads for all my crunchers, as for points, not really that important to me yet 😛 I was just wondering what the cheapest possible cruncher without a case would be, I suppose a dual core would make more sense even with the extra you pay but still, just wondering what the cheapest cruncher would be 🙂 Thanks for the replies though 😀
Click to expand...

As far as points per dollar crunching goes, I would say a Q6600 with the MSI board Foxery recommended, Linux on a flash drive, and the $3 1GB stick of memory CostCentral and HP donated to my causes 🙂 would be optimal.
 
Indeed those would be nice crunchers, still anyone think its possible to run multiple systems with 1 psu? Assuming its modular and you can have multiple 20/24 and 8 pin connectors.
 
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