I was looking at the top producing computers for Seti and the bulk of them were 4 core/8 HT's with 2-? GPU's.

So for Boinc/Seti it is clear that a moderately powerful to very powerful cpu plus a lot of GPU's running Seti tasks are the top producers (with Linux too).

How about for a more general Boinc box? One that will process cpu only projects as well as high performance gpu tasks? I am assuming late generation cpu's with at least AVX ver1.

It is clear that a lot of thread/cores with "good" cpu speed will produce a lot higher overall cpu production than say an high speed i5 (4 cores /no HT, 4.4GHz?).

So is the i7 series (4 cores w/HT) 3+GHz (including AVX) the basic building block. Or would a i7/Xeon/Amd Thread Ripper with at least 6 cores w/HT be a better basic building block? (I am not ignoring the 16 core w/HT but it seems to be less common than the 8-12 thread systems).

Optimum is as always a "tradeoff" situation. Including Power draw of the cpu.

What would be your choice?

Tom

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A proud member of the OFA (Old Farts Association).

Any high core/thread count processor, plus a stack of GTX1080, GTX1080ti/Titan X
My top cruncher has a 4/8 core/thread Xeon, plus three GTX1080s, and its #3 on the list, it would probably be still there with an 8/16 core i7 and three GTX1080, but would be #1 if I were to double the GPUs to six GTX1080ti

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Bob Smith
Member of Seti PIPPS (Pluto is a Planet Protest Society)
Somewhere in the (un)known Universe?

Any project that has gpu apps would be more appropriate to put in as many and as high performance gpus as possible with only enough cpu support for the gpu tasks. That is where the efficiency lies. If you want to crunch for cpu only projects then a multicore, later designed cpu would be appropriate. I know that my Ryzen R7 1700X is about 3 times faster on cpu tasks compared to my AMD FX processors simply because it has AVX 1 & 2 support and is more efficient even though it is not clocked as fast. It really likes any AVX based app. If a project doesn't support AVX apps or multi-threading, then probably a high core count, HT Intel cpu with very high clocks will perform very good since it has superior single-thread performance.

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Seti@Home classic workunits:20,676 CPU time:74,226 hours

A proud member of the OFA (Old Farts Association)

There is no real optimum. It is just a matter of what you can afford initially to build the system and then the increase in your electric bill. This spring I upgraded my 9 year old system from a 2 core Athlon X2 250 to a 6 core Phenom II 1100T and the GPU from a Radeon HD5850 to a MSI RX 480 Armor 8gb OC. Those two upgrades have driven the electric usage up by almost a 100kw a month over last years usage. Now if I had the money, I would build a system based upon a Threadripper and a couple of RX Vegas.

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... and still I fear, and still I dare not laugh at the Mad Man!

Queen - The Prophet's Song

There is no real optimum. It is just a matter of what you can afford initially to build the system and then the increase in your electric bill.

I certainly understand that. That is why I phrased the subject line how I did. For BOINC. Not just Seti. And that is why I have been interested in lower TDP cpu's/gpu's with higher performance.

It looks like your cpu pulls 125 watts and the Video card pulls maybe 150 watts. I have seen fairly robust cpu speeds in the 65/85 watt range. And if I understand it right, the newest releases by AMD has some down in that range. So I think the major expense would be, as usual, the cpu/mobo/ram to reduce your power usage.

Now if I could just get MY power bill down..... :)

Tom

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A proud member of the OFA (Old Farts Association).

Solar panels, wind power.....

ps...

Tom, is that you on Seti@home FB??

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Solar panels, wind power.....

ps...

Tom, is that you on Seti@home FB??

Probably. The last post I put up was about trying to get more conversation going....

Tom

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A proud member of the OFA (Old Farts Association).

Solar panels, wind power.....

ps...

Tom, is that you on Seti@home FB??

I woefully underestimated the additional solar capacity I added back in October for the Win 10 machine. I wasn't expecting to add an additional gpu to that machine or to build my fastest cruncher in the past couple of weeks out of spare parts with the linux based, special app and 3 of my older 970s that were just sitting on the shelf doing nothing. It is going to hurt next year when I have to pay off my solar settle-up month.

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Seti@Home classic workunits:20,676 CPU time:74,226 hours

A proud member of the OFA (Old Farts Association)

I was actually wondering if I could add more panels seeing how what I did last year only halved my bill. Not sure if my power company will let me do it, but I am considering it, lol...

I ended up upping my solar panel capacity by about 35% last fall, and unfortuately for my wallet, I also have added a few crunching rigs, which more than offset my additional capacity (especially since my production is often nil between Dec and the end of Feb-early March. D@mn snow!). I am not complaining, every bit helps, but I overestimated my gains in production, and underestimated my additional electrical useage. Oh well, no one has a gun to my head _forcing_ me to run these systems, so there ya go! :-)

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Snow?? What's snow????

It's that cold white stuff that comes about 6 months after the 100 degree and humid days... :-p

You don't like boring weather? Move to MN! Every day's a new exciting day, and you really never know what you're going to get from week to week! Arctic Express and -20? Sure! 30" in one snowstorm? Done it! 10" rain? 100 and humid? Why not? Tornados? Absolutely! lol

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Snow?? What's snow????

What's snow.?? I've heard rumors of this stuff. You have to drive 2 hours into the mountains to find it I hear.???

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Seti@Home classic workunits:20,676 CPU time:74,226 hours

A proud member of the OFA (Old Farts Association)

In Dec-Feb? Yeah, I Wish! Every passing year I find it harder and harder to enjoy that ritual they call shoveling. Time for heated driveway/$idewalk$... Come On, Powerball!

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You're talking about winter?? I remember winter...No snow.. but definitely remember winter....

Worse 48 hours of my life last year.. Hope we don't get a repeat, don't think I could take it....

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With the developments in efficiency of solar panels its is becoming feasible to use them where I live - still an expensive option to "do the job properly", as, on top of the load of panels I'd want an inverter/charger and battery bank and split the house wiring so some of my crunchers were fed from solar, leaving the rest on mains. I've got to do some sums, and that hurts :-(

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Bob Smith
Member of Seti PIPPS (Pluto is a Planet Protest Society)
Somewhere in the (un)known Universe?

In Dec-Feb? Yeah, I Wish! Every passing year I find it harder and harder to enjoy that ritual they call shoveling. Time for heated driveway/$idewalk$... Come On, Powerball!

Just put your "rigs" on some metal plates with small wheels for when after the snow melts and put them outside with really LONG extension cords :^)

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A proud member of the OFA (Old Farts Association).

Worse 48 hours of my life last year..

Now that is a real "blip" :)

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A proud member of the OFA (Old Farts Association).

I do have one rhetorical question though.... how did we get from the subject of the thread to snow? Oh, yeah, the COST of electricity issue.... :D

Tom

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A proud member of the OFA (Old Farts Association).