Thank you, Ian&SteveC. That really looks likely if the other two choices are not likely. I think the others were all 4th gen Epyc MB's.
Tom M
the cards in the system you directly linked to identify themselves at SXM4 "NVIDIA A100-SXM4-80GB". it's definitely the type of system I showed. it's not possible to "build" one of these systems easily as the parts are generally not really available to buy, it's all proprietary and only works in their own ecosystem, and they are only available from a handful of vendors who aren't in the business of selling parts. you basically have to buy a whole system.
I assume they will repair one for you though. They surely can't be selling something which goes in the bin if one part breaks?
If this page takes an hour to load, reduce posts per page to 20 in your settings, then the tinpot 486 Einstein uses can handle it.
Please keep us in the loop. There have been several people who have had reliable usb3 cable to pcie-based crunchers including a couple currently parked in the top 50 at e@h. So I am hopeful you can be one too.
And there are 1x to 16x ribbon cables out there if the USB setups get cranky. What was that make/model MB again?
I'm already using many (12) USB risers. I got annoyed with the one with 4 from one slot, which was sharing a single lane, and slowing only Folding@Home down - Boinc is fine, especially if you run more than one task per GPU, Folding doesn't allow that. The USB is fine otherwise. If anything (maybe a faster GPU) needs more data speed, I'd get a ribbon (which would pass PCI-E v3). The USB things only pass v2.
I find the old cards work much better after taking them to pieces and putting better quality fresh heatsink compound on the GPU and RAM etc. Also giving them a nice stable powerful power source. They're all running off three tweakable 12V 83A power supplies connected in parallel. I've set them to 12.6V (the max in the PCI-E spec), so any voltage drops aren't a problem, and there's less current on the input side of the GPU's VRM.
If this page takes an hour to load, reduce posts per page to 20 in your settings, then the tinpot 486 Einstein uses can handle it.
I looked and didn't see any systems that might be a 12 GPU under e@h. So it's all on folding@home?
Tom M
I have 8 decent GPUs working (on Folding just now), and 5 in need of a refurb (probably fixable), been too busy. Only the slow one is on Einstein as it's not fast enough to do Folding by the deadline. They don't all go on the same machine (yet). All the parts for the miner machine are here, haven't had time to assemble it yet.
If this page takes an hour to load, reduce posts per page to 20 in your settings, then the tinpot 486 Einstein uses can handle it.
And here is the same type of form factor (8 double wide slots) but has 8th/9th gen lga 1151 socket so it supports up to 8c/16t which would make it far more likely to be able to run top drawer e@h GPU tasks a full speed.
4GB system memory is largely not enough for most projects. Especially if you’re trying to run that many GPUs. To compete for top spot on Einstein right now, you need to be running petris app, which uses like 1GB system ram PER TASK. 8GPUs, 2x per GPU = 16 tasks = 16GB system memory minimum. And to be honest I would want more overhead. That board looks like it only has one SODIMM slot for memory. And the lack of detailed specs is a little concerning (CPU listed as just “intel”, intel what exactly?), does the board support updating the memory? Too many unknowns.
realistically this is not a viable option for anything other than mining crypto. Too many constraints on the CPU/memory to be useful for anything else.
Another problem besides the single memory slot is the odd way the motherboard is powered. All pcie plugs. So many you would need the peripheral to pcie adapters to get enough off one power supply.
The description of this product offers a lot of advice on how it needs to be setup.
Tom M
A Proud member of the O.F.A. (Old Farts Association). Be well, do good work, and keep in touch.® (Garrison Keillor)
The advantage of this MB is it has usb3 ports right off the MB. Which is one less moving part per gpu connection. The disadvantage is lga 1151 6th/7th gen CPUs (4c/8t).
Ian&Steve C. wrote: Tom M
)
I assume they will repair one for you though. They surely can't be selling something which goes in the bin if one part breaks?
If this page takes an hour to load, reduce posts per page to 20 in your settings, then the tinpot 486 Einstein uses can handle it.
Tom M wrote:Peter, Please
)
Esonic B250-BTC-Gladiator. Precisely this one. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/325484509880
I'm already using many (12) USB risers. I got annoyed with the one with 4 from one slot, which was sharing a single lane, and slowing only Folding@Home down - Boinc is fine, especially if you run more than one task per GPU, Folding doesn't allow that. The USB is fine otherwise. If anything (maybe a faster GPU) needs more data speed, I'd get a ribbon (which would pass PCI-E v3). The USB things only pass v2.
I find the old cards work much better after taking them to pieces and putting better quality fresh heatsink compound on the GPU and RAM etc. Also giving them a nice stable powerful power source. They're all running off three tweakable 12V 83A power supplies connected in parallel. I've set them to 12.6V (the max in the PCI-E spec), so any voltage drops aren't a problem, and there's less current on the input side of the GPU's VRM.
If this page takes an hour to load, reduce posts per page to 20 in your settings, then the tinpot 486 Einstein uses can handle it.
