Exploring initial cost and power efficiency

[OldChap]

I made the switch to slower but with more cores at some considerable expense during the past year but still nowhere near retail prices.

The result has been a good jump in points and days run but as I said the hole in my wallet.....

I do like the points per day for just ~250w maximum on each of these duallies though and it is this efficiency that I sought.

It is with some interest then that I saw a thread at wcg claiming up to 4 times this efficiency with an intel atom.

Further running has dropped this estimate to ~3 times but that, to those of us with high power bills, is still very interesting.

The thread in question is to be found here: https://secure.worldcommunitygrid.or...d_thread,36937 and concludes that the 4 cores of this atom have produced 46,424 87 wcg points in 37:07:13:37 core days so the testing over about 9.3 days is suggesting this cpu can produce 4978 ppd wcg or about 711 ppd boinc running cancer and aids projects. Seemingly pretty unremarkable huh??

Now lets add power use into the equation... it is producing these figures using 4 Watts from the wall ..... or put another way it would take 62 of these to use the same power that one of my dualies uses and taking this a step further, 62 of these would be 248 cores and 44K boinc for 250watts (ish) against the 15K I get just now.

On then to the downside.... These atom Z3740's are BGA and therefore must be purchased as a complete unit (I think) and the cheapest of these I have seen is: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/like/13119...13=80&ff14=108 at $200 but in the greater scheme of things such a price might be quite quickly recovered by the low power draw.... if it survives the 24/7 use.

I am beginning to see the point of atom servers I think

[D_A]

I have been informed that HP run it's entire internet site on Atom based servers due to the power efficiency. If I was buying hardware exclusively for crunching I can see this as a viable way to go.

[Mumak]

The Z3740 is a CPU for tablets. Maybe try looking at other variants from the Bay Trail family like the desktop Jxxxx series, or the Avoton micro-server variant C2xxx series.

[bearcatrp]

I am waiting for AMD to release there arm based server processors in a 2 or 4p setup. http://www.amd.com/en-us/press-relea...2014may05.aspx

[OldChap]

It may well be that there are other, better suited, cpu's for our needs ....after all it would take 10 years to break even if you have to buy the whole tablet.

I just thought it would be good to keep an eye on this segment of the market too

[josh1980]

I have one of the latest generation Intel Avoton based systems (the 8c/8t to be exact) and I can say that it really packs a punch for a complete system that runs "full load" at <50w. To be honest, it makes a damn amazing CPU and would be a really nice desktop CPU for people that want that wide range of low power as well as high CPU performance when dealing with multi-threaded applications.

To be honest, aside from the steep starting price and lack of overclockability the Avoton based systems are pretty damn meaty. I'm seriously considering replacing my HTPC with one. As a system that I can run at 100% loading 24x7 for years as both a cruncher and an HTPC when needed I don't see a downside. 50w non-stop is like a rounding error when I get my electricity bill. Total cost to run my system for a year with 24x7 100% loading... just under $50... for the entire year!

How is that not f'in amazing!?

Intel wasn't kidding when they released these Atoms and marketed them as a multi-threaded server dream. They really are. Buy a bunch of these and make a cluster of them as necessary and you can reap HUGE rewards! On a per-core basis they do pack some punch, but multiply that by 8 cores and you have a formidable machine for a very small amount of power.

[OldChap]

Recently saw an advert for a 7" device at half (~?110) of previous best price seen and for a better atom Z3745 but that is still somewhat prohibitive at the output capabilities.

Playing off initial cost vs run cost