The Distributed Computing Community needs your help!

[Rodzilla]

As some of you may know, GeoffS of Team AnandTech runs stats for D2OL. He also runs stats for different distributed computing projects like: TCS, DPAD, F@H, FaD LifeMapper, Sob, SETI@home, and UD
http://www.tastats.com

We all know how much we love our stats I hope you also understand what part they play in making the community grow! Without stats there wouldn’t be competition… and without competition there wouldn’t be nearly as many people pushing hard and fast!

So what this all comes down to is GeoffS is running all of this on a relatively outdated server. I would like to see if we couldn’t get some donations together from everyone so I can build a new stats server to give to Team AnandTech. This would greatly help in his ability to expand the stats and make them feature rich. This won’t only help us D2Olers out… but a major portion of the Distributed computing community will benefit from the various stats that it will run. This is a great opportunity to do something good for the whole community! (You can see a little bit of our convo here. http://forums.anandtech.com/messagev...7542&forumid=1)

Seeing as how we have so many of these Dual Xeon rigs around… I was just figuring on building one of those! We know they are faster than fast and cheaper than cheap!

I would like to get a feel for what you guys think and if you would be willing to chip in. Then I can start collecting donations and buying parts to build the system.

So does anyone have any Cheap 1.6GHz LV Xeons they want to sell for this project?

.:EDIT:.
Please PM me for mailing address or PayPal e-mail address. Also, Please include your XS screen name on the payment so I can be sure you get the credit you deserve for your donation.



Your support and gratitude is much appreciated.
Rodzilla
XtemeSystems D2OL team Captain

__________________________________________________ ___________

Contributions to date.
Kazoo: $20.00
Saaya: $20.00
Helheim: $100.00
heater918: $50.00
matt9669: $20.00
WindForce: $100.00
shemyaza: $50.00
mad mikee: $30.00
Big Deel: 2 - IWT's (Intel Windtunnel)
conrad.maranan: $20.00
PlumUgly: $50.00
angrysquirrel: $20.00
heater918: Another $50.00!

Pledged Contributions.
Freecableguy: 2 - 1.6GHz LV Xeon Processors. D1 Stepping.
faruquehabib: ATI Radeon 9200 Video Card.

[Helheim]

I'll chip in, approx. how much are you thinking is a good amount?

I hope he gets this page working again (http://d2ol.tastats.com/individual_nodes.php)

Is there any info avaiable on how to communicate with the stats server?

[lv_dicedealer]

I'll chip in a couple o' bucks too!

Just dont make it too fast so that we have a hard time gettng past TA

[saaya]

imma throw in 10$ as well, where the donation can?

[Rodzilla]

I'll chip in, approx. how much are you thinking is a good amount?

I hope he gets this page working again (http://d2ol.tastats.com/individual_nodes.php)

Is there any info available on how to communicate with the stats server?

You can donate whatever you can. It's going to be a DX rig so you know about how much we need to raise.

Yes... I miss the node stats very much!!!!!

Communicate with the stats server? I don't follow...

I'll chip in a couple o' bucks too!

Just don’t make it too fast so that we have a hard time getting past TA

It will be a stats server... so I highly doubt he will weigh it down with a DC project...

imma throw in 10$ as well, where the donation can?

I'll PM you my PayPal e-mail...

.:EDIT:. Never Mind... PayPal is just fine!

[Helheim]

I would like to keep most of the donations sent via mail (money order, check, whatever) so we can avoid the PayPal fees (There are fees right?)

Yes but it's easier...

Communicate with the stats server? I don't follow...

What method do they use to get the stats? I wanted to make my own is all.

[Rodzilla]

Yes but it's easier...



What method do they use to get the stats? I wanted to make my own is all.

I'll PM you the info to send your donation. Thanks!!!!!!!!!!!!

PM Bok from Free-DC... he will tell you.

You can also talk to GeoffS at the AnandTech forums. http://forums.anandtech.com/messagev...&enterthread=y

[Helheim]

Donation sent.. :thumbsup:

I hope it doesn't take too long to get enough money/parts to get this done.

