$75 Opteron 1354

[PoppaGeek]

The second Opty came in today. Will NOT OC at all. Not even 2.4 as the other happily crunches at. I put Opty2 on the DKA 790GX that Opty1 ran at 2.5. Just shows how one person gets a number OCing and others can not get near it.

Installing Dotsch/UX Linux to a hard drive. I am backing off the idea of running off a USB memory stick as I am afraid there will be to many writes to the USB stick and they are limited in writes. I am thinking of trying NFS sharing the home directory and the /var/tmp so most writes will be over network to one drive, then just booting off the USB stick. A somewhat easier setup than the next choice. I still plan to trying to setup a diskless setup with a NFS, BOOTP server but I need to redo my network and get another switch. So that is in the near future.

This gives me 4 AMD quads and 1 AMD dual cruncing. The 2 Opteron 1354s have not disappointment me so far. There is a bit more heat than I had hoped for but it is far far less than the heat 4 single CPU or 2 dual CPUs would put out.

Will put new Opty on the Killawatt soon.

UPDATE: Cannot get Ubuntu linux to run on this machine. Gave up put WinXP on it. Now crunching.

[PoppaGeek]

While I think a full 14 days is needed to get a real idea how a PC is doing I must say things are looking better than I expected. The 6/6/09 result was not a full day. This is the 2.4gz 1354 running Linux64.

Average 9701 ppd and 21.8 WUs per day.

[PoppaGeek]

Updating Google Docs Spreadsheet some.

I have noticed the Earthwatts 380 runs very cool. PC P&C 470 is warm to touch with same power draw as Earthwatts.

The 1354 is costing me approximately $7.70 a month in electricity. That is at .11 kw/h and .0889 cents per kw/h. Nice.

Plans for this weekend. Switch chips in MBs and OC the first one back to 2.5 maybe try 2.6. There are not much in the way of OC software tools for Linux so will only try the DKA board. Since it is a board better designed for OCing will see what I can get.

[PoppaGeek]

I forgot to put the clocks back when I swapped CPUs. One is running 2.4gz on the Gigabyte the other 2.5gz on the MSI. Ran OCCT and Linpak on the 2.5 with no errors. Also using the highly scientific method of a fleshy digit as a probe I determined there was no significant increase in heat. The heatsink on the ram is slightly warm. Mosfets and NB and SB all fine. CPU heatsink about same as it was. The 2.5 on the DKA is at stock volts so I am sure it will go more. I may try to see what it will do later.

OCCT reports idle temps at 22c and room temp is 25c so I use my finger.

Basically I got a 9850 for half price.

[Jaco]

How much power does it use while crunching?

I can give you some numbers to compare :

Q9550 @ 3.8Ghz 20k/day - 150w running wcg
i7 920 @ 3.8Ghz 30k/day - 225w running wcg
Sossaman @ 2Ghz 8k/day - 88w running wcg

[Duh]

Updating Google Docs Spreadsheet some.

I have noticed the Earthwatts 380 runs very cool. PC P&C 470 is warm to touch with same power draw as Earthwatts.

The 1354 is costing me approximately $7.70 a month in electricity. That is at .11 kw/h and .0889 cents per kw/h. Nice.

Plans for this weekend. Switch chips in MBs and OC the first one back to 2.5 maybe try 2.6. There are not much in the way of OC software tools for Linux so will only try the DKA board. Since it is a board better designed for OCing will see what I can get.

I can power my whole house for a month at that cost. Are we too cheap or the US too expensive?? ( electricity related). I know I´ve mentioned in many posts this but now I am surprised as all the country must have high energy costs . I think I should calmly wait ( and collect cent by cent to buy larrabee *realizes that wont be possible :P *)


On topic: :P : how does the opteron turn out in a comparison with the Q6600 or Q8200?

[Phili]

I can power my whole house for a month at that cost. Are we too cheap or the US too expensive?? ( electricity related). I know I´ve mentioned in many posts this but now I am surprised as all the country must have high energy costs . I think I should calmly wait ( and collect cent by cent to buy larrabee *realizes that wont be possible :P *)


On topic: :P : how does the opteron turn out in a comparison with the Q6600 or Q8200?

as i noted above: the 1354@2.4ghz is in wcg just as fast as a q6600@2.4ghz

(the only difference is that the amd cpu is on linux and the intel on vista)

[Duh]

wow so I guess buying a q6600 hasn´t got any sense any more.. very very nice cruncher and very nice price

[emuexport]

as i noted above: the 1354@2.4ghz is in wcg just as fast as a q6600@2.4ghz

(the only difference is that the amd cpu is on linux and the intel on vista)

And that you could probably get to 3.2 - 3.4 GHz with the Q6600 which gives you a fair amount more points I would have thought!

wow so I guess buying a q6600 hasn´t got any sense any more.. very very nice cruncher and very nice price

Q6600 is still gold if you can get it cheap enough and elec isnt such a drag!

