- Joined
- Aug 26, 2013
- Messages
- 38 (0.01/day)
- Location
- Deutschland
| System Name | Ghetto Cluster |
|---|---|
| Processor | 12x Intel Celeron @ 2,4GHz |
| Motherboard | Foxconn |
| Cooling | 1 Fan/CPU, nothing else |
| Memory | 48x 256MB DDR2 Sticks |
| Video Card(s) | None |
| Storage | 24x 120GB HDD + 1x 64GB SSD (Controller) + 4x 500GB HDD (Controller) |
| Display(s) | 2x Old TFT Panel (for debugging) |
| Case | Very old Gigabyte Reference Cases |
| Audio Device(s) | Hah |
| Power Supply | 12x 235W NoName |
| Software | minx7 (smaller than Tiny7, faster for Cluster Solutions) |
1. Intro
I recently finished my personal project to build a decent pc for absolutely no money. To do that i "robbed" several local Hardware dumps. What i got was:
Mobo: 939NF6G-VSTA
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 2,4GHz
Memory: 2GB (DDR3/400 Kingston HyperX)
GPU: Onboard GeForce (256M i think...)
...and a ****load of HDDs
Not bad for 0€. Well, i figured out that the GeForce might not be as powerful as i want it to be, and since it's a integrated card, there is no oc ability at all.
I thought myself: A mid-End GPU might be enough to fulfill my needs. So i bought a Sapphire 5450 (1GB) from Amazon for about 15€. The cards specs are:
GPU: Cedar, 40nm, 650 MHz
Mem: 667 MHz
Cooling: passive
Special: OpenCL, DirectX 11.0
I needed a OpenCL card, since I'm a pretty advanced developer for graphic interfaces and for my newest library, i wanted to use OpenCLGL interop.
It is not secret that the 5450 easily overclocks to 800/850, but i wanted to go a step further. And holy * this card has some unknown abilities!
2. First results
I've mounted a fan on the passive cooler of the GPU. That was a bit difficult to do, since there are just no mounting points and the airflow gets disturbed very easily if the fan blows at the wrong angle. Every result was achieved / tested with a 2-monitor Eyefinity setup. These are the first stable results with custom air cooling:
Smashing! A cheap 1GHz card. TM Nation Benchmark running at 45FPS with everything maxed out, older Games like COD4 run smooth (maxed out). The card passes my custom OpenCL test (a 24h run). So, yep, a faster stable card. But what is the limit of the card?!
3. Going crazy
The benchmarks / the oc are happening right now. Current record: 1400/1550!
Validations:
http://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/bbgfv/
http://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/6q3cu/
http://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/guag3/
http://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/dza4m/
Remark: Past the 1Ghz mark, OpenCL quits. It just won't work anymore. The latest results are achieved using ice Packs, formed according to the cooler, changing every few minutes. Simple OpenGL benchmarks show: the Card is still working. For time saving reasons i bench with my own benchmark now (CityMark, results depend on CPU AND GPU, but since the CPU speed doesn't change, just the GPU progress will be recognizable). The benchmarks run NOT for the results, but for stability-testing. A dedicated DirectX benchmarks works from time to time, but crashes randomly. You see, the limit is still to be evaluated.
I will update the progress here.
// Forgot to mention that the CPU is OC'ed to 2,97 GHz.
I recently finished my personal project to build a decent pc for absolutely no money. To do that i "robbed" several local Hardware dumps. What i got was:
Mobo: 939NF6G-VSTA
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 2,4GHz
Memory: 2GB (DDR3/400 Kingston HyperX)
GPU: Onboard GeForce (256M i think...)
...and a ****load of HDDs
Not bad for 0€. Well, i figured out that the GeForce might not be as powerful as i want it to be, and since it's a integrated card, there is no oc ability at all.
I thought myself: A mid-End GPU might be enough to fulfill my needs. So i bought a Sapphire 5450 (1GB) from Amazon for about 15€. The cards specs are:
GPU: Cedar, 40nm, 650 MHz
Mem: 667 MHz
Cooling: passive
Special: OpenCL, DirectX 11.0
I needed a OpenCL card, since I'm a pretty advanced developer for graphic interfaces and for my newest library, i wanted to use OpenCLGL interop.
It is not secret that the 5450 easily overclocks to 800/850, but i wanted to go a step further. And holy * this card has some unknown abilities!
2. First results
I've mounted a fan on the passive cooler of the GPU. That was a bit difficult to do, since there are just no mounting points and the airflow gets disturbed very easily if the fan blows at the wrong angle. Every result was achieved / tested with a 2-monitor Eyefinity setup. These are the first stable results with custom air cooling:
Smashing! A cheap 1GHz card. TM Nation Benchmark running at 45FPS with everything maxed out, older Games like COD4 run smooth (maxed out). The card passes my custom OpenCL test (a 24h run). So, yep, a faster stable card. But what is the limit of the card?!
3. Going crazy
The benchmarks / the oc are happening right now. Current record: 1400/1550!
Validations:
http://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/bbgfv/
http://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/6q3cu/
http://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/guag3/
http://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/dza4m/
Remark: Past the 1Ghz mark, OpenCL quits. It just won't work anymore. The latest results are achieved using ice Packs, formed according to the cooler, changing every few minutes. Simple OpenGL benchmarks show: the Card is still working. For time saving reasons i bench with my own benchmark now (CityMark, results depend on CPU AND GPU, but since the CPU speed doesn't change, just the GPU progress will be recognizable). The benchmarks run NOT for the results, but for stability-testing. A dedicated DirectX benchmarks works from time to time, but crashes randomly. You see, the limit is still to be evaluated.
I will update the progress here.
// Forgot to mention that the CPU is OC'ed to 2,97 GHz.
Last edited:
GO GO GO I want more