Cheapest way to setup some dedicated crunchers?

[OverVolt]

Hey i might have some extra money to blow comming up, (and nothing to spend it on). And was just wondering the cheapest way to get some dedicated crunchers up and running.

I know some of you DC addicts out there have dedicated crunching farms, and i'd kinda like, wanna how how you set them up and if ya have any advice for me. Or if you'd have the knowledge to share on how to get a crunching farm up and running.

It would be kinda fun to setup, and i already have a spare 5port switch so network space isn't a problem. When all my computer stuff gets moved downstairs when the basement is finished, thats when i wanna get to work on the cruncher farm.

EDIT: no i will not send you the money through paypal

 

[ShotgunSi]

I just built one with the following.

XP 1800+ w/ ECS Motherboard $59.99 (Fry's)
512MB PC2100 DDR $55 - $15 Mail In Rebate (Best Buy)
300 Watt P/S $20 (coolcases.com)

All my other parts where from old computers.
Video, Case, HD etc.

 

[ProviaFan]

Typically, a motherboard, CPU, RAM, small HD, PSU, and floppy or CDROM (for installing the OS - some people use floppies for booting a mini Linux, but that sucks, is slow, and is unreliable, so I don't recommend it) temporarily for installing the OS. A video card is needed to boot with some OSes (notably Windows), and for the installation of any OS (unless you're feeling rather masochistic and want to install Linux via a terminal window on another computer over a serial cable link), so you'll need one of those at least temporarily, if it's not integrated.

The folks that have actually done this can give you more practical advice, which will be a lot more useful than my rambling theoretical statements here.

 

[ken008]

One good chruncher is better than several bad ones. Check out newegg for a refurb MB with A/V/L built in . put the best tbird or xp you can in it. mount it in a milk crate with a 512mb HD with wire ties. I have bought perfectly good refurb MB from newegg for $29 out the door. A good used AMD CPU is cheap on ebay or the for sale forum. Don`t run anything less than 1 gig in speed it is not worth it due to the cost of the electricity. It costs about $10 amonth to run a computer 24/7 run one that will give you the best return for the money, no matter who pays for it. You may be able to obtain low end systems for free but the cost of running them will out way the cost of a higher end system in the long run. To put it short building a Tbird 1333 would be better than running 3 400mhz rigs. It is not quanity it is quality. I hope you know what I am talking about. It is not worth the cost of electricity to run a lower than 1gig+ system compared to the cost of building one. Come to think of it you may want to PM the originator of this thread he may be able to help you. GeoffS thread

 

[OverVolt]

All the rigs would probably be a bunch of XP1700+ CPU's (or similar the fry's deal looks nice) Overclocked as far as i can go. I can probably buy like some TNT2's if i need videocards to boot up.

Aaand is there anyway to get them to boot W/O a harddrive? Besides the floppy idea, that wouldn't work very well. Like is there anyway to get them to boot off LAN? Just a noob idea i had.

 

[ProviaFan]

Originally posted by: OverVolt
Aaand is there anyway to get them to boot W/O a harddrive? Besides the floppy idea, that wouldn't work very well. Like is there anyway to get them to boot off LAN? Just a noob idea i had.

If you want to fiddle with Linux (and possibly with getting ROMs or custom BIOSes for your LAN card or motherboard), then you can boot over the LAN. Another option is to use an IDE-to-CF adapter with a small CF card (maybe 64MB) containing a minimal Linux distribution and the DC client of your choice (in that case, use SSH to manage the boxen remotely, so you don't need a monitor or video card once the system has been set up initially).

 

[Soggysocks]

You want hardrives ? I can sell you some 3.2 gig's $20 a pop + shipping

How many do you want?

 

[Chumpman]

Originally posted by: Soggysocks
You want hardrives ? I can sell you some 3.2 gig's $20 a pop + shipping

How many do you want?

not to crap on your post, but you could get 20 gig hard drives on fs/ft for that much ...

 

[BofRA]

Originally posted by: OverVolt
All the rigs would probably be a bunch of XP1700+ CPU's (or similar the fry's deal looks nice) Overclocked as far as i can go. I can probably buy like some TNT2's if i need videocards to boot up.

Aaand is there anyway to get them to boot W/O a harddrive? Besides the floppy idea, that wouldn't work very well. Like is there anyway to get them to boot off LAN? Just a noob idea i had.

