KWSN Orbiting Fortress

[Simbird]

Ni !

Can you Knights help me... ?

I have a good set@home rig... it does ok i5/9800GTX/4GB Ram set to do 50% work when Im using computer... gets 1,000+ credits day ~ its ok

I'm not trying to get top of any league... Just want to find ET at a cost I can afford, BUT :

I'm thinking of building a new Set rig from old computer parts... which will be on 24/7 but using little power... so nice and cool !

The one I use now uses 60 to 120W (its says on PSU ?)

I would like a 24/7 runnning 60W like leaving a house hold light on all night... It will ONLY be used for SETI Enhanced (Not Astropulse)

Things I need to know... and keen to do well for our ET friends !

This is the old Computer :

I have Asus A8n Sli delux / single CPU Athlon 64 3700+ 6600GT Card !
And Only 1.5GB RAM

Which is the best way to go CPU vs GPU ? More Cores Vs Graphics card
CUDA ? I could get 8800GT or higher cheap ? or Dual core CPU ?

Is it best to change to Linux ? or keep Windows 7 ?

Do i take out all extras like CD-Rom to save power and do i need more RAM ?

Or recommendations on NEW but CHEAP Motherboard and CPU and GPU
which would get about 1,000 crediits to add to my other 1,000 would double my credits...

A nice simple cool rig that is just right for seti @ home enhanced...

Thank you and a little ni !
And BIG...

_________________
http://www.simbird.com

[branjo]

Hi Simbird,

Unfortunately, I can not give you advice regarding SAH, but only a general one. As newer CPU, GPU and PSU (power supply) are, the less electricity they consume (of course, if you compare them to the similar range of older products).

I think building a rig from old(er) parts would be cheaper considering initial investment, but very soon it will become too expensive in case of running it 24/7. Look at "TDP" parameter of components - it says how much electricity it will consume.

I hope other kaNI!ghts will help you regarding SAH needs

Cheers and
_________________

[Putting_things_on_top]

I don't know much about BOINC - I'm doing F@H.

But I have some general recommendations...

Aside from the electricity cost, running a rig 24/7 may actually prolong the useable life of your components.
Heating-up and cooling-down the components (CPU, GPU, memory, north/south bridge, etc) can loosen/oxidize delicate solder-points or degrade microscopic circuit pathways on a PCB or chip.
The key thing is a good cooling solution that will stand-up to 24/7 use while consistently providing reasonable thermal limits.

As for GPUs, the general rule (as I have found) is the more cores the better. Case in point:
I had two ASUS GTX-560Ti cards, one with 384 cores (ref-clocked at ~823MHz) and another with 448 cores (ref-clocked at ~732MHz).
Even though the 384-core card was clocked higher, the 448-core card cranked out nearly identical WUs about 20% faster!
Admittedly, this could be just the way the actual science works for F@H - favoring core-count over core-speed.

CPU vs GPU - you'll have to get the opinions of our veteran BOINC Knights for that.
I suspect you'll get more bang-for-the-buck with GPU, but I honestly don't know...
Windows vs Linux - again, I have to defer to those with more knowledge/experiece.

With regard to leaving off extraneous peripheral devices (like CD-Rom or DVD) - don't worry about those.
They consume almost nothing while they're not in use.
If you leave it off...you'll probably need it desperately about a week later!
If you leave it in...you'll probably never need to use it.

As branjo said, pay attention to the component TDPs (thermal dissipation parameters).
The actual TDP detail specs are annoying, but the relevant number is the total power draw.
You want to make sure that you have a good PSU that can easily handle 50% more than the sum of your components (CPU, GPU, mobo, peripherals, HDD, fans, etc).
Don't go the cheap route on PSUs, either. Get one from Thermaltake or OCZ - and make sure it is certified "80Plus Silver" at a minimum (Gold or Platinum is better, but pricey).

And a larger case will help, too.
Try to load-up as many case fans as you can (more exhaust fans than intake fans).
I highly recommend Scythe fans. They have a model called Ultra Kaze that is 50% thicker than normal (38mm vs 25mm). These move up to 133 CFM!!!
Keeping the ambient temperature inside the case as low as possible will help with component cooling (regardless if you're using air-cooling or water-cooling).
If you have the space, I can highly recommend the Cooler Master X6 Elite CPU cooler.
That might be overkill if you're not maxing-out your CPU.
Be warned, the X6 is very tall - some cases (most mid-towers, some full-towers) cannot accommodate it.
I am using the X6 on my 8-core AMD FX-8350 (4.013GHz), running all cores at 100%...I have yet to exceed 47c! (although I replaced the stock fan with an Ultra Kaze, and re-oriented the fan to "pull" the air through instead of "push").

Also, avoid the temptation to over-clock.
CPU overclocking can cause the occasional OS shutdown (internal timer mismatches, memory synchronization errors, etc).
GPU overclocking can cause excessive heat, and cause miscalculations (NaN errors) or thermal shutdowns.
BOINC (as well as F@H) is a marathon, not a 100 meter dash...conserve your energy for the long-haul.

