solid state drives

[biodoc]

It seems you can get a 30 GB SSD for about $100 from newegg.

I'm interested in saving power ($) for dedicated crunchers.

Do you think swapping in an SSD for a HDD would save that much power?

 

[Assimilator1]

I think you'll find an answer here in an article I linked

IIRC a HDD uses ~10w & an SSD ~1w?

I guess it would make quite a difference if you had many rigs.

 

[Ken g6]

I would imagine that using a ramdisk instead, and letting your hard drive(s) spin down, would save even more power. It certainly would if you already have enough ram; but I'm not sure if adding ram would be worth it. Anyone have statistics on sdram power use?

 

[biodoc]

Thanks for the link and the info AS1. I can't believe I missed that thread and it was less than a month ago!

Ken g6, the ramdisk is an interesting idea. I'll have to look into it especially since I have plenty of RAM in my systems so it won't cost me any $ to try it!

 

[Drsignguy]

Originally posted by: biodoc
Thanks for the link and the info AS1. I can't believe I missed that thread and it was less than a month ago!

Ken g6, the ramdisk is an interesting idea. I'll have to look into it especially since I have plenty of RAM in my systems so it won't cost me any $ to try it!

This seems very cool...your results would be greatly appreciated biodoc! It would be nice to save a bit of power....:thumbsup:

 

[networkman]

Interesting thread. Not enough to get me back into DC at this time, but something to think about.

 

[ICXRa]

Hey NWM.....Lifer Milestone post!

 

[Assimilator1]

I was wondering about using RAMdisk on this rig, I now have 4GB of RAM but with XPs 32b limitations it only sees 3.25 GB. I'm wondering if I can use that spare RAM for RAMdisk.

Keng6 ,have you got a link for a good ramdisk program?

Originally posted by: networkman
Interesting thread. Not enough to get me back into DC at this time, but something to think about.

How can you not be into DC atm?:Q

 

[Ken g6]

AS1, you ask the darndest questions.

I haven't tried a ramdisk in years, except in Linux. I only have 768MB on this XP machine.

I also haven't been into DC much lately. I find it healthier if just leave it running when my machine is on, and ignore the stats.

 

[Assimilator1]

Ignore stats??:Q i-g-n-o-r-e stats!!??:shocked:

That's blasphemous!!



But you are still running DC then when your rig is on , what are you crunching these days?

 

[Denithor]

I have a slightly different question concerning F@H on SSD: does the program run in one spot on the drive over-and-over or would the SSD spread it around? Because if it runs repeatedly in the same spot constantly that drive is going to wear out quickly...

And I love the concept of a RAMdisk for running F@H. Maybe I need to drop in another 4GB on my folding rig for that purpose...

biodoc, keep us posted on whether the RAMdisk works or not.

 

[biodoc]

Originally posted by: Denithor
I have a slightly different question concerning F@H on SSD: does the program run in one spot on the drive over-and-over or would the SSD spread it around? Because if it runs repeatedly in the same spot constantly that drive is going to wear out quickly...

And I love the concept of a RAMdisk for running F@H. Maybe I need to drop in another 4GB on my folding rig for that purpose...

biodoc, keep us posted on whether the RAMdisk works or not.

I'm running linux (ubuntu hardy) on my 3 quads right now and it looks as though hdd power saving mode is going to be troublesome at best. I'll have to upgrade to "ibex" to even give this a shot. Creating a RAM disk is pretty straightforward but I need to write scripts for boot and shutdown(reboot) to save RAM disk files. Also I don't know how often linux wrties to log files, etc ("other hdd activity"). Right now this is not high on my priority list since I'm very busy with work.

"sigh", so little time and so much to do!

cheers and a :beer: to all!

 

[Denithor]

Hey, biodoc - wondered if you had a chance to test with a RAMdisk yet. Curious to see if crunching would go faster that way or not.

 

[Gravity]

Got an SSD on the way from New Egg. Considering replacing all my drives with that. Any break on my electric bill is very, very welcome!

Fold!

Gravity

 

[Assimilator1]

Originally posted by: Denithor
Hey, biodoc - wondered if you had a chance to test with a RAMdisk yet. Curious to see if crunching would go faster that way or not.

I doubt it, any DC project will save to disk relatively infrequently (mins not ns), so it's only at that brief moment of saving where it'll make any difference. When it's crunching its running from RAM anyway.