TPU's WCG/BOINC Team

[[Ion]]

Well yeah! You're cooling a TDP of 460W with a bunch of 40mm fans.

Yeah, it figures. And it's in a hot (~85f) room, so I should have expected. There are a bunch of them though (like eight) so I figured they wouldn't have to spin so fast. Once it cools down and i can take advantage of 40F air from outside all should be better

 

[m&m's]

Yeah, it figures. And it's in a hot (~85f) room, so I should have expected. There are a bunch of them though (like eight) so I figured they wouldn't have to spin so fast. Once it cools down and i can take advantage of 40F air from outside all should be better

I don't know if it's your first rackmount style server, but they always are loud. No matter the temps the server will be loud with this type of cooling. Its made to last and be put in a locked room with nobody around.
You can always get rid of the fans and use 4x aftermarket coolers like CM 212s, but it wont be a 1U anymore. Since you plan to OC I would recommend to do it.

EDIT: Nice server btw

 

[Nordic]

Its made to last and be put in a locked room with nobody around.

That is what I need. A small cool section of a basement with a locked door, adequate ventilation, and a server rack or two sitting in there crunching. Maybe if I am lucky, a small workbench too.

 

[[Ion]]

I don't know if it's your first rackmount style server, but they always are loud. No matter the temps the server will be loud with this type of cooling. Its made to last and be put in a locked room with nobody around.
You can always get rid of the fans and use 4x aftermarket coolers like CM 212s, but it wont be a 1U anymore. Since you plan to OC I would recommend to do it.

EDIT: Nice server btw

Well, plan is to put it in the basement, so that will help a LOT. It ran out of work while I was at work, but it's back up now (shitty bridged internet connection....ugh). My OCed 2600k also went down yesterday and wouldn't boot any more. I did a BIOS reset and now it's back alive....I'll keep an eye on it and if it's still stable in four days or so try an OC again.

 

[Norton]

This thing is LOUD. Really loud. Definitely more than I was expecting. PPD seems to be between 28k (MCM) and 41k (OET/FAAH). Hoping to boost that up 10 or 15% with an OC.

When I was running F150 Raptor's server here I had it in the basement and was able to hear it whining from anywhere in the house... it was actually pleasant at a distance since it replaced my tinnitus with actual noise

 

[brandonwh64]

When I was running F150 Raptor's server here I had it in the basement and was able to hear it whining from anywhere in the house... it was actually pleasant at a distance since it replaced my tinnitus with actual noise

Thats what I am worried about with the server I have. Its in my living room in a network cabinet but I can hear the wine with everything in the room off.

 

[Nordic]

I have started a thread called Crunching on Linux Tips, Tricks, and Useful Hints.
http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/t...-tricks-and-useful-hints.215606/#post-3336970

Feel free to contribute.

I am still adding stuff, and expect to be editing for clarity over the next few weeks.

 

[[Ion]]

I have started a thread called Crunching on Linux Tips, Tricks, and Useful Hints.
http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/t...-tricks-and-useful-hints.215606/#post-3336970

Feel free to contribute.

I am still adding stuff, and expect to be editing for clarity over the next few weeks.

Thanks
As it gets fleshed out I'll add it to the Essentials thread too!

Thats what I am worried about with the server I have. Its in my living room in a network cabinet but I can hear the wine with everything in the room off.

If you can hear the wine you might want to stop by AA

 

[Nordic]

I have started a thread called Crunching on Linux Tips, Tricks, and Useful Hints.
http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/t...-tricks-and-useful-hints.215606/#post-3336970

Feel free to contribute.

I am still adding stuff, and expect to be editing for clarity over the next few weeks.

I have added all I can add at this time. The writing/copy and pasting needs editing, as there are over 2000 words. Check it out, give feedback. Provide your own tips, tricks and useful hints.

 

[[Ion]]

I have added all I can add at this time. The writing/copy and pasting needs editing, as there are over 2000 words. Check it out, give feedback. Provide your own tips, tricks and useful hints.

