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Number crunching :
Would like to contribute. Need help.
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Author | Message |
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Eyal Naveh Send message Joined: 6 Jun 18 Posts: 7 Credit: 4,135 RAC: 0 |
Hello all, I just recently heard about this project and learned about the others. I wish I knew about this earlier. I learned about it from a random video on youtube. This boinc needs some heavy marketing. I'm sure more will respond if they knew about it. I'd like to contribute my part to science by purchasing a stand alone desktop that will run 24/7/365 (without burning down the house) for seti mainly and other projects. (No emails, no games, office work, nothing but Berkeley projects). A dedicated computer with hardware and software for the specific needs of seti and perhapse a couple of other projects. The problem is, that I don't know which computer to buy. My knowledge in computers is limited, and I don't want to get a degree in computers and read all the threads here before making a decision. I read a couple and got a headache. Even tried to build my own using system builder, but quickly realized that I have no idea what I'm doing. My budget for this is $1000, but can go a bit more if that's not enough. Is there anyone that will be willing to either build one online and just send me the link so I can pay and order, or post a link for me of a desktop with good and quiet cooling system? I really just want to buy a desktop, plug it, download boinc, let it run and forget about it. To do my part in enhancing this network. Like for example this one: https://www.ebay.com/itm/10-Core-Gaming-Computer-Desktop-PC-Tower-2-T-Quad-16GB-1050-Graphic-FORTNITE/263573087390?hash=item3d5e2e249e:g:E3EAAOSw3Sla4ijw Is it any good for us? Thanks for your help! |
Brent Norman Send message Joined: 1 Dec 99 Posts: 2786 Credit: 685,657,289 RAC: 835 |
To be honest you will get MUCH MUCH more performance out of a good Graphics Card (GPU) than you will out of a high powered (high priced) CPU. With that being said a used Computer with an EVGA 1070Ti Hybrid added would run circles around the one you listed. For new, maybe an AMD 1700X with a 1070Ti and 750W Power Supply, but that would likely break the budget. I would get an ATX board and mid tower case which would allow you to add another card. For just crunching a 128Gb SSD is all you need, and not much for RAM (at least for SETI, but some other project need more memory). If you want to overclock your CPU, it normally cost you more for better quality memory. For OS, Linux is getting the best performance, but some knowledge and willingness for setup is require. Windows 10 is fine, but get PRO so you can stop graphics driver updates which cause problems. There are countless number of options to go with for computer/GPU options. |
Zalster Send message Joined: 27 May 99 Posts: 5517 Credit: 528,817,460 RAC: 242 |
Hey Brent, I think he is looking for a prebuilt. What about this one. Refurbished but comes with a 1070 https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883221496 Or https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883230326 Don't know anything about the AMD GPUs. Keith would know about the Ryzan CPUs. But I think this might work for him. Don't care for the light show. |
rob smith Send message Joined: 7 Mar 03 Posts: 22160 Credit: 416,307,556 RAC: 380 |
Like for example this one: https://www.ebay.com/itm/10-Core-Gaming-Computer-Desktop-PC-Tower-2-T-Quad-16GB-1050-Graphic-FORTNITE/263573087390?hash=item3d5e2e249e:g:E3EAAOSw3Sla4ijw Hmm, not as good as one would the venerable AMD A8 was a moderately good chip a few years ago, but has been overtaken by a substantial margin these days. Have a look at the big US based box shifters and see what they are offering along the following lines: AMD Ryzen 5 series 8Gig of RAM 500Gig hard disk 1 or two Nvidia GTX1050 or GTX1060 GPUs Windows 10 pro (or, better Windows 8 pro) In a decent sized desktop box You may find that the guy in your local mall can do better, with the advantage if it doesn't work you can "return it in the most appropriate manner". I've had a look at a couple of the UK box shifters and that spec should be possible within your budget with a bit of change (but the shipping to the States from the UK would wreck your budget....) Bob Smith Member of Seti PIPPS (Pluto is a Planet Protest Society) Somewhere in the (un)known Universe? |
