# Budget BOINC Server Club



## bfromcolo

*Welcome to the Budget BOINC Server Club (BBSC) *

This is the place to show off your handy work building a budget minded multi-CPU BOINC cruncher.

Discuss building or buying cheap server based BOINC crunchers, and provide or request assistance from fellow BOINCers.

Validate your proposed configuration before pulling trigger.

Discuss configuring and optimizing the performance of these systems.

If you have a lead on some good cheap pieces, post it here.

For starters if you already have a system to display post a reply with the following:

*Motherboard:*

*CPU(s):*

*Memory:*

*GPU(s):*

*PSU:*

*Storage:*

*Case:*

*Cooling:*

*Operating System:*

*Manufacturer for pre-built systems*

*Approximate cost:*

*PICS PICS PICS!!!!*

British Bob suggested we get something like this going, if you have any ideas how to improve the content to make it more useful, let me know. Meantime lets see those servers!


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## bfromcolo

Here is the one I have documented in another thread, still waiting on a proper cooling solution, and at some point I'll likely want to get it off this piece of plywood.

Motherboard: SuperMicro X8DTT-F-SG007 Rev.2

CPU(s): 2 x Intel L5640 (6 core with HT)

Memory: 6 x 4G Micron MT18JSF51272AZ-1G4D1ZG

PSU: AHW5DC252W SGI Switching Power Supply

Storage: 500G Seagate 2.5" HDD

Case: NA, 17x11 piece of plywood

Cooling: work in progress, probably factory heat sinks and some 92mm fans

Operating System: Linux Lint 17.3

Approximate cost: $240 for the motherboard, CPUs, power supply and memory. The rest I had on hand.


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## WhiteWulfe

I'm curious about this as I might be tempted to set one up for various BOINC projects myself ^_^


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## BritishBob

Motherboard: Supermicro H8QM8
CPU(s): 4 AMD 8439 SE
Memory: 16GB DDR2 EEC 800Mhz or 32GB DDR2 ECC 667MHz
GPU(s): None currently
PSU: 650w Supermicro PSU. Looking to repleace at some point.
Storage: 1TB WD Green
Case: None
Cooling: Heavy copper heatsinks with 3000rpm fans.
Operating System: Linux or Windows Server Datacenter
Approximate cost: Base $350 with shipping from US to UK.

$400 with 32GB ram as it sits








.

Edit:

I acquired 64Gb of RAM. Turns out one of the memory slots is dead, so I have just 60GB RAM. :'( Total cost £70.

Total Build cost with 60GB Ram, $500.


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## magic8192

SuperMicro H8DGU-F $75
EVGA 430 Watt PS $45
2x Opteron 6276 $80
2x Modified CM 212 Cooler $50
16 GB memory laying around
120 GB SSD laying around

Total $250



Averaging about 13k per day on WCG


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## bfromcolo

The proper heat sinks showed up and I strapped a couple of those micro fans from the stock AMD CPU heat sinks on them. Running 24 NFS tasks now and getting 55 - 59C readings on CPU 0 cores and 61 - 65C readings on CPU 1, I assume a 6C difference in the 2 CPUs is normal enough, temps seem quite good overall.

Do you typically run one task per thread? Or do you leave a thread or two free for overhead? Looking in TOP my load average is 25.06 where 24 would be 100%.


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## magic8192

If there are no GPUs, then 1 task per thread.


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## Tex1954

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *bfromcolo*
> 
> The proper heat sinks showed up and I strapped a couple of those micro fans from the stock AMD CPU heat sinks on them. Running 24 NFS tasks now and getting 55 - 59C readings on CPU 0 cores and 61 - 65C readings on CPU 1, I assume a 6C difference in the 2 CPUs is normal enough, temps seem quite good overall.
> 
> Do you typically run one task per thread? Or do you leave a thread or two free for overhead? Looking in TOP my load average is 25.06 where 24 would be 100%.


I LIKE!


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## WhiteWulfe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *bfromcolo*
> 
> The proper heat sinks showed up and I strapped a couple of those micro fans from the stock AMD CPU heat sinks on them. Running 24 NFS tasks now and getting 55 - 59C readings on CPU 0 cores and 61 - 65C readings on CPU 1, I assume a 6C difference in the 2 CPUs is normal enough, temps seem quite good overall.


I have to say, that's downright gorgeous. So tempting to pick up two of those boards, the slightly more powerful power supplies (the SGI AHF5DC456W ones that offer 476 watts of power, instead of the AHW5DC252W which apparently only offer 264.5 watts) so I have the option of going with X56xx processors in at least one of them, and then figure out an enclosure later....


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## bfromcolo

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *WhiteWulfe*
> 
> I have to say, that's downright gorgeous. So tempting to pick up two of those boards, the slightly more powerful power supplies (the SGI AHF5DC456W ones that offer 476 watts of power, instead of the AHW5DC252W which apparently only offer 264.5 watts) so I have the option of going with X56xx processors in at least one of them, and then figure out an enclosure later....


I think that's the one Tex uses, its a little cheaper with shipping than the smaller one too, but you would have to rewire the connectors unless you can find one set up correctly.


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## WhiteWulfe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *bfromcolo*
> 
> I think that's the one Tex uses, its a little cheaper with shipping than the smaller one too, but you would have to rewire the connectors unless you can find one set up correctly.


Ah, good point... I totally had forgotten about that little tidbit, which complicates things. I was hoping to... I'm starting to think the setup you posted in your thread... The one that already comes in a chassis with power supplies and heatsinks... Is going to be a better idea, even though odds are that X5680's wouldn't be able to be run on them. Obvious question is just how much of a difference in computing power we're talking going from X5680's to L5640's or such.


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## bfromcolo

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *WhiteWulfe*
> 
> Ah, good point... I totally had forgotten about that little tidbit, which complicates things. I was hoping to... I'm starting to think the setup you posted in your thread... The one that already comes in a chassis with power supplies and heatsinks... Is going to be a better idea, even though odds are that X5680's wouldn't be able to be run on them. Obvious question is just how much of a difference in computing power we're talking going from X5680's to L5640's or such.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xeon

I assume its just a question of the clock rate, since they are both 6 cores. I guess it would just be a question of figuring out what is available that you are comfortable pushing. X5670 at 95W is probably fine, 2.93Ghz versus 2.26.


L56402.26125.86133360612YL56452.4125.86133360612YE56452.4125.86133380612YE56492.53125.86133380612YX56502.66126.4133395612YX56602.8126.4133395612YX56702.93126.4133395612YX56753.06126.4133395612YX56793.2126.41066115612YX56803.33126.41333130612

Y


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## WhiteWulfe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *bfromcolo*
> 
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xeon
> 
> I assume its just a question of the clock rate, since they are both 6 cores. I guess it would just be a question of figuring out what is available that you are comfortable pushing. X5670 at 95W is probably fine, 2.93Ghz versus 2.26.
> 
> L56402.26125.86133360612YL56452.4125.86133360612YE56452.4125.86133380612YE56492.53125.86133380612YX56502.66126.4133395612YX56602.8126.4133395612YX56702.93126.4133395612YX56753.06126.4133395612YX56793.2126.41066115612YX56803.33126.41333130612Y


I'd be very curious to see what @Tex1954 has to say in addition, as they mentioned that a dual X5680 setup was pulling 385 watts out of the wall, which I suspect wouldn't work too well for a 264.5w power supply... .....I just realized something... I wonder if it would be possible to get those frames/chassis with the motherboards and everything else... And then just re-use the cabling that came with the power supplies, but drop in the larger ones...


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## Tex1954

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *WhiteWulfe*
> 
> I'd be very curious to see what @Tex1954 has to say in addition, as they mentioned that a dual X5680 setup was pulling 385 watts out of the wall, which I suspect wouldn't work too well for a 264.5w power supply... .....I just realized something... I wonder if it would be possible to get those frames/chassis with the motherboards and everything else... And then just re-use the cabling that came with the power supplies, but drop in the larger ones...


Don't see why not, the 250w and 450w SGI PSU's I got are the same size... same connectors...

Actually, the 250W is so good, it will run my 2p setup fine if you don't mind a screaming fan and some hot parts smell... and a voltage droop to 11.1V !!!

LOL!


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## magic8192

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *WhiteWulfe*
> 
> I'd be very curious to see what @Tex1954 has to say in addition, as they mentioned that a dual X5680 setup was pulling 385 watts out of the wall, which I suspect wouldn't work too well for a 264.5w power supply... .....I just realized something... I wonder if it would be possible to get those frames/chassis with the motherboards and everything else... And then just re-use the cabling that came with the power supplies, but drop in the larger ones...


You can find 2P LGA 1366 servers on Ebay if you look. I picked up this one a little while back for $150 with a supermicro X8DTH-iF. It has dual 700 watt PS. I added a pair of X5670 CPU's and 12 GB of memory. The problem I had was noise and cooling. I solved the noise problem by replacing the 40 mm jet engine fans with quieter 40 mm fans and solved the CPU cooling with some cheapo asetek all in one water coolers. They are running fully loaded at 35C right now. I still haven't figured out how to mount the radiators, but so far so good.


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## WhiteWulfe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tex1954*
> 
> Don't see why not, the 250w and 450w SGI PSU's I got are the same size... same connectors...
> 
> Actually, the 250W is so good, it will run my 2p setup fine if you don't mind a screaming fan and some hot parts smell... and a voltage droop to 11.1V !!!
> 
> LOL!


Yeaaah... Screaming fan and hot parts smell.... If it isn't a jet, I don't want that







Dear gawds, the droop in that situation you're describing  I'd rather have the extra room the 450w has... While they're the same size, is the 450w at least heavier and have more to it?
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *magic8192*
> 
> You can find 2P LGA 1366 servers on Ebay if you look. I picked up this one a little while back for $150 with a supermicro X8DTH-iF. It has dual 700 watt PS. I added a pair of X5670 CPU's and 12 GB of memory. The problem I had was noise and cooling. I solved the noise problem by replacing the 40 mm jet engine fans with quieter 40 mm fans and solved the CPU cooling with some cheapo asetek all in one water coolers. They are running fully loaded at 35C right now. I still haven't figured out how to mount the radiators, but so far so good.


Hmmm, I might have to keep that in mind as well, although I'd eventually wind up wanting to get a pair of them (simply because I want to do 24 threads of WCG as well as 24 threads of [email protected]). Biggest issue is going to find one that will not only ship to Canada, but not have insane shipping costs associated with it. Definitely love the idea of inexpensive AIO cooling though!


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## Tex1954

LOL!

Well, I drive into Canada at least once a month when I am on the road... possibilities there? Typically, I go to London, or Mississauga....

I'm guessing *THIS* is the PSU you are interested in? It's the same one I purchased and use...










EDIT: Woopsy! I only go into Ontario, not Alberta... oh well.... LOL!


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## WhiteWulfe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tex1954*
> 
> LOL!
> 
> Well, I drive into Canada at least once a month when I am on the road... possibilities there? Typically, I go to London, or Mississauga....
> 
> I'm guessing *THIS* is the PSU you are interested in? It's the same one I purchased and use...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> EDIT: Woopsy! I only go into Ontario, not Alberta... oh well.... LOL!


Yup, that's the one. I'd jokingly say if you asked nicely, I would suspect that (edited) some of the Ontario guys (end edit) might be up for helping out with forwarding... Stuff.

Yeah, sadly I'm not in the nice core area where all the epic OCN'ers are, but it is nice to see things like the HWBot World tour stop in Montreal absolutely DOMINANTED by us Overclock.net guys


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## lanofsong

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tex1954*
> 
> LOL!
> 
> Well, I drive into Canada at least once a month when I am on the road... possibilities there? Typically, I go to London, or Mississauga....
> 
> I'm guessing *THIS* is the PSU you are interested in? It's the same one I purchased and use...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> EDIT: Woopsy! I only go into Ontario, not Alberta... oh well.... LOL!


Drive through Buffalo?
BTW - Best Dim Sum at the Emerald Chinese restaurant in Mississauga


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## tictoc

I got a good deal on a BNIB 2011 board, so here is my upcoming BOINC 2P rig:

Motherboard: *ASRock EP2C602-4L/D16 - $155*

CPU(s): *2x E5-2670 - $105*

Memory: *64 GB Samsung ECC 1333 MHz - $75*

GPU(s): *TBD*

PSU: *Seasonic X-760 - $0* Extra PSU from a previous build

Storage: *SanDisk SSD Plus 120GB* - *$40*

Case: *None;* On the MB box for now, but will eventually be moved to a test bench.

Cooling: *TBD*

Operating System: *TBD*

Approximate cost: *$400-$500 * Price pending on what I do for GPUs and cooling. Could go up quite a bit if I throw some GPUs on the board, and then it might not fit in the club.


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## WhiteWulfe

Wow, that is some pretty good bargain hunting!


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## Tex1954

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *WhiteWulfe*
> 
> Wow, that is some pretty good bargain hunting!


I'll say that is a great deal if it works! That mobo is usually over $300 easy...


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## tictoc

It definitely works. It was a backup board in a lab that upgraded to v3 Xeons. It never went into service, but it was tested and then put back in the box and on a shelf for future use.









Luckily I made the deal 2 weeks ago when the boards were OOS and priced at $330 on NewEgg. The board is now in stock at NewEgg, and the price has jumped up to $429.


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## BritishBob

So I was wondering what the upper end would be for this club. XD I thing I might be close, up to $500-$550 with the 60GB ram upgrade I just did.

£70 for the RAM. One dead slot so 64 ->60GB Ram. Slower than the 16GB I had in but way, way more. God DDR2 is expensive and there multiple type....


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## bfromcolo

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *BritishBob*
> 
> So I was wondering what the upper end would be for this club. XD


It's your budget! I want to see all the builds. Whether its fits my budget or not.


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## WhiteWulfe

... ....Some days, I need to stop looking deeper when it comes to researching... I think I just found a way to justify the idea of a 2011-3 BOINC rig... At least one that will be BOINCing on a regular basis. Not 24/7, but if I take the plans for my audio/djing/racing/space/VR rig and combine them with a really sexy dual motherboard, saaaaaaay the Asus Z10PE-D8 WS, and then a pair of either the E5-2670v3, E5-2680v3, or E5-2690 v3's it could make for a rather interesting gaming and BOINC rig...

At a cost of easily $1000-1250 CAD more than 4x L5640 with 2x X8DTT-F-SG007 motherboards and, but at the same time... It's sexy, fits in a CaseLabs S8 (a case I've wanted since it was announced), and would fit a wide variety of needs.

I won't lie, it's tempting as both a 4x L5640 setup and 2x E5-2680v3 will on paper burn around the same amount of power, but I like the idea of spending a touch more on 2x ES E5-2690's and having a rig that's rather capable at BOINC as well as gaming ^_^;;;;

Probably wouldn't fit into the whole "budget server" idea though, not to mention would take longer to save up for.... But it would look rather sexy, especially in a CaseLabs S8 ^_^;;;;;;

EDIT: Couldn't resist showing it off... Yup, I actually do these kinds of research thingies... for fun.


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## magic8192

It is easier to justify budget boincing with the more expensive v3 Xeons if you look at it as ppd per watt. The v3 Xeons are king in ppd per watt The only problem with v3 Xeons is that the affordable ones are the spicy ones and they sometimes have issues. If you realize that going in and test thoroughly then you are ahead of the game.


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## WhiteWulfe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *magic8192*
> 
> It is easier to justify budget boincing with the more expensive v3 Xeons if you look at it as ppd per watt. The v3 Xeons are king in ppd per watt The only problem with v3 Xeons is that the affordable ones are the spicy ones and they sometimes have issues. If you realize that going in and test thoroughly then you are ahead of the game.


Given that most of theinexpensive ones are engineering sample versions, I figured I would run into a few problems.... But at the same time, it is a lot easier to justify as also being the audio, djing, folding, and vr gaming rig if I go that route....

Of course, I'm now already wondering if I could sneak a pair of gtx 950 or even 960's in there alongside the pair of gtx 980's the rig will be getting (technically free due to the fact that when this rig is built we'll have upgraded the graphics cards in the gaming rigs), or if two gtx 980's is already pushing it, let alone if they'd match in height









Definitely good to hear they're the ppd kings, because I really like the idea of building up most if not all of a dual Xeon rig for around the same cost as a 5960x plus an x99 soc champion... Of course, a 5960x can run 3000MHz ddr4 but there's just something to be said about the lovely sight of two processors,and of course all the work units two Xeons could crunch.


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## magic8192

Here is a neat dual budget boincer. I don't have all the parts yet, but they are all on the way and it should be pretty neat.
It will be $544 for a total of 48 threads and 48 GB of memory so it should run most projects.

2x 8GB sata DOM SSD $60
12 x 4GB DDR3 1333 mem $100
2x X8DTT-F $100
2x X5660 $150
1x X5650 $60 (already have one)
1x Super Micro PDB-PT808-S20 Power distribution $35
1x Supermicro PWS-781-1S 780W PS $39


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## WhiteWulfe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *magic8192*
> 
> Here is a neat dual budget boincer. I don't have all the parts yet, but they are all on the way and it should be pretty neat.
> It will be $544 for a total of 48 threads and 48 GB of memory so it should run most projects.
> 
> 2x 8GB sata DOM SSD $60
> 12 x 4GB DDR3 1333 mem $100
> 2x X8DTT-F $100
> 2x X5660 $150
> 1x X5650 $60 (already have one)
> 1x Super Micro PDB-PT808-S20 Power distribution $35
> 1x Supermicro PWS-781-1S 780W PS $39


Ohhhhh man that's tempting >.>;;;;; Wonder if hubby would have an issue with me doing that PLUS the Xeon rig *laughs nervously* That distribution board plus the single larger power supply really does fix that issue of messy wiring and everything else, PLUS would actually get me a dedicated cruncher.


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## bfromcolo

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *magic8192*
> 
> Here is a neat dual budget boincer. I don't have all the parts yet, but they are all on the way and it should be pretty neat.
> It will be $544 for a total of 48 threads and 48 GB of memory so it should run most projects.
> 
> 2x 8GB sata DOM SSD $60
> 12 x 4GB DDR3 1333 mem $100
> 2x X8DTT-F $100
> 2x X5660 $150
> 1x X5650 $60 (already have one)
> 1x Super Micro PDB-PT808-S20 Power distribution $35
> 1x Supermicro PWS-781-1S 780W PS $39


8G sure doesn't seem like enough storage, unless you have more storage somewhere else? This what I am using running 24 threads of WCG, not counting swap space, nearly 6G for just Mint, psensors and BOINC. I imagine some projects with larger work units, or the ones that use VMs could chew up 8G easily.

[email protected] ~ $ df
Filesystem 1K-blocks Used Available Use% Mounted on
udev 12323828 4 12323824 1% /dev
tmpfs 2467976 1568 2466408 1% /run
/dev/sda1 455827808 5723128 426926852 2% /
none 4 0 4 0% /sys/fs/cgroup
none 5120 0 5120 0% /run/lock
none 12339864 0 12339864 0% /run/shm
none 102400 4 102396 1% /run/user

EDIT - I am running the desktop version of Mint 17.3 with Cinnamon desktop, I imagine a Linux install could be a good bit smaller.


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## Tex1954

@Magic8192

*Very Nice Setup*... and *EASY* using Supermicro PSU parts...

The X5650/X5660 setup probably pull around 630W out of the wall...

And 3 sticks (12 Gig) memory per CPU is fine to start with. It will let you run those large NFS WU's fine, especially under Linux!

The 8GB DOM sata's are probably too small (and damn slow) even with Linux.... I just got some old recycled Intel 310's (80GB SSD) for that price, upgraded firmware and they work fine for BOINC stuff... Be happy to send you a couple if you want.

Can't wait to see it running!


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## BritishBob

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *bfromcolo*
> 
> 8G sure doesn't seem like enough storage, unless you have more storage somewhere else? This what I am using running 24 threads of WCG, not counting swap space, nearly 6G for just Mint, psensors and BOINC. I imagine some projects with larger work units, or the ones that use VMs could chew up 8G easily.
> 
> [email protected] ~ $ df
> 
> Filesystem 1K-blocks Used Available Use% Mounted on
> 
> udev 12323828 4 12323824 1% /dev
> 
> tmpfs 2467976 1568 2466408 1% /run
> 
> /dev/sda1 455827808 5723128 426926852 2% /
> 
> none 4 0 4 0% /sys/fs/cgroup
> 
> none 5120 0 5120 0% /run/lock
> 
> none 12339864 0 12339864 0% /run/shm
> 
> none 102400 4 102396 1% /run/user
> 
> EDIT - I am running the desktop version of Mint 17.3 with Cinnamon desktop, I imagine a Linux install could be a good bit smaller.


My Debian install with NFS wu is at 4.1GB total.

imgur.com/8xVrAp7.png


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## magic8192

The only thing you have to do is get power for the drives from the molex connector on the board. I am using the data Dom ssd's and they have a molex power connector. I looked at my Ubuntu install and it is only using 2.5 GB. So 8GB should be plenty.


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## WhiteWulfe

I'm rather curious as to how it will perform myself, because such would be a rather affordable and lovely rig to set up (and I could probably work on the parts over a few months too).

Man I'd love to have a few of those, and for some reason the idea of four motherboards total sounds like it could make for a rather potent setup, doubly so since once I got the hang of setting up and servicing Linux I could just set and forget each motherboard to a particular task.... Hence why four: [email protected], wcg, potentially [email protected], and then the fourth running one of the potm's....

And then the e5 v3 rig in top of all of that, lol! (I suspect my apartment wouldn't be able to handle that much heat, but still... It's a very tempting idea







)


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## magic8192

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tex1954*
> 
> @Magic8192
> 
> *Very Nice Setup*... and *EASY* using Supermicro PSU parts...
> 
> The 8GB DOM sata's are probably too small (and damn slow) even with Linux.... I just got some old recycled Intel 310's (80GB SSD) for that price, upgraded firmware and they work fine for BOINC stuff... Be happy to send you a couple if you want.
> 
> Can't wait to see it running!


I am going to try out the sata DOM SSD and if it sucks, I will take you up on that offer


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## magic8192

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *WhiteWulfe*
> 
> I'm rather curious as to how it will perform myself, because such would be a rather affordable and lovely rig to set up (and I could probably work on the parts over a few months too).
> 
> Man I'd love to have a few of those, and for some reason the idea of four motherboards total sounds like it could make for a rather potent setup, doubly so since once I got the hang of setting up and servicing Linux I could just set and forget each motherboard to a particular task.... Hence why four: [email protected], wcg, potentially [email protected], and then the fourth running one of the potm's....
> 
> And then the e5 v3 rig in top of all of that, lol! (I suspect my apartment wouldn't be able to handle that much heat, but still... It's a very tempting idea
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> )


For cooling, I plan on pushing air through my rack and out the window, with a box fan and an exhaust duct in the window. The idea being that I don't have to cool the air, heat it with the computers and then cool it again. I just push the warm air out the window.

I am going to make a window exhaust duct modeled after this one for a portable ac.


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## Tex1954

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *magic8192*
> 
> The only thing you have to do is get power for the drives from the molex connector on the board. I am using the data Dom ssd's and they have a molex power connector. I looked at my Ubuntu install and it is only using 2.5 GB. So 8GB should be plenty.


Could be it works, but your SWAP file will be very small for a 24 thread setup... still, mostly it doesn't use any swap space, but ya never know...

It might work... it might wear out fast too...


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## BritishBob

I wish they had those boards in the UK... Server gear is a bit scarce over here.


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## WhiteWulfe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *magic8192*
> 
> For cooling, I plan on pushing air through my rack and out the window, with a box fan and an exhaust duct in the window. The idea being that I don't have to cool the air, heat it with the computers and then cool it again. I just push the warm air out the window.
> 
> I am going to make a window exhaust duct modeled after this one for a portable ac.


That's a rather ingenious idea to say the least! I might have to look into such an idea, because I definitely like the sound of it...! Very tempting idea truth be told, and I wonder how effective it would be for removing all that heat..


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## BritishBob

So I could either get a bench from spotswood or upgrade the server with a eBay GPU...

Do I stop running TheBeast from a cardboard box or more PPD...


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## WhiteWulfe

Oooooooh, that's a tough call, but I'd lean towards the Spotswood myself due to it making everything easier to move if one has to move it, plus it looks nicer (something I have to keep in mind due to it going in the living room).

.... ....But additional PPD being the other option.... That's definitely a tough one.


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## lanofsong

Go Spotswood first then the GPU, else you will always keep asking yourself the same question every time you want more PPD or a bench rig


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## Finrond

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *BritishBob*
> 
> My Debian install with NFS wu is at 4.1GB total.
> 
> imgur.com/8xVrAp7.png


Keep in mind that some boinc projects (climateprediction.net I am looking at you, maybe rosetta too I cant remember) will use quite a bit of disk space


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## WhiteWulfe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *lanofsong*
> 
> Go Spotswood first then the GPU, else you will always keep asking yourself the same question every time you want more PPD or a bench rig


Totally this. I also believe that if you have any plans at all for expanding it, factor that in as well and just get the case. When I order mine, I'll get it for four sleds/blades even if I don't plan on getting the second set this year, because shipping can be a massive pain (aka expense)


----------



## BritishBob

The the motherboard only has 1 maybe 2 (I haven't confirmed it's useage) PCI-E slots...

But I think I might agree and go case while I can.

Edit- Do both... There was a 560ti Gainward Phantom that was too cheap not to pick up on ebay. Even if I use it for a display only the fact it's passive is a huge benefit.


----------



## bfromcolo

Some results now that i have been running WCG on this thing pretty much non-stop for a couple weeks, and I got a kill-a-watt to measure power consumption.

It's averaging 9000 PPD running 24 threads on WCG (just a random mix of tasks, I selected everything). Using 206W from the wall. Temps stay in the high 40s to mid 50s, but its running in my basement where it is quite cool this time of year. This is stock clocks with a pair of L5640.

And in that time I went up 18k spots in WCG world ranking, but pretty much every work unit I complete moves me up another 100 slots as far down as I am.

At $0.114 per KWH it costs me about $17 a month to run it 7/24.


04/17/16897204/18/16845304/19/16925104/20/16780104/21/161044604/22/16814804/23/16838404/24/16919004/25/16970604/26/16860804/27/16882904/28/1610290  Average9006.5


----------



## magic8192

Here is an interesting Dual LGA 2011 board. The Intel S2600CP2J for $175. Pair that with some of those cheap E5-2670 chips and you have a pretty good base setup for a budget boincer.

I think this power supply with a power distribution board could handle it with no trouble.

Having trouble finding DDR3-1600 memory that isn't expensive. With 32 GB of memory, a decent CPU cooler and SSD, that would be a nice setup!


----------



## AlphaC

I love this thread.

Keep in mind that power usage is a lesser factor from the start but for GPUs especially it may have a larger impact on running costs. There's some ways to get around this by using custom vBIOs and such but the GPU itself remains a factor.
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *magic8192*
> 
> Here is an interesting Dual LGA 2011 board. The Intel S2600CP2J for $175. Pair that with some of those cheap E5-2670 chips and you have a pretty good base setup for a budget boincer.
> 
> I think this power supply with a power distribution board could handle it with no trouble.
> 
> Having trouble finding DDR3-1600 memory that isn't expensive. With 32 GB of memory, a decent CPU cooler and SSD, that would be a nice setup!


Depends on what you can expensive though , for memory. It's just about $3/GB right now as per pcpartpicker.

Back when we had the low voltage Samsung RAM floating about, that was by far the best deal.


----------



## WhiteWulfe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *magic8192*
> 
> Here is an interesting Dual LGA 2011 board. The Intel S2600CP2J for $175. Pair that with some of those cheap E5-2670 chips and you have a pretty good base setup for a budget boincer.
> 
> I think this power supply with a power distribution board could handle it with no trouble.
> 
> Having trouble finding DDR3-1600 memory that isn't expensive. With 32 GB of memory, a decent CPU cooler and SSD, that would be a nice setup!


Well, isn't that a tempting board to say the least.... Wonder if it's possible to use a normal EVGA 750 or 850 Watt G2 to power it since those have the dual 8pin cpu power things... 32 threads in Linux could do some serious ppd I suspect,and not use up too much power...


----------



## tictoc

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *magic8192*
> 
> Here is an interesting Dual LGA 2011 board. The Intel S2600CP2J for $175. Pair that with some of those cheap E5-2670 chips and you have a pretty good base setup for a budget boincer.
> 
> I think this power supply with a power distribution board could handle it with no trouble.
> 
> Having trouble finding DDR3-1600 memory that isn't expensive. With 32 GB of memory, a decent CPU cooler and SSD, that would be a nice setup!


The recycler you linked for the intel board, was selling 64 GB kits of registered ECC DDR3, for $82-$110/kit two weeks ago. Looks like their prices have gone up a little bit. If you dig through all the ECC RAM on ebay there are some good deals to be found. Just have to make sure it will work on your board.









Quote:


> Originally Posted by *WhiteWulfe*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *magic8192*
> 
> Here is an interesting Dual LGA 2011 board. The Intel S2600CP2J for $175. Pair that with some of those cheap E5-2670 chips and you have a pretty good base setup for a budget boincer.
> 
> I think this power supply with a power distribution board could handle it with no trouble.
> 
> Having trouble finding DDR3-1600 memory that isn't expensive. With 32 GB of memory, a decent CPU cooler and SSD, that would be a nice setup!
> 
> 
> 
> Well, isn't that a tempting board to say the least.... Wonder if it's possible to use a normal EVGA 750 or 850 Watt G2 to power it since those have the dual 8pin cpu power things... 32 threads in Linux could do some serious ppd I suspect,and not use up too much power...
Click to expand...

Looks like a standard 24 pin ATX connector, so you should have no problems powering it with a G2.







Link to manual: http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/boards-and-kits/000005988.html


----------



## magic8192

The only downside to this board is that it was designed to go into an intel server chassis and some things may not work right without the server chassis. Seems that an upgrade to the latest bios fixes most issues. Some of the boards may have a custom bios that has weird settings.


