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Just for fun...
Lets say I give you all $3000 for a seti@home PC, what would you build ?
Since GPU are much faster now I guess you first choose your video card and
go from there ? In other words, what would be the fastest machine for seti@home for $3000 ?
There is got to be a winning combination of OS, CPU, GPU, etc !
Linux, windows ? AMD, Intel ? Nvidia, Radeon ?
I can't wait to see all the different views on this...
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If it is going to be a dedicated cruncher Ill be spending all the money on at least 2 NV GTx690 (or even ATIs 7970, but I like more NVidia). Any $ left will be for any board/CPU/RAM capable to drive 2 PCIE3.0 concurrently at 16x and a 1200+Watt (prefferable Gold) PSU... a relatively small and cheap hard disk, and some flavor of linux (just because it will cost 0$, and can be installed from a USB pendrive).
If it's not enough for a case I can run it over a piece of wood until your next donation... ;D
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Two Nvidia GTX690s - that will leave you about $1000 for all the other bits, not much for an Intel based system when you knock another $200 off for the psu (at least 1000w needed to keep those GPU fed). So AMD FX-8150, Asus Crosshair V MoBo, 8Gb RAM, and a half decent case - go for function over form, make sure it will take the length of the GTX690. You will probably also need some extra case cooling fans for comfort.
If the budget is almost blown then use a flavour of Linux, otherwise a Windows 7 (64 bit) license, but that might just push you over the edge.
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Bob Smith
Member of Seti PIPPS (Pluto is a Planet Protest Society)
Somewhere in the (un)known Universe? |
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At the moment with GTX 690s I'd choose Windows.
Developer guys are busy so there are no ETA for Astropulse GPU crunching with Linux. Multibeam works nice in Linux with optimized app but for maximum GPU advantage Windows would be my choice.
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Computers: obelix |
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 ExVolunteer moderator
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At the moment with GTX 690s I'd choose Windows.
Developer guys are busy so there are no ETA for Astropulse GPU crunching with Linux. Multibeam works nice in Linux with optimized app but for maximum GPU advantage Windows would be my choice.
I have to agree with Kamu here.
I personally, pretty much have done all my crunching on Linux boxes, and I love Linux and all that, ....
BUT
Windows does squeeze about 5% more performance out as far as SETI AT HOME is concerned. Other projects are not always the same story.
So, if you're looking for every little bit of credit out of a super cruncher for seti, windows is the way to go.
(That being said, a self compiled kernel of certain flavors can compete with a windows box, but that's a whole 'nother ballgame)
Just being honest and objective. From the perspective of strictly crunching, windows will yield more credit. I don't crunch much, nor do I have any GPUs or dedicated crunching rigs. But the guys that do, run windows.
So, for a seti crunching rig, budget 100-200$ for the OS.
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-Dave #2
  3.2.0-33 |
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arkayn Volunteer tester
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At the moment with GTX 690s I'd choose Windows.
Developer guys are busy so there are no ETA for Astropulse GPU crunching with Linux. Multibeam works nice in Linux with optimized app but for maximum GPU advantage Windows would be my choice.
I have to agree with Kamu here.
I personally, pretty much have done all my crunching on Linux boxes, and I love Linux and all that, ....
BUT
Windows does squeeze about 5% more performance out as far as SETI AT HOME is concerned. Other projects are not always the same story.
So, if you're looking for every little bit of credit out of a super cruncher for seti, windows is the way to go.
(That being said, a self compiled kernel of certain flavors can compete with a windows box, but that's a whole 'nother ballgame)
Just being honest and objective. From the perspective of strictly crunching, windows will yield more credit. I don't crunch much, nor do I have any GPUs or dedicated crunching rigs. But the guys that do, run windows.
So, for a seti crunching rig, budget 100-200$ for the OS.
Plus Jason has optimized builds for Windows that are faster than the released build for Linux.
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I have to agree with Kamu here.
So, for a seti crunching rig, budget 100-200$ for the OS.
Plus Jason has optimized builds for Windows that are faster than the released build for Linux.
I agree, but those 200$ means you can buy 2 GT640 or any other extra GPUs and they will give much more in credits than the raw difference for the windows optimizations...
My point is: on a limited budget, you can get more from an extra GPU (or in general from better hardware) than from the optimizations for a specific OS. If the budget were not limited, its another tale...
And, at the end you can start with Linux and buy the Win license later after saving for it...
