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Category: Support
Forum: Suggestions / Feedback
Thread: BOINC Computer purchase plan? |
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Thread Status: Active Total posts in this thread: 17
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ericinboston
Senior Cruncher Joined: Jan 12, 2010 Post Count: 265 Status: Offline Project Badges: 
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Hi all. I've been using BOINC for almost 10 years. I've often wondered why there isn't a computer company that will offer to build very customized crunching machines for the BOINC community for a very cheap price.
----------------------------------------For example...what if Company A were able to manufacture a simple box called Boinc 2011: -The box changes every year in specs...very likely just CPU and GPU and RAM -The box would simply have: small hard drive, CPU, GPU, power supply, RAM, and physically be in a very small case like the Apple Mac Mini. -There would be no mouse or keyboard, no monitor -OS would be Linux with Boinc somewhat preinstalled...you just enter your account -The power supply is designed to be small, say 100watts or less...enough to power the motherboard and drive...not some normal 350w supply designed for you to add 6 more devices to the system -Unit is sold just over cost...maybe $350 -The unit is essentially a "black box" that once set up, you just walk away and never touch it again. The only potential problem I could see is that Company A would worry people would buy it and turn it into a regular computer. However, I think a tiny power supply and no cd/dvd drive and a tiny hard drive and a non-Windows OS basically kill that potential problem. Anyone who is going to spend all the time, research, and money to upgrade it might as well buy a new pc that comes with Windows and potentially a longer warranty. But the benefits are huge...dedicated techies like us could purchase numerous Boinc 2011 boxes and run them rather efficiently in their home. Of course the BOINC projects benefit, too. I am really shocked that no company has stepped forward to offer such a solution. There are millions of BOINC users across the globe...none of them works at a computer manufacturer?...that could somehow figure out how to make such an offering? I would imagine that 5000-10,000 units would be sold each year...maybe more. That's not a huge number but I would bet it's about as many Mac Minis are sold each year. The Mac Mini at $700 is grossly overpriced and also comes with bells and whistles a BOINC crunch machine doesn't need (dvd burner, remote control, large drive, non-free OS). Thoughts? -Eric  |
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Former Member
Cruncher Joined: May 22, 2018 Post Count: 0 Status: Offline |
Main reason I see is that anyone with the tech savy to buy such a box, just to crunch, has a closet full of spare parts and can build their own for little or nothing
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ericinboston
Senior Cruncher Joined: Jan 12, 2010 Post Count: 265 Status: Offline Project Badges:
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Main reason I see is that anyone with the tech savy to buy such a box, just to crunch, has a closet full of spare parts and can build their own for little or nothing Well, I'm not targeting the die-hard techie like I was 15 years ago. I'm targeting the folks that really want to contribute to these projects by having multiple computers, yet do not want a full-fledged box that Dell sells 5 million of...and have unnecessary parts/features as well as a higher price. Again, I would much rather purchase a quality, BOINC-tailored box for say $350/$400 instead of a $550 unit. Again, take into considerations of the physical size and power supply and now your talking about buy a Mac Mini for $700 or a Dell compact unit for $650 (and both with fair CPU power). Imagine if I could purchase a few Mac Mini-size machines for $400 apiece that would sit in the corner of my room/basement and only suck up a tiny amount of space as well as a fraction of the electricity that a typicaly desktop unit eats. |
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Former Member
Cruncher Joined: May 22, 2018 Post Count: 0 Status: Offline |
Hello,
my way of having a cheap computer for BOINC was purchasing a used, second hand workstation. It cost only 100 Euros which is cheap. And for me it was a good value for money deal, as it has two CPUs, My recommendation: Used Computers. All the best Kafejka |
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sk..
Master Cruncher http://s17.rimg.info/ccb5d62bd3e856cc0d1df9b0ee2f7f6a.gif Joined: Mar 22, 2007 Post Count: 2324 Status: Offline Project Badges: 
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No KB, Mouse, Monitor!
