Newbie with some questions...

[LightningZ71]

Hello all,

I've decided to return to distributed computing after a decade long break. Back when seti@home got going, I was an enthusiastic supporter, starting a team in my home town among my friends and getting my employer to donate after hours time on their non-essential systems to the project. That all eventually came to an end as I got married and had kids. Fast forward to today, I'm finally finding myself with some time on my hands, and a bit of a budget to put towards a hobby. I'd like to get back into supporting distributed computing again.

This is what I'll be starting with:
HP Proliant ML350 G5 (currently 1 X Xeon 5430, quad core, 2.66ghz, 6mb l2; 12 GB ram, lots of hard disk space: this will be doing double duty as the home file and media server, I have plans to get the second processor kit to up it to 8 cores)
3 X Dell OptiPlex 780 (one Q8400, 2 with Pentium dual cores, though, I'm soon getting two more Q8400s, 4GB ram each)
1 X HP PC with an earlier Core II dual core and 4GB ram

My best GPU is an old, cheap Geforce 210. I realize that its almost useless for GPU processing.

I have a couple of questions:
1) I can get three Geforce GT730s for the Proliant server (its got 3 X PCI-E X8 slots for them) for dirt cheap. While they aren't computing powerhouses, they have a later model GPU core which supports OpenCL and CUDA 3.5, so they should be useful for a few more years. They're also low power and not too heavy on heat generation (and I hear that the cores overclock well enough). I can't go overboard with high draw video cards as I am going to run into the limits on the electrical circuit to the office/media room where this is all going to be installed. One day, I'll run a new 20 amp circuit into that room, but that's a bit pricey at the moment.

2) Is it worth it to go into F@H with these systems with almost a total lack of GPU performance? Is WCG better for CPU only systems?

I also noticed that a several of you were into high core count systems. If things go well for me with the Proliant that I have, I'm considering spending some hobby budget on this particular system from www.savemyserver.com

HP DL580 G5 4 X Xeon X7460 Hex core 2.4Ghz processors, 32 GB ram $766
That's 24 cores and 8 PCI-E slots with an option for three more if I buy the bus expansion adapter.
I just can't beat that price per core no matter where I go to look. While I know that those are essentially Core 2 based Xeons, they are still decent with respect to throughput.
Also, if it looks like CPU processing is just not getting it done for any of the projects by later this year when I go to buy, I can instead just get one with 4 X L7345 xeons (the lower power ones to reduce the power draw) and 32 GB ram for $286 and get the PCI-E extender and put my money into better GPUs.

Any thoughts on that system?

 

[Toothless]

Heeeey @Norton ! I smell amazing WCG potential here!

That aside, not sure F@H would be worth getting unto as you would have to dive into the GPU market but to each their own. I do know that you have serious CPU power there.

Oh and Norton is the go-to on the forum for WCG. He knows his stuff.

 

[LightningZ71]

Thanks for the info. I wanted to clarify, the 730s I'm looking at getting are the Keppler based cards, not the earlier Fermi models.

I'll cross post my thread to the WGC forum...

 

[mx500torid]

We would love to have you Folding but it looks like WCG would be more useful for your setup and welcome back into the fray.

Heres a link to a chart for Folding points in a GPU.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/pub?key=0AmQ6YZGMTUpFdHhxNkptVncyR2k4dVV6WDBmQXRJYVE&gid=0

 

[Norton]

Welcome @LightningZ71 and thanks for your interest in crunching and folding!

Note- your questions are more likely to get a better response if you post on the Team threads (folding team thread listed below):

http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/tpus-f-h-team.13038/

On my way over to your post in the WCG section now

 

[eidairaman1]

Check out GT 730 vs 430 topic, Same Exact chip used.

 

[LightningZ71]

I've looked at that topic. There are actually two different versions of the 730 card that are out there. The initial version has a 700mhz Fermi chip and is indeed a copy of the 430. The second, which I'm looking at, is based on the Keppler chip and is much faster. The one I'm looking at is the EVGA 01G-P3-3731-KR, which is a 1GB GDDR5 board with a 900 MHz Keppler. What I'd love to find, and I think I may have done so yesterday, is a GT 635 based board (it can be cheaper because it still uses DDR3, but keeps the keppler core). It uses the same GK208 Keppler core, but is higher binned and specced at 1Ghz from the factory. I'm looking for PCIE 8X boards as they give me the most flexibility for moving them from server to server and system to system and also all have universally low power draw, which is also nice. I'm also looking at GT 640 Rev 2.0 cards as they have the same core, but clocked a bit higher. That EVGA has been the best deal that I've found so far, and gets me points on my amazon card.

 

[eidairaman1]

Well have at it then since youre not gaming or watching bluray on them directly. If I recall correctly peg 8x slots are peg 16x physically so you can shove a 980 or titan in them even. The 730s dont have the crunching/folding muscle so you best to rely on raw cpu horse. Since 40 is higher than 30 Id say go for the 640s.

 

[LightningZ71]

My main issue is many of the server boards that I've looked at have a mix of physical x8 and x16 slots. I'd rather not have to cut the end off the x8 slots to make an x16 fit. I may go with the three 730s for now, then, if I decide to upgrade to the DL580, sell them and get the 640s. Its a matter of power and budget. For $500, I can get two really good cards, but have to do some power supply work, or, I can get 10 X Gt640/730, stay in the power budget, and crank away on the units. I'm also covered with a card failure, only loosing a little productivity and not half or all of it. I'm seeing people measuring the 730s at under 20 watts while under load. If I can run all 10 and stay at under 200 total watts with them all cranking away, that's a win in my book.

 

[eidairaman1]

My main issue is many of the server boards that I've looked at have a mix of physical x8 and x16 slots. I'd rather not have to cut the end off the x8 slots to make an x16 fit. I may go with the three 730s for now, then, if I decide to upgrade to the DL580, sell them and get the 640s. Its a matter of power and budget. For $500, I can get two really good cards, but have to do some power supply work, or, I can get 10 X Gt640/730, stay in the power budget, and crank away on the units. I'm also covered with a card failure, only loosing a little productivity and not half or all of it. I'm seeing people measuring the 730s at under 20 watts while under load. If I can run all 10 and stay at under 200 total watts with them all cranking away, that's a win in my book.

Ok you have 8x pcie physical slots. Im wondering if all can be used at once or some start dropping in bandwidth like some desktop boards do. Its simple go with the 640s.

 

[BUCK NASTY]

Im wondering if all can be used at once or some start dropping in bandwidth like some desktop boards do.

F@H uses very little PCI bandwidth, so it should not be an issue. My overclocked 970's use only 2% of bandwidth utilization on PCI-e x16 gen 2.0