Getting back into crunching

[Bradtech519]

I used to crunch Milkway, SIMAP, and some other projects. Mainly stick to Astronomy related projects. I still have the same rig as before. Phenom II X4 965, Radeon 5850. I am thinking of doing a drop in upgrade to a 1090T/1100T and looking around at the GPU landscape at what has changed. For the first time in my adult life I've not kept up with benchmarks. I just remember Bulldozer being a flop and getting worse performance per core than Thuban according to some sites. Not sure the jump to a 990FX board would be worth the extra 2 CPU scores with the FX8120/8150. There is always the Intel route also but the I7 comes at a 299.99 premium. I need a new CPU heatsink/fan before I do any kind of CPU tasks like SIMAP. The stock AMD HSF seems to be on it's way out. Not doing a good job cooling like it did in the past. Crunching might have killed it. I noticed CERN has a project up now. Will def pick it up and get back into SIMAP also.

 

[Bradtech519]

looks like I can grab a Gigabyte 990X board for

$95.00 USD

FX 8150

$159.99

$254.99


Could maybe get 100-150 from my Mobo/CPU. Keeping my RAM..

 

[ZipSpeed]

If you can fork over the cash for a Sandy or Ivy Bridge CPU, I personally would go this route. Long term, the PPD per watt will favor Intel. If you plan to overclock the 8150, you will find this power hungry chip will negate its cheaper price of entry in the long term, especially if you plan to run it 24/7.

 

[Bradtech519]

Yeah I will look into it. I've mainly bought AMD rigs outside of the E6850 I sold. It seems that Intel is light years beyond AMD anymore. I may end up just doing a simple 1090T or 1100T Thuban drop in and sell the 965BE for the extra two cores. How does the video card landscape look now? I noticed 7000 series out now.

If you can fork over the cash for a Sandy or Ivy Bridge CPU, I personally would go this route. Long term, the PPD per watt will favor Intel. If you plan to overclock the 8150, you will find this power hungry chip will negate its cheaper price of entry in the long term, especially if you plan to run it 24/7.

 

[ZipSpeed]

Yeah I will look into it. I've mainly bought AMD rigs outside of the E6850 I sold. It seems that Intel is light years beyond AMD anymore. I may end up just doing a simple 1090T or 1100T Thuban drop in and sell the 965BE for the extra two cores. How does the video card landscape look now? I noticed 7000 series out now.

The Thuban drop should give a nice bump in PPD over the 965. AMD recently dropped prices on the 7000 series with the 7850 being the best bang for the buck. Clock it to 1 GHz and you have a little monster that uses only 1 PCI-E connector.

 

[Bradtech519]

Will have to look into the 7850s.. Might be more of an upgrade from my 5850 than 965 to Thuban. With the performance of Bulldozer I can't see upgrading my mobo/cpu for two more cores that don't perform as well.. I've read on some other forums that the 8150s were getting around the same as the 1090/1100T ppd. I will mainly fold astronomy/physics type of stuff and maybe SETI. Seems that everything does Nvidia outside of Milkyway which I fold on.

The Thuban drop should give a nice bump in PPD over the 965. AMD recently dropped prices on the 7000 series with the 7850 being the best bang for the buck. Clock it to 1 GHz and you have a little monster that uses only 1 PCI-E connector.

 

[Bradtech519]

1090T used on ebay is running around 160-180. Looking like a new mobo/cpu might be the best deal.

 

[petrusbroder]

Wellcome back, Bradtech519!
On topic, I agree with the "drop-in" upgrade being probably the most economical one. I have experience with the FX8150 and I was not really happy with the chip. All the cores are not equal ...
As for the GPU .... I agree with the above posts.

