# I was just wondering..  Best watt/crunch systems??



## phill (Nov 14, 2017)

Hi guys

I was just curious and wondering..  What is the best watt/crunching power setup there is out there??

I see that the Ryzen CPU's are rather low power and with their massive core counts, I was wondering whether or not this might be a way to go?

I'm not biased towards Intel or AMD, as I enjoy and have both myself so I was just curious, what is the 'Ultimate Crunching Machine' for watt performance??

So, what would anyone suggest right now?  I'm sure that my i7 laptop and my 2600k and my dual X58 CPU setup isn't the best usage of power for crunching anymore...


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## silentbogo (Nov 14, 2017)

There is a little bit of info here (a bit outdated and unreliable, but something)
https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/how-efficient-is-your-cruncher.210974/

From what I personally experienced, the most efficient are the mobile ARM64 CPUs running android (especially all these new octa/deca core chips from Qualcomm, Samsung and Mediatek). After that - BayTrail and Cherry Trail low-power chips (Pentium J2900 is probably the best out of a bunch).
The only problem with WCG on Android, is that sometimes it stops working and can be only recovered by re-installing the app. Plus, not all work units are supported on ARM platform.


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## phill (Nov 14, 2017)

Thanks for the reply 

I was curious about general hardware as such, I mean I used to crunch with socket A CPUs so single core and such...  But now I was just curious about something like a Ryzen 8 core as they are 65w, something like 4Gb or 8Gb of ram, a basic 60Gb/120Gb SSD, small PSU and such would have done it and given a decent throughput??  Obviously buying costs might have to come into it somewhere, but I was just curious what every one thought   Maybe running Linux instead of Windows might be a little more efficient so I'm interested to find out 

I'm not so sure about the specialist CPUs, something mainstream might be a little easier to build/buy/find??   I'm just interested in seeing what people think and use/do


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## infrared (Nov 14, 2017)

A few of us are running ryzen processors, they're really good for this type of work. Running in linux does help it run a little quicker too.

An R7 1700 on a B350 motherboard would be a killer ccombination capable of >20k ppd for not a lot of money. My main 1800x rig is being used a bit for gaming atm so the output is a bit erratic, but my #2 1800X is a 24/7 cruncher, it's not the most power efficient combo (old psu, gtx580 idle, cheap mobo, and lightly overclocked), but even so the whole system is drawing 260W and putting out an average of 23,869 at 3.8GHz 1.30v atm (click to see). My better chip is good for crunching up to 4.0ghz and if I leave it alone it'll be doing 25k. For efficiency you'd want to run them at stock and you wouldn't be losing out on many points.

For comparison my 6700k (4.6ghz) in windows is only doing 8k at best and using 200w.


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## silentbogo (Nov 14, 2017)

phill said:


> I'm not so sure about the specialist CPUs, something mainstream might be a little easier to build/buy/find?? I'm just interested in seeing what people think and use/do


Low-power intel SoCs are easy to find, buy and build. Basically a regular desktop motherboard w/ soldered CPU. These are a consumer products, just like any other MoBo/CPU.
Here is a good example:
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157727

Cheap, small, standard mini-ITX form factor.
All you need is to throw in some laptop ram (2x2GB should be enough), throw in a pico-PSU with an external 12V 3-5A adapter, use a small SSD or USB flash drive to boot the OS, and you have the most efficient cruncher.
If you can get your hands on used DDR3/DDR3L SO-DIMMs and 60GB SSDs for cheap, then the entire rig will cost you less than $150 and will consume around $15W at full load.
I'm not sure about Ryzen performance in WCG, but it has to be at least 4 times as much only to justify the expense. PPD/W is still going to be lower, though.

Still, Ryzen is a good option, because you get tons of horsepower and an excellent raw power in a small package (especially if you go with ITX form factor, no OC). Definitely better and more efficient than Westmere or Nehalem Xeons.
Also, Ryzen rig will require at least a small videocard, like GT1030. I don't know if you can boot it "headless" on consumer boards.


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## Norton (Nov 14, 2017)

infrared said:


> A few of us are running ryzen processors, *they're really good for this type of work*. Running in linux does help it run a little quicker too.


Agreed- my 1600X system with a minor overclock does around 17k ppd in Ubuntu. Power usage is about 170w (100 ppd/watt.... about 2x the output of what most Sandy Bridge chips will do).

System cost for a Ryzen 1600/1600X with a B350 motherboard and 8GB of ram is pretty reasonable considering the output you get from it.

Note that @thebluebumblebee is getting pretty good output from an i3-3220T. Over 3k ppd at only 45w iirc


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## thebluebumblebee (Nov 14, 2017)

phill said:


> what is the 'Ultimate Crunching Machine' for watt performance


Most likely an Intel® Xeon® Processor D-1577. 16 cores/32 threads, 45 watts.


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## phill (Nov 14, 2017)

Thanks for the replies guys, please keep the suggestions coming


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## thebluebumblebee (Nov 15, 2017)

I didn't get a rise out of anybody for recommending a $1,400 CPU?  Disappointing.  Very disappointing. 

I would agree that it's hard to beat the 65 watt Ryzen CPU's at this time.  Maybe the Intel "T" CPU's, like the i7-6700/7700T. @silentbogo has a point though with those 10 watt Celeron "J's".  Okay Intel, , all of these Celeron J, Pentium J, Atom C and Xeon D processors are confusing!


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## phill (Nov 15, 2017)

I do have my 5960X, which I have paid a lot for, could I include that one?? lol  I do plan to eventually get that one up and running and as it's a rather good CPU, I hope a slight overclock on it will help with performance increases


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## Recca29 (Nov 15, 2017)

1700x + Linux


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## phill (Nov 15, 2017)

What amount of ram would it require, 4Gb be enough?


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## silentbogo (Nov 15, 2017)

phill said:


> What amount of ram would it require, 4Gb be enough?


Depends on the number of WUs you are running. Usually no more than 100MB per WU, and at most you can run as many WUs as your CPU's threads.
So, for Ryzen 1700x it will be around 1.6GB ram usage max, plus OS/services/software. So, 4GB should be enough.


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## XZero450 (Nov 15, 2017)

4gb is plenty.


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## Norton (Nov 15, 2017)

silentbogo said:


> Depends on the number of WUs you are running. Usually no more than 100MB per WU, and at most you can run as many WUs as your CPU's threads.
> So, for Ryzen 1700x it will be around 1.6GB ram usage max, plus OS/services/software. So, *4GB should be enough*.


Depends on the workload (which you can adjust if necessary)- my preference is around 1/2 GB per thread with 1/4 GB per thread as the absolute minimum.


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## phill (Nov 15, 2017)

Thanks for the replies guys, most appreciated!!


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## thebluebumblebee (Nov 15, 2017)

phill said:


> I do have my 5960X, which I have paid a lot for, could I include that one?


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## phill (Nov 15, 2017)

That's alright then..  I'm hoping I can get it running at about the 4.5Ghz+ mark I know it can   I'm sure that 16 threads at that speed, should be kinda interesting


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## thebluebumblebee (Nov 18, 2017)

BTW, there's an i7-6700T on e-bay for $220.  35 watt TDP! That's a good price.  I've seen them under $200, but not very often.


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