# Four cpu server...OS needed?



## Deleted member 74752 (Feb 20, 2013)

Thinking of buying a server which holds 4 Xeon 7300-series quad cpu's. I have no experience with such a set-up. What OS will recognize four cpu's and what kind of performance would be expected from this hardware for WCG?


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## mstenholm (Feb 20, 2013)

Linux or Win Server but with 4x4 cores at low speed I doubt that you get more then 6-7k PPD I would pass on it (+500 W and a lot of noise).


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## brandonwh64 (Feb 20, 2013)

rickss69 said:


> Thinking of buying a server which holds 4 Xeon 7300-series quad cpu's. I have no experience with such a set-up. What OS will recognize four cpu's and what kind of performance would be expected from this hardware for WCG?



I would say around 10K PPD on windows 7 X64. You would probably save time and wattage by just buying one single 7770 and make around 15-20K PPD.


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## ChristTheGreat (Feb 20, 2013)

Windows 7 x64 won't be able to get all CPU... it has a maximum of 2 CPU.

2008 Standard edition supports upto 4 multi-core CPU's
2008 Enterprise edition supports upto 8 multi-core CPU's
2008 Datacenter edition supports upto 64 multi-core CPU's

Windows 7 Professional, Enterprise, and Ultimate allow for two physical processors, providing the best performance on these computers. Windows 7 Starter, Home Basic, and Home Premium will recognize only one physical processor.

for sure, these Pu are wuad core? event at 1.6hz, I don't know how much PPD, but you would have 16 cores at 1.6ghz..


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## TRWOV (Feb 20, 2013)

GPU WUs won't be infinite so getting a CPU centric setup isn't such a bad idea although I'd go with an FX8350 or something instead of 4 older quad cores.


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## Deleted member 74752 (Feb 20, 2013)

Thanks guys - They are X7350's @ 2.93GHz...if they would not do more than you say I will probably pass on it then.


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## stinger608 (Feb 20, 2013)

Yep, your pretty much stuck with running a server operating system. I believe that Linux server also supports 4 physical processors as well. 

One thing about running such a system is they are a lot of fun messing with them. LOL

I had a 4x4 Opteron system for awhile and passed it on just recently. It was a lot of fun for sure. 

Something else that you will have to consider is the enclosure. Many cases will not allow for such a large motherboard. The Tyan board that I had was 13" x 16"! I was able to install it in a Cooler Master HAF 932 though. 

Good luck and keep us posted on the progress!


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## Deleted member 74752 (Feb 20, 2013)

stinger608 said:


> Yep, your pretty much stuck with running a server operating system. I believe that Linux server also supports 4 physical processors as well.
> 
> One thing about running such a system is they are a lot of fun messing with them. LOL
> 
> ...



This system is already in a rack/enclosure, but if it will perform as poorly as suggested I won't bother with it. What kind of numbers did yours pull down before selling it?

Edit:  Just found this... http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1745519&highlight=folding  Are those good numbers he quoted and would one expect the same or better with the system I'm describing?


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## t_ski (Feb 20, 2013)

brandonwh64 said:


> I would say around 10K PPD on windows 7 X64. You would probably save time and wattage by just buying one single 7770 and make around 15-20K PPD.



Each of my 7770's can do about 40K PPD.


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## FordGT90Concept (Feb 20, 2013)

I would recommend Windows Server 2012 Standard Edition but you might have to buy two licenses. 


It would reasonably get double my Xeon's stats:
http://boincstats.com/en/stats/-1/host/list/0/0/6707163cc325d1a837e345633e564fc4

2,176 credits/day so probably just over 4000.


Edit: 2.93 GHz versus 1.6 GHz.  Probably closer to 7000-8000 credits/day then.


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## [Ion] (Feb 21, 2013)

I have Server 2008 R8 Enterprise on my 4p system.  I'm getting ~4k PPD on my Optys, so I'd expect you could probably get close to double that (per-core, an E8400 is about twice as fast as the Optys are)


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## Norton (Feb 21, 2013)

[Ion] said:


> I have Server 2008 R8 Enterprise on my 4p system.  I'm getting ~4k PPD on my Optys, so I'd expect you could probably get close to double that (per-core, an E8400 is about twice as fast as the Optys are)



The single Xeon hex core I'm running will do 5k ppd @2.13Ghz and at 65watts. The older systems use to much power/run too hot for their output imho....

EDIT- that rig FS @ [H] that you linked to would likely output 25k ppd or more- really nice 48 core 4P setup there


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## stinger608 (Feb 21, 2013)

Norton said:


> The single Xeon hex core I'm running will do 5k ppd @2.13Ghz and at 65watts. The older systems use to much power/run too hot for their output imho....
> 
> EDIT- that rig FS @ [H] that you linked to would likely output 25k ppd or more- really nice 48 core 4P setup there



m I was just going to comment that is a 4 x 12 core setup!! Holy crap!!


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## BUCK NASTY (Feb 21, 2013)

No OC available on that Tyan board and with the low stock clocks of the 6168 you will see lackluster performance. With a SuperMicro HQ8GL board, you could flash the bios and end up with a 20% OC, but still looking @ 40K max PPD for WCG with the OC. Not the best investment for WCG right now.


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## Deleted member 74752 (Feb 21, 2013)

Original rig has been sold before I got any info, but I have found another with 4x 7340 cpu's and double the memory (16GB). I'm getting info that this needs to be folding and will pull big numbers once set up properly. Cpu's are slightly less GHz, but this rig can be had for less than $300.


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## Aquinus (Feb 21, 2013)

rickss69 said:


> Cpu's are slightly less GHz, but this rig can be had for less than $300.



Up front, maybe. Consider how much power a quad-cpu rig draws under load.


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## FordGT90Concept (Feb 21, 2013)

And the repairs!  And the headaches! XD


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