Peter, I looked and didn't
)
Peter,
I looked and didn't see any systems that might be a 12 GPU under e@h. So it's all on folding@home?
Tom M
A Proud member of the O.F.A. (Old Farts Association). Be well, do good work, and keep in touch.® (Garrison Keillor)
Tom M wrote: Peter, I
)
I have 8 decent GPUs working (on Folding just now), and 5 in need of a refurb (probably fixable), been too busy. Only the slow one is on Einstein as it's not fast enough to do Folding by the deadline. They don't all go on the same machine (yet). All the parts for the miner machine are here, haven't had time to assemble it yet.
If this page takes an hour to load, reduce posts per page to 20 in your settings, then the tinpot 486 Einstein uses can handle it.
Motherboard with 8 slots.
)
Motherboard with 8 slots. Able to handle 8 double-width gpus. It looks like the CPU is upgradeable to 4c/8t for maybe $50.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/275271729975?mkevt=1&mkpid=0&emsid=e11051.m43.l1123&mkcid=26&ch=osgood&euid=215a77ba58ba42d38400163182fe71c3&bu=43113472691&osub=-1%7E1&crd=20230220015138&segname=11051
So this has a no-riser approach. Probably 1x for all the slots. And it looks like you MIGHT be able to devote 0.75 CPU threads to each GPU?
So this MIGHT be a competitor for the top GPU slot of e@h?
And the price is right for experimenters at $199, I think it comes with a case and fans too. :)
Tom M
A Proud member of the O.F.A. (Old Farts Association). Be well, do good work, and keep in touch.® (Garrison Keillor)
And here is the same type of
)
And here is the same type of form factor (8 double wide slots) but has 8th/9th gen lga 1151 socket so it supports up to 8c/16t which would make it far more likely to be able to run top drawer e@h GPU tasks a full speed.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/325525487674?epid=23044588718&hash=item4bcad4c03a%3Ag%3A0%7EAAAOSwn45j4Rcn&amdata=enc%3AAQAHAAAA8JLbPq2yfZjLrazPLyom%2BgMP7WxgO4meWyaaXR%2BSi1MYiH9SxCHkE1f7W5DjLMiaCBz8%2FOjf4w1XfZoVtC%2F5ZO4TzhmDu5wUxGxUb3OKLbZ%2FeyWFlyoli5Q%2FaVBX6lXspluwpKShT0EFJe0jXwtXDNzHToWglmeI5jiX27kQh3%2B8liYsYj9YWhpZZZR%2Bm5ACzlmttE74FA4G4ty7yVEbvlIivdsoy9YQw7Tm6z5WibKMFzD7mgRqgyTFVD2Yz74jXIEf8w9s%2BC1T1klf7DEQxexzr9W9ljmhPFtG16a6C0Ei2abftL3mUWghEsY8PyCFwg%3D%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR56OuPjNYQ&LH_ItemCondition=1000
A Proud member of the O.F.A. (Old Farts Association). Be well, do good work, and keep in touch.® (Garrison Keillor)
4GB system memory is largely
)
4GB system memory is largely not enough for most projects. Especially if you’re trying to run that many GPUs. To compete for top spot on Einstein right now, you need to be running petris app, which uses like 1GB system ram PER TASK. 8GPUs, 2x per GPU = 16 tasks = 16GB system memory minimum. And to be honest I would want more overhead. That board looks like it only has one SODIMM slot for memory. And the lack of detailed specs is a little concerning (CPU listed as just “intel”, intel what exactly?), does the board support updating the memory? Too many unknowns.
realistically this is not a viable option for anything other than mining crypto. Too many constraints on the CPU/memory to be useful for anything else.
_________________________________________________________________________
Another problem besides the
)
Another problem besides the single memory slot is the odd way the motherboard is powered. All pcie plugs. So many you would need the peripheral to pcie adapters to get enough off one power supply.
The description of this product offers a lot of advice on how it needs to be setup.
Tom M
A Proud member of the O.F.A. (Old Farts Association). Be well, do good work, and keep in touch.® (Garrison Keillor)
The advantage of this MB is
)
The advantage of this MB is two memory slots. The disadvantage is lga 6th/7th gen CPUs with 4c8t.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/134400855162?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=m4quzl4itzu&sssrc=2349624&ssuid=PAS42sWPTnG&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY
A Proud member of the O.F.A. (Old Farts Association). Be well, do good work, and keep in touch.® (Garrison Keillor)
The advantage of this MB is
)
The advantage of this MB is it has usb3 ports right off the MB. Which is one less moving part per gpu connection. The disadvantage is lga 1151 6th/7th gen CPUs (4c/8t).
https://www.ebay.com/itm/134400855162?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=m4quzl4itzu&sssrc=2349624&ssuid=PAS42sWPTnG&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY
A Proud member of the O.F.A. (Old Farts Association). Be well, do good work, and keep in touch.® (Garrison Keillor)