Cheap crunchers!

[WesM63]

So i was browsing around today and newegg has a deal on a S754 A64 3400+ for $99, including a free motherboard!

I don't think you can get much better than that!

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103010

[itznfb]

i think we should make a list of cheap crunchers, i'm always looking for <$300 systems.

[rcofell]

Saw that a few weeks ago, but I just can't stand going for a single core cruncher when there isn't much of a price premium for dual cores, especially when factors like total # of machines/organization are taken into consideration.

[[XC] DragonOrta]

so a cheap PSU, 2x256 bh-5 and a PCI video would do it for a plain jane cruncher?

[Bloody_Sorcerer]

you can do a 3800 x2, mobo, and 512 megs ram and PSU for <300 bucks ;)
best value i've found yet :)
most important factor is price per core, which tends to be around 150 bucks, be it a SC system or a DC system.

[rcofell]

so a cheap PSU, 2x256 bh-5 and a PCI video would do it for a plain jane cruncher?
Hard drive and a heatsink too, as it's an OEM chip.

[Bloody_Sorcerer]

no harddrive, netboot or thumbdrive ;)

[[XC] DragonOrta]

Thumbdrive FTW! I had forgetten about that. That makes me want to go and buy a whole bunch from newegg. What linux distro do you think would easily fit onto a 1gb thumbdrive besides DSL?

[WesM63]

lol yea, some of use have everything else needed setting around. Small hdd's arn't a problem, HSF can be had very cheap, now just pick up a 512mb of decent ram and your set.

The question is, what can you buy at the same price that will out perform this setup? Nothing that i'm aware of. Even a 3800 X2 is $150 alone.

[[XC] DragonOrta]

I've got a Big Typhoon sitting around because it won't fit inside the Lian-li V300 I just got, a 400w something or rather PSU sitting that I was thinking of using to power my watercooling pumps, 2x256 of BH-5, and all those PCI video cards I collect like Mel Gibson and Catcher in the Rye.

[Bloody_Sorcerer]

Thumbdrive FTW! I had forgetten about that. That makes me want to go and buy a whole bunch from newegg. What linux distro do you think would easily fit onto a 1gb thumbdrive besides DSL?
whats wrong with DSL? :)

WesM, an x2 will DOMINATE this for one obvious fact: double the cores. it'd take 2 of these 100 dollar deals to match 1 x2 deal. a 3800 x2 is 152 bucks on the egg and a cheap decent mobo is 50-70. since its one machine, you won't need as much RAM as you would for 2. 512 megs of DDR2 is stupidly cheap, or if you have DDR1 lying around going 939 would be still around the same price point.

it isn't a question of "same price". its a question of price-per-core ;)

[WesM63]

Bloody,
Yea i agree. But some of use (like me) have a problem spending that kind of money on a dedicated cruncher. I'm all about cheap!

If anyone needs more info on this, my bro has a similar setup, however his is a 3400+ Clawhammer.

[rcofell]

WesM, an x2 will DOMINATE this for one obvious fact: double the cores. it'd take 2 of these 100 dollar deals to match 1 x2 deal. a 3800 x2 is 152 bucks on the egg and a cheap decent mobo is 50-70. since its one machine, you won't need as much RAM as you would for 2. 512 megs of DDR2 is stupidly cheap, or if you have DDR1 lying around going 939 would be still around the same price point.

it isn't a question of "same price". its a question of price-per-core ;)
Exactly, I prefer efficiency, especially when it comes at a better price point. I've got too many PIIIs and the such(the downside of having the state surplus warehouse in town), so personally I'd rather have more crunching power with less boxes.

[Bloody_Sorcerer]

Bloody,
Yea i agree. But some of use (like me) have a problem spending that kind of money on a dedicated cruncher. I'm all about cheap!

If anyone needs more info on this, my bro has a similar setup, however his is a 3400+ Clawhammer.
quiet, you have more than one computer. don't talk to me about cheap ;)

[WesM63]

:rofl:

I suppose.. i could splurge.

[itznfb]

only problem i see is that some WU's on wcg require 750mb of RAM

[[XC] Adywebb]

True - but you can always crunch the Aids stuff instead.

