Zen 2 for Distributed Computing: Any interest?

[Markfw]

That's a thing of tech beauty, Mark.

I've got another Ryzen R5 3600 in, a "fresh batch" one, and I've acquired another MSI Tomahawk MAX B450 board (at MSRP no less!), and another Asus ROG STRIX B450-F Gaming ATX board (also @ MSRP!). Deciding whether to do some new builds, some gaming PCs to sell, or to add to my DC fleet.

I'm not so happy with the (lack of) cooling in my Rosewill Magnetar cases (no top venting, no top rad. mount).

I also picked up a couple more of those CoolerMaster MasterLiquid 240 240mm AIO LC kits. ($54.99, seemed reasonable.)

I think that I sent one of those to you, Mark, ages ago, with that Ryzen 2700X I sold you, but I'm sure that you've gotten rid of that by now, now that you're going all EPYC on us.

Oh, no its running a 3900x and a RTX 2060. My sig is close to correct, but by Monday, I will be down to ONE 1950x and have 2 7742's

This will put me at 900 CPU threads......

 

[Assimilator1]

900!! Holy shit! lol
What PSUs do you tend to go for btw?

 

[Markfw]

900!! Holy shit! lol
What PSUs do you tend to go for btw?

Well, it used to be Corsair, platinum and titanium, now its EVGA due to the 10 year warranty.

 

[Assimilator1]

Corsair RM550x that I've got my eye on has a 10yr warrantee (well get it when it's in stock at a decent price! OcUk are pricey for this one at £120!).

 

[Endgame124]

Corsair RM550x that I've got my eye on has a 10yr warrantee (well get it when it's in stock at a decent price! OcUk are pricey for this one at £120!).

If you're looking for long warranties, Seasonic PRIME supplies have a 12 year warranty.

 

[TennesseeTony]

Good heavens....I may part out some systems....just based on the costs of their PSUs! Crazy capitalism!

 

[Assimilator1]

If you're looking for long warranties, Seasonic PRIME supplies have a 12 year warranty.

Yea I saw that later on, fantastic! . Although the only one suitable for me, the Seasonic Prime Ultra 550w platinum (Ultra is the replacement model), is also pricey at £115, and barely available. Also, their are no proper reviews on the 550w model, despite it being released about 2yrs 9mths ago!

 

[Endgame124]

Yea I saw that later on, fantastic! . Although the only one suitable for me, the Seasonic Prime Ultra 550w platinum (Ultra is the replacement model), is also pricey at £115, and barely available. Also, their are no proper reviews on the 550w model, despite it being released about 9mths ago!

I've been trying to track down a Seasonic TX-850 - I saw one briefly at New Egg for something like $175 and I didn't buy it at the time. Kicking myself now, as there hasn't been anything available that I'm also interested in buying.

As for reviews, power supply reviews have been pretty hit or miss recently - most of the good sites that did them are generally shutdown and some of the sites publishing them more or less say "yep, it works".

The guy who used to do the [H]ard|OCP PSU reviews is now working with www.thefpsreview.com, and per the hardforums should be releasing the first PSU review shortly on that site. Hopefully that means we will have a string of high quality reviews shortly.

 

[Assimilator1]

Fingers crossed!
Btw, I found out today that the Seasonic Prime Ultra (550w model only) has been discontinued , since their (much needed!) name simplification. So I could buy one of the last ones, although I've read a few comments about their fans being a bit noisey (incl. AT's review of the 650w model, although that's not the later Ultra model)......

 

[Endgame124]

Fingers crossed!
Btw, I found out today that the Seasonic Prime Ultra (550w model only) has been discontinued , since their (much needed!) name simplification. So I could buy one of the last ones, although I've read a few comments about their fans being a bit noisey (incl. AT's review of the 650w model, although that's not the later Ultra model)......

All of the Seasonic models that I’ve used don’t turn on the fan at all until they reach a certain temp. The fan never turns on, on my Ryzen 2700X w/ 1080ti.

 

[Assimilator1]

Good to know!

I've pulled the trigger and bought the Seasonic Prime Ultra 550 , although it's rather pricey for a 550w unit (£115 incl delivery), the 12yr warrantee and it's Platinum rating together made me decide on that one over the Corsair RM550x, which is gold rated & has a 10yr warr.
And I'm taking a bet that the fan won't even come on when just CPU crunching, and even when GPU crunching it'll likely barely be ticking over .

 

[Endgame124]

Good to know!

