SETI on Pentium Pro 200/512k

[BadThad]

Anyone know the times for this cpu with 512k cache? Been thinking of upgrading my dually with 512k's (cheap, $19)...if it's worth the performance, I'm getting about 39hr/wu on 256k cpu's.

 

[Evadman]

With 512's all of the SETI program will fit in the cash, lowering times greatly. not sure on the percentage tho. I think NetworkMan has a system like that. Just Twiddle your thumbs till he wakes up from his late night.

 

[BadThad]

Thanks, lol on NWM comment...hehehe. 😀

I know it will be lower, but I need a quantitative number to determine if it's worth my while. Steell has some P200/1MB and they do a wu in only 22 hours. If the 512k will do that, I will buy them because the 1MB cpu's are hard to find and expensive, about $50 each.

 

[htmlmasterdave]

I want a dually system!!! 🙁.... 😉

 

[RaySun2Be]

We have a Compaq Proliant 800 dual PPro180@200, 256MB cache, I would expect the 512K cache to do much better, so here are some of the times:

Ra,Dec...............AR........CPU TIme
9.357,20.6......0.411.....1d 7:41
22.513,18.01..0.417.....1d 7:18
10.942,13.54..7.25.......1d 2:53
8.58,18.01......0.417.....1d 7:50
3.332,18.01....0.417.....1d 8:00
21.383,28.44..0.933.....1d 5:43
23.574,8.26....1.253.....1d 3:56
11.024,10.54..0.947.....1d 5:44
23.858,12.7....0.428.....1d 7:32
15.544,11.11..0.028.....1d 11:36

 

[Hellburner]

I would estimate, based on my experience, that a dual 200/512 would come in around 24 - 25 hrs/wu.

A serious consideration for the hardcore is the long term cost of electricity, for me at 11¢ / KwH, that runs up to about $6/mo. Over a period of years, the cost per wu gets to be ridiculous.

If you're going to spend the money the per wu cost is far cheaper slapping together barest bones celeron/duron boxes, perhaps I should rerun those numbers since it's been awhile. I did the original analysis before the P4/XP's were available.

 

[steell]

How about 91 hours per w/u (x 2) on my dual P-133!! Now that's slow!! 😀

 

[networkman]

From what I recall, the dual PPro 200 (512k) system that I had a long time ago did the units in about 23 to 25 hours, but that may very well have been with the 3.0 client, and not the 3.03 that we're using now.

I did have an ALR 6-way PPro 200 system but those chips were each 256k - I sold that to Rendus some months back - I don't recall if he's using it for SETI or not.. you may want to check with him.

According to the Ars Technica Benchmarks, there are results submitted from 256k PPro chips with times around 26 to 27 hours per WU - and that is using the current 3.03 client, so I'd expect the 512k cache cpus to be slightly faster, yes. 😉

 

[steell]

I really don't want to start an argument here, but I read an article that measured processing time vs cache size
( might even be on Anandtech) and the determination was that the 3.03 client was larger than 512k but smaller than 1 meg. My own experiences with dual Xeon 500/512 seem to confirm this. That was the determining factor in my decision to upgrade the dual PPro server from 256 to 1 meg cache cpu's. It was doing w/u's in about 39 hours (as BadThad can verify, since I bought it from him) and with the 1 meg cache cpu's, it takes 22 -23 hours.
In my personal opinion, you would not gain anything by going to 512k cache.

 

[networkman]

steell: You're probably right.. I seem to recall seeing that same info about the size of the client and 512k of cache being just a tad too small to handle the client/data for SETI. The more I think about it.. regarding the timing of when I had the dual ppro system, it must've been before the current 3.03 client, thus explaining the faster times with the 512k cache cpus.

Of course, my dual p2-400 Xeons each with 2meg of L2 cache aren't having any problems at all. 😀

 

[steell]

And besides that, both you (BadThad) and Networkman, need to quit doing SETI for about two years, so I can catch up to you!!! 😀 😀 😀