DC rigs

[IndyColtsFan]

I hope you guys don't mind me asking a few questions about DC rig specs and build criteria. I'm currently running SETI@home and Milkyway@home on a Ryzen 1700X w/ a GeForce 1060 (been a SETI@home member since 2006). I had contemplated slowing adding a couple of Threadripper rigs and upping my DC game, but it seems more and more projects are using GPUs for most of their computing. So my questions are as follows:

1. I have 2 older Core2 rigs (1 dual core, 1 quad core). Ignoring power consumption for a moment, would it be wiser to invest in GPUs and just use those rigs to power them?
2. Or, is there enough of a gain from CPU power to justify adding more Ryzen or Threadripper boxes? I actually do have a spare Ryzen 1500x and motherboard that I could also deploy.
3. "Main Emeritus" in my sig is another box that I'm thinking about adding to my DC rotation, since it definitely has the GPU to handle it. Thoughts?

Thanks

 

[StefanR5R]

It really depends on whether you plan to concentrate on a handful projects, or want to be flexible.

If the latter, then the dilemma is that the majority of projects is CPU-only, and probably will remain so in the long term, but at the same time the projects which do support GPUs often perform a magnitude better on the latter (in terms of perf/host, perf/$, perf/Watt). I.e. the dilemma is that you want to have a good deal of CPU power, but some substantial GPU power too...

If the former, then you can optimize for the preferred projects. SETI@home is a rare kind of project which runs on CPUs and GPUs about equally well. (Or playing the devil's advocate, SETI's GPU application doesn't tap as well into the raw computing power of present GPUs as one would hope.) Milkyway@home on the other hand runs much better on GPUs than on CPUs. In addition, M@h is pretty unique in the way that it benefits from good double precision support on GPUs (DP a.k.a. FP64), which notably means Hawaii and Tahiti based AMD cards, and certain ultra-expensive NVidia Teslas maybe.

Regarding re-using Core2 based hosts for GPU applications: Somewhat similar to many GPU-heavy games, GPU computing relies to some degree on high single-threaded performance of the host CPU. Meaning that the same GPU will perform somewhat differently in BOINC (and Folding@Home) when hosted by different CPUs. But with BOINC, performance deficits of a strong GPU matched with a weak host CPU can typically be compensated by running 2 or even 3 jobs in parallel on a single GPU. That way you (a) have double or triple the CPU power available in total for this GPU, (b) can run the jobs with an overlap in time such that one job is busy on the CPU, the other can still be busy on the GPU.

--------
Personally, I am one of those who tend to hop between projects. I have some high core count CPU hosts, but just 3 GPUs (used to have 4 big ones plus 1 to 2 small ones) but am planning to be at 5 big GPUs RSN. The 3 GPUs are hosted by a single low-clocked Xeon, running Windows 7. I plan to host my next 2 GPUs by a i7-7700K with either Linux or Windows 10 (hopefully Linux), and dedicate that host to GPU projects exclusively. Depending on how this works out for me, I may either continue to split my hosts into CPU-only and GPU-only, or return to hosts which combine a higher core count/ lower clocked CPU with GPUs. (Going forward, I will only use modern lower clocked CPUs for CPU projects, for best perf/Watt.)

 

[Markfw]

Well, There are advantages doing both. GPU's get more speed from PCIE 3.0 (some older rigs have 1 or 2), and a recent post in one of the DC threads said the F@H PPD on a video card was higher was a faster CPU. I did both, added 2 threadrippers, each with 2 1080TI FTW3's, Just those 2 rigs get me almost 4 million PPD in F@H by themselves !

The 2 1080's I have on a 6700k are doing 1.4 million ppd. Pretty good by itself.

 

[TennesseeTony]

As Stefan has noted, the majority of projects are CPU only, and as far as I know ALL projects have CPU apps. But for those projects that have a GPU app, except for Asteroids and SETI, WOW!!! what a difference in points!

