Yattamonster Jr. finally complete (pics)

[stymee]

Finally added the final (6th) layer, so I'd have to say I'm done for a while.

Mobo......M7VKQ (6)
CPU.......Duron 1.2 (6)
Memory....256MB PC133-server (1)
..........128MB PC133-each client (5)
Drives....Seagate 1.7GB-server (2)
PSU.......(3) Cogden 300W (3)
OS........Mandrake 8.2 with Gator's "Yattalinux" ltsp


The far left board is the "server", the other 5 are the diskless clients. Here (http://forum.oc-forums.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=107633&highlight=yattamonster) is the link to Gator's "How To", without which I could not have got this beast up and running. Each PSU runs 2 mobos, here (http://forum.oc-forums.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=155371) is some more info on how to do that.
http://bellsouthpwp.net/s/t/stymeedd/pics/Puter/YattaJrFinal002.jpg

I added 3 120mm fans to keep the air moving, dropped the temp in the cabinet by around 5°C.
http://bellsouthpwp.net/s/t/stymeedd/pics/Puter/YattaJrFinal003.jpg

I also made a little hard drive mount, I found that the drives really heated up when they were just sitting on top of eachother.
http://bellsouthpwp.net/s/t/stymeedd/pics/Puter/YattaJrFinal004.jpg

edit: Updated PSU splicing link.

[OSUmaxx]

Wow, I'm very impressed. Great work :)

[silent bob]

Can you build me one of them? lol Nice Job , Now you did remember to put silent_bob as user ID right?

[cack01]

Wow.. I don't even fold, and that impresses the hell out of me.

[john240sx]

Originally posted by cack01
Wow.. I don't even fold

:eek:

that's 7.2 dedicated Ghz, nice job :D

i'm sorry but i have to know, what's the upgrading future look like for that mini monster? (a few XP's could do some damage)

[Lt. Max]

well he could wait like a year and get the last socket 462 procs if they still have those and put those in there to have that as a farm til its death!

[NASsoccer]

WOW, looks nice all setup stymee!! nice clean job, now the jealousy sets is :)

FOLD ON
NAS

[{PMS}fishy]

That is one rockin system turn out the units. Have fun.

[FoldingAddict]

Wow that looks great, very nice and clean. That must be a real space heater.

[FattyMcNastyXK]

I'm not a person that knows a lot about servers and how they are made. But if that is a server and those are all mobos hooked up to one hard drive, does that mean that you can build your computer like that and have it reaaaaalllly fast? I don't get what you can do with this or am I right about what I just said.

[Silversinksam]

Originally posted by FattyMcNastyXK
I'm not a person that knows a lot about servers and how they are made. But if that is a server and those are all mobos hooked up to one hard drive, does that mean that you can build your computer like that and have it reaaaaalllly fast? I don't get what you can do with this or am I right about what I just said.

Fatty,

Looks like you followed Bambam to this place...Put your feet up and enjoy your stay :rolleyes:

[FattyMcNastyXK]

YES! Bam showed me the way, and I have to say, I love this place. It has a lot of info on computers and other stuff dealt with techknowledgy. This is such a great place.

[FoldingAddict]

Welcome Fatty. The only good purpose for that setup of motherboards and such, is to be a 24/7 folding "monster". I can't think of any other reason to build something like this, except to run a different DC proggy like United Devices or G@H. Or maybe as a render farm.

[FattyMcNastyXK]

ok, we have a hard drive or 2; 6mobos and 6cpu; one os; what do you hook the other 5 mobos up to? I'm confused onto how this all works together.

[Kato]

This "recipie for a yatta" may help you, its created by Gator.

Very nice and clean setup, put my farm to shame;)

[kajj]

fatty, there is only one computer using the hard drives. the other 5 boards are all have their OS loaded in and running from main memory. that's the beauty of gator's system (as linked to from above): it cuts down the cost of putting together a farm (whether it be for rendering or distributed computing). not to mention the server OS is free. gator's recipe for the whole thing really is very well written.

---

oops, almost forgot: that's one sweet mofo system you got there stymee! nice to see it finally at its completion. i'm envious. :)

[none1]

Nice system stymee, from one who's using gator's howto to set up a seti farm. :-)

Fatty, just to be clear, hooking up a bunch of processors like this DOES NOT give you one fast computer. Can't play games any faster. :-) It gives you a bunch of REALLY cheap computers.

Each computer (each NODE) is dedicated to a particular program. The two common ones here are setiathome, or protien folding. Each of the computers in stymees "farm" is running foldingathome.

A big comercial type application for something like this would be video RENDERING, where a bunch of computers each draws a little piece of the finished product. (e.g. TOY STORY, or SHREK)

These (seti, folding, rendering) are examples of "distributed computing" , where a big project is broken down into little pieces and then "distributed" to many other computers.

In a "diskless" farm setup as stymees, the server runs some server software (LINUX). When a node (motherboard) is turned on, it uses its network card to boot from, and says "hey, I want and OS!" The server transfers the needed OS files to the nodes over ethernet. The nodes run the OS, and any aditional software, all in memory. When they are done with their work, they send the result over ethernet, and then get more work to do.

So each node / motherboard "boots" through the network. This means that each computer DOES NOT need its own hard driver / floppy driver / cdrom drive ... thus making them really low cost.

You can get the computing power of a full machine, at a fraction of the cost.

have fun,

[Robbie]

VERY NICE, makes me want to do it. But one thing I would do when I built one is SPACE the mobo's a little farther apart. Looks like the fans will have trouble "breathing"

Rob

[Ploaf]

Very nice Stymee!!! I was just perusing the last yatta Jr thread last night for research purposes. Glad to see layer 6 up and running.

[portorock]

All I can say is droooooooooooooool. That is so sweet

[walaka7]

:eek: wow WTG stymee.. ohh ouchh ##ZAP##.. my drool just shorted out my keyboard :D

[Ebola]

looks awesome stymee.

