- Personally I don't see much value in high-prices motherboards, as long as they've got all the features I need and want. Usually that's quite the bottom line, plus USB3 these days (no, I couldn't use it yet - but I'd want to). And "more expensive board for OC" is less true for Sandy Bridge since you're only ever going to overclock via the multiplier anyway. For the board there's nothing left to do except to supply some juice. And since you're talking about staying power efficient I don't suppose you're shooting for 5+ GHz OCs ;)
- The monitor: and item often overlooked. Personally I hate the low contrast and absymal viewing angles of the cheap standard TN panels. Luckily nowadays you can get high quality screens again for not that much more money. Especially on 22+ screens the effect of seeing different colors going from top to bottom or left to right for a monochrome image, purely due to the poor viewing angles, freaks me out. Anything with (e)IPS, PVA or MVA panel is better.
- If I were you I'd get an H67 board now and use the integrated graphics (comes for free and is the most power efficient which we can currently get) until a mid range nVidia @ Einstein tempts you. Going with a GTS450 or GTX460 now wouldn't be bad, though.
ML1, because I can actually easily afford whatever I want, I decided to not look too much at money and go for the most bang for buck parts. This means that in total spend much more than my original estimated 1000 dollar. My total system now costs 1170 euro, which is about 1560 dollar. This does include all taxes and shipping. And parts (for some reason) seem to be more expensive here than e.g. in the US.
Anyway, here a list of parts, their price and their rationale.
Processor: Intel Core i7 2600 (264,37 euro). Hyperthreading seems to justify the higher cost compared to the 2500. I didn't go for the K version, as I am not into overclocking and do not need an additional heater in my home.
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-PH67A-UD3 (101,63 euro). The cheapest motherboard I could find for the processor that has usb 3.0 support. I don't see the point in buying something more expensive.
Graphics card: Gigabyte GV-N460OC-1GI (159,90 euro). This is a GTX 460 with 1 GB of memory. I actually doubted most about this part. This seemed useless for me in crunching as CUDA is not supported in Linux. But given its performance and added crunching benefits I decided to go for it anyway. This means that for the time being I am forced to use Windows 7. Luckily I can buy a win7 professional license via my work for only 9 euro. Win7 is not that bad, but I love the command line so much that I will switch to Linux when it is supported in EAH. The GTX460 seems to be the most bang for buck as far as NVIDEA goes.
SSD: OCZ Vertex 2 SATA II 2.5" SSD 60GB (104,90 euro). Not related to crunching at all, but I love to try this out for enhanced startup times. 60 GB should be enough, and is the most cost effective.
HDD: Samsung EcoGreen F4EG, 2TB (72 euro). I probably don't need that much disk space, but it's so cheap so why not. Better safe than sorry.
Memory: Transcend 8GB (68,04 euro). Cheap memory set from Transcend. It was the cheapest I could find and as far as I could find no better or worse than other brands. By using two 4gb pieces, I leave two slots on the motherboard for possible future expansion.
Case: Cooler Master CM 690 II Advanced (79,14 euro). I could have gotten a cheaper case, but this one has some nice features to simplify building in parts, like toolless systems and thumbscrews, cable management, SSD adapter, HDD bay, cooling options, etc. But most important, I like its looks.
Power: OCZ ModXStream Pro 600W (64,19 euro). It is 80 plus certified, should have more than enough juice for me and whatever I'll ever throw at it and is known as quiet. I also like modular cables.
Monitor: LG E2240S (128,95 euro). 22 inch monitor should be big enough for me. It's full hd, 5ms response time, LED based and looks good.
Network: TP-Link TL-PA201 (43,90 euro). I heard some very good stories about this powerline network concept and I had quite some issues with wireless cards in the past. So I am going to give this a try for my network.
For the rest I have a standard DVD burner (Sony/NEC optiarc), keyboard, mouse and speakerset (all Logitech). I already have a USB based card-reader.
Pretty complete system, I think. I hope that satisfies your curiosity. ;-)
Thanks again for all the hints and pointers! When I get it, I'll let you know its performance in EAH.
Graphics card: Gigabyte GV-N460OC-1GI (159,90 euro). This is a GTX 460 with 1 GB of memory. I actually doubted most about this part. This seemed useless for me in crunching as CUDA is not supported in Linux. But given its performance and added crunching benefits I decided to go for it anyway. This means that for the time being I am forced to use Windows 7. Luckily I can buy a win7 professional license via my work for only 9 euro. Win7 is not that bad, but I love the command line so much that I will switch to Linux when it is supported in EAH. The GTX460 seems to be the most bang for buck as far as NVIDEA goes.
where they talk about Cuda crunching and Linux. In Windows crunching is very simple, just load the drivers and away you go, in Linux it is more difficult, especially for us Windows folks, but apparently not impossible.
Okay, it might mean that the issue discussed here is EAH only then. I'll keep a close watch on the forum to see if they get it running in Linux. Hopefully its a minor temporary issue. :)
Okay, it might mean that the issue discussed here is EAH only then. I'll keep a close watch on the forum to see if they get it running in Linux. Hopefully its a minor temporary issue. :)
I just went through this exercise. I was looking for a back up web server with E@H as a good reason to justify some extra processing power.
I'm not as convinced that the I7 is the best bang for the buck, but I admit that could be ignorance. I've started to look at the E@H benchmark stats to be more objective. I just started a thread on benchmark stats.
I opted for an AMD Phenom II X6 system that has been getting about 5,000 credits per day (3000 RAC). It cost US$700 (no keyboard/monitor). It used 48.8 KWh in the last 261 hrs or about 187 watts. That $6.44 at Los Angeles DWP (exorbitant) rates.