----------



## WhiteWulfe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *tictoc*
> 
> Looks like a standard 24 pin ATX connector, so you should have no problems powering it with a G2.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Link to manual: http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/boards-and-kits/000005988.html


Nuoooo, it was supposed to be some sort of ancient voodoo written in SGML that was written in three different cyphers, and the key linking them was in a completely different cypher, followed by a final phase of sudoku.... Not "oh hey, off the shelf parts will suffice"!







I'll have to think, it's tempting, but I need to take care of a few financial things first anyways. Also, despite the fact you could build these rigs for probably the same cost as just one of the chips I'd love to get my paws on, there's just something about 2x14C/28T processors in a workstation








Quote:


> Originally Posted by *magic8192*
> 
> The only downside to this board is that it was designed to go into an intel server chassis and some things may not work right without the server chassis. Seems that an upgrade to the latest bios fixes most issues. Some of the boards may have a custom bios that has weird settings.


So basically it's the SSI-EEB format in combination with a few other things that are typically resolved with a new bios. makes it even more tempting


----------



## WhiteWulfe

Okay, curiosity is kicking in fairly hard again, so I absolutely have to ask..... How much power would a 2xE5-2670/64GB RAM/SSD rig crunching away 24/7 take up anyways? I kind of went a tad hog wild with signing up for various projects tonight, and so I'm curious because hey..... 32 threads would be really fun to have kicking around (especially if I went totally insane and built two of them, then added in my thoughts for the audio rig.... *whistles innocently* 120 threads (128 if I included my gaming rig in all of that) sounds like it would be a lot of fun - at least until I looked at the power bill!

....And maybe, somehow, give Tex a run for his money of those first place positions in a few things


----------



## magic8192

My guess would be somewhere between 300 - 400 watts for the system.


----------



## WhiteWulfe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *magic8192*
> 
> My guess would be somewhere between 300 - 400 watts for the system.


I'm liking the sound of that... Essentially similar power usage to what I currently have running, but since it's dedicated I could run it in Linux (which gives a nice boost) and then enjoy a good amount of cpu projects being crunched. Guess I better get saving then ^_^


----------



## magic8192

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *magic8192*
> 
> Here is a neat dual budget boincer. I don't have all the parts yet, but they are all on the way and it should be pretty neat.
> It will be $544 for a total of 48 threads and 48 GB of memory so it should run most projects.
> 
> 2x 8GB sata DOM SSD $60
> 12 x 4GB DDR3 1333 mem $100
> 2x X8DTT-F $100
> 2x X5660 $150
> 1x X5650 $60 (already have one)
> 1x Super Micro PDB-PT808-S20 Power distribution $35
> 1x Supermicro PWS-781-1S 780W PS $39


Here is an update to this rig that wasn't running when I first posted. Got it up and running last night.

2x SSD - $62
12x 4GB DDR3 1333 mem $100
2x X8DTT-F $100
2x X5660 $150
1x X5650 $60 (already have one)
1x Super Micro PDB-PT808-S20 Power distribution $35
1x Supermicro PWS-781-1S 780W PS $39
2x Nidec fans $10
Piece of wood for a case - free.
Total for 48 threads and 48GB: $556 or $278 per unit.

The Nidec TA450 fans move a lot of air and keep the CPU's cool where the standard fans can't.


----------



## bfromcolo

Looks good! Do you have a way to measure the power draw?


----------



## magic8192

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *bfromcolo*
> 
> Looks good! Do you have a way to measure the power draw?


I have a kill a watt meter. I will hook it up this evening.


----------



## WhiteWulfe

And I'm curious about how potent they are in wcg ^_^;;;;; Despite my plans for a more expensive rig, the idea of a much cheaper one is still beyond tempting,as I'd be able to have a dedicated rig sooner.


----------



## bfromcolo

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *WhiteWulfe*
> 
> And I'm curious about how potent they are in wcg ^_^;;;;; Despite my plans for a more expensive rig, the idea of a much cheaper one is still beyond tempting,as I'd be able to have a dedicated rig sooner.


Check post 47 of this thread, about 9k per day with dual L5640, magic's will be a bit quicker.


----------



## WhiteWulfe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *bfromcolo*
> 
> Check post 47 of this thread, about 9k per day with dual L5640, magic's will be a bit quicker.


It really is hard to get 20k+ ppd in that one isn't it. Even my (currently stock clocks) 4770k barely manages 5k when it's the only set of work units in the queue. Wonder if the e5-2670's would break 10k ppd.


----------



## magic8192

I will have some numbers moving forward, but I am expecting about 500 to 600 watts power and about 20k ppd for both combined.


----------



## magic8192

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *WhiteWulfe*
> 
> It really is hard to get 20k+ ppd in that one isn't it. Even my (currently stock clocks) 4770k barely manages 5k when it's the only set of work units in the queue. Wonder if the e5-2670's would break 10k ppd.


I have a pair of E5-2670 CPU's and they average about 16 - 18k ppd
Edit: I can't get the memory to run above 1333 on that machine, I bet if I got the memory running at 1600, it would break 20k ppd.


----------



## WhiteWulfe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *magic8192*
> 
> I have a pair of E5-2670 CPU's and they average about 16 - 18k ppd
> Edit: I can't get the memory to run above 1333 on that machine, I bet if I got the memory running at 1600, it would break 20k ppd.


Definitely good to know. I'm also curious as to how much that rig draws, because it is a rather tempting idea to say the least.


----------



## magic8192

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *WhiteWulfe*
> 
> Definitely good to know. I'm also curious as to how much that rig draws, because it is a rather tempting idea to say the least.


I will get busy with the kill-o-watt meter tonight


----------



## WhiteWulfe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *magic8192*
> 
> I will get busy with the kill-o-watt meter tonight


I'll say, practically everyone's all "OMG give us info!"







I need to pick one of those up myself, at some point.


----------



## bfromcolo

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *WhiteWulfe*
> 
> I'll say, practically everyone's all "OMG give us info!"
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I need to pick one of those up myself, at some point.


http://www.ebay.com/itm/380172111329?_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

$21 in the US...so I know at my power cost $0.114 per KWhr that it costs me $17 a month to run my new toy, 207W running 24 threads of WCG. I'm afraid to see what my OC'd 8320 can cost, much less my 760 space heater. But these L5640 chips are pretty cheap to run.


----------



## WhiteWulfe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *bfromcolo*
> 
> http://www.ebay.com/itm/380172111329?_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT
> 
> $21 in the US...so I know at my power cost $0.114 per KWhr that it costs me $17 a month to run my new toy, 207W running 24 threads of WCG. I'm afraid to see what my OC'd 8320 can cost, much less my 760 space heater. But these L5640 chips are pretty cheap to run.


I think I've seen anywhere from $25-40 CAD depending on where one looks.

And oh my, love the sound of "only" that much power consumption and having it slowly just crunch away at things ^_^

Wonder how much trouble I'd get in for running a dual e5-2670 setup plus still build up all the other pre-planned stuff I want to... (or if I could somehow still do all the various ideas and then sneak in a CaseLabs S8 in between those SMA8's in my dream setup... And if that much cpu crunching would still allow for an SLI setup being run without tripping a breaker...


----------



## magic8192

Kill -o-watt meter readings:
Dual E5-2670's (In a T7600 workstation crunching WCG on 32 threads) - 340 watts

Dual X5650 and Dual X5660 bare boards crunching WCG on 48 threads) - 580 watts


----------



## WhiteWulfe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *magic8192*
> 
> Kill -o-watt meter readings:
> Dual E5-2670's (In a T7600 workstation crunching WCG on 32 threads) - 340 watts
> 
> Dual X5650 and Dual X5660 bare boards crunching WCG on 48 threads) - 580 watts


Ooooooh, that's even more difficult to decide on.... So I'll ask the obvious question: Do they have similar PPD, or does one set have the advantage over the other?


----------



## magic8192

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *WhiteWulfe*
> 
> Ooooooh, that's even more difficult to decide on.... So I'll ask the obvious question: Do they have similar PPD, or does one set have the advantage over the other?


Yesterday:
E5-2670 setup 19K
Dual-Dual X5660/X5650 25k

I was estimating that the Dual-Dual setup will put out about 20% more PPD.


----------



## tictoc

My 2p rig is up and running. Just need to decide what OS it will live under, and if there are any GPUs in its future.


----------



## WhiteWulfe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *tictoc*
> 
> My 2p rig is up and running. Just need to decide what OS it will live under, and if there are any GPUs in its future.


Cryorig coolers, nice touch!


----------



## magic8192

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *tictoc*
> 
> My 2p rig is up and running. Just need to decide what OS it will live under, and if there are any GPUs in its future.


My Guess is?
ASRock EP2C602-4L
32 GB of DDR3 1600
Kingston 120GB SSD
Seasonic X-850 Power Supply
Dual E5-2570
Cryorig coolers


----------



## tictoc

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *magic8192*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *tictoc*
> 
> My 2p rig is up and running. Just need to decide what OS it will live under, and if there are any GPUs in its future.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> My Guess is?
> ASRock EP2C602-4L
> 32 GB of DDR3 1600
> Kingston 120GB SSD
> Seasonic X-850 Power Supply
> Dual E5-2570
> Cryorig coolers
Click to expand...

Close.









ASRock EP2C602-4L/D16

64 GB DDR3 1333 running at 1600

Kingston 120GB SSD

Seasonic X-760

Dual E5-2670

Cryorig H5 Ultimate

Running Windows 7 right now, but it will be moved over to Linux once I have a little time to get it set up.


----------



## magic8192

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *tictoc*
> 
> Close.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ASRock EP2C602-4L/D16
> 64 GB DDR3 1333 running at 1600
> Kingston 120GB SSD
> Seasonic X-760
> Dual E5-2670
> Cryorig H5 Ultimate
> 
> Running Windows 7 right now, but it will be moved over to Linux once I have a little time to get it set up.


I meant to type E5-2670








I like the idea of running 1333 memory at 1600. The difference in price between the two right now is ridiculous.


----------



## BritishBob

Got my 560ti running on Linux.... Finally... Now to decide what to run... XD


----------



## Tex1954

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *BritishBob*
> 
> Got my 560ti running on Linux.... Finally... Now to decide what to run... XD


My two GTX 560 Ti cards run Einstein in my main system when I am at home. Sometimes I throw some SETI in there too...


----------



## magic8192

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *BritishBob*
> 
> Got my 560ti running on Linux.... Finally... Now to decide what to run... XD


My X5670 system with 2 560ti cards runs asteroids. I am torn sometimes between Einstein and Asteroids.


----------



## tictoc

If anyone is in need of a KVM for their multiple rigs, I have a few ieGeek USB KVM's, and they work great, especially for only $26.


----------



## magic8192

2x E5-2670 $125 -ebay
2x Intel passive heatsinks $16 -ebay
8x 4GB DDR3 1600 memory $100 -ebay
Intel S2600CP2J Lga 2011 v1 motherboard $125 -natex.us
Intel P4308XXMFGN Server Chassis 4U 750W $125 -ebay
80 GB SSD $34 -amazon

$525 for this setup is not bad.

It isn't necessary, but I picked up an I/O shield, rackmount kit and raid controller for $50.

The fans are loud and run at full speed all the time. I have flashed the bios to get the memory to run at 1600 and help with the full speed fans. Memory is running at 1600, but the fans are still annoying. I got most of the stuff from kalleyomalley on ebay, who has a good bit of intel surplus stuff. The case, heatsinks, raid controller, and passive heatsinks are all unused(new) surplus.


----------



## WhiteWulfe

Okay, that one website you mentioned the boards for... I'm definitely liking their package deals, and I have a strong suspicion that such will be the route I'll be going ^_^;;; 64GB should be more than enough RAM, and I'm estimating with conversions, taxes, shipping, and picking up a few other things locally it'll wind up being $800-850ish CAD, which I'm more than willing to live with. ^_^ In fact, about all I'd have to pick up for it would be a power supply, hard drive, and inexpensive video card as I already have a case that apparently can fit those motherboards (BeQuiet Silent Base 800 Orange, won it a while back in a Foldathon, so it naturally makes sense to put a BOINC rig in it!)

.....Sure beats a "dream rig" that would have significantly more processing power (2x E5-2690v4's in an Asus Z10PE-D8) but just a single processor with nothing else will cost as much as this entire rig will.


----------



## BritishBob

So update to my box since: http://www.overclock.net/t/1597112/budget-boinc-server-club#post_25066157










Added:
- 560ti £35
- Screen £10
- 500w second PSU £30
-Spotswood case

TBH the Spotswood case was totally worth it and I can use it for other projects/rigs as/when I update.
I have more info over here: http://www.overclock.net/t/1600995/rebuild-the-beast-boinc-box-server-re-build-log

Total spend now, $600 + case.


----------



## magic8192

The spotswood cases are great looking.


----------



## Ithanul

Ok. I seen that the E5-2670 have drop to a nice price now. On that note then. Where the heck do you find the 2P or 4P mobos for these chips?

I do have a Sportswood bench I can put together (won it from a [email protected] event) and can use it to put the build on. Though, biggest thing is finding a spot to set the rig at if I do build it.


----------



## magic8192

Try natex.us for some great surplus used socket R stuff


----------



## WhiteWulfe

And natex even had pretty cheap shipping to Canada (last I looked, it was like $32 USD to ship the s2600, 2x e5-2670's, passive heatsinks, and 64GB of ecc ram bundle)... If they still have stock when I have the cash, I'm definitely buying a board combo or two from them.


----------



## magic8192

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *WhiteWulfe*
> 
> And natex even had pretty cheap shipping to Canada (last I looked, it was like $32 USD to ship the s2600, 2x e5-2670's, passive heatsinks, and 64GB of ecc ram bundle)... If they still have stock when I have the cash, I'm definitely buying a board combo or two from them.


I am running 3 of their boards. If you want them to run without the fans going at 100% you have to flash the bios and get the fan profiles set. Wasn't that hard and intel has all the resources on their site for the boards.


----------



## lanofsong

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *magic8192*
> 
> I am running 3 of their boards. If you want them to run without the fans going at 100% you have to flash the bios and get the fan profiles set. Wasn't that hard and intel has all the resources on their site for the boards.


magic8192,
What else would be required to make this work? just a ssd and Ubuntu?
http://www.natex.us/product-p/rm13704package.htm
thanks


----------



## mmonnin

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *lanofsong*
> 
> magic8192,
> What else would be required to make this work? just a ssd and Ubuntu?
> http://www.natex.us/product-p/rm13704package.htm
> thanks


https://www.amazon.com/Earplugs/b?ie=UTF8&node=3779871

Worst part about a system like that. ^^ Screamin 40mm fans.


----------



## magic8192

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *lanofsong*
> 
> magic8192,
> What else would be required to make this work? just a ssd and Ubuntu?
> http://www.natex.us/product-p/rm13704package.htm
> thanks


That would do it. Be warned, those 40mm fans are frigging loud. I have a couple of 2U servers and I rigged up some 80mm fans to help with the noise. With a 1U server you don't have any other option than 40mm fans.


----------



## magic8192

I would be tempted to take the rig out of the case and mount it on a piece of plywood or one of the spotswood cases. Ditch the 40mm fans and rig up all the front panel stuff and the case intrusion sensor if it has one and have a reasonably quiet machine.

I use the heck out of the dell server fans. I think they are NIDEC TA 450(Dell Y4574). The ones from Dell servers are pretty cheap ($5 each if you shop around) and they move massive amounts of air. The only downside to them is that they need to be rewired. It is as simple as removing the pins and putting them in the right location for regular fan connectors. I have done a bunch of them and after you do one it is easy.

They aren't quiet fans, but they don't scream like the 40mm fans and they move air like no other fan I have found.


----------



## WhiteWulfe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *lanofsong*
> 
> magic8192,
> What else would be required to make this work? just a ssd and Ubuntu?
> http://www.natex.us/product-p/rm13704package.htm
> thanks


http://www.natex.us/product-p/s2600cp-cpu-64gb-12800.htm is the one I'm thinking of, but you'll have to add a power supply after the fact. On the flipside, no screaming 40mm fans ^_^ Then again, I don't think they'll ship the 1U cases up to Canada due to the insane costs for shipping.
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *magic8192*
> 
> I am running 3 of their boards. If you want them to run without the fans going at 100% you have to flash the bios and get the fan profiles set. Wasn't that hard and intel has all the resources on their site for the boards.


Surprisingly, I pretty much have permission from hubby to get a pair of those at some point. Total overkill for an HTPC and bedroom HTPC, but at the same time..... *whistles innocently* Hey, I want to have a semi-reasonable amount of BOINC crunching at my fingertips, and it's not like it's difficult to configure BOINC to go "oh, hey, someone wants to watch YouTube/television/anime/whatever... Okay, I'll let it do it's thing"


----------



## magic8192

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *WhiteWulfe*
> 
> http://www.natex.us/product-p/s2600cp-cpu-64gb-12800.htm is the one I'm thinking of, but you'll have to add a power supply after the fact. On the flipside, no screaming 40mm fans ^_^ Then again, I don't think they'll ship the 1U cases up to Canada due to the insane costs for shipping.


You may have to rig up something for the case intrusion. I think if the case is open, intrusion switch is on, the fans run at 100% all the time. I have intel cases for all of my boards. PM me when you decide to get the boards and I will look at the intrusion alarm wiring so you will know what to do with it.


----------



## WhiteWulfe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *magic8192*
> 
> You may have to rig up something for the case intrusion. I think if the case is open, intrusion switch is on, the fans run at 100% all the time. I have intel cases for all of my boards. PM me when you decide to get the boards and I will look at the intrusion alarm wiring so you will know what to do with it.


Definitely good to know. Of course, i could just be silly and put relatively silent fans in there, on reasonably decent air coolers and the 100% fans wouldn't be an issue ^_^;;;


----------



## magic8192

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *WhiteWulfe*
> 
> http://www.natex.us/product-p/s2600cp-cpu-64gb-12800.htm is the one I'm thinking of, but you'll have to add a power supply after the fact. On the flipside, no screaming 40mm fans ^_^ Then again, I don't think they'll ship the 1U cases up to Canada due to the insane costs for shipping.


Couple of things, the Intel board is picky about memory. My supermicro boards will run with just about anything in them, but the Intel board must have exact matching memory. All three power connectors on the board must be connected or it won't boot(1 x 24 pin and 2 x 8 pin). Also notice that all 3 connectors are in different locations. Something to think about when getting a power supply.


----------



## WhiteWulfe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *magic8192*
> 
> Couple of things, the Intel board is picky about memory. My supermicro boards will run with just about anything in them, but the Intel board must have exact matching memory. All three power connectors on the board must be connected or it won't boot(1 x 24 pin and 2 x 8 pin). Also notice that all 3 connectors are in different locations. Something to think about when getting a power supply.


Wouldn't the memory they sell with it work, or is it going to be super ultra mega picky about it all?


----------



## magic8192

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *WhiteWulfe*
> 
> Wouldn't the memory they sell with it work, or is it going to be super ultra mega picky about it all?


It should be fine. Just relating my experience with the board.


----------



## WhiteWulfe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *magic8192*
> 
> It should be fine. Just relating my experience with the board.


Ahhh, definitely good to know then. It'll be a while before I can pick any up, but still. Hope is to definitely have them for Pentathlon next year (and of course, overall stats throughout the year). i'd love to have several types of various different servers, but for now I'm more than happy with just having what I have and adding in two 2xE5-2670 rigs over the next soon-ish TM time period. While a 2x2P 1366 setup would be nice, given that it's the same price give or take (at least to get it into Canada) and we're talking more threads per setup at a potentially slightly lower power consumption, I don't quite see a reason why to go 1366 over 2011 at this time. Sure, two of each would be nice but I'm pretty certain hubby would kill me for doubling our electricity bill, not to mention making it so that it's rather warm constantly in the living room.

Well, constantly warm in living room he might not mind... Provided it looks really good and we can figure out a way to "sneak" an 8k BTU air conditioner or something into the living room. I'd go higher, but lack of circuits makes it a really interesting thing to try and pull off.


----------



## mmonnin

I wasn't finding any Dual LGA 2011 motherboards for less than $300 until i found used Open Compute boards.

Dual LGA 2011 motherboard $99:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/QUANTA-WINDMILL-OPEN-COMPUTE-SYSTEM-BOARD-V2-WITH-10GbE-ETHERNET-/381396291685?hash=item58ccfd9065:g:04AAAOSwFnFV8HMu

Dual motherboard with case and PSU for $299
http://www.ebay.com/itm/QUANTA-OPENRACK-OPEN-COMPUTE-TWO-NODE-SERVER-DUAL-LGA2011-WINDMILL-SYS-BOARD-/171927779405?hash=item2807b1b84d&rmvSB=true

200-277V AC input power though.


----------



## magic8192

Look at the motherboards on natex.us


----------



## 4thKor

Can I join this party?
Just picked up:
SuperMicro X8DAL-i
2-X5675's
24gb DDR3-1333
2- H60 AIO's
EVGA 750w Gold PSU
PNY 120gb SSD

Total cost- $600

Already have a GTX-770 I'll throw in for video and some PPD. I'll mount this on a homemade test bench I fabricated from an old solid steel case. I'll have to do some additional fab/mods to mount the rads. Pics as soon as I get it up and running. Hopefully she'll put out some work! Too bad I can't overclock the CPU's.


----------



## lanofsong

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *4thKor*
> 
> Can I join this party?
> Just picked up:
> SuperMicro X8DAL-i
> 2-X5675's
> 24gb DDR3-1333
> 2- H60 AIO's
> EVGA 750w Gold PSU
> PNY 120gb SSD
> 
> Total cost- $600
> 
> Already have a GTX-770 I'll throw in for video and some PPD. I'll mount this on a homemade test bench I fabricated from an old solid steel case. I'll have to do some additional fab/mods to mount the rads. Pics as soon as I get it up and running. Hopefully she'll put out some work! Too bad I can't overclock the CPU's.


The Force is strong in this one......Who said you could not master both side of the force BOINC and [email protected]Congratz on looking forward to some pics


----------



## WhiteWulfe

Agreed, can't wait to see pics ^_^


----------



## 4thKor

Been doing some research on these CPU's. They're apparently very good BOINC'ers. Even at stock clocks.


----------



## magic8192

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *4thKor*
> 
> Been doing some research on these CPU's. They're apparently very good BOINC'ers. Even at stock clocks.


I don't have those specific X56xx chips, but I have 4 pairs of their brothers X5650, X5660, X5670, and X5680









The problem these days with the X56xx chips is that they are getting harder to find.


----------



## 4thKor

My 2P:


Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!










X8DAL-i w/X5675's. Graphics is a 950 with a 980 cooler. Rad brackets are XSPC. Built the bench from an old desktop PC. She's up and running Rosetta on all threads!









I'm searching for ways to enable turboboost on these cpu's with Linux. Or even to overclock them. I've seen several sites with BIOS mod tools and such. Has anyone tried that yet?


----------



## WhiteWulfe

Silly question, but it has to be asked.... For an inexpensive gpu setup for say GPUGrid (and maybe [email protected] as well), is it worth the extra $40 CAD or so to go with the GTX 960 over the GTX 950?


----------



## magic8192

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *4thKor*
> 
> My 2P:
> 
> 
> Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> X8DAL-i w/X5675's. Graphics is a 950 with a 980 cooler. Rad brackets are XSPC. Built the bench from an old desktop PC. She's up and running Rosetta on all threads!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'm searching for ways to enable turboboost on these cpu's with Linux. Or even to overclock them. I've seen several sites with BIOS mod tools and such. Has anyone tried that yet?


Check with tear on HardOCP, he did an overclocking bios for multi P AMD boards. He might know if there is anything?


----------



## 4thKor

I think I'm going to order this. Could use some advice on whether or not to.

Forgot to put a link!









http://www.ebay.com/itm/122018833266?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT


----------



## lanofsong

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *4thKor*
> 
> I think I'm going to order this. Could use some advice on whether or not to.
> 
> Forgot to put a link!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> http://www.ebay.com/itm/122018833266?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT


I wonder why 4 x 1200W PSU's are included when only 4 x 130W CPU's are being used? A lot of unused power or maybe room for expansion?


----------



## 4thKor

Not sure. But there's no way I can build anything even remotely similar for that kind of money. I keep hitting the $800 plus range on just a decent 2P!

Couldn't stand it any more. I pulled the trigger!


----------



## WhiteWulfe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *4thKor*
> 
> Not sure. But there's no way I can build anything even remotely similar for that kind of money. I keep hitting the $800 plus range on just a decent 2P!
> 
> Couldn't stand it any more. I pulled the trigger!


Sure, it isn't in a case.... but $465 USD gets you motherboard, two processors, and of course 64GB of DDR3-12800 ECC RAM... http://www.natex.us/product-p/s2600cp-cpu-64gb-12800.htm ....Or 128GB if you wish for $549 USD: http://www.natex.us/product-p/s2600cp-cpu-128gb-12800.htm

Either way, a quad cpu setup.... Tasty.


----------



## 4thKor

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *WhiteWulfe*
> 
> Sure, it isn't in a case.... but $465 USD gets you motherboard, two processors, and of course 64GB of DDR3-12800 ECC RAM... http://www.natex.us/product-p/s2600cp-cpu-64gb-12800.htm ....Or 128GB if you wish for $549 USD: http://www.natex.us/product-p/s2600cp-cpu-128gb-12800.htm
> 
> Either way, a quad cpu setup.... Tasty.


You forgot the PSU, coolers, case, and graphics card. Add those in and it gets on up there. $580.00 for 64 c/t's is $9 per c/t. With that in mind a 2P with 8c's (32c/t's) would have to come in at $288.00. I can't see that happening.


----------



## WhiteWulfe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *4thKor*
> 
> You forgot the PSU, coolers, case, and graphics card. Add those in and it gets on up there. $580.00 for 64 c/t's is $9 per c/t. With that in mind a 2P with 8c's (32c/t's) would have to come in at $288.00. I can't see that happening.


True enough. I think it was magic who mentioned an older card from EVGA that sells for around $30 USD or so, and a good power supply with the dual eight pin CPUs is around $100 USD... Coolers at another $50 USD for a pair if you go with 212 Evo's, then of course $40 USD or so for a reasonably sized inexpensive ssd...

Yup, it definitely adds up with all the small little things.


----------



## 4thKor

And I'm upgrading to E7-4870's. 80 c/t's.


----------



## WhiteWulfe

That sounds rather tasty to say the least. Might even make @BritishBob envious too.


----------



## mmonnin

Haha there was still a draft in here while I was rambling about x5660 vs e5-2670.

That's not bad of a price to get into the Intel 4P game. It's not like the 4P CPUs have any more cores but they sure carry a heavy premium. Must have pics!


----------



## 4thKor

I'm also discovering that this particular model has a good track record for distributed computing and gaming.

I'm watching videos on these things. I think I'll have to put this in a sound proof room. Sounds like a 747 on takeoff! I can't wait! MOAR POWER!


----------



## magic8192

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *4thKor*
> 
> And I'm upgrading to E7-4870's. 80 c/t's.


That is more like it. There is a lot of good stuff out there. If you aren't in a hurry you can find good deals.


----------



## 4thKor

I literally lucked into this. Saw it at the bottom of a listing. The same company had the CPU's and they cut me a package deal. Plus I retain the X7550's. Also found out a server PSU is set up entirely different from a "normal" one. That's why it's called a Redundant PSU. It will take the 1200w ones to power this beast, but with relatively low power draw from the wall. Ordered to "Y" cables to bring it down to two plugs.

Now all I gotta' do is figure out how to watercool it.....


----------



## Ithanul

LoL, yeah the servers tend to have redundant power supplies.

The one at the unit I do drill at once a month has redundant on UPS too.
The higher class one has redundancy on everything even the SANs.







Like no joke, loading that thing with all its HDDs takes a bit since it got like over 30+ of them.

On other note, darn you I went to their store and I see so many goodies.

Especially this one. Mmmmm.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Cisco-Intrusion-Protection-System-IPS-4360-Sensor-IPS-4360-V01-/141835749031


----------



## 4thKor

I may need your assistance on getting this beast up and running. Hopefully I won't have any issues. My main concern is whether it will run Linux Mint.


----------



## BritishBob

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *WhiteWulfe*
> 
> That sounds rather tasty to say the least. Might even make @BritishBob envious too.


Yes.









For referance, these are the G7s on the uk site for under £800:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_sacat=0&_nkw=HP%20ProLiant%20DL580%20g7&rt=nc&_mPrRngCbx=1&_udlo&_udhi=800

That Stateside server market sure is nice...

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *4thKor*
> 
> I may need your assistance on getting this beast up and running. Hopefully I won't have any issues. My main concern is whether it will run Linux Mint.


Try Ubuntu server then add cinnamon to it for GUI?


----------



## 4thKor

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *BritishBob*
> 
> Yes.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> For referance, these are the G7s on the uk site for under £800:
> http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_sacat=0&_nkw=HP%20ProLiant%20DL580%20g7&rt=nc&_mPrRngCbx=1&_udlo&_udhi=800
> 
> That Stateside server market sure is nice...
> Try Ubuntu server then add cinnamon to it for GUI?


Glad to make your acquaintance, Sir!

I've been searching and researching. Not a lot about using one these for the purpose I intend. And being a Linux noob doesn't help. I'll get it set up and then just see what will work and what won't. My 2P loaded Mint without any issues.


----------



## WhiteWulfe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *BritishBob*
> 
> Yes.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That Stateside server market sure is nice...


If it's any consolation the market here in Canada is pretty bad as well. While we share a border with the United States, it's usually about the same cost to ship something up here as it would be for it to go to half of Europe of Asia for some strange reason, and that's assuming they're even willing to ship it across a border...


----------



## JeRiKo1

@4thKor: Please report back how much power that system draws. I used the HP Power advisor and it came down to almost 800 Watts. That definitely puts it out if range for me although I am tempted and found a pretty good deal.

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk


----------



## magic8192

@4thKor: My only suggestion would be to get IPMI working on it first thing. Even if the bios is hung, you can get into IPMI.