[masitti]

Originally posted by Robbie
VERY NICE, makes me want to do it. But one thing I would do when I built one is SPACE the mobo's a little farther apart. Looks like the fans will have trouble "breathing"

Rob

That is why he has the bigger fans there.. to help out. ;)

[muddocktor]

That is one cool looking setup, stymee. It should be a points-producing mofo, for sure. Very nice setup and quality workmanship in it.

[FattyMcNastyXK]

so if I read all of gator's recipe, it would tell me how this all works and how to build it? If so, then I would love to acquire old mobos and do this. I think I would place it in an old freezer :)

[Wommalong]

Holy $*** man that kicks a$$ well done so like how much did that cost?:clap: :clap: :clap:

Well done

[FattyMcNastyXK]

add it up

[Stryfe]

Know what would make it even better? If you watercooled the whole thing. haha

That's a really nice setup, very tidy.

[kajj]

Originally posted by FattyMcNastyXK
so if I read all of gator's recipe, it would tell me how this all works and how to build it?

well, it would explain setting up the server OS. as far as the building goes, i think you'd have to ask around here for some tips from the pros.

[FattyMcNastyXK]

Thanks kajj. I'm always eager to learn something new. I was wondering, how those little pieces of wood are supposed to keep it all together? What kind of support are you going to use for that bad boy?

[DManeKid]

looks nice, im planning on doing this with 4 layers of dual mobo's and xp's within the next year...it would probably look a lot like yours since i like the design.....just a little farther apart and with 4 120mm fans (2 top and 2 bottom) not sure what im gunna do for the psu's yet, might have to just use 4.

[Yodums]

Wow, looks pro. Very clean.

[Wedo]

Dang it Stymee!!! I just finished another 5Ghz and you do this????? ARGH! :D

That is some GREAT work. You should really start pumping out some WU's this week.

Everytime I get going, you raise the bar, so I guess I'll have to start standing on a street corner with a sign, "Will network admin for available clock cycles." :D

Good job Stymee... great for the team, great for the cause, great for your stats, great for who ever is getting my money when I start buying hardware!!!

Wedo

[belorsch]

I wanna be just like stymee when I grow up! Great job guy.
Parts list with current price total including shipping to me area code. These are the closest parts I could find to his list, includes shipping. I assumed the hdd's were extras that were laying around.
6 1.2 durons
6 M7VKQ
3 Allied 300w psu's
7 128Mb Kingston value ram pc133

subtotal 777.00
SH _____ 18.00
........... 795.00

This is from uhh(not allowed to say?) one of those popular online places:)

[Hawk]

1 word! Awesome!!!!!

[Mr. Chambers]

exactly how much heat does that thing put out stymee? i've got 4 computers running in here day in and day out.. and my rooms fricken small (10x8ish) and it gets hotter than hell... just curious!

[stymee]

That thing does put out some heat, nothing the central air can't handle. I'm still able to keep the room around 25° on even the hottest days. It should actually cut down on my gas bill in the winter, though!

Belorsch was right on the money as far as prices go. With shipping and all the trial and error, I'd put the total figure around $1000.

As far as the spacing, I had about 18 inches of space (the width of the cabinet) to play with, and wanted 6 layers, so it came out to 3" per layer. That leaves about .5" for each fan to breathe. Not the greatest for cooling, but you can't overclock for crap with those Biostars anyhow. I was going more for density/low cost than overclockability. So far, stability has not been an issue, the only time they need to reboot is from power outages.

The way the mobos situated, they really don't need hardly any support at all, just a little something to keep them standing up. The .25" thick plywood base is just stiff enough to hold the whole thing up while I move it around. It all sits on a 5/8" thick particle board shelf in a cabinet, plenty stiff.

One of the coolest parts is the LED's built into the RJ45's on each mobo, they are flashing all the time, pretty neat.

Hopefully this beast will inspire a whole new batch of "monsters", I wanna see what y'all got!

[nikita@quebec]

hi there, im a new user of this forum. :beer:

i got one or two question for the dude who make that beautilful document; how-to-yatta.doc...

the first question is this one;
when i enter the command line, # ypinit -m, the consol tell me that command des not exist...did i forgot something?...
all of the 3 packages are succesfully installed..yp-tools..blabla..
so there was the first one.

the second is that line...

ddns-update-stylenone;... it freeze the system and i got to restart all over from the installation of linux...

if you can help me on my msn it will be great.. i got something like 8GigaHertz waiting for your team. and now i cant do anything with them.. :rolleyes:

thx
Nike

[plague]

Wow, somebody help this guy out:drool: That would be a nice addition to the team.

Sorry I can't be of any help, but I hope you get that up and running, maybe take some pics of the setup, too. Welcome to the Fold:beer:

[KLowD9x]

How many of those have you made?

[nikita@quebec]

its my first one.....but more comming soon

[Crash893]

how does it work with out power cables :)

looks very good

if i made one it would like like homer simpsons spice rack

[masitti]

How much does a Yatta Monster cost to make (ball park price...)

[nikita@quebec]

for me its cost around 200$ CDN...

200$ for one unit...

motherboard 86$
cpu 59$
ram 24$
power 29$

[masitti]

That's about $100 USD... what components are you using? Thanks for the help, I am thinking about assembling a Yatta (prolly 4-5 actual folding machines) for Xmas.

[nikita@quebec]

using:
Amd duron 1300... because its a FSB 200Mhz.. and its cheap
mother: Ecs K7sem266
Pc-133
300Watts..

edit: oh i forgot, i use micro atx because its small..:D

[KLowD9x]

Originally posted by stymee
Finally added the final (6th) layer, so I'd have to say I'm done for a while.

