Consolidating the farm

[hedge]

As the title says, I am wanting to consolidate some of the crunchers in my farm with fewer more powerful and more efficient crunchers. I run both WCG and GPUgrid. Currently I would like to replace two crunchers, one running an athlon II X2 215 and the other a Phenom II X6 1050t. The combined WCG output from these computers is about 27,000 points. What are your opinions on a good replacment? I am thinking of using the Core I7 860 and ASUS P7P55D EVO motherboard looked to have decent output, but I am open to recommendations.

[Otis11]

The i7 is probably a good choice, but some on this team are gonna suggest you skip the ASUS thing... And they have reasons for it.

As to what to take instead, I personally would go with something from Gigabyte, but that's just a personal preference.

With the i7s, make sure you get aftermarket cooling!

[hedge]

I haven't had any problems with ASUS boards so that is just what i picked. I really just need a solid motherboard with preferably 3 PCI-E slots so any recommendations are accepted.

[Snow Crash]

I know you are talking 1156 but I've been pushing an X58 EVGA SLI LE pretty hard for 9 months without any issues (1.4 vCore + 1.4 VTT). A couple extra fans on the board help keep things cool enough. If the hexcores come out at a reasonable price you could drop one right in. I will do that only if the prices are ~500 USD but I doubt that will happen so perhaps I'll pick up a used one
You can fit three GFX cards on the EVGA SLI LE, I only have two for now but they are a 295 and a 285, make sure you get a nice, efficient PSU that can handle a full load

[hedge]

Is there much of a performance difference between the 1156 Core I7 and the 1366 Core I7 in regards to WCG? I was toying with the I7 860 because it was rated at 95 watts TDP.

[Jaco]

i7 860 S1156 = i7 920 S1366 in terms of WCG output.
All i7's quads have 8MB L3 cache afaik.

S1366 has some extra's : 2x 16 pcie lanes , and hexcores are drop in upgrades.

[hedge]

All i7's quads have 8MB L3 cache afaik.

I realized that mistake and fixed my post just as you must have responded.

S1366 has some extra's : 2x 16 pcie lanes , and hexcores are drop in upgrades.

That is a good point. At some point in time hexacores will be more affordable. Thank You.

[nanoprobe]

FWIW I have a friend who just purchased an ASUS P7P55D EVO for his i7-875. He hates it and wished he had bought a Gigabyte. I know he is knowledgeable when it come to overclocking and he told me the bios setup on that particular board is the worst he's ever seen. JHHO.

[Johnmark]

Is there much of a performance difference between the 1156 Core I7 and the 1366 Core I7 in regards to WCG? I was toying with the I7 860 because it was rated at 95 watts TDP.

Running both myself and the 920 returns about 300-500 BPPD more, both running at 3.8ghz. Because of different peripherals I guessimate the 860 pulls about 100 watts less juice than the 920.

Just bought an Asus REIII and find it to be an excellent board!

[WhiteFireDragon]

get the cheapest i7 with appropriate mobo. the 860 vs 920 won't matter in terms of output. between my crunchers, an i7 with HT does more work than AMD's 6 real cores. if you want to get the most efficient in terms of wattage and price, the low end i3's win, as they're based on 32nm, while all the current i7's (except the 980x) are still 45nm. i'm waiting for mainstream sandybridge to come and until i consolidate my i7's, i3's, and c2d chips.

[jspace]

Running both myself and the 920 returns about 300-500 BPPD more, both running at 3.8ghz. Because of different peripherals I guessimate the 860 pulls about 100 watts less juice than the 920.

Just bought an Asus REIII and find it to be an excellent board!

Is the difference between H/P55 and X58 that much? Or are there other things on the 920 system?