For those that were interested, I will post a short review of the Dell Precision 7865 workstations that we have had up and running for about a week, in the context of BOINC work. I know there was some interest in these in an earlier post so I will give you my thoughts.
First, I will re-post the specs of the two systems:
I am amazed that they fit everything in the Precision 7865 case. When I opened the box, I was really surprised at the size and my immediate thought was “is this going to have thermal issues?”. Brief answer- no.
WOW! I am amazed also, you have yourself some nice new computers, and they seem quite capable of doing the job at BOINC. It's great that you and your students are having the ability to work on machines of this caliber.
Out of curiosity, is there any noise issues with the coolers that you've shown?
I'll be a continued 'watcher' (among others at BOINC) and am hoping for the best for you and your students!
Obviously, there is not much room for GPUs, but I know the systems can house two, double width cards.
Two is the limit for almost every PC. For three you need a very tall case and a MB that's designed properly. So many have the slots stupidly close together, you need them three apart so air can get into the fans!
Here's my motherboard, exactly how do you use the bottom two GPU slots at the same time?!:
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.
Obviously, there is not much room for GPUs, but I know the systems can house two, double width cards.
Two is the limit for almost every PC. For three you need a very tall case and a MB that's designed properly. So many have the slots stupidly close together, you need them three apart so air can get into the fans!
Here's my motherboard, exactly how do you use the bottom two GPU slots at the same time?!:
The other problem is the length of the cards, newer cards tend to be long to get everything including all the cooling fans on them and alot of cases just won't take 3 or more gpu's. In fact I have to snip out some of the drive cage in a couple of cases to make a gpu fit in them. For me that's not a problem as they are Boinc only pc's and don't need multiple drives in them.
Out of curiosity, is there any noise issues with the coolers that you've shown?
I would say on the "quieter" side of workstations running at 100%. They are not too loud. I did have one of them "ramp-up" the fan speed when my room warmed up in the middle of the day and it was on the threshold of students turning to look at it wondering what the noise was from.
It is NOTHING nearly as loud at the Precision 7920 with the dual Xeons and dual A6000 and single A4500. That is inside of a server case (actively cooled with a Tripp Lite cooler) that I insulated with lots of Styrofoam sheeting to keep the air moving through correctly and dampen the noise. I do not have the system fans all the way up, but it is about as loud as a blade server.
I think I was surprised when I was building the systems with Dell that it was limited to two GPUs when all the other Precision towers we have (we have 3 others) house up to 4 double-wide GPUs. Being that the TR has so many pcie lanes, I thought it would translate to room for four GPUs, like their other Precisions. But, it looks like they tried to minimize the footprint with this tower, which is fine too.
Edit: The other Precision towers can house 3 double slot gpus or 4 single slot. My mistake!
I run 3 cards on my X470 motherboards because I only run double wide cards and have large enough cases to fit them just fine. Having hybrid cards also helps when two of the cards are close together as there isn't really any need to have normal airflow to the single fan on the card. Most of the cooling is handled by the radiator.
The other problem is the length of the cards, newer cards tend to be long to get everything including all the cooling fans on them and alot of cases just won't take 3 or more gpu's. In fact I have to snip out some of the drive cage in a couple of cases to make a gpu fit in them. For me that's not a problem as they are Boinc only pc's and don't need multiple drives in them.
Long cards are difficult to get in, but once they're in they fit ok in all my cases. Some of my PCs don't have cases! A case doesn't actually do much to a computer.... although I've been told I'm breaking some regulation on RFI.... (which I don't care about).
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 would say on the "quieter" side of workstations running at 100%. They are not too loud. I did have one of them "ramp-up" the fan speed when my room warmed up in the middle of the day and it was on the threshold of students turning to look at it wondering what the noise was from.
When I worked at a school, I put Boinc on all 300 desktop Dell computers. At that time, the BIOS didn't allow much fan changes. They unfortunately had a very small hysteresis, so the fans would speed up and slow down every few seconds, which drove some of the teachers nuts. I ended up removing Boinc from a computer wherever anyone complained. Some were still running Boinc for quite a few years after I left! I dread to think what their electricity bill was.
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 run 3 cards on my X470 motherboards because I only run double wide cards and have large enough cases to fit them just fine. Having hybrid cards also helps when two of the cards are close together as there isn't really any need to have normal airflow to the single fan on the card. Most of the cooling is handled by the radiator.