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EVGA GTX 670 FTW $389.99
(2)EVGA GTX 690 $1,999.98
GIGABYTE990FXA-UD3 $139.99
Phenom II X4 955 3.2GHz $79.95
Mushkin Enhanced 8GB $69.99
PC Power & Cooling Silencer Mk II 950W $109.99
WD Caviar 3.5" $64.99
SONY DVD $17.00
Thermaltake V3 $39.99
(2)Scythe 120 Slim Fan 120 x 12mm $20.00
(2)Antec TriCool 120mm Fan 3-Speed $17.76
COOLER MASTER CPU Cooler $19.99
$2,969.62
Left a little something for shipping / keyboard / mouse
That case has space for a fan in the bottom, but you gotta use slim fans on top, ... you can get two in there, so "breathing" isn't a problem. That PSU is adequate - just; so I kept to a 95w CPU. The RAM is 7-7-7-24, 1.65v. You could really get those three GPUs on this motherboard and get it all in this case.
In other words, I didn't just "list stuff." This ought to work.
EDIT - I don't anticipate the CPU / RAM would do anything but feed the GPUs, so no need for expensive cooling. I'm willing to bet that the inclusion of an "extra" GTX 670 would make-up for any CPU-crunching loss. Stepping "down" to an overclocked GTX 560Ti so you could spend a little more money somewhere else would make the PSU really marginal, so I stuck with the 600-series for the efficiency. |
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My new HP 635 laptop, with SLES 11 Linux, had one 2GB Hynix RAM labeled 12800S. But the manual said as a replacement get a 10600 RAM and I bought one to bring the total to 4 GB on 2 slots.No match. So I bought first a 4 GB Geil RAM labeled 10660 and it worked fine. I then bought another identical and brought it to 8 GB (my 32-bit Linux is pae).The two bear a 9-9-9-24 label.What does it mean?
Tullio
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JulieVolunteer tester
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My favourite PC is a quadcore with windows and a Nvidia GPU.
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MikeVolunteer tester
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FX 8170
2 7970.
4 cores to feed the GPU´s and still 4 cores to crunch on CPU.
If i had the money.
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I am very happy with all your suggestions and I thank you all.
The subject is still open !!!
and the $3000 is in the mail for all of you !!! ;)
So far I am sure of a few things.
1) Windows 7 64
2) (2) gtx690
3) non extreme 4 core CPU and cooling (the CPU would not be crunching)
4) Powerfull PS for the PCI3 video cards.
5) Minimum RAM and HDD requirements for BOINC and seti@home.
6) Large case with room for the big video cards and good airflow.
but what about a NVIDIA TESLA rig ? http://www.nvidiatesla.org/ |
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but what about a NVIDIA TESLA rig ? http://www.nvidiatesla.org/
Tesla cards are just overpriced graphics cards without the monitor connector.
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Donate with your searches and online buys:
http://www.goodsearch.com/toolbar/university-of-california-setihome |
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but what about a NVIDIA TESLA rig ? http://www.nvidiatesla.org/
AFAIK, Teslas are not far better than high end GPUs on the single precision math needed for SETI, but they are much more expensive.
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What kind of RAC does the gtx690 put out.
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What kind of RAC does the gtx690 put out.
I don't think anyone knows for sure.
Morten Ross could tell us. He's running two computers with four GTX 690s each, but I don't know how many hours he crunches per day or what else he does on those computers.
IF one GTX 690 is reported as two cards (dual card), so he's really running two 690s in each computer, then I understand his RAC.
He's getting about 100,000 RAC (+/- 10%) from each of those computers. If that really is two cards and not four, then each GTX 690 is doing about 50,000 RAC, and that would make some sense.
The dual cards never seem to do twice the work of the model just below them.
My two GTX 670s seem to be doing about 60,000, but I have one factory overclocked 560Ti that seems to be doing about 30,000.
The only advantage (so far) I see to the 600 series is that they draw less power so run much, much cooler. |
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JulieVolunteer tester
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If i had the money.
I know that feeling. If I had the money I think I would give a big part to Seti...
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I could have two (2) of the following machine for the same budget of $3000
and I wonder if it would be putting out more numbers than a two (2) gtx690 machine as proposed. What do you think ?