Mobo......M7VKQ (6)
CPU.......Duron 1.2 (6)
Memory....256MB PC133-server (1)
..........128MB PC133-each client (5)
Drives....Seagate 1.7GB-server (2)
PSU.......(3) Cogden 300W (3)
OS........Mandrake 8.2 with Gator's "Yattalinux" ltsp


The far left board is the "server", the other 5 are the diskless clients. Here (http://forum.oc-forums.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=107633&highlight=yattamonster) is the link to Gator's "How To", without which I could not have got this beast up and running. Each PSU runs 2 mobos, here (http://bane.free-dc.org/forum/showthread.php3?threadid=721) is some more info on how to do that.
http://bellsouthpwp.net/s/t/stymeedd/pics/Puter/YattaJrFinal002.jpg

I added 3 120mm fans to keep the air moving, dropped the temp in the cabinet by around 5°C.
http://bellsouthpwp.net/s/t/stymeedd/pics/Puter/YattaJrFinal003.jpg

I also made a little hard drive mount, I found that the drives really heated up when they were just sitting on top of eachother.
http://bellsouthpwp.net/s/t/stymeedd/pics/Puter/YattaJrFinal004.jpg

and you...How many have you made?

[Doc_Skurlock]

that is a sweet setup.
Nikita, let me be the first to say, WELCOME TO THE FORUMS, unless someone already said it. I have seen the light. I'm gonna put all my energy (and money, when I get it) into building something like this. Great idea.
Doc

[ShadowFolder]

:drool: :eek:

[Doc_Skurlock]

LOL whereismy386. You just gotta move around, spreading your drool everywhere eh?
Doc

ps it is indeed droolworthy

[portorock]

where are the #'s for folding, or is it up yet?

[ShadowFolder]

Originally posted by Doc_Skurlock
LOL whereismy386. You just gotta move around, spreading your drool everywhere eh?
Doc

ps it is indeed droolworthy
yep, i have no word 4 that...

[diggingforgold]

Awesome. But how much?

Puts my XP 2000+ to shame.

[ElroyCarbon]

Yeah man I've been meaning to post, that BEAST looks bad-ass! Great job and an A+ on creativity/ CYA!

[Wedo]

If you look at the dates of the original posts, you can see that Stymee's yatta-jr has been folding for a few months now. He built a great farm for a resonable sum of $$$, and continue to contributes to team 32.

In other words, Stymee rocks :D

Wedo

[AERO]

nice, wish it was folding for ocau hehe under my nickname (as im povo and dont even have anything contributing towards our team in folding) wouild also be ool if they were all dual cpu machines hehe that would be even better.
i am just amazed like i am at all the other fold monsters i have sen but this one has stumped me on the disakless thing.
im aware u can have a floppy dish that has a refined thing of linux and folding but i wasnt aware you could have a onlan boot thing., so when the pc boots up in bios u can make it boot via lan? and are these onboard lan cards ?
i always though to get thise onboard devices/pci devices working u had to have software loaded (apon boot) and as there is no floppy/hdd to load drivers from how does it get drivers to use the onboard lan if it hasnt got floppy or hdd to get them in the first place? (hehe im really confusing myself here) or is there sufficient drivers present within the bios to allow it to boot via lan in order to get the os and necessary files to fold on? hmmmm im like a baby to this. (only 1 os i know how to use that that is windows)

[Doc_Skurlock]

read the how to. It explains everything. There is a bios in the lan that enables it to boot. It sends for information to the server comp and the server sends the info back. Read the how to. I read it and understand a little. I need to re-read it. I suggest you do to.
Doc

[macklin01]

First off, that's some nice work!

To address earlier comments on what this sort of setup would be good for, this sort of setup can also be used for parallel computation, where you break a problem into smaller, parallel problems. One (or more) server(s) breaks a large problem into a series of parallel problems and distributes them to the various nodes. These nodes share memory over the LAN through the server(s). So, you can solve, for example, thermodynamics problems on really large domains with very tiny discretizations that would be too large for the memory space of any single computer in much faster time.

This is like a cheap version of a supercomputer, which operates in a similar fashion.

Here's a good story in Scientific American.

Part II (http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?articleID=000E238B-33EC-1C6F-84A9809EC588EF21)

(I can't find the first part, but this is pretty good.) -- Paul

[Doc_Skurlock]

good explanation
Doc

[macklin01]

Thanks, and my pleasure. ;) -- Paul

[Doc_Skurlock]

where'd yah learn that at? Teach yourself or what?
Doc

[SickBoy]

Someone up there mentioned doing this with dual CPU systems.... this would really throw a wrench into the system, for multiple reasons.

#1 a SMP CPU system needs to run seperate instances of folding, one for each CPU. Throws a kink into YattaLinux and unless you're really a guru may be kinda hard to do, though I am not totally sure.

#2 You really don't get any gain from running a YattaLinux setup with dual boards other than that you have to buy 1/2 the memory. Considering the dual Athlon boards generally cost 4 times as much as an M7MKQ this is a no-brainer.

#3 most of the dual Athlon boards don't have onboard LAN. Thus you'd need to add bootable LAN cards, thus taking up more space and making things more complex.

These kind of ideas are good and all, and maybe someday they can be addressed but you gotta admit there's no logical reason why, other than for the sake of solving the issues.

I personally would rather just get 4 to 6 nodes up and running on cheap boards and churning out WU'age for me.

sb

[Doc_Skurlock]

You know, I was wondering if dual cpu's would be worth it. Guess I'll just get a whole bunch of single proc mobo's and do my best to set one up. I'm glad that there are more knowledgeable people on this forum than me. I can really learn from you guys.
Doc

[DDsD]

Stymee,

The URL you linked to for the PSU powering more than one Mobo dosent seem to exist :( This is some information hotly debated over in the OCAU modding forums whether it is possible due to the mobo sending startup information to the PSU etc...

Is the link wrong ? or if the link is down, any chance of hooking us up with some brief info? I want to add it to the Modding Faq @ OCAU :)

[stymee]

Yep, that URL is gone. Too bad, cuz "Steve" had quite a nice write up with lots of pics.

Here (http://xtronics.com/reference/atx_pinout.htm) is a link showing the standard ATX pin out. I spliced each wire together except the green one (PS-ON), which I only connected to the primary mobo. I just left that wire dangling on the secondary mobo.

Here's the power on sequence:
1. Hit the POWER switch on the primary mobo. This actually boots up the primary board, and sends power to the secondary mobo, i.e. fan and LEDs turn on but no boot.
2. Hit the POWER switch for the second mobo. The secondary mobo boots.

I believe that the reset switches for each mobo work independantly of eachother, I don't know for sure because I only have power switches wired up on all the layers.