[PoppaGeek]

Exhibit A is Opteron 1354 @ 2.5gz running Windows XP 32bit.
Exhibit B is Opteron 1354 @ 2.4gz running Dotsch/UX Linux 64, Ubuntu based.

Loosing patience with WinXP. It looks like it is starting to catch up but there is just 12 pending. I have watched the WUs and there is not a dramatic difference in what they are getting. The WinXP machine did not want to install Linux so just threw WinXP on it. Now thinking I may go with Win7. It just does not seem to be producing. But the Linux machine is doing better than I expected. Very happy there.


I do not know why sometimes it posts WUs a day in advance.

[jcool]

Poppa, don't go with 32bit OSes if you can help it.. WinXP x64 produces excellent PPD, I run that on my Dual Harper and used to run it on my mainrig. Otherwise, Vista 64, Server 08 64 or even Win7 x64 should do the trick.

[Tom128]

Next month I pay off my last student loan and thus the last penny of debt to my name (including my car ow!). That said I think one of the things I want to do is get pretty active in WCG after I have the freedom to do so, and get multiple machines going. These CPU's look pretty nice for the cost. I have seen a few posts here and there with screenshots of some boards working. Do we have a final/correct/confirmed list of boards that run these? Would like to know so I can determine some costs. If the boards are cheap and the quads are $75 that's just great. OCing options would be nice but I would likely be undervolting these more than pushing them if I went with them

[PoppaGeek]

Next month I pay off my last student loan and thus the last penny of debt to my name (including my car ow!). That said I think one of the things I want to do is get pretty active in WCG after I have the freedom to do so, and get multiple machines going. These CPU's look pretty nice for the cost. I have seen a few posts here and there with screenshots of some boards working. Do we have a final/correct/confirmed list of boards that run these? Would like to know so I can determine some costs. If the boards are cheap and the quads are $75 that's just great. OCing options would be nice but I would likely be undervolting these more than pushing them if I went with them

Wow! Congrats, no small accomplishment.

The Gigabyte MA74GM-S2 at $49 is easy to recommend. Went to Newegg to get the link and it has gone up $5. Still this was an easy board to work with. If I were to add more crunchers this is the one I would get.

The list I posted early in this thread I got from Newegg reviews and the AMD.com forums. Gigabyte seems to support alot of Opterons in their BIOS. My MSI DKA 790GX saw it and the MSI 790FX is reported by several people to support it. But those boards are at least twice as much as the GA.

Mine are OCed to 2.4 stock volts. Linux 64 bit runs nicely and has yet to use more than half of a 1 gig ram stick. The Dotsch/UX Boinc distro has easy setup scripts to setup a file server so you can run diskless via BOOTP and NFS. You can also setup to run off USB memory sticks but I dunno about the life span of the memory stick with so much writing to it.

If you are going to dedicate more than 2 to crunching I would definitely go diskless with one acting as server.

Keep us posted to what ya end up doing and post pics!

[Duh]

whats the max oc with them poppa?

[PoppaGeek]

whats the max oc with them poppa?

Dunno have not tried. Have heard 2.6 - 2.7. I do not try real hard. Maybe I should but I do not like alot more volts/heat/elec etc. Do not like instability. Not saying others can't get them there but I am not a patient person and a true OCer seems to be a very patient person.

I just crunch, and not too loud at that....

[[XC] gomeler]

Just did a little research, the Opteron 1354 is a 65nm Phenom processor. I'm really curious what the loaded power consumption of that system is and what it would compare to a 45nm Phenom II X4 like the 920. The 920 is $80 more expensive however the 920 will clock up to 3.6GHz with ease, and including cache increments and lack of TLB fixes that should net at 40% performance increase versus a 2.6GHz Opteron 1354. I also suspect that power consumption would actually be quite close if not favor the Phenom II X4 920.

This would be something very interesting to document. I have a Phenom II X4 940 here that I can measure various power consumption figures if interested. I think Phenom II is a viable replacement for the Q6600 given how AM2+ motherboards are in the $100 range, feature great onboard video, and superb overclocking ability. Hell, once the chips drop a bit more it might be possible to build 2 Phenom II X4 rigs for the price of one Core i7 rig and out perform it.

If that doesn't sound like fun, perhaps it is time to step up to 6 core Istanbul: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...&name=Six-Core

[PoppaGeek]

Power is documented here along with a 9850 and PH2 810. All taken with a KillAWatt at idle, running WCG and F@H.

Please do post whatever power readings you have as this thread is to help people find something favorable for them.

