Well It's not that obvious, I mean Neh_1 and Neh_2 could have been called:

Neh_64

Neh_32

More obvious isn't It?

Yes, it would have been more obvious regarding that point. At the time I chose the names I had no idea the hosts differed in this respect. They may also differ in others.

By the way, thanks for deleting the images from your initial quoted reply, I appreciate it.

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Well It's not that obvious, I mean Neh_1 and Neh_2 could have been called:

Neh_64

Neh_32

More obvious isn't It?

Yes, it would have been more obvious regarding that point. At the time I chose the names I had no idea the hosts differed in this respect. They may also differ in others.

By the way, thanks for deleting the images from your initial quoted reply, I appreciate it.

Not a problem, Although I could have shrunk It using "th_" added on to the name of the file with a link to the full sized one over at photobucket.

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The T1 Trust, PRR T1 Class 4-4-4-4 #5550, 1 of America's First HST's

Key questions:

1. what actual clock frequency are the Nehalem hosts running (ap
reporting appears to be unreliable, though the central tendency may be
toward a slight overclock).
2. were the Nehalem results generated running hyperthreaded?
3. how many SETI aps were actually running simutaneously when these
were generated?
4. what fraction of wall clock hours since these two hosts were signed
up to SETI have they actually been running SETI? The current RAC
seems lower than my optimistic assessment of their capabilities if
runnning 8 aps 24x7, especially for the longer-running host 4603078
(Neh_2).

1) my Nhm is running at 4.0Ghz

2) Yes, HT is on, and awesome :-P

3) 8 at the same time.

4) my Core i7 is running seti since 9th of October .. i have been hiding ;-)

it did run 24/7, during the tunning for Overclocking, few half day down due to tunning.

I expect the RAC to get around 9500, am I right?

1) my Nhm is running at 4.0Ghz

2) Yes, HT is on, and awesome :-P

3) 8 at the same time.

4) my Core i7 is running seti since 9th of October .. i have been hiding ;-)

it did run 24/7, during the tunning for Overclocking, few half day down due to tunning.

I expect the RAC to get around 9500, am I right?

Thanks for the answers, Francois.

The one I labelled Neh_1 is the one linked in the opening message of this thread, so we can take it that most of the points for it represent 4 GHz operation. That is a 25% overclock to apparent spec, where my Q6600 and E6600 are at 16.25% overclock, and my Q9550 right at stock. Those wishing to compare stock speeds will need to make appropriate adjustments. Those wishing to compare a given degree of overclock difficulty probably need to wait.

Adjustments aside, the total capability for these two hosts in a four-core CPU is obviously very large. When reasonably priced motherboards and RAM become available, this may become an attractive option for serious SETI crunchers inhibited by a value orientation. I'd think Mark Sattler eager to jump sooner.

I don't have much interest in predicting RAC, but as you gave such crisp and prompt answers I feel obligated to take a try. It appears than in VLAR and mid AR your mean cost is about 65 seconds/credit. On the false assumption of 100% "CPU efficienty" as BOINC defines it that would allow an eventual RAC slightly over 10500. Any services, downtime, and so forth lowering the resource available to SETI would reduce that, though I'd think beating 10,000 is thinkable. Of course a shift in the character of the WUs being distributed (both noise level and AR) moves things up and down as well.

So on what I see your 9500 seems a realistic goal at your current operating point.

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I expect the RAC to get around 9500, am I right?

I would think that or even better......
The Frozen Penny has 4 cores running at 4.4ghz and has reached 8500 RAC....

I should think that 8 threads crunching at 4ghz would do better than 9500....

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"Freedom is just Chaos, with better lighting." Alan Dean Foster

If it weren’t for the Hyper-threading the Corei7 would be a big yawn. The Hyper-threading is it saving grace. Because it is just as fast as my Q6600 at stock speed it will do a 17 credit Wu in 1200 seconds the same as the Corei7. So Hyper-threading doubles the workload.

If it weren’t for the Hyper-threading the Corei7 would be a big yawn. The Hyper-threading is it saving grace. Because it is just as fast as my Q6600 at stock speed it will do a 17 credit Wu in 1200 seconds the same as the Corei7. So Hyper-threading doubles the workload.

Dunno.....but the Frozen Penny does 17.XX credit WUs in about 495 seconds........

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"Freedom is just Chaos, with better lighting." Alan Dean Foster

I expect the RAC to get around 9500, am I right?

I would think that or even better......
The Frozen Penny has 4 cores running at 4.4ghz and has reached 8500 RAC....

I should think that 8 threads crunching at 4ghz would do better than 9500....

Mark I think the Frozen Penny has been drawn and quartered by the i7. ;)

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The T1 Trust, PRR T1 Class 4-4-4-4 #5550, 1 of America's First HST's

If it weren’t for the Hyper-threading the Corei7 would be a big yawn. The Hyper-threading is it saving grace. Because it is just as fast as my Q6600 at stock speed it will do a 17 credit Wu in 1200 seconds the same as the Corei7. So Hyper-threading doubles the workload.