How are you going to attach it to a project? Anyone wanting to buy a Crunching only computer would be by their very nature a fairly hard core cruncher, and many would therefore want to use a GPU, saying as they do more work per Watt (10 to 30 times as much). While a 100Euro system with a dual core sounds good, even for 100Euros it fairs really badly in terms of purchase cost relative to performance. Quads are the norm and 8 HT threads is not far off being the norm. I don't even use one of my quad systems because I don't have a good enough GPU to add to make it valuable enough in terms of running costs. In my opinion a CPU is to support a GPU. In the future more will accept this ideology. I obviously get good CPUs that can do more than just support a GPU. They are also good CPU crunchers but I also use most systems to some extent in one way or another. By the end of the year/ early next year (shortly after Xmas) there will be many 16 thread systems hooked up. Each thread will more do than an average full CPU core, making them very effective, in terms of credit per purchase cost. Then there is performance vs running cost. Someone that is prepared to fork out for a crunching rig will already know about the running costs, this is a big factor for many, including me. Efficiency comes at a cost; the purchase cost of quality components. So a good PSU is a must, as is good cooling. All in, this tends to mean larger cases are needed, especially if you want cool quiet systems with high longevity. All that said I think your proposal is doable, but difficult due to the many Boinc projects out there, and their various requirements; some want up to 6GB RAM per task for example. Some are better off with a second hard drive, and obviously some require a specific GPU. |
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Sgt.Joe
Ace Cruncher USA Joined: Jul 4, 2006 Post Count: 7847 Status: Offline Project Badges:
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No KB, Mouse, Monitor! How are you going to attach it to a project? KVM switch or remote into it via a network connection. Cheers
Sgt. Joe
*Minnesota Crunchers* |
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sk..
Master Cruncher http://s17.rimg.info/ccb5d62bd3e856cc0d1df9b0ee2f7f6a.gif Joined: Mar 22, 2007 Post Count: 2324 Status: Offline Project Badges:
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Yeah, OK, I do these things too, but someone that can't build their own system?
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ericinboston
Senior Cruncher Joined: Jan 12, 2010 Post Count: 265 Status: Offline Project Badges:
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The point that a few of bring up "why not just build your own system" is a great question. I'll give you some answers:
----------------------------------------1)Not all of us have the tech skills to do so. 2)Not all of us have the time (research, purchase, put together, install OS, etc) 3) (my main reason here) how much cheaper is it to really build your own computer vs. getting a somewhat-mass produced machine just for BOINC? For example, putting BOINC aside, if I were to go out and spec out a fairly decent Dell desktop, I could grab one for $550. If I were to build one to almost match the Dell specs, I'd be spending at least $425...if not more. So I spend $125 and get a machine all ready to go and I don't need to do any work building it. Now apply this thinking to getting a manufacturer to kindly create us a BOINC machine on the cheap...again, no dvd drive needed, no speakers, no monitor, no kb/mouse, and put it all in a nice small case. If we could purchase that machine for roughly $400, that would rock...and would be, IMO, a lot better than trying to build the same thing for $350. |
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ericinboston
Senior Cruncher Joined: Jan 12, 2010 Post Count: 265 Status: Offline Project Badges:
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Hello, my way of having a cheap computer for BOINC was purchasing a used, second hand workstation. True...never really thought of that option. But not sure how much you would actually save. For example, for your typical medium-end desktop of any given year, you probably don't want to purchase it 3 years later for a crunching machine...If, however, you are able to find some 3 year old desktop/workstation that had amazing tech specs that rivaled even today's machines, sure...but what's the price? So I figure a $550 average new desktop (no monitor) today would sell for $300 (ebay) in 3 years...maybe $250 if you get lucky. But in my proposal, if you could get a great machine (both physical size, electricity use due to low power supply, as well as crunching power) for $400 vs. some 3-year old used desktop (that is likely a normal tower) for $300 (and no warranty), personally I would spend the $100 more on a brand new machine. Regardless if I buy the used machine for $300 or the BOINC one for $400, it's still cheaper than the standard $500+ desktops on the street. My proposal is all about bang for your buck....physical size, price, crunching power, low electric bills, etc. -Eric |
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Former Member
Cruncher Joined: May 22, 2018 Post Count: 0 Status: Offline |
Here is my experience with the Dell my son bought.
It is a i7 860 8100 XPS with a 5760 ATI. When I crunched on both the CPU and the GPU it would just reboot, why? The power supply was under powered. Had to upgrade the PSU right off the bat. Something to remember if buying a mass produced PC, they cheap-out on everything. |
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