Also of importance here, as Stefan has noted, is the brand of GPU. Generally, Nvidia is going to stomp AMD, and has more projects that use it (not all GPU projects support AMD, which is a real shame). But the older AMD cards with high double precision (7970/280X) are quite the powerhouses at Milkyway (350k ppd per card or more), Enigma, POEM (-retired), and hopefully upcoming, promised for well over a year now, Universe (still alpha/beta).

I'd suggest finding a 7970/280X for around $120 or less delivered, and tossing that into one of the slower systems, soon, which will 1) give you some winter heat, 2) briefly satisfy your desire for more pow'r! and 3.) help cut costs by recycling the older system and giving you more time to think about it and save up for a ThreadRipper, because, who cares what you 'need,' it's a ThreadRipper and you simply MUST get one.

Oh, hang on....searching.....ah ha! Send @crashtech a message, from that last post:

https://forums.anandtech.com/threads/losing-my-memory.2508499/#post-39182754

 

[IndyColtsFan]

As Stefan has noted, the majority of projects are CPU only, and as far as I know ALL projects have CPU apps. But for those projects that have a GPU app, except for Asteroids and SETI, WOW!!! what a difference in points!

Also of importance here, as Stefan has noted, is the brand of GPU. Generally, Nvidia is going to stomp AMD, and has more projects that use it (not all GPU projects support AMD, which is a real shame). But the older AMD cards with high double precision (7970/280X) are quite the powerhouses at Milkyway (350k ppd per card or more), Enigma, POEM (-retired), and hopefully upcoming, promised for well over a year now, Universe (still alpha/beta).

I'd suggest finding a 7970/280X for around $120 or less delivered, and tossing that into one of the slower systems, soon, which will 1) give you some winter heat, 2) briefly satisfy your desire for more pow'r! and 3.) help cut costs by recycling the older system and giving you more time to think about it and save up for a ThreadRipper, because, who cares what you 'need,' it's a ThreadRipper and you simply MUST get one.

Oh, hang on....searching.....ah ha! Send @crashtech a message, from that last post:

https://forums.anandtech.com/threads/losing-my-memory.2508499/#post-39182754

I have a spare GTX 780 - I'm assuming that's probably on par with a 7970 for DC?

 

[crashtech]

I have a spare GTX 780 - I'm assuming that's probably on par with a 7970 for DC?

A 780 is better than a 7970:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1vcVoSVtamcoGj5sFfvKF_XlvuviWWveJIg_iZ8U2bf0/pub?output=html

I might have to fix this link when I get to a PC.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

A 780 is better than a 7970:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1vcVoSVtamcoGj5sFfvKF_XlvuviWWveJIg_iZ8U2bf0/pub?output=html

I might have to fix this link when I get to a PC.

Thanks. I think over the Christmas vacation, I will put my Ryzen 1500X and the 780 into an old server case and let it crunch 24/7.

 

[ao_ika_red]

A 780 is better than a 7970

Excluding Einstein and Milkyway of course.

 

[crashtech]

Excluding Einstein and Milkyway of course.

I think I've had Folding on the brain for quite a while now, but of course you are right. Moo and Collatz also perform pretty well on AMD hardware.

 

[Kiska]

Moo and Collatz also perform pretty well on AMD hardware.

And tend to force me to apply a -40%(to 620 mhz) clock speed reduction to keep temps in line

 

[iwajabitw]

DP cards such as the HD 7970 and R9 280x, both Tahiti chips work best at:
Milkyway
Enigma
Einstein
Primegrid Genefer 21,22

as well as Moo and Collatz. Usually at the auction site from $100-$150 for MSI and Asus.
Currently I am see a slight increase in price for this do to mining, but at the same time, there are lots of miners selling them off also in bundles up to 5. I think many are switching to RX 480.

For everything else Nvidia wins out. I don't concern over wattage ppd, but that's also something else to consider based on your utility availability.

 

[Kiska]

I don't concern over wattage ppd, but that's also something else to consider based on your utility availability.

If you're in NSW, and you have been with Origin Energy for at least 1 year, you can go on their predictable plan and set your electricity price before you start crunching.
So mine is set for $140 per month, and the best part is, there is no fair use policy in play, at least when I signed the contract at least