[meshmesh]

So i was browsing around today and newegg has a deal on a S754 A64 3400+ for $99, including a free motherboard!

I don't think you can get much better than that!

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103010
Nop. No good deal IMO. Don't forget that by the time you add the extra stuff ie: Case + PSU + CD + HD + RAM + fans + WinXP + etc... it will add another $300 minimum. Total cost ~ $400. Right?

So if you can build it for $400 and end up with a single core socket 754 DDR RAM ? Then how about looking at the alternative?

For $250 you can get a AMD 64 X2 4600+ and $100 for a good MB, and $300 the extra stuff above. So, for $650 you have a spanking new dual core AM2, with DDR2 that perform twice as good and saves you built time, real estate, noise, utility bill and management effort ?

At the end of the day it is bang for buck. I wont touch tha deal if it was FREE.

[WesM63]

meshmesh,
I see where your going with that and all, but why would you spend the money on ""extra" stuff. Alot of that stuff is a big waste for what the machine would be doing. The only things you need would be RAM/HSF/PSU and maybe a hdd.

When i say cruncher, i'm not talking about a full pc setting there that your buddy or moms can come and use when he/she wants too. Cruncher is bare minimum needed to do what its supposed to do. Generally chillling on a desk, not in a case no monitor/mouse/keyboard attached just the NIC/Power cables.

Back in my F@H days i had 6 machines running in my room, 2 of them had cases, my main rig and the server.

[itznfb]

mobo with onboard vid, memory, cpu, psu.... and thumb drive is all you really need right?

[[XC] hipno650]

i get all the left over stuff from my dads work. they may not be fast but they help! and there free! two 1.3cellys@1.5, a 1ghz p3, 1.6p4@1.76 :woot: once i upgrade my system then my old rig will be a 24/7!!! it's a hand me down system:D

[WesM63]

yep :)

[meshmesh]

I see where your going with that and all, but why would you spend the money on ""extra" stuff. Alot of that stuff is a big waste for what the machine would be doing. The only things you need would be RAM/HSF/PSU and maybe a hdd.
ok, then please help me here:

No case? So how would you deal with dust and RFI and earthing the MB back plane.
No CD or Floppy?
Do you hook it to a UPS, or a least share the UPS investment?
"maybe" a hdd? Well, this way beyond me here? Ok, I know that some may be able to run linux from a CD but where are you going to save the WUs?

I have seen pictures of "farms" where they have many motherboards stacked on top of each other and supported by the edges. But I realy cannot imagine that this is a good thing and am 100% sure the Mrs would never approve of having this stuff anywhere (Ok, maybe the back yard). My "cruncher" is in a pretty nice looking case and I still get grief.:)


When i say cruncher, i'm not talking about a full pc setting there that your buddy or moms can come and use when he/she wants too. Cruncher is bare minimum needed to do what its supposed to do. Generally chillling on a desk, not in a case no monitor/mouse/keyboard attached just the NIC/Power cables.
Ok I understand no monitor/mouse/keyboard. Can use Windows Remote Loggin. But no case? Well, I would say $70 saving in no case or fans!!
But you still need RAM, HD, PSU, M$ Win (unless yo are a linux expert)...


Back in my F@H days i had 6 machines running in my room, 2 of them had cases, my main rig and the server.
Ok. I see. If it does work, then cannot argue with that. But I know that it wouldn't for me.

If this is the case, then I just got one brain fart:
If poeple like me or others living in the EU cannot built another one of those "crunchers" either because space limitations or high EU prices, VAT , etc or because of the crazy electric bills, maybe a better solution is possible especially if you guys have the expertise and the will to cooperate in such a venture? I think that it may be possible to save some money and add crunchers that would not have existed otherwise. Any openion on this?

[itznfb]

who needs a hard drive or cd drive when we have thumb drives and damn small, or vector? :)

[[XC] DragonOrta]

I just have one CD drive that I switch around to my crunchers when I need to install an OS, then put it back in my main computer.

[itznfb]

if anyone needs a cd-rom i think i have three that i don't use, some PSU's too. i'll post them in the scrap thread when i get home so i can get the details on them.

