The Official Team TPU Crunching Farm Planning Thread

[KieX]

So, we have powerful SB-E round the corner, power efficient Ivy Bridge in the near future and even BD allows for i7'(ish) performance for AMD motherboards...

Anyone planning on getting some of these new toys?

 

[(FIH) The Don]

im going to start saving up for X79 rig, as im 95% certain it will be pretty freakin expensive, but well worth it lol

anyways, its "only" cpu and mb i need to upgrade, then get 2 sticks more of ram for quad channel action.

 

[Chicken Patty]

Not sure what I'm going to be building, but I will most likely have a 2nd AM3 board soon. So probably another Thuban. . For now that'll be good till I can figure out how to fit more rigs at my place.

 

[(FIH) The Don]

they should get fairly cheap now when BD is out

 

[F150_Raptor]

For now that'll be good till I can figure out how to fit more rigs at my place.

I think you need a new htpc for your living room.

 

[Chicken Patty]

I think you need a new htpc for your living room.

I live in an efficiency, so yeah

 

[KieX]

Was thinking of going SR3, but in the end decided to save some money and go for more energy efficient rigs.

Will build one last 2600K cruncher and then get whatever is the best single CPU SB-E combination. Should bring myself up to 60 crunching threads and just under 40K PPD. Most of them will be Ivy Bridge compatible, so they should last a while and get even cheaper to run.

 

[Chicken Patty]

Was thinking of going SR3, but in the end decided to save some money and go for more energy efficient rigs.

Will build one last 2600K cruncher and then get whatever is the best single CPU SB-E combination. Should bring myself up to 60 crunching threads and just under 40K PPD. Most of them will be Ivy Bridge compatible, so they should last a while and get even cheaper to run.

 

[mjkmike]

I have a 990FXA-UD7, but the chip is not in stock yet at Memory Express. Plan on getting the new 2011 when they come out. Also got a Corsair 650D and 4x4 Vengeance LP for my 2600k. Will be making that my main rig with the Vertex3 240g and the 6990.

 

[KieX]

That's sweet Mike. Got an ETA on the chip?

 

[mjkmike]

They just got the FX-6100 in so I'm looking at another week or two.

 

[KieX]

As far as new crunchers go 1x 3930K system costs the same as 2x 2600K systems... and 6c/12t is never going to out-crunch a similar CPU with 8c/16t.. yet for some reason I am tempted :/

Waiting on some #'s to decide on that purchase. Or for common sense to take over control of my wallet.

 

[Chicken Patty]

Keep us posted on what you find.

 

[twilyth]

As far as new crunchers go 1x 3930K system costs the same as 2x 2600K systems... and 6c/12t is never going to out-crunch a similar CPU with 8c/16t.. yet for some reason I am tempted :/

Waiting on some #'s to decide on that purchase. Or for common sense to take over control of my wallet.

Are the TDPs the same? I'm guessing they're similar so you'd use half of the electricity, but at those prices, BFD. It would take decades to break even. I do understand the temptation. I was thinking about 2P server with a low end Opteron like the 6272. We're probably better off waiting for the Ivys.

I've been able to avoid doing a complete reinstall on the systems I use all of the time by migrating to another cpu and/or m/b by the same manufacturer. I did manage to go from AMD to Intel once I think, but it's a safer bet if you stay in the same family.

 

[KieX]

Are the TDPs the same? I'm guessing they're similar so you'd use half of the electricity, but at those prices, BFD. It would take decades to break even. I do understand the temptation. I was thinking about 2P server with a low end Opteron like the 6272. We're probably better off waiting for the Ivys.

I've been able to avoid doing a complete reinstall on the systems I use all of the time by migrating to another cpu and/or m/b by the same manufacturer. I did manage to go from AMD to Intel once I think, but it's a safer bet if you stay in the same family.

Stock 95W for SB and 130W for SB-E. But from everything I've read and seen, it seems that SB-E performs the same as SB up to 4.5GHz, above that speed the regular SB are a lot more efficient for crunching per Watt.

But yeah, initial cost is quite high with twice the price for just 50% more cores. Like you said, IvyBridge is going to be the best crunching platform since current SB. Those with compatible motherboards get to just plug in the new processor too

I think CPU's are like women, you don't mind if they're blonde or brunette so much as what they can do for you. Think you should always get into bed with AMD or Intel based on best PPD/Watt.

 

[Chicken Patty]

I haven't done any in depth research/reading on best PPD/Watt, but SB definitely seems like the winner as of now. I mean, if you are just looking to build a cruncher, you can do it for under $600 if you know what you are doing. I'm talking about a dedicated cruncher, just a decent PSU/the CPU/board/RAM/ and you can run windows off a USB Drive or a small HDD. I mean for something that can give you about 5k ppd, that's not bad. Remember this is all parts new and from scratch. Now, considering we all usually have spare HDD's and RAM laying aground, it minimizes the cost A LOT.

 

[KieX]

I haven't done any in depth research/reading on best PPD/Watt, but SB definitely seems like the winner as of now. I mean, if you are just looking to build a cruncher, you can do it for under $600 if you know what you are doing. I'm talking about a dedicated cruncher, just a decent PSU/the CPU/board/RAM/ and you can run windows off a USB Drive or a small HDD. I mean for something that can give you about 5k ppd, that's not bad. Remember this is all parts new and from scratch. Now, considering we all usually have spare HDD's and RAM laying aground, it minimizes the cost A LOT.

My new main rig is 4.6GHz @ 1.33v with all the RAM and a GT520. This is good for ~6000 points and pulls:

That works out at 34PPD per Watt.

The dedicated crunchers run 4.5GHz @ 1.25v with single stick of ram and a HD5450. Those crunch 5700PPD at 155W which is 36PPD per Watt.

The old i7 920 was 233W crunching at 3.8 and worth 4700PPD = 20PPD per Watt

I think F150 Raptor's Quad AMD is actually the same as SB.. around 36PPD per Watt, which is pretty efficient, so his initial cost will probably be returned on electricty if he keeps it running a couple years. But I'm just using rough estimates, maybe he knows better.

 

[(FIH) The Don]

i can definately vouch for the low cost of the SB, my electrical bill havent been this low since i got the SB compared to when i had the old 1366, and even 1156

 

[F150_Raptor]

I think F150 Raptor's Quad AMD is actually the same as SB.. around 36PPD per Watt, which is pretty efficient, so his initial cost will probably be returned on electricty if he keeps it running a couple years. But I'm just using rough estimates, maybe he knows better.

Your right in the ball park KieX. It's roughly around 600 watts, and averages 21,000 ppd. So it's around 35 ppd per watt. It could be better or worse though, I've never checked it.

 

[KieX]

Your right in the ball park KieX. It's roughly around 600 watts, and averages 21,000 ppd. So it's around 35 ppd per watt. It could be better or worse though, I've never checked it.

That is sweet

 

[Chicken Patty]

Really good information guys. SB is awesome