I don't know if its the best thing in the world for a psu or mobo, but when your talking about a $15 psu and a $45 mobo who cares?!?

Also, for those wondering, this Yatta Jr. is good for about 250 pts per week. I just powered it back up after an extended Thanksgiving break. Before that, it was up for something like 60 days straight.

[DDsD]

Cheers for that, i 'borrowed' your post for here -> http://forums.overclockers.com.au/showthread.php?s=&postid=1370229#post1370229

Hope thats cool :) if not.. erm hit me or something hehe :)

[sdave30]

I used your post here also - http://www.forumoc.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=41921&pagenumber=2 ...as well as a link to this thread...awesome setup!!!

[nikita@quebec]

sdave30.... you are right, this is professionel setup.. :D

i hope i can finish mine today...or tomorow 2 AM ;)

[ElroyCarbon]

Dude I'll say it again this thing rocks...........I cant sleep at night now knowing there is another crazy project waiting to be built. Awesome guys and great for the team as well. 6 XP 2100's would be nice huh, on A bunch of Epox Mobos runnin DDR. Oh and of course OC'd with a little cooling control from H2O. One heck of a res for that joker. man that would be nearly 15 - 18 WUs a day. CYA!!!

[Twinkle]

use the radiator form a lil import, that would suffice, i would think...

[Doc_Skurlock]

maybe. That'd be cool to have it watercooled too. Hook it up dude.
Doc

[ElroyCarbon]

Yeah we shall see. 6 2100's and 6 mobo's around 700 bucks, I have all the rest lying round. Maybe I'll donate my next bonus. That Linux would kick my a** though. Maybe a waterblock across the entire top of the mobos with material going down to the CPU. I'll have to consult with Masked on this one.

[LittlePiggie]

Originally posted by macklin01
First off, that's some nice work!

To address earlier comments on what this sort of setup would be good for, this sort of setup can also be used for parallel computation, where you break a problem into smaller, parallel problems. One (or more) server(s) breaks a large problem into a series of parallel problems and distributes them to the various nodes. These nodes share memory over the LAN through the server(s). So, you can solve, for example, thermodynamics problems on really large domains with very tiny discretizations that would be too large for the memory space of any single computer in much faster time.

This is like a cheap version of a supercomputer, which operates in a similar fashion.

Here's a good story in Scientific American.

Part II (http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?articleID=000E238B-33EC-1C6F-84A9809EC588EF21)

(I can't find the first part, but this is pretty good.) -- Paul

the first cluster computer was built in the late 80s early 90s by the Chudnovsky brothers to compute pi. They set the world record at 2.something billion digits. their machine was called m zero and was comparable to the most powerful cray at the time.

[ElroyCarbon]

AHh I see you too read the Guiness book of world records. I have all 4 hardcovers from 98-2002.

Here is one for ya

Fatsest Computer:

The fastest supercomputer is the RS/6000 ASCI White, which was completed by IBM in June of 2000. It is capable of producing 12 Trillion calculations per second. It has more than 6 Trillion bytes of memory along with 100 terebytes of storage. Hmm I think I found a machine that needs recruiting. Tha Sucker would crank out the WU's huh. Its a yatta the size of 2 basketball courts. :D

[nikita@quebec]

i finally completed my farm, its name: Dragon Farm
based on ecs k7sem, duron 1300, 128 meg ram
i only have one client up, but more comming soon, maybe up to 10 clients... with 10 dragons, did i get a name like dragon keaper? :D

[nikita@quebec]

i found 3 mistake in the yatta-how-to document, tomorrow i will send it to gator, the great autor...

[LittlePiggie]

Originally posted by ElroyCarbon
AHh I see you too read the Guiness book of world records. I have all 4 hardcovers from 98-2002.

Here is one for ya

Fatsest Computer:

The fastest supercomputer is the RS/6000 ASCI White, which was completed by IBM in June of 2000. It is capable of producing 12 Trillion calculations per second. It has more than 6 Trillion bytes of memory along with 100 terebytes of storage. Hmm I think I found a machine that needs recruiting. Tha Sucker would crank out the WU's huh. Its a yatta the size of 2 basketball courts. :D

I never read this in the GBoWR, I read it in an article in the 92 New Yorker. Linky: http://www.barryland.com/pi.html

A very good read.

[Doc_Skurlock]

Originally posted by ElroyCarbon
AHh I see you too read the Guiness book of world records. I have all 4 hardcovers from 98-2002.

Here is one for ya

Fatsest Computer:

The fastest supercomputer is the RS/6000 ASCI White, which was completed by IBM in June of 2000. It is capable of producing 12 Trillion calculations per second. It has more than 6 Trillion bytes of memory along with 100 terebytes of storage. Hmm I think I found a machine that needs recruiting. Tha Sucker would crank out the WU's huh. Its a yatta the size of 2 basketball courts. :D

Man, if I had that bad boy, I'd.........Fold the crap outta it. I'd have it doing so many wu's it'd go nuts. LOL
Doc

ps We NEED to recruit that.

[viking84]

ok santa, for christmas I want 5 mobo's, 5 xp processors, 2 harddrives, 3 psu's, a rumpload of fans, and RAM....(make sure its DDR, and lots of it)....Thanks!


PS- ill leave out the milk and cookies for you


some posts are stickys...and others just have drool all over them

beautiful job on the setup dude!

[Doc_Skurlock]

[i]


some posts are stickys...and others just have drool all over them

beautiful job on the setup dude! [/B]

AMEN

[LittlePiggie]

I am following in the footsteps of greatness..........

Ordered 8 mobos today. 200 for all 8. Ask me for the link if you want. sweet deal.

I'm going to use 1.3 durons or athlons, and Mosix for the sharing.

i will keep it scalable and add another layer of 8 in the future (next next paycheck).

I am looking forward to this.... :drool:

I'm thinking of busting onto the folding scene with 20.8ghz of pure AMD speed. :sn: yeah.

[Doc_Skurlock]

Originally posted by LittlePiggie


I'm thinking of busting onto the folding scene with 20.8ghz of pure AMD speed. :sn: yeah.