Mike Send message Joined: 17 Feb 01 Posts: 34253 Credit: 79,922,639 RAC: 80 |
The second one looks not bad to me and should be fast enough for him. I would help him to optimize GPU output. With each crime and every kindness we birth our future. |
petri33 Send message Joined: 6 Jun 02 Posts: 1668 Credit: 623,086,772 RAC: 156 |
Hi, Get a refurbished/used/old system and a new/newish GPU. On the NVIDIA side at least the Pascal (10x0) and on the AMD a GPU with the highest number of independent acceleration units... ... (since I'm expecting the OpenCL SW to catch up with the latest advancements regarding unused GPU cores ... grid(1, x, y). On NVIDIA the first grid parameter tells on how many SMXs to run (Imagine 1 of 80 on a VOLTA GPU). NVIDIA will not reveal their preference to schedule the GPU threads but my tests have revealed one bit. Petri[/b] To overcome Heisenbergs: "You can't always get what you want / but if you try sometimes you just might find / you get what you need." -- Rolling Stones |
Keith Myers Send message Joined: 29 Apr 01 Posts: 13161 Credit: 1,160,866,277 RAC: 1,873 |
Being a AMD fanboi, I would go with the Ryzen 1700X with more cores. If he would want to participate in more projects other than Seti, the extra cpu cores not supporting Seti gpu tasks could be put to use on other projects. The AMD graphics card being the questionable part of that build in my opinion. About the only project I am familiar with that preferences AMD gpu's is MilkyWay because of the superior double precision floating point specs compared to Nvidia. The RAM memory difference is not important as most distributed computing does not need massive amounts of memory. I am not a fan of art deco case designs either. Give me a standard case size and shape and expansion capability is no concern. Seti@Home classic workunits:20,676 CPU time:74,226 hours A proud member of the OFA (Old Farts Association) |
Eyal Naveh Send message Joined: 6 Jun 18 Posts: 7 Credit: 4,135 RAC: 0 |
Thanks for understanding! I just want to make sure you meant this one: https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883230326 Before I order. Also, how can you help me with the gpu? Just get you on teamviewer? Or is it going to be instructions that I'll have to do it myself? |
Zalster Send message Joined: 27 May 99 Posts: 5517 Credit: 528,817,460 RAC: 242 |
Yes that is the one everyone is agreeing on. As far as helping, Mike was referring to a command line. After you get it up and running, there are ways to fine tune the GPU to make it run more efficiently and quicker. We can go into that at a later date. Main thing is to get you up and running first. Zalster |
Eyal Naveh Send message Joined: 6 Jun 18 Posts: 7 Credit: 4,135 RAC: 0 |
Ok. Just placed the order. Ended up being $1.69 above budget. Good job guys :) Will check back in 3-4 days when I get it. |
rob smith Send message Joined: 7 Mar 03 Posts: 22160 Credit: 416,307,556 RAC: 380 |
Exciting times ahead for :-) Bob Smith Member of Seti PIPPS (Pluto is a Planet Protest Society) Somewhere in the (un)known Universe? |
Keith Myers Send message Joined: 29 Apr 01 Posts: 13161 Credit: 1,160,866,277 RAC: 1,873 |
Yes Mike would be the one to ask for recommended tuning commandline parameters for AMD RX cards. But as has been stated, just get the basic system up and running and then ask for performance tuning help. Seti@Home classic workunits:20,676 CPU time:74,226 hours A proud member of the OFA (Old Farts Association) |
rob smith Send message Joined: 7 Mar 03 Posts: 22160 Credit: 416,307,556 RAC: 380 |
With any new computer I give it a couple of days just "turned on and doing nothing" before I think about loading BOINC and adding projects. Then give it a couple of days running whatever happens along. All this is to make sure everything is working before diving in to do any tuning, loading special applications etc. Bob Smith Member of Seti PIPPS (Pluto is a Planet Protest Society) Somewhere in the (un)known Universe? |