I had a bad bios flash on my AMD 4P and I did not have IPMI setup. The system was completely unresponsive and I could not even initiate the emergency flash. I ended up flashing the bios on the board from another computer and somehow it worked.

For my AMD 4P I use ubuntu server headless, putty for a terminal and IPMI for turning things on, hard resets, and getting into the bios.


----------



## BritishBob

A Headless install of tightvncserver worked out of the box for me for remote desktop access. It's the server for TightVNC.

I'd also learn you apt commands. apt-get and apt-cache are my two most used.


----------



## Tex1954

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *BritishBob*
> 
> A Headless install of tightvncserver worked out of the box for me for remote desktop access. It's the server for TightVNC.
> 
> I'd also learn you apt commands. apt-get and apt-cache are my two most used.


I'll second that. TightVNC works great!


----------



## bfromcolo

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *4thKor*
> 
> I may need your assistance on getting this beast up and running. Hopefully I won't have any issues. My main concern is whether it will run Linux Mint.


Mint 17.3 is based on Ubuntu 14.04 and has an older Boinc Manager that does not support the project_max_concurrent app config setting. Ubuntu 16.04 has the latest stable Boinc Manager which does. I put Ubuntu on my server so I could split the workload between projects by core count. Someone who knows Linux better than me can probably get Boinc and all the dependencies sorted out in Mint, but after a few hours of head banging I loaded Ubuntu and moved on.


----------



## Tex1954

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *bfromcolo*
> 
> Mint 17.3 is based on Ubuntu 14.04 and has an older Boinc Manager that does not support the project_max_concurrent app config setting. Ubuntu 16.04 has the latest stable Boinc Manager which does. I put Ubuntu on my server so I could split the workload between projects by core count. Someone who knows Linux better than me can probably get Boinc and all the dependencies sorted out in Mint, but after a few hours of head banging I loaded Ubuntu and moved on.


I had problems trying to use that max_concurrent thing. For instance, it would download a ton of tasks used for the max_concurrent thing and would NOT download any others thinking the CPU Buffer was full. I ended up not using it at all.


----------



## mmonnin

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *bfromcolo*
> 
> Mint 17.3 is based on Ubuntu 14.04 and has an older Boinc Manager that does not support the project_max_concurrent app config setting. Ubuntu 16.04 has the latest stable Boinc Manager which does. I put Ubuntu on my server so I could split the workload between projects by core count. Someone who knows Linux better than me can probably get Boinc and all the dependencies sorted out in Mint, but after a few hours of head banging I loaded Ubuntu and moved on.


When I shut down I see a 14.04 screen and the Ubuntu color on my Mint 17.3 install. The first time I thought I shut down the wrong PC. Whew.

The default repository doesn't have the latest BOINC? I had to download/install BOINC on both Ubuntu and Linux. My 3 Linux PCs (1 Mint, 2 Ubuntu) are all on v7.2.42. All were downloaded from the Software manager searching for BOINC. My Win7 PC has v7.6.22.


----------



## 4thKor

You guys are making me nervous!









NO POST! Aughhhhhhh


----------



## bfromcolo

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *mmonnin*
> 
> When I shut down I see a 14.04 screen and the Ubuntu color on my Mint 17.3 install. The first time I thought I shut down the wrong PC. Whew.
> 
> The default repository doesn't have the latest BOINC? I had to download/install BOINC on both Ubuntu and Linux. My 3 Linux PCs (1 Mint, 2 Ubuntu) are all on v7.2.42. All were downloaded from the Software manager searching for BOINC. My Win7 PC has v7.6.22.


http://boinc.berkeley.edu/wiki/Client_configuration

You need 7.4.9 for project_max_concurrent according to the wiki. As you note Mint 17.3 repositories have 7.2.42, which is the same one linked to from the Boinc wiki. Ubuntu 16.04 has 7.6.31+dfsg-6ubuntu1. As I said above I was unable to get all dependencies satisfied when I tried to upgrade the one in Mint, but it is entirely possible that is due to my own inexperience with Linux.


----------



## Diffident

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *bfromcolo*
> 
> http://boinc.berkeley.edu/wiki/Client_configuration
> 
> You need 7.4.9 for project_max_concurrent according to the wiki. As you note Mint 17.3 repositories have 7.2.42, which is the same one linked to from the Boinc wiki. Ubuntu 16.04 has 7.6.31+dfsg-6ubuntu1. As I said above I was unable to get all dependencies satisfied when I tried to upgrade the one in Mint, but it is entirely possible that is due to my own inexperience with Linux.


This is a list of dependencies for Boinc 7.6.33 on my Gentoo install. Mint filenames will be different, but should give you an idea of what to look for.


gettext
autoconf
zlib
libtool
curl
ca-certificates
docbook2X
docbook-xml-dtd
quickswitch
Using X

glibc
gtk+
freeglut
libnotify
wxGTK
sqlite
util-linux
Using Cuda

nvidia-cuda-toolkit
nvidia-drivers


----------



## 4thKor

Just discovered the Proliant shipping weight is 100 lbs. Did not expect quite that much. Maybe they packed it full of E5-2697's.


----------



## spdaimon

Well, I was just looking through the threads for ideas on cooling. I am thinking of selling my P9X79-E WS for a Z9PE-D8 that @tictoc suggested, and I found the same time googling after I made that post. I am thinking I can get $400-$450 for the P9 so $400 - 500 for the Z9 won't break the bank. Hopefully, less. I got a second E5-2670 on the way. Probably mounting it in a Phanteks Entoo case ... not sure which one. Thinking using two CM Hyper Evos? I love your plywood computers, but don't have the table space for that.

EDIT: Or maybe I'll look at Supermicro board. Don't know what thier BIOS is like. Last time I had a SuperMicro board I had 2 P3-500s on it! Think that was just before I started BOINCing. ...Or I take that back, I had an old Dell Poweredge 1400 for a time. 2 P3-866 and 1GB of DDR-400...I think. LGA 476 I believe, where the P3-500s were Slot 1.


----------



## magic8192

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *4thKor*
> 
> Just discovered the Proliant shipping weight is 100 lbs. Did not expect quite that much. Maybe they packed it full of E5-2697's.


Those things are sturdy beasts.


----------



## magic8192

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *spdaimon*
> 
> Well, I was just looking through the threads for ideas on cooling. I am thinking of selling my P9X79-E WS for a Z9PE-D8 that @tictoc suggested, and I found the same time googling after I made that post. I am thinking I can get $400-$450 for the P9 so $400 - 500 for the Z9 won't break the bank. Hopefully, less. I got a second E5-2670 on the way. Probably mounting it in a Phanteks Entoo case ... not sure which one. Thinking using two CM Hyper Evos? I love your plywood computers, but don't have the table space for that.
> 
> EDIT: Or maybe I'll look at Supermicro board. Don't know what thier BIOS is like. Last time I had a SuperMicro board I had 2 P3-500s on it! Think that was just before I started BOINCing. ...Or I take that back, I had an old Dell Poweredge 1400 for a time. 2 P3-866 and 1GB of DDR-400...I think. LGA 476 I believe, where the P3-500s were Slot 1.


Another option is a barebones Dell/HP workstation the Dell models are T7600 or T5600. Not sure about the HP models?


----------



## mmonnin

HP Z600 is about the same.


----------



## magic8192

Would a titan be a good budget boincer card?


----------



## mmonnin

Not sure about BOINC but I think there is a price premium compared to a 980Ti with folding. A 980Ti used to be 2x a 970's cost but a bit more than 2x the PPD. I'm not sure the titan scales that way above a 980Ti. Boinc may be different though.


----------



## 4thKor

Just found a 8P setup. Didn't know they made such. Definitely not budget!

https://www.supermicro.com/products/system/5U/5086/SYS-5086B-TRF.cfm


----------



## magic8192

I am not talking about a X or Z model, but the Titan. The prices for them used are in the 250 - 300 range from what I have seen.


----------



## magic8192

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *4thKor*
> 
> Just found a 8P setup. Didn't know they made such. Definitely not budget!
> 
> https://www.supermicro.com/products/system/5U/5086/SYS-5086B-TRF.cfm


that would be an interesting piece of hardware to boinc. When I was shopping for boinc monsters, people told me that most projects didn't scale very well above 64 threads. Today, I would run half the threads native and half in a virtual machine if it didn't scale well.


----------



## Ithanul

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *magic8192*
> 
> I am not talking about a X or Z model, but the Titan. The prices for them used are in the 250 - 300 range from what I have seen.


I use two have two OG Titans (sold them off, you probably call me nuts for the price I got rid of them for). They did very well at [email protected] in last year Pentathlon. They easily can do two WUs each with no problems. More or less they where tanks, plus they have great DP.


----------



## 4thKor

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *magic8192*
> 
> that would be an interesting piece of hardware to boinc. When I was shopping for boinc monsters, people told me that most projects didn't scale very well above 64 threads. Today, I would run half the threads native and half in a virtual machine if it didn't scale well.


The E7-4870 is designed for scalability according to this:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/04/05/intel_xeon_e7_launch/

But at the same time you still have this:http://www.extremetech.com/computing/116561-the-death-of-cpu-scaling-from-one-core-to-many-and-why-were-still-stuck
which was written during the same time frame these CPU's were made.

Guess I'll have to see what happens.


----------



## mmonnin

Boinc can run many, many separate tasks so its not limited like many other applications. If one boinc session can't give you enough steady tasks a VM might work.


----------



## 4thKor

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *mmonnin*
> 
> Boinc can run many, many separate tasks so its not limited like many other applications. If one boinc session can't give you enough steady tasks a VM might work.


So many questions....

When I get this thing fired up this thread will be inundated with them. I don't know a thing about servers, so be prepared!


----------



## mmonnin

I didn't really do anything different on my 2P compared to a desktop board. I was messing around trying to get a Linux network driver installed until i read online somewhere that someone else's board from Natex came with the NIC's disabled. D'oh.


----------



## magic8192

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *4thKor*
> 
> The E7-4870 is designed for scalability according to this:
> 
> http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/04/05/intel_xeon_e7_launch/
> 
> But at the same time you still have this:http://www.extremetech.com/computing/116561-the-death-of-cpu-scaling-from-one-core-to-many-and-why-were-still-stuck
> which was written during the same time frame these CPU's were made.
> 
> Guess I'll have to see what happens.


I am pretty sure the hardware can handle the scaling, It is the software that seems to have some issues. The people running the projects aren't worried about scaling above 64 because there may be 3 or 4 such machines boincing.

This is all theoretical and heresay though. If you get some this hardware, you can test it all out.

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *mmonnin*
> 
> I didn't really do anything different on my 2P compared to a desktop board. I was messing around trying to get a Linux network driver installed until i read online somewhere that someone else's board from Natex came with the NIC's disabled. D'oh.


The first thing I did on the natex boards was flash the bios so I didn't have any of those issues.


----------



## spdaimon

I found a Z9PE-D*16*...only difference I can see is that it D16 has 16 memory slots. Would I have any issues using this, even for a workstation though its technically a server board? At less than $400 its attractive once I see off the P9X79.

Err..wait..I see it has SAS controller too. Never used that. Hmm..maybe wait to see if I can find a WS board.


----------



## BritishBob

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *spdaimon*
> 
> I found a Z9PE-D*16*...only difference I can see is that it D16 has 16 memory slots. Would I have any issues using this, even for a workstation though its technically a server board? At less than $400 its attractive once I see off the P9X79.
> 
> Err..wait..I see it has SAS controller too. Never used that. Hmm..maybe wait to see if I can find a WS board.


THE SAS are a different type of hard drive. It still has SATA drives, so you'd just use them?


----------



## BeerCan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *spdaimon*
> 
> I found a Z9PE-D*16*...only difference I can see is that it D16 has 16 memory slots. Would I have any issues using this, even for a workstation though its technically a server board? At less than $400 its attractive once I see off the P9X79.
> 
> Err..wait..I see it has SAS controller too. Never used that. Hmm..maybe wait to see if I can find a WS board.


The sas controllers I use will use sata drives as well, should not be an issue YMMV

Besides I have that exact board and I am for sure using a sata drive with it


----------



## spdaimon

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *BritishBob*
> 
> THE SAS are a different type of hard drive. It still has SATA drives, so you'd just use them?


Quote:


> Originally Posted by *BeerCan*
> 
> The sas controllers I use will use sata drives as well, should not be an issue YMMV
> 
> Besides I have that exact board and I am for sure using a sata drive with it


Right, it does. Sorry, that came off wrong. I'm not put off by the SAS. Just never used it. Has plenty of SATA..4 Sata 2 and 2 Sata 3. I think you need a PIKE board to use SAS, whatever that is. New tech for me to learn.







The D8 would have the features I would want, just slightly more $, just supports less memory than the D16. I don't think I'd go over 64GB anyhow. As it is I plan on taking the current 16GB and buy another 16GB. Decisions, decisions.


----------



## BeerCan

Unless you are going into production I would skip the sas drives anyway. They are way more expensive, I only use sas in my servers that need to be up 24/7/365. In fact I had to buy 6 today (ouch)

Sata is 99% as good in reliability and performance for like speeds. I have one box that has been up ~5 years with no issues with 6 samsung sata hdd's

if you want performance of course ssd's are the ticket


----------



## Ithanul

Hmmmm, so you can put SATA HDDs on a SAS?

I got two old IBM servers that need RAM and HDDs. It just they have the quick swap bays with SAS ribbon. Was not sure if there was a way to use SATA drives on those.

Tricky part is finding RAM since they use DDR RAM and max at 4GBs (1GB on each stick).


----------



## Diffident

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Ithanul*
> 
> Hmmmm, so you can put SATA HDDs on a SAS?
> 
> I got two old IBM servers that need RAM and HDDs. It just they have the quick swap bays with SAS ribbon. Was not sure if there was a way to use SATA drives on those.
> 
> Tricky part is finding RAM since they use DDR RAM and max at 4GBs (1GB on each stick).


SAS to SATA Breakout Cables

The one in the link is mini SAS, but there are full size SAS also, just click on the options.


----------



## bfromcolo

I have the SuperMicro X8DTT-F-SG007 Rev.2 mother board. While I was travelling this past week I was trying to use Team Viewer to control my server, and 640x480 really doesn't cut it







Is everyone with this motherboard using a separate GPU, or has anyone figured out the Matrox drivers in Linux?

I have the AHW5DC252W power supply, running 24 threads of WCG I see 206W power draw on my kill-a-watt, so I don't really have the headroom to do any crunching, well maybe about 40W worth if the socket on the motherboard can provide the power.


----------



## WhiteWulfe

I think magic is using a GTX 630 or such because drivers for the Matrix were a pain. Unless it was someone else who mentioned it, but it was something like a $30 USD card from EVGA.


----------



## bfromcolo

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *WhiteWulfe*
> 
> I think magic is using a GTX 630 or such because drivers for the Matrix were a pain. Unless it was someone else who mentioned it, but it was something like a $30 USD card from EVGA.


Yes there are a number of cheap cards in the $10 - $40 range. It would be nice to be able to use it to crunch something as well, I think a GT-730 has a max power draw of 38W from what I am seeing. R7-240 looks to have a 30W max power draw. Wouldn't score a lot of points but I could set it and forget it.


----------



## spdaimon

*Current system*

Motherboard: P9X79-E WS ($360)

CPU(s): E5-2670 ($100)

Memory: 16GB Gskill Ares DDR3-1866 ($90)

GPU(s): 2x R9-280X (~180-200 ea.)

PSU: EVGA 1000 GQ (~$130)

Storage: Seagate 2TB SSHD (~$80 I think)

Case: HAF XB ($80)

Cooling: Corsair H100iGTX (~$90)

Operating System: Win10, Ubuntu

Manufacturer for pre-built systems

Approximate cost: 1100

*New System*

Motherboard: Z9PE-D8 ($473)

CPU(s): E5-2670 - old part, 2nd E5-2670 ($60)

Memory: 16GB Ares DDR3-1866 (4 x 4GB) ($70), 16GB Ares DDR3-1866 (4 x 4GB) - old part

GPU(s): 2x R9-280X - old part

PSU: EVGA 1000 GQ - old part

Storage: Seagate 2TB SSHD - old part

Case: Phanteks Enthoo Pro (~$100)

Cooling: 2x CM Hyper Evo 212 (~30 ea.)

Operating System: Windows 10

Manufacturer for pre-built systems

Approximate cost: $763 - $400 (hoping to get for the P9X79) = $363

Not sure if you'd call it a budget build, since if it was new system it would be in the $1500 range. I ordered the CPU the other day. Hoping that the 2011 v2 CPUs come down and get 40 threads! I think the E5-2670 v2s are going for $180 on eBay. oops, nope they are the *E*xtra *S*picey versions, as BladeMaster once said to me.


----------



## WhiteWulfe

First and foremost, I have to say I love my techy hubby.... Apparently if I eventually get him the new laptop he wants, he says yes to the idea of not just one server board for BOINC but potentially upwards of four...

Biggest question that comes to mind for you guys, is this: What would put out more PPD in various tasks (pogs, [email protected], and WCG come to mind).... An Asus Z10PE-D8 with E5-2690v4's (assuming I can find reasonably priced ES2 cpu's at that time) and two SuperMicro X8DTT's (that have "power efficient" processors like the L5640...... or the Asus plus the natex Intel S2600/E5-2670 deal?


----------



## magic8192

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *WhiteWulfe*
> 
> I think magic is using a GTX 630 or such because drivers for the Matrix were a pain. Unless it was someone else who mentioned it, but it was something like a $30 USD card from EVGA.


Wasn't me. Mine are headless and I use putty for a terminal.


----------



## bfromcolo

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *magic8192*
> 
> Wasn't me. Mine are headless and I use putty for a terminal.


Yes I think it was Tex, I use Putty as well and when I am at home I can just use BOINC Manager remotely. I was traveling last week and trying to use Team Viewer from 1000 miles away, and had some issues with the 640x480 display getting to some of the options. Even a 5450 would fix that problem.


----------



## magic8192

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *WhiteWulfe*
> 
> I think magic is using a GTX 630 or such because drivers for the Matrix were a pain. Unless it was someone else who mentioned it, but it was something like a $30 USD card from EVGA.


Wasn't me. Mine are headless and I use putty for a terminal.
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *WhiteWulfe*
> 
> First and foremost, I have to say I love my techy hubby.... Apparently if I eventually get him the new laptop he wants, he says yes to the idea of not just one server board for BOINC but potentially upwards of four...
> 
> Biggest question that comes to mind for you guys, is this: What would put out more PPD in various tasks (pogs, [email protected], and WCG come to mind).... An Asus Z10PE-D8 with E5-2690v4's (assuming I can find reasonably priced ES2 cpu's at that time) and two SuperMicro X8DTT's (that have "power efficient" processors like the L5640...... or the Asus plus the natex Intel S2600/E5-2670 deal?


The Z10PE-D8 with a pair of E5-2690 v4 cpus will probably double the PPD of the S2600/E5-2670 setup. A pair of X8DTT's will probably average about 60 - 80% more PPD than the E5-2670 setup.

The Z10PE-D8/E5-2690 v4 setup is the most expensive by far, but in the long run the Z10PE-D8/E5-2690 v4 setup may be the better value because it will use less power PPD/watt. It really depends on your goals.


----------



## 4thKor

Got my E7-4870's today. These chips are a lot bigger than I realized.

Plus I've ordered four new heatsinks. I have a brainstorm. In order to keep the existing retaining brackets I'm going to get these machined to accept an AIO pump head. Then it's just a matter of clamping it all back together and eliminating the turboprop fans. I'll have to now figure out how to keep the RAM cool. I think I have an idea...


----------



## Tex1954

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *bfromcolo*
> 
> Yes I think it was Tex, I use Putty as well and when I am at home I can just use BOINC Manager remotely. I was traveling last week and trying to use Team Viewer from 1000 miles away, and had some issues with the 640x480 display getting to some of the options. Even a 5450 would fix that problem.


Yuppers, Mr. GUI here...

Use fanless passive cooled GT 610 cards and yes they will run PrimeGrid as well...


----------



## WhiteWulfe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *magic8192*
> 
> Wasn't me. Mine are headless and I use putty for a terminal.
> The Z10PE-D8 with a pair of E5-2690 v4 cpus will probably double the PPD of the S2600/E5-2670 setup. A pair of X8DTT's will probably average about 60 - 80% more PPD than the E5-2670 setup.
> 
> The Z10PE-D8/E5-2690 v4 setup is the most expensive by far, but in the long run the Z10PE-D8/E5-2690 v4 setup may be the better value because it will use less power PPD/watt. It really depends on your goals.


Definitely good to know that the most expensive one would do the most PPD.... I suppose I should have clarified: the Asus with 2xE5-2690v4's would be in any setup I build, as I'm seriously contemplating the idea of stuffing all of this into a CaseLabs THW10, which of course has a second side one could modify another motherboard into (because atm the ancillary motherboard mount is backburnered). To rephrase... Which of the two options (2x 2P L4560's, or a 2P E5-2670) would provide the most in addition to what the Asus would bring to the table? ^_^;;;;

Or, if I actually fully read what you wrote, it sounds like the Asus + 2x X8DTT's w/L4560's would be the highest. Would also probably make for a reasonable epic looking case mod too, especially with all of it watercooled and attached to a MO-RA3 that was then venting the heat outside....

EDIT: I like how hubby thinks. Asus, plus two of the Natex, and use one as the bedroom HTPC...
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tex1954*
> 
> Yuppers, Mr. GUI here...
> 
> Use fanless passive cooled GT 610 cards and yes they will run PrimeGrid as well...


Ahhh, had a feeling who it was but I was totally off base with who it actually was. Will they also run [email protected] and [email protected] at reasonable temperatures? ^_^;;;;


----------



## spdaimon

I was thinking of taking after 4thKor and putting a couple Corsair H60s instead of Evos. It would add another $60 to the build. I was even considering swiping the Swiftech H220-X from one of my other builds and expanding it..but another water block is $60 alone..and not sure if it comes with barbs...and I am a water cooling noob.







. I still got my Zalman Reservator v2 sitting around..same problem..need second WB. Its good for 250W TDP I think. 2x 115W TDP would put it at its limit. Workstation would not be portable after that though. That and Zalman uses 9mm hoses...slightly smaller than 3/8" barbs. I used it on a DD 4780X2 WB many moons ago and managed to squeeze them on.

Think it be worth getting the H60s? I'm leaning toward the Evos..no leaking.


----------



## 4thKor

I have no regrets.


----------



## bfromcolo

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *spdaimon*
> 
> I was thinking of taking after 4thKor and putting a couple Corsair H60s instead of Evos. It would add another $60 to the build. I was even considering swiping the Swiftech H220-X from one of my other builds and expanding it..but another water block is $60 alone..and not sure if it comes with barbs...and I am a water cooling noob.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> . I still got my Zalman Reservator v2 sitting around..same problem..need second WB. Its good for 250W TDP I think. 2x 115W TDP would put it at its limit. Workstation would not be portable after that though. That and Zalman uses 9mm hoses...slightly smaller than 3/8" barbs. I used it on a DD 4780X2 WB many moons ago and managed to squeeze them on.
> 
> Think it be worth getting the H60s? I'm leaning toward the Evos..no leaking.


On my 5820K the cooling performance of my CM 212 EVO and my H60i are nearly identical. At load the EVO is louder, when not loaded the H60 is louder.


----------



## mmonnin

I have several other GPUs running at like 70% fan speed so the 2P with Evos is the quiet machine.


----------



## spdaimon

Probably just stick with the Evos for now, since they work as well and are quiet. I only have one Evo that I own so far, and its on the 8370. Currently working on repainting the chassis, so its offline...almost done though! I own 3 212+s though. They are kind of how@bfromcolo describe from what I remember...might be louder since they are in push-pull too.

bfromcolo, how do you have the H60 hooked up. I usually plug the pump into the CPU header, set it to 100%, and plug the fans into the SYSTEM/CHASSIS headers and set them to Cool N Quiet/Auto or if they don't have that, I set them to 60% or so.


----------



## bfromcolo

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *spdaimon*
> 
> Probably just stick with the Evos for now, since they work as well and are quiet. I only have one Evo that I own so far, and its on the 8370. Currently working on repainting the chassis, so its offline...almost done though! I own 3 212+s though. They are kind of how@bfromcolo describe from what I remember...might be louder since they are in push-pull too.
> 
> bfromcolo, how do you have the H60 hooked up. I usually plug the pump into the CPU header, set it to 100%, and plug the fans into the SYSTEM/CHASSIS headers and set them to Cool N Quiet/Auto or if they don't have that, I set them to 60% or so.


I never tried the H60 on the server, I am using tiny AMD heat sink fans over the factory heat sinks. On my kids PC I use a chassis fan header set to 100%, and not the CPU header, since its a single speed pump. I plugged the radiator fans into the CPU fan connection, set to auto speed control. So pretty much exactly the opposite of what you did. But I am sure it works the same either way.


----------



## spdaimon

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *bfromcolo*
> 
> I never tried the H60 on the server, I am using tiny AMD heat sink fans over the factory heat sinks. On my kids PC I use a chassis fan header set to 100%, and not the CPU header, since its a single speed pump. I plugged the radiator fans into the CPU fan connection, set to auto speed control. So pretty much exactly the opposite of what you did. But I am sure it works the same either way.


Yeah, probably. I was thinking the fans wouldn't ramp up as much. But you're probably right, same difference.


----------



## BritishBob

My second hand market just got shafted. I guess there's no point in planning any upgrades.


----------



## bfromcolo

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *BritishBob*
> 
> My second hand market just got shafted. I guess there's no point in planning any upgrades.


Because of BREXIT? Won't that take 2 years?


----------



## 4thKor

The DL580 is up and running. Installing Ubuntu 16.04 now. This thing is a monster! Still have to install the E7-4870's. Wanted to see what I'm dealing with. Not any different from a desktop as far as I can tell. So far anyway.


----------



## lanofsong

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *4thKor*
> 
> The DL580 is up and running. Installing Ubuntu 16.04 now. This thing is a monster! Still have to install the E7-4870's. Wanted to see what I'm dealing with. Not any different from a desktop as far as I can tell. So far anyway.


When you say monster - you mean 'MONSTER' just like my 980








Look at you 4thkor, you certainly do not do things by halves







Look forward to seeing some pics, although from the description of this rig, I may need a bigger monitor to view it


----------



## 4thKor

It weighs 100 lbs. All I could do to get it up on the desk. But she fired right up!


----------



## lanofsong

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *4thKor*
> 
> It weighs 100 lbs. All I could do to get it up on the desk. But she fired right up!


With a rig like that, you mean roared to life.


----------



## mmonnin

By no means budget but sure would be nice to Fold/Crunch on:
http://www.overclock.net/t/1598765/build-log-watercooled-7x-980ti-the-word-impossible-is-not-in-my-dictionary/0_30


----------



## 4thKor

Depressing news.... This model of DL580 will only support two E7-8XXX's.









BUT i FOUND THE RIGHT CHASSIS FOR $50!!









Live and learn, I guess. But it's up and running with 40 c/t's instead of 32. And I went back to my tried and true Mint. I hate Ubuntu....


----------



## BritishBob

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *4thKor*
> 
> Depressing news.... This model of DL580 will only support two E7-8XXX's.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> BUT i FOUND THE RIGHT CHASSIS FOR $50!!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Live and learn, I guess. But it's up and running with 40 c/t's instead of 32. And I went back to my tried and true Mint. I hate Ubuntu....


Mint is based on Ubuntu... If you disliked the GUI...

sudo apt-get install cinnamon

Logout, right click name. Log in with cinnamon.

(as far as the europe thing, the exchange rate is down the drain now)


----------



## 4thKor

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *BritishBob*
> 
> Mint is based on Ubuntu... If you disliked the GUI...
> 
> sudo apt-get install cinnamon
> 
> Logout, right click name. Log in with cinnamon.
> 
> (as far as the europe thing, the exchange rate is down the drain now)


Mint is MUCH faster on this thing. And I don't care for the newer version of BOINC Manager. Doesn't have the event log. Or I couldn't find it.

I'm happy with it.


----------



## BritishBob

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *4thKor*
> 
> Mint is MUCH faster on this thing. And I don't care for the newer version of BOINC Manager. Doesn't have the event log. Or I couldn't find it.
> 
> I'm happy with it.


Not sure about faster... Might be a bit subjective on that one.

Could have been anything from a diver/HW accel thing to the need to do apt-get update or upgrade.

Oh well. As long as you're happy with your set up.


----------



## 4thKor

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *BritishBob*
> 
> Not sure about faster... Might be a bit subjective on that one.
> 
> Could have been anything from a diver/HW accel thing to the need to do apt-get update or upgrade.
> 
> Oh well. As long as you're happy with your set up.


I'd be a lot happier if it would run all four E7-4870's. Come to find out there are system board differences I didn't realize. And I blew another $50.00 on a barebones with the same specs. Made an offer on the right main board. Waiting to see.

I thought this was the "budget" Boinc Server Club! Not hardly......


----------



## BritishBob

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *4thKor*
> 
> I'd be a lot happier if it would run all four E7-4870's. Come to find out there are system board differences I didn't realize. And I blew another $50.00 on a barebones with the same specs. Made an offer on the right main board. Waiting to see.
> 
> I thought this was the "budget" Boinc Server Club! Not hardly......


We're not in the business of forking out for windows licenses... XD Not yet...


----------



## 4thKor

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *BritishBob*
> 
> We're not in the business of forking out for windows licenses... XD Not yet...


Windows license? I don't understand.

On another note I've removed the network cards and ordered a 10 pin to 2 x 8 pin power adaper so that I can plug a 980 into this thing.

Just discovered I can run three of the 4870's. Have to leave 3rd socket open. And with just two PSU's.


----------



## spdaimon

Any disadvantages to getting Registered ECC memory? I see that I can get 64GB DDR3-1333 ECC memory for about $100, which is how much I'd spend on another 16GB DDR3-1866 (to match what I have already). Might even get DDR3-1600 ECC memory for decent price. I am not looking to overclock, just wondering if it would be slower, or run hotter, that sort of thing.