Anything in 32nm is gold
)
Anything in 32nm is gold standard here. ;D
Just to add a few more
)
Just to add a few more cents:
- Personally I don't see much value in high-prices motherboards, as long as they've got all the features I need and want. Usually that's quite the bottom line, plus USB3 these days (no, I couldn't use it yet - but I'd want to). And "more expensive board for OC" is less true for Sandy Bridge since you're only ever going to overclock via the multiplier anyway. For the board there's nothing left to do except to supply some juice. And since you're talking about staying power efficient I don't suppose you're shooting for 5+ GHz OCs ;)
- The monitor: and item often overlooked. Personally I hate the low contrast and absymal viewing angles of the cheap standard TN panels. Luckily nowadays you can get high quality screens again for not that much more money. Especially on 22+ screens the effect of seeing different colors going from top to bottom or left to right for a monochrome image, purely due to the poor viewing angles, freaks me out. Anything with (e)IPS, PVA or MVA panel is better.
- If I were you I'd get an H67 board now and use the integrated graphics (comes for free and is the most power efficient which we can currently get) until a mid range nVidia @ Einstein tempts you. Going with a GTS450 or GTX460 now wouldn't be bad, though.
MrS
Scanning for our furry friends since Jan 2002
RE: Thanks guys for all
)
OK... So what you gone for, and why?
Happy crunchin',
Martin
See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)
ML1, because I can actually
)
ML1, because I can actually easily afford whatever I want, I decided to not look too much at money and go for the most bang for buck parts. This means that in total spend much more than my original estimated 1000 dollar. My total system now costs 1170 euro, which is about 1560 dollar. This does include all taxes and shipping. And parts (for some reason) seem to be more expensive here than e.g. in the US.
Anyway, here a list of parts, their price and their rationale.
Processor: Intel Core i7 2600 (264,37 euro). Hyperthreading seems to justify the higher cost compared to the 2500. I didn't go for the K version, as I am not into overclocking and do not need an additional heater in my home.
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-PH67A-UD3 (101,63 euro). The cheapest motherboard I could find for the processor that has usb 3.0 support. I don't see the point in buying something more expensive.
Graphics card: Gigabyte GV-N460OC-1GI (159,90 euro). This is a GTX 460 with 1 GB of memory. I actually doubted most about this part. This seemed useless for me in crunching as CUDA is not supported in Linux. But given its performance and added crunching benefits I decided to go for it anyway. This means that for the time being I am forced to use Windows 7. Luckily I can buy a win7 professional license via my work for only 9 euro. Win7 is not that bad, but I love the command line so much that I will switch to Linux when it is supported in EAH. The GTX460 seems to be the most bang for buck as far as NVIDEA goes.
SSD: OCZ Vertex 2 SATA II 2.5" SSD 60GB (104,90 euro). Not related to crunching at all, but I love to try this out for enhanced startup times. 60 GB should be enough, and is the most cost effective.
HDD: Samsung EcoGreen F4EG, 2TB (72 euro). I probably don't need that much disk space, but it's so cheap so why not. Better safe than sorry.
Memory: Transcend 8GB (68,04 euro). Cheap memory set from Transcend. It was the cheapest I could find and as far as I could find no better or worse than other brands. By using two 4gb pieces, I leave two slots on the motherboard for possible future expansion.
Case: Cooler Master CM 690 II Advanced (79,14 euro). I could have gotten a cheaper case, but this one has some nice features to simplify building in parts, like toolless systems and thumbscrews, cable management, SSD adapter, HDD bay, cooling options, etc. But most important, I like its looks.
Power: OCZ ModXStream Pro 600W (64,19 euro). It is 80 plus certified, should have more than enough juice for me and whatever I'll ever throw at it and is known as quiet. I also like modular cables.
Monitor: LG E2240S (128,95 euro). 22 inch monitor should be big enough for me. It's full hd, 5ms response time, LED based and looks good.
Network: TP-Link TL-PA201 (43,90 euro). I heard some very good stories about this powerline network concept and I had quite some issues with wireless cards in the past. So I am going to give this a try for my network.
For the rest I have a standard DVD burner (Sony/NEC optiarc), keyboard, mouse and speakerset (all Logitech). I already have a USB based card-reader.
Pretty complete system, I think. I hope that satisfies your curiosity. ;-)
Thanks again for all the hints and pointers! When I get it, I'll let you know its performance in EAH.
RE: Graphics card: Gigabyte
)
I think you are mistaken about Linux and Cuda crunching, over at Colaltz there is this thread:
http://boinc.thesonntags.com/collatz/forum_thread.php?id=653
where they talk about Cuda crunching and Linux. In Windows crunching is very simple, just load the drivers and away you go, in Linux it is more difficult, especially for us Windows folks, but apparently not impossible.
Also over at Collatz they have an Optimized Applications page and it has Cuda apps for Linux:
http://boinc.thesonntags.com/collatz/power_apps.php
so it IS possible, just maybe not for Einstein.
Okay, it might mean that the
)
Okay, it might mean that the issue discussed here is EAH only then. I'll keep a close watch on the forum to see if they get it running in Linux. Hopefully its a minor temporary issue. :)
RE: Okay, it might mean
)
Also keep an eye on this thread.
I just went through this
)
I just went through this exercise. I was looking for a back up web server with E@H as a good reason to justify some extra processing power.
I'm not as convinced that the I7 is the best bang for the buck, but I admit that could be ignorance. I've started to look at the E@H benchmark stats to be more objective. I just started a thread on benchmark stats.
I opted for an AMD Phenom II X6 system that has been getting about 5,000 credits per day (3000 RAC). It cost US$700 (no keyboard/monitor). It used 48.8 KWh in the last 261 hrs or about 187 watts. That $6.44 at Los Angeles DWP (exorbitant) rates.
I'm happy to provide specs and parts costs.
Joe