Maximum CUDA cards per Mother Board?

David Rapalyea
David Rapalyea
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Beyond Point well taken.

Beyond

Point well taken. I don't even know if the 4 x 650 will work. The builder is having a hard time even finding a case that will fit all four. However, I did some searching and the GT 660 benchmarks out at about twice the 650 [4073 v 1800]. I ordered one today and will drop it into my mule. Both machines will have the same PSU and both will have 2.3 dual core processors.

I am not taking odds on any of it. But it has been some fun. Unduly expensive, but fun none the less.

Arecibo 19 Oct 2012
Just Because The Space Alien Is Green
Does Not Mean You Should Go

Beyond
Beyond
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RE: Beyond Point well

Quote:

Beyond

Point well taken. I don't even know if the 4 x 650 will work. The builder is having a hard time even finding a case that will fit all four. However, I did some searching and the GT 660 benchmarks out at about twice the 650 [4073 v 1800]. I ordered one today and will drop it into my mule. Both machines will have the same PSU and both will have 2.3 dual core processors.

I am not taking odds on any of it. But it has been some fun. Unduly expensive, but fun none the less.


Another problem with the configuration is that in my experience Einstein requires a lot of free CPU per task. While it doesn't say it's using that much CPU time, the resources need to be free or it slows down dramatically To run the GPUs at reasonable efficiency you have to do at least 2 WUs/GPU. I doubt if a dual core is going to handle more than 1 or at the most 2 GPUs. If it's not too late I'd suggest switching your build to at least a quad core with a single 79xx GPU. You will have at least the output of your proposed system, much lower cost and lower watts used. Just get an Antec 300 case or equivalent and add some fans. Then you can add another GPU later if you wish, with no hassle.

mikey
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RE: Beyond Point well

Quote:

Beyond

Point well taken. I don't even know if the 4 x 650 will work. The builder is having a hard time even finding a case that will fit all four. However, I did some searching and the GT 660 benchmarks out at about twice the 650 [4073 v 1800]. I ordered one today and will drop it into my mule. Both machines will have the same PSU and both will have 2.3 dual core processors.

I am not taking odds on any of it. But it has been some fun. Unduly expensive, but fun none the less.

Tell your builder to look here:
http://www.newegg.com/Computer-Cases/SubCategory/ID-7?Order=PRICE

I AM being a bit silly but not being able to find a case seems a bit silly. I JUST bought a full tower case with space for a bottom mounted psu for 20 bucks after a 20 dollar rebate. It has 7 available slots on the back, so unless you are using dual slot cards and must space them out even that cheapy case would work.

David Rapalyea
David Rapalyea
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Hi M It is all sort of

Hi M

It is all sort of silly but this is the builder's first time. I don't begrudge the guy anything since he has taken on a build he has never done. I stopped building my own when I bought my first used 386 more then twenty years ago. Yeah. I'm THAT old.

I built my first PC 8088 for $600 in 1986 and it did not even have a hard drive. I upgrated to 1.2 floppies [5.25 in] as soon as they were available. I DID manage to put in a one meg memory board. It was full hight and full width of the case. Believe it or not, on start up I had a batch file that loaded both my word processor and a file transfer/bulletin board program that then operated as fast as things do now, but without any graphics.

I think the modem was 1,200 baud, but it might have been 2,400. In pre graphic days things were faster then you might imagine. I could load an entire page of text in one second.

Arecibo 19 Oct 2012
Just Because The Space Alien Is Green
Does Not Mean You Should Go

Neil Newell
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Try looking for EATX/XL-ATX

Try looking for EATX/XL-ATX cases; they often have more than the standard 7 slots (which isn't enough for 4 dual-slot GPUs).

The Antec P280 is easy to get, provides 9 slots, bottom-mounted PSU and takes EATX/XL-ATX motherboards.

Beyond
Beyond
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RE: I bought my first used

Quote:

I bought my first used 386 more then twenty years ago. Yeah. I'm THAT old.

I built my first PC 8088 for $600 in 1986 and it did not even have a hard drive. I upgrated to 1.2 floppies [5.25 in] as soon as they were available. I DID manage to put in a one meg memory board. It was full hight and full width of the case. Believe it or not, on start up I had a batch file that loaded both my word processor and a file transfer/bulletin board program that then operated as fast as things do now, but without any graphics.