----------



## DogeTactical

Eventually want to build a budget server with either dual opterons or dual xeons for BOINC/Folding and Maybe a NAS or something not really sure


----------



## BeerCan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *spdaimon*
> 
> Any disadvantages to getting Registered ECC memory? I see that I can get 64GB DDR3-1333 ECC memory for about $100, which is how much I'd spend on another 16GB DDR3-1866 (to match what I have already). Might even get DDR3-1600 ECC memory for decent price. I am not looking to overclock, just wondering if it would be slower, or run hotter, that sort of thing.


Registered memory is useful if you are going to have a lot of memory modules on the mainboard. It will be as fast as its rating but usually have a 1 cycle penalty but for me it is not noticable. They do not in my experience run hotter. Not worth extra money unless you are adding bunches of memory IMO. I have 2 servers that use it, one has 192GB memory and the other has 256GB

Edited to add: Make sure the mainboard supports rdimms or they wont work


----------



## spdaimon

Found some cheap RAM if anyone is interested. I'm going to pick up a few sticks of 8GB PNY Anarchy DDR3-1600 9-9-9-27 RAM. $25 each at Newegg. Cheapest I can find, even in sets. Save some for me now! Actually I might get 32GB now, and 32GB later. $100 for 32GB isn't bad at all! Its been eons since I used PNY RAM...last time I think I got PNY it was either the ancient Fast Page ram or EDO..pretty sure it was Fast Page, for my 486. Samsung I think had the market on EDO. Used that in my P4 2.8Ghz rig. ASUS P4533T I believe was the board.


----------



## tictoc

I think my BOINC server will be about finished up by the end of this weekend. I am just waiting on a few more fittings, since I am 3 short.

This:



+ This:



+ This:



GPUs will be primarily for MilkWay, and the 2p will run a variety of different projects.


----------



## 4thKor

I have to fess up to my stupidity. I ordered a DL580 G5 CTO chassis to put my E7-4850's in. It takes a CTO to run all four. I need a *G7*.









It came in today. Wasn't supposed to have CPU's, RAM, or PSU's. It has quad X7350's and 64gb RAM! Found four PSU's cheap, so I'll get it going and fire it up for the Pentathlon and such. $160 for a 4P ain't too bad, even if it is old.


----------



## DogeTactical

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *4thKor*
> 
> It came in today. Wasn't supposed to have CPU's, RAM, or PSU's. *It has quad X7350's and 64gb RAM!* Found four PSU's cheap, so I'll get it going and fire it up for the Pentathlon and such. $160 for a 4P ain't too bad, even if it is old.


So you got the quad x7350s and 64gb of RAM in the chassis for $160? Thats a pretty good deal


----------



## magic8192

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *4thKor*
> 
> I have to fess up to my stupidity. I ordered a DL580 G5 CTO chassis to put my E7-4850's in. It takes a CTO to run all four. I need a *G7*.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It came in today. Wasn't supposed to have CPU's, RAM, or PSU's. It has quad X7350's and 64gb RAM! Found four PSU's cheap, so I'll get it going and fire it up for the Pentathlon and such. $160 for a 4P ain't too bad, even if it is old.


I need to see some pics of this magical beast?


----------



## spdaimon

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *4thKor*
> 
> I have to fess up to my stupidity. I ordered a DL580 G5 CTO chassis to put my E7-4850's in. It takes a CTO to run all four. I need a *G7*.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It came in today. Wasn't supposed to have CPU's, RAM, or PSU's. It has quad X7350's and 64gb RAM! Found four PSU's cheap, so I'll get it going and fire it up for the Pentathlon and such. $160 for a 4P ain't too bad, even if it is old.


Never even heard of X7350s..I had to look it up. Thats like Core 2 Quad era stuff! Didn't think they made anything like that back then.

Slightly different subject...would BOINC run on Xeon Phi co-processor cards?


----------



## mmonnin

Doesn't seem like it:
https://boinc.berkeley.edu/dev/forum_thread.php?id=11047


----------



## 4thKor

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *spdaimon*
> 
> Never even heard of X7350s..I had to look it up. Thats like Core 2 Quad era stuff! Didn't think they made anything like that back then.
> 
> Slightly different subject...would BOINC run on Xeon Phi co-processor cards?


Yes, they are old. I felt like an idiot when I realized what I had bought. Wasn't gonna say a word and gut it and use it for something else. Was considering dropping my 2P in there. Then it came in loaded and (apparently) ready to run.

I have a Q-6600 to keep 'em company.


----------



## Ithanul

Huh, I am not sure how old the two IBM servers I have are. I just know they use DDR RAM with max 4GB in total.







I still need to get some RAM for them and see if the two fire up. Well, plus some SCSI HDDs for them.


----------



## 4thKor

At least this G5 uses DDR-2. And I discovered a SATA port on the mainboard and an extra Molex connector on the DVD power line. Just stuck a converter on that for power and threw in an old laptop HDD probably as old as the system. Won't know if it'll fire up until I get the PSU's though.


----------



## DogeTactical

I wanna make a BOINC budget server like $150 at most if that does anyone have any suggestions if its possible to make one for 150?


----------



## 4thKor

I've only got $160 in this DL580-G5. It's a P4 too. Search eBay.

Check this out:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/HP-DL580-G5-Server-4x-Intel-6c-2-40GHz-32GB-RAM-DVD-4PS-4U-Rackmount-54-/201613063262?hash=item2ef113345e:g:~IkAAOSwl-FXNLoQ

How close are you to Tulsa?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/HP-Proliant-DL-580-G5-Server-Intel-Quad-Core-Xeon-2-4-GHZ-Inv-WH060823-/162119102550?hash=item25bf0d3056:g:j4EAAOSwbYZXXyBT


----------



## DogeTactical

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *4thKor*
> 
> How close are you to Tulsa?
> http://www.ebay.com/itm/HP-Proliant-DL-580-G5-Server-Intel-Quad-Core-Xeon-2-4-GHZ-Inv-WH060823-/162119102550?hash=item25bf0d3056:g:j4EAAOSwbYZXXyBT


im about a 21 hour drive from tulsa









Im just trying to get some ideas I looked at a few dual xeon motherboards on ebay and then just picking up a set of xeons from ebay also


----------



## DogeTactical

http://www.ebay.com/itm/SuperMicro-X8DTT-F-SG007-Dual-LGA1366-Intel-Xeon-5600-5500-Series-Motherboard-/182028347151?hash=item2a61bc270f:g:vEkAAOSwB4NWxegs

Does this look like anything good? its the first thing that came up when I typed dual xeon motherboard


----------



## tictoc

I am pretty sure that is the board that bfromcolo is running, and it has been a champ.


----------



## bfromcolo

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *DogeTactical*
> 
> http://www.ebay.com/itm/SuperMicro-X8DTT-F-SG007-Dual-LGA1366-Intel-Xeon-5600-5500-Series-Motherboard-/182028347151?hash=item2a61bc270f:g:vEkAAOSwB4NWxegs
> 
> Does this look like anything good? its the first thing that came up when I typed dual xeon motherboard


Go to the top of this very thread and you will find this very board. I am running one with L5640s and am quite happy with it, runs about 210W wide open and crunches quite well. You need a very specific power supply, or to rewire what ever you have to meet the pin outs. A number of us are running this board


----------



## DogeTactical

Sweet! what a coincidence, I didn't even realize that







I noticed BritishBob has one quite like it but quad processors
I was gonna ask the question of what operating system you use, you wrote "Linux Lint" did you mean Mint? I looked up linux lint and didnt find much







Ive never did any BOINC projects or anything and Im looking for something to get me started


----------



## bfromcolo

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *DogeTactical*
> 
> Sweet! what a coincidence, I didn't even realize that
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I was gonna ask the question of what operating system you use, you wrote "Linux Lint" did you mean Mint? I looked up linux lint and didnt find much
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Ive never did any BOINC projects or anything and Im looking for something to get me started


Well I am running Ubuntu 16.04 on it now because it has a more recent version of BOINC than Linux M(L)int. Which provides more granular control when running multiple projects. I have only been using keyboards for about 40 years, excuse the typos, I'll get it sooner or later.

If you want to get started with BOINC load it on what ever you are running now, no need to buy a server to try it out and get used to the software. Try a couple of popular projects, like World Community Grid for the CPU and maybe Collatz for the GPU.

Welcome to the team!


----------



## DogeTactical

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *bfromcolo*
> 
> Well I am running Ubuntu 16.04 on it now because it has a more recent version of BOINC than Linux M(L)int. Which provides more granular control when running multiple projects. I have only been using keyboards for about 40 years, excuse the typos, I'll get it sooner or later.
> 
> If you want to get started with BOINC load it on what ever you are running now, no need to buy a server to try it out and get used to the software. Try a couple of popular projects, like World Community Grid for the CPU and maybe Collatz for the GPU.
> 
> Welcome to the team!


You dont use any mouse at all? Just keyboard?!?







:







:







:
Thanks for all the advice man and I think ill give it a go !


----------



## bfromcolo

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *DogeTactical*
> 
> You dont use any mouse at all? Just keyboard?!?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> :
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> :
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> :
> Thanks for all the advice man and I think ill give it a go !


No I obviously use a mouse, a pretty nice one too. Just have a decade or so more experience with keyboards than mice. Back in DOS and early Windows, much less CPM, PRIMOS, VMS, ASP, HASP, TRS-80 days we didn't have mice to slow us down. You would be surprised all the keyboard shortcuts in Win 10 that remain from the dark ages...


----------



## tictoc

I have been running Arch with i3 on my work laptop for the past 6 months, and there is no doubt that with a good window manager, I can fly around the OS much faster using only my keyboard. Once a month or so, I like to give one of my co-workers a random, useful Windows shortcut, and he always reacts like it is some voodoo magic that shouldn't be possible.

That being said, I do get lazy on Windows machines and fall back to using a mouse much more often.


----------



## WhiteWulfe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *DogeTactical*
> 
> http://www.ebay.com/itm/SuperMicro-X8DTT-F-SG007-Dual-LGA1366-Intel-Xeon-5600-5500-Series-Motherboard-/182028347151?hash=item2a61bc270f:g:vEkAAOSwB4NWxegs
> 
> Does this look like anything good? its the first thing that came up when I typed dual xeon motherboard


As was already mentioned, I think it's what founded the budget server club! ^_^ And I so totally want at least one of them, but four sounds absolutely lovely - even if I'd have nowhere to put that many of them!


----------



## DogeTactical

Im installing boinc right now gonna fire it up and test it out















Edit: Now running a Collatz project


----------



## 4thKor

Got the PSU's for the G5. Didn't take any pics in my haste to see if the thing even runs. Loading Mint now though!









FINALLY got this thing up and running. I've learned a lot.

1)- Proliant servers are tanks. You can't mess one up to a point of no return. You may think so (I did). But it can be recovered.
2)- On board SATA connectors don't indicate anything the BIOS will actually support.
3)- SCSI drives are not needed. Standard 2 1/2 SATA drives work well, even in the storage bays ( at least with the DL580-G5).
4)- The BIOS(s) (there are three) are the most complicated and difficult to navigate I've ever encountered. You have to be able to speed read and move at the speed of light.
5)- Once up and running they are amazing pieces of equipment!

And last but not least they would make excellent boat anchors.









A few pics:



I have four more rigs not pictured.


----------



## Diffident

Thinking about getting a pair of E5-2670's and this Intel S2600G Motherboard. The Spec Sheet says it has 10 SATA ports, but I only see 2.

Can anyone recommend memory that works with this board and a power supply.


----------



## emoga

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Diffident*
> 
> Thinking about getting a pair of E5-2670's and this Intel S2600G Motherboard. The Spec Sheet says it has *10 SATA ports, but I only see 2.*
> 
> Can anyone recommend memory that works with this board and a power supply.


You can have an additional 8x SAS/SATA2 3Gb/s ports via 2x mini-SAS 4-in-1 connectors.


----------



## WhiteWulfe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Diffident*
> 
> Thinking about getting a pair of E5-2670's and this Intel S2600G Motherboard. The Spec Sheet says it has 10 SATA ports, but I only see 2.
> 
> Can anyone recommend memory that works with this board and a power supply.


I almost feel like a shill because I keep mentioning these guys, but I only mention them because others on our team have purchased from them and had really good deals. Natex.us usually has some nice bundles featuring the Intel S2600 boards and dual E5-2670's. One that I'm kind of envious of (because it's effectively US only due to shipping expenses) is the Quanta QSSC-2ML build your own bundle.... 2x E5-2670, a PCIe riser, 4x HDD Caddies, and 64GB of Hynix PC3-12800R for $448 USD.

I'll be buying their S2600CP2J/E5-2670 w/128GB of RAM bundle once I have the cash for it.

You can also usually find promo codes for the various things they're selling over in their thread on ServeTheHome for 5% off too, although for some reason I couldn't find their thread on there. Weird.


----------



## Diffident

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *WhiteWulfe*
> 
> I'll be buying their S2600CP2J/E5-2670 w/128GB of RAM bundle once I have the cash for it.
> 
> You can also usually find promo codes for the various things they're selling over in their thread on ServeTheHome for 5% off too, although for some reason I couldn't find their thread on there. Weird.


I was looking at those motherboard bundles, but every one of those says Out of Stock.


----------



## mmonnin

Even a single S2600CP2 motherboard from them says out of stock.







They take normal ATX power supplies. I have an EVGA P2 on mine.


----------



## Ithanul

Darn 4thKor. I wish I had the room to rock that many computers. That what restricting me atm, plus of course since I'm in college with no job too.


----------



## 4thKor

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Ithanul*
> 
> Darn 4thKor. I wish I had the room to rock that many computers. That what restricting me atm, plus of course since I'm in college with no job too.


My sweetie says if feels like walking into a NASA research facility. Or an evil genius's lair.


----------



## Ithanul

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *4thKor*
> 
> My sweetie says if feels like walking into a NASA research facility. Or an evil genius's lair.


O, I would have similar setup. I hope to someday either have a house with a basement for my computers or dedicated computer/art studio room.

I got a good amount of monitors to do it too. My current collection Overlord 1440P, Dell Ultrasharp 1600P, Wacom 24HD, and LG 1080P. Though the Wacom takes a whole desk to itself when setup. Heavy too. But it is so sweet to work with even if it is a 2nd gen model.

Give you idea of the size of one.


Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!


----------



## WhiteWulfe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Diffident*
> 
> I was looking at those motherboard bundles, but every one of those says Out of Stock.


Ah, no way. Well, that kind of ruins a few plans, but I'll keep an eye on things and see how it all pans out over the next few months. Here's hoping they get a nice bundle of them soon.
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Ithanul*
> 
> O, I would have similar setup. I hope to someday either have a house with a basement for my computers or dedicated computer/art studio room.
> 
> I got a good amount of monitors to do it too. My current collection Overlord 1440P, Dell Ultrasharp 1600P, Wacom 24HD, and LG 1080P. Though the Wacom takes a whole desk to itself when setup. Heavy too. But it is so sweet to work with even if it is a 2nd gen model.
> 
> Give you idea of the size of one.
> 
> 
> Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!


Oh gawds, those are even larger than the first generation 22....


----------



## Ithanul

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *WhiteWulfe*
> 
> Oh gawds, those are even larger than the first generation 22....


Yep, it is a monster. But darn it is so nice to use. Just right now I have no place to setup mine. I did a little test run using ArtRage 3 on it.

My first time doing a free hand digital in that program.



Still got to learn a lot more on how to do digital art. Since I mostly do traditional free hand ink.


----------



## WhiteWulfe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Ithanul*
> 
> Yep, it is a monster. But darn it is so nice to use. Just right now I have no place to setup mine. I did a little test run using ArtRage 3 on it.
> 
> My first time doing a free hand digital in that program.
> 
> 
> 
> Still got to learn a lot more on how to do digital art. Since I mostly do traditional free hand ink.


I collect Copic markers, that counts right? Actually, now that I have a decent pencil (Staedler 1.3mm lead holder since it was 1/5th the cost of a Rotring 600 series 2mm lead holder) and a workspace (moved computer back to the Obutto R3volution, so now have a giant desk to clean up and set up for a variety of things) I hope to spend some quality time with them ^_^


----------



## Ithanul

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *WhiteWulfe*
> 
> I collect Copic markers, that counts right? Actually, now that I have a decent pencil (Staedler 1.3mm lead holder since it was 1/5th the cost of a Rotring 600 series 2mm lead holder) and a workspace (moved computer back to the Obutto R3volution, so now have a giant desk to clean up and set up for a variety of things) I hope to spend some quality time with them ^_^


O, I got some Copics too. Think around 40 of them now.







My collection of art supplies make my computer hardware seem far less. Considering I have drop more on a canvas than some video cards.







And peeps say computers are a expensive hobby. It bad when you got several expensive hobbies.


----------



## WhiteWulfe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Ithanul*
> 
> O, I got some Copics too. Think around 40 of them now.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> My collection of art supplies make my computer hardware seem far less. Considering I have drop more on a canvas than some video cards.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> And peeps say computers are a expensive hobby. It bad when you got several expensive hobbies.


I mainly got them because out of all the brush tips I tried Copics were the only ones I actually like the feel of. Being refillable is also a nice touch. Sure, my $2 Faber-Castell ones do the trick but there's just something weird about their brush tips...

And yes, gawds do things like canvas get expensive... I'm already at the point that & 40 CAD for something to scribble in is considered okay, and that's not that many sheets to start with. But the paper, oh man is it nice.


----------



## Ithanul

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *WhiteWulfe*
> 
> I mainly got them because out of all the brush tips I tried Copics were the only ones I actually like the feel of. Being refillable is also a nice touch. Sure, my $2 Faber-Castell ones do the trick but there's just something weird about their brush tips...
> 
> And yes, gawds do things like canvas get expensive... I'm already at the point that & 40 CAD for something to scribble in is considered okay, and that's not that many sheets to start with. But the paper, oh man is it nice.


Yeah I have faber castell. I like the color lay down of them though. Still need to try my Copics out.

But good canvas and paper is expensive. My biggest canvas cost me like 250 or so, and that was with a 50% discount coupon. My best paper I have that I love how smooth it is. Is my Stonehenge brand one I found in a Blick art store when I was out in California. That one thing I really, really miss about being out in that State. They had some sweet art supply and computer hardware stores.

Here a tease of one of my first small drawings I did with some faber castell brush pen.


Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!


----------



## WhiteWulfe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Ithanul*
> 
> Yeah I have faber castell. I like the color lay down of them though. Still need to try my Copics out.
> 
> But good canvas and paper is expensive. My biggest canvas cost me like 250 or so, and that was with a 50% discount coupon. My best paper I have that I love how smooth it is. Is my Stonehenge brand one I found in a Blick art store when I was out in California. That one thing I really, really miss about being out in that State. They had some sweet art supply and computer hardware stores.
> 
> Here a tease of one of my first small drawings I did with some faber castell brush pen.
> 
> 
> Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!


Man I wish I was that good at drawing. Then again, if I put more time into it I'd probably be a lot better >.>;;;;;

Pentalic NatureSketch 11x15" is the most expensive I'm willing to go - $250 at half off I.... I .... wow, that's a lot of cash. Sadly don't have anything to share myself since I'm actually pretty new to a lot of this stuff.


----------



## Ithanul

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *WhiteWulfe*
> 
> Man I wish I was that good at drawing. Then again, if I put more time into it I'd probably be a lot better >.>;;;;;
> 
> Pentalic NatureSketch 11x15" is the most expensive I'm willing to go - $250 at half off I.... I .... wow, that's a lot of cash. Sadly don't have anything to share myself since I'm actually pretty new to a lot of this stuff.


Yeah, in my case I started with ink pens instead of doing pencil work. So, going free hand ink is easy for me. Just I suck at drawing certain things. I really have not seriously drawn in several years. That more like a short warm up drawing there. If I actually sat down and took some serious time planning and a ton of hours onto a drawing. Well, then the level of detail work goes extremely up.

This was my last serious ink and detail drawing I ever did. Took me over a span of a month to complete doing parts on and off.


Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!







There is a lot of art stuff out there. I even keep coming across stuff that is new to me. Funny thing though, I can cheap stuff like a Crayola color pencil and do some drawings or heck a Uniball pen, and had people straight up say to me that there is no way I did that. I even had a teacher back in middle school who thought I was printing off the drawings since I draw so crazy clean with ink. Kind of the reason many back in school thought I should of became a tattoo artist.

Major reason art still keeps my interest is like computer tech. All ways something new to learn or to refine.

Well, someone out beat me to the R9 290X, but there is a non X up for sell. Is there any major difference between a non X and X version?


----------



## 4thKor

My X8DAL-i with twin 980 Classy's. Water cooled them and stacked the rads. Worked real well!


----------



## Ithanul

Darn, nice setup. Hehe, I notice it near an AC window unit.


----------



## 4thKor

Anybody have any idea how to set up a pair of Tesla M2090's in a server with ATI onboard graphics? The problem is that these cards are headless, so disabling onboard isn't an option. I put 'em in and they're recognized using latest drivers, but on re-boot I got an error message that xorg wasn't properly configured. Would deleting the "stock" drivers and re-loading 346.96 through CLI along with blacklisting nouvea work like it does for folding? Or are there other options?


----------



## Diffident

You have to blacklist the nouveau driver in order to use the nvidia proprietary driver since they don't play nice together. So whatever you did before should work again. Another thing to think about is after you install the nvidia driver, check to make sure xorg is configured to display on your ATI onboard instead of the tesla.


----------



## 4thKor

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Diffident*
> 
> You have to blacklist the nouveau driver in order to use the nvidia proprietary driver since they don't play nice together. So whatever you did before should work again. Another thing to think about is after you install the nvidia driver, check to make sure xorg is configured to display on your ATI onboard instead of the tesla.


How do I configure xorg? I've googled it and haven't found anything.


----------



## bfromcolo

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *4thKor*
> 
> How do I configure xorg? I've googled it and haven't found anything.


http://www.overclock.net/t/1550955/ubuntu-folding-with-gtx-9xx-seriese-guide

This thread has a good bit of info on configuring xorg.


----------



## 4thKor

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *bfromcolo*
> 
> http://www.overclock.net/t/1550955/ubuntu-folding-with-gtx-9xx-seriese-guide
> 
> This thread has a good bit of info on configuring xorg.


That's the thread I use to load drivers. Along with a few modifications I've figured out with Mint. But I'm not sure it addresses this type of situation.


----------



## Diffident

You may not have to configure xorg if you had it working with the ati onboard. After installing the nvidia drivers, I was wondering if xorg would continue using the onboard or try switching to the new hardware. Have you blacklisted the nouveau driver yet?

What distro are you using?


----------



## 4thKor

I'm using Mint (debian). Everything looks good even with the error message, but I can't run any tasks. GPU's show up in the Event Log and in psensor, but sit idle at 135 mhz. And I haven't blacklisted nouveau yet.


----------



## Diffident

You say everything looks good, but there is an error message. Is xorg loading, or are you being dumped back to the command line?


----------



## 4thKor

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Diffident*
> 
> You say everything looks good, but there is an error message. Is xorg loading, or are you being dumped back to the command line?


Everything is up and running. Nvidia-settings won't run. Error will take me to logs and then CLI if I chose that.


----------



## Diffident

I don't see your Tesla cards listed in the supported cards for the 346.96 driver you are using. You need the Tesla Driver.


----------



## 4thKor

Yes they are:

http://www.nvidia.com/download/driverResults.aspx/92135/en-us


----------



## Diffident

Seems strange there are 2 different drivers with the same version number, yet released on different dates.


----------



## 4thKor

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Diffident*
> 
> Seems strange there are 2 different drivers with the same version number, yet released on different dates.


The first time I looked for drivers I couldn't even find one. Then I tried again and lo and behold it was the "magic" folding driver. The driver isn't the issue. I have to modify xorg somehow.


----------



## Diffident

You don't need to modify xorg to use boinc with the Tesla's since boinc doesn't require X. As long as you installed the CUDA toolkit and set the system to use the tesla for opencl it would work.


----------



## 4thKor

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Diffident*
> 
> You don't need to modify xorg to use boinc with the Tesla's since boinc doesn't require X. As long as you installed the CUDA toolkit and set the system to use the tesla for opencl it would work.


So I need the CUDA Toolkit! Thanks!


----------



## 4thKor

I give up. I've now succeeded in making Cinnamon crash.


----------



## Diffident

What happened?


----------



## 4thKor

Blacklisted nouveau. At least I think that's the issue. Working on getting it back now.

No luck. I deleted the lines in modprobe.d, rebooted, and still the same. I'm tired, it's up and running Univerese. Atakashowaangobednow.


----------



## mmonnin

Lol this sounds like me and trying to install NV drivers in Ubuntu. Blacklisting nouveau would always get me a CLI and I just ended up reinstalling it. Somehow it worked and I pray to the Linux Gods that I never have to do it again.


----------



## 4thKor

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *mmonnin*
> 
> Lol this sounds like me and trying to install NV drivers in Ubuntu. Blacklisting nouveau would always get me a CLI and I just ended up reinstalling it. Somehow it worked and I pray to the Linux Gods that I never have to do it again.


I've already decided a complete reinstall is in order. With the M2090's installed it SHOULD give me drivers. I hope......


----------



## Diffident

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *4thKor*
> 
> I've already decided a complete reinstall is in order. With the M2090's installed it SHOULD give me drivers. I hope......


Hopefully.

I don't know about Mint, but in Gentoo I have to add user boinc to the video group for boinc to have access to the gpu.


----------



## 4thKor

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Diffident*
> 
> Hopefully.
> 
> I don't know about Mint, but in Gentoo I have to add user boinc to the video group for boinc to have access to the gpu.


Mint has an app for that. That's why I'm such a Mint fan. Linux for dummies!


----------



## mmonnin

Only one re-install? Thats not up to my standards. 5-6 minimum haha.


----------



## 4thKor

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *mmonnin*
> 
> Only one re-install? Thats not up to my standards. 5-6 minimum haha.


I've gone through that too. Reinstalled on one system 4 or 5 times before I finally figured out that if you google "whatever" mint it will usually be available as a self-installing file through Mint. Boinc mint, psensor mint, gkrellm mint, etc.


----------



## Diffident

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *4thKor*
> 
> Mint has an app for that. That's why I'm such a Mint fan. Linux for dummies!


Sometimes I think the noob distros are actually harder to use. Seems like everyone is always having problems. I had a try at Ubuntu once, it was like pulling teeth just to get a NFS client working.

Gentoo seems so much easier, even though it has a reputation of being only for experts. The installation is time consuming, but after that its easy peasy.


----------



## 4thKor

I got Cinnamon working again through CLI. Sudo apt-get install nvidia-current (302 driver). Found out that the 346.96 driver never actually installed. I don't know what the deal is, unless perhaps being headless has something to do with it. Think I'll put one in a test rig with my 580 and see if I can get it to work that way. If not, I guess I have a couple of purdy paperweights....


----------



## mmonnin

Does it need to have a card with an output installed? Maybe at least during setup?


----------



## 4thKor

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *mmonnin*
> 
> Does it need to have a card with an output installed? Maybe at least during setup?


That's what I'm thinking.


----------



## tictoc

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Diffident*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *4thKor*
> 
> Mint has an app for that. That's why I'm such a Mint fan. Linux for dummies!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sometimes I think the noob distros are actually harder to use. Seems like everyone is always having problems. I had a try at Ubuntu once, it was like pulling teeth just to get a NFS client working.
> 
> Gentoo seems so much easier, even though it has a reputation of being only for experts. The installation is time consuming, but after that its easy peasy.
Click to expand...

I would have to agree. I've been rocking Arch for quite some time, and the biggest thing that I don't miss with Arch, is all the conflicting apps and drivers I would get with Mint. It makes it much easier to trouble shoot when there are very few apps installed.
I don't have any new suggestions for what to do with the Teslas. On my testing server, that had some Firepros, the quickest way that I got it running, after pulling the 7970s, was to do a fresh install with the new hardware. Hopefully doing a clean install gets you headed in the right direction.


----------



## 4thKor

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *tictoc*
> 
> I would have to agree. I've been rocking Arch for quite some time, and the biggest thing that I don't miss with Arch, is all the conflicting apps and drivers I would get with Mint. It makes it much easier to trouble shoot when there are very few apps installed.
> I don't have any new suggestions for what to do with the Teslas. On my testing server, that had some Firepros, the quickest way that I got it running, after pulling the 7970s, was to do a fresh install with the new hardware. Hopefully doing a clean install gets you headed in the right direction.


I think that is the best way to approach it. But I'm in no hurry either since I got Cinnamon back. I'll wait til I'm really bored and needing a good dose of anger and frustration.


----------



## 4thKor

Just discovered I should be listed as the top two computers in Universe, at least according to their stats, which may be way outdated. Or they may exclude multi-CPU systems.


----------



## mmonnin

My 2P 2670 is #4, PC 42694.

Are you 44613 at #6? Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E7- 4870 @ 2.40GHz [Family 6 Model 47 Stepping 2] 80 threads.


----------



## WhiteWulfe

Could it be that since a lot of things are based upon RAC, that despite having the power it isn't quite showing him as having such yet due to requiring a few more days?


----------



## mmonnin

Yeah. Most of my points come from that 2P and I've been crunching for more of the RAC period so it better matches the projects RAC for me. His will probably end up #1 computer in Universe. No one else is close to 80 threads.


----------



## 4thKor

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *mmonnin*
> 
> My 2P 2670 is #4, PC 42694.
> 
> Are you 44613 at #6? Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E7- 4870 @ 2.40GHz [Family 6 Model 47 Stepping 2] 80 threads.


Where are you seeing this?

I found it. #6 and #7. Was looking for my name.


----------



## Finrond

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *4thKor*
> 
> Where are you seeing this?
> 
> I found it. #6 and #7. Was looking for my name.


If you have the option to show computers disabled, then it will show you as anonymous on the stats.