I've pulled the trigger and bought the Seasonic Prime Ultra 550 , although it's rather pricey for a 550w unit (£115 incl delivery), the 12yr warrantee and it's Platinum rating together made me decide on that one over the Corsair RM550x, which is gold rated & has a 10yr warr.
And I'm taking a bet that the fan won't even come on when just CPU crunching, and even when GPU crunching it'll likely barely be ticking over .

Awesome!

Turns out, I need to modify my statement about none of my seasonic power supplies turning their fans on. The 330 Watt Gold power supply I have in in my A10-6870K has the fan running - between the Processor running rosetta 24x7, and the R7 250X running 24x7, its pulling around 275 watts. I guess that is enough to get the fan to kick in and stay on. I also double confirmed that the fan is NOT on on the 2700x.

 

[Assimilator1]

330w? I didn't think you could get that small a PSU! And with it pulling 275w I'm not surprised the fan's spinning!

My new PSU should be turning later today (Thursday), I just hope they don't wake me up early!

 

[StefanR5R]

Rather off-topic to this thread, but:
– I have seen the argument that, when a PSU is subjected to low load, a slow spinning fan may still be better for longevity than a stopped fan. (I guess it really depends on the build of the PSU whether or not forced air flow makes any difference in low load periods.)
– I used fanless PSUs in a few computers in the past, and still have one in my main desktop computer at home. I had one computer build in which the use of a fanless PSU turned out to be a failure: The computer was placed at the floor (not too close to my ears) but had the PSU and ventilation openings at its top (so, not optimally far from my ears), and the PSU emitted coil whine. (This sort of thing generally depends on the combination of PSU, mainboard, and load state.) I replaced it with a PSU with large slow spinning fan and thus could quieten this computer.

 

[Assimilator1]

Yea I've seen it mentioned in various PSU reviews that the higher the temp that the PSU runs, the shorter the life of some components, particularly the cap's (their rated at a much shorter life at their upper temp tolerance).
That did make me wonder about the Corsair RM550x's (& others) semi-passive operation where it doesn't spin its fan up until (IIRC) ~40% load, that said, as the reviewer mentioned (THG I think), they have a 10yr warrantee so they can't be too worried about it!
All that said, it's not what stopped me buying it.

 

[StefanR5R]

Argh...!
As far as I can think back, only one dual-SP3 mainboard was available in retail: Supermicro H11DSi (also in a variant with 10GBase-T, the H11DSi-NT). When I looked one or two weeks ago, I saw that H11DSi had become completely unavailable in Europe, but H11DSi-NT was still to be had in quantities. Today I see that H11DSi-NT is unavailable too.

However, I am seeing that Supermicro's popular single-socket board H11SSL-i/C/NC is sold out too, and that Supermicro's web site is showing a PCIe v4 enabled H12SSL-i/NT/C/CT as "coming soon"...

I very much hope that H11DSi or perhaps a H12DSi is coming soon as well. I have not enough CPUs, but too many computers. :-(

 

[Markfw]

Argh...!
As far as I can think back, only one dual-SP3 mainboard was available in retail: Supermicro H11DSi (also in a variant with 10GBase-T, the H11DSi-NT). When I looked one or two weeks ago, I saw that H11DSi had become completely unavailable in Europe, but H11DSi-NT was still to be had in quantities. Today I see that H11DSi-NT is unavailable too.

However, I am seeing that Supermicro's popular single-socket board H11SSL-i/C/NC is sold out too, and that Supermicro's web site is showing a PCIe v4 enabled H12SSL-i/NT/C/CT as "coming soon"...

I very much hope that H11DSi or perhaps a H12DSi is coming soon as well. I have not enough CPUs, but too many computers. :-(

The good priced EPYC CPUs seem to have dried up (for Rome, at a good price). I have not paid over $1100 for a 32 core Rome, and more than $1725 for a 64 core Rome.However, the EPYCD8 is at newegg for $420. I have a couple, they are great.

https://www.newegg.com/asrock-rack-epycd8-amd-epyc-7000-series-processor-family/p/N82E16813140010

 

[Trotador22]

I've just got a 7502 QS by 900$ inebay. Just lucky since as Markfw points out good prices are almost gone.
For motherboards, you can easily find ASROCK EPYCD8-2T and now the newest ROME2D8-2T in Europe.
https://geizhals.de/asrock-rack-romed8-2t-a2284480.html?hloc=at&hloc=de
Dual socket motherboards Rome compatible are unavailable at a decent price or simply nonexistent.