Thanks, I look forward to reading your wisdom!

 

[Nordic]

Looking at the boinc version history, because I was wondering what actually makes it worthwhile to upgrade. I found something interesting.

• Add support for ASIC Miners.
• Suspending GPUs should not suspend Bitcoin Miners

These are interesting because it means some projects are at least planning to support bitcoin asics. I would expect certain older asics to be getting cheap, and on those certain projects should have exceptional ppd/watt.

I also upgraded from 7.4.42 to 7.6.6. It is actually pretty different. They changed the menus. The later versions officially support windows 10, although I have 7.4.42 working fine on windows 10.



Since I now know you can see the numbers from boincs built in benchmark, I decided to test if there was a difference from 7.4.42 to 7.6.6. I did not expect any, but I had an increase on my whetstone score on two systems which makes we wonder if it was not coincidence. Both times I tested, I ran the the benchmark twice and recorded the highest score. Each time tested was after a reboot.

2500k - 4709 Whet - 14747 Dhry - Boinc 7.4.42
2500k - 5591 Whet - 1396 Dhry - Boinc 7.6.6
G3258 - 3298 Whet - 13565 Dhry - Boinc 7.4.42
G3258 - 3975 Whet - 13382 Dhry - Boinc 7.6.6
2217u - 1907 Whet - 5962 Dhry - Boinc 7.4.42
2217u - 2295 Whet - 5423 Dhry - Boinc 7.6.6

That is about a 20% increase in the whetstone score from all three? I don't understand how a different version of boinc could increase this cpu benchmark score. Hopefully it results in more ppd.

------------------------------------------
edit: I have now collected boinc benchmark scores on all my systems that are with me at home. The scores are odd to compare.

Cpu, Whetstone, Dhrystone,
3570k, 5591, 13396,
2500k, 4758, 26248,
G3258, 3975, 13382,
g1620, 3418, 18256,

The Whetstone numbers seem to correspond with expected performance, but not as much as I would expect. The Dhrystone numbers make no sense.


Also, in testing all this. On windows and linux mint the scores jump around about 1-5% each time I run the benchmark. On my 2500k ubuntu server system the scores are exactly the same each time I run it. The ubuntu server system is running headless, meaning no gui or desktop. I am guessing that nothing else is fighting the cpu. Just an example of how such a system may get more performance than a desktoped system.

 

[mjkmike]

@Toothless hope you have rocks in you're pockets for the wind

@ Team great work

 

[Toothless]

@Toothless hope you have rocks in you're pockets for the wind

@ Team great work

The rain got me on the way home. My back pockets were dry but my whole front was soaked to the bone. Oh the things I do for cute girls.

 

[[Ion]]

Got the 4P setup in the basement:

Heat and (particularly) noise are no longer a concern. I've been told that if I can come up with "something legitimate" to do with it I'm welcome to keep it running. So I'll probably host a dedicated TF2 server on it and/or do some database/webserver stuff (basically more of what I do at work).

 

[m&m's]

Cpu, Whetstone, Dhrystone,
3570k, 5591, 13396, -> WINDOWS
2500k, 4758, 26248, -> LINUX
G3258, 3975, 13382, -> WINDOWS
g1620, 3418, 18256, -> LINUX

The Whetstone numbers seem to correspond with expected performance, but not as much as I would expect. The Dhrystone numbers make no sense.

They make sense to me. I've noticed that with my Phenom II X4@3.4GHz my Whetstone score would drop to 2/3 with certain Linux distros aka Porteus, but that the Dhrystone score would always double with all distros I've tested compared to Windows x64. Intel doesn't seems to be hit by Windows in the Whetstone score, but AMD is. There is a direct correlation between the Dhrystone score and the OS (Intel or AMD).