----------



## BritishBob

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *4thKor*
> 
> I got Cinnamon working again through CLI. Sudo apt-get install nvidia-current (302 driver). Found out that the 346.96 driver never actually installed. I don't know what the deal is, unless perhaps being headless has something to do with it. Think I'll put one in a test rig with my 580 and see if I can get it to work that way. If not, I guess I have a couple of purdy paperweights....


On my Linux install the packages that apt-get uses are borked and don't work. I had to uninstall the drivers, reboot, install directly from the nvidia site to get them to work properly.

May or may not help in you case. Pretty sure I'm still on Ubuntu server, I may not be. I need to find out at some point.


----------



## bfromcolo

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *BritishBob*
> 
> On my Linux install the packages that apt-get uses are borked and don't work. I had to uninstall the drivers, reboot, install directly from the nvidia site to get them to work properly.
> 
> May or may not help in you case. Pretty sure I'm still on Ubuntu server, I may not be. I need to find out at some point.


From about Ubuntu 12.xx through 15.xx, and Mint 17.x, I never had the OpenCL libraries installed (or linked?) correctly without downloading and installing drivers directly from NVIDIA. You can see if this is the case in the BOINC log, each GPU should have 2 entries.

I just installed Mint 18, which is based on Ubuntu 16.04 and it did install and correctly link the libraries, Collatz worked out of the box with no extra fiddling around required. However FAH doesn't work due to some dependencies on older Python libs that I have not figured out yet.


----------



## 4thKor

I've installed the drivers directly from Nvidia. The cards aren't being recognized (I just thought they were). I think it may be a BIOS upgrade requirement, and I can't access that as I haven't given HP lots'a money. Ain't gonna' either.


----------



## spdaimon

I managed to get my nVidias to work in Mint 17.3/Ubuntu 14.04 with the instructions brfromcolo gave me. Couldn't get it to work in Ubuntu 15.xx. The instructions he gave were to blacklist nouveau.
Forgot what thread this was from..I saved it to a PNG a while ago as reference for my Linux noobness.


----------



## lanofsong

LOL - 7. Reboot and Pray


----------



## 4thKor

That's what I did. When I rebooted the GUI was borked. During the loading process I got a message that no cards were available. I think 346.96 is the wrong driver. If I go with a CUDA 7.5 the driver is 352.93. Haven't tried it because I also think I have to disable the onboard ATI graphics, which won't work with headless cards. I have a 580 I need to install with one of these to get it set up. But then I have to know how to bypass BOINC picking up the ATI card after I re-enable it to remove the 580. Big pain. May not even be worth it.....


----------



## Diffident

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *4thKor*
> 
> That's what I did. When I rebooted the GUI was borked. During the loading process I got a message that no cards were available. I think 346.96 is the wrong driver. If I go with a CUDA 7.5 the driver is 352.93. Haven't tried it because I also think I have to disable the onboard ATI graphics, which won't work with headless cards. I have a 580 I need to install with one of these to get it set up. But then I have to know how to bypass BOINC picking up the ATI card after I re-enable it to remove the 580. Big pain. May not even be worth it.....


After you remove the 580 disable ATI graphics in the bios. If this machine is strictly for boinc then you shouldn't be running X server anyway, it isn't necessary, it will just be robbing memory and CPU cycles. You can still access the machine using Boinc Manager from your desktop.


----------



## 4thKor

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Diffident*
> 
> After you remove the 580 disable ATI graphics in the bios. If this machine is strictly for boinc then you shouldn't be running X server anyway, it isn't necessary, it will just be robbing memory and CPU cycles. You can still access the machine using Boinc Manager from your desktop.


How do I get graphics if I disable the ATI onboard? It'll be the only monitor port in the system.


----------



## Diffident

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *4thKor*
> 
> How do I get graphics if I disable the ATI onboard? It'll be the only monitor port in the system.


Is this machine being used for anything other than boinc?


----------



## 4thKor

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Diffident*
> 
> Is this machine being used for anything other than boinc?


No. But I need a monitor.


----------



## Diffident

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *4thKor*
> 
> No. But I need a monitor.


You have the option of accessing the machine from one of your other machines.


----------



## 4thKor

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Diffident*
> 
> You have the option of accessing the machine from one of your other machines.


I have no idea how to do that. I know they use remote access on these things all the time, but I've never done it. Kinda' scary in a way.....


----------



## Diffident

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *4thKor*
> 
> I have no idea how to do that. I know they use remote access on these things all the time, but I've never done it. Kinda' scary in a way.....


Don't be scared.









Controlling Boinc Remotely


----------



## 4thKor

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Diffident*
> 
> Don't be scared.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Controlling Boinc Remotely


Question. After disabling onboard graphics, which will leave no video, will the boot process still be viewable with a monitor. These things can be cantankerous and sometimes I have to hit the escape key to get past the SAS drive configuration menu. It apparently doesn't like being set up with just one drive.


----------



## Diffident

No, there will be no way to output to a monitor. How often do you plan on rebooting the machine? Once it boots you can access the machine with SSH using the command line.


----------



## 4thKor

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Diffident*
> 
> No, there will be no way to output to a monitor. How often do you plan on rebooting the machine? Once it boots you can access the machine with SSH using the command line.


The problem is that sometimes it hangs in the boot process. Guess I could time it and just hit the escape key at a certain point. It always gives that option, but usually resumes after a few seconds. But sometimes not. It's an HP product, after all. I have a HP laptop that I sometimes want to smash against the wall!

As far as shutting down, not very often if at all. It'll run 24/7.


----------



## Diffident

If you're worried about it, you can always leave the 580 in the machine.


----------



## 4thKor

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Diffident*
> 
> If you're worried about it, you can always leave the 580 in the machine.


Then I can only run one M2090, unless I get an expansion board, which would allow a total of four cards. That's what I'm actually leaning toward. Just gotta' find a board at a decent price. I saw one listed a few weeks ago for $75. It's gone, and these other guys think their's are made of gold.


----------



## 4thKor

Another issue I'm having is finding numbers on these M2090's Are they even worth running? They are DP, which is supposedly a good thing.


----------



## Diffident

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *4thKor*
> 
> Another issue I'm having is finding numbers on these M2090's Are they even worth running? They are DP, which is supposedly a good thing.


I just did some looking, the M2090 has 512 CUDA cores, which is the same amount as a GTX 580.


----------



## 4thKor

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Diffident*
> 
> I just did some looking, the M2090 has 512 CUDA cores, which is the same amount as a GTX 580.


Yes, It's the same generation. But it's also double precision, which is lots better for some applications, such as BOINC. But I haven't been able to find any real numbers. They are supposed to be decent with Collatz and SETI, but that's all I've been able to find. The post I found was from 2015, which isn't all that old.


----------



## 4thKor

I also just discovered that the closest 580 driver to the Tesla driver is 352.79. 352.93 isn't even listed. Not sure what the difference is.


----------



## tictoc

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *4thKor*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *Diffident*
> 
> I just did some looking, the M2090 has 512 CUDA cores, which is the same amount as a GTX 580.
> 
> 
> 
> Yes, It's the same generation. But it's also double precision, which is lots better for some applications, such as BOINC. But I haven't been able to find any real numbers. They are supposed to be decent with Collatz and SETI, but that's all I've been able to find. The post I found was from 2015, which isn't all that old.
Click to expand...

There are only two projects that utilize fp64 instructions. All of the GPU apps for MilkyWay require double precision for computations. That is why 7970s and 7990s are still the best bang for your buck on MilkyWay. The other project that uses fp64 is PrimeGrid. For PrimeGrid the only application that requires double precision is the Generalized Fermat Prime Search.

It looks like the peak fp64 performance for that Tesla is 665 Gflops which is roughly the same as an R9 290X. That is pretty good, but it is roughly 30% slower than a 7970/280X, which is at 1 Tflop peak fp64. For all of the other GPU projects the Tesla will probably be right around the same performance as a GTX 580. I hope you get this sorted out, since I love seeing off-the-wall hardware crunching.









Once you get those Teslas up and running, you should throw some water blocks on them.









http://imgur.com/IRur2


----------



## 4thKor

What about a FirePro S10000? I can pick one of those up dirt cheap.


----------



## BritishBob

Anyone have any opinions of the xeon L5520 CPUs?

I might be able to get hold of a box with a few in. They're a bit out of date, but the price might be right.


----------



## WhiteWulfe

Bumping this club as it's been a while since any posts, and I have a curious question.... Which would provide the better overall PPD when attached to two of the Natex E5-2670 bundles.... Four GTX 750 Ti's (two per rig), or two RX 480's (one per rig)? Looking at mainly running [email protected], [email protected], PrimeGrid, and [email protected] for GPU tasks. I'd contemplate four RX 480's but the goal is to keep power consumption below 1000 watts.

.....I'd also be comfortable with having 2x HD 6850 on one rig (since I have a pair of them just sitting there) and then say 2x RX 480's in the other rig...... If projects even support a Barts 6850 anymore that is (and of course, if performance is at least reasonable-ish). I know PrimeGrid does (varies between 0.2 and 0.3x of the best AMD cards) and it seems that [email protected] will too (it'll be somewhere in between 0.231 and 0.236x as those are the data points for the 6770 and 6900's), but for [email protected] there isn't enough data (but there is data for the 6900, which is a whopping... 0.089x off of Fiji, ouch).... .....So by the looks of it we're talking around a quarter of the performance of a Fiji card....

Of course all that number crunching makes me look at the 7970 and realize just how much more potent it is in comparison.... 4x more powerful in PrimeGrid on Windows overall, 3.3x more powerful in AMD PPS:SIeve Linux tasks, there is actual data for GFN-21 (0.556-0.642x of a GTX 1080) as well as the 7970 holding the crown for GFN-21:AMD tasks (and is 2.3x more powerful than a 6900 series), and for GFN-22 overall it's as high 0.747x of a GTX 1080 in Linux, and is pretty close in Windows (0.765-0.895x of an R9 Fury series in AMD tasks)..... Which overall would mean that a single 7970 would outperform two 6850's, at least based upon averaged statistics with no knowledge of what speeds those cards are running at, that is.

Then again, the HD 6850's I'd just have to buy waterblocks for and they could go in, compared to the 7970's where I'd have to source a pair as well as the waterblocks.... But on the flipside, the 4xE5-2670's, 2xHD 6850's, and 2x RX 480's is already putting me 140 watts of power consumption over my ideal limit of 1000 watts (assuming 300 watts per E5-2670 setup, although by the results some have posted earlier in this thread I should be budgeting 350 watts each, which makes me 240 watts over my target)...... Hmmmm, if I went with 2xHD 6850's and 2x750Ti's I'm only 60 watts over my goal, but then there aren't any sexy Watercool waterblocks for the 750 Ti's... Of course, another option is just going with 4x750 Ti's and then using Watercool's universal waterblocks - they aren't as pretty as full fledged blocks, and they don't cool the memory, but at the same time it would put me below my target wattage pulled from the wall...

...Or I could just be "sensible" and go with just one RX 480 per rig and have the different clients duke it out for who gets the cards, since there are four projects I want to run, and would be split two per rig.... Or I suppose there's the "downclock the cards slightly" solution, run two per rig, and then keep an eye on power consumption since there are other devices on that same 15A circuit (HTPC, hubby's gaming laptop, my benching rig (obviously would have BOINC disabled when benching), and there will also be a soldering iron on there at some point (to do mods for benching with). Decisions, decisions.


----------



## bfromcolo

Quote:
Originally Posted by *WhiteWulfe* 

Which would provide the better overall PPD when attached to two of the Natex E5-2670 bundles.... Four GTX 750 Ti's (two per rig), or two RX 480's (one per rig)?
I can't speak to everything, but at FAH a 750ti is worth from 60 - 80k PPD depending on work unit, I have a shinny new RX 470 that got 242k on the first WU I did, we will see how it fairs in the Foldathon. I have a 750ti and 470 in the same Windows 10 rig, once the Foldathon is over I can run a few work units of the projects you are interested in.


----------



## mmonnin

I wouldn't bother with cards so weak. I have a 6850 and several GTX 570s I don't run due to their performance compared to newer cards.

Also remember those Intel boards cannot accept a full length 16x card w/o a riser cable.


----------



## WhiteWulfe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *bfromcolo*
> 
> I can't speak to everything, but at FAH a 750ti is worth from 60 - 80k PPD depending on work unit, I have a shinny new RX 470 that got 242k on the first WU I did, we will see how it fairs in the Foldathon. I have a 750ti and 470 in the same Windows 10 rig, once the Foldathon is over I can run a few work units of the projects you are interested in.


+1 virtual rep first and foremost







I'm definitely curious as to how they'll perform, although a part of me is thinking I might as well just look into the prospect of a single RX 480 per setup as after a bunch of math I realized with a single card in each of the two setups I could stick to three of the goals I have with this BOINC rig...

- dedicated threads for the two CPU POTM's
- an even integer amount for each project (instead of having threads flip back and forth between projects), and
- a minimum of four threads per project (a subsect of this goal was to increase overall PPD/RAC for my main projects, as with my more recent project configs I've had it so that my bigger ones were usually only having two each)

Sadly some projects didn't quite make the cut when I looked into those three rules being fulfilled (I'll be dropping PrimeGrid and [email protected] Beta as regulars, for example) but at the same time being able to go from three projects up to eight or nine (and having a reasonable amount of work done for each) is one I'm liking the sound of.

I'm definitely curious about the RX 470 and how it might compare to the data (someone, ack forgot their name!!) was posting for the RX 480.
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *mmonnin*
> 
> I wouldn't bother with cards so weak. I have a 6850 and several GTX 570s I don't run due to their performance compared to newer cards.
> 
> Also remember those Intel boards cannot accept a full length 16x card w/o a riser cable.


I had a feeling that a pre-GCN card wouldn't have quite the same staying power. Oh well, they'll get to live in the shadow of my benching rig for a time when they can be truly pushed ^_^

Main reason I had contemplated the HD 6850's in the first place was I already had them, but if it's going to be a case of a decent amount of heat being produced for little in the way of actual work being done I'd rather look into spending the money on new gear (even if the overall goal of this rig is to have 60 threads of cpu and two gpu's across multiple projects for hopefully less than $2k CAD before the case and watercooling is factored in)

As for the bit about not fitting, they'd still work in the 8x slots, wouldn't they? Looks like those slots are open backed, not to mention have locks to hold the card in place.


----------



## Diffident

Sounds like you have a monster rig planned.

I think buying newer cards would be better. The money spent in electricity to run those cards will be more than the price of buying new ones.


----------



## WhiteWulfe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Diffident*
> 
> Sounds like you have a monster rig planned.
> 
> I think buying newer cards would be better. The money spent in electricity to run those cards will be more than the price of buying new ones.


Yeah, it'll be a rather fun project... Hoping to have it up for the pentathlon next year, but no full fledged guarantees due to power circuits in our place as well as other projects may or may not take priority (we really do need new monitors, plus something to replace the couch, etc). The custom Parvum case will be rather gorgeous (once I get more things written out and I have some of the cash ready I'll actually talk to them about it), though I'm not looking forward to the bill, or the bill for the watercooling (six water blocks total? Yeouch)

I definitely agree on the cards... Sure, it's $650-700 CAD for the two RX 480's and an additional estimated 60 watts of power consumed.... But each card has easily 4-8x the crunching power depending on the project. RX 480 would definitely be a lot more efficient with things, not to mention Watercool is making Heatkiller blocks for it, potentially XL ones too.


----------



## mmonnin

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *WhiteWulfe*
> 
> +1 virtual rep first and foremost
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'm definitely curious as to how they'll perform, although a part of me is thinking I might as well just look into the prospect of a single RX 480 per setup as after a bunch of math I realized with a single card in each of the two setups I could stick to three of the goals I have with this BOINC rig...
> 
> - dedicated threads for the two CPU POTM's
> - an even integer amount for each project (instead of having threads flip back and forth between projects), and
> - a minimum of four threads per project (a subsect of this goal was to increase overall PPD/RAC for my main projects, as with my more recent project configs I've had it so that my bigger ones were usually only having two each)
> 
> Sadly some projects didn't quite make the cut when I looked into those three rules being fulfilled (I'll be dropping PrimeGrid and [email protected] Beta as regulars, for example) but at the same time being able to go from three projects up to eight or nine (and having a reasonable amount of work done for each) is one I'm liking the sound of.
> 
> I'm definitely curious about the RX 470 and how it might compare to the data (someone, ack forgot their name!!) was posting for the RX 480.
> I had a feeling that a pre-GCN card wouldn't have quite the same staying power. Oh well, they'll get to live in the shadow of my benching rig for a time when they can be truly pushed ^_^
> 
> Main reason I had contemplated the HD 6850's in the first place was I already had them, but if it's going to be a case of a decent amount of heat being produced for little in the way of actual work being done I'd rather look into spending the money on new gear (even if the overall goal of this rig is to have 60 threads of cpu and two gpu's across multiple projects for hopefully less than $2k CAD before the case and watercooling is factored in)
> 
> As for the bit about not fitting, they'd still work in the 8x slots, wouldn't they? Looks like those slots are open backed, not to mention have locks to hold the card in place.


I didn't think there were but I waited until I got home to check and the 2 blue slots are open in the back for longer cards. The 16x slot will run into the memory slots, with or w/o a DIMM, with a normal full length card. It would need a stubby or something just a bit longer than a PCI-E 16x slot. But there are plenty of PCI-E lanes for double slot/full length cards if riser cables are used. I tried one briefly in my Z77 desktop and it works so I have plenty of PCI-E slots.


----------



## WhiteWulfe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *mmonnin*
> 
> I didn't think there were but I waited until I got home to check and the 2 blue slots are open in the back for longer cards. The 16x slot will run into the memory slots, with or w/o a DIMM, with a normal full length card. It would need a stubby or something just a bit longer than a PCI-E 16x slot. But there are plenty of PCI-E lanes for double slot/full length cards if riser cables are used. I tried one briefly in my Z77 desktop and it works so I have plenty of PCI-E slots.


Ah, that's good to know that they actually are open... I kind of hadn't looked at that yet to see if it was even possible. Riser cards are something I'd like to avoid at this time, but if they become necessary later on I'm fairly certain I'd manage to live ^_^;;;


----------



## mmonnin

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *WhiteWulfe*
> 
> Ah, that's good to know that they actually are open... I kind of hadn't looked at that yet to see if it was even possible. Riser cards are something I'd like to avoid at this time, but if they become necessary later on I'm fairly certain I'd manage to live ^_^;;;


I didn't see any cards that were cheap enough or weren't at 90 degrees. I might take a card that went straight up and might partially support a card though. I got one each of these flexible cables to test with:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00H8VVD00/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008BZBFTG/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Going this route would of course severely limit cases to pretty much test benches like from Spotswood. But never mind all that since those 2 slots have open backs. May just have to try moving the 1070 or 970 over onto it.


----------



## 4thKor

Got my 7990's and they just do fit into the DL580. Is there an easy way to install AMD drivers in Linux (Mint Cinnamon)?


----------



## BritishBob

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *4thKor*
> 
> Got my 7990's and they just do fit into the DL580. Is there an easy way to install AMD drivers in Linux (Mint Cinnamon)?


http://support.amd.com/en-us/download/linux

If I remember correctly mint is effectively Ubuntu, so try those.

Google showed me:
https://mintguide.org/system/461-install-latest-amd-catalyst-driver-into-linux-mint.html


----------



## 4thKor

Thanks! I found all of this along with a dozen different guides. They're all entirely different. I thought you guys might have a tried and true method.


----------



## tictoc

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *4thKor*
> 
> Thanks! I found all of this along with a dozen different guides. They're all entirely different. I thought you guys might have a tried and true method.


There is really no tried and true method with AMD drivers, but I would follow one of the recent guides on the Mint forums. Just remember that you will probably want to run Catalyst 15.12 with the 7990s. The new AMDGPU-pro drivers do not support running GCN 1.0 cards, without running a custom kernel and a good bit of other tinkering. Even then things are still broken.

I have been testing out my RX 480 on Linux, and so far the results are pretty even with Windows. No projects were performing better in Linux and a few projects were performing worse. Overall if you can sort out drivers, and running dual GPU cards, then you should see some very nice performance with that machine.

I would definitely suggest finding your best clocks and fan speeds in Windows, and then flashing a custom BIOS on the cards. The GPU tweaking options with AMD in Linux are very limited, and no where near as reliable as what's available for NVIDIA GPUs.


----------



## 4thKor

I've decided to load Win 7 on this thing. Couldn't get Mint to run the drivers. There's something about this machine that doesn't like running Linux graphics drivers. Nvidia won't work either.


----------



## un-nefer

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *4thKor*
> 
> I've decided to load Win 7 on this thing. Couldn't get Mint to run the drivers. There's something about this machine that doesn't like running Linux graphics drivers. Nvidia won't work either.


Linux is great for most things, just not too great when it comesto gfx card drivers and performance. When I built my BOINC rig a while back, I tested Windows vs Linux and found that you got more PPD from GPU tasks run in Windows compared to Linux.

Anyhoo, I don't think it is much of a problem tbh, as long as you're running tasks and contributing to the projects you want to support









P.S. On a side note, what projects are ppl running on their CPU-only BOINC server/rig?


----------



## mmonnin

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *un-nefer*
> 
> Linux is great for most things, just not too great when it comesto gfx card drivers and performance. When I built my BOINC rig a while back, I tested Windows vs Linux and found that you got more PPD from GPU tasks run in Windows compared to Linux.
> 
> Anyhoo, I don't think it is much of a problem tbh, as long as you're running tasks and contributing to the projects you want to support
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> P.S. On a side note, what projects are ppl running on their CPU-only BOINC server/rig?


When comparing some project's results between Linux/Windows you have to look at processing time as well as some projects give points for work done and not a fixed point per WU. I saw a comparison for one project on their message boards that had Linux GPU computing at quite a bit faster than windows but then the points per WU was a lot less. In the end the PPD were about the same.


----------



## BritishBob

I tend to just stick to linux, just so I don't have to acquire windows.


----------



## spdaimon

Since I have only played around with VMWare Player or Workstation and Virtualbox, I am wondering how useful is ESXi for BOINC? I specifically wonder if I could run GPGPU projects in a virtual machine in ESXi, or am I better off with using Linux or Windows as the host and just run GPGPU projects on the host, and run CPU projects on the VMs. VMs seems to me you have better control over each project. You could carve up and control resources better I think. I've been watching Youtube tutorial on set ups but hasn't answered my question. Plus I don't know what ESXi runs cost-wise.


----------



## tictoc

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *spdaimon*
> 
> Since I have only played around with VMWare Player or Workstation and Virtualbox, I am wondering how useful is ESXi for BOINC? I specifically wonder if I could run GPGPU projects in a virtual machine in ESXi, or am I better off with using Linux or Windows as the host and just run GPGPU projects on the host, and run CPU projects on the VMs. VMs seems to me you have better control over each project. You could carve up and control resources better I think. I've been watching Youtube tutorial on set ups but hasn't answered my question. Plus I don't know what ESXi runs cost-wise.


You can run the free version of ESXi to utilize GPU pass through. You won't be able to split the GPU up to different clients, but for BOINC that wouldn't make sense anyway. My 2P will be running ESXi with 4 GPUs to 4 separate clients. Consumer grade AMD GPUs work well for a home lab setup, and you should see roughly 90+% of the performance that you would get running the GPUs natively.

I am running ESXi on a USB stick and utilizing all of the rig's resources for VMs.


----------



## spdaimon

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *tictoc*
> 
> You can run the free version of ESXi to utilize GPU pass through. You won't be able to split the GPU up to different clients, but for BOINC that wouldn't make sense anyway. My 2P will be running ESXi with 4 GPUs to 4 separate clients. Consumer grade AMD GPUs work well for a home lab setup, and you should see roughly 90+% of the performance that you would get running the GPUs natively.
> 
> I am running ESXi on a USB stick and utilizing all of the rig's resources for VMs.


Oh, ok, great! I haven't been able to find much on the topic, other than someone wanted to run 16 copies of Diablo 3 (...Why?.. + you'd need 16 GPUs) I was planning to use a pair 780 TIs maybe, but certainly could flip-flop a pair of my AMD GPUs from another rig. It seemed from what I saw in that same thread (it was over on [H]ard|OCP) that Kepler and Pro cards, guessing Tesla and Titan, would work too.

Be so great once I get it up and running.







Not sure if I can put it on my resume.







Need to break out of this dead-end DSS job...

https://hardforum.com/threads/esxi-5-5-gpu-passthrough.1826174/


----------



## tictoc

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *spdaimon*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *tictoc*
> 
> You can run the free version of ESXi to utilize GPU pass through. You won't be able to split the GPU up to different clients, but for BOINC that wouldn't make sense anyway. My 2P will be running ESXi with 4 GPUs to 4 separate clients. Consumer grade AMD GPUs work well for a home lab setup, and you should see roughly 90+% of the performance that you would get running the GPUs natively.
> 
> I am running ESXi on a USB stick and utilizing all of the rig's resources for VMs.
> 
> 
> 
> Oh, ok, great! I haven't been able to find much on the topic, other than someone wanted to run 16 copies of Diablo 3 (...Why?.. + you'd need 16 GPUs) I was planning to use a pair 780 TIs maybe, but certainly could flip-flop a pair of my AMD GPUs from another rig. It seemed from what I saw in that same thread (it was over on [H]ard|OCP) that Kepler and Pro cards, guessing Tesla and Titan, would work too.
> 
> Be so great once I get it up and running.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Not sure if I can put it on my resume.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Need to break out of this dead-end DSS job...
> 
> https://hardforum.com/threads/esxi-5-5-gpu-passthrough.1826174/
Click to expand...

As far as I know after Kepler the only NVIDIA cards that will do GPU pass through, on a bare metal hyperviser like ESXi, are Quaddro cards. If you want to run the 780ti's look into KVM. I haven't messed around with it, but I have heard good things as far as using it with consumer NVIDIA cards.


----------



## WhiteWulfe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *BritishBob*
> 
> I tend to just stick to linux, just so I don't have to acquire windows.


Pretty much the reason I'll be running Linux when I get mine. Free operating system means I'm willing to learn the ropes... That and it gives me an excuse to have a Linux box in the first place ^_^


----------



## 4thKor

Got Win 7 installed on the 580. Now I can't find ethernet drivers. I've tried everything on the HP website, but they all pop up with "incompatible OS" (Win 7 not listed, just server editions).


----------



## Diffident

My new Far From Budget Boincer. It's a crappy pic, the cables look yellow instead of orange in the pic....and it isn't finished...still need case lighting, tempered glass window and a decent shade of orange for the coolant. I couldn't get the right shade of orange on my first attempt. had to drain the loop and start over.

The important stuff

i7-6800K (12 Threads of goodness)
Asus x99a/3.1usb (which I'm not liking so far)
32GB HyperX Predator DDR4-3000
OS: Funtoo Linux (Gentoo based from the original author of Gentoo)



Now I can work on the real budget boincer. Which I'll probably water cool too since I have enough parts laying around.


----------



## 4thKor

Looks good! Amazing how "budget" gets lost somewhere in putting these together. My DL580 started out at a little over $400 and has now approached the $1500 mark. Plus I ended up with three more.....


----------



## BeerCan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *4thKor*
> 
> Got Win 7 installed on the 580. Now I can't find ethernet drivers. I've tried everything on the HP website, but they all pop up with "incompatible OS" (Win 7 not listed, just server editions).


(I moved my answer from the other thread)

You are aware that win7 will only see 2 cpu's right? I think that server has a variant of the boradcom nic. You can try and d/l drivers from there.

Regarding the mint issue, are you trying to use fglrx, AMDGPU or AMDGPU-PRO? (for the ati cards)


----------



## 4thKor

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *BeerCan*
> 
> (I moved my answer from the other thread)
> 
> You are aware that win7 will only see 2 cpu's right? I think that server has a variant of the boradcom nic. You can try and d/l drivers from there.
> 
> Regarding the mint issue, are you trying to use fglrx, AMDGPU or AMDGPU-PRO? (for the ati cards)


I was hoping the two CPU bit was just a glitch. Will it run all four for BOINC?

And I've tried every Broadcomm driver I can find. Non have worked.

I was trying to install version 15.12. I think it's fglrx, as that was in the definition.


----------



## BeerCan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *4thKor*
> 
> I was hoping the two CPU bit was just a glitch. Will it run all four for BOINC?
> 
> And I've tried every Broadcomm driver I can find. Non have worked.
> 
> I was trying to install version 15.12. I think it's fglrx, as that was in the definition.


2 cpu is the 'limit" in the consumer OSes.

7990 are supported by the newer AMD driver (I think) I would for sure try those (AMDGPU or PRO)

http://support.amd.com/en-us/kb-articles/Pages/AMDGPU-PRO-Install.aspx


----------



## 4thKor

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *BeerCan*
> 
> 2 cpu is the 'limit" in the consumer OSes.
> 
> 7990 are supported by the newer AMD driver (I think) I would for sure try those (AMDGPU or PRO)
> 
> http://support.amd.com/en-us/kb-articles/Pages/AMDGPU-PRO-Install.aspx


I just found that. I've now decided to try Mint 18 on the SATA drive instead of using Smart Array. Windows didn't like it, so I have reason to think it may be an issue with Linux. I'm also not going to run update/upgrade after installation. I'll try installing drivers first. At least Mint gives me internet.


----------



## BeerCan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *4thKor*
> 
> I just found that. I've now decided to try Mint 18 on the SATA drive instead of using Smart Array. Windows didn't like it, so I have reason to think it may be an issue with Linux. I'm also not going to run update/upgrade after installation. I'll try installing drivers first. At least Mint gives me internet.


I hope it goes well. I have a 480 on order that I want to use with Zorin for an experiment, but I also want it to boinc.


----------



## 4thKor

Zorin 9 Lite looks interesting. May have to try it out!


----------



## WhiteWulfe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *4thKor*
> 
> Looks good! Amazing how "budget" gets lost somewhere in putting these together. My DL580 started out at a little over $400 and has now approached the $1500 mark. Plus I ended up with three more.....


