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Forum: Hardware Chat Room
Thread: PINE64 for dedicated crunching? |
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Thread Status: Active Total posts in this thread: 11
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Tamerlane
Cruncher Joined: Mar 7, 2009 Post Count: 5 Status: Offline Project Badges: 
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For those who don't know what PINE64 is, it's a single board computer retailing at 15$ (although that version is currently sold out). It doesn't have an HD (it can use a SD card or USB stick as storage and boot) or a power supply (it can be supplied through a micro USB or a lithium battery), but besides that it's a fully functional computer.
----------------------------------------Now, because of it's ultra low cost and power requirement (5V*2A require 10W, correct?), I'm thinking it could be a viable solution to dedicated crunching. It features a quad-core 1.2GHz 64-bit processor (ARM A-53 ) and at least 512MB of RAM (depending on the version). I haven't been able to find easily comparable bench results between the A53 running at 1.2GHz and another desktop processor, so I don't really know if it's actually a good alternative performance-wise. It's roughly 10-20% less performant than Raspberry Pi 3 on benchmarks, but at a ~30$ price point for a fully functional unit (besides finding a solution to powering dozens of units), it's a relatively small fraction of the cost of a RP3. I'm thinking at this price, it doesn't need to be a lot more than 1/20 as powerful in its crunching ability as relatively cheap desktop to become viable. What do you guys think? [Edit 1 times, last edit by Tamerlane at Aug 1, 2016 4:43:38 PM] |
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vlado101
Senior Cruncher Joined: Jul 23, 2013 Post Count: 226 Status: Offline Project Badges: 
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Hi Tamerlane,
----------------------------------------This would be an awesome idea. Having a small motherboard such as that working 24/7 for such a low voltage would be very good. Although I do not have a PINE64 I do have Raspberry 3 and I am using it to donate to Universe@home. I was skeptical at how good it would be but even set at 60% cpu utilization it has already got about 70k in a month. A set up such as yours using multiple of those things would probably be really good for WCG, however the main question would be if WCG supports PINE64. I am thinking if you would put a version of Android on it then it could probably run OET and Zika work units.  |
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fuzzydice555
Advanced Cruncher Joined: Mar 25, 2015 Post Count: 89 Status: Offline Project Badges: 
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- The PINE64 can crunch Zika and OET, if you install android on it
----------------------------------------- Power consumption is 4-5W at the wall on 100% CPU - Points/Day is 2776 WCG / 396 BOINC - This means a P/W of 100, which is quite good Pros: + Very low cost + Low power consumption + Noiseless + 1W/thread is extremely good, if you're crunching for badges Cons: - You will need to buy a power supply, a memory card, and a heatsink. That's the bare minimum. If you factor in all the extra, it's not that cheap anymore. - The chip throttles with every single heatsink I've tried. Self-adhesive or thermal pads, it doesn't matter, the CPU throttles to 1150/1050 MHz if I remember correctly. - There are ridiculous waiting times for the chip. I've ordered 4 boards on May 26 and I'm still waiting on delivery... A word of warning: A heat sink is absolutely necessary. Without a sink the chip throttles to 850MHz and the board gets very-very hot. Make sure you either have a self-adhesive, a thermal pad or a copper shim between the heatsink and CPU. Otherwise you can short out some of the components. It happened to me. I was lucky it only caused a restart, but it can and WILL fry the board if you're unlucky. I ordered 4 more boards, so when they arrive I'll set up all 5 on the same power supply, all actively cooled. Hopefully I can get more data then :) All in all, it's a good cruncher but not exceptional. I'm not very likely to buy any more boards. If you want the best in power efficiency or points/$, search ebay for ES Xeon CPUs, they're still the best deal out there. V4 CPUs are the best, they're ridiculously efficient and some of the 12 cores go for as low as 100$.  [Edit 2 times, last edit by fuzzydice555 at Aug 1, 2016 9:25:56 PM] |
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Tamerlane
Cruncher Joined: Mar 7, 2009 Post Count: 5 Status: Offline Project Badges:
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Terrific information there fuzzydice! Thank you very much! (kudos also to vlado for the feedback on the RP3)
----------------------------------------I'm not worried a whole lot about the heating part as I was planning on running them during the colder months in Canada (and I let my house get as cold as 16°C/60°F). If need be, I'll dunk them in a mineral oil bath! Now, the delays in delivery could be a problem... 4 months, that's a seriously long back order! And I was wondering what was your solution for connecting 5 to the same power supply? Are you getting one of those multi-USB charger with a usb -> micro usb cable for each board? [Edit 2 times, last edit by Tamerlane at Aug 2, 2016 6:01:27 AM] |
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fuzzydice555
Advanced Cruncher Joined: Mar 25, 2015 Post Count: 89 Status: Offline Project Badges:
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The throttling issues were in 28C ambient temperature, there's a very good chance you won't see any throttling at 16C :)
----------------------------------------Distribution is bogged down for the Pines. It's unfortunate, I guess they didn't think demand would be this high for the board. I ordered a blitzwolf 5 port 40W PSU: http://www.banggood.com/BlitzWolf-40W-Smart-5...Pad-Samsung-p-976585.html With these cables: http://www.banggood.com/BlitzWolf-2_1A-Micro-...lated-Plug-p-1010839.html BlitzWolf should be really good. Anker power supplies/cables are top notch, but shipping was too pricy for me. PS: don't get a cheap knockoff charger! Some don't deliver the rated 2A, some are deathtraps/fire hazards. [Edit 1 times, last edit by fuzzydice555 at Aug 2, 2016 7:23:03 PM] |
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Tamerlane
Cruncher Joined: Mar 7, 2009 Post Count: 5 Status: Offline Project Badges:
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Thank you again for your input!
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sunk818
Advanced Cruncher Joined: May 10, 2018 Post Count: 66 Status: Offline Project Badges:
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Any thoughts on whether to get 512MB, 1GB, or 2GB RAM?
I would think you need 1GB for quad core since each task needs 250MB for Open Zika or Smash Childhood Cancer. That means you should have another 512MB RAM for Android? What would happen if I opted for the cheaper 512MB or 1GB PINE64? Will the computer be swapping to disk all the time? Would there be an noticeable difference in performance with less RAM? |
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BladeD
Ace Cruncher USA Joined: Nov 17, 2004 Post Count: 28976 Status: Offline Project Badges: 
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The hostname in the website’s security certificate differs from the website you are trying to visit. Error Code: DLG_FLAGS_SEC_CERT_CN_INVALID   |
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hiimebm
Senior Cruncher United States Joined: Oct 19, 2014 Post Count: 305 Status: Offline Project Badges:
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That, plus a heatsink, plus a case is 8.99+0.5+32; 41.99 US Dollars for what appears to be the base model. That doesn't include thermal paste or a power cable; so yeah, you're gonna be looking at the price of their LAPTOP $99 when it's all said and done.
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hchc
Veteran Cruncher USA Joined: Aug 15, 2006 Post Count: 865 Status: Offline Project Badges:
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I wish WCG supported Linux computers on ARM architecture (instead of only Android). Seems WCG on Linux requires either 32-bit x86 or 64-bit AMD64 architecture (my preference). I'm wondering if there are any cheap boxes out there that run a quad core Atom CPU (amd64) that we can throw Linux on and crunch away on WCG.
----------------------------------------PINE64 looks cool and cheap, but for just a tad more money, I'd rather get a Raspberry Pi 3 or 3+ just because of availability and a larger user community.
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