I have built 3 rigs over the past couple of years, and every couple of months, I am upgrading the components.
These 3 rigs run F@H exclusively 24x7.
Aside from the OS (Windoze) and the F@H app, the only other software I loaded onto these are:
1) Firefox
2) avast Internet Security (anti-virus)
3) a couple of sidebar gadgets (CPU and network monitors)
4) nvidiaInspector (to tweak GPU fan-speeds and graphical GPU monitor)

I have a 4th computer - an off-the-shelf mainstream mid-tower - which I use for all my other computing needs.
This one is not powerful enough (or upgradeable) to do any DC/HPC.

Hope this provides you with some helpful ideas.


_________________
Click here for...KWSN F@H team summary at EOC

Or here for...KWSN F@H team overtake at EOC

[Simbird]

Thank you very much both branjo and Putting_Things_On_Top

All the suggestions are perfect for me...

branjo ~ I did not know about TDP and that will help make decisions on buy components to keep them low powered...

...and Putting_Things_On_Top Ive printed off your suggestions so I can refer to all the good points !

It looks like I will go for a new CPU and GPU root... and the cooling suggestions

I've got a big quality case with exhaust fans with quality PSU

So I only need a board with maybe another lower i5 CPU ?

But get a better GPU with more cores because I agree I think this will work out better... Not overclocking both GPU & CPU will good for me too.

And only use minimum software... to run set@home enhanced

Thank you both you have made it more simple for me to understand the way forward... look at the TDP of components and good GPU with cores !

A BIG...

Thank You
_________________
http://www.simbird.com

[branjo]

No problem

Since SAH has lot of outages (lack of money ), make your list of other projects you would like to shrub if SAH will run out of work. Depends on it you can better decide if you are going to Nvidia GPU (CUDA) or AMD/ATI (OpenCL) In this thread you can find summary of projects having GPU applications.

Regarding CPU, I would recommend to buy 3rd Gen Intel i7-3770 (Ivy Bridge). It has 8 threads comparing to i5 with only 4 threads (so you can shrub double tasks). Compare Intel CPU's here

If you take a decision to go with AMD/ATI (OpenCL) GPU, with your goal to minimize electricity consumption while shrubbing 24/7, HD 7750 is no brainer. It has very good performances (819 GigaFLOPS Single Precision computing power) with veeery reasonable TDP: only 55W (More info here).

Since I am not focusing on projects requiring Nvidia/CUDA GPU's, I can not give you any recommendation re this

Cheers and
_________________

[Putting_things_on_top]

Branjo's recommendation of a 7750 is quite spot-on.

ATI/Radeon may have advantages (over Nvidia) in single-precision floating-point operations ...but it really depends on the project (the actual computational science being performed).

F@H, for example, seems to do better with Nvidia cards than equivalent ATI cards.
But other BOINC projects clearly show ATI to have a distinct advantage.

My recommendation is to get a card from a well known/trusted manufacturer - such as MSI, XFX, or EVGA.
Look for "better" cooling solutions (instead of reference coolers), with only minimal to moderate factory overclocking.
The "super-overclock" (SOC) or "for-the-win" (FTW) models will likely burn-out earlier under a constant load like BOINC.
SOC and FTW models are specifically intended for über-gamers (sprinters) rather than crunchers (marathoners).

I am one of those Nvidia fan-boys, so I don't have any direct experience with ATI.
However, I won't begrudge ATI its proper due when appropriate.


_________________
Click here for...KWSN F@H team summary at EOC

Or here for...KWSN F@H team overtake at EOC

[Joe Bloggs]

Anyway, it seems that 60W is way too low a target power consumption, whatever components you buy. You need to budget for a beefier and more reliable PSU than that. I'd say 300W minimum. 500W gives you more room to grow. Of course the PSU isn't going to draw that much power if your rig isn't using that much (!)
_________________

[branjo]

Agree with Joe Bloggs, 500W PSU should be optimal. But, if you are consider adding another GPU in the future, go with 700+W PSU.

Just to add two GPU's well known/trusted manufacturer to Putting_things_on_top list: ASUS and SAPPHIRE.

If you haven't already read it, check this thread to see what noble kaNI!ghts recommended me when I planned my new rig (thanks again Sirs ).

Cheers and
_________________

[Simbird]

Thank you branjo, Putting_things_on_top and Joe Bloggs

I'm ok with the PSU ~ Ive got a quality 750w PSU ( I think it is always good to have a stable system... The 60w will be just a target for the 24/7 Seti Computer But at the moment on my main computer it is between 74w -122w
Maybe around 100w would be a realistic target ?

Also I like the idea of adding an extra project, which will help others Boinc projects and my credits too... And the computer will be dedicated to Boinc projects anyway, so it is best it is used for the good of KWSN and all

Thank you


_________________
http://www.simbird.com