I hear you on such! I've gone from a "oh hey, $5-600 CAD including power supplies" ideas to "eh, screw it, let's make this a full blown all Watercool Heatkiller watercooled (with external MO-RA3 420 so I can pump the heat outside in the summer, and keep it indoors in the winter), custom case, 2x 2P board, and a single (with eventual future of dual if I can get power figured out) RX 480 on each side. Oh, and two satellite cases designed similarly containing a variety of ODroid C2's, ODroid XU4's, maybe the Raspberry Pi 3's, and maybe some sort of x86 derivative product like the UDOO x86).... .....And quite likely with the satellites watercooled too ^_^;;;;

Then again, hubby said I'm allowed "one" rig for BOINC, but I'm allowed to cram as many items from the bucket list as I want into it. He finds it cute that I'm trying to literally cram two servers, 8+ single board computers (ideally, I'd like to run at least 5x ODroid C2's, 5x ODroid XU4's, with an option for x86 stuff as well but given that I'll already have 64 threads of Xeons I can't complain







....Would be awesome to run eight of each, but then we truly are getting to the completely bonkers overkill since just five of each comes out to $1,068.50 USD before shipping, which for those of you following my silly math is the cost of another two Natex bundles, which I wouldn't doubt would outperform the ODroids! .... ...I just want cute lil devices to tinker with, if that makes any sense, plus of course the Android work units too), and three water cooling loops all into "one" case.... Oh, and having it set up that pretty much every single setup is independent of the other, so if I take one down for maintenance the rest keep going.

Yeah, I'm nuts.


----------



## Ithanul

Heck, if I had the space and money. Well, lets say I would have a lot of computer hardware and computer rigs all over the place.









On good news. 5960X has showed up. Now I am at five CPUs, just need to get the others up and running. Though the 1090T is most likely going into retirement.


----------



## un-nefer

What projects are those with CPU-only servers running?

There are some G34 server mobos available on ebay that support 4x 12 core CPUs for a fairly "budget" price - but if the PPD isn't there for CPU only tasks, it's not really worth the effort.


----------



## WhiteWulfe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *un-nefer*
> 
> What projects are those with CPU-only servers running?
> 
> There are some G34 server mobos available on ebay that support 4x 12 core CPUs for a fairly "budget" price - but if the PPD isn't there for CPU only tasks, it's not really worth the effort.


With a lot of projects it's more about the actual science than it is raw PPD. Credit only tells you how you compare to others in that same project. For example, 20k PPD in PrimeGrid is easy (my rig can put out 20k credit in 37-38 minutes or so via PPS Sieve), but gaining 20k PPD in World Community Grid or [email protected] is a lot more difficult. In fact, with [email protected], only 46 people have a recent average credit (RAC, aka BOINC's version of PPD, but averaged out over something like 30 days or so) over 20k according to their "top participants" section.

Myself, I'm currently running 14 different projects partially because I wanted to change things up from my usual three or four projects only, and to include the current as well as few previous POTMs (Project(s) of the Month) into the mix.

I guess the short version of things for my opinion is "choose to support the science you wish to" as the science itself is the most important element.


----------



## un-nefer

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *WhiteWulfe*
> 
> With a lot of projects it's more about the actual science than it is raw PPD. Credit only tells you how you compare to others in that same project.


I have projects that I run tasks for because I want to support what they are trying to achieve - but raw PPD is what I'm chasing if I build another BOINC rig









I've been out of the loop for a number of years and I've dropped down to 77 in the OCN team and I want to get back near the DR again near and back in the top 1000 in the world








Quote:


> Originally Posted by *WhiteWulfe*
> 
> For example, 20k PPD in PrimeGrid is easy (my rig can put out 20k credit in 37-38 minutes or so via PPS Sieve),


Is this with CPU only? If so, I'll give PrimeGrid a go after the Seti WOW event has finished.

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *WhiteWulfe*
> 
> I guess the short version of things for my opinion is "choose to support the science you wish to" as the science itself is the most important element.


Definitely. But it's important to have fun with it as well - and for me, the ranking/positions does this


----------



## 4thKor

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *un-nefer*
> 
> What projects are those with CPU-only servers running?
> 
> There are some G34 server mobos available on ebay that support 4x 12 core CPUs for a fairly "budget" price - but if the PPD isn't there for CPU only tasks, it's not really worth the effort.


I've run Universe, but PPD isn't that great. But my rig worked it's way to #1 in just a short time. But that's why I'm wanting to get these GPU's up and running, so the PPD vs power consumption is at least justifiable. This beast pulls 700watts from the wall.


----------



## mmonnin

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *un-nefer*
> 
> I have projects that I run tasks for because I want to support what they are trying to achieve - but raw PPD is what I'm chasing if I build another BOINC rig
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I've been out of the loop for a number of years and I've dropped down to 77 in the OCN team and I want to get back near the DR again near and back in the top 1000 in the world
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Is this with CPU only? If so, I'll give PrimeGrid a go after the Seti WOW event has finished.
> Definitely. But it's important to have fun with it as well - and for me, the ranking/positions does this


If you want PPD when get as many GPUs as you can afford. Thats where the points come from in any project.


----------



## WhiteWulfe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *un-nefer*
> 
> I have projects that I run tasks for because I want to support what they are trying to achieve - but raw PPD is what I'm chasing if I build another BOINC rig
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I've been out of the loop for a number of years and I've dropped down to 77 in the OCN team and I want to get back near the DR again near and back in the top 1000 in the world
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Is this with CPU only? If so, I'll give PrimeGrid a go after the Seti WOW event has finished.
> Definitely. But it's important to have fun with it as well - and for me, the ranking/positions does this


The PrimeGrid data was with a gpu (I run a GTX 980 Ti Golden Edition at stock clocks) while [email protected] was cpu ^_^ If I remember correctly, Collatz will give a higher PPD than PrimeGrid, but it also runs things a lot warmer (water cooling us recommended).


----------



## spdaimon

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *tictoc*
> 
> As far as I know after Kepler the only NVIDIA cards that will do GPU pass through, on a bare metal hyperviser like ESXi, are Quaddro cards. If you want to run the 780ti's look into KVM. I haven't messed around with it, but I have heard good things as far as using it with consumer NVIDIA cards.


Ok, thanks for the info. I'll look into KVM (I'm guessing it doesnt mean Keyboard-Video-Mouse) but it sounds like it would be easier to use the R9 280Xs or I could steal the 7970s out of my W3690 rig that is just sitting around for the moment if it needs older version. Again, appreciate your input!







+1 imaginary rep.


----------



## Ithanul

Yeah, just pick a project you want to be boss in and just throw hardware at it.









I tend to go between Universe, WCG, CSG, PrimeGrid, and pogs. Some times do a bit of rosetta too. Reason I can't wait to get the 3930k and 5960x up and running. That right there should give me a total of 28 threads. Of course some have to give up to my GPUs that fold.

Of course once I finally get my folder and main rig done. I will then put my attention to a 2P server. Biggest problem will be finding a spot for it. I have a bench case that I plan to mount it on to and setup two 360 radiators under it. Or say crap it, save up the money and get a 4P monster. Technical I can afford one, but I am a bit of liking to find best bang for buck or cheapest. I remember one time someone dare ask how much money I actually have. Lets say the peep was shocked, most my age range is in debt, but me well, I can't stand having debt or owing money to anyone. Reason going to take a good while before I have a house for myself. I just need to find a job later that allow me my expensive hobbies.


----------



## un-nefer

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *mmonnin*
> 
> If you want PPD when get as many GPUs as you can afford. Thats where the points come from in any project.


That's too easy though, I can smash out high PPD from my old BOINC rig if I want - I was interested in a CPU only, 48 core beast - but I need a project that will give decent PPD to make it worth the effort


----------



## tictoc

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *spdaimon*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *tictoc*
> 
> As far as I know after Kepler the only NVIDIA cards that will do GPU pass through, on a bare metal hyperviser like ESXi, are Quaddro cards. If you want to run the 780ti's look into KVM. I haven't messed around with it, but I have heard good things as far as using it with consumer NVIDIA cards.
> 
> 
> 
> Ok, thanks for the info. I'll look into KVM (I'm guessing it doesnt mean Keyboard-Video-Mouse) but it sounds like it would be easier to use the R9 280Xs or I could steal the 7970s out of my W3690 rig that is just sitting around for the moment if it needs older version. Again, appreciate your input!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> +1 imaginary rep.
Click to expand...

Here are a few links to get you started with KVM if you want to use the 780ti.

KVM homepage: http://www.linux-kvm.org/page/Main_Page

GPU pass through with KVM guide: https://hardforum.com/threads/guide-gpu-passthrough-using-kvm-lvm2-ubuntu-gnome-from-beginning-to-end.1862980/


----------



## 4thKor

Spent the last several days attempting to get the 7990 to run in the DL580. No luck. Seems the kernel has to be an older version than what's being distributed, even with older versions of the OS. I've thought I had it figured out a few times and at the last get a "DKMS module fail" error. I think I've loaded OS's on this thing about a dozen times. The good part is that I'm getting rather familiar with Linux commands. "sudo eat poop" won't do anything.....


----------



## mmonnin

I think you have the syntax wrong on the poop command.


----------



## 4thKor

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *mmonnin*
> 
> I think you have the syntax wrong on the poop command.


If I can get this thing going I'm going to name the config file "eat-poop". Kind of a thumbing the nose at it as in "take that!".


----------



## 4thKor

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *4thKor*
> 
> If I can get this thing going I'm going to name the config file "eat-poop". Kind of a thumbing the nose at it as in "take that!".


Finally got'er up and running! Had to install Mint 13 to get drivers to install.


----------



## Ithanul

Hey, how good are Xeon E5620s? Just came across a setup with mobo, ram, and coolers for $225 shipped and insured.

Very tempted to nab it.


----------



## bfromcolo

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Ithanul*
> 
> Hey, how good are Xeon E5620s? Just came across a setup with mobo, ram, and coolers for $225 shipped and insured.
> 
> Very tempted to nab it.


2.4 Ghz 4 cores/8 threads CPUs. The CPUs themselves can be had for $9 a pop on ebay. What motherboard/memory/coolers? I am glad I went with the hex cores and got 24 threads out of it, and paid less than you are talking about.

edit - I did buy a Supermicro power supply with the non-standard wiring

Motherboard: SuperMicro X8DTT-F-SG007 Rev.2 with stock heatsinks

CPU(s): 2 x Intel L5640 (6 core with HT)

Memory: 6 x 4G Micron MT18JSF51272AZ-1G4D1ZG

PSU: AHW5DC252W SGI Switching Power Supply

cost: $240 for the motherboard, CPUs, power supply and memory.


----------



## BeerCan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Ithanul*
> 
> Hey, how good are Xeon E5620s? Just came across a setup with mobo, ram, and coolers for $225 shipped and insured.
> 
> Very tempted to nab it.


To me that is just a little to old for the money. With the prices of the 2670's I would get 1 or 2 of them and hunt down a MB for cheap(ish). You can get memory for them super cheap on ebay. You will get a bunch more crunching for the money.


----------



## BeerCan

How about something like this?
http://www.natex.us/Quanta-QSSC-2ML-Dual-LGA2011-Sockets-16-DIMM-1u-R-p/spd-6.htm


----------



## Ithanul

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *BeerCan*
> 
> How about something like this?
> http://www.natex.us/Quanta-QSSC-2ML-Dual-LGA2011-Sockets-16-DIMM-1u-R-p/spd-6.htm


No room for rack types. If I had the room I go with one.
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *bfromcolo*
> 
> 2.4 Ghz 4 cores/8 threads CPUs. The CPUs themselves can be had for $9 a pop on ebay. What motherboard/memory/coolers? I am glad I went with the hex cores and got 24 threads out of it, and paid less than you are talking about.
> 
> edit - I did buy a Supermicro power supply with the non-standard wiring
> 
> Motherboard: SuperMicro X8DTT-F-SG007 Rev.2 with stock heatsinks
> CPU(s): 2 x Intel L5640 (6 core with HT)
> Memory: 6 x 4G Micron MT18JSF51272AZ-1G4D1ZG
> PSU: AHW5DC252W SGI Switching Power Supply
> cost: $240 for the motherboard, CPUs, power supply and memory.


It has two Hyper 212s, 24GB of ECC ram, and the mobo is a Intel S5520HC.


----------



## WhiteWulfe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Ithanul*
> 
> No room for rack types. If I had the room I go with one.
> It has two Hyper 212s, 24GB of ECC ram, and the mobo is a Intel S5520HC.


The silly one in me has this to ask.....

Got room for an Ikea Rast end table? They make excellent 5 or 6U racks on the cheap (for some reason, can't remember precisely). Many in the home studio community as well as modular synth folk absolutely looooove the rast end tables, some of which you can easily convert into a pair of them into a 15U rack if I remember correctly. It isn't the prettiest, but it does the job, and you can paint or stain the wood to make it blend in with other things ^_^


----------



## mmonnin

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *WhiteWulfe*
> 
> The silly one in me has this to ask.....
> 
> Got room for an Ikea Rast end table? They make excellent 5 or 6U racks on the cheap (for some reason, can't remember precisely). Many in the home studio community as well as modular synth folk absolutely looooove the rast end tables, some of which you can easily convert into a pair of them into a 15U rack if I remember correctly. It isn't the prettiest, but it does the job, and you can paint or stain the wood to make it blend in with other things ^_^


http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/44361109/

Do you mean these 4 boards and 12 screws?







Seems pretty simple to make.


----------



## WhiteWulfe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *mmonnin*
> 
> http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/44361109/
> 
> Do you mean these 4 boards and 12 screws?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Seems pretty simple to make.


Yup, it is indeed fairly easy to make... Just nice and convenient to walk in and pick it up, then stain however you want.


----------



## BeerCan

Wow 15 bucks. I think I am going to pick 1 or 2 of these up. I hate going to Ikea but I see some use for these.


----------



## un-nefer

Guide on instructables on how to make an 8U rack from the Ikea RAST table:
http://www.instructables.com/id/8U-Rack-Case-From-IKEA-RAST-Table/


----------



## Ithanul

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *WhiteWulfe*
> 
> The silly one in me has this to ask.....
> 
> Got room for an Ikea Rast end table? They make excellent 5 or 6U racks on the cheap (for some reason, can't remember precisely). Many in the home studio community as well as modular synth folk absolutely looooove the rast end tables, some of which you can easily convert into a pair of them into a 15U rack if I remember correctly. It isn't the prettiest, but it does the job, and you can paint or stain the wood to make it blend in with other things ^_^


Nope, no room. Seriously, this old single wide trailer really don't have much room once filled up.

Plus, no room in my bedroom. Bad enough a full size bed can't fit in there if I want room to walk around.


----------



## WhiteWulfe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *BeerCan*
> 
> Wow 15 bucks. I think I am going to pick 1 or 2 of these up. I hate going to Ikea but I see some use for these.


It's one of the gems from Ikea, and even better it's a budget friendly gem ^_^
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Ithanul*
> 
> Nope, no room. Seriously, this old single wide trailer really don't have much room once filled up.
> 
> Plus, no room in my bedroom. Bad enough a full size bed can't fit in there if I want room to walk around.


Ahhhh, good point.


----------



## Ithanul

If me and my Mom can convince my Dad on getting a new trailer then definitely will have room for something like that.

They keep eyeing a nice short double wide. Heck, even the new single wides are larger than this old one they currently have.


----------



## Diffident

I just ordered one of these, Intel Server Motherboard BBS2600WPQ S2600WPQ LGA 2011 Socket R for my 2670's.

It says its new, and a good price. There's still 8 left if anyone else wants one.

I can't wait till it's delivered.


----------



## Ithanul

Very nice. Tempting too. Just no room for me to set up a board like that.

I actually got my hands on a E5-2670V3(ES). Can't wait for it to show up, it going on an X99 ITX board instead.


----------



## WhiteWulfe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Diffident*
> 
> I just ordered one of these, Intel Server Motherboard BBS2600WPQ S2600WPQ LGA 2011 Socket R for my 2670's.
> 
> It says its new, and a good price. There's still 8 left if anyone else wants one.
> 
> I can't wait till it's delivered.


They definitely seem tempting, but I am curious... How do they handle power? I don't see an ATX header or such.


----------



## Diffident

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *WhiteWulfe*
> 
> They definitely seem tempting, but I am curious... How do they handle power? I don't see an ATX header or such.


The server chassis the motherboard fits in uses a CRPS redundant power supply. I'll think I have to get a power adapter board.


----------



## WhiteWulfe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Diffident*
> 
> The server chassis the motherboard fits in uses a CRPS redundant power supply. I'll think I have to get a power adapter board.


Ahhh, good to know. How hard are adapters to find for such boards?


----------



## 4thKor

I got me X8DTH-6F up and running with a pair of E5520's I had on hand. Gonna' run three 7990's on this thing. Also picked up a really cool aluminum mining rig open case made in Czechoslovakia to mount it all in and allow for breathing room for these beasties. Picked another 7990 up cheap to make three. I'm not really and AMD fan, but I love these dual GPU cards!


----------



## Tex1954

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *4thKor*
> 
> I got me X8DTH-6F up and running with a pair of E5520's I had on hand. Gonna' run three 7990's on this thing. Also picked up a really cool aluminum mining rig open case made in Czechoslovakia to mount it all in and allow for breathing room for these beasties. Picked another 7990 up cheap to make three. I'm not really and AMD fan, but I love these dual GPU cards!


I expect to see a picture once it's setup!


----------



## BeerCan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *4thKor*
> 
> I got me X8DTH-6F up and running with a pair of E5520's I had on hand. Gonna' run three 7990's on this thing. Also picked up a really cool aluminum mining rig open case made in Czechoslovakia to mount it all in and allow for breathing room for these beasties. Picked another 7990 up cheap to make three. I'm not really and AMD fan, but I love these dual GPU cards!


Cool, can't wait to see this. Can you show pics of the frame, I have been looking for one. BTW Czechoslovakia was dissolved in the early 1990's


----------



## mmonnin

Pics of your mini electrical sub station to power said system as well.


----------



## 4thKor

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *BeerCan*
> 
> Cool, can't wait to see this. Can you show pics of the frame, I have been looking for one. BTW Czechoslovakia was dissolved in the early 1990's


This is the frame:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Aluminum-GPU-mining-open-case-Crypto-Monster-for-Ethereum-etc-6-graphic-cards-/222243339891

And it's from the Czech Republic.








Quote:


> Originally Posted by *mmonnin*
> 
> Pics of your mini electrical sub station to power said system as well.


----------



## BeerCan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *4thKor*
> 
> This is the frame:
> http://www.ebay.com/itm/Aluminum-GPU-mining-open-case-Crypto-Monster-for-Ethereum-etc-6-graphic-cards-/222243339891
> 
> And it's from the Czech Republic.


haha cool I am totally getting one of those. I have wanted to do something like that for a long time. I used to go to Prague every year to play a hockey tournament over there. We had great fun it is an awesome city.


----------



## mmonnin

I was looking for something similar for my Natex 2P board but didn't find much out there besides spotswood custom cases.


----------



## Diffident

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Diffident*
> 
> I just ordered one of these, Intel Server Motherboard BBS2600WPQ S2600WPQ LGA 2011 Socket R for my 2670's.
> 
> It says its new, and a good price. There's still 8 left if anyone else wants one.
> 
> I can't wait till it's delivered.


This board that I ordered arrived today.







What I find strange is, the board is powered by just 2 6-pin's. I'm having trouble finding a power supply, other than the expensive Intel one made for this, that has 2 cpu 6 pin connectors.

In theory, I should be able to use any power supply that has 2 8 pin's and change them to 6 pin's. I have the pinout for the board.


----------



## Tex1954

Well, PCIe connectors have 3 +12 lines on each no matter if they 6 or 8 pin. Is this what intel had in mind maybe?

I doubt a 6 pin PCIe would work, but the wires there should.










PS: Got new 6180 toy running and with no overclock, it crunches LC tasks just fine and as fast as the 5680!


----------



## Diffident

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tex1954*
> 
> Well, PCIe connectors have 3 +12 lines on each no matter if they 6 or 8 pin. Is this what intel had in mind maybe?
> 
> I doubt a 6 pin PCIe would work, but the wires there should.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> PS: Got new 6180 toy running and with no overclock, it crunches LC tasks just fine and as fast as the 5680!


I could use the wires from the pcie cables, but change the connectors. The square and rounded pins are oriented differently on pcie cables since the Grounds and +12V pins are reversed.


----------



## 4thKor

Got the CryptoMonster open case today. This thing is VERY well made and bolts together with no issues whatsoever. Can't wait to get everything put together. Waiting for paint to dry and Win 7 to update. It's been two days now waiting on that!


----------



## BeerCan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *4thKor*
> 
> Got the CryptoMonster open case today. This thing is VERY well made and bolts together with no issues whatsoever. Can't wait to get everything put together. Waiting for paint to dry and Win 7 to update. It's been two days now waiting on that!


Been waiting for you to get this so I could get your opinion on it. So . . . would you buy it again?


----------



## 4thKor

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *BeerCan*
> 
> Been waiting for you to get this so I could get your opinion on it. So . . . would you buy it again?


I would! The EATX X8DTH fit in with no room issues. Of course the hole patterns didn't match, but I expected that. I also ended up jacking the board up about 2 inches so that my PCI extension cables would reach. Should have got longer ones. But the case is quite well made.

The issue I'm having now is getting drivers for the 7990 to load without a blue-screen. I think I need to update the BIOS before I go any further. This thing has 1.0 version and doesn't have a lot of options for disabling the onboard Matrox video. I think that's where the problem is. Tried disabling the VGA with onboard jumpers, but that didn't work. I've got to do away with onboard graphics altogether.

I hope to get things sorted out and post some pics with all three 7990's up and running in a few days. Been busy, so haven't had a lot of time to tinker.


----------



## 4thKor

Finally got this beast up and running. BIOS flash did the trick. Still have to optimize everything and do some testing, but I'm a whole lot further along than I was! Gonna' be a good day.


----------



## Diffident

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *4thKor*
> 
> Finally got this beast up and running. BIOS flash did the trick. Still have to optimize everything and do some testing, but I'm a whole lot further along than I was! Gonna' be a good day.


----------



## 4thKor

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Diffident*


Patience, Grasshopper.


----------



## WhiteWulfe

I'll add in an impatient request for pics due to sheer curiosity. Bonus Internet brownie points for whole room/rig setup too, because we all like seeing such things ^_^


----------



## 4thKor

Got two 7990's up and running. Installed the third and it's not recognized. Any suggestions would be appreciated!





This thing has been a bear from the get-go.


----------



## WhiteWulfe

+1 virtual cookie rep to you 4thKor! I'm almost curious if they sell dual mobo tray versions >.>;;;;


----------



## scubadiver59

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *WhiteWulfe*
> 
> +1 virtual cookie rep to you 4thKor! I'm almost curious if they sell dual mobo tray versions >.>;;;;


Just give a shout out to Mr. Spotswood...I'm sure he can CAD (Computer-Aided Design not Canadian $) something up for a decent price, like he did for my X99E-WS mobo below (it can support 7 GPUs).


----------



## WhiteWulfe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *scubadiver59*
> 
> Just give a shout out to Mr. Spotswood...I'm sure he can CAD (Computer-Aided Design not Canadian $) something up for a decent price, like he did for my X99E-WS mobo below (it can support 7 GPUs).


Odds are he'll be the one I go with for my quad SuperMicro X8DTT-F setup idea (that also might have a few Odroids on it too)..... With a bunch of other things too (aka two loops, each with its own Watercool MO-RA3 420)


----------



## Ithanul

I actually have one of his test bench.

Just no clue how it goes together.







O well, I don't have room to set it up.


----------



## BeerCan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *4thKor*
> 
> Got two 7990's up and running. Installed the third and it's not recognized. Any suggestions would be appreciated!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> This thing has been a bear from the get-go.


Are you using the X8DTH-iF? How many processors? Did you check the bios to make sure that all the pcie slots are on? (you can turn them on/off in supermicro boards)

I wonder with all those 7990's if you are running out of pcie lanes on the board. perhaps try to set the cards to use less lanes and see if you can get the 3rd one recognized.


----------



## scubadiver59

For those of you with Quad CPU systems in mind, and for those of you with basements to keep the server whine to a minimum, there are seven (7) AWESOME deals on some Supermicro 2U Server H8QG6-F servers on Ebay right now.

Buy them up so my bare motherboard sale, here on Overclock, looks more tempting--whomever is selling those servers is seriously undercutting everyone!

If I was still BOINCing as much as I should be, I'd buy them all since they're so low.










_Disclaimer: I am in no way associated with any sales on Ebay, or any other website other than Overclock.Net_


----------



## Diffident

I'm having trouble powering on my Intel S2600WPQ board. The board has only two 6 pin CPU sockets for power, I've replaced the two 8-pin CPU plugs with 6 pin plugs on a Corsair AX1200 power supply that I already had. I'm jumping out the pins on the 24pin cable to turn on the power supply. I know it's sending power to the processors, I pulled off the heat sinks and the thermal paste is melted....but the board itself is not powering up. It's like I have to jump something out on the board to turn it on. I've been looking at the accessories that are included when buying this board in a prebuild system and it seems it would be cheaper to just buy a different board.


----------



## BeerCan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Diffident*
> 
> I'm having trouble powering on my Intel S2600WPQ board. The board has only two 6 pin CPU sockets for power, I've replaced the two 8-pin CPU plugs with 6 pin plugs on a Corsair AX1200 power supply that I already had. I'm jumping out the pins on the 24pin cable to turn on the power supply. I know it's sending power to the processors, I pulled off the heat sinks and the thermal paste is melted....but the board itself is not powering up. It's like I have to jump something out on the board to turn it on. I've been looking at the accessories that are included when buying this board in a prebuild system and it seems it would be cheaper to just buy a different board.


I think you are in a tough bind with that board. I thought for sure there would be some hack on the WWW but if there is I can't find it.


----------



## Diffident

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *BeerCan*
> 
> I think you are in a tough bind with that board. I thought for sure there would be some hack on the WWW but if there is I can't find it.


Blah...dam proprietary connections...









I just ordered the board I wanted to get originally....an ASRock EP2C602. It's on sale for $299.99 with an additional $15 discount with code 1001NTGET24.


----------



## BeerCan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Diffident*
> 
> Blah...dam proprietary connections...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I just ordered the board I wanted to get originally....an ASRock EP2C602. It's on sale for $299.99 with an additional $15 discount with code 1001NTGET24.


I use that board and like it. That is a good price for it. PCIE spacing is a little close if you are running 2 double wide cards.


----------



## BeerCan

So you guys inspired me with all your fancy folding racks. I purchased one here locally and go to pick it up tomorrow. Have to figure out what MB and cpu to use in it. Should be fun.


----------



## 4thKor

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *BeerCan*
> 
> So you guys inspired me with all your fancy folding racks. I purchased one here locally and go to pick it up tomorrow. Have to figure out what MB and cpu to use in it. Should be fun.


It is fun! And exasperating. And aggravating. There's nothing like finally being able to figure out a solution for a stubborn piece of hardware that won't do what you want it to. I used to call this the "NASCAR of PC hardware", but I now think it's of the the circle track variety. We don't have sponsors and unlimited resources. We have to make do with what we can afford (and sometimes not!). And the only trophies we get are badges that can never make up for the expense. But is it worth it? HECK YEA!


----------



## Ithanul

I think it more off road motorsports or rally racing.


----------



## WhiteWulfe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Ithanul*
> 
> I think it more off road motorsports or rally racing.


Tsd/navex rallying sure comes to mind. Insanely fun, lots of craziness, and nobody really knows exactly where they're going because the map is unfinished, and has a false turn or two in it to keep the navigator on their toes... Then add in the timing elements (and penalties for being too fast or slow, calculated by the second) and it kind of resembles BOINC stuff in my eyes ^_^

I still can't believe that locally/regionally some of the top teams are using the pencil and paper methods, not even a calculator....


----------



## Ithanul

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *WhiteWulfe*
> 
> Tsd/navex rallying sure comes to mind. Insanely fun, lots of craziness, and nobody really knows exactly where they're going because the map is unfinished, and has a false turn or two in it to keep the navigator on their toes... Then add in the timing elements (and penalties for being too fast or slow, calculated by the second) and it kind of resembles BOINC stuff in my eyes ^_^
> 
> I still can't believe that locally/regionally some of the top teams are using the pencil and paper methods, not even a calculator....


Hey, nothing wrong with pencil and paper.

Myself. I use pencil and paper when I do Math. Then I double check with a calculator if it was long complex problem. But it has to be a long one like using the Law of Cosines to find angles of a triangle when you know only its three sides. That of course with uncommon angles. (Trig is one of my favorite Math subjects)

But yeah, BOINC Pentathlon sure is like rallying.


----------



## WhiteWulfe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Ithanul*
> 
> Hey, nothing wrong with pencil and paper.
> 
> Myself. I use pencil and paper when I do Math. Then I double check with a calculator if it was long complex problem. But it has to be a long one like using the Law of Cosines to find angles of a triangle when you know only its three sides. That of course with uncommon angles. (Trig is one of my favorite Math subjects)
> 
> But yeah, BOINC Pentathlon sure is like rallying.


I probably should have mentioned I'm envious and proud of them, because trying to do calculations on the fly in a navex rally with nothing but your brain, a pencil, and some paper.... all while being bounced around as they're flying down a dirt road. They're also balancing upwards of two clipboards at the same time, whereas the calculator (and especially rally computer) guys have it a lot easier in that regards. It's one of those "how on earth do you pull it off?!?!??!?!" kind of things to me.


----------



## Ithanul

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *WhiteWulfe*
> 
> I probably should have mentioned I'm envious and proud of them, because trying to do calculations on the fly in a navex rally with nothing but your brain, a pencil, and some paper.... all while being bounced around as they're flying down a dirt road. They're also balancing upwards of two clipboards at the same time, whereas the calculator (and especially rally computer) guys have it a lot easier in that regards. It's one of those "how on earth do you pull it off?!?!??!?!" kind of things to me.


