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Couple of Questions
- Thread starter samuraisam
- Start date
OP
- Joined
- Nov 9, 2004
- Thread Starter
- #22
What about this motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=13-138-234&depa=0
has anybody tried one of these?
They're small, (smaller power requirements) and have everything needed built onboard.
-Sam
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=13-138-234&depa=0
has anybody tried one of these?
They're small, (smaller power requirements) and have everything needed built onboard.
-Sam
OP
- Joined
- Nov 9, 2004
- Thread Starter
- #23
I think I'm going to get those motherboards.
So, we have the first order, pretty much...
3x Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=13-138-234&depa=0
3x Chip
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=19-103-436&depa=0
3x RAM
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=20-161-615&depa=0
3x CPU Cooler
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=35-103-146&depa=0
3x Power Supply
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=17-171-002&depa=0
Tell me what you think!
-Sam
So, we have the first order, pretty much...
3x Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=13-138-234&depa=0
3x Chip
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=19-103-436&depa=0
3x RAM
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=20-161-615&depa=0
3x CPU Cooler
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=35-103-146&depa=0
3x Power Supply
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=17-171-002&depa=0
Tell me what you think!
-Sam
- Joined
- Dec 24, 2002
We need a new contest. Folding Rigs on the cheep. Winner builds the cheepest folding rig with off the retail parts (non ebay).
- Joined
- Sep 7, 2003
- Location
- Warsaw, Poland
I think that you can get slower mobiles cheaper and OC them.
Biostar mobo - no idea how that performs.
CM cooler - in my opinion it's not the best solution - for around $13 you can get all-copper Zalman ripoff aka PC cooler, eventually for around $10 Al-Cu version.
They haven't got that good base finish, but it's sufficient. Eventual lapping would improve OC results. These coolers don't need mobo holes, like Zalman and come with speed regulator.
PSU - looks good and with so low power needed, you could eventually replace fan in it with Arcitc Cooling pro fan (max $3).
Such combo should allow moderate OC at minimum noise. Without hdd, these should be almost noiseless.
Biostar mobo - no idea how that performs.
CM cooler - in my opinion it's not the best solution - for around $13 you can get all-copper Zalman ripoff aka PC cooler, eventually for around $10 Al-Cu version.
They haven't got that good base finish, but it's sufficient. Eventual lapping would improve OC results. These coolers don't need mobo holes, like Zalman and come with speed regulator.
PSU - looks good and with so low power needed, you could eventually replace fan in it with Arcitc Cooling pro fan (max $3).
Such combo should allow moderate OC at minimum noise. Without hdd, these should be almost noiseless.
- Joined
- Nov 25, 2001
- Location
- Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada
I think you can cheap out the RAM to 256Mb if these are pure dedicated rigs and you run a trimmed and slimmed linux console install on them. Should be able to get the OS using less than 32Mb when booted, 224Mb left for bigpackets, that's possibly more than is left after booting a stock XP Pro install on 512Mb. Since you've picked an Nforce board it would be great if you could find 2 x cheapie 128Mb modules, maybe get an extra few percent on bigpackets from that since they are heavy RAM users. I just saw these http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=20-141-169&depa=1 Which would probably be fine if you stick to 166Mhz FSB. If you stuck a wanted post in classies for 128Mb sticks though you might get a few at good prices that way, since a lot of people were buying them here when dual channel was new, and have since been forced to 2x256 or more by MS bloat.
Now the trouble with that mobo and CPU combination, is that ideally you want to find something that overclocks nice to an official FSB speed. I think the 2600s have a high default multi, such that bumping the FSB to the next official level might be a bit of a hairpuller for getting everything working stably. I am not sure though whether they use a 15x or a 16x multi. If they are a 16x multi, it would probably be hoping for too much that you don't have to fiddle and test a lot to get them stable straight off. However if they are 15x multi it may not be so much of a problem, as good as mobiles are as overclockers, pushing them over 2.5G can still be a bugger. I mean it's fine in one rig that you've got all day to play with, but if you just want to set it up and forget about it, it's relying on too much luck. Hmmm I'm getting to be fairly sure these are 15x multi, so you're probably okay.