[Hymay]

i think we should make a list of cheap crunchers, i'm always looking for <$300 systems.
199 system (http://shop2.outpost.com/product/4751409?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG)

229 system (http://shop2.outpost.com/product/4864290?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG)

These both use ms-7184 (http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?lc=en%C3%A2%C5%92%C2%A9=en&cc=us&product=1127350&dlc=en&docname=c00378480) mobo. Not listed under MSI's site, but think its similar to a 7093, or something - already closed the window with that info.

These two are skt 939 so you could upgrade them to dual core... almost zero oc though. Think you can get maybe 10% from software oc.

Another option would be to toss the MB, and get a 50-60$ am2, and dual core, adds a bit of cost over the std dual core, but might add 25-50% more clocks. Pick up a little ram and yer set pretty well.
Might be able to fleabay the mobo and sempy for 75 bucks to defray the cost of the Dual core a little.

329 - 50 mir = 279 system (http://shop2.outpost.com/product/4883770?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG)

That one is a different mobo, pretty sure its 939 also, but uses nvidia instead of ati 200. Dunno which mobo it is yet.

[Bloody_Sorcerer]

320 dollars (could be cheaper still, but this could plausibly OC some):

Biostar TForce 4 6100 board (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813138028): 73
3800 x2 AM2 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103735): 152
512 stick of DDR2-667 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820231052): 43
1 gig flash drive (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820155006): 18
FSP 300watt PSU (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817104933): 26

about 320 bucks. use a roaming CD drive for OS install. no need to have one CD drive per cruncher. case is not needed.

You could easily knock off 20-30 dollars in the mobo department but that may sacrifice all overclockability. another 5 dollars or so could be lost on RAM if you went with totally no-name DDR2-533.

a solid overclockable dual-core cruncher for 320 bucks. thats 160 dollars per core... not a bad deal ;)
obviously go with either nn_step's cruncher OS or DSL or similar. DSL is a breeze, even for the non-linux inclined. then, its easy enough to control over SSH or simply hook up a monitor, set it up and get it running, and then move the monitor elsewhere.

[itznfb]

^^ thats a nice setup there

[meshmesh]

Guys. This is crazy. Cannot believe these prices. An X2 for $320. Still very cheep. Unbelievable for a dual core with graphics included. So the question would be: compared to a C2D, what would be the bang for buck ratio?

[Bloody_Sorcerer]

one problem with C2D is that on the extremely low end (ie E6300) at stock versus and x2 3800 at stock or overclocked, the 3800 is very competitive. also, there are no good dirt-cheap (ie 70-dollar) boards for C2D that'll overclock well, especially since it's such a comparatively new platform. bang for the buck is a very hard thing to compare at these prices, especially when one is unfamiliar with some of the hardware involved. Currently, the cheapest C2D boards are around 90 bucks, and i doubt they can pull the frequencies needed for C2D to significantly outshine an x2 on such a low price range. CPU + mobo there is already pushing 300 bucks. RAM, PSU, and flash drive add about another 100.

[meshmesh]

How about power consumption, becuase where I live this is a major issue.

[Bloody_Sorcerer]

windsor TDP is pretty much identical to C2Ds TDP, so i doubt total system power consumption between the two would be significantly different.

also, when you consider that intel TDP is usually target heat output and AMDs is worst-case-scenario output, i suspect that the x2 may use less power at full load.

[meshmesh]

Ok. So please read the last part of my paragraph on post 23 in this thread.
Would you please comment?

[Hymay]

For a cruncher's power supply, which rail is the most important to have the amps on? 3.3, 5 or 12?

[meshmesh]

For a cruncher's power supply, which rail is the most important to have the amps on? 3.3, 5 or 12?
For this setup, I guess any PS will actually do very well.
AMD CPUs uses both the 5 and the 12 V rails rather equally, unlike intel thatdraows more from the 12V
And since this is integrated graphices, a 12A on the 12V will cover it easy, me think.

[itznfb]

Ok. I see. If it does work, then cannot argue with that. But I know that it wouldn't for me.