 

[Bradtech519]

Thanks petrus! I have a 1090T with aftermarket cooler on watch on ebay. I am reading the same stuff about the FX8120-8150 chips. Seems to get fewer IPCs than even Thuban. The eight cores may only equal six or seven Thuban cores at best. Only reason I was considering AM3+ was for Piledriver down the road. Right now my 790X Gigabyte UD3 is stuck with Thuban being the last thing. I will probably end up shelling out 150-200 for a 1090/1100T. So I was considering eating the cost on a new 8120/8150 (8120) most likely. I wonder how the I5 lines without hyperthreading stack up against Thuban/Bulldozer in ppd? The good I5s seem to be right around the cost of a new bulldozer or used thuban. I'm not sure how the ppd in milkyway is with the 7850s compared to 5850s. I am open to a platform switch over to Intel/Nvidia. It seems from my newbie experience in folding that milkyway/SIMAP are some of the only projects that favor AMD/ATI setups when I look at top PCs for the projects. SETI/FAH/ and many others seem to give lots of love to Intel/Nvidia platforms. I pray for Piledriver to drive down the 300 dollar intel I7 chips. But sadly I have no hope that AMD will deliver with a significant increase in performance.

Wellcome back, Bradtech519!
On topic, I agree with the "drop-in" upgrade being probably the most economical one. I have experience with the FX8150 and I was not really happy with the chip. All the cores are not equal ...
As for the GPU .... I agree with the above posts.

 

[Rudy Toody]

I love my 1100T. When I first got it, I over-clocked to almost 4GHz and became the highest producer on Correlizer. The temps were quite high (80-90c) but it didn't miss a beat. It's now at stock clock because it has become my main rig for my mathematics research.

I have enough water-cooling gear to build two boxes, so I plan to build one more box and convert the current one to water-cooling. (As money permits.)

The key to the great over-clocking is having a really good motherboard and using a solid power supply. I got the mobo from Australia (It was not available in the US) and added a 1350W power supply.

So, whatever you choose, have fun with it!

 

[ZipSpeed]

Thanks petrus! I have a 1090T with aftermarket cooler on watch on ebay. I am reading the same stuff about the FX8120-8150 chips. Seems to get fewer IPCs than even Thuban. The eight cores may only equal six or seven Thuban cores at best. Only reason I was considering AM3+ was for Piledriver down the road. Right now my 790X Gigabyte UD3 is stuck with Thuban being the last thing. I will probably end up shelling out 150-200 for a 1090/1100T. So I was considering eating the cost on a new 8120/8150 (8120) most likely. I wonder how the I5 lines without hyperthreading stack up against Thuban/Bulldozer in ppd? The good I5s seem to be right around the cost of a new bulldozer or used thuban. I'm not sure how the ppd in milkyway is with the 7850s compared to 5850s. I am open to a platform switch over to Intel/Nvidia. It seems from my newbie experience in folding that milkyway/SIMAP are some of the only projects that favor AMD/ATI setups when I look at top PCs for the projects. SETI/FAH/ and many others seem to give lots of love to Intel/Nvidia platforms. I pray for Piledriver to drive down the 300 dollar intel I7 chips. But sadly I have no hope that AMD will deliver with a significant increase in performance.

If you gave me the choice of a 1090/1100T versus 2500K/3750K, I would pick the latter. The Intel duo may have two less cores but it more than makes up for it with better IPC, lower power usage (thus less heat) and while not guaranteed, better overclocking potential. Not to mention AVX support which are already starting to benefit some DC projects.

Put some extra money towards a 2600K/2700K/3770K and it's not even a contest.

 

[Bradtech519]

I noticed you got one and still had the tricore going on SIMAP. I would be in there with you right now crunching SIMAP but my CPU is running horrible high. I have the stock HSF going at 5200rpm and it's still running 49-50c idle and jumping up to 65-70c using all four cores for simap. Whole system seems to be running hotter than it did in the past. My desktop hasn't been used that much to be honest. I'm either on my smartphone, laptop, or ps3. With a new baby that came last week my gaming days are behind me. Long live crunching and tinkering. I am interested in the Intel/Nvidia offerings. SETI seems to love intel/nvidia as do many other astronomy based projects.

I love my 1100T. When I first got it, I over-clocked to almost 4GHz and became the highest producer on Correlizer. The temps were quite high (80-90c) but it didn't miss a beat. It's now at stock clock because it has become my main rig for my mathematics research.

I have enough water-cooling gear to build two boxes, so I plan to build one more box and convert the current one to water-cooling. (As money permits.)

