$75 Opteron 1354

[PoppaGeek]

I've been wanting a 955 for my GD70 and had planed on getting one this week. Then I found what I hope to be a cheap, low power and cool cruncher. The 955 will have to wait, prices will only go down anyway.

I ordered a $75 Opteron 1354 on Newegg. All dressed up and ready to test it but I am guessing I won't see the CPU till Monday. Whenever they ship from NJ warehouse UPS sits on it a few days.

Going to see if the 1354 will work on a MSI DKA790GX and a Biostar 520 A2. It is a AM2 chip. I also ordered a $49 GigaByte MA74GM-S2 as GigaByte AM2 and AM2+ boards seem to recognize Opterons, from Newegg reviews and AMD forums. If the chip works on the MSI or Biostar I will probably get another 1354. At 2.2gz it might not be a great cruncher but at $75 and 75 watts it shouldn't be bad either. I am hoping for a 2.5gz OC but this is my first Opteron so do not know what to expect. The Gigabyte has the 740G and SB700, don't know how it OCs either.

When the Opteron shows up I will get KillAWatt full load readings on all boards it runs on. In another thread rcofell mentioned a Ubuntu distro made for Boinc that can run diskless using a NFS server or diskless using a USB stick. The USB idea sounds cheap and easy so I will try it first.

If you have extra PSUs, DDR2 memory, dish drives or USB drives, this can be a real cheap cruncher. $125 + shipping and maybe tax for a quard-core 2.2gz CPU and MB might not be a bad option for those of us on tighter budgets.

I hope to find that out and report it here.

[Jaco]

Good luck !
It's all onboard graphics , that sure helps to keep the power consumption in check. But it's 75w ACP or 115w TDP , if I'm not mistaken.
2.5Ghz on that Opty would require 227 HTT . Not sure if that's realistic for 24/7.

[PoppaGeek]

I should have mentioned that all MBs have onboard video. Big difference in overall price, heat and power.

You probably know better than I about the Opteron. This is about all i have to go on for the watts. Opteron 1354

But the great and wise Kill-A-Watt shall reveal all! Of course there are those that say the kill a watt is not accurate so who knows.

I am hoping to learn some things, have some fun and hopefully have a decent cruncher.

[mreuter80]

Cool, you sure found a good deal here. When you send the order details in the other thread I almost bought it too. I'm very curious about the PPD. I guess it is around 9500 at 2.5GHz (just a wild guess). Anything above would be really exceptional for an AMD CPU.
Good luck and keep us updated.

[cdu cnp]

Wazzup Poppa

Not tryin to high-jack ya thread just saw you looking at deals and hardware and thought you may be interested.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboD...%2f118x118.gif

[PoppaGeek]

Wazzup Poppa

Not tryin to high-jack ya thread just saw you looking at deals and hardware and thought you may be interested.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboD...%2f118x118.gif

That is one nice combo price. I really like the looks of that ECS MB, dunno if it is worth a crap but sure looks good. What can I say, black, red and yellow works for me. Only thing better is blinky lights!

I have seen where an ECS board ran a 1354 but I could find nothing saying this one would. The Gigabyte cheaper too.

Thanks for the link!

[mreuter80]

how about a sticky thread to put current combo deals in?

[PoppaGeek]

I have started a Google Docs spreadsheet for watts and amps on my all my machines. You can check it out here.

Comments welcome.

I wanted to add this list of MBs that are reported to work with Opty 1000s. This info is culled from Newegg reviews and AMD forums. Seems alot of Gigabyte boards with latest BIOS recognize them.

ECS GF8200a $79
GA-MA69VM-S2
GA-MA74GM-S2 $49
Foxconn 780V $59
MSI K9N2SLIPlatinum

[PoppaGeek]

how about a sticky thread to put current combo deals in?

Have you seen this?

[mreuter80]

Have you seen this?

no ... never went there

But I thought more in the direction of low budget cruncher deals. But maybe the deals change so quickly that this isn't of any value.

[Oldguy932]

I have a 1356 and it went stock volts up to 240htt, but after that it just didn't work at all, no multi drop worked, or dropping ht link. It also doesn't suport 1066 memory, I had quite a few problems by forgetting that. The upside to all of this is that it stays very cool compared to its phenom counterparts.

[perkam]

Wazzup Poppa

Not tryin to high-jack ya thread just saw you looking at deals and hardware and thought you may be interested.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboD...%2f118x118.gif

DUDE. Hide that Combo deal m8.

If someone from Europe sees you where they pay 2-3 times the price of these combo deals, they'll come after ya

Perkam

[railmeat]

I have started a Google Docs spreadsheet for watts and amps on my all my machines. You can check it out here.

