looking for ideas on cheap i7 system build for crunching

[dajeepster]

well... after reading all the forums about how expensive it would be to build an i7, I've decided to take up the task and try and build a cheap i7 system. I already have one system crunching seti and the system ran me about $1600+tax (figure off the top of my head.. P6T, i920, 6gigs DDR3 1600 was $900, 300 gig velociraptor $250, HAF932 $129, 4850 $150, DL-DVD $25, vista ult 64bit $150... from a retail outlet with ep discount on the 16th of nov... I've got various other software on it also... that ran an additional $500.. but that's a mute point)

well... i've decided to build a second system as cheap as possible with out handicapping any other parts to badly... ie.. bottleneck.

so far i have:
@$225 for i920 from mwave.com's ebay store (25% live.com cashback)
@$175 MSI x58 platinum from mwave.com ebay store (25% live.com cashback)
Free Server 2008 32bit (i would have liked 64bit, but free is free... most of the time.. i'm a grad student)


I'm debating whether I should put the Antec earthwatts 430 in it or not. I got it for $35 AR. I'm just concerned if it will have enough power to be crunching 24/7. I haven't monitored the power usage on the other system yet, but then i'm running a PCPower&Cooling 750 in it.
Or go with the PCPower&Cooling 610 for $60 from newegg

I think the best value for performance would be a 640GB harddrive with 32MBcache @$75.

Since I'm only running a 32bit OS, I'll just have to limit it too 4gigs... but i'll probably try and stick with 3gigs Tri-Channel DDR3 @$99.. I know some of you would love to try some varient of unix/linux or something else... but I can get server 2008 is free, and I can run optimized code for seti to take advantage of the SSE4.1 and hopefully SSE4.2 instruction sets eventually.

I should have jumped on the Antec900 case for $59 ;

DL-DVD drive @$24

Radeon 4650 for @$50

I could build the entire system with everything I have on hand, but I want to try this little project and hopefully help anyone else that might be thinking about doing the same thing also.

I'm just really impressed with what my current system is doing... it's only been about 3 weeks and already it's averaging about 6200ppd in seti and still climbing... at stock speeds. it's surpassing my Q9550 that is OC'd to 3.4GHz (i'm not done messing with it yet... just stuck it on water) and catching up quickly to my dual Xeon X5405 that is OCd to 2.4GHz on air with stock fan and heatsink (been working on putting it on water)

let me know what you all think or where I can improve in certain areas.

right now, everything will come out to around $750... what's everyone's opinion of this?

thanks

DaJeep

 

[Assimilator1]

Looks like you're a bit of a trail blazer with this one.

Aren't 32bit OSs limited to 3GB?, that being so I wouldn't bother going for more than 3GB, unless you plan to use some sort of RAM disk?

What cooling are you using for it?
For the PSU you want to run a power test on your current i7 rig & see how many watts it's drawing.

Awesome output from the i7 920 btw :Q, amazing for just a 2.66 GHz CPU!
Sorry I can't help you more, it's too new for me atm .

 

[dajeepster]

I have a killowatt lying around here somewhere... as soon as I come across it again, I'll post the data.

32bit OSs are theoretically limited to 4 (2^(32)bits==4,294,967,296 bits.. roughly a little )... but with the hap-hazard coding going on (not saying I could code better, I know I can't)... you can see around 3.5-3.75gigs.

for the i7 cruncher, i'll probably just do the stock cooling. My current rig is going on water tonight... I just recieved the LGA1366 bracket for the Swiftech GTZ water block.

 

[bryanW1995]

I'm using an ea 430 with my q6600 rig at mom's house. she lives 2 1/2 hrs away and it is ROCK SOLID stable with that psu. It only has a 36gb raptor, 1 gb ram and an old 6600gt, but obviously the highly overclocked Q6600 is the main power draw anyway. An i7 920 at stock will probably draw less power than a Q6600 at 3.4.


if that 640 gb hd is the wd 6400aaks then it is a GREAT hd, I highly recommend it. I'm using one on my x3350 rig, it was a huge upgrade over the old raptor that mom now has.

agreed on the antec 900 deal... I already have 2 and was tempted to get one for mom's rig...stupid recession...