Eyal Naveh Send message Joined: 6 Jun 18 Posts: 7 Credit: 4,135 RAC: 0 |
With any new computer I give it a couple of days just "turned on and doing nothing" before I think about loading BOINC and adding projects. Then give it a couple of days running whatever happens along. All this is to make sure everything is working before diving in to do any tuning, loading special applications etc. Good point. Will do. |
rob smith Send message Joined: 7 Mar 03 Posts: 22160 Credit: 416,307,556 RAC: 380 |
...and above all else - ENJOY :-) Bob Smith Member of Seti PIPPS (Pluto is a Planet Protest Society) Somewhere in the (un)known Universe? |
Al Send message Joined: 3 Apr 99 Posts: 1682 Credit: 477,343,364 RAC: 482 |
...and above all else - ENJOY :-)Hey Rob, isn't that why we're all here? ;-) *Please don't ask me if I am when I'm working on installing or configuring a system that I'm trying to optimize... but once it's dialed in, why yes, it is more than enjoyable to watch it do it's thing!* |
Eyal Naveh Send message Joined: 6 Jun 18 Posts: 7 Credit: 4,135 RAC: 0 |
Ok. We're up and running for 24 hours. All seems ok. What's the next step? |
Zalster Send message Joined: 27 May 99 Posts: 5517 Credit: 528,817,460 RAC: 242 |
The next step will be installation of lunatics for AMD CPU and Graphic card but I'm going to wait and let both Keith and Mike give you instructions on do that. I don't have experience with the new AMD chips (Keith does) and Mike can tell you how to fine tune the Graphic card by use of a commandline. We will probably need to walk you through find the Seti@home folder location and how to create a XML file to make an app_config.xml and insertion of the commandline. But 1 step at a time. You only have a handful of task validate yet. Once we know they are all validating without issues, then we can move on to installing the lunatics program. So give us a little more time, probably another 24 hours. Keith and Mike will be along in time, Keith is here in USA, Mike is in Germany so responses can take a bit. Congratulations on getting it up and running. Looking good so far. Will keep an eye on it. Zalster |
rob smith Send message Joined: 7 Mar 03 Posts: 22160 Credit: 416,307,556 RAC: 380 |
Zal - he hasn't got BOINC & SETI running yet, just the bare machine - he's had that i3 for some time So, Download BOINC (from http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/download.php ) select the version WITHOUT Virtual Box, which isn't needed for SETI. Install BOINC, and then, once running select "add a project", scroll down the list to SETI@Home - you are a returning user as you already have one computer, so use the same email address and password. After a bit of a wait you will see in the BOINC manger something happening - switch to the "advanced" view and you should see a couple of tasks, at first you may not see any running on the GPU, it can take a few 5 minute cycles to get that recognised properly. A quick check on the BOINC log - which is accessed from the "tools" tab in the advanced view should show that both the CPU and GPU have been recognised by BOINC (scroll to the top of the log, the first few lines should contain messages about identifying the CPU and GPU). If all is well that's about it for the next few hours (give it a good day or more to make sure everything is working properly. Bob Smith Member of Seti PIPPS (Pluto is a Planet Protest Society) Somewhere in the (un)known Universe? |
JohnDK Send message Joined: 28 May 00 Posts: 1222 Credit: 451,243,443 RAC: 1,127 |
OK I have been wondering some time to ask: I´m I the only one that believes OpenCL is now included in MS drivers? Did a fresh install of Win10 v1709 some months ago, I used BOINC without installing NV drivers. Shortly after I was updated to v1803, again no BOINC problems. A few weeks ago I decided to try the latest NV drivers to see if there was a performance difference, don't think there is. A few days ago I had a non BOINC driver problem, uninstalled all NV stuff rebooted and Win10 then auto installed MS drivers, all works fine. |
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