I think the modem was 1,200 baud, but it might have been 2,400. In pre graphic days things were faster then you might imagine. I could load an entire page of text in one second.


Built my first 4.77MHz 8088 around then too, with 360k floppies and a 300 baud modem. Then upgraded to a 10MHz NEC V20 chip. Like you, ran a BBS too, finally ended up with 4 lines running on an AMD 486/120MHz and OS/2. Have built hundreds of PCs since then, mostly for various companies. Joined one company as the printing manager and ended up as the network manager and later became a network VAR. Am retired now, so can probably at least match you on age :-). BTW, have you thought about the advice I gave above? Just trying to be helpful...

mikey
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RE: RE: I bought my first

Quote:
Quote:

I bought my first used 386 more then twenty years ago. Yeah. I'm THAT old.

I built my first PC 8088 for $600 in 1986 and it did not even have a hard drive. I upgrated to 1.2 floppies [5.25 in] as soon as they were available. I DID manage to put in a one meg memory board. It was full hight and full width of the case. Believe it or not, on start up I had a batch file that loaded both my word processor and a file transfer/bulletin board program that then operated as fast as things do now, but without any graphics.

I think the modem was 1,200 baud, but it might have been 2,400. In pre graphic days things were faster then you might imagine. I could load an entire page of text in one second.


Built my first 4.77MHz 8088 around then too, with 360k floppies and a 300 baud modem. Then upgraded to a 10MHz NEC V20 chip. Like you, ran a BBS too, finally ended up with 4 lines running on an AMD 486/120MHz and OS/2. Have built hundreds of PCs since then, mostly for various companies. Joined one company as the printing manager and ended up as the network manager and later became a network VAR. Am retired now, so can probably at least match you on age :-). BTW, have you thought about the advice I gave above? Just trying to be helpful...

We are ALL ancient then!! I turned 60 this past December and have been buying and building pc's since 1978. For a long time now I have not bought a store bought pc, except laptops, building is cheaper and I can skimp or splurge where I want to. I JUST today saw a sale going on at NewEgg for $288 for an AMD6100 cpu, a single pci-e slot mb, 8gb ram, a 500gb harddrive and case with a 300w ps in it.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboBundleDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.1245446&nm_mc=AFC-dealnews%20&cm_mmc=AFC-dealnews-_-NA-_-NA-_-NA-

Seems like a good cruncher, but the lack of multiple pci-e slots is a turn off to some. Separately the mb is only $40 on its own.

David Rapalyea
David Rapalyea
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Mike, Even with a single

Mike,

Even with a single slot you can do a lot - I have owned and tested five different low - low/medium cards and found BPR cuda production rates roughly track Passmark benchmark ratings. I also found out that actual power cord draw on my cards is about 75% of Nvidia's listed max power. Based on that I screwed up when I bought four GTX 650 cards for one machine instead of two GTX 660s at roughly the same total cost/production/power. That would be total production of about 50 - 60k stones/day at 40 watts per 10k.

However, although the 660 has about twice the benchmark as the 650 [1880v4073] the next doubling would require a $1,000 Titan that benchmarks out at 8,400. The intermediate cards such at the 670/680/690 and variants might not justify their added cost. However, even if my 4 x GTX 650 machine does not work out, I can use the cards individually in my existing HPs by replacing little GT 610/620/630 cards. The 650 is notable because it does not have a separate power cord. All four of the listed cards power off the Xpress slot, and do not need power cords.

Arecibo 19 Oct 2012
Just Because The Space Alien Is Green
Does Not Mean You Should Go

David Rapalyea
David Rapalyea
Joined: 3 Jan 13
Posts: 79
Credit: 63886821
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Beyond, 300 baud. I AM

Beyond,

300 baud. I AM impressed! And your advice will inform my discussion with my builder, assuming I can ever get in touch with him again. I don't bother him much but did call on Friday with no response. As for CPU time, I noticed my little CPU's took a hit when I doubled up BRP tasks. Small BRP gain and little or no CPU task decline. I went back to single tasks though.