If this is the case, then I just got one brain fart:
If poeple like me or others living in the EU cannot built another one of those "crunchers" either because space limitations or high EU prices, VAT , etc or because of the crazy electric bills, maybe a better solution is possible especially if you guys have the expertise and the will to cooperate in such a venture? I think that it may be possible to save some money and add crunchers that would not have existed otherwise. Any openion on this?

i'm not really sure what you're asking?

[meshmesh]

Let me spell it then:
If someone comes to you and says that he is willing to make a 50-50 deal. He pays for two crunchers hardware, you pay for the electricity and hosting for a certain period of time and run them, one for you and one for him. After tha you keep them both. Would this be a good idea?

[[XC]melymel]

Bang per Buck a 6400 C2D on a gigabyte DS3 and an x2 3800 woud be very similar.

If you consider the 6400 commonly clocks to 3.5ghz that would be 3500+ R@H PPD and an X2 3800 at 3ghz would pull about 2000 R@H PPD, If using that guestimate ratio of 7:4 in PPD and at newegg a 6400 and DS3 combo costing $392, using B_S's $225 AMD mboard + cpu combo price that would make the price ratio near bang on 7:4.

So then you have to consider that if we are taking WCG on as the big project, with the quorum system effectively makes powerfull rigs pointless an X2 3800 will have a better PPD to price ratio than an e6400.

Now the other factor to add in is power costs. Both the AMD and Intel would be close on power consumption however the e6400 produces more for the electric cost. :toast:

Now I've thougth about it i'm even more confused about what to buy next :confused:

[[XC] DragonOrta]

But WCG WUs are also definitive lengths, instead of the R@H WUs that you could specify the lengths, so a faster computer will do more WUs than a slower, thus hopefully giving you more credits.

[Bloody_Sorcerer]

interesting point melymel, hadn't thought of that :)

meshmesh, such a joint venture is quite feasible, but it sounds like the equipment buyer might be in a losing position. as i recall, somebody was offering to host any rigs sent to him, as he has "free" elec and bandwidth at work. If you paid for the rigs and had them shipped to him, he'd probably be more than willing to host them indefinitely ;)
as i recall, it was RSmura :)

[meshmesh]

Bang per Buck a 6400 C2D on a gigabyte DS3 and an x2 3800 woud be very similar.

If you consider the 6400 commonly clocks to 3.5ghz that would be 3500+ R@H PPD and an X2 3800 at 3ghz would pull about 2000 R@H PPD, If using that guestimate ratio of 7:4 in PPD and at newegg a 6400 and DS3 combo costing $392, using B_S's $225 AMD mboard + cpu combo price that would make the price ratio near bang on 7:4.

Tell me you are not kidding me. That is embarressing. I got my 4400+ up to 2.6 GHz with 3500LL RAM after a month of learning, and it would not even boot past 237 ! Wow.


So then you have to consider that if we are taking WCG on as the big project, with the quorum system effectively makes powerfull rigs pointless an X2 3800 will have a better PPD to price ratio than an e6400.
I was following you till here. Ok I understand the 7:4 ratio and agree with these numbers (assuming that it is possible to get a 3800 up to 3ghz!).
However, as to the effect of the quorum system: this has nothing to do with powerfull rigs being undermined. They will both claim the same credit (assuming same BOINC version). The faster rig will produce 7:4 the amount of daily credit. Right?



Now the other factor to add in is power costs. Both the AMD and Intel would be close on power consumption however the e6400 produces more for the electric cost. :toasT:
Agree. But don't forget the hype of Intel does not include the power of the north bridge. I realy have no idea about power consumption of these setups. But I assume in the US, the power price is much cheeper than here, so it is not going to be the deciding factor. I also know that there are 3 versions of this specific 3800+ with different power consumptions and even GHz speeds. Bloody_Sorcerer would know which one he is refering to. I don't.


Now I've thougth about it i'm even more confused about what to buy next :confused:
Read my last post. Think about what I am suggesting here. What do you think? Please speak freely.

[itznfb]

with the quorum system effectively makes powerfull rigs pointless

thats not really true. the more powerful your rig the faster your WU's complete. therefore increasing the credits you recieve.

here we have an intel P4 530 @ 3ghz vs an Operon 165 @ 2.9ghz.
Opteron has less run time, but more results, thus higher earned credit.

obviously the Opteron is the more powerful CPU in this case.