[Rodzilla]

Holy Cow toes batman! Thanks for the donation Helheim

LV_Dice... PM sent with info to collect donation.

Thanks guys!

[heater918]

I'll chip in. PM paypal info.

[freecableguy]

So does anyone have any Cheap 1.6GHz LV Xeons they want to sell for this project?

I will donate the 1.6Ghz LV (SL6XK) Xeons....

[shmaa]

I will donate the 1.6Ghz LV (SL6XK) Xeons....

donate?? nice....


i'd donate... but money is kinda tight right now.. sorry guys..

[Rodzilla]

I'll chip in. PM paypal info.

PM sent! Nice to see the D2OL team come together on this one!

I will donate the 1.6Ghz LV (SL6XK) Xeons....

Would it be gay if I said I love you man!?!?

donate?? nice....


i'd donate... but money is kinda tight right now.. sorry guys..

Bum!! JOKING! No one has to donate a single cent if they can't or don't want to.

[Rodzilla]

Confirmed!!!! We now have a set of Xeon from Freecableguy via donation...aka gift

Special thanks to you! This is the only hurdle that I was worried about.

[Rodzilla]

Just an update.

I have added a list of the donations that we have received in the first post of this thread. We are still a ways away... but we have made great progress!

Thanks to all of those who have given to this great cause!

[DDTUNG]

I'll donate 2 sticks of 256MB PC3200 DDR ram, seeing how we already have a pair of 1.6 LV Xeons.

DDTUNG

[Disposibleteen]

how much is the goal amount to raise?

[Rodzilla]

I'll donate 2 sticks of 256MB PC3200 DDR ram, seeing how we already have a pair of 1.6 LV Xeons.

DDTUNG

By no means am I trying to snub your donation DD... But this rig will need at least 1GB of RAM. I only want to fill 2 slots as using 4 disables the PAT and may limit the OC.

I'm going to get 2 sticks of the TwinMOS Speed Premium BH-5 512MB.

how much is the goal amount to raise?

There isn't really a target amount... The more money we collect the better we can make this stats server. $800.00 sounds like it would cover most everything.

This rig needs to hold 5 SCSI drives se we can't get it a cheap case. It's going to run very warm with all those drives. The PSU will also have to be top notch to push these Xeons and all the drives... Not to mention the fans.

I would like to get a redundant PSU... but that may be too extravagant for this build. I would definitely like to see it go in this case.
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduc...112-049&depa=1

But... it all really depends on what we can raise...

[freecableguy]

I estimate we need $2000-2500 for a good build. I have built quite a few servers...this is no little amount of money if you want 5 SCSI drives, a nice case...still need a good MB ($300-500) plus possibly a SCSI card...

Steve - I may also be able to donate an ACTUAL copy of Windows 2003 Server Enterprise with SP1...checking now.

[Rodzilla]

I estimate we need $2000-2500 for a good build. I have built quite a few servers...this is no little amount of money if you want 5 SCSI drives, a nice case...still need a good MB ($300-500) plus possibly a SCSI card...

Steve - I may also be able to donate an ACTUAL copy of Windows 2003 Server Enterprise with SP1...checking now.

We already have the SCSI gear... with a SCSI RAID card. And the current stats server already has a copy of 2000 Server that can be used. I don’t want you to bust the bank for this... But server 2003 would be sweet!!!!!!!

To ask a not for profit community to donate a $2000 rig would be too much! We are already funding our own sickness! Luckily we savvy PC folk know a trick or two to stretch our money for performance! So we can build a rig that will run these stats like a champ... without paying top dollar for that performance.

[freecableguy]

Let's be concise then...what do we still need? MB? Heatsinks? RAM? Video card? If someone can donate that...good. If not we should make a goal for monitary donations to buy that equipment.

[Rodzilla]

Let's be concise then...what do we still need? MB? Heatsinks? RAM? Video card? If someone can donate that...good. If not we should make a goal for monitary donations to buy that equipment.

I have the chips... that's about it. GeoffS already has the SCSI equipment.