 

[PCTC2]

I'm guessing you're getting Windows Server 2008 from Dreamspark.com. FYI, you can download the trial Windows Server 2008 x64 Standard edition and use your license for that.

 

[dajeepster]

Originally posted by: PCTC2
I'm guessing you're getting Windows Server 2008 from Dreamspark.com. FYI, you can download the trial Windows Server 2008 x64 Standard edition and use your license for that.

yes... ok... where can I download it from?... dreamspark?

 

[PCTC2]

Scroll down and download the AMD64 one. Link

 

[Assimilator1]

Originally posted by: bryanW1995
I'm using an ea 430 with my q6600 rig at mom's house. she lives 2 1/2 hrs away and it is ROCK SOLID stable with that psu. It only has a 36gb raptor, 1 gb ram and an old 6600gt, but obviously the highly overclocked Q6600 is the main power draw anyway. An i7 920 at stock will probably draw less power than a Q6600 at 3.4.

My Q6600 @3.35GHz, Asus Intel P45 mbrd, 2GB RAM & X1950Pro, 1TB & 300GB HDD draws ~220w from the wall when running DPAD/SETI. Although that is with 230v mains which is slightly more efficient than 110v. Oh & that's with an Antec TPII 430, no probs at all .
I wouldn't like to say how much an i7 draws, I would imagine it'd be less than an o/ced Q6600 too but that's just a guess.

 

[PCTC2]

Originally posted by: Assimilator1

Originally posted by: bryanW1995
I'm using an ea 430 with my q6600 rig at mom's house. she lives 2 1/2 hrs away and it is ROCK SOLID stable with that psu. It only has a 36gb raptor, 1 gb ram and an old 6600gt, but obviously the highly overclocked Q6600 is the main power draw anyway. An i7 920 at stock will probably draw less power than a Q6600 at 3.4.

My Q6600 @3.35GHz, Asus Intel P45 mbrd, 2GB RAM & X1950Pro, 1TB & 300GB HDD draws ~220w from the wall when running DPAD/SETI. Although that is with 230v mains which is slightly more efficient than 110v. Oh & that's with an Antec TPII 430, no probs at all .
I wouldn't like to say how much an i7 draws, I would imagine it'd be less than an o/ced Q6600 too but that's just a guess.

My Q6600 @ stock, 8800GTS G92, dual 500GB HDD, and eVGA 680i w/ 2GB of RAM draws 340W at full system load.

 

[dajeepster]

Originally posted by: PCTC2

Originally posted by: Assimilator1

Originally posted by: bryanW1995
I'm using an ea 430 with my q6600 rig at mom's house. she lives 2 1/2 hrs away and it is ROCK SOLID stable with that psu. It only has a 36gb raptor, 1 gb ram and an old 6600gt, but obviously the highly overclocked Q6600 is the main power draw anyway. An i7 920 at stock will probably draw less power than a Q6600 at 3.4.

My Q6600 @3.35GHz, Asus Intel P45 mbrd, 2GB RAM & X1950Pro, 1TB & 300GB HDD draws ~220w from the wall when running DPAD/SETI. Although that is with 230v mains which is slightly more efficient than 110v. Oh & that's with an Antec TPII 430, no probs at all .
I wouldn't like to say how much an i7 draws, I would imagine it'd be less than an o/ced Q6600 too but that's just a guess.

My Q6600 @ stock, 8800GTS G92, dual 500GB HDD, and eVGA 680i w/ 2GB of RAM draws 340W at full system load.

I guess I should do two comparisons of the power draw... one with it on stock cooling, and one with it on water (now that I've gotten all of the parts to assemble.)... both will be done at stock cpu speeds.... that's if I can find the kilowatt before i have time to do the water setup that is

 

[Assimilator1]

Sure you can find it .