Ven0m's suggestion about the cooler is a good one, a quieter farm would be better if you intend to have it in your living space. If you're hiding it away in the basement it probably won't matter much, though larger HSFs with slower turning fans may in the long term be more reliable.
Heh, might be sounding a bit like an old woman here, seeming like I have a downer on aiming for the bleeding edge of performance, but I wouldn't like to see you struggle with the farm for a couple of months then see you dump it all in classifieds at a loss and swear off folding. I'm trying to advise you into something you can keep running for a year or two. The production of 3x 2.6Ghz rigs where it's pretty much even money that one is crashed every time you check on them, is not greater than the production of 3 2.4Ghz rigs that have 100% uptime
regards,
Road Warrior
Now the trouble with that mobo and CPU combination, is that ideally you want to find something that overclocks nice to an official FSB speed. I think the 2600s have a high default multi, such that bumping the FSB to the next official level might be a bit of a hairpuller for getting everything working stably. I am not sure though whether they use a 15x or a 16x multi. If they are a 16x multi, it would probably be hoping for too much that you don't have to fiddle and test a lot to get them stable straight off. However if they are 15x multi it may not be so much of a problem, as good as mobiles are as overclockers, pushing them over 2.5G can still be a bugger. I mean it's fine in one rig that you've got all day to play with, but if you just want to set it up and forget about it, it's relying on too much luck. Hmmm I'm getting to be fairly sure these are 15x multi, so you're probably okay.
Ven0m's suggestion about the cooler is a good one, a quieter farm would be better if you intend to have it in your living space. If you're hiding it away in the basement it probably won't matter much, though larger HSFs with slower turning fans may in the long term be more reliable.
Heh, might be sounding a bit like an old woman here, seeming like I have a downer on aiming for the bleeding edge of performance, but I wouldn't like to see you struggle with the farm for a couple of months then see you dump it all in classifieds at a loss and swear off folding. I'm trying to advise you into something you can keep running for a year or two. The production of 3x 2.6Ghz rigs where it's pretty much even money that one is crashed every time you check on them, is not greater than the production of 3 2.4Ghz rigs that have 100% uptime
regards,
Road Warrior
- Joined
- Sep 7, 2003
- Location
- Warsaw, Poland
XP pro, when properly configured uses some RAM, but it gets swapped - so around 60-80 megs ramains in RAM, depending on services and buffers. However, without swapping space, there's no swapping.
Still I'd go with linux - you won't waste CPU power for GUI and such stuff. And in this case linux will be easier to manage. I think that you couldeasily run these comps without graphics cards, if only mobo allows that.
And these PC Coolers - I have Pentagram Freezone 80Cu cooler, and I think that PCcooler is just American name. Mine is lapped and I used AS5 - gives good temps - MBM reports 44*C with 27*C room temperature with speed set to minimum (around 5v I think). I know that room thermometers and diode readouts aren't accurate, but it should somehow show the performance.
Still I'd go with linux - you won't waste CPU power for GUI and such stuff. And in this case linux will be easier to manage. I think that you couldeasily run these comps without graphics cards, if only mobo allows that.
And these PC Coolers - I have Pentagram Freezone 80Cu cooler, and I think that PCcooler is just American name. Mine is lapped and I used AS5 - gives good temps - MBM reports 44*C with 27*C room temperature with speed set to minimum (around 5v I think). I know that room thermometers and diode readouts aren't accurate, but it should somehow show the performance.
OP
- Joined
- Nov 9, 2004
- Thread Starter
- #28
Of course I'm going with Linux!!!