If you know a little linux then try ClusterKnoppix. It is a clustering version of knoppix. The first computer needs a cd drive the rest will boot via lan.

 

[ericlp]

Had to ring in...

I have not really updated my page yet. Not in really a Hurry. But, you could go to eugtech.com if you wanted to see some of my thoughts on this subject....


Hard Drives? We don't need no stinking Hard Drives.....

 

[YellowRose]

Well if I was going to build a crunching farm I would do this for the AMD side.
Biostar M7VIQ
XP2400+
old/cheap PCI video card prevents the 10 to 20 percent memory loss due to intergrated graphics

 

[Khyron320]

Originally posted by: jliechty
Typically, a motherboard, CPU, RAM, small HD, PSU, and floppy or CDROM (for installing the OS - some people use floppies for booting a mini Linux, but that sucks, is slow, and is unreliable, so I don't recommend it) temporarily for installing the OS

I did not find the linux floppyboot unrealiable i ran it for 6 months without a problem. Its a great solution you dont need a hard drive or a cdrom drive. In fact could somebody post a link to where to get these floppy images again? And i dont think it was much slower either....

Links please

 

[ericlp]

Originally posted by: Khyron320

Originally posted by: jliechty
Typically, a motherboard, CPU, RAM, small HD, PSU, and floppy or CDROM (for installing the OS - some people use floppies for booting a mini Linux, but that sucks, is slow, and is unreliable, so I don't recommend it) temporarily for installing the OS

I did not find the linux floppyboot unreliable i ran it for 6 months without a problem. Its a great solution you dont need a hard drive or a cdrom drive. In fact could somebody post a link to where to get these floppy images again? And i dont think it was much slower either....

Links please

What the hell? XP is a basically NT and is running off a Unix shell. Jeee, I sure hope Linux isn't that unreliable? Wake up man, the dude said CHEAP... Not spending 500 bucks more to make bill gates rich for forcing you to buy license for each rig ya got.

Matter of fact... I've not had one problem with any of my 5 linux rigs and they *WERE* doing fine till my hub decided to take break.... Just had to reboot it.

" (unless you're feeling rather masochistic and want to install Linux via a terminal window on another computer over a serial cable link)"

It's called running headless. It doesn't really depend on the software but the limitation of the bios on weather or not you need a video card. Serial Link? I guess that would be slow and interesting. Most motherboards have cat5 connections. 10/100 telnet right into the IP Address? Hmmm, you have to feel "Masochistic" to run linux? Damn dude... You own stock is MicroShaft? How hard is it to download a bootable image of linux and stick it in a floppy? Ya know MS Dos that bill stole the CPM code and added a few lines and to market it himself? If you know MS Dos then Linux isn't that much harder to learn.

I can boot Linux off a floppy faster then it takes you to type in the 25 digit key code!

and what is "temporarily for installing the OS" Does that mean if it's on a hard drive it's there even when you are temporarily loading the OS from the hard drive into ram? What's the difference of temporarily loading it off a floppy into ram?

 

[ProviaFan]

Originally posted by: ericlp
What the hell? XP is a basically NT and is running off a Unix shell. Jeee, I sure hope Linux isn't that unreliable? Wake up man, the dude said CHEAP... Not spending 500 bucks more to make bill gates rich for forcing you to buy license for each rig ya got.

Matter of fact... I've not had one problem with any of my 5 linux rigs and they *WERE* doing fine till my hub decided to take break.... Just had to reboot it.

I didn't say Linux was slow and unreliable, I said floppies were (and in my experience they are the worst pieces of sh!t in the world - always failing and taking my data with them, and no I don't stick them to the fridge with a magnet!). I highly recommend some form of Linux for a cluster.

" (unless you're feeling rather masochistic and want to install Linux via a terminal window on another computer over a serial cable link)"

It's called running headless. It doesn't really depend on the software but the limitation of the bios on weather or not you need a video card. Serial Link? I guess that would be slow and interesting. Most motherboards have cat5 connections. 10/100 telnet right into the IP Address? Hmmm, you have to feel "Masochistic" to run linux? Damn dude... You own stock is MicroShaft? How hard is it to download a bootable image of linux and stick it in a floppy? Ya know MS Dos that bill stole the CPM code and added a few lines and to market it himself? If you know MS Dos then Linux isn't that much harder to learn.