OH YEAH

[cryogen97]

mmmmmmm....yummy. I'd love to do this, although I think it's gonna be a fall project. New school loans at that time means a couple new toys too :) I wonder what the prices are gonna be like then to run over 20Ghz...

[Seal]

Originally posted by LittlePiggie
I am following in the footsteps of greatness..........

Ordered 8 mobos today. 200 for all 8. Ask me for the link if you want. sweet deal.

I'm going to use 1.3 durons or athlons, and Mosix for the sharing.

i will keep it scalable and add another layer of 8 in the future (next next paycheck).

I am looking forward to this.... :drool:

I'm thinking of busting onto the folding scene with 20.8ghz of pure AMD speed. :sn: yeah.


Sweet, link for 8mobos for 200 pls?

Thx
Seal

[nikita@quebec]

maybe not tthe link, but plz tell us what is the mobo... ecs?

[ElroyCarbon]

awesomw LITTLE I may have to snap too, but not wit no ECS. 8 times the problems LOL JK of course, way to go.

[Seal]

i was thinking of making a folding farm but i was thinking along the lines of a few shuttles. :)

[Doc_Skurlock]

shuttle it, wooot. Good luck with the 8 mobos and whatnot.
Doc

[MrKillington]

umm... I'm still massively confused on how to use one psu for two mobos. all the psus I've ever had only have the one primary power cable for the mobo... did you run two wires out of each socket, with one going to each mobo? Or is there a more graceful solution?
<edit>
I just realized how stupid that is... you just remove the plastic case thing and splice all the wires, duh. Ok, my question now is this: can I buy more little plastic casey... thingies online? or do I just stuff the wires into the mobo slot?

[LittlePiggie]

actually, the mobos are Asus a7v-ve boards. HP -bleh-.

heres the linky

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2078310675

update to the madness.

14 processors to complete the first nodule (it's what I'm calling a group of nodes) with a total of 5 possible nodules.

[bubba gump]

Wow, all of this is amazing.....:drool:

[OSUmaxx]

Originally posted by MrKillington

I just realized how stupid that is... you just remove the plastic case thing and splice all the wires, duh. Ok, my question now is this: can I buy more little plastic casey... thingies online? or do I just stuff the wires into the mobo slot?

You can just buy ATX power connector extensions and splice those in. You have everything you need that way. Don't just stuff the wires into the mobo!

[stymee]

There are two schools of thought for splicing the power cables.

One is to actually make a "Y" connector, this way you can return the PSU to single duty easy enough.

The other way is to actually splice directly into the existing PSU wires.

I chose the latter since I knew I wasn't going to be using these PSU's for anything else. Just connect all of the wires except for the green one to the secondary mobo. That easy.

I used wire nuts for all the splicing. The secondary connectors I used were actually ones I clipped off of some old AT PSU's I had layin' around. Same connector, but different color wires which made it a little more confusing. All in all, you can splice one PSU in about an hour. Unless you decide to solder everything, in which case you are completely mad.

I wish I could say that I haven't had any problems with the set up so far, but after the last round of power outages (crazy southeast ice storms), one of the PSU's has not powered back up. I still need to get a chance to pull the beast out of the cabinet and get a closer look. I'll keep y'all posted.

I'm really glad that the interest in building folding "mosters" is continuing to grow. Just keep it up, and fold on!

[Seal]

yeah, hopefully soon overclockers will have a crack team of folding farms. l33t!

[Doc_Skurlock]

Mine is building slowly, just got my 1.3ghz P3 up folding and a pentium 200mhz folding as well, kinda. The P3 folds constantly, and I'm in the works to get two more computers without hard drives so I'm gonna set those up as full time folders. Just need to download the managing software and whatnot. My farm may be small, but I'll have 40 acres soon enough. ;)
Doc

[Aegis_Fang]

Wicked Cool Stymee !

Something about the sight of so much hardware makes you want to build your own of course. HeHe.

Well it got me thinking and while the diskless "blade" and yattamonster is minimalist(no disk/case) I thought I could balance ease of use (less physical labor). I haven't ordered the stuff yet but I'm certainly tempted 80%.

I realize the original post was 3months old so my numbers will be off a bit but here's my basis. Those original 6 blades are at a cost of $110/Ghz by my calculations. $795/7.2Ghz. Here's my plan.

Mobo........Shuttle MK32N (5)
CPU..........Athlon XP 2000+ (5)
Memory....128MB DDR2100 (5)
Drives.....Seagate 1.6GB (5)
Case/PSU..Aopen H340D (5)
OS........Take your pick

While not as pretty they would probably be about the same height as 6 in your setup since I only have 5 units. The H340 cases are only 3.74" high and will stack well. Scouring the net I was able to get this down to $225/unit shipped. MB/CPU/RAM bundle from one store. The drives from ebay and the case from another store (possibly cheaper if I can find local). Which works out to $225/2Ghz = $112.50/Ghz. The initial system is 10Ghz.

As it has been 3 months I can only assume your blade cost has gone down though I don't know how much. The benefits of my configuration are A) DDR Memory, B) Athlon XP core optimiations, C) fully enclosed systems, D) fewer "blades".

Being in the yatta thread you could of couse run diskless, but I would probably prefer the disk route. They key here is stores sell small 500MB-2GB system pulls for about $8/ea shipped in quantities of 5. Also you could go to XP2100s and end up with a 10.5Ghz system for the same $/Ghz. Today you might be able to find some B stepping cores which will overclock nicely.

Demending on how my other XMas shopping goes I might have time to order and build it by then. Why do we do these things? Oh right, because we CAN! Thanks for the inspiration. :)

[MrKillington]

Yeah, but that just doesn't have the neatness or testosterone of a yattamonster... some people deck out cars, some deck out computers.

[macklin01]

Hmm, I looked at Aopen's site at that case. (top google hit was in Japanese, but the pictures were international.) I'd be a bit worried about airflow with those cases with overclocking AMD's, but it's a good approach in terms of economies of scale and bundling.