I was going for monetary donations so we don't have to pay shipping 3 times on the same item... (From the reseller to the donator to me to GeoffS) Dunno... just sounded better to ask for cash donations rather than parts... It's easier to send money than it is to ship an item... and in most cases people have the hardware because they intend to use it on something... Most of the time

[GeoffS]

Hi Guys... let me introduce myself... I'm the guy running the stats server for D2OL and a handful of other projects too I must say that I am truly amazed with the response for the server upgrade. Some information about the current server can be found here:

http://www.softwaredistillery.com/se..._pictures.html

That server was built, in large part, with donations from many team members of several teams, and a fair bit of my own cash It's a dual XP1800 with 3x 256Mb 2100, and 4x 9g WD Enterprise drives in a RAID 5 configuration. I'm not using a hosting service, so that saves some money, but I currently bear all the expenses and effort involved with keeping the server up and running. So far, nothing disasterous has occured... haven't even had to replace a drive yet (I've got about 8 spares, so I'm covered there ), and I've only had to go into work on one Sunday to reboot the server.

Since it's inception, it's served up almost 400,000 pages breaking out, by project:

D2OL
TOTAL 204,754

DPAD
TOTAL 30,426

Lifemapper
TOTAL 39,105

TSC
TOTAL 57,818

Seventeen-Or-Bust
TOTAL 19,161

Find-A-Drug
TOTAL 39,182

I was building a dual 1900 as a backup/upgrade server, have acquired a better SCSI RAID card by Adaptec, and am looking at getting a bunch of drive from this guy:

http://forums.anandtech.com/messagev...&enterthread=y

Several (4-5) for the server and a couple of backups... I've got to finalize that with him and I'll be set there.

A bit of history now... The D2OL stats were the first ones that I did, and that shows if you compare them to, say, the FaD stats (fad.tastats.com). As part of my stats programming, I've managed to keep the core of the database for each project very common, making the porting of the stats to other projects not terribly difficult. I have a couple of loose ends to tie up with FaD, and I need to rewrite the pull for DPAD (since those stats are completely wrong since the last upgrade they did to how stats are calculated), then I was going to start back at the beginning and port all the enhancements I've made while implementing other projects back into the older ones.

Recently, the D2OL guys seem to have changed the URL to the stats, and that borked all the D2OL pulls (as I'm sure you noticed ). I've got the daily pull fixed (and looking at today's stats I see they are borked again... I'll fix that in a minute) and am rewriting the nodes pull so that it will be faster (it currently runs 10-15 minutes every hour due to the sheer amount of data that is pulled and parsed from the D2OL stats pages) and more reliable.

So, I'm incredibly grateful for the effort you guys are throwing into this upgrade and I will be keeping in touch with Rodzilla and I'm certainly not beyond throwing cash into this myself.

I urge you to get in touch with me when you see something screwed up or if you have ideas for stats that you'd like to see. Take a tour of the FaD stats to see some of the enhancements that are coming the way of the D2OL stats and LMK if there is anything you'd like to see added. As a token of my gratitude, when I take the current server offline, I'll convert it to a D2OL cruncher under your team name... for a while... until you get too close for comfort!

Anyway... I have stats to fix, so I just wanted to drop in and say hello and thanks!

Geoff

[GeoffS]

Stats are fixed

Geoff

[Jeff]

By no means am I trying to snub your donation DD... But this rig will need at least 1GB of RAM. I only want to fill 2 slots as using 4 disables the PAT and may limit the OC.

Why not just accept the memory from DD and then auction it off for $$$ to put towards the server?

Or see if anybody else would like to donate a couple more 256Mb(or 512Mb or 1Gb for that matter) sticks and then use Tweak865 to re-enable PAT.

But just so you know, I posted about using Tweak865 to re-enable PAT and someone came right in and said that they took a performance hit doing that with 4 sticks of memory. So PAT being disabled may not be a big deal.


I'd like to donate something but I'm a bit tight on the $$$ side of things right now. Already starting to put together this summer's "honey-do" list you know.