Comments welcome.

I wanted to add this list of MBs that are reported to work with Opty 1000s. This info is culled from Newegg reviews and AMD forums. Seems alot of Gigabyte boards with latest BIOS recognize them.

ECS GF8200a $79
GA-MA69VM-S2
GA-MA74GM-S2 $49
Foxconn 780V $59
MSI K9N2SLIPlatinum

hi pop

nice setup u got thats coming together there.i wish u the best with it.i wanted to comment on 2 things if i may.im going to quote u from your first post.

"I am hoping for a 2.5gz OC but this is my first Opteron so do not know what to expect."


1.
u will easily know what to except by doing just 15-20min of research on your motherboards bios options for oc sake,this includes the reviews on the ram going in that setup.looks like u have some gskill in there?

2.i see u listed "ECS GF8200a $79"
after building OVER 80+ pcs for ppl part from stratch over the years i will say this....ECS in my eyes are very POOR on the quality side,hence there so cheap.u really get what u pay for.i found out the hard way with ecs.4 pcs that were built with ecs mobos i thought i was saving a buck or two on.three came back to me with thee weirdest poroblems i ever encounterd.long story short i replaced all 3 mobos with other brands and were fine.ecs and cheap powersupplys,never again for me or anyone else.once u build a pc your MARRIED to it,lol.


asus,foxcon,biostar,dfi,evga are good mobo companys...im sure i missed a few.just going on what i had and worked WELL.
--------------------------------------------------------------------


seing u have a open-bench setup,your table. and would like to oc it...i would have a MED-LARGE cheapy low wattage house fan drowning the mobo with air for a solid o/c.again nice setup your putting together there.



good luck sir on your build.any questions or need help with anything,plz pm me.

[PoppaGeek]

hi pop

nice setup u got thats coming together there.i wish u the best with it.i wanted to comment on 2 things if i may.im going to quote u from your first post.

"I am hoping for a 2.5gz OC but this is my first Opteron so do not know what to expect."


1.
u will easily know what to except by doing just 15-20min of research on your motherboards bios options for oc sake,this includes the reviews on the ram going in that setup.looks like u have some gskill in there?

2.i see u listed "ECS GF8200a $79"
after building OVER 80+ pcs for ppl part from stratch over the years i will say this....ECS in my eyes are very POOR on the quality side,hence there so cheap.u really get what u pay for.i found out the hard way with ecs.4 pcs that were built with ecs mobos i thought i was saving a buck or two on.three came back to me with thee weirdest poroblems i ever encounterd.long story short i replaced all 3 mobos with other brands and were fine.ecs and cheap powersupplys,never again for me or anyone else.once u build a pc your MARRIED to it,lol.


asus,foxcon,biostar,dfi,evga are good mobo companys...im sure i missed a few.just going on what i had and worked WELL.
--------------------------------------------------------------------


seing u have a open-bench setup,your table. and would like to oc it...i would have a MED-LARGE cheapy low wattage house fan drowning the mobo with air for a solid o/c.again nice setup your putting together there.



good luck sir on your build.any questions or need help with anything,plz pm me.

Thanks for the comments and kind words!

I am mostly trying to find a cheap way to crunch. The boards listed are what I have read that will run Opteron 1000s. I am not making recommendations as I have not owned any of them.

Since at least one MSI board is reportedly able to run the Opty I am going to try my DKA790. Seems the 790 chipset may be a key although I do know the BIOS needs to as well.

As to the OCing, well lets just say what I read and what I get are 2 different things. I sux usually at OCing. If I can get an OC on something your grandmother could too!

I've read the Opty is built with heavy silicon and meant for hotter environments. And I have read some people do well OCing Opties. At 2.2gz I am figuring an average of 14 WUs a day. A guess going by my other CPUs. At 2.5gz I think 16 WUs a day average. I do not want to over stress it but I think it should be able to take 300mz.

We'll see, UPS says tomorrow.

[s0lid]

75$ Quad ~Mmmm, i could make a WCG farm out of those

[Jaco]

My Sossaman system does about 14 WU/day. (that around 7,5k ppd)
That's 4 cores at 2.0Ghz , old tech.
Your Opty at 2.5Ghz should do better I'd think.

[PoppaGeek]

I have a 1356 and it went stock volts up to 240htt, but after that it just didn't work at all, no multi drop worked, or dropping ht link. It also doesn't suport 1066 memory, I had quite a few problems by forgetting that. The upside to all of this is that it stays very cool compared to its phenom counterparts.