The idea of having at least some local "scratch space" hdd space for each node is also a good one.

-- Paul

[Aegis_Fang]

Heat is definitely a concern with a micro form factor like that. I have a Shuttle P4 2.4Ghz and with the heatpipe and fan it's adequate but not for overclocking. Of course it doesn't help having a Radeon 9700 Pro in there. ;)

I've already been thinking of taking it external if I can come up with an adequate shelter from the elements. I'm in New England so ambient temps now are in the teens. :)

I'm on a third floor with a small porch that's perfect.

[Jeniva]

Wow, Nice Job, Super Hero like even (what movie is that from?) Very clean, and very impressive...hmmm...maybe I should attempt something like that..

[diggingforgold]

How much did this rig cost? I wouldn't mind contributing a litte bit to folding in a rig like this. My room does get very cold (two windows, drafty, winter, michigan), and it would also make for a nice heater- if not a good folding machine.

[hummerb]

Well done, stymee. How did you mount the mobos to the frame. It looks like slots were cut for sliding the mobo in but then there are also 2 screws on either side at each mobo. Would you mind elaborating on this part of the setup?

[Doc_Skurlock]

yeah, I was curious about that part as well. Tell us more, please
Doc

[MrKillington]

How much did this rig cost?
He mentioned earlier in the thread that it cost about $1000... I too, am interested in the frame portion of the setup.

[MrKillington]

<edit>
Could someone delete this? It was an accident, lol.

[Doc_Skurlock]

accidentally post twice?
Doc

[MrKillington]

Yeah, the server went down, I got a busy error, so I hit it again.. doh.

[Doc_Skurlock]

I hate it when that happens.
Doc

[surlyjoe]

WOW! add 1 more "awesome" on there would ya...

[stymee]

Well, Jr's back up to full strength again (watch out Ned!). The power outage from the big ice storm killed one of my PSU's. I just spliced in another and its smooth sailing again.

For those wondering, the cage is made from a 1/4" thick plywood base that is covered with iron-on melanine coating (I bought everything at Lowes). Then I cut out small srips to guide the mobo. The "retainer bar" and uprights are made from poplar 1/4 x 2's screwed in very carefully. I ran some screws thru the top bar to keep the mobo's upright. Add a little diagonal wire in the back to keep everything nice and stable and viola. The whole cage set me back at most $30 in materials.

There are some more details in this (http://forum.oc-forums.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=109433) thread.

I took some pics of the PSU splicing process, I'll be posting those in a new thread for anyone interested.

Fold On, and happy holidays! :beer::beer:

[Seal]

can we have more pix of it, its uber cool! lots o pix pls.

[Doc_Skurlock]

Great job stymee.
Doc

[Flashfx2]

That must be the coolest thing i've ever seen! I want one!

[hummerb]

hi, stymee,

I was hoping you might be willing to elaborate on your set up some more. What did you do to get the mobos to boot remotely? I ask because I have a very similar mobo and the dhcp setup I'm currently using isn't being triggered. Would you post your dhcp.conf file and any special notes about this part of the process? Please include anything like PXE-related info as well.

Thanks.

[zachj]

It seems that Via C3 processors are rediculously inexpensive. Would these be worthwhile folding machines? I can get a 1ghz for 38 bucks or something crazy like that. They run a lot cooler than does the Athlon or Duron, so they could be placed more closely together and perhaps could even run fanless? What kinda' WUage could be expected from a C3 as apposed to a similar 100mhz FSB processor? FYI, that is the coolest thing I've ever seen. Don't know if that's a problem or not . . .:rolleyes:

Thanks

Z

[OSUmaxx]

Originally posted by zachj
It seems that Via C3 processors are rediculously inexpensive. Would these be worthwhile folding machines? I can get a 1ghz for 38 bucks or something crazy like that. They run a lot cooler than does the Athlon or Duron, so they could be placed more closely together and perhaps could even run fanless? What kinda' WUage could be expected from a C3 as apposed to a similar 100mhz FSB processor? FYI, that is the coolest thing I've ever seen. Don't know if that's a problem or not . . .:rolleyes:

Thanks

Z

I've heard that you should absolutely stay away from VIA chips, they will fold VERY slowly. Someone else can confirm this I'm sure.

[none1]

Originally posted by hummerb
hi, stymee,

I was hoping you might be willing to elaborate on your set up some more. What did you do to get the mobos to boot remotely? I ask because I have a very similar mobo and the dhcp setup I'm currently using isn't being triggered. Would you post your dhcp.conf file and any special notes about this part of the process? Please include anything like PXE-related info as well.

Thanks.

Hummerb, you might try posting a new thread, something like "farm config help needed" or something. Not all the farmers read this thread, but there are a bunch of us with linux farms.

Problem is, that thread could go in folding, in seti, or in alternate OS sections. <shrugs>


Are you using LTSP? Have you read the yattahowto document? You also might try the ocsetiteam.com web site, there is a how to set up a diskless cluster there, it at least takes you to getting boot ups, then you would need to change the startup script from seti to folding.

Both the yattahowto and the diskless seti how to have sample dhcp config files. Also read up in LTSP on an add on package called "pxestuff", with it you don't have to have a boot disk image with your exact NIC, it just takes care of stuff.

Good luck! I've got 7 machines doing seti diskless, and those hard drive savings add up! :)

[zachj]

Got a new question . . . Mac OSX is unix based and can run folding@home and will also act as a server. Is it possible to have a G4 tower (AGP Graphics if you care) as the server?

Z

[none1]

Originally posted by zachj
Got a new question . . . Mac OSX is unix based and can run folding@home and will also act as a server. Is it possible to have a G4 tower (AGP Graphics if you care) as the server?

Z

I'm assuming you mean can macosx be the network OS server, serving the os to diskless nodes.

This one prob needs to be in the als os forum. Quick answer is "maybe, but with a lot of work, probably not".

Most folks use LTSP = Linux Terminal Server Project. LTSP was designed to make diskless workstations easy, so even unix n00bs can use it. There may be a similar thing for macosx, I don't know.