[itznfb]

assuming that it is possible to get a 3800 up to 3ghz

my opteron hits 3113mhz on air, but heats up the room too much because i have to keep my office door closed, and the AC doesn't cool it down. so the ambient temps just go up and up. once i get watercooling i'll be able to run the opteron 3.1 to 3.15 24/7.

x2's and opterons aren't 'easy' to clock to 3ghz though.

[meshmesh]

interesting point melymel, hadn't thought of that :)

meshmesh, such a joint venture is quite feasible, but it sounds like the equipment buyer might be in a losing position. as i recall, somebody was offering to host any rigs sent to him, as he has "free" elec and bandwidth at work. If you paid for the rigs and had them shipped to him, he'd probably be more than willing to host them indefinitely ;)
as i recall, it was RSmura :)

that will require some clarification from him the next time he is on. But I was talking serious group purchase with everybody from our side across the pond who are thinking of adding a second cruncher in the near future.

I am not talking about a few here either, so I don't know what Rsmura position would be on this. Will talk to him first then.

[Bloody_Sorcerer]

i wouldn't peg a 3800 x2 at 3 ghz, thats a bit absurd... keep in mind, we're working with stock cooling here :)
that being said, mine was crunching stable at 2.7 ghz on stock cooler with a bit of extra fannage :)


that will require some clarification from him the next time he is on. But I was talking serious group purchase with everybody from our side across the pond who are thinking of adding a second cruncher in the near future.

I am not talking about a few here either, so I don't know what Rsmura position would be on this. Will talk to him first then.
yeah, i wouldn't want to get caught volunteering him for anything he isn't up for.

if this was to be a "group buy" deal, it may be a good idea to contact... other suppliers... about lower bulk pricing.

[itznfb]

one thing is for certain, if we want the #1 spot without joining forces with other teams, we will need more in house fire power.

[[XC] hipno650]

if i was to get a cruncher i would get a c2d for shure. the oc ablity and the speed totally beats the 3800x2 and the 4300 is coming soon. pd 805 prices for a 9x muti core2 duo:slobber:

[Bloody_Sorcerer]

e4300 could very easily make the best budget cruncher, but we'll see how well it overclocks :)

[nn_step]

well if you strip everything down. you can get a dual core 3800+,256mb ram and a cheap mobo for $227.10 shipped

[mike047]

Alot of my crunchers have been very cheap to build. I use noname or Rosewill cases with the Psu that comes with it, about $40us[make sure it has a 24 or 20+4 plug].

Hdds are pulls[3.2-6.4 gb] from Ebay, $4-6 each avg.[ this place has 10gb remanufactured for $16;http://3btech.net/whlamadate103.html.

No cd rom just a floppy, $2, ebay also.

Motheboards, Refurbished/open box[New Egg], About $35, I have used Albatron, Soltek and Biostar. My favorite now is the Biostar TForce 6100-939, has onboard video[good enough for a cruncher] and will overclock VERY well for a cruncher. Also upgrades to an X2 with no bios update.

CPU's; I have 3, 3000 venice that I use to set up crunchers with. I get them stable at 2.5 and then when I have the money upgrade to an X2[2.5/2.6] and then move the 3000 to another Bioastar board and start over. Stock coolers seem to work fine for me, except that I put an Artic 64 on the X2's, about $25 shipped if you look around.

memory[at least to me] was cheaper:(. I use wathever is cheap and dependable. Crucial Ballistix 4000 and Gskill 3200 wer at one time excellent bang for the buck at about $80 fo 2x512. I have some Biostar boards running 4x256[2t] with no issues.

I have some boxes that cost me about $150 to build:D

Here is a list of my tools and if you read through the entire thread, there are some specifics on many of the boxes. It is linked on another site, sorry;

http://forums.extremeoverclocking.com/showthread.php?t=203839

Any questions about CHEAP stuff, I will gladly answer in pm or email or here.

Also, 754's will crunch very well, overclock well 2.4/2.5 range and are CHEAP, new and cheaper used.

