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Cruncher Box

G

goobee

Platinum Member
I am thinking about replacing my main F@H cruncher box, 8 core Xeon (2 x e5430 Xeon) + GTX 285 GPU running 2 x SMP clients and 1 x GPU client with something more powerful and efficient.

Any suggestions without having to spend a fortune or should I stick with what I have now? Thanks.
 
if your motherboard supports more graphics cards, I would just throw in a couple more graphic cards.
You won't see much of an improvement from your current setup going to an i7 setup unless you plan on going to a dual cpu setup for crunching.
My 2 x e5405 xeon (oc'd to 2.4Ghz) setup does just as well as any of my i7 setups.... so if you want improvement, go with a multiple gpu setup.

if you are looking for something more efficient, i would change out the powersupply with something that has the gold badge (80plus). Since this is a cruncher and I assume that it's going to be running 24/7 under full load, for efficiency, the power supply is one of the most critical units.

All my crunchers have 80plus power supplies.

oh... and i have no idea what i'm talking about 😱
http://stats.free-dc.org/stats.php?page=userbycpid&cpid=910e6b0355b80a8c852b680b35652f61
 
theAnimal said:
You can run the -bigadv WUs instead of 2x SMP which should get you around 17-18k ppd.
Click to expand...
The -bigadv WUs can only be done with Linux/OSX right now.

I don't know enough about your CPUs - can you run a virtual machine?
You would probably do better than 18k ppd. My i7 gets closer to 25k ppd just on the -bigadv WUs.
 
GLeeM said:
You would probably do better than 18k ppd. My i7 gets closer to 25k ppd just on the -bigadv WUs.
Click to expand...

Xeon mobos generally don't allow OCing, so > 18k is not likely. That's the number I got for a machine with those CPUs from the thread at foldingforum.
 
theAnimal said:
Xeon mobos generally don't allow OCing, so > 18k is not likely. That's the number I got for a machine with those CPUs from the thread at foldingforum.
Click to expand...

generally that is correct... unless you got a motherboard that does allow for it.. Like I did. Asus Z7S WS.... overclockable... same chipset as the skulltrail. and it has two PCIe x16 slots
 
what kind of budget do you have?

i think there are three choices you have here.
1: upgrade the motherboard so that you have multiple PCIe and get an additional graphics card... cheapest way to go, but you are really limited for future upgrades beyond that.

2: Get an i7 9xx setup with a motherboard that has multiple PCIe x16 slots

3: Get an i7 xeon setup... dual cpu and a motherboard with multiple PCIe x16 slots (workstation board)

what's your budget?
 
I'd like to get out of the Xeon scene if at all possible. Dual GTX 285 maybe? I don't think that probably will be very green will it?
 
Well, it depends. You should calculate the efficiency - i.e. the number of points/watt. It may turn out to be quite efficient and thus quite green - although the absolute energy consumtion is quite high ...
 
How about cpus/mobo changes? Are there non-Xeon based I7's that can do better than my existing Xeon combo?
 
Hmmm, very nice mobo - 12 cores, 24 threads with Xenon CPUs, possibly 4 GPUs; and the need of dual PSU because the mobo has two 6-pin and two 8-pin connectors plus the ususal big 24-pin one, and the mobo is so large ... Running this beast @ 3.2 Ghz is quite possible (with good cooling) because it seems that the mobo is overclockable ...

<petrus wants it, wants wants it ... >
 
biodoc said:
EVGA is coming out with 1366 dual cpu MB with 7 PCI-E x16 slots. link

I'm not sure if overclocking is possible.
Click to expand...

"The new motherboard will feature "Classified-grade" overclocking features so bunch of overclocking settings and details are going to be the main feature of this motherboard, although we still see no point in those seven PCI-Express x16 slots."

yes according to the article you linked
 
dajeepster said:
"The new motherboard will feature "Classified-grade" overclocking features so bunch of overclocking settings and details are going to be the main feature of this motherboard, although we still see no point in those seven PCI-Express x16 slots."

yes according to the article you linked
Click to expand...

I want one now... but my place can't supply the necessary power... i'm all maxed out 🙁
 
So it looks like I'm stuck with my current set up then. I have no plans or desire to build a 7 x GPU folding box.
 
goobee said:
So it looks like I'm stuck with my current set up then. I have no plans or desire to build a 7 x GPU folding box.
Click to expand...

If you are running Windows, then there is a utility called SetFSB that may allow some overclocking.
 
How about if I just went with an i7 instead? I was thinking maybe an i7 860 since they are fairly affordable. Would that plus my GTX 285 GPU give me the same or better PPD than what I have currently?
 
goobee said:
How about if I just went with an i7 instead? I was thinking maybe an i7 860 since they are fairly affordable. Would that plus my GTX 285 GPU give me the same or better PPD than what I have currently?
Click to expand...

A non-OCed 860 would be about the same PPD as your current CPUs with the -bigadv WUs, so I would guess it would be roughly the same on other WU as well. OCing would of course increase it.
 
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