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World Community Grid Forums
Category: Community
Forum: Hardware Chat Room
Thread: Efficient cruncher build |
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Thread Status: Active Total posts in this thread: 123
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Sgt.Joe
Ace Cruncher USA Joined: Jul 4, 2006 Post Count: 7846 Status: Offline Project Badges: 
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One last question...I would prefer to install Linux on a USB key rather than nuke the main drive or try dual booting (and this way easier if I want to give/sell the pc later with Windows on it)...will Linux and/or BOINC run slowly due to it being on a USB key? Obviously it has to read from the key but it's only a 50MB file per Task and I'm not sure if BOINC loads all the Tasks into memory or just uses the drive. If the USB key installation is going to negate the performance improvement of Linux over Windows, then I guess I will dual boot. I have run several servers with Linux on a USB thumb drive. I don't recall any significant difference in the performance vs. a drive with platters. I did find out not to use thumb drives from the bargain bin as they only lasted about a month. I currently use Sandisk drives with which I have had pretty good luck, only crashing one after about 11 months of 24/7 usage. I use 16 gb drives which currently cost me $5.00 US. Those systems are currently running SCC1 and have been for quite a while. They are dual cpu systems with hyperthreaded hex core cpu's. I probably would not try to use these with a project like The Clean Energy Project because of the massive I/O requirements it had, but other than that they are cheap and reliable, at least for me. One other thing. I only have USB 2.0 ports on my machines so I use USB 2.0 drives. If you have a USB 3.0 port it may pay to use a USB 3.0 drive so your throughput would be quicker. Hope this is helpful. Cheers
Sgt. Joe
*Minnesota Crunchers* |
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ericinboston
Senior Cruncher Joined: Jan 12, 2010 Post Count: 265 Status: Offline Project Badges:
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Well, how about using a Playstation (or other console) for BOINC/WCG? I know this was done in the past for similar projects but Google just shows me ancient articles.
----------------------------------------Or can anyone recommend a good/great video card I can toss in my new Lenovo M910T Tower (using Windows10)? Is it possible to have more than 1 video card in this tower to process WCG? For example, if someone told me to buy 2 NVidia _____ model cards....or does BOINC only support 1 video card crunching work? Thanks again!  |
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SekeRob
Master Cruncher Joined: Jan 7, 2013 Post Count: 2741 Status: Offline |
Just do a search on Playstation and learn that Sony broke the Linux OS installation capability with intend.
----------------------------------------/OT [Edit 1 times, last edit by SekeRob* at Oct 30, 2017 8:09:54 AM] |
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wolfman1360
Senior Cruncher Canada Joined: Jan 17, 2016 Post Count: 176 Status: Offline Project Badges: 
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Try the Lenovo M710 Tiny machine. I can get it for just over $510 with latest i7 8-core, 4GB RAM, 500GB drive, and Windows10. 65watts of power. And this thing is TINY!! I have the same i7 in an Lenovo tower and for the price, it cranks! My tower generates 40,000-50,000 points per day on WCG doing 2 Cancer projects...so that's about 8-9 times what you are looking to accomplish and since the Tiny versions run the same i7 chip at 65watts, that seems pretty darn good. I believe I can share with your my corporate discount plan (about 30% off any Lenovo website price). Let me know (I guess there is no way to private message me on this forum). I thought about custom builds over the years but I found it just doesn't seem worth saving $42 at the end of the day to have to do all the research (hours or days), build it, install the OS, etc. when I can just order a mass-market quality machine all set to go in 7 minutes drinking my soda and spend 4 minutes clicking OK setting up Windows when it arrives. Not to mention that Projects will come and go and video card crunching will come and go, etc. Although super technical, I just don't see the need or even point of squeezing every last cpu cycle out to save such minimal money. My time and sanity is worth it...and I also don't want to deal with Newegg in a battle to replace my <insert your hardware piece here> and they tell me to call the manufacturer. :) Spend the $25+ at Lenovo or Dell and get the Next Business Day Replacement and be done with it or save the $25 and get the normal 4-5 day Replacement. What I have always dreamed of is that someone on Boinc/WCG would step up and create some kind of non-profit that simply sells hardware to Boinc/WCG users for crunching. That person buys in bulk and Dell/Lenovo/whoever gives a nice discount to help these worthy causes. I would start such a program but I just don't have the time to run the show. But again, I think I can provide my corporate discount. Personally, I want to buy 10 or 20 of these m710 machines...it's my way of donating to Cancer research instead of checks to 1000 different cancer orgs. I'll let this site know if I buy a boatload. If someone has something deeply negative about the M710 with the i7 chip, honestly, I'd like to hear it so I can better spend my money. I would love to get in contact with you, yes. I am assuming this is the i7 7700? For a simple cruncher this sounds very nice indeed. I built this machine. I simply want things to work and work well without having to remove components, send them in for sometimes questionable amounts of time or deal with people who I have a hard time understanding over the phone. If I get a company with reasonable warranty (I think Dell and Lenovo are both pretty steller, unless of course I am mistaken), I don't have to worry about compatibility of certain components, noise levels and/or heat. Had an i5-4570s in a smaller case for a while but it was repeatedly hitting 90C and underclocking, even when the processor wasn't fully utilized. It was custom built and it was my last foray into the world of small form factor. I'd like a small tower with ryzen in it, similar in specs and size to the dell xps 8930. I don't want it to weigh 30 pounds and be huge. I just want a micro tower with plenty of power, a bit of expandability for, perhaps, hard drives and the like. I don't want the inspiron gaming desktop which, while not much larger, is still large enough. If I had the room I'd buy some of these refurbs for $100.