Two thoughts,

A) LTSP uses functionality built into the most recent DHCPD service. I should think any "unix" variant should have this funtionality.

B) Mac does not do a good job of being open, and my guess is macosx won't let you boot a copy of its own kernal.

My guess would be to use the generic funtions of DHCPD in macosx (if they work) and boot a custom linux kernal.

Good luck, the folks in alt os forum can probably help more.

[zachj]

I was just wondering. It was just a thought . . .You said that there were plenty of people here with farms? When you say that, do you mean folding farms, or farms in general. I searched and couldn't find any threads on farms, not even this one(?). If there are people that use farms for parallel computing, for video or graphics or something, could you point me to a thread or a link or something? This subject is very interesting, and it offers advantages to anyone looking to make a folding farm, as it can serve dual purposes and perhaps help persuade the money giving units (read "parents") to help out some of those interested in making one, although I doubt that that functionality would really sway them . . .

Thanks

Z

[flixotide]

Originally posted by stymee
Finally added the final (6th) layer, so I'd have to say I'm done for a while.
........................................
I also made a little hard drive mount, I found that the drives really heated up when they were just sitting on top of eachother.


I really just wanna say one thing.... awesome!

Respect!

Cheers, Flixotide

[none1]

Originally posted by zachj
I was just wondering. It was just a thought . . .You said that there were plenty of people here with farms? When you say that, do you mean folding farms, or farms in general. I searched and couldn't find any threads on farms, not even this one(?). If there are people that use farms for parallel computing, for video or graphics or something, could you point me to a thread or a link or something? This subject is very interesting, and it offers advantages to anyone looking to make a folding farm, as it can serve dual purposes and perhaps help persuade the money giving units (read "parents") to help out some of those interested in making one, although I doubt that that functionality would really sway them . . .

Thanks

Z

Try searching for "diskless" "yatta" or "LTSP" and see if that helps.

I seti, not fold. :) Over in seti, we talk about "diskless clusters" or diskless farms. Over in folding, for whatever reason, they talk about yatta. Yattamonster, yattahowto, etc. If you check out the folding FAQ sticky, I think there is a yattamonster how to by gator about three posts down, that explains step by step how to set up a linux based diskless folding farm.

Over at http://www.ocsetiteam.com/ under links, there is a howto for a diskless seti farm.

Both guides above use LTSP, the linux terminal server project, located at http://www.ltsp.org/

Good luck!

[zachj]

Thanks for the search suggestions. What I am wondering, though, is if people use those for other tasks than folding/seti. If there are people out there using many processors to crunch video or something like that, I want to know how they're doing it and what with. I know somebody (Piggie I think it is) is setting one up, hopefully to create an AI for himself, but he hasn't suggested how he's gonna' do it, other than to say he'll program it. I realize he'd have to program an AI, but I'm sure the software to set up a large parallel computing envirnoment is out there. I'm thinking that Beowulf(sp) is what I need here, but I don't know if that's true, how to set it up, or what I can do with it. My school set up a cluster and did a test and got a very bad number back (I think it was less than a single DP Mac G4) using PIIIs, but they're pretty old, so maybe that's why.

Thanks again

Z

[macklin01]

beowulf is the correct approach, afaik. -- Paul

[LittlePiggie]

Originally posted by zachj
Thanks for the search suggestions. What I am wondering, though, is if people use those for other tasks than folding/seti. If there are people out there using many processors to crunch video or something like that, I want to know how they're doing it and what with. I know somebody (Piggie I think it is) is setting one up, hopefully to create an AI for himself, but he hasn't suggested how he's gonna' do it, other than to say he'll program it. I realize he'd have to program an AI, but I'm sure the software to set up a large parallel computing envirnoment is out there. I'm thinking that Beowulf(sp) is what I need here, but I don't know if that's true, how to set it up, or what I can do with it. My school set up a cluster and did a test and got a very bad number back (I think it was less than a single DP Mac G4) using PIIIs, but they're pretty old, so maybe that's why.

Thanks again

Z

there are several approaches, two of which I have looked into. MOSIX (http://www.mosix.com) and Yatta which is what the yattamonster used. since mosix needs the same file on every client to run properly, I will use the network boot system (LTSP) to boot the nodes and load the mosix files.

and yes I am going to program:eek: (oh the humanity!!!) the AI to utilize the pool. If one doesn't take it all up, I'll make twins ;):D.

[zachj]

Other than for S&G and bragging rights, what could this be used for? I don't do too much stuff that even fully utilizes my 1700+, but encoding video is my all-time biggest peeve and hate. I loath it. If I could use something like that to cut down on the encoding times, that would actually give me a reason to make one. But I fear that a monster will end up much like the Mac I'm using now. A not-so-well-thoughtout purchase in which I spent way too much money thinking that I would use it all the time, that it was better, and that it would be a lot of fun. Alas, though, it was only fun for about a day. And now I miss my money. I was saving for the be-all-end-all laptop for college. Now I've cut my budget in less than half. The worst part is, if I want to sell it, I should really upgrade it. While I payed 560 (including shipping . . .) for a 350G4, I think that I would more than make up my losses if I upgraded to a 1ghz or DP800 and a Radeon 8500. And while I guess I might end up making a mistake trying to sell a Mac with a flahed PC 8500, I don't think it will hurt to try. But that's enough of a tangent. If you could tell me the ways that it would be worth my while, I'd appreciate it. I assume it can't be utilized to make games go faster (which I wish it could be . . .BAH!) or anything. Other than folding, though, it's gonna be Mac2.

Thanks

Z

[none1]

1) There are linux based rendering solutions, I DL one once, don't remember the name right now. Basically, you split up your video clips into parts, and farm them out to seperate computers, and each computer renders its small video part, and sends them back to the server. This is a client server application, NOT a beawolf type cluster application.

2) Encryption /decryption ........ research. IF one were going to test, just for examples sake, a parallel decryption algorythm to see how long it would take to crack a windows 2000 password table, THEN it would be much faster with multiple machines. Nuff said.

3) Of course, I veiw seti alone as purposeful justification.

