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World Community Grid Forums
Category: Community
Forum: Hardware Chat Room
Thread: AMD or Intel? |
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Thread Status: Active Total posts in this thread: 19
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davethebuilder
Cruncher Australia Joined: Dec 6, 2013 Post Count: 15 Status: Offline Project Badges: 
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I'm looking to add another dedicated PC to my network and am seeking advice on whether AMD or Intel is best for WCG. It will not be used for gaming, just running floating point simulations with the aim of contributing as much as possible. I have always used Intel and am looking to compare cost, speed, power consumption, etc.
Any information is appreciated. |
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bluestang
Senior Cruncher USA Joined: Oct 1, 2010 Post Count: 272 Status: Offline Project Badges: 
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AMD 5000 or 7000 series 12 or 16 core CPUs IMO. Undervolt a tad to reduce power/heat but not performance.
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davethebuilder
Cruncher Australia Joined: Dec 6, 2013 Post Count: 15 Status: Offline Project Badges:
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Ok, thanks. Interesting link too.
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Aperture_Science_Innovators
Advanced Cruncher United States Joined: Jul 6, 2009 Post Count: 139 Status: Offline Project Badges: 
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It depends on how you value up-front costs vs power costs, but I'm personally a fan of used server-grade systems. For $150-ish on Ebay, you can get a 18 or 20 core Xeon E5 V4 CPU on Ebay. The power draw is comparable to a 5950X, and while they're not as fast, they put up a pretty good fight for the money. You can build a complete system with two of these CPUs for $800-ish, and 40c/80t is a lot of performance. I have a few systems like this I get a lot of mileage out of.
----------------------------------------I've also been tempted by an older AMD EPYC system. For a bit over $1000 (also Ebay), you can get 2 32-core CPUs, and a dual-socket motherboard, thus giving you a complete 64c/128t system for around $1400-1500. The price isn't quite there yet IMO, the performance difference vs a 40c/80t Xeon isn't worth the nearly twice the cost IMO, but it is very tempting as the prices fall.  [Edit 1 times, last edit by Aperture_Science_Innovators at Nov 8, 2022 1:54:59 AM] |
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davethebuilder
Cruncher Australia Joined: Dec 6, 2013 Post Count: 15 Status: Offline Project Badges:
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Good idea about used server grade systems - performance without a heavy price tag. The only reservation I have is that some of the used hardware on E-bay has been used for crypto mining especially since China banned it.
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ADDIE2014
Cruncher Joined: Apr 13, 2019 Post Count: 31 Status: Offline Project Badges:
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I also agree that used server grade systems are a good choice.i have 2 asus z9pa-d8 dual cpu server motherboards and one supermicro x9dri-ln4f dual cpu that are equipped withe 12 core xeon cpu's. All purchased from ebay. They've all been running for a couple of years problem-free
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Aperture_Science_Innovators
Advanced Cruncher United States Joined: Jul 6, 2009 Post Count: 139 Status: Offline Project Badges:
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That personally doesn't bother me too much -- we'll be running the systems under heavy load indefinitely, which isn't all that different from what they would have gone through ahead of time. And FWIW, the only hardware I've had die on me "in the line of duty" was a couple of old and very cheap SSDs. Everything else has continued to run flawlessly until it was no longer economical to run and I found it new homes.
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hchc
Veteran Cruncher USA Joined: Aug 15, 2006 Post Count: 747 Status: Offline Project Badges: 
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davethebuilder, what's your budget?
----------------------------------------I thought this video by Gamers Nexus was pretty interesting, since I was really turned off by the AMD 7950X stock power consumption and heat output. Apparently its built-in 105W Eco Mode cuts power usage by about 50%, cuts heat by about 30 degrees (so 30's Celsius instead of 95C), and only loses 5-6% performance over stock. *And* even in that Eco Mode, it still outperforms the 5950X. I'm personally leaning toward 7950X as my next desktop build, but I'm waiting to see what AMD releases in a few months with their 3D cache series. If there's a 7950X3D CPU that comes out that is better, I'll probably get that. I like the idea of getting used server hardware off eBay, but the power consumption on a lot of those are just insane. Maybe once I'm a homeowner and have a whole solar/wind setup running and no electric bill.
[Edit 1 times, last edit by hchc at Nov 9, 2022 9:04:17 PM] |
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davethebuilder
Cruncher Australia Joined: Dec 6, 2013 Post Count: 15 Status: Offline Project Badges:
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There seems to be a preference towards AMD. I remember some time ago that Microsoft software worked better with Intel chips, however, that issue appears to be resolved. I do wonder if the software that caused this problem is still embedded and could be switched on again.
Thanks for the video link and the information about power usage. Eco mode is the way to go if the quoted figures can be realised. The GPU cost is also a valid concern. I'm not a gamer so I probably don't need a high end graphics card even though some WCG tasks are performed using this hardware. |
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Jeffreys
Cruncher Joined: Dec 12, 2021 Post Count: 7 Status: Offline |
I'll make the case for Intel then.
----------------------------------------Intel has its own version of ecomode.Here in Der8auers review of the 13900k he compares it with the 7950x and they are within 4% of each other at 90W. The other main benefit of Intel right now is total system cost, x690 motherboards are cheaper than AMD motherboards. But either way, unlike last gen where I think AMDs 5xxx processors were clearly better than the Intel equivalent, I think in this generation both Intel and AMD are solid options. [Edit 1 times, last edit by Jeffreys at Nov 13, 2022 3:50:32 AM] |
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