Originally posted by: PCTC2

Originally posted by: Assimilator1

Originally posted by: bryanW1995
I'm using an ea 430 with my q6600 rig at mom's house. she lives 2 1/2 hrs away and it is ROCK SOLID stable with that psu. It only has a 36gb raptor, 1 gb ram and an old 6600gt, but obviously the highly overclocked Q6600 is the main power draw anyway. An i7 920 at stock will probably draw less power than a Q6600 at 3.4.

My Q6600 @3.35GHz, Asus Intel P45 mbrd, 2GB RAM & X1950Pro, 1TB & 300GB HDD draws ~220w from the wall when running DPAD/SETI. Although that is with 230v mains which is slightly more efficient than 110v. Oh & that's with an Antec TPII 430, no probs at all .
I wouldn't like to say how much an i7 draws, I would imagine it'd be less than an o/ced Q6600 too but that's just a guess.

My Q6600 @ stock, 8800GTS G92, dual 500GB HDD, and eVGA 680i w/ 2GB of RAM draws 340W at full system load.

Yikes that's quite alot more than mine! ......did we have this conversation before? lol, IIRC it was because of your grx card & mbrd? (std spin speed HDDs I assume?).
Oh I think I just remembered a bigger factor than those, do you run F@H GPU? (that would make a large difference!).

 

[PCTC2]

Originally posted by: Assimilator1
Sure you can find it .

Originally posted by: PCTC2

Originally posted by: Assimilator1

Originally posted by: bryanW1995
I'm using an ea 430 with my q6600 rig at mom's house. she lives 2 1/2 hrs away and it is ROCK SOLID stable with that psu. It only has a 36gb raptor, 1 gb ram and an old 6600gt, but obviously the highly overclocked Q6600 is the main power draw anyway. An i7 920 at stock will probably draw less power than a Q6600 at 3.4.

My Q6600 @3.35GHz, Asus Intel P45 mbrd, 2GB RAM & X1950Pro, 1TB & 300GB HDD draws ~220w from the wall when running DPAD/SETI. Although that is with 230v mains which is slightly more efficient than 110v. Oh & that's with an Antec TPII 430, no probs at all .
I wouldn't like to say how much an i7 draws, I would imagine it'd be less than an o/ced Q6600 too but that's just a guess.

My Q6600 @ stock, 8800GTS G92, dual 500GB HDD, and eVGA 680i w/ 2GB of RAM draws 340W at full system load.

Yikes that's quite alot more than mine! ......did we have this conversation before? lol, IIRC it was because of your grx card & mbrd? (std spin speed HDDs I assume?).
Oh I think I just remembered a bigger factor than those, do you run F@H GPU? (that would make a large difference!).

Yeah. Full system load for me is 2 instances of F@H SMP and a F@H GPU2 client. HDD's are 7200RPM and the 680i was overvolted a bit. . Until it died.

 

[Assimilator1]

Ah yea, then a large part of the difference will be down to the loaded GPU, even with my X1950 pro running the old GPU client that would boost power draw by about 45w.
Also my Intel P45 chipset will draw quite abit less power than the Nvidia 680.

 

[Alyx]

Also remember that your power draw from the wall is counting the lost efficiency. The earthwatts power supply has better efficiency than most, so it should draw less power. Not to mention power supplies usually gain in efficiency when they are run closer to their max, a 300 WATT draw on a good 700 power supply will draw more from wall than a 300 watt draw on a good 420 power supply.

I think you'd be fine with the earthwatts, thats a nice power supply. As long as you don't later decide to drop 4 graphics cards in it.

On my desktop at home I have a 32 bit OS with 4 gigs of RAM installed. The OS sees 3.2. Not sure if it'd be different from Win 2003/2008/Vista, but from what i know you'll also be at 3.2 GB.

 

[Alyx]

What do you guys buy to see the power draw? Are they expensive?