 

[StefanR5R]

I have not enough CPUs, but too many computers. :-(

Which means I prefer (1.) big computers, and (2.) several computers with same or at least very similar hardware — for identical performance and therefore identical management of their BOINC clients.

Just for the current Formula BOINC marathons and upcoming FB sprints, I'd rather modernize my kit sooner than later. I started doing so late enough. The issue will become more pressing in October, when preparations to the November WCG Birthday challenge shall commence. :-)

 

[Markfw]

I just bid on a 7502 QS. Almost time out on the bid....

 

[StefanR5R]

When I looked one or two weeks ago, I saw that H11DSi had become completely unavailable in Europe,

A few stores appear to ship it again. :-)

 

[Markfw]

A few stores appear to ship it again. :-)

Is this the one ? Do you have one of these ? Waiting for CPU prices to fall on EPYC new or ebay. They seem to be high now, but maybe its time to get a motherboard to prepare ??

Amazon.com: Supermicro Super Micro Computer H11DSI-NT: Electronics

Buy Supermicro Super Micro Computer H11DSI-NT: Audio & Video Accessories - Amazon.com ✓ FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchases

www.amazon.com

Or is it this one:

Amazon.com: Supermicro H11DSI-O Dual SP3 sockets AMD Motherboard: Computers & Accessories

Buy Supermicro H11DSI-O Dual SP3 sockets AMD Motherboard: Motherboards - Amazon.com ✓ FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchases

www.amazon.com

 

[StefanR5R]

I've got the latter one, "H11DSi" with 2x Gigabit Ethernet (Intel i350-BT2). "H11DSi-NT" is identical except for 2x 10 Gigabit Ethernet instead (Intel X550-BT2). Both can be had either as a retail version (with one cardboard box per board and six SATA cables included edit: 2 SATA and 2 slimSAS-to-SATA breakout cables), or as bulk version (of which the retailer receives 10 motherboards in one big shipping box, and just two SATA cables are included with each board).

According to the datasheets, the i350-BT2 pulls 2.9 Watts when the link is active, and the X550-BT2 takes 4.6 Watts when active at GbE speed (7...12 Watts when operating at 10 GbE speed). So there is not really that much difference between the two when only Gigabit Ethernet is used. But still, the plain "H11DSi" is of course preferable when 10 GbE is not required and the price is right.

Waiting for CPU prices to fall on EPYC new or ebay. They seem to be high now,

Here in Europe, and Germany specifically, retail prices of 7002 series Epycs (Rome) have not really increased lately, but the retailers appear to have lower stock than earlier this year. I am not watching Ebay prices regularly, hence don't know whether anything has changed there recently.

 

[Markfw]

The first one has the 10 gigabit ports, and the second one one has the one gigabit ports ? (If I read the specs correctly). But hte first is $646 and the second is $685, so is it not a no-brainer to get the 10 gigabit ports for $646 ?

I've got the latter one, "H11DSi" with 2x Gigabit Ethernet (Intel i350-BT2). "H11DSi-NT" is identical except for 2x 10 Gigabit Ethernet instead (Intel X550-BT2). Both can be had either as a retail version (with one cardboard box per board and six SATA cables included edit: 2 SATA and 2 slimSAS-to-SATA breakout cables), or as bulk version (of which the retailer receives 10 motherboards in one big shipping box, and just two SATA cables are included with each board).

According to the datasheets, the i350-BT2 pulls 2.9 Watts when the link is active, and the X550-BT2 takes 4.6 Watts when active at GbE speed (7...12 Watts when operating at 10 GbE speed). So there is not really that much difference between the two when only Gigabit Ethernet is used. But still, the plain "H11DSi" is of course preferable when 10 GbE is not required and the price is right.


Here in Europe, and Germany specifically, retail prices of 7002 series Epycs (Rome) have not really increased lately, but the retailers appear to have lower stock than earlier this year. I am not watching Ebay prices regularly, hence don't know whether anything has changed there recently.

 

[StefanR5R]

Both prices are inflated. But especially this price of the H11DSi is too high. It used to be well below of the H11DSi-NT's price, naturally.

It's certainly due to the current scarcity of both boards. Right now, prices in Germany are the other way around, because some H11DSi are available, but almost no H11DSi-NT. These are the only dual SP3 boards in a standard SSI formfactor, and currently they obviously sell faster than they can be shipped. But at least it seems they are not discontinued yet like I previously suspected.