Do NOT talk about the Istanbul or any 6 core. I am a weak and feeble person and such trauma I might not endure!

You have no idea what the idea of a 12 core AMD cruncher does to me.

Lets face it a 6 core is in our future. I just gotta wait for the inevitable price drops. Since I have no patience I try not to think about it.

I am real happy with the Gigabyte and 1354 combo. It is averaging so far 10k ppd and 22 WUs a day. The 1354 on the DKA was not doing as well so I just wiped WinXP32 and installed Linux 64. So far I am not seeing an improvement but it has only been 2 days.

In another week or so I will post a screen shot showing the 1354/DKA combo output.

[[XC] gomeler]

Fantastic numbers. Just to give you an idea, it would take 4.32 years for a 2.5GHz Phenom II CPU @ an estimated 115whr with a $70 cost over your Opteron to break even with the energy savings, factoring 9.8 cents per kWhr. Looks like the Opteron 1354 wins out given how the architecture will be sorely obsolete in 4 years time.

[PoppaGeek]

Fantastic numbers. Just to give you an idea, it would take 4.32 years for a 2.5GHz Phenom II CPU @ an estimated 115whr with a $70 cost over your Opteron to break even with the energy savings, factoring 9.8 cents per kWhr. Looks like the Opteron 1354 wins out given how the architecture will be sorely obsolete in 4 years time.

I used that icon because my jaw did drop on reading that. Thanks for that info.

I am anxious to see what the new 65w PH2s will sell for. I fear too much. At the right price they would be sweet for crunching.

[Tom128]

Fantastic numbers. Just to give you an idea, it would take 4.32 years for a 2.5GHz Phenom II CPU @ an estimated 115whr with a $70 cost over your Opteron to break even with the energy savings, factoring 9.8 cents per kWhr. Looks like the Opteron 1354 wins out given how the architecture will be sorely obsolete in 4 years time.

So the fact I only pay about 6 cents per kWhr makes them even better

I have also thought that just because these quads and boards are cheap does not mean they are the best choice. I know an i7 rig can clock pretty high on stock volts and do tons of work. If I go for this I will definantly be doing more math and calculations than any sane person would/should.

Then again I seem to be in similar company in communities like this

[[XC] gomeler]

So the fact I only pay about 6 cents per kWhr makes them even better

I have also thought that just because these quads and boards are cheap does not mean they are the best choice. I know an i7 rig can clock pretty high on stock volts and do tons of work. If I go for this I will definantly be doing more math and calculations than any sane person would/should.

Then again I seem to be in similar company in communities like this

Yup, remember to factor in electricity costs into your build. For example the 144w opteron will cost $124 in electricity costs just to operate the system for a year. Also, I didn't factor in cooling costs, you will want to factor that in also unless you plan on cooling with ambient air. Project costs like a data center as idle hardware bought to crunch is losing money in depreciation whether or not the CPUs are cycling

[Duh]

very good info guys! very interesting read

@gom: I´d seen some time ago the six core instanbul and my jaw when to the floor. I might consider it for future builds ( you know how amd chips prices go to the floor after some months)

[PoppaGeek]

So the fact I only pay about 6 cents per kWhr makes them even better

I have also thought that just because these quads and boards are cheap does not mean they are the best choice. I know an i7 rig can clock pretty high on stock volts and do tons of work. If I go for this I will definantly be doing more math and calculations than any sane person would/should.

Then again I seem to be in similar company in communities like this

Yep. That is one reason I started all this. There is one additional factor in my equation. That is the fun factor. For me getting an Opty to run on a $49 board had an appeal. Finding a dual socket quad cpu board on ebay at a great price would be another.

I do not think there is one solution that works for all. Each person has to find what works for them. People have different reasons for why they crunch and are in different situations. High elec costs to no elec costs. Lots of room, very little room. For me WCG is more than a few things, I do it for several reasons. What it means to me is many more reasons than most.

I hope this thread helps others to get interested in crunching, keeps people interested in crunching and helps them find the right hardware to do it. Whatever that may be.

Yes I only do AMD and this has been all about how some AMD hardware works for crunching. But it has been about crunching. Anyone posting Intel INFORMATION and STATS is helping.

Just keep crunching.

[shadowwind]

i found the posts very informative and yes im a amd fanboy i guess but from what ive seen that little opti is a good bang for your bucks i might try it out with a DFI micro atx im curious how high it will clock. thanks again poppa for the good reading.

[PoppaGeek]

Here is 2 weeks worth, first day not a full day. I am calling this 1354/Gigabyte combo a winner at $125, 10k ppd and 22 WUs a day average. I am happy with it and hope it crunches for years to come. As a reminder this is running Dotsch/UX Boinc distro, 64 bit Ubuntu linux.