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1 x Intel Core i7 3770 Quad Core Hyperthreading Processor LGA1155 3.4GHZ Ivy Bridge 8MB Retail
1 x Corsair Cooling Hydro Series H60 High Performance CPU Cooler System LGA1155 LGA1366 LGA1156 AM2 AM3
1 x Gigabyte Z77-D3H ATX LGA1155 Z77 DDR3 3PCI-E16 3PCI-E1 HDMI CrossFireX SATA3 USB3.0 Motherboard
1 x Patriot G2 Series Division 2 8GB 2X4GB PC3-10666 DDR3-1333 9-9-9-24 1.5V Dual Channel Memory Kit
2 x GeForce GTX 560 Ti 1GB PCI-E Dual DVI Mini HDMI
1 x Bitfenix Shinobi Window ATX Mid Tower Case Black 3X5.25EXT 8X3.5INT No PS Top USB3.0 Audio
3 x Bitfenix Spectre BFF-BLF-12025R-RP 120MM Red LED Case Fan 1000RPM 43.5CFM 20DBA 3/4 Pin
1 x Seasonic M12II 850W EPS12V 20/24PIN ATX Power Supply PFC 80+ Bronze Modular 8PIN PCI-E 120MM Fan
1 x Bitfenix BFA-ACL-30RK15-RP Alchemy LED Connect Lit 30CM 15 LEDs - Red
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium Edition 64BIT SP1 DVD OEM
1 x Seagate Barracuda 1TB 7200RPM 64MB SATA 6Gbps 3.5IN Internal Hard Drive - OEM
1 x ASUS DRW-24B1ST 24X SATA DVD Writer OEM Blac
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That makes a total of
16 3.4 Ghz Ivy bridge cores (liquid cooled)
+
4 560ti GPU
So wich is faster ?
8 X 3.4 Ghz Ivy bridge cores CPU + 2 X 560ti GPU
OR
1 X 690GTX
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I could have two (2) of the following machine for the same budget of $3000
and I wonder if it would be putting out more numbers than a two (2) gtx690 machine as proposed. What do you think ?
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1 x Intel Core i7 3770 Quad Core Hyperthreading Processor LGA1155 3.4GHZ Ivy Bridge 8MB Retail
1 x Corsair Cooling Hydro Series H60 High Performance CPU Cooler System LGA1155 LGA1366 LGA1156 AM2 AM3
1 x Gigabyte Z77-D3H ATX LGA1155 Z77 DDR3 3PCI-E16 3PCI-E1 HDMI CrossFireX SATA3 USB3.0 Motherboard
1 x Patriot G2 Series Division 2 8GB 2X4GB PC3-10666 DDR3-1333 9-9-9-24 1.5V Dual Channel Memory Kit
2 x GeForce GTX 560 Ti 1GB PCI-E Dual DVI Mini HDMI
1 x Bitfenix Shinobi Window ATX Mid Tower Case Black 3X5.25EXT 8X3.5INT No PS Top USB3.0 Audio
3 x Bitfenix Spectre BFF-BLF-12025R-RP 120MM Red LED Case Fan 1000RPM 43.5CFM 20DBA 3/4 Pin
1 x Seasonic M12II 850W EPS12V 20/24PIN ATX Power Supply PFC 80+ Bronze Modular 8PIN PCI-E 120MM Fan
1 x Bitfenix BFA-ACL-30RK15-RP Alchemy LED Connect Lit 30CM 15 LEDs - Red
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium Edition 64BIT SP1 DVD OEM
1 x Seagate Barracuda 1TB 7200RPM 64MB SATA 6Gbps 3.5IN Internal Hard Drive - OEM
1 x ASUS DRW-24B1ST 24X SATA DVD Writer OEM Blac
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That makes a total of
16 3.4 Ghz Ivy bridge cores (liquid cooled)
+
4 560ti GPU
So wich is faster ?
8 X 3.4 Ghz Ivy bridge cores CPU + 2 X 560ti GPU
OR
1 X 690GTX
???
I have a host with 2 560Ti (17-860) all heavily overclocked and one host with just 1 GTX680 (i7-3770) all at deffault clocks, the 680 host is doing in SETI around the same credits than the host with 2 560TI's are doing on Einstein (and Einstein gives around a 30% more credits than SETI)...
Plus, I had a lot of work setting the 560TIs until they stop giving invalids...
I guess that even 1 gtx680 will give you better results than 2 560TIs, with a small difference in price... (and a lot less on electricity bill)
And if you build 2 hosts with one 680 each, you can later get a 690 and put it on one host while setting the other to use the 2 680... (and you still will have room for another GPU)...
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I'd go for a 100-120W nVidia GPU (I don't think i'd ever burn more than 200W 24/7, for Seti, even if I had free electricity) and probably an i3 CPU that would cost, let's say, 800 bucks. Keep another 800 bucks to buy a similar specced PC in around two years time. Donate the remaining 1400 bucks direct to Seti or better yet, the GPU users group. When the two years passed I'd sell off the old PC and donate whatever I got for it to Seti too.
If I had the willpower, what I should do is put the 3000 bucks in the bank, buy a PC similar to the specs above in around 20 years time since processing power increases exponentially, and again donate all leftover cash direct to the project.
Not a popular view, I know:) |
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