The key to the great over-clocking is having a really good motherboard and using a solid power supply. I got the mobo from Australia (It was not available in the US) and added a 1350W power supply.

So, whatever you choose, have fun with it!

 

[Bradtech519]

Intel has been ahead for so long. I've been reading into the new ivy bridge chips. Looks like $199.00 for the lowest I5 and around $309.00 for the lowest end I7.. I wonder if the four cores without hyperthreading will get more ppd than the six or eight core thuban/bulldozers. I guess it depends on which projects you work on. Biodoc seems to be killing it on SIMAP with the I7. Ahead of the closest FX8150 by 4-5 spots.

If you gave me the choice of a 1090/1100T versus 2500K/3750K, I would pick the latter. The Intel duo may have two less cores but it more than makes up for it with better IPC, lower power usage (thus less heat) and while not guaranteed, better overclocking potential. Not to mention AVX support which are already starting to benefit some DC projects.

Put some extra money towards a 2600K/2700K/3770K and it's not even a contest.

 

[Bradtech519]

Thuban 1090T up to 240 bucks on auction.. Might as well get new mobo/cpu

 

[biodoc]

If you can fork over the cash for a Sandy or Ivy Bridge CPU, I personally would go this route. Long term, the PPD per watt will favor Intel. If you plan to overclock the 8150, you will find this power hungry chip will negate its cheaper price of entry in the long term, especially if you plan to run it 24/7.

I agree. Here's a link to power consumption comparison: http://www.anandtech.com/show/5771/the-intel-ivy-bridge-core-i7-3770k-review/20

Power consumption at full load: Ivy Bridge i7-3770K + 100 watt light bulb = bulldozer FX-8150

My SB-E 3930K is also a power hog but the performance on most projects makes up for it at least a little bit. :| I also have a 1090T and an I7-2600K (the latter uses much less power and performs quite well on most projects)

However, the Thubans do very well on Correlizer and also on SIMAP. RT passed my 2600K and 1090T on Correlizer some time back. I'm not sure about the bulldozer processors on those projects.

 

[Sunny129]

I also have a 1090T and an I7-2600K (the latter uses much less power and performs quite well on most projects)

but does it perform as well as the 1090T? my guess is that its quicker on some CPU projects and slower on others. i figure the 2600K's 2 extra cores are a wash since 4 virtual cores + 4 physical cores doesn't quite equal 8 physical cores, and is probably more comparable to the Thuban's 6 physical cores. but the nthe 2600K's IPS is better and it clocks higher...i guess it just got me wondering.

 

[petrusbroder]

I noticed you got one and still had the tricore going on SIMAP. I would be in there with you right now crunching SIMAP but my CPU is running horrible high. I have the stock HSF going at 5200rpm and it's still running 49-50c idle and jumping up to 65-70c using all four cores for simap. Whole system seems to be running hotter than it did in the past. ... .

I had that experience too. It was solved by removing the HSF, cleaning the CPU and HSF from all thermal compound, re-applying new, high quality (Arctic Silver 4 or similar) thermal compound, and re-mounting the HSF. Usually I got a decrease in CPU-temps of 5-7 ºC. Espoecially if it is "cheap" thermal stuff it ages ... and then the pressure which keeps the HSF on the CPU matters too.
A second problem may be the presence of dust (but I assume you have removed that ...).
The third may be a fan (on the HSF) that may be getting old and inefficient.
Just my 2 cents ...

 

[biodoc]

but does it perform as well as the 1090T? my guess is that its quicker on some CPU projects and slower on others. i figure the 2600K's 2 extra cores are a wash since 4 virtual cores + 4 physical cores doesn't quite equal 8 physical cores, and is probably more comparable to the Thuban's 6 physical cores. but the nthe 2600K's IPS is better and it clocks higher...i guess it just got me wondering.

The 2600K clocks easily to 4.4 GHz and is stable for all primegrid projects. My 1090T chip is not stable on Primegrid @ 3.7GHz. The 2600K outperforms the 1090T on most projects except for correlizer and maybe simap. No comparison on other projects.

EDIT: 2-fold plus on F@H (2600K is a great chip IHMO)