Noise doesn't matter at all. Power is the only thing that does. This farm is going in a garage that stays COLD 24/7 even in the summer. Thanks for the recomendation on the cooler. Is there a mobo that I could get around that price that allows for good overclocking?
Maybe I should just wait unill the Abit's are in stock, ~$100 each, but good o/c'ing. MiniATX would be nice, but certenly not required.
BTW, it's going to be a diskless farm.
-Sam
Noise doesn't matter at all. Power is the only thing that does. This farm is going in a garage that stays COLD 24/7 even in the summer. Thanks for the recomendation on the cooler. Is there a mobo that I could get around that price that allows for good overclocking?
Maybe I should just wait unill the Abit's are in stock, ~$100 each, but good o/c'ing. MiniATX would be nice, but certenly not required.
BTW, it's going to be a diskless farm.
-Sam
OP
- Joined
- Nov 9, 2004
- Thread Starter
- #29
Here's my current cooling solution for an AXP-M 2600+ on a Soltek motherboard @ 2.45 GHz.
-Sam
EDIT: Believe it or not this is a working machine running Gentoo Kernel 2.6, folding 24/7. That fan in the picture is actually spinning. The fan comes from an old Athlon 1200.
-Sam
EDIT: Believe it or not this is a working machine running Gentoo Kernel 2.6, folding 24/7. That fan in the picture is actually spinning. The fan comes from an old Athlon 1200.
- Joined
- Feb 20, 2001
Power wise, a dual Xeon farm would probably guzzle less power in the long term.
Dual Xeon LVs are good for 6 Intel GHz for about $600 as mentioned.
A sempron/XP layer would be, what, $100 to $150 for 2 AMD Ghz.
So you are looking at AXPs being around half the price of going dual Xeons, but will draw 2 or 3 times as much power.
Dual Xeon LVs are good for 6 Intel GHz for about $600 as mentioned.
A sempron/XP layer would be, what, $100 to $150 for 2 AMD Ghz.
So you are looking at AXPs being around half the price of going dual Xeons, but will draw 2 or 3 times as much power.
- Joined
- Sep 7, 2003
- Location
- Warsaw, Poland
I think you could NF7 not-S cheaper.
And if that's going to run in garage - these PC coolers might work at full 12v (from MOLEX for more voltage) - that will result ins some good OC.
They have some pads on base - it's kind of "soft copper shim alternative", for lapping you'd need to remove them.
There's Pentagram coolers site - linky . It's in Polish, but you can read numbers. PC cooler coolers should be similiar, but with better prices. Notice 120mm fan Socket A compatible monsters.
That Xeons idea isn't bad - you'd need top calculate cost of electricity - when would Xeons refund.
And if that's going to run in garage - these PC coolers might work at full 12v (from MOLEX for more voltage) - that will result ins some good OC.
They have some pads on base - it's kind of "soft copper shim alternative", for lapping you'd need to remove them.
There's Pentagram coolers site - linky . It's in Polish, but you can read numbers. PC cooler coolers should be similiar, but with better prices. Notice 120mm fan Socket A compatible monsters.
That Xeons idea isn't bad - you'd need top calculate cost of electricity - when would Xeons refund.
Last edited:
- Joined
- Sep 7, 2003
- Location
- Warsaw, Poland
samuraisam said:
That looks so sweet, I'd swap my comp for it right away (except for graphics and sound card
)
- Joined
- Nov 8, 2001
XP-M's make for great sub-$200 farm layers. You could eve get a PSU splitter and power two layers with 1 PSU. Maybe you could do a dual xeon or MP for the farm's server though...
At around $600 for a dual xeon or maybe $450 for a dual MP, the server'd put out the PPW of 3x or 2x XP's, but it'd probably save you a little on long term electricty costs.
At around $600 for a dual xeon or maybe $450 for a dual MP, the server'd put out the PPW of 3x or 2x XP's, but it'd probably save you a little on long term electricty costs.