:-)

[zachj]

So basically, what you're saying is, unless my purposes for one are very advanced, there's no need to waste my time and money, unless I want to fold/Set?

Z

[macklin01]

That's about right. Large parallel-processing setups are best for massive computational projects that lend themselves to parallelization, such as seti, folding, movie rendering (on the order of pixar), computational fluid mechanics, etc. And in many of these areas, you can still make significant progress with a single-processor machine in the beginning while developing and debugging your algorithms. -- Paul

[zachj]

All I want to do is encode video faster and play games faster. It's a shame that such things are not designed to benefit from 'Monsters. BAH! I guess my aging 1700+ and craptastic mobo will have to be sold on eBay.

Z

[macklin01]

Hmm, 1.5 GHz on an AMD is pretty good! Maybe first just get a new mobo and some additional RAM? (What's your OS? If you have XP, then you certainly will want 256 MB more of RAM.)

-- Paul

[garwain]

stymee, I remember it being asked before, but I can't seem to find an answer. Where did you get those power buttons?

I either need to add power buttons to my monster, or get a longer screwdriver ;) I've been trying at the local computer shops and radioscrap , but they only have replacement switches/ buttons for old AT PSUs.

[none1]

Originally posted by garwain
stymee, I remember it being asked before, but I can't seem to find an answer. Where did you get those power buttons?

I either need to add power buttons to my monster, or get a longer screwdriver ;) I've been trying at the local computer shops and radioscrap , but they only have replacement switches/ buttons for old AT PSUs.

I go mine here:
http://www.dalco.com/moreinfo.cfm?Product_ID=4907

Dalco Part #: 62857

way beats the screw driver! :-)

[nemisys]

I tried to follow the link on how the PSU's were done but keep getting a Not Found error. DOes anyone have a good link on how this was done?

[zachj]

I know I need more RAM. I can't play BF:1942 very fast because of it (RAM hog if you don't know . . .). 256 should be listed as the minimum requirement on the box . . .I know that the 1700+ is plenty fast enough, but there are a few problems with the setupd as a whole. First, the board. It's stable (unless all the video related issues are to do with the board) as hell, but it won't overclock. The stepping on the CPU is the worst one they make and my power supply (or mobo) regulates voltages very badly, causing voltages to be nearly 1 over on the 12V and just as much in the other rails . . .It's rediculous! I only want a new processor and board, and probably RAM with a little more overclocking headroom. I would never pay for the new 2800+ or anything just for 333mhz fsb. I'll do that myself if I get the other stuff. And the video card is showing its age, in my opinion. I have to turn down the settings on BF:1942 and such, although this may be RAM related. And encoding sucks no matter how fast it's done, so maybe that's just a personal problem.

Z

[stymee]

Originally posted by nemisys
I tried to follow the link on how the PSU's were done but keep getting a Not Found error. DOes anyone have a good link on how this was done?

Try this (http://forum.oc-forums.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=155371)!

Originally posted by garwain
stymee, I remember it being asked before, but I can't seem to find an answer. Where did you get those power buttons?

Here's what I used, found them at Radio Shack. Just plain momentary switches (make sure default position is NO CONNECTION).


http://bellsouthpwp.net/s/t/stymeedd/pics/Puter/mswitch.gif





edit: had garwain's quote from nemisys

[Doc_Skurlock]

Cool, thanks. I'm gonna start work on one soon, and you're the inspiration.
Doc

[hummerb]

Originally posted by none1

<SNIP/>
HAre you using LTSP? Have you read the yattahowto document? You also might try the ocsetiteam.com web site, there is a how to set up a diskless cluster there, it at least takes you to getting boot ups, then you would need to change the startup script from seti to folding.

Both the yattahowto and the diskless seti how to have sample dhcp config files. Also read up in LTSP on an add on package called "pxestuff", with it you don't have to have a boot disk image with your exact NIC, it just takes care of stuff.

Good luck! I've got 7 machines doing seti diskless, and those hard drive savings add up! :)

Well, I was using FreeBSD at the time and have switched to Linux w/ LTSP. Problem has come down to the fact that my mobo only responds to RPL instead of PXE. (Probably why the mobos were so cheap). I'm looking into the RPLd now but will have to live with the floppies in the mean time.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

UPDATE: With a little help from google, I found a site that helped me configure rpld to transfer an etherboot rom to my M810L motherboard. once transferred the rest of the LTSP network boot worked flawlessly. For those with Sis900 network cards take a look at http://131.130.199.155/~aoe/mystuff/rpld/

[none1]

Originally posted by hummerb




UPDATE: With a little help from google, I found a site that helped me configure rpld to transfer an etherboot rom to my M810L motherboard. once transferred the rest of the LTSP network boot worked flawlessly. For those with Sis900 network cards take a look at http://131.130.199.155/~aoe/mystuff/rpld/

Um, this really is kind of big, getting the sis to work with LTSP. I'll try to look into this this weekend, one of my machines IS an 810, that I have to use a floppy with. Some folks had been hacking the 810 bios to shove pxe code into the bios, they say it works, but I wasn't too keen on hacking my bios, rpld sounds more comfortable.

Can you post or PM me with your dhcp.conf and rpld.conf entries for the sis900? Did you have to do anything else special?

Thanks much!

[hummerb]

Originally posted by none1


Can you post or PM me with your dhcp.conf and rpld.conf entries for the sis900? Did you have to do anything else special?



The only deviation was to use rpld to feed the etherboot rom to the 810. Your current/the example dhcp.conf should be fine.

rpld is only available by source (i used the 1.7 version): http://gimel.esc.cam.ac.uk/james/rpld/index.html

I grabbed the si900 lzrom image from htto://www.rom-o-matic

here's my /etc/rpld.conf (each sis900 node would be a separate HOST block):
HOST {
ethernet=00:07:95:43:09:d0;
FILE {
path="/rplboot/sis900.lzrom";
load=0xd00;
};
execute=0xd06;
};

[crash16]

:drool: :drool: me likes.... hehe nice work!

[edwyr]

With the boards all functioning, what is a cumulative bogomips rating?

[SniperXX]

Just saw this and that has got me :drool: , very cool!