Probably they know the Math shortcuts and do on the fly mental Math for the basic stuff. You be amazed what one's brain can do with Math if you train it.

Still it is neat to watch people who can do such. Myself, I'm no where near that level yet. Though, I do practice it on occasions, but being out of High School and not doing any high level Math for over 9-10 years. I'm a bit rusty.


----------



## BeerCan

Here is all I have to say after messing with this damn thing all day






















pcie lanes you can rot in . . .


----------



## Ithanul

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *BeerCan*
> 
> Here is all I have to say after messing with this damn thing all day
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> pcie lanes you can rot in . . .


Not enough lanes? Or they just being a pain in butt to get working correctly?


----------



## BeerCan

I just run out of lanes and I cannot get the 4th card to initialize. When I do it jumps into the bios and says devices have been disabled.


----------



## ondoy

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *4thKor*
> 
> Got two 7990's up and running. Installed the third and it's not recognized. Any suggestions would be appreciated!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> This thing has been a bear from the get-go.


Quote:


> Originally Posted by *scubadiver59*
> 
> Just give a shout out to Mr. Spotswood...I'm sure he can CAD (Computer-Aided Design not Canadian $) something up for a decent price, like he did for my X99E-WS mobo below (it can support 7 GPUs).


where can i get a frame like those ?


----------



## scubadiver59

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ondoy*
> 
> where can i get a frame like those ?



Spotswood


----------



## scubadiver59

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *BeerCan*
> 
> I just run out of lanes and I cannot get the 4th card to initialize. When I do it jumps into the bios and says devices have been disabled.


Does your motherboard have any setting(s) in the BIOS that are marked as "Above 4G decoding"?

If you do, enable that setting so that you can use more memory to access the additional cards. I had the same problem with my Asus X99-E WS workstation motherboard and making it work with -7- GPUs; prior to that, all I could be running at one time were -5- GPUs.

A shot in the dark, but ...


----------



## BeerCan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *scubadiver59*
> 
> Does your motherboard have any setting(s) in the BIOS that are marked as "Above 4G decoding"?
> 
> If you do, enable that setting so that you can use more memory to access the additional cards. I had the same problem with my Asus X99-E WS workstation motherboard and making it work with -7- GPUs; prior to that, all I could be running at one time were -5- GPUs.
> 
> A shot in the dark, but ...


I am pretty sure it is set that way but i will double check.

The bios does give me a giant error with beeps and everything telling mt that all pcie lanes have been exhausted, and I need to remove 1 card


----------



## scubadiver59

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *BeerCan*
> 
> I am pretty sure it is set that way but i will double check.
> 
> The bios does give me a giant error with beeps and everything telling mt that all pcie lanes have been exhausted, and I need to remove 1 card


My X99 would just halt or go into an indefinite reboot loop...neither of which was any fun.


----------



## mmonnin

There is a 7x 980Ti build log at OCN with that board. Says a custom BIOS is needed for 7 GPUs. You might need it as well.
http://www.overclock.net/t/1598765/build-log-watercooled-7x-980ti-the-word-impossible-is-not-in-my-dictionary/60_30#post_25563343


----------



## scubadiver59

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *mmonnin*
> 
> There is a 7x 980Ti build log at OCN with that board. Says a custom BIOS is needed for 7 GPUs. You might need it as well.
> http://www.overclock.net/t/1598765/build-log-watercooled-7x-980ti-the-word-impossible-is-not-in-my-dictionary/60_30#post_25563343


You don't need a custom BIOS to make this work...I didn't and another individual I spoke with didn't need it either, just the 'above 4G' enabled for booting past the fifth GPU.

Also, that's probably why I'll never move over to liquid cooling with this setup...no hassle removing everything. Who cares about looks anyway...naked is better!


----------



## BeerCan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *scubadiver59*
> 
> Does your motherboard have any setting(s) in the BIOS that are marked as "Above 4G decoding"?
> 
> If you do, enable that setting so that you can use more memory to access the additional cards. I had the same problem with my Asus X99-E WS workstation motherboard and making it work with -7- GPUs; prior to that, all I could be running at one time were -5- GPUs.
> 
> A shot in the dark, but ...


scubadiver59 you sir are the man!
















Checked above 4g decoding and mine was set to auto. Changed it to on and now all my gpu's are booting no problem. Well there is one problem, I just smoked one of my 850 watt psu's. It was an old Antec beast that I have had a long time but I guess it buckled under the strain of 2 gpu's LOL


----------



## scubadiver59

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *BeerCan*
> 
> scubadiver59 you sir are the man!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Checked above 4g decoding and mine was set to auto. Changed it to on and now all my gpu's are booting no problem. Well there is one problem, I just smoked one of my 850 watt psu's. It was an old Antec beast that I have had a long time but I guess it buckled under the strain of 2 gpu's LOL


Well, I'm glad...sorta...that you got them working; but sad that you smoked that PSU. Well they always say to take the good with the bad!









EDIT: But at least you got your GPUs working...I couldn't get either one of my boards to accept a lowly GTX-560 that I wanted to use in Linux Mint VBox. VBox said I had no video, and it was using RAM to compensate, and that my CPUs would slow down accordingly. I tried every slot, changed the "above 4G" setting, set the video to recognize another video source and use onboard secondary (there's no way to turn off the onboard video completely on the SuperMicro), but everything was in vain; so, with no time left I went back to Windoze.


----------



## tictoc

Building the motherboard tray now, and hopefully I will have it up and running later tonight. Eventually it will have 4 GPUs, but for now it'll just be running 2 R9 290s.


----------



## 4thKor

I can't get Linux or Windows to recognize more than two GPU's on my X8DTH. Windows shows three with one showing "code 43".


----------



## WhiteWulfe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *tictoc*
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Building the motherboard tray now, and hopefully I will have it up and running later tonight. Eventually it will have 4 GPUs, but for now it'll just be running 2 R9 290s.


I see Watercool Heatkiller v4.0 blocks, so I expect more photos!


----------



## Tex1954

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *4thKor*
> 
> I can't get Linux or Windows to recognize more than two GPU's on my X8DTH. Windows shows three with one showing "code 43".


Need both CPU's installed for all lanes to work. If one set works and other does not, could be CPU problem or chipset problem... or jumper problem...

Good luck!


----------



## scubadiver59

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tex1954*
> 
> Need both CPU's installed for all lanes to work. If one set works and other does not, could be CPU problem or chipset problem... or jumper problem...
> 
> Good luck!


Do you have the "Above 4G Encoding" set to "enabled" in the BIOS? If you have that option?


----------



## BritishBob

I've found some 1U servers with two E5-2670s for £350. Very tempted to pick one up.

I found out why they're cheap... One RJ45 managment port and one 10GB/s SFP port with no SFP module for data.


----------



## nanoprobe

I'm not a OCN boinc team member but I do post here from time to time and have been a website member for a long time. The reason for this post is to let anyone here who might be interested that I will be soon starting to downsize and will be putting 3 dual socket SuperMicro mobos with Xeon ES V4 chips up for sale. 2 are 28c/56t machines and 1 is 36c/72t. All have DDR4 2133 memory. I'm posting this here because I don't have the reps to put it in the for sale section. Anyone who might be interested can PM me. These are complete ready to run crunches with CPU coolers, SSDs, PSUs, and even UPSs if you want them. The two 28c/56t machines will also have GTX 750Ti video cards. More details to follow.


----------



## tictoc

Preview of the not so budget BOINC server.


----------



## WhiteWulfe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *tictoc*
> 
> Preview of the not so budget BOINC server.


Ohhhh blissful things I can't say on here... In short, that's sexy. Watercool Heatkiller v4's, 128GB of RAM, and EK ZMT? Niiiiiiiiiiice.


----------



## tictoc

It's Alive!!









Motherboard: Asrock Rack EP2C602-4L/D16
CPU: 2x intel Xeon 2670 v2 ES - 10 core 20 threads @ 2.7 GHz all core turbo

RAM: 128 GB - 16x 8GB 1333 (running @1600)

GPU: 2x AMD R9 290 - Stock clocks until I get a different PSU

SSD - SanDisk SSD Plus 120 GB

PSU: Frankensteined Seasonic X-760 - Temporary PSU because I was inpatient to get it up and running

Cooling:


Pump - D5 with EK Xtop
GPU - EK FC-R9-290X
CPU - Watercool Heatkiller IV Pro
Radiators: 2x EK Coolstream PE 360, 1x XSPC EX360
Fans: 6x Corsair SP120, 3x XSPC Xinruilian 1650, 2x Carsiar AF120







The GPUs and PSU are temporary until I decide what GPUs to run permanently.


----------



## bfromcolo

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *tictoc*
> 
> It's Alive!!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Motherboard: Asrock Rack EP2C602-4L/D16
> CPU: 2x intel Xeon 2670 v2 ES - 10 core 20 threads @ 2.7 GHz all core turbo
> 
> RAM: 128 GB - 16x 8GB 1333 (running @1600)
> 
> GPU: 2x AMD R9 290 - Stock clocks until I get a different PSU
> 
> SSD - SanDisk SSD Plus 120 GB
> 
> PSU: Frankensteined Seasonic X-760 - Temporary PSU because I was inpatient to get it up and running
> 
> Cooling:
> 
> 
> Pump - D5 with EK Xtop
> GPU - EK FC-R9-290X
> CPU - Watercool Heatkiller IV Pro
> Radiators: 2x EK Coolstream PE 360, 1x XSPC EX360
> Fans: 6x Corsair SP120, 3x XSPC Xinruilian 1650, 2x Carsiar AF120
> 
> The GPUs and PSU are temporary until I decide what GPUs to run permanently.


That looks sweet! With all the gear you are running, how about a pic of the data center, power and cooling plant where all this stuff is set up?


----------



## tictoc

Thanks. I still need to build the rest of the test bench. Right now it is just the motherboard tray and rear radiator, mounted with 2 sided tape to the top of two of the radiators.


----------



## WhiteWulfe

How are the temps under a full load, out of curiosity?


----------



## tictoc

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *WhiteWulfe*
> 
> How are the temps under a full load, out of curiosity?


Currently running 36 Leiden tasks on the CPUs and 4 MilkyWay tasks on the GPUs. GPUs are at stock clocks.

Ambient Temp - 19º

GPU Temps: GPU 1 - Core Temp: 41°, VRM Temp: 34°; GPU 2 - Core Temp: 39°, VRM Temp: 35°

CPU Temp: Hottest Core - 37°


----------



## WhiteWulfe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *tictoc*
> 
> Currently running 36 Leiden tasks on the CPUs and 4 MilkyWay tasks on the GPUs. GPUs are at stock clocks.
> Ambient Temp - 19º
> GPU Temps: GPU 1 - Core Temp: 41°, VRM Temp: 34°; GPU 2 - Core Temp: 39°, VRM Temp: 35°
> CPU Temp: Hottest Core - 37°


Yeah, I definitely can't wait to get watercooling going on the rig(s) I run BOINC on, those temps are rather lovely.


----------



## tictoc

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Diffident*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *BeerCan*
> 
> I think you are in a tough bind with that board. I thought for sure there would be some hack on the WWW but if there is I can't find it.
> 
> 
> 
> Blah...dam proprietary connections...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I just ordered the board I wanted to get originally....an ASRock EP2C602. It's on sale for $299.99 with an additional $15 discount with code 1001NTGET24.
Click to expand...

Just a quick heads up if you are running 2 cards on that board. You will have better performance and fewer headaches if you populate the PCIe slots from the bottom up. The 1st three x16 slots from the bottom up are are run off the primary CPU.

With a single GPU I had no issues running it in any slot, but once I went to two GPUs I had all sorts of problems getting drivers to load and GPUs to be recognized if the GPUs were split between processors.


----------



## Diffident

Here is my new rig. (CrunchAholic)

Motherboard: Asrock Rack EP2C602 (Newegg $288.98)
CPU: x2 E5-2670 @ 2.60GHz (tictoc $7)








Ram: 64 GBs Samsung M939B1K70CHD-CH9 PC3-10600R (EBAY $119)
Storage: Samsung HD322HJ (already had)
Power Supply: Corsair AX1200 (already had)
Cooling: x2 Coolmaster Hyper 212 EVO (x1 Amazon $26.50, had the other)
OS: Funtoo Linux (Free)



It's just sitting on the motherboard box, sitting on a piece of 5/8" drywall, which is sitting on top of my old Corsair 800D.


----------



## 4thKor

My new rig:

Asrock X99 WS ($274.00-NewEgg)
E5-2607-V3 ($220.00-NewEgg)
Intel Cooler ($25.00-Amazon)
2x980 Ti- ($550.00 for both-Ebay)
2x980 - ($425.00 for both-Ebay)
EVGA 1300 G2 ($180.00-Amazon)
Samsung SSD ($55.00-Amazon)
PCIe Risers ($15.00 ea.-Ebay)
CryptoMonster Case ($185.00-Ebay)
Asstd fans (Priceless! Already had)

I'm at $2,000.00 on this thing. I included everything, even if I had them. Budget BOINC server? I don't think so.









But it's worth it. Now if I could just get my hands on a BloomBox.....


----------



## bfromcolo

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Diffident*
> 
> Here is my new rig. (CrunchAholic)
> 
> Motherboard: Asrock Rack EP2C602 (Newegg $288.98)
> CPU: x2 E5-2670 @ 2.60GHz (tictoc $7)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Ram: 64 GBs Samsung M939B1K70CHD-CH9 PC3-10600R (EBAY $119)
> Storage: Samsung HD322HJ (already had)
> Power Supply: Corsair AX1200 (already had)
> Cooling: x2 Coolmaster Hyper 212 EVO (x1 Amazon $26.50, had the other)
> OS: Funtoo Linux (Free)
> 
> It's just sitting on the motherboard box, sitting on a piece of 5/8" drywall, which is sitting on top of my old Corsair 800D.


Looks great, I was just reading about a similar build here http://www.techspot.com/review/1155-affordable-dual-xeon-pc/ Now you just need to fill up those slots


----------



## bfromcolo

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *4thKor*
> 
> My new rig:
> 
> Asrock X99 WS ($274.00-NewEgg)
> E5-2607-V3 ($220.00-NewEgg)
> Intel Cooler ($25.00-Amazon)
> 2x980 Ti- ($550.00 for both-Ebay)
> 2x980 - ($425.00 for both-Ebay)
> EVGA 1300 G2 ($180.00-Amazon)
> Samsung SSD ($55.00-Amazon)
> PCIe Risers ($15.00 ea.-Ebay)
> CryptoMonster Case ($185.00-Ebay)
> Asstd fans (Priceless! Already had)
> 
> I'm at $2,000.00 on this thing. I included everything, even if I had them. Budget BOINC server? I don't think so.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> But it's worth it. Now if I could just get my hands on a BloomBox.....


Some amazing new rigs in here the past couple days.


----------



## 4thKor

Team OCN should be a force to be reckoned with on the next Pentathlon.


----------



## Diffident

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *bfromcolo*
> 
> Looks great, I was just reading about a similar build here http://www.techspot.com/review/1155-affordable-dual-xeon-pc/ Now you just need to fill up those slots


I do need to fill those slots....but I'm afraid of what my electric bill is going to look like.








Quote:


> Originally Posted by *4thKor*
> 
> Team OCN should be a force to be reckoned with on the next Pentathlon.


We're all just trying to keep up with you, Scuba and BeerCan. I saw you and Scuba just started WCG, and both of you flew right past me like I wasn't even crunching.


----------



## 4thKor

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Diffident*
> 
> I do need to fill those slots....but I'm afraid of what my electric bill is going to look like.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> We're all just trying to keep up with you, Scuba and BeerCan. I saw you and Scuba just started WCG, and both of you flew right past me like I wasn't even crunching.


I shut all but my 7990's down. Power bill is a definite consideration.

But I am still running the DL580-G7's. These things are awesome. Especially since I re-TIMmed them with LM Pro. Dropped temps from mid-to-high 70's to mid-to-high 60's. 10c drop. Was able to set cooling back to optimal instead of max. Now they don't sound like a pair of 747's. Power consumption has also dropped from 1600w to 1500. These server fans eat some juice!


----------



## WhiteWulfe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *4thKor*
> 
> Team OCN should be a force to be reckoned with on the next Pentathlon.


I'm hoping to be able to have a larger slice of that Pentathlon pie as well... I think I figured out a way to sneak in three of those Natex bundles into my place, each with a single GPU (even if it's "just" a GTX 1050 Ti each).... All without interrupting what we normally do in the place (because having to decide between BOINC and coffee means it might as well be anarchy







)


----------



## Ithanul

Yep, next Pentathlon should be interesting.

I will definitly make sure to have the 3930K and 5960X up. Hopefully the E5-2670V3 as well.


----------



## WhiteWulfe

Odds are I'll only have one E5-2670 rig ready to go by then, we still have too many other plans that are more important (namely, monitors and new living room furniture), but I really am hoping to have at least one, hopefully two up and running for such.

But as for the rigs, since I wanted to focus on CPU more than GPU, after a bit of contemplating I realized for similar power consumption I could have either 2xNatex bundles with 4xGTX 1060's, or 3xNatex bundles and 3x GTX 1050 Ti's.....

Only problem will be figuring out where on earth to put them all!


----------



## Diffident

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *WhiteWulfe*
> 
> Odds are I'll only have one E5-2670 rig ready to go by then, we still have too many other plans that are more important (namely, monitors and new living room furniture), but I really am hoping to have at least one, hopefully two up and running for such.
> 
> But as for the rigs, since I wanted to focus on CPU more than GPU, after a bit of contemplating I realized for similar power consumption I could have either 2xNatex bundles with 4xGTX 1060's, or 3xNatex bundles and 3x GTX 1050 Ti's.....
> 
> Only problem will be figuring out where on earth to put them all!


Attach them to sheets of steel or aluminum and hang them on the wall. It's what I've been thinking about. It can be modern Techo-Art.


----------



## WhiteWulfe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Diffident*
> 
> Attach them to sheets of steel or aluminum and hang them on the wall. It's what I've been thinking about. It can be modern Techo-Art.


Ignoring the conductivity problems, and the fact that sheet aluminum isn't exactly cheap...... I'll think I'll go with my former idea of a custom Parvum R1.0 and L1.0, sized to fit the SSI-EEB motherboards. I suspect it would look a lot nicer in my living room







Sure, it means I still have to figure out where the third rig is going, but on the flipside I'll have to build the first two before that truly becomes a problem


----------



## mmonnin

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *WhiteWulfe*
> 
> Ignoring the conductivity problems, and the fact that sheet aluminum isn't exactly cheap...... I'll think I'll go with my former idea of a custom Parvum R1.0 and L1.0, sized to fit the SSI-EEB motherboards. I suspect it would look a lot nicer in my living room
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sure, it means I still have to figure out where the third rig is going, but on the flipside I'll have to build the first two before that truly becomes a problem


Cases are made of conductive material. Place it on standoffs just like a normal case. Or even find a motherboard tray that already has all the holes pre-drilled.


----------



## bfromcolo

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Diffident*
> 
> Attach them to sheets of steel or aluminum and hang them on the wall. It's what I've been thinking about. It can be modern Techo-Art.


Very attractive too, impressed my kid anyway. Not sure how old that pic is, e5400 and a HD4650, had to finally upgrade for Skyrim and turned the leftovers into a poor man's HTPC. It streamed Netflix in my basement fine, stuck it behind the TV/stereo cabinet and no one saw it.


----------



## 4thKor

You guys got both of my brain cells collaborating for once. I'm gonna' hang one of my rigs in a corner like the old macrame' plant hangers. Just ordered a power strip with a 12' cord and a package of 3/16 hooks. I have a roll of tie wire to make the suspension cables out of. I'll have to post some pics. Seems like a great way to utilize unused space!


----------



## WhiteWulfe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *mmonnin*
> 
> Cases are made of conductive material. Place it on standoffs just like a normal case. Or even find a motherboard tray that already has all the holes pre-drilled.


Quite true, especially my new benching one. Mmmmm, it's so lovely looking, doubly so because it isn't mobo>ArmaFlex>mobo box anymore! But a sheet of aluminum just doesn't feel "right" to me, as it isn't anywhere near fancy enough.
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *bfromcolo*
> 
> Very attractive too, impressed my kid anyway. Not sure how old that pic is, e5400 and a HD4650, had to finally upgrade for Skyrim and turned the leftovers into a poor man's HTPC. It streamed Netflix in my basement fine, stuck it behind the TV/stereo cabinet and no one saw it.


Points for the ingenious solution, but hubby would outright kill me if I did that and didn't commit seppuku or the like for doing such a thing. Also we have, uhm... uhh.... Artwork on the walls, and I'm not taking that down. Always funny what the various contractors that come in say though!!


----------



## WhiteWulfe

Quite likely going to be pulling the pin on a Natex bundle soon-ish.... Anyone know if those S2600CP2J motherboards will allow you to run three graphics cards at once, specifically say, I dunno... Three GTX 1070's?


----------



## mmonnin

I got this in an email from them:
Quote:


> ENJOY 5% OFF
> Take 5% off your entire order if placed before Midnight, Monday November 28th!
> 
> For a chance to win the Gift Card, you must use this coupon code. The winner will be notified by email on December 1st.
> 
> Coupon Code: BlackFridayRaffle5%


----------



## k4m1k4z3

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *mmonnin*
> 
> I got this in an email from them:


Just placed my order for one of their server packages. Thanks








Chenbro RM13704 - Intel S2600CP2J, Dual E5-2670, 128Gb. PC3-12800R, Intel X520-DA1


----------



## WhiteWulfe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *mmonnin*
> 
> I got this in an email from them:


Why can't I have the cash now, 5% off would be nice that's for sure!


----------



## mmonnin

That's what the CC is for.


----------



## Diffident

uggghh...your making me want another 2P system.....but I just ordered stuff to build a new pfsense box.


----------



## WhiteWulfe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *mmonnin*
> 
> That's what the CC is for.


Board with shipping and conversion fees would, believe it or not, more than max out my credit card. I have a small one as I use it for emergency stuff only. 2P board isn't quite an emergency. ~_^


----------



## 4thKor

Introducing Antares. Quad 980's on a SM X8DTH-6F with dual E5520's, 48gb RAM, 1200w EVGA Gold PSU, 120gb SSD, and four AIO's. Front panel is cut from an old case. Running Mint 18 with 367 drivers.



These mobos are tough to get up and running with four cards. I think the twin 5520 chipsets are the issue. I've only been working on this for the last six months!


----------



## bfromcolo

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *4thKor*
> 
> Introducing Antares. Quad 980's on a SM X8DTH-6F with dual E5520's, 48gb RAM, 1200w EVGA Gold PSU, 120gb SSD, and four AIO's. Front panel is cut from an old case. Running Mint 18 with 367 drivers.
> 
> These mobos are tough to get up and running with four cards. I think the twin 5520 chipsets are the issue. I've only been working on this for the last six months!


Wow that'll heat the house! Looks great, should make some killer points in the FFW.


----------



## BeerCan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *4thKor*
> 
> Introducing Antares. Quad 980's on a SM X8DTH-6F with dual E5520's, 48gb RAM, 1200w EVGA Gold PSU, 120gb SSD, and four AIO's. Front panel is cut from an old case. Running Mint 18 with 367 drivers.
> 
> 
> 
> These mobos are tough to get up and running with four cards. I think the twin 5520 chipsets are the issue. I've only been working on this for the last six months!


Nice. Glad its up an running


----------



## Tex1954

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *4thKor*
> 
> Introducing Antares. Quad 980's on a SM X8DTH-6F with dual E5520's, 48gb RAM, 1200w EVGA Gold PSU, 120gb SSD, and four AIO's. Front panel is cut from an old case. Running Mint 18 with 367 drivers.
> 
> 
> 
> These mobos are tough to get up and running with four cards. I think the twin 5520 chipsets are the issue. I've only been working on this for the last six months!


Okay, how well are those GPU coolers working? They keep the VRM's cool as well?










PS: What a monster! Excellent work!


----------



## 4thKor

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tex1954*
> 
> Okay, how well are those GPU coolers working? They keep the VRM's cool as well?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> PS: What a monster! Excellent work!


These AIO's work very well. I use the Corsair H55 with a G10 bracket and better rad fans. These are easily transferred from one rig to another. The bracket has a 92mm fan to cool the chips, but I also use after-market heatsinks. I'm running about ten of these.


----------



## BeerCan

I found that the evga hypbrid aio works pretty good. More money but I purchased mine on sale in December.

Just updated my crunching rig. It is slightly less powerful because I swapped out a 1080 for a 750ti. Soon as I find the right project this will leave fah and go back to boinc full time.

I replace the PSU today, so now I only need 1 instead of the 2 I was running. Makes it a lot easier to move around


----------



## 4thKor

I forgot that on these EVGA cards I've been cutting off the four lugs on the midplate that prevent the AIO heatsink from making contact. This allows using the midplate to keep the other chips cool. Simple to do, but not sure how it affects the warranty. Maybe "what warranty"?


----------



## ondoy




----------



## bfromcolo

Looks cool, what is it?


----------



## ondoy

2 x E5 2686 V3
2 x 212 EVO
Supermicro X10DALi
16GB DDR4 2400mhz
120GB PNY
980Ti
1000w G3
Ubuntu 14.4


----------



## 4thKor

Got some strange things happening with my twin Ti rig. In Windows I've got both cards clocked at 1443 and fully stable. When I boot into Mint 17.3 with the 346.96 driver or Mint 18 with the 367 driver both cards immediately boost to 1586 mhz. Needless to say units are failing on impact. And I can't control the first card whatsoever with Xcontrol. Tried to back clocks off and nothing happens. I loaded Mint 18 thinking 17.3 had some kind of issue since this rig was running two 980 non-Ti's and it has the same issues. I'm bum-fuzzled....


----------



## emoga

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ondoy*
> 
> 2 x E5 2686 V3
> 2 x 212 EVO
> Supermicro X10DALi
> 16GB DDR4 2400mhz
> 120GB PNY
> 980Ti
> 1000w G3
> Ubuntu 14.4


Nice rig you got there


----------



## fragamemnon

I may or may not be waiting for 48 extra spicy v4 CPU threads to clear off customs.








And there may be or may not be a SuperMicro X10-DAL-i on its way to me.

And I just ordered a 1000W Platinum FSP Aurum PSU. But that'll probably go into my main rig and the aforementioned items will be powered by my current power supply.


----------



## WhiteWulfe

Ooooh, v4 Xeon threads. I'm still planning on building a dedicated rig for BOINC soonish, but I think I'm going to give up on the Natex bundle idea. They're nice, but the cost is steadily bringing it in line with a "basic" X99 or even Ryzen setup. Sure, it'll have 25-40% fewer threads but at the same time it's more raw cpu cycles for audio stuff, not to mention newer instructions being available.... That and we're starting to see 5960X's go for fairly cheap (I've seen binned ones for as little as $700 CAD, although they're quickly picked up at that price).

I swear it isn't because hubby gave me the go ahead on getting an RSeat RS1 to build a dedicated sim vr rig (that will then use the audio/BOINC/djing rig for such). It also has no relation to being given permission to do a $2k-ish USD order (when we can afford it) with Fanatec either


----------



## fragamemnon

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *WhiteWulfe*
> 
> Ooooh, v4 Xeon threads. I'm still planning on building a dedicated rig for BOINC soonish, but I think I'm going to give up on the Natex bundle idea. They're nice, but the cost is steadily bringing it in line with a "basic" X99 or even Ryzen setup. Sure, it'll have 25-40% fewer threads but at the same time it's more raw cpu cycles for audio stuff, not to mention newer instructions being available.... That and we're starting to see 5960X's go for fairly cheap (I've seen binned ones for as little as $700 CAD, although they're quickly picked up at that price).
> 
> I swear it isn't because hubby gave me the go ahead on getting an RSeat RS1 to build a dedicated sim vr rig (that will then use the audio/BOINC/djing rig for such). It also has no relation to being given permission to do a $2k-ish USD order (when we can afford it) with Fanatec either


I will not delve into details in fear of jinxing it. Hopefully when all is assembled and tested, I will post with more information.


----------



## mmonnin

That looks like the cheapest board I could find on PCPartpicker for dual 2011-3. A lot of stuff crammed into an ATX board.


----------



## emoga

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *WhiteWulfe*
> 
> Ooooh, v4 Xeon threads. I'm still planning on building a dedicated rig for BOINC soonish, but I think I'm going to give up on the Natex bundle idea. They're nice, but the cost is steadily bringing it in line with a "basic" X99 or even Ryzen setup. Sure, it'll have 25-40% fewer threads but at the same time it's more raw cpu cycles for audio stuff, not to mention newer instructions being available.... That and we're starting to see 5960X's go for fairly cheap (I've seen binned ones for as little as $700 CAD, although they're quickly picked up at that price).
> 
> I swear it isn't because hubby gave me the go ahead on getting an RSeat RS1 to build a dedicated sim vr rig (that will then use the audio/BOINC/djing rig for such). It also has no relation to being given permission to do a $2k-ish USD order (when we can afford it) with Fanatec either


You could always get a Z10PE-D16 or D8 WS and try to get the best of both worlds...kinda pricey in Canada though.


----------



## WhiteWulfe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *emoga*
> 
> You could always get a Z10PE-D16 or D8 WS and try to get the best of both worlds...kinda pricey in Canada though.


True, but even the E5-2690v4's would potentially cause issues with their slower core speeds, and they can't exactly be overclocked. It's also $2700 CAD for two ES2 CPUs and the board, while even retail I could probably get 64GB of bdie ram, and then crank the 5960X up to 4.4GHz or so and keep it cool with water. Heck, that same amount of cash would probably let me get the ssd's and hard drives too.