Crunching for the betterment of human kind and the canines who will always be our best friends.
----------------------------------------AWOU! [Edit 1 times, last edit by wolfman1360 at Oct 31, 2017 12:03:11 AM] |
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ericinboston
Senior Cruncher Joined: Jan 12, 2010 Post Count: 265 Status: Offline Project Badges:
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Yes, the i7-7700T chip is available on all Lenovo m710 and m910 desktop models. Although I have nothing against AMD, it seems it's difficult to find AMD machines from major manufactures while also saving significant money. Sometimes you may save $75 but then some of the other components are not the same. For me, I just stick with Intel.
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wolfman1360
Senior Cruncher Canada Joined: Jan 17, 2016 Post Count: 176 Status: Offline Project Badges:
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Yes, the i7-7700T chip is available on all Lenovo m710 and m910 desktop models. Although I have nothing against AMD, it seems it's difficult to find AMD machines from major manufactures while also saving significant money. Sometimes you may save $75 but then some of the other components are not the same. For me, I just stick with Intel. Exactly. Intel is just about everywhere - I believe I read somewhere that a while back they started paying OEMs to use their processors over AMD but maybe I'm wrong. I went and priced out a custom built Ryzen from NCIX. They will assemble and test, but by the time I get similar specs to what an OEM offers I'm paying very nearly the same price as the intel OEM equivalent. Yes, I get brand name power supply, can pick and choose components but the era of custom building being cheaper by $500 or more is long, long gone. Best buy had a small form factor refurbished Lenovo with a core i7 3770, 256 gb SSD and 8 gb of ram for $250 Canadian. Very tempting as a secondary machine.
Crunching for the betterment of human kind and the canines who will always be our best friends.
AWOU! |
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Hype
Cruncher Germany Joined: Nov 18, 2011 Post Count: 43 Status: Offline Project Badges: 
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once every 6 months shut it down, take off the cover and blow out the dust well. turn it on with the cover off to make sure all the fans are working and not make unusual noises. I have to quote this because it is so true! My current machine ran for about 2 years untouched. I totally forgot about it for the last months and checked it about two weeks ago. CPU temp was at around 85 °C. So I shut it down and had a look inside. It was totally clogged with dust, conductive paste broken, total mess! So please give your crunchers some love and don't forget about them like I did ;-)  |
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wolfman1360
Senior Cruncher Canada Joined: Jan 17, 2016 Post Count: 176 Status: Offline Project Badges:
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I am amazed at this liquid cooled machine of mine.
----------------------------------------5 years going strong. All I've done is blow the dust out. Temps are still rock solid steady. I also have not run it at 100% for 5 years - only the last year or so - but still. These newer laptops are also quite the snappy little buggers.
Crunching for the betterment of human kind and the canines who will always be our best friends.
AWOU! |
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QuantumEthos
Senior Cruncher Joined: Jul 2, 2011 Post Count: 336 Status: Offline Project Badges: 
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Hype
Cruncher Germany Joined: Nov 18, 2011 Post Count: 43 Status: Offline Project Badges:
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Pretty expensive.
----------------------------------------That i5-6500 only has 4 cores and no HT. For a lower price you can build a custom Ryzen 1700X system with 16 threads, and about 350% more crunching power. I had Intel for the last 5 years, but think about switching back to AMD. [Edit 1 times, last edit by RoundFour at Nov 13, 2017 8:37:50 PM] |
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