RUNNING Linux headless everyday is great, I do it all the time. INSTALLING Linux onto a fresh, unformatted system without a monitor or keyboard directly attached to said system is a bit of a problem for mere mortals like myself.

I can boot Linux off a floppy faster then it takes you to type in the 25 digit key code!

I use Windows only where absolutely necessary, own no stock in MSFT, etc. :frown:

and what is "temporarily for installing the OS" Does that mean if it's on a hard drive it's there even when you are temporarily loading the OS from the hard drive into ram? What's the difference of temporarily loading it off a floppy into ram?

Not sure where you managed to misinterpret there, and don't feel like taking time to figure out right now. :disgust:

 

[HayHauler]

Originally posted by: ericlp

Originally posted by: Khyron320

Originally posted by: jliechty
Typically, a motherboard, CPU, RAM, small HD, PSU, and floppy or CDROM (for installing the OS - some people use floppies for booting a mini Linux, but that sucks, is slow, and is unreliable, so I don't recommend it) temporarily for installing the OS

I did not find the linux floppyboot unreliable i ran it for 6 months without a problem. Its a great solution you dont need a hard drive or a cdrom drive. In fact could somebody post a link to where to get these floppy images again? And i dont think it was much slower either....

Links please

What the hell? XP is a basically NT and is running off a Unix shell. Jeee, I sure hope Linux isn't that unreliable? Wake up man, the dude said CHEAP... Not spending 500 bucks more to make bill gates rich for forcing you to buy license for each rig ya got.

Matter of fact... I've not had one problem with any of my 5 linux rigs and they *WERE* doing fine till my hub decided to take break.... Just had to reboot it.

" (unless you're feeling rather masochistic and want to install Linux via a terminal window on another computer over a serial cable link)"

It's called running headless. It doesn't really depend on the software but the limitation of the bios on weather or not you need a video card. Serial Link? I guess that would be slow and interesting. Most motherboards have cat5 connections. 10/100 telnet right into the IP Address? Hmmm, you have to feel "Masochistic" to run linux? Damn dude... You own stock is MicroShaft? How hard is it to download a bootable image of linux and stick it in a floppy? Ya know MS Dos that bill stole the CPM code and added a few lines and to market it himself? If you know MS Dos then Linux isn't that much harder to learn.

I can boot Linux off a floppy faster then it takes you to type in the 25 digit key code!

and what is "temporarily for installing the OS" Does that mean if it's on a hard drive it's there even when you are temporarily loading the OS from the hard drive into ram? What's the difference of temporarily loading it off a floppy into ram?

Dasm, Ericlp! Cut the boy some slack, huh?
You must be depressed because of all the
problems with the current worm and supporting
Winblows Users.

Be Sweet,
Hay

 

[ericlp]

I use Windows only where absolutely necessary, own no stock in MSFT, etc. :frown:

and what is "temporarily for installing the OS" Does that mean if it's on a hard drive it's there even when you are temporarily loading the OS from the hard drive into ram? What's the difference of temporarily loading it off a floppy into ram?

Not sure where you managed to misinterpret there, and don't feel like taking time to figure out right now. :disgust:[/quote]

Well maybe I did bring up too many points.

Yeah, Floppies are getting worse and worse. They don't make them like they use too. But, still for a cheap system to run seti on it can't be beat. About the only time your gonna use the floppy if you got a power outage or if you got to reboot.

Anyway.... Sorry, I didn't mean to unload. It's just that I myself like floppies and linux since it's really the only OS that will fit on a floppy. These days you can't even fit an os on a CD ROM it's pathetic and it's only getting bigger. I think Mircosoft will release the next OS on DVD. And if you don't own one. You can get it on 5 CD's. Anyone hear about the New OS? It's code name is longhorn. It will actually use encrypted data from the keyboard to the CPU. Talk about security huh? And it will be using a form of SQL for finding files. Wheeee....

