Low-power budget Sandy Bridge build

[VirtualLarry]

I have been kind of continuously running a bunch of builds through my mind.

I'm still using a Core2Quad Q9300, overclocked from 2.5 to 3.0. It's a pretty solid machine. Haven't really done any gaming on it, but I figure it should play BF3 (barely). I have a GTX460 1GB OC card from Gigabyte.

I saw this motherboard mentioned in a thread:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813157236

It's very cheap as far as Sandy Bridge motherboards go, but it seems decent as far as features and quality too. It's an ASrock, which I consider fairly decent, and it has SATA 6G on it, which is unusual for an H61 board. (Are they really using an H67 chipset on an "H61" board, or are they using a third-party SATA 6G controller, or does Intel sell "binned" H61 chips, that have working SATA 6G on them?) It also has USB3, but no motherboard header that I can see, just the two ports in the back.

I would pair that up with a G530, cheapest (half-)decent Sandy Bridge chip. Was thinking of a 2100 or 2105, but why bother spending the coin.

I already have plenty of 2x4GB DDR3-1333 kits of RAM, picked them up when Newegg had them for $35 each.


Basically, I don't game anymore, although I've considered starting to again. (I just hate having DRM on my system, it makes it feel so "icky".)

I DO do Distributed Computing. So my current quad-core + GTX460 is really good for that. I'm currently having a good time participating in the PrimeGrid race. I also tend to heat my apt in the winter with my computers. (Really!)

So I'm hesitant to replace my computers, for that reason. But I would like something new to play with (of course), and some SATA 6G ports would be sweet for a boot SSD, and possibly a RAID array of mechanical HDs. (Or maybe just JBOD.)

But my electric bill is pretty high, it was $150 some of the summer months, now that it's getting a little cooler, it was only $115 this month. A neighbor of mine, said his electric bill was $41. He doesn't own a computer, and doesn't run his AC. Whereas I kept my AC running pretty continuously all summer.

I was thinking of doing this to reduce my electric bill, but if I still participate in DC, then I would probably want a quad-core, for a decent score.

My other SB build idea, was to basically go all-out.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813157263
Asrock Z68 Professional Gen3 board (which went from $234 to $269, grr), and a 2500K or 2600K.

That would cost quite a bit more, and potentially use more power (under load, idle power should be similar), but would allow me to continue to participate in DC in the manner in which I am accustomed, and probably to heat my apt still.

The third option is the cheapest - don't upgrade. Wait for BullDozer, or possibly Ivy Bridge.

For BullDozer, I was looking at this board:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128508
And an 8120 or 8150.

The idea there would be strictly for Distributed Computing. I would put both of my GTX460 cards on there, and buy two more GTX460s, and turn it into a "Monster Folding Box". (Or primegrid.)

 

[mfenn]

Your overall plan seems fine, though don't expect it to be much faster (if at all) than the Q9300.

As for the mobo, it is good. The SATA 6Gb/s ports are driven by a third-party controller (you can see it just to the right of the 6Gb/s ports). Sadly, a really cheap RAID controller costs ASRock less than buying an H67 from Intel.

 

[Zap]

The SATA 6G are 3rd party, which never work as well as ones built into Intel chipsets.

Participating in DC is never a good idea for cutting power usage. One thing though is to use the GPU (Nvidia/AMD, whichever for that particular DC) instead of the CPU because it can be more power efficient per unit work done. Still, you are talking about saving a couple bucks here and there. If you really want to save serious coin and put a dent in the difference between your $115/mo and your neighbor's $41/mo electric bills, you need to stop doing DC, and build yourself the Sandy Bridge rig using only IGP for your daily computing needs.

Alternately, only do DC in cooler months where you wouldn't have to turn on the A/C.

 

[Ken g6]

Alternately, only do DC in cooler months where you wouldn't have to turn on the A/C.

This is what I find myself doing lately. Also, I undervolt and underclock my Q9400 to 2GHz/<1V in the summer.

(For DC) GPUs actually put out more heat than CPUs in general. Unless you get a cheap one like a GT430. (Which is 1/4 of a 460 at a higher clock speed.)

Oh, if you build a new rig, low-voltage RAM might save some power once it comes back in stock.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Alternately, only do DC in cooler months where you wouldn't have to turn on the A/C.

This sounds like a good idea. I basically already started doing that. I stopped doing F@H in the summer, and it was only just the PrimeGrid race that got me back into DC, my first time doing a BOINC-based project.

As the seasons would have it, it finally got cool enough outside that I could turn my A/C off, and open the windows instead. So that's what I'm doing from now on.

When I was heating my apt with F@H, my electric bill was probably around $80-85/mo. So it takes less juice to run DC in the winter, than it does to run A/C in the summer, DC or no DC.


Edit: Then again, I think it was RussianSensation (apologies if I got this wrong) that posted in the CPU forum, about how it wasn't wise to spend $$$, to upgrade, in order to save small $$$ in electricity, and the residual e-waste issue of having another computer around.

My Q9300 @ 3.0 idles at 96W, and my 26" LCD (non-LED, it's older) takes 63W or so. So 160W idle. I don't remember how much it takes in sleep mode, I don't remember measuring that.

Under load, it's something like almost 400W combined, when running DC on both the CPU and GPU, and the monitor on. But I guess that's the price you pay for DC.

If I got the BullDozer rig, and put in four GTX460s, I would probably be looking at nearly a kilowatt of energy usage per hour. (125W for CPU, 200W each for four GPUs, plus chipset/HD, plus overclocking on the CPU.)
I do have a 1050W Silver PSU, so I could do that, but it seems like it might be overkill. I also wonder if my current (new) Blackhawk case would keep up with that kind of heat output. I'm not even sure which case could handle four GTX460 cards, overclocked, going full steam.

 

[Ken g6]

Not to encourage your habit, but I notice that there are rear-exhaust 460s. 560s might use less power at the same speed, but I couldn't find any rear-exhaust versions of them.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Not to encourage your habit, but I notice that there are rear-exhaust 460s. 560s might use less power at the same speed, but I couldn't find any rear-exhaust versions of them.

Cons: IT RUNS HOT! The only reason why I dropped an egg was for this. I know I know GPU's are supposed to run hot but still, it's cranking out about 80c in game. Going to looking into water cooling with this card.

Cons: As mentioned -- a bit loud at full fan speed.

Hmm. My Gigabyte cards with the dual fans are fairly cool and quiet, although it does require some case airflow to keep them cool as well.

I'm not so concerned about noise if I were to set up four of them for DC, but I am concerned about temps, and whether a single blower fan can keep these cards cool enough at full load, even if they are EE cards.

They are $25 cheaper than the Gigabyte cards though, and roughly the same factory OC speed. (720Mhz EVGA, 715Mhz Gigabyte.)

I wonder if I upgraded my case yet again, to a HAF-932 or HAF-X, if that would help? The only problem there is, if those cases are significantly bigger than my current case, I don't think that they would fit into my desk.

 

[mfenn]

I always wonder about the "but the computer heats my house in the winter!" argument. An electric furnace (which is essentially what a computer is) is about the least efficient way to heat your house in terms of $/BTU.

 

[theAnimal]

My dual Xeon system uses around 500W, but puts out as many points per day on the better units as over a dozen GTX580 (or 2 dozen GTX460).

I've been considering a 4P Opteron system which is even better points/watt.