You give me hope. A cool 2.5gz would be happy time more than that awesome.

@jaco Do Intels have a clock for clock speed advantage in WCG?

@solid Tempting huh?

[PoppaGeek]

Pictured are the Gigabyte board, Antec Earthwatts 380 and the heatsink that came with my 9850 that I will use.

I noticed some time back the PC P&C 470 I have is not 80+ rated. So I ordered the Earthwatts and I am going to put both on the Killawatt with same setup and see how much a difference it makes. The different max watts should not make a difference but the 80+ is supposed to.

I must say I am impressed with the Gigabyte MA74GM-S2 board. It is my first Gigabyte. It is heavy for it's size, seems very well made for a $50 board. I am anxious to get a CPU on it.



UPS says I get Opty tomorrow. Lets hope they are right. Tracking shows it is still in NJ.

[Oldguy932]

I'm actually tempted to go make some space in my overcrowded room to get my aircooled rig setup and put my 1356 back in and see if any newer bioses could help the clocking. But remember that I hit the same exact wall with 2 different chips, not just one.

I wonder... would they ever come out with the 1xxx series for istanbul? That'd be a blast to work with assuming there wasn't a clock wall.

Edit: Turns out that my m3a78-t is even crappier than I thought. Normally I could just up the multi on the cpu to get it up to speed again. The 1356 is like locked where it is at 5.75x instead of 11.5x. I updated the bios and still no go. K10Stat or AOD can't do anything.

[PoppaGeek]

These are the factory heat sinks for my PH2 810, left and PH 9850, right. This is why I am so interested in the 905e. The 9850 is 2.5gz @ 125w, the 810 is 2.6gz @95w the 905e is 2.5gz @ 65w. I have a Zalman 9700 on the 9850 and heat is an issue. The 810 has always run cool no matter what I had on it. I do not mean just what readings I got from HWMonitor either. You can easily feel the difference. I sometimes have to turn on a house fan just to move the heat from the area around 9850s case. Even when I had the 4850 out of the case the fans still ejected alot of heat from the case.

I laughed when I opened the box and saw the heatsink for the 810. It weighs nothing, all aluminum. So if that is all the heatsink AMD thinks the 810 needs I am anxious to see what the 905e will be like. It may well replace the 9850. The 9850 has been a great CPU but the heat and extra power just is not worth it when you are wanting to run 4 - 5 quads.

[PoppaGeek]

The good news.



Notice the workers on WPrime. Is that normal? When I stop it there are 0 errors yet worker #3 never seems to catch up.

Gonna run more tests just wanted to show ya the MSI DKA790GX is happy to run a Opty 1000 series. The Windows Properties reports it correctly too. Heat looks good, cooler on mosfets hotter than heck, have fan blowing on it. Right now I need to install Win7 RC 7100.

More later.

UPDATE: Gigabyte has no problems with Opty. :

[mreuter80]

nice

[PoppaGeek]

Have Dotsch/UX Ubuntu BOINC running on the Gigabyte. Tried to install to USB stick but boot problems. Will play with that later. One nice thing is you can install to the USB stick running the CD off a CDROM drive, you do not have to install it to a hard drive first.

Only 2 problems so far is it does not create the username you enter at setup. Use boinc as user name and boinc as password.

also add
auto eth0 to /etc/network/interfaces

I treid to take screenshots but it saves them as .png and they do not show up here and I do not have an app on the machine to convert them. Will work on that.

The northbridge gets real hot on the Gigabyte. Too hot to hold your finger on, at all, even at 2.2gz. Have a fan blowing on it. The AMD 9850 heatsink is doing it's job. It does get warm, the heat pipes are warm and it blows out hot air. But have yet to see CPU over 35c under Win7.

I will be taking more measurements with the Killawatt and will update the Google Docs Spreadsheet tonight.

So far it has been good. I ordered another 1354.

[PoppaGeek]

Well feeling kinda sick. Just realized some of the watt readings could be wrong. The watt button on the Killawatt is a toggle between Watts and VA. I am not POSITIVE that all the readings were on Watts. The last were and the first were. Sooooooo I may have to retest some of them. Not as easy or straight forward as it sounds.

I have 2 pair of glasses and may not have seen the fine print. Where it says which it is, watts or VA is real small.

Oh well.

[Oldguy932]

Just wondering but are you hitting a wall with the htt? Mine even in its craptacular state on the board still won't do any better than 240htt stable. Make sure you have nothing running in the background and setup the memory for each of the workers properly because some other program is using that core or it doesn't have enough memory for prime but is certainly not erroring.

And at half that speed the true cools mine down to 13C