I like screwing around with oddball stuff, so a large part of the [now silly build] is just to see how much mostest I can get out of the leastest. Likely I will never achieve a processing capacity of 99.99 percent of all participants from my current 99.90 percent! How the hell did THAT happen anyway? When starting this hobby back at the end of December I had never heard of a cuda card, and figured it was something only LINUX/I.T. guys and such could figure out. So I just kept buying cheap Ebay special PCs. Then I made the mistake of getting a cheap GT 610 just to see what I kind of destruction it would visit upon my PC farm.

That worked so bought a bunch before I noticed the GT620 had twice the cuda cores. WOOOW says I! They were a catastrophe. But by then I was hooked, and moved up to a bunch of GT 630s. WOOOW. A BRP task in less then 20,000 seconds! As I approached 50,000 stones per day I had one too many beers and decided to go for - gulp - 100,000 per day. And with only an additional [cheapo 450 and a really fun 650] I now have a RAC of 100k.

However, this requires thirteen machines. Which is fewer then the two dozen core duos accumulated in the Winter months. I noticed my propane costs were reduced to about zero [each machine is about 100 watts at the plug]. Might have actually saved money since the machines are in the living space. So I am now building my Summer System. Goal is 35watts per 10k stones.That would be a total draw of 350 watts for 100,000 stones per day. I think 45watts will be a cinch. Next fall I can turn the HP space heaters back on!

Crunch Crunch Crunch. It has not been cheap, but cheaper then a two week trip to Italy. By a bunch.......

Just IMAGINE what a GTX 650 might do. On FORTY WATTS! After a few weeks I was generating

Arecibo 19 Oct 2012
Just Because The Space Alien Is Green
Does Not Mean You Should Go

mikey
mikey
Joined: 22 Jan 05
Posts: 11889
Credit: 1828130638
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RE: Beyond, 300 baud. I AM

Quote:

Beyond,

300 baud. I AM impressed! And your advice will inform my discussion with my builder, assuming I can ever get in touch with him again. I don't bother him much but did call on Friday with no response. As for CPU time, I noticed my little CPU's took a hit when I doubled up BRP tasks. Small BRP gain and little or no CPU task decline. I went back to single tasks though.

I like screwing around with oddball stuff, so a large part of the [now silly build] is just to see how much mostest I can get out of the leastest. Likely I will never achieve a processing capacity of 99.99 percent of all participants from my current 99.90 percent! How the hell did THAT happen anyway? When starting this hobby back at the end of December I had never heard of a cuda card, and figured it was something only LINUX/I.T. guys and such could figure out. So I just kept buying cheap Ebay special PCs. Then I made the mistake of getting a cheap GT 610 just to see what I kind of destruction it would visit upon my PC farm.

That worked so bought a bunch before I noticed the GT620 had twice the cuda cores. WOOOW says I! They were a catastrophe. But by then I was hooked, and moved up to a bunch of GT 630s. WOOOW. A BRP task in less then 20,000 seconds! As I approached 50,000 stones per day I had one too many beers and decided to go for - gulp - 100,000 per day. And with only an additional [cheapo 450 and a really fun 650] I now have a RAC of 100k.

However, this requires thirteen machines. Which is fewer then the two dozen core duos accumulated in the Winter months. I noticed my propane costs were reduced to about zero [each machine is about 100 watts at the plug]. Might have actually saved money since the machines are in the living space. So I am now building my Summer System. Goal is 35watts per 10k stones.That would be a total draw of 350 watts for 100,000 stones per day. I think 45watts will be a cinch. Next fall I can turn the HP space heaters back on!

Crunch Crunch Crunch. It has not been cheap, but cheaper then a two week trip to Italy. By a bunch.......

Just IMAGINE what a GTX 650 might do. On FORTY WATTS! After a few weeks I was generating

IF you were willing to use even more power then the 768 cuda cores of a $169 Nvidia 650 could be easily outshone by a $999 Nvidia Ttan with 2688 cuda cores! Not exactly cost effective but it would produce ALOT more work in ALOT less time! If you were to get an AMD 7970 you could do so for #399 and get 2048 stream processors, which is alot more cost effective by comparison. I believe cuda cores and stream processors are the same measurement using different words.

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