I'd love to get the Z10PE-D8 but wow it's pricy. Would be epic for audio and BOINC though, and is known for handling SLI. I'd have to see how the Xeons are priced in that bracket, not to mention if there are any that can do four cores at 3.8-4GHz without issue as that would cover most gaming scenarios, and is fast enough to not cause worry with regards to gaming. I would be "stuck" with 2400MHz ddr4 as max though, which could affect minimum frame rates too much (which is something of a concern when it comes to vr)


----------



## emoga

Sounds like you know what you want...a vr rig that has decent boinc output. Are you just going to wait for Ryzen then? If anything the Intel cpu's will drop in price even more.


----------



## WhiteWulfe

Ryzen is definitely something I'm waiting for. If it handles BOINC well (and matches x99 cpus), it's the direction I'll be going with that rig, even if it's only two channel memory (I say only because quad channel has that nice symmetrical look with the dimms







) ^_^


----------



## fragamemnon

Consider your options.









I understand these are not your target CPUs. I am hinting at the price.


----------



## WhiteWulfe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *fragamemnon*
> 
> Consider your options.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I understand these are not your target CPUs. I am hinting at the price.


Those are ES1 processors. ES2 has higher single core (3.2GHz turbo) as well as all core (3.0GHz) performance. Cheapest I've seen an ES2 2690v4 as of late is about $850 CAD...

But yeah, they definitely aren't cheap. If it wasn't for gaming on it as well...... .....Then again, there's always the option of just beefing up the gaming rig and then going from there. Too many decisions *laughs nervously*

I definitely won't lie, I have seriously contemplated the idea of a Z10PE-D8 with 2x E5-2690v4's multiple times (especially with a pair of GTX 1060 6GB or even 1070's) but it's that initial hit of a cost that always makes me pause....


----------



## fragamemnon

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *WhiteWulfe*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *fragamemnon*
> 
> Consider your options.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I understand these are not your target CPUs. I am hinting at the price.
> 
> 
> 
> Those are ES1 processors. ES2 has higher single core (3.2GHz turbo) as well as all core (3.0GHz) performance. Cheapest I've seen an ES2 2690v4 as of late is about $850 CAD...
> 
> But yeah, they definitely aren't cheap. If it wasn't for gaming on it as well...... .....Then again, there's always the option of just beefing up the gaming rig and then going from there. Too many decisions *laughs nervously*
> 
> I definitely won't lie, I have seriously contemplated the idea of a Z10PE-D8 with 2x E5-2690v4's multiple times (especially with a pair of GTX 1060 6GB or even 1070's) but it's that initial hit of a cost that always makes me pause....
Click to expand...

Indeed, they are. Mine are (allegedly







) running at 2.0 instead of 2.1GHz, but I can't skip such a deal regardless.









Well, to be honest, I like the Z10PE-D8 but I've always had a fancy on SuperMicro boards. Many people bash them, but especially for such projects they are the go-to board for me. Of course, all things considered, if you are going for a multi/many-GPU setup ...and really are a sucker for the pleasant colour scheme..., the Z10 justifies the price difference.


----------



## WhiteWulfe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *fragamemnon*
> 
> Indeed, they are. Mine are (allegedly
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ) running at 2.0 instead of 2.1GHz, but I can't skip such a deal regardless.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Well, to be honest, I like the Z10PE-D8 but I've always had a fancy on SuperMicro boards. Many people bash them, but especially for such projects they are the go-to board for me. Of course, all things considered, if you are going for a multi/many-GPU setup ...and really are a sucker for the pleasant colour scheme..., the Z10 justifies the price difference.


Absolutely nothing wrong at all with SuperMicro as they make some rather solid boards. So they aren't the prettiest, they're designed to go in a rack not a windowed case!









As for the Z10PE-D8 it's insanely gorgeous to me, and I have seriously considered the option of going that route despite the possible pricing issues (it could easily reach $5k CAD and that price might not even be including watercooling)... The thought of 48-56 threads crunching away alongside two GTX 1070's is insanely enticing though!

Not to mention they'd definitely be overkill for audio work ^_^


----------



## fragamemnon

Well, here we go. Dual Xeon E5-2650 v4 on a SuperMicro X10DAL-i motherboard. Currently it has 1 Kingston 8GB DDR4 ECC stick per CPU and runs from a small partition on an old HDD but these two will be subject to change once I save up more money.

_It's all your fault, guys!_











Spoiler: Ghetto Rigging Shenanigans








Spoiler: Do notice the sophisticated 92 > 120mm fan expander and holding mechanism.


----------



## Tex1954

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *fragamemnon*
> 
> Well, here we go. Dual Xeon E5-2650 v4 on a SuperMicro X10DAL-i motherboard. Currently it has 1 Kingston 8GB DDR4 ECC stick per CPU and runs from a small partition on an old HDD but these two will be subject to change once I save up more money.
> 
> _It's all your fault, guys!_


Why the coolers not turned 90 Deg? Can't do that?

Seems there should be a better way..


----------



## fragamemnon

It's <40oC under full load on all 48 threads.









Since it's open I prefer the airflow in that direction as otherwise it bothers me, haha.


----------



## fragamemnon

Bump.

I got an SSD thanks to @BeerCan so I decided to install a Windows for a while - some CineBench and stuff.










Spoiler: I gotta say I like the Task Manager view.




It's cut from a TeamViewer session, hence the free pixels around the borders.


----------



## spdaimon

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tex1954*
> 
> Why the coolers not turned 90 Deg? Can't do that?
> 
> Seems there should be a better way..


heh.. I have my heatsinks set that way too on my 2P..although there more space between the cpu sockets.


----------



## tictoc

Had a scary moment on my 2P after I got it all installed on the new bench. Tested everything with the PSUs outside of the bench, and everything worked great. Ran it for a day, moved the PSUs under the motherboard tray, routed the cables, and the rig wouldn't start. There was no power going to the board, and I was afraid I had fried something.









Pulled the PSUs out, routed the cables out from underneath the motherboard tray, and everyhting worked fine. I must have shorted something on the board while I was routing the cables. It has been crunching fine for the last day, so it looks like all is well.









I'll take some more pics once I get the wiring re-done, but here is a quick pic of the machine.


----------



## fragamemnon

I have to say, for the mess (allegedly







) that this is, it looks surprisingly good! I like it. Might pull out my Spotswood Tech Tray and suit it for my 2P; it has been collecting dust for about an year.


----------



## Finrond

Its so funny with BOINC rigs how (generally) the Hard Drive doesn't matter, so you'll have these multiple thousands of dollar rigs and attached to it you got like a $25 drive (or in my case, im actually using and old PATA drive in one of mine).


----------



## fragamemnon

I used a 120GB partition in the middle of an old 1TB HDD with bad sectors in the beginning and after 60th percentile.


----------



## mmonnin

Yeah I've always used tiny, old drives for FAH in years past. Same would apply to BOINC. Just whatever I had laying around. Sometimes as small as 2-4gb on Win2k. Now I just get a small 60/120gb SSD for reduced power and better speed. Also helps when running 30-40 tasks at once. (Or more if running many goofy tasks)


----------



## fragamemnon

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *mmonnin*
> 
> Yeah I've always used tiny, old drives for FAH in years past. Same would apply to BOINC. Just whatever I had laying around. Sometimes as small as 2-4gb on Win2k. Now I just get a small 60/120gb SSD for reduced power and better speed. Also helps when running 30-40 tasks at once. (Or more if running *many goofy tasks*)


Like 4,000 for example.


----------



## 4thKor

Picked up a TT Core P5 Green Edition. Mounted a MSI Z97 XPower with a 4770K to it with a EVGA 1200w PSU. Will be running dual 7990's, one water cooled with AIO's and the other a XFX Triple D air cooled. This thing has enough real estate to mount a separate ITX mobo to, which is what I aim to do. Will be using the mobo plate from an ITX case along with a 500w EVGA PSU. Power buttons will be on a PCI power bracket I picked up on eBay. I'll slap my 1060 on this until I can get a 1080 Ti. Have parts coming to mount rads, etc. Bought a MakerBeam black starter kit to do mods with. Didn't know they made such a thing.

I'll post picks when it's up and running.


----------



## mmonnin

Ooo a 1080Ti. Will be interesting to see how well it does in some of the BOINC projects.


----------



## bfromcolo

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *4thKor*
> 
> Bought a MakerBeam black starter kit to do mods with. Didn't know they made such a thing.


Pretty snazzy erector set. You would be able to build some cool test benches with that.


----------



## BeerCan

So a little OT but wanted to share anyway.
Many of my boinc rigs are in my garage at my house. All year but in the summer especially it is roasting hot out there, from the computers and the ambient temp. Last week my water heater went out, it runs LP gas which I am trying to move away from but I wont go into that here. Anyway I stumble upon a newish type of water heater that is a heat pump. The upside is that its waste is actually air conditioned air







Perfect for my type of situation. So I installed one and I am amazed at the temperature difference in my garage, it is quite amazing. The downside is they have a high upfront cost but are so efficient they should save me money in the long run. Just wanted to share


----------



## k4m1k4z3

Hah! The water heater is keeping your computers cool. That is amazing.


----------



## Diffident

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *BeerCan*
> 
> So a little OT but wanted to share anyway.
> Many of my boinc rigs are in my garage at my house. All year but in the summer especially it is roasting hot out there, from the computers and the ambient temp. Last week my water heater went out, it runs LP gas which I am trying to move away from but I wont go into that here. Anyway I stumble upon a newish type of water heater that is a heat pump. The upside is that its waste is actually air conditioned air
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Perfect for my type of situation. So I installed one and I am amazed at the temperature difference in my garage, it is quite amazing. The downside is they have a high upfront cost but are so efficient they should save me money in the long run. Just wanted to share


I had never heard of such a thing.

I just did a quick search for one, since I'm always looking to save energy. Guess one wouldn't work for me since it says. "Heat pump water heaters will not operate efficiently in a cold space." My water heater is in my basement and it's cool down there year round and damn cold in the winter.

I've always thought about getting a tankless.


----------



## 4thKor

Tankless are awesome. Propane is the best. I've installed several.


----------



## mmonnin

That's awesome. My water heater is basically in a tiny closet under a set of stairs off the garage so not sure it would work for me either. How much does it run as I thought those were like on-the-fly wafer heating as needed. Less water to heat = less energy used. So if no ones home and not using hot water, does it pump out cold air at all?


----------



## 4thKor

Tankless are also called insty-hot's. They fire up when you turn the hot water on. A family sized one can be expensive, but they pay for themselves rather quickly in energy savings, They're sized by output based on number of baths, etc. They don't put out any air, hot or cold.

Or are you referring to the one @BeerCan was talking about?


----------



## BeerCan

It makes noise, not sure this would be good for people that have a heater in their living space.
It has its own tank so it is like a conventional heater in that sense, mine is 50 gallons.
It has backup electrical heating elements in case the air is to cold. I won't have that problem so mine is in heat pump only mode.
It turns on and off as water demand increases or decreases so air output is dependent on water use

I don't like propane at all, I would rather have natural gas. I have a few reasons for this mostly to do with other appliances. We only have propane available in our area.

I had a tankless at my other house and it was an electrical hog. It worked well but it burns through the watts. I think they would be great at point of use though


----------



## 4thKor

Electric tankless are indeed energy hogs. Don't recommend them at all. The most efficient are propane, then NG.









If appliances are converted properly they run on propane very well. I convert stoves all the time. Best to buy a propane water heater though.


----------



## mmonnin

Ah, two separate types. Makes sense.

Electric is an energy hog in terms of cost or efficiency?


----------



## BeerCan

The Rinnai tankless LP I looked at had an efficiency rating of .96
The heat pump unit I purchased has an efficiency rating of 3.3 in heat pump mode. If it holds together and needs minimal repairs the roi will be huge.


----------



## 4thKor

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *BeerCan*
> 
> The Rinnai tankless LP I looked at had an efficiency rating of .96
> The heat pump unit I purchased has an efficiency rating of 3.3 in heat pump mode. If it holds together and needs minimal repairs the roi will be huge.


That is impressive! Rinnai are one of the best tankless. Bosch are good too.


----------



## mmonnin

1st link I see on google is Home Depot. 1st one I clicked on was 99.8%
http://www.homedepot.com/p/EcoSmart-11-kW-Self-Modulating-Electric-Tankless-Water-Heater-ECO-11/203316215

Bosch with 98%:
https://www.bosch-climate.us/products-bosch-thermotechnology/electric-tankless-water-heaters/bosch-tronic-3000-point-of-use.html


----------



## 4thKor

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *mmonnin*
> 
> 1st link I see on google is Home Depot. 1st one I clicked on was 99.8%
> http://www.homedepot.com/p/EcoSmart-11-kW-Self-Modulating-Electric-Tankless-Water-Heater-ECO-11/203316215


That's energy conversion. They take a lot of it is the problem. Electric's are expensive to run. This one is super small too.


----------



## BeerCan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *mmonnin*
> 
> 1st link I see on google is Home Depot. 1st one I clicked on was 99.8%
> http://www.homedepot.com/p/EcoSmart-11-kW-Self-Modulating-Electric-Tankless-Water-Heater-ECO-11/203316215


That one's efficiency rating is .98 but I payed way more for my unit. Only time will tell if I made the right choice









Only good for 2 people. The larger ones cost more.


----------



## 4thKor

What's ya'lls opinion on this:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/302308981250?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT


----------



## mmonnin

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *4thKor*
> 
> That's energy conversion. They take a lot of it is the problem. Electric's are expensive to run. This one is super small too.


Thats efficiency. As I thought then its not cost effective but still the most efficient.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_factor

Anything burning will have heat loss not transferred to the wafer. Same applies to heating. That heat loss no longer present is why the garage is now cooler


----------



## mmonnin

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *4thKor*
> 
> What's ya'lls opinion on this:
> 
> http://www.ebay.com/itm/302308981250?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT


Sexy. If there were actual pics.

++ For Crucial.


----------



## lanofsong

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *4thKor*
> 
> What's ya'lls opinion on this:
> 
> http://www.ebay.com/itm/302308981250?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT


Did you purchase this?


----------



## Egilman

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *4thKor*
> 
> What's ya'lls opinion on this:
> 
> http://www.ebay.com/itm/302308981250?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT


For engineering samples? A little steep if you ask me.

More like 11-1200 would be a decent deal.

But then, it's gone already, taken off the market, some enterprising soul probably made him an offer he couldn't refuse.... {snicker}


----------



## 4thKor

Wasn't me. I thought it was a bit high too.


----------



## mmonnin

Has anyone tried setting up Ubuntu 16.04 or 17.04 on one of the Intel S2600CP boards (Natex bundle)? Seems like they decided not to include the Intel video driver in Ubuntu 16/17. Installing 3rd party updates didn't include it, at least it didn't stick. Some packages reverted during the install. That didn't happen w/o the 3rd party checkbox selected during install.

This seems to be a solution people have gotten to work but it won't stay at the cmd line. It just jumps back to the clean message
https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2322111&p=13482945#post13482945


----------



## k4m1k4z3

I have run 16.04 and 17.04 on my S2600CP2J from Natex but I have only ever run it with nvidia cards and thus had problems only with nvidia drivers...


----------



## mmonnin

I've got an RX 580 in it that had display output during installation when the onboard did not. But during boot I get the purple Ubuntu color on the onboard for a few seconds, and then just the clean message. I'd rather not install the OS with an NV card just to get output so I could install AMD drivers.


----------



## mmonnin

<500W for 128 threads running AVX2 workload! Although prob over 500W on 110V AC.
https://www.servethehome.com/amd-epyc-7601-dual-socket-early-power-consumption-observations/


----------



## bfromcolo

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *mmonnin*
> 
> <500W for 128 threads running AVX2 workload! Although prob over 500W on 110V AC.
> https://www.servethehome.com/amd-epyc-7601-dual-socket-early-power-consumption-observations/


Looks promising but I think it could be a while before it fits my profile for "budget server".


----------



## mmonnin

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *bfromcolo*
> 
> Looks promising but I think it could be a while before it fits my profile for "budget server".


Ditto for sure. Maybe budget on the power. But we don't have the opposite of a 'budget' server thread. Maybe it will be in several years.


----------



## WhiteWulfe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *bfromcolo*
> 
> Looks promising but I think it could be a while before it fits my profile for "budget server".


Agreed, those CPUs are only what.. $3700 USD each or something silly like that?


----------



## k4m1k4z3

Wow, these would fit my electrical as well as home cooling budget...








Perhaps my financial budget will have room for a couple in a few years.


----------



## spdaimon

I havent gotten around to posting my "budget" builds..2 Z9PE-D8 rigs...boards were pricey...one of these days I will.
I was wondering if anyone is going to look at Threadripper. They are clocked higher than most Xeons I know, wonder how good they'd be, or how "budget" they'd be.


----------



## mmonnin

Performance would have to be pretty awesome to beat ES Xeon CPUs. The 1950x CPU alone costs 2x the system 2670v1 2P system I built. Add in a new, expensive x399 motherboard plus the rest and it could be 3x the cost. It's hard to put anything brand new in the budget section. Some day though.

I'd like to see BOINC performance numbers on one though. Hopefully it'll push more used Xeon systems to eBay.


----------



## WhiteWulfe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *mmonnin*
> 
> Performance would have to be pretty awesome to beat ES Xeon CPUs. The 1950x CPU alone costs 2x the system 2670v1 2P system I built. Add in a new, expensive x399 motherboard plus the rest and it could be 3x the cost. It's hard to put anything brand new in the budget section. Some day though.
> 
> I'd like to see BOINC performance numbers on one though. Hopefully it'll push more used Xeon systems to eBay.


One thing we have to keep in mind though with the v1 setups is they have gotten significantly more expensive than they were six months ago. Natex is selling their bundles at pretty much twice the cost of what they used to be for example.

I'm contemplating a Threadripper setup myself for my gaming and audio rig, but we'll see because a bunch of other hobbies are threatening to take over any spare funds my wallet may have... I am definitely curious about performance numbers, whenever AMD decides they'll let people see such numbers that is.


----------



## spdaimon

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *WhiteWulfe*
> 
> One thing we have to keep in mind though with the v1 setups is they have gotten significantly more expensive than they were six months ago. Natex is selling their bundles at pretty much twice the cost of what they used to be for example.
> 
> I'm contemplating a Threadripper setup myself for my gaming and audio rig, but we'll see because a bunch of other hobbies are threatening to take over any spare funds my wallet may have... I am definitely curious about performance numbers, whenever AMD decides they'll let people see such numbers that is.


You wouldn't exactly need a Threadripper for that, a R7 1700X with DDR4-2666 would do nicely. Seems to be the sweet spot from what I've been reading. After all that reading/watching of various threads and videos, I feel like I am becoming an AMD fanboy, kind of hating on Intel/Nvidia a little before, more so after reading all the junk that goes on. I am sure its goes the other way, i.e. AMD's hype train...


----------



## WhiteWulfe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *spdaimon*
> 
> You wouldn't exactly need a Threadripper for that, a R7 1700X with DDR4-2666 would do nicely. Seems to be the sweet spot from what I've been reading. After all that reading/watching of various threads and videos, I feel like I am becoming an AMD fanboy, kind of hating on Intel/Nvidia a little before, more so after reading all the junk that goes on. I am sure its goes the other way, i.e. AMD's hype train...


I'm not talking simple audio usage, but with a decent amount of plugins and VSTi's running all at once... ^_^ 4k video editing will also be involved with the rig, as well as occasional BOINC usage. I've always wanted a HEDT rig anyways, and ThreadRipper also has the huge benefit of qud channel memory, which can play rather heavily once you get a few plugins going in whatever DAW you're running.

I'm also one of those silly people that would much rather use 3200CL14 versus 2666 when possible ^_^


----------



## mmonnin

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *WhiteWulfe*
> 
> I'm not talking simple audio usage, but with a decent amount of plugins and VSTi's running all at once... ^_^ 4k video editing will also be involved with the rig, as well as *occasional* BOINC usage. I've always wanted a HEDT rig anyways, and ThreadRipper also has the huge benefit of qud channel memory, which can play rather heavily once you get a few plugins going in whatever DAW you're running.
> 
> I'm also one of those silly people that would much rather use 3200CL14 versus 2666 when possible ^_^


Only occasional?









Since the infinity fabric is linked to the memory speeds that 3200 would offer some nice improvements. I'm guessing it might become more useful the more and more chips there are on a CPU package


----------



## WhiteWulfe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *mmonnin*
> 
> Only occasional?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Since the infinity fabric is linked to the memory speeds that 3200 would offer some nice improvements. I'm guessing it might become more useful the more and more chips there are on a CPU package


I say occasional because we're talking 200+ watts being dissipated regularly (plus whatever the graphics cars are putting out) into a small room, and I don't handle heat too well. So in the summer, I tend to tone down what's being run, and then of course there's the gaming I do









ThreadRipper would also provide one lovely benefit though... When gaming I could very well keep BOINC running in the background on half the threads


----------



## spdaimon

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *WhiteWulfe*
> 
> I'm not talking simple audio usage, but with a decent amount of plugins and VSTi's running all at once... ^_^ 4k video editing will also be involved with the rig, as well as occasional BOINC usage. I've always wanted a HEDT rig anyways, and ThreadRipper also has the huge benefit of qud channel memory, which can play rather heavily once you get a few plugins going in whatever DAW you're running.
> 
> I'm also one of those silly people that would much rather use 3200CL14 versus 2666 when possible ^_^


Heh, me too, that is why I got the DDR3-2400, think that was the fastest at the time, when I got my 32GB kit for my i7-4790K to run the LHC project (then moved to my 4960X), but its one of those things where YMMV. Memory intensive applications would benefit more, but from a gaming perspective, there is like a 1-2% difference for something like $50 more.


----------



## WhiteWulfe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *spdaimon*
> 
> Heh, me too, that is why I got the DDR3-2400, think that was the fastest at the time, when I got my 32GB kit for my i7-4790K to run the LHC project (then moved to my 4960X), but its one of those things where YMMV. Memory intensive applications would benefit more, but from a gaming perspective, there is like a 1-2% difference for something like $50 more.


For me, it was all of a $5 CAD difference between 1866 and 2400 so I went with the 2400. Kind of wish I had gone with 32GB of ddr3 at the time but this next time I'll make sure to get 64GB with ThreadRipper ^_^ (although 32GB would still suffice, and I could get bdie, aka 3200cl14 ddr4... But I like the idea of being able to make a ram disk if I want, or run the higher demand projects)


----------



## tictoc

My "Budget" BOINC server is once again fully up and running. One of the 1070s is running [email protected], but everything else is crunching away.


----------



## spdaimon

*Atlas*
Motherboard: Z9PE-D8 (~$450)
CPU(s): 2x E5-2680 (~$100 ea.)
Memory: PNY Anarchy 64GB DDR3-1866 (~$200) was on-sale, or discontinued blow-out. Can't find it anymore.
GPU(s): 2x EVGA 780 TI Classified (already had)
PSU: EVGA 1000 P (~$180)
Storage:WD 500GB Blue 7200RPM
Case: Phanteks Enthoo Pro (~$90)
Cooling: 2x Cooler Master Evo
Operating System: Ubuntu 16.04
Approximate cost: $1200 + GPUs

*Catapult-K2*
Motherboard: Z9PE-D8 (~$450)
CPU(s): 2x E5-2670 (~$80 ea.)
Memory: 64GB Micron DDR3-1600R (~$125)
GPU(s): XFX R9 280X + ASUS R9 280X (already had)
PSU: EVGA 1000 GQ (already had, ~$150)
Storage: Seagate 1TB SSHD
Case: Phanteks Enthoo Pro (~$90)
Cooling: 2x Cooler Master Evo
Operating System: Windows 10 Pro
Approximate cost: $1000 + GPUs


Atlas on left, Catapult on right.


----------



## emoga

@spdaimon Nice. Lots of crunching power in those two boxes


----------



## spdaimon

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *emoga*
> 
> @spdaimon Nice. Lots of crunching power in those two boxes


Yea, I tried to put as much in as I could to maximize what little table space I got. I only wanted to build one, but the first board I got would only work with 1 CPU. RMA'd it with ASUS and ordered a second board, planned to sell the first. I ordered 9 sticks because of some kind of quantity limitation set by PNY and ordered 5 before I found that out. Amazon didnt have the single sticks, so I had to order 2 pairs. Luckily I got 9 because 1 was bad. RMA'd that. Got an XLR8 model back after a couple months, like 4 months I think it took, instead of Anarchy. Looks to be the same spec, anyhoo was using the other 8 anyway. Had a CPU die on the RMA'd mobo..drove me crazy. Thought it was the board again till I tested it in the second board, which is why I bought it. Maybe I could just tested it in one of my X79s in hindsight, but that ment taking apart or potentially damaging a good board...yea, so fun project...I am a fan of the Enthoo Pro cases. Supports the SSI CEB natively, minus one hole. I bought some of those plastic clip-in standoffs for that hole. I believe the other case that might of supported it was the CM Cosmos II...which I'd love to have, but at over $300, thats a pretty substantial investment for a case. The NZXT Phantom 530 is probably my fav case so far, so quiet! The Phanteks with 6 case fans (also Phanteks) its pretty quiet. The 780 Tis get a bit noisy under load, louder than the R9s, but thats just going by ear.


----------



## Egilman

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *spdaimon*
> 
> Yea, I tried to put as much in as I could to maximize what little table space I got. I only wanted to build one, but the first board I got would only work with 1 CPU. RMA'd it with ASUS and ordered a second board, planned to sell the first. I ordered 9 sticks because of some kind of quantity limitation set by PNY and ordered 5 before I found that out. Amazon didnt have the single sticks, so I had to order 2 pairs. Luckily I got 9 because 1 was bad. RMA'd that. Got an XLR8 model back after a couple months, like 4 months I think it took, instead of Anarchy. Looks to be the same spec, anyhoo was using the other 8 anyway. Had a CPU die on the RMA'd mobo..drove me crazy. Thought it was the board again till I tested it in the second board, which is why I bought it. Maybe I could just tested it in one of my X79s in hindsight, but that ment taking apart or potentially damaging a good board...yea, so fun project...I am a fan of the Enthoo Pro cases. Supports the SSI CEB natively, minus one hole. I bought some of those plastic clip-in standoffs for that hole. I believe the other case that might of supported it was the CM Cosmos II...which I'd love to have, but at over $300, thats a pretty substantial investment for a case. The NZXT Phantom 530 is probably my fav case so far, so quiet! The Phanteks with 6 case fans (also Phanteks) its pretty quiet. The 780 Tis get a bit noisy under load, louder than the R9s, but thats just going by ear.


The Rosewill Blackhawk Ultra will natively handle ATX / E-ATX / XL-ATX / SSI CEB & HPTX natively covering all holes.

It will easily fit an MEB quad motherboard if your willing to drill and tap a few holes.

Will easily fit an HD7990 without removing the HD cages.

Not a bad price either, if you have the room for it. (very large full tower)

My preferred solution for a single tower home server.


----------



## tictoc

Swapped some network gear for a new 2P board. ASRock Rack EP2C612D16C-4L



Now to decide which ES processors to drop in it.


----------



## emoga

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *tictoc*
> 
> Now to decide which ES processors to drop in it.


Not sure what your budget is...but with the v3 processors you might want to get the retail versions due to the microcode bug (I gained 17% free performance on my 2683's with it and around 12% with the 2696's)

I *think* that board is capable of the hacked bios (my asrock EP2C612 WS had zero problems with the hack and I think they have they same OC features)

Just something to consider.









_Info from this thread_

Basically the hack runs all threads at full turbo as long as cooling is sufficient.


----------



## Gorgotha

...I had a rush of blood to the head and bought an actual server...

Sun SunFire X4140 Server
8GB RAM
2X AMD QUAD CORE OPTERON 2384 @ 2.7GHZ
2 x 146GB SAS Drives
2 x PSU

It's due to arrive on Wednesday or Thursday and I'm going to try to install Ubuntu Server on it and use it as an email server that crunches BOINC - it's probably not going to be super quick but it can whirr away in a corner all day. I've never used Linux before but the ubuntu tutorials are exceptionally well written...I guess my question is whether you think there's enough RAM there? I'd probably not be able to do the big NFS sieve work units with only 1GB RAM per core, but am I going to hit a wall with only 8GB doing other CPU work units?


----------



## ozaudio

yes 8gb will be enough for 8 cores. from the recent NFS challenge I only have 27 gig working in one of my servers which is 32 cores. worked fine and didn't crash. seeing as you are from the uk I assume this is from that recycling centre place in Runcorn? I know a lad with 50+ servers in his shed from there, mostly dual cpu xeons.


----------



## Diffident

My x99 system died the other day. I went to bed sunday night while it was crunching drug discovery, when I woke up in the morning the system was down. It won't power back up. It tries, the LED's light and the fans spin for a half second then it shuts off. It continues in a loop until I flip the switch on the back of the power supply. I tried another power supply and it still doesn't boot so I'm guessing its the motherboard. I thought about going to Microcenter and getting a new motherboard...but then I was thinking this gives me an excuse to build a Ryzen system.....all the cool kids are doing it.


----------



## C4pt41n M0 R0n

Threadripper is just around the corner... I know I'm tempted.


----------



## spdaimon

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *C4pt41n M0 R0n*
> 
> Threadripper is just around the corner... I know I'm tempted.


Yea, the 1900X seems like a decent entery into the TR4 platform at $550ish. The 1950X seems like a monster, just too rich for me right now. I think I will probably wait for Gen 2 of Ryzen anyhow.


----------



## WhiteWulfe

It's tempting me, but on the flipside a number of other things have tried to pull my attention too.


----------



## Gorgotha

I finally got my X4140 up and running and crunching some Primegrid work units. The thing is bloody huge!
I've never used Linux before so maybe jumping straight in with the command line wasn't the best idea, but never mind.

And I appreciated the tutorial for setting up BOINC manager to look after a computer remotely


----------



## bfromcolo

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Gorgotha*
> 
> I finally got my X4140 up and running and crunching some Primegrid work units. The thing is bloody huge!
> I've never used Linux before so maybe jumping straight in with the command line wasn't the best idea, but never mind.
> 
> And I appreciated the tutorial for setting up BOINC manager to look after a computer remotely


Cool you'll have to tell us how it does!


----------