My boxes cost about $7-8 a month to run[my power is .08 per Kw.]

[meshmesh]

well if you strip everything down. you can get a dual core 3800+,256mb ram and a cheap mobo for $227.10 shipped
Process explorer is reporting 275 MB per WCG WU and 7 Mb for BOINC itself.
So one GB minimum for 2 WCG WUs + OS. ANd we don't know what the future WUs will look like either.

may I add, tha looking a the pen drive, a customer commented that it heats up under use. I guess it is not meant for continuous long term use being housed in plastic. Maybe a $40 cheep 2.5" IDE HD would be a better investment (low noise and power consumption) and will probably outlast twice as much as the flimzy pen drive.

[nn_step]

in theory couldn't they just share a cd drive and a floppy drive? all that is needed is the mobo,cpu, ram, hard drive and something to power it

[meshmesh]

in theory couldn't they just share a cd drive and a floppy drive? all that is needed is the mobo,cpu, ram, hard drive and something to power it

yes, it apears that's what is being implied so far. So for WCG maybe:

the biostar MB+ 3800 X2 CPU+ 1 GB RAM + cheapest HD + small PS + free Linux. All for under $400 shipped.

No extras needed. So skip the case, floppy, cd, keyboard, mouse, monitor, speakers, fans, Windows, etc...

This will make it very cheep indeed. Under $400 (GBP 220) Amazing deal !

[STEvil]

Thumbdrive FTW! I had forgetten about that. That makes me want to go and buy a whole bunch from newegg. What linux distro do you think would easily fit onto a 1gb thumbdrive besides DSL?

XS OS would probably let you run 512mb thumb drives. Toss in old 1gb-4gb HDD's if you have any spare for DC client installation :D

[Bloody_Sorcerer]

it also depends on the project; these are the WCG forums so WCG is assumed, but for, say, F@H, 512mb is probably quite adequate for 2 clients running.

[[XC] moddolicous]

only problem i see is that some WU's on wcg require 750mb of RAM
I dont know anything about WCG. How much virtual mem does it use?

e4300 could very easily make the best budget cruncher, but we'll see how well it overclocks :)
I beleive it was Haltech that is doing this at the current moment.

[nn_step]

yes, it apears that's what is being implied so far. So for WCG maybe:

the biostar MB+ 3800 X2 CPU+ 1 GB RAM + cheapest HD + small PS + free Linux. All for under $400 shipped.

No extras needed. So skip the case, floppy, cd, keyboard, mouse, monitor, speakers, fans, Windows, etc...

This will make it very cheep indeed. Under $400 (GBP 220) Amazing deal !
I bet we could design one for under $300

[Bloody_Sorcerer]

125 bucks for a mobo and RAM? not exactly easy if you want overclockability...

especially if you want a gig of ram, then it may be impossible even with some POS pcchips board.

EDIT: its doable, with this foxconn board (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813186100) and this g.skill RAM (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820231041).

almost spot on 300 bucks before shipping, but i doubt it'd overclock at all.

EDIT EDIT: D'oh! forgot about storage. hmm... network boot :p:

[nn_step]

or you could get this mobo http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813185083
you only need graphics for setting it up not for gaming.
And this hard drive http://glob2000.stores.yahoo.net/wedi8gbide54.html

[Bloody_Sorcerer]

wonder if that PC Chips board could OC at all :p:

[meshmesh]

If it does not OC, then the advantage is now lost. Right?

Even at $400 it is a great deal (when I compare at our prices here in GBP).

I say don't push it too far. Better spend a $10 here and there and get some good stuff for stable OCing.

[meshmesh]

Just to give you an idea of the difference in prices, here is a quick list for comparison. CPU alone is $200:

[Bloody_Sorcerer]

ouch O_O

[meshmesh]

ouch O_O

Yup. Ripoff Britain. Especially it is imposible to get any of the good deals you guys are talking about. Refurbished drives, cheep MBs, etc... Labor costs here outwieghts the component prices. For example the difference between Corsair value added 5400 vs the 6400 CL4 (above) is small enough to negate any significant savings, and so on. And when you add the 17.5% VAT and multiply everything by 1.9 USD per GBP, and 14 cent/KWH (or 25 cents/Kwh in other EU contries), you get a feel of the pain.