 

[Coolkid]

Originally posted by: Khyron320

Originally posted by: jliechty
Typically, a motherboard, CPU, RAM, small HD, PSU, and floppy or CDROM (for installing the OS - some people use floppies for booting a mini Linux, but that sucks, is slow, and is unreliable, so I don't recommend it) temporarily for installing the OS

I did not find the linux floppyboot unrealiable i ran it for 6 months without a problem. Its a great solution you dont need a hard drive or a cdrom drive. In fact could somebody post a link to where to get these floppy images again? And i dont think it was much slower either....

Links please

http://bhs.broo.k12.wv.us/homepage/staff/seti/lrp-dl.htm
Have been running this image on 3 p166's, working fine, but being 166's take abour 48hrs a wu

 

[Khyron320]

Originally posted by: Coolkid

http://bhs.broo.k12.wv.us/homepage/staff/seti/lrp-dl.htm
Have been running this image on 3 p166's, working fine, but being 166's take abour 48hrs a wu

There was another thread rescently that discussed older rigs they all came to the conclusion that running anything below 1ghz is not worth it as a cruncher anymore due to electricty cost. You would actually save money if you ran out and replaced all 3 of those p166s with just one of these. Im not Telling you what to do im just making a suggestion throw those things away and get whats listed below and you'll probably save enough money on power to pay for it.

ShotgunSi: XP 1800+ w/ ECS Motherboard $59.99 (Fry's)
512MB PC2100 DDR $55 - $15 Mail In Rebate (Best Buy)
300 Watt P/S $20 (coolcases.com)

 

[ericlp]

Originally posted by: Khyron320

Originally posted by: Coolkid

There was another thread rescently that discussed older rigs they all came to the conclusion that running anything below 1ghz is not worth it as a cruncher anymore due to electricty cost. You would actually save money if you ran out and replaced all 3 of those p166s with just one of these. Im not Telling you what to do im just making a suggestion throw those things away and get whats listed below and you'll probably save enough money on power to pay for it.

ShotgunSi: XP 1800+ w/ ECS Motherboard $59.99 (Fry's)
512MB PC2100 DDR $55 - $15 Mail In Rebate (Best Buy)
300 Watt P/S $20 (coolcases.com)

Excellent Point. I was thinking about the same thing just recently...

512MB is waste of Memory for a dedicated cruncher only 128Megs is needed. So is a 300 Watt P/S. I got mine for 11 buck shipped. Tho, I got a deal...

Anyway. On my XP 1800 only does 6-7 WU Per PC. Yet it only cost 100 bucks for the entire setup.

I could go to goolegear and get a 800Mhz P4 2.4CGhz Retail CPU $170.00 with an Abit as-7 Motherboard for another 100 bucks. I could probably use my Crucial RAM. Now 270.00. This rig can produce a little over 16-17 WU per day. I figure around 2.6 * Faster.... So, to get 17 WU out of the the frys/AMD route it would cost around 300.00. But, Instead of having 5 machines I could only have 2 machines and save on the power bill that would make more sence....

But when does it end? Next week there will be a faster cheaper system. I'm still trying to figure out how the top 3 are producing 300-500 WU's a day. I'd like to see the power bill and equipment cost. I know there are rich people out there and it's not like I am at the bottem but droping 10Grand on equipment and paying an extra 50-60 bucks pn the power bill not to mention rewiring your house to get the extra circut in because you overloaded the 20Amp fuse in the circut braker just to say your number 1 2 or 3 on the list? Or is there something more to this? Maybe I am missing something?

 

[ProviaFan]

Originally posted by: ericlp
Or is there something more to this? Maybe I am missing something?

You're misunderstanding the statistics addiction factor.

 

[kmmatney]

For making a cheap crack rack, my recommendation would be to first use a cheap Socket A all-in-one motherboard. The ASUS A7N266-VM is only $64 at NewEgg and you get on-board GeForce graphics. If your even more cheap, there are Via and ATI based all-in-one boards for $50. I have the NVidia MB and it overclocks a little bit. Try to get cheap/old hard drives. I tend to get these for free from friends, work, etc...No need for a floppy. You don't need a CD-rom for each machine, but you do need it to load the OS, after which you can remove it.

Use VNC software to log onto the systems and periodically check on them. VNC is freeware software which lets you control the mouse and keyboard of any computer remotely - much cheaper than a KVM switch.

That's my basement crack-rack. I run win2000 and Win98 on hard drives ranging from 500 MB to 4 GB. I think having a "full" OS is best, as you can run a variety of DC projects.