 

[dajeepster]

Originally posted by: Alyx
What do you guys buy to see the power draw? Are they expensive?

this
or
this

I just ordered the 4460, since I couldn't find my 4400 series... should be here tomorrow

 

[Assimilator1]

I use this one by Maplins but I'm in the UK so it's probably no good to you . It's going very cheap atm though!
Roger that about efficiency :thumbsup:.

 

[ericlp]

Well, unless $$$ is burning a hole in your pocket and you need a new rig NOW...

Wait for the 8 core i7 that will be faster and the motherboards and ram will be much cheaper for next gen i7 chips.


Good luck! --- Tho, this is just my advice.

Edit...

Not only that but if you consider the GTX nvidia series GPU's have over a billion transistors way more muscle then intel's chip. They should be faster then the i7 once the drivers mature. So, maybe look into that first.

 

[PCTC2]

I used a Kill-A-Watt until I changed jobs. Now for quick monitoring my Zalman MFC2 does a decent job at a estimation of power-draw.

 

[dajeepster]

quick down and dirty

257watts under full CPU load...i.e. seti running 8 threads.

 

[dajeepster]

Originally posted by: ericlp
Well, unless $$$ is burning a hole in your pocket and you need a new rig NOW...

Wait for the 8 core i7 that will be faster and the motherboards and ram will be much cheaper for next gen i7 chips.


Good luck! --- Tho, this is just my advice.

Edit...

Not only that but if you consider the GTX nvidia series GPU's have over a billion transistors way more muscle then intel's chip. They should be faster then the i7 once the drivers mature. So, maybe look into that first.

is it really burning a hole in my pocket if its a hobby?

 

[ericlp]

Wasn't meant to piss you off... I'm just saying the i7 is at it's infancy stage and the 8 core is right around the corner next year spring most likely.

Unless you upgrade your hardware ever 3-6 months then go for it... the sky is the limit!



Tho, if you really want the most bang for your 'hobby' fast the i7 has a 730million transistor vs a gtx280 at 1.4 billion. Get a q9550 with 3 PCIE slots toss in 3 gtx 80's at 350 a pop and go to town if speed is all your after?

 

[dajeepster]

Originally posted by: ericlp
Wasn't meant to piss you off... I'm just saying the i7 is at it's infancy stage and the 8 core is right around the corner next year spring most likely.

Unless you upgrade your hardware ever 3-6 months then go for it... the sky is the limit!



Tho, if you really want the most bang for your 'hobby' fast the i7 has a 730million transistor vs a gtx280 at 1.4 billion. Get a q9550 with 3 PCIE slots toss in 3 gtx 80's at 350 a pop and go to town if speed is all your after?

that's not the purpose of this thread... I already have a q9550... this thread is specifically for the i7... hence the title... please stay on topic... thank you and have a nice day

 

[Assimilator1]

That's a bit harsh dajeepster, I think he was just trying to help you save some money by suggesting to wait awhile (though 1 yr is rather a longtime) or by crunching via GPUs (a bit too early for that atm I think).

Originally posted by: dajeepster
quick down and dirty

257watts under full CPU load...i.e. seti running 8 threads.

Pretty low power draw , what speed is it at?

Btw have you compared 8 vs 4 threads to see if it is faster? (I assume it would be with the i7 but I'm interested to see if you've tested it).

I say get the i7 & then when SETI sorts out the GPU client then whack in a load of GTX 280s too (or whatever's out), best of both worlds then .

Originally posted by: PCTC2
I used a Kill-A-Watt until I changed jobs. Now for quick monitoring my Zalman MFC2 does a decent job at a estimation of power-draw.

Estimation? what is it?

 

[PCTC2]

The Zalman MFC2 is my "Multi-function Fan Controller". It comes with a zalman unit that you plug into your PSU outlet and then you go from the unit to the wall. It gets a decent reading but is not like the quality of a Kill-A-Watt.