My scores with a Phenom II X4@3.4GHz
Windows 7 64Bit
2798 floating point MIPS (Whetstone) per CPU
8469 integer MIPS (Dhrystone) per CPU

Porteus
1805 floating point MIPS (Whetstone) per CPU -> ~2/3 of Windows (-35%)
15306 integer MIPS (Dhrystone) per CPU -> ~2x better than Windows (+81%)

Linux Mint 17.2
3548 floating point MIPS (Whetstone) per CPU -> ~5/4 of Windows (+27%)
15567 integer MIPS (Dhrystone) per CPU -> Still ~2x better than Windows (+84%)

Dedicated crunchers must use Linux.

 

[Nordic]

Nice one there. I did not say what OS they used in that post, and you knew. Very deductive of you.

So it looks like windows really hurts integer math because my g3258 is really close to my 3570k. Maybe that is because the g3258 uses windows 10, but the 3570k is still on windows 7.

I also still think the whetstone scores are too close. I expect a 3570k to do a lot better than a g3258, but it only was a ~1500, or about a 40% increase in whetstone. The ppd increase between them is almost 3x.

 

[4x4n]

Been without power for 24 hours now so there will definitely be no pie for me for a few days. At a starbucks just to get my internet fix

Have a freezer with about $500 worth of meat, really need the power to come on soon.

 

[m&m's]

I also still think the whetstone scores are too close. I expect a 3570k to do a lot better than a g3258, but it only was a ~1500, or about a 40% increase in whetstone. The ppd increase between them is almost 3x.

The score is per core.
3570K: 5591 * 4 = 22364
G3258: 3975 * 2 = 7950

So there is a 181% increase in whetstone or 2.81x.

 

[t_ski]

Got the 4P setup in the basement:

Heat and (particularly) noise are no longer a concern. I've been told that if I can come up with "something legitimate" to do with it I'm welcome to keep it running. So I'll probably host a dedicated TF2 server on it and/or do some database/webserver stuff (basically more of what I do at work).

If you open up the to and install some larger coolers on it, you can run it with bigger fans and far less noise. I think it was Knoxx that did this with his rig?

 

[theonedub]

Been without power for 24 hours now so there will definitely be no pie for me for a few days. At a starbucks just to get my internet fix

Have a freezer with about $500 worth of meat, really need the power to come on soon.

It might be time to buy bags of ice and throw it in there- save the meat

 

[twilyth]

Or dry ice if there's someplace near you that you can get it. It will last longer. Just don't let it contact the meat directly. A piece of cardboard should work fine. Also, if you use a lot of it, make sure the area is well ventilated so the CO2 can escape.

 

[Nordic]

The score is per core.
3570K: 5591 * 4 = 22364
G3258: 3975 * 2 = 7950

So there is a 181% increase in whetstone or 2.81x.

Thank you. I think I am understanding it now. I am assuming dhrystone is not per core? How does whetstone handle hyper threading?

 

[m&m's]

Thank you. I think I am understanding it now. I am assuming dhrystone is not per core? How does whetstone handle hyper threading?

I should have said per thread and not per core.

Dhrystone is also per thread. With HT it scores lower, an i5 scores better than an i7 but when you multiply by 4 and 8, the i7 has a better score.

Explanation: BOINC runs a different unit on each thread, so an i7 runs 8 threads vs 4 threads for an i5. The i5 will complete each unit faster than an i7, but because the i7 works on 8 units simultaneously it finishes more units a day (higher PPD).
The benchmark reflects what each thread can push.

 

[Nordic]

Now I want to predict average ppd based on the whetstone score. Given time, maybe I will be able to predict it reliably.

 

[[Ion]]

If you open up the to and install some larger coolers on it, you can run it with bigger fans and far less noise. I think it was Knoxx that did this with his rig?

Likely so. I suspect that when I go back to school in January and don't have a basement convenient I'll do that. But for now there's not really anything to be gained by doing so--I ran an Ethernet cord down through the wall today so it even has gigabit ethernet and there it can live