Neither of us knows how fast the cores would be without hyperthreading unless you have a source I've not seen. The early reviews were done on boards/BIOSes that could not turn it off. I don't know whether one will be able to turn it off on production boards.

I did some studies of the hypthreading benefit on my Northwood-descended P4. It depended on ap and such, but a typical number which sticks in my brain from then is about 20%. In other words, with hyperthreading turned off the CPU seconds reported for a WU dropped drastically.

Of course, the better the implementation of HT fits a specific aps, the less the time would drop--but your comments suggest you assume it would not drop at all, which strikes me as very unlikely.

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I expect the RAC to get around 9500, am I right?

I would think that or even better......
The Frozen Penny has 4 cores running at 4.4ghz and has reached 8500 RAC....

I should think that 8 threads crunching at 4ghz would do better than 9500....

Mark I think the Frozen Penny has been drawn and quartered by the i7. ;)

Not per core it hasn't...........

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"Freedom is just Chaos, with better lighting." Alan Dean Foster

Dunno.....but the Frozen Penny does 17.XX credit WUs in about 495 seconds........

One little tidbit, which illustrates the point that the Nehalem is meaningfully different architecturally is that the VHAR stuff we are used to being a rich source of credit rate is actually its worst operating region of those available for review. This is strongly true for the 64-bit build 42 stuff--and even seems to get gradually worse as AR rises in this region.

Since VHAR makes up a pretty low proportion of the total workload, weighted either by CPU seconds or credit, it is poor region on which to base overall comparison. Cherry-pickers please ignore this discussion.

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Dunno.....but the Frozen Penny does 17.XX credit WUs in about 495 seconds........

One little tidbit, which illustrates the point that the Nehalem is meaningfully different architecturally is that the VHAR stuff we are used to being a rich source of credit rate is actually its worst operating region of those available for review. This is strongly true for the 64-bit build 42 stuff--and even seems to get gradually worse as AR rises in this region.

Since VHAR makes up a pretty low proportion of the total workload, weighted either by CPU seconds or credit, it is poor region on which to base overall comparison. Cherry-pickers please ignore this discussion.

OK.....for the sake of the argument......here are some other Frozen Penny timings.........

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"Freedom is just Chaos, with better lighting." Alan Dean Foster

8 CPUs that is great i think...

Greetings from Germany NRW
Ulli

Got some apples and oranges being compared in this discussion.
The playing field that Mark's frozen penny and Corei7 are on are quite a bit different & w/ different rules.

However, one thing appears pretty clear.
A person can get the Extreme chip & do a pretty simple OC w/ Skulltrail results....for @ 1/2 or less of the cost & I'd wager that one could build one for less than the frozen penny.

Or...just wait for new Mac Pro which is likely to debut the dual slot boards in a few months.
If they manage 16 cores for @ 3K...I'll be pretty tempted to update the "family pc" ; > )

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Hey Corei7
Give me a call when your cousin Octo shows up a true 8 core CPU and not a 4 core CPU that acts like an eight core CPU.

OK! ENOUGH ALREADY!!!

Yes, it does make my 9850 phenom look like an abacus!
Yes, I am gonna have to get my calculator out to help out!
What sort of RAC am I gonna get from a Casio?

@msattler - Are we gonna get to see a frozen core i7 anytime soon? Or is the piggy bank empty after the Seagate Drives fiasco?

regards, Gizbar.

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A proud GPU User Server Donor!

The Core i7 looks like a fairly exciting product. I just might have to build myself one come tax time. ;)

OK! ENOUGH ALREADY!!!

Yes, it does make my 9850 phenom look like an abacus!
Yes, I am gonna have to get my calculator out to help out!
What sort of RAC am I gonna get from a Casio?

@msattler - Are we gonna get to see a frozen core i7 anytime soon? Or is the piggy bank empty after the Seagate Drives fiasco?

regards, Gizbar.

Piggy bank is pretty light these days........
The next few months are pretty rough......
Income taxes, property taxes, home and auto insurance...all hit in the coming months.......
It would be a little easier if the upgrade did not require a new mobo and 3 matched sticks of RAM.....
But I cannot complain really......the ol' socket 775 has been a real workhorse.

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"Freedom is just Chaos, with better lighting." Alan Dean Foster

From Danish PC World, translated in Google Translate:

Test: So fast is Intel's new Core processor i7

Sorry for the bad translation here and there. I have submitted more accurate translations where it's not what it should be...

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"I'm trying to maintain a shred of dignity in this world." - Me

OK! ENOUGH ALREADY!!!

Yes, it does make my 9850 phenom look like an abacus!
Yes, I am gonna have to get my calculator out to help out!
What sort of RAC am I gonna get from a Casio?

@msattler - Are we gonna get to see a frozen core i7 anytime soon? Or is the piggy bank empty after the Seagate Drives fiasco?

regards, Gizbar.

Don't feel bad Gizbar, Even My cpus are a bit left behind to one extent or another, But suffice It to say, You might have an Abacus there, But It's a very fast one, Faster than My Opteron 165 is I'd think(Bronze age tool). :D

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The T1 Trust, PRR T1 Class 4-4-4-4 #5550, 1 of America's First HST's