And hence that 50-50 idea. Let's see what Rsmura would say.

[Hymay]

Once I get out of Chicago, and get a place set up in Idaho, I'd be willing to host a few boxen. Pretty sure the avg kwh there is in the 5 cent range. The state itself was listed as 2nd lowest, and the area I'm in the power company is run as a non profit co-op. Gotta get an electric bill and check the actual kwh =) Will be a few months though, taking care of mother out here makes it impossible to help build there.

edit: who needs a bill when ya have internet
# First 500 kWh 6.5¢ / kWh
# Over 500 kWh 5.5¢ / kWh

[Firechicken]

Once I get out of Chicago, and get a place set up in Idaho, I'd be willing to host a few boxen. Pretty sure the avg kwh there is in the 5 cent range. The state itself was listed as 2nd lowest, and the area I'm in the power company is run as a non profit co-op. Gotta get an electric bill and check the actual kwh =) Will be a few months though, taking care of mother out here makes it impossible to help build there.

edit: who needs a bill when ya have internet
# First 500 kWh 6.5¢ / kWh
# Over 500 kWh 5.5¢ / kWh


Dido, I would host one anytime My hydro is pretty good here.

Edit: dont know if anyone have had good luck with s-754 ausus k8n( not the e deluxe) but I sure have overclock the crap out of that thing and it keeps comming back for more lol. (it even stood up to my wife abusing it while I was away and I think that says alot hehe.)
looks like they can be had in the 50-99 dollar range, just wanted to throw that in anyways.

[Got Chow]

People with a local Fry's around can probably pick up an Intel 805 for about $100 with a mobo when they have those combo deals. Add 1GB of the cheapest RAM available, and use a thumbdrive or old HDD. Case/PSU - shouldn't be too expensive. I could imagine a setup like that to be around $300 which would be dual core.

Or check this out (this link might only work for today or the next couple days): http://www.netaffilia.com/ad/electronics/frys/i/2006/09/01/19118.html

RAM is crap, but just upgrade that and you are done. Really not a bad price for that especially with XP-h included.

[Bloody_Sorcerer]

Chow, the only problem with 805s is that an 805-based cruncher isn't substantially cheaper than a 3800 x2 (somewhat cheaper, for sure) but the power draw is positively absurd and the performance is underwhelming.

[[XC] DragonOrta]

I'd offer to host, but my parents would kill me. :p: They aren't too thrilled with the fact that I have 3 dual cores crunching 24/7 right now. 2 X2s and a C2D. If I got a P4 dual-core they would probably have a heart attack at the increase in the elec bill.

[Hymay]

Chow, the only problem with 805s is that an 805-based cruncher isn't substantially cheaper than a 3800 x2 (somewhat cheaper, for sure) but the power draw is positively absurd and the performance is underwhelming.

To make that worthwhile, you'd have to OC it, and sadly, the mobo that package comes with is less than craptacular. Old, but was 99 last week (http://www.netaffilia.com/ad/electronics/frys/i/2006/07/28/18350.html) another (http://www.netaffilia.com/ad/electronics/frys/i/2006/08/23/18892.html)

Guess it might be ok to fleabay the MB and buy a decent one that will actually OC... but the power draw would still be problematic.

[Hymay]

Actually, the more I think about the idea, the more I like it. Going to chat with a friend of mine in San Antonio. He's the one who's account I am under for WCG. He and another friend of mine own an Adult Day care, so elec wouldn't be free, but would at least get lumped under the deductions. I'll chat a bit and test the waters, see if they'd even be interested, or see how many boxen they'd be willing to host.

[[XC] serlv]

I believe Mike047, or RSMura said they could host and run crunchers...

[mike047]

I believe Mike047, or RSMura said they could host and run crunchers...


I am out of room here:(:) 38 boxes scattered about. And at the max[maybe] on the electric bill[$350+/-]:(

I do have an over abundance of cruncher parts from upgrades, MB's and CPU's[xp's & 754's], agp cards also. I will get together a list and either post it in the "scrap" thread or make it available to interested TEAM crunchers by PM or Email.