Question about CPU and GPU Wu output

[Cuper]

Hey,

I am thinking about putting together a new (semi inexpensive) computer for work and was wondering if there was a site for WU output. I am not looking to overclock or anything just wondering roughly what I should expect.

thanks

[Codeman05]

There isn't really a consolidated place with this information unfortunately, searching our site or the s@h site is the best bet.
QuietIce did put together a thread in this forum with data for several CUDA cards recently.

What kinda of system where you thinking about building? I'm sure we can give you a fairly decent idea of what you could expect.

[Careface]

Hey mate :)

By 'WU output' do you mean RAC? If so, there are some great threads around OCF (or the SETI forum - which is down at the moment... for me, anyway) which give you these numbers.

If you're looking for price/performance ratio, well, I'm not sure about CPUs, but I'm pretty sure the sweet spot for price/performance is the GTX216 for GPUs. I run one on a single core CPU with CPU crunching disabled (i.e. entirely GPU-only crunching) and I get ~12500-13000 RAC overclocked.. stock, probably somewhere around 11-11.5k RAC.

CPU wise, as I said not sure on pricing, but even the 'best' CPU will be out-crunched by a reasonably high-mid/low-high end GPU (if you know what I mean.. top of the middle/bottom of the top class)... seriously, those things are beasts :santa:.

From what I remember, a i7 920 at stock will get ~6-7k RAC w/ HT on (correct me if I'm wrong!) Probably 4-5k RAC w/ HT off

If by 'WU output' you mean something else, then I apologise! What I've just said probably isn't overly helpful lol

[Kryten451]

I'll second that. I took Duner and Careface's advice earlier and bought one 260-216.. and I am pleased with the price/performance.. and in fact just picked up a second card. These cards were upgrades for my 9800 GTs, and I wanted more performance, yet I still love these 9800s.

If you want to try another angle for greatest bang for the buck, try this calculation: Pick a few cards that are in the BOINC CUDA support list.., determine the GFLOPS for each model.. then, find their AS-SHIPPED price (total price + tax and shipping) from a few places like Newegg and Amazon. Then divide the cost by the GFLOPS and that should render the cheapest $ per GFLOP deal.

I think you'll find the lower end CUDA cards offer the best deal per GFLOP.

[Cuper]

HOLY CR-P!!! Didn't know that GPUs were that good. I really have lost track of the computer market in the last 3 years, I would be embarrassed posting up what I use:D

I was thinking of building something off the i5 chip but really have no clue anymore. Do they push out tons more RAC than the Core 2 Quad's?

[FloridaBear]

HOLY CR-P!!! Didn't know that GPUs were that good. I really have lost track of the computer market in the last 3 years, I would be embarrassed posting up what I use:D

I was thinking of building something off the i5 chip but really have no clue anymore. Do they push out tons more RAC than the Core 2 Quad's?

Cuper, here's a link that compares my Core i7 (and this is basically stock speed of 2.8GHz) to a Core 2 Duo. I always run 8 threads; so I'm running about 4 times the RAC as the Core 2. So this chip should be about 2x as fast as a C2Q at 2.5 GHz or so. I don't have any info on the core i5 so I can't speak about that.

http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/workunit.php?wuid=586263224

It took awhile to find someone running the optimized client...come ON people ;-)

[none1]

Can we add the GTX 216 numbers to quietice's cuda thread?

[QuietIce]

I'd be happy to add it in but I'll need all the information on it. The nVidia wiki page doesn't list a "GTX216" and there are several cards that use the GT216 core so I'd need shader:mapping:render numbers, core speed, core, etc.


Edit:
DOH! I guess you mean a GTX260 w/216 shaders? I'll add it as soon as Careface posts the speed he's running ... :)

[Cuper]

WOW! Ran across a chart showing cost for some of the cards.... Don't know what I am going to do now. I am running about .15 per kwh as opposed to .2 but still, don't feel like paying $300 to $1000 per year for Seti crunching.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-radeon-power,2122-3.html

[Duner]

Yep, I'm using ~$100 per month in pure SETI juice.

[Cuper]

Yep, I'm using ~$100 per month in pure SETI juice.

Wow that is crazy. What do you have running? WU output?

[Duner]

It's all in my sig, running 24/7.

3 x GTX 260, 9800GX2, 2 x 9800GT, 8800GT, 9600GT, Phenom 9500, Propus 620, Q9300 and old school A64 3500+.

My DAC is at 69000 right now.

[Kryten451]

I just bought a second GTX260-216sp so as to have a pair in the same machine.. to my chagrin, I found that due to a custom GPU back-plate (part of manufacturers special heat-sync/fan).. it is not possible to mount these cards side by side.. or in any way within this ATX motherboard/mid-tower rig configuration. Since I want to use both cards, I am at a loss on how I might achieve this. I removed the GPU fan shroud which let me install both, side-by-side, but the make-shift fans I rigged up failed to cool the GPUs sufficiently.

Also I have been running a single 9800GT 24/7 but still have not reached peak RAC

[QuietIce]

I'm guessing that GTX216 = GTX260 w/216 shaders? If so, I still need Careface's OC speed to post it in the CUDA thread ... :)