View Full Version : Finally over my AMD/ATI love...
Don't know what really happened but I'm no longer devoted to AMD and ATI like I used to be. At one point I had 8 AMD setups crunching distributed computing projects and now... well after this week I will be an all Intel farmer. :eek: I've been turned on by the Intel Xeon setups lately and this week I will be getting my fourth and retiring my last XP setup. It's sad but I don't mind since I'm increasing my production by at least 75% for about the same electrical cost.
And the reason I'm including ATI in this is because I've been looking at a few different nVidia cards and for the money... they look pretty darn good. :shrug:
I guess this is just putting stock in the fact that when all is said and done... basically... I'm a cheap bastard and will go with who has the biggest "bang-for-the-buck". :D
(no idea why I wanted to share this... but on a different forum I got talking with someone and it just made me realize that I no longer have the "yeah, but AMD is the best bang-for-the-buck and I can get 3 setups for the cost of one Intel) ;)
mcnbns
10-24-2004, 07:24 AM
Variety is the spice of life... or some other such adage.
It's great to try new things.
Get a unicycle, Jeff... THEN you'll be cool. :cool: :rocker:
www.unicyclist.com :D
Iridium192_217
10-24-2004, 08:12 AM
Almost the opposite over here. I used to loath ATI but I purchased a 9800 a while ago & its been working well. I have nothing against them anymore.
All Kill3r
10-24-2004, 08:25 AM
i just want to steal all your xeon rigs ! :rocker:
how many candidates a day does one of those put out ? mine should be crunching by mid week.
saaya
10-24-2004, 09:34 AM
xeons are really the best bang for the bug deal for folding farms! cant deny that...
well jeff, i dont think you turned from an amd fanboy to an intel fanboy, your new rigs just reflect the current market situation pretty well. ati is loosing share because intel can push their gpu at a lower price.
and about amd and intel, thats just an interesting phenomena that has nothing to do with market share imo.
the xeons are that cheap now because they are obsolete, and they are the best bang for the bug deal simply because amd never really pushed their mp setups and didnt have much to offer to compete with the xeon duallys back then. this hole in the server lineup is now filled with opterons, but when you look at cheap rigs that offer a great bang for the bug we are looking at the market it was like 1-3 years ago, and the hole in the dually market is still there on amds side.
so to sum it up, i think your an unbiased person and are just looking at price and peformence and not labels, wich got you where you are now :)
pik-ard v1.1
10-24-2004, 10:00 AM
what setup did you get, and how much did it cost? just curious.
no more ati/amd :(
oh well, cant say I wouldnt mind having a xeon!! :D
Crankster
10-24-2004, 10:27 AM
Yes, per buck xeons rock. If you multitask like mad and fold a lot =D Otherwise AMD is a good bet.
I am in thesame situation myself but more by chance than choise. Just got a good deal on intel and ATI
what setup did you get, and how much did it cost? just curious.
There was a kick-butt deal on 1.6GHz LV Xeons w/HT for $120 delivered a few weeks ago. That started me off since along with an Asus PC-DL you're looking at $300 for a setup. Nice thing with the PC-DL is you can use normal memory and a standard ATX power supply, but an EPS is recommended. My three setups run between 2.65GHz and 2.85GHz no problem.
The fourth setup is going to be 2x2.4GHz LV Xeons. These cost me $240 delivered but they should be good for 3.2GHz to 3.6GHz from what I've read. So for $420 you get the processors and motherboard.
Compare that to the $300 AMD A64 and $100 Epox 8KDA3J I just sold and I think these Xeons look even better. Especially since in the D²OL project I'm getting 75% more production with the dual Xeon vs. the A64 3400+ and I'm using almost the exact same electricity. :up:
If I were a gamer-only... I'd probably get the A64 setup. But since I'm mostly a cruncher these Xeons just make sense... even though they are obsolete. :rolleyes: ;) :stick:
i just want to steal all your xeon rigs ! :rocker:
how many candidates a day does one of those put out ? mine should be crunching by mid week.
One dual Xeon rig is putting out ~65cands/6hrs so that's about ~270cands/day. I've noticed that all the rigs are putting out almost the same... even though they range from 2.65GHz to 2.85GHz. :shrug:
Stang_Man
10-24-2004, 11:38 AM
i'm pissed that Stanford doesn't release a folding client for Itanium processors and Alpha processors.
both these processors are not x86, so folding on them would be like running windows on a mac.. just doesn't work.
and imo, Alphas and Itaniums could dominate folding, especially when i have 4-cpu configs of each available at my disposal!
Have you looked for a DC project that does support those? You just have to put them to good use somewhere. ;)
saaya
10-24-2004, 03:21 PM
i'm pissed that Stanford doesn't release a folding client for Itanium processors and Alpha processors.
both these processors are not x86, so folding on them would be like running windows on a mac.. just doesn't work.
and imo, Alphas and Itaniums could dominate folding, especially when i have 4-cpu configs of each available at my disposal!
hmmm weird... i dont think there will ever be cheap itaniums or alphas... so this is really weird...