I work on the principle it's cheaper to get hold of old cards and not buy expensive stuff like water coolers. Most of mine are Tahitis (3GB, 1000/4000 TFlops) - £50 each. They do need a lot of TLC to keep them going though.
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 run 3 cards on my X470 motherboards because I only run double wide cards and have large enough cases to fit them just fine. Having hybrid cards also helps when two of the cards are close together as there isn't really any need to have normal airflow to the single fan on the card. Most of the cooling is handled by the radiator.
I work on the principle it's cheaper to get hold of old cards and not buy expensive stuff like water coolers. Most of mine are Tahitis (3GB, 1000/4000 TFlops) - £50 each. They do need a lot of TLC to keep them going though.
I work on the principle it's cheaper to get hold of old cards and not buy expensive stuff like water coolers. Most of mine are Tahitis (3GB, 1000/4000 TFlops) - £50 each. They do need a lot of TLC to keep them going though.
I work on the principle of just getting hardware that works and needs no further maintenance. I just let them run and ignore them.
Boca Raton Community HS
)
WOW! I am amazed also, you have yourself some nice new computers, and they seem quite capable of doing the job at BOINC. It's great that you and your students are having the ability to work on machines of this caliber.
Out of curiosity, is there any noise issues with the coolers that you've shown?
I'll be a continued 'watcher' (among others at BOINC) and am hoping for the best for you and your students!
Proud member of the Old Farts Association
Boca Raton Community HS
)
Two is the limit for almost every PC. For three you need a very tall case and a MB that's designed properly. So many have the slots stupidly close together, you need them three apart so air can get into the fans!
Here's my motherboard, exactly how do you use the bottom two GPU slots at the same time?!:
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 Hucker wrote: Boca
)
The other problem is the length of the cards, newer cards tend to be long to get everything including all the cooling fans on them and alot of cases just won't take 3 or more gpu's. In fact I have to snip out some of the drive cage in a couple of cases to make a gpu fit in them. For me that's not a problem as they are Boinc only pc's and don't need multiple drives in them.
GWGeorge007 wrote:Out of
)
I would say on the "quieter" side of workstations running at 100%. They are not too loud. I did have one of them "ramp-up" the fan speed when my room warmed up in the middle of the day and it was on the threshold of students turning to look at it wondering what the noise was from.
It is NOTHING nearly as loud at the Precision 7920 with the dual Xeons and dual A6000 and single A4500. That is inside of a server case (actively cooled with a Tripp Lite cooler) that I insulated with lots of Styrofoam sheeting to keep the air moving through correctly and dampen the noise. I do not have the system fans all the way up, but it is about as loud as a blade server.
I think I was surprised when I was building the systems with Dell that it was limited to two GPUs when all the other Precision towers we have (we have 3 others) house up to 4 double-wide GPUs. Being that the TR has so many pcie lanes, I thought it would translate to room for four GPUs, like their other Precisions. But, it looks like they tried to minimize the footprint with this tower, which is fine too.
Edit: The other Precision towers can house 3 double slot gpus or 4 single slot. My mistake!
I run 3 cards on my X470
)
I run 3 cards on my X470 motherboards because I only run double wide cards and have large enough cases to fit them just fine. Having hybrid cards also helps when two of the cards are close together as there isn't really any need to have normal airflow to the single fan on the card. Most of the cooling is handled by the radiator.
mikey wrote:The other problem
)
Long cards are difficult to get in, but once they're in they fit ok in all my cases. Some of my PCs don't have cases! A case doesn't actually do much to a computer.... although I've been told I'm breaking some regulation on RFI.... (which I don't care about).
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.
Boca Raton Community HS
)
When I worked at a school, I put Boinc on all 300 desktop Dell computers. At that time, the BIOS didn't allow much fan changes. They unfortunately had a very small hysteresis, so the fans would speed up and slow down every few seconds, which drove some of the teachers nuts. I ended up removing Boinc from a computer wherever anyone complained. Some were still running Boinc for quite a few years after I left! I dread to think what their electricity bill was.
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.
Keith Myers wrote:I run 3
)
I work on the principle it's cheaper to get hold of old cards and not buy expensive stuff like water coolers. Most of mine are Tahitis (3GB, 1000/4000 TFlops) - £50 each. They do need a lot of TLC to keep them going though.
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 Hucker wrote: Keith
)
I'll bet they do!!
Peter Hucker wrote: I work
)
I work on the principle of just getting hardware that works and needs no further maintenance. I just let them run and ignore them.