G34 socket Opteron F@H performance

[mihapiha]

Hey guys!

I wanted to build myself a workstation/Folding@Home-farm which would be centered around CPU performance. I have a powerful gaming rig, and therefore this "secondary" PC's focus should be a potential replacement in a year or two.

Primarily I wanted to fold with it though. This will be it's main purpose for the main part of 2011.

But it's hard to find any PPD (Points Per Day) results of these 6100 series Opterons and I was hoping there will be someone here who has experience with those.

The ASUS KGPE-D16, AMD SR5690 will be the base for my system. I've decided to go with an Antec P193 case and an Antec CP-1000, 1000W ATX 2.3 PSU (or Crosair AX 850W if they become available again to local retailers). The reason why I chose that board over a Supermicro is, that someone I know has that motherboard and it would support CrossfireX.

Eventually this computer will have a Crossfire setup, so that's an important selling point to me. Also the layout of the board is great.

The rest of the build will be pretty standard. 8x 2GB DDR3-1333 CL9 ECC memory from Kingston and for now no graphic card.

The CPUs will be cooled with those:

Jou Jye Computer A6 - CPU-Cooler - ( Socket G34 ) - Aluminium with a copper base - 77 mm - 2U

I'm now considering the 2x 6168 or 2x 6136, maybe (because of the price) 2x 6140 or 2x 6174.
Also in the consideration is a single 6180 if they become available soon...

Any suggestions or comments are welcome!

[MU_Engineer]

Hey guys!

I wanted to build myself a workstation/Folding@Home-farm which would be centered around CPU performance. I have a powerful gaming rig, and therefore this "secondary" PC's focus should be a potential replacement in a year or two.

Primarily I wanted to fold with it though. This will be it's main purpose for the main part of 2011.

But it's hard to find any PPD (Points Per Day) results of these 6100 series Opterons and I was hoping there will be someone here who has experience with those.

Here's a list of various high-end hardware's folding performance.

The ASUS KGPE-D16, AMD SR5690 will be the base for my system. I've decided to go with an Antec P193 case and an Antec CP-1000, 1000W ATX 2.3 PSU (or Crosair AX 850W if they become available again to local retailers). The reason why I chose that board over a Supermicro is, that someone I know has that motherboard and it would support CrossfireX.

Eventually this computer will have a Crossfire setup, so that's an important selling point to me. Also the layout of the board is great.

The rest of the build will be pretty standard. 8x 2GB DDR3-1333 CL9 ECC memory from Kingston and for now no graphic card.

The CPUs will be cooled with those:

Jou Jye Computer A6 - CPU-Cooler - ( Socket G34 ) - Aluminium with a copper base - 77 mm - 2U

I'm now considering the 2x 6168 or 2x 6136, maybe (because of the price) 2x 6140 or 2x 6174.
Also in the consideration is a single 6180 if they become available soon...

Any suggestions or comments are welcome!

A few comments:

1. If you want to have a dedicated folding machine, look very hard at that list. Folding@Home does not run all that well on AMD hardware, loves high clock speeds, loves a high core/thread count, and isn't very fond of NUMA. Two Opteron 6100s have four NUMA nodes and the fastest officially-selling Opteron 6100s have a top clock speed of only 2.4 GHz and cannot be overclocked. Thus you get a situation where you have a dual Opteron 6168 system scoring roughly 58k ppd, which is what Core i7 970s and 980Xs get with a decent overclock. The top system is an Opteron 6168 system, but it has four CPUs and isn't all that much faster and is certainly more expensive than the #2 system, which is a pair of heavily overclocked six-core Xeons on an EVGA SR-2. Forget the higher-clocked 8-core Opteron 6100s if you want to fold as they cost as much as the low-clocked 12-core ones and don't get as many PPD. There aren't figures for Opteron 6136s on the list, but my estimate is that they'd get somewhere in the upper 30k PPD range.

2. I have the KGPE-D16 and it is a nice board. I also have the Dynatron A6s, which are okay heatsinks, but I'd recommend the Noctua UH12DO-A3 or UH9DO-A3 over the A6s. The Noctua units will be a lot quieter and more effective, especially the UH12DO-A3.

3. You want to get unbuffered ECC memory for your unit if you are looking at using anything less than 8 GB memory modules. Registered memory is a lot more expensive and slower. Make sure the memory part number listed from your vendor matches that of the unbuffered ECC DDR3 on Kingston's website to make sure you get the unbuffered memory.

[mihapiha]

Thanks for the informations. I certainly will follow them as much as I can.

I have a 980X, 3x GTX480 and one GTX460 folding now (about 80k PPD) and I simply wanted to get a decent AMD rig. The Intel dual socket cost so much, but the bigger problem is that I won't be able to update them in a year or two because of Intel's constant socket changes.

That's one of the reasons I favor AMD. The other is, that the only really interesting Intel board is the SR-2 which is a pain to cool properly. I'd have to water cool it, and invest a fortune in the demn thing, to make it worth the effort. Not To mention that it still would have stability issues, and I'd be forced to go with some sick Lian-Li or MountainMod case.

If someone is interested in how my gaming/folding rig looks:



I will take a closer look at the proper memory and I'll try to find the cooler you suggested. But looking at the list, 54k ain't that bad.

[hyc]

Sounds like somebody needs to re-tune the F@H client code...

[Pietro sk]

http://foldingforum.org/viewtopic.php?f ... =0#p145568
-----------------
after upgrade to new Bulldozer opterons, there will be another integer+float boost

[AussieFX]

Thanks for the informations. I certainly will follow them as much as I can.

I have a 980X, 3x GTX480 and one GTX460 folding now (about 80k PPD) and I simply wanted to get a decent AMD rig. The Intel dual socket cost so much, but the bigger problem is that I won't be able to update them in a year or two because of Intel's constant socket changes.

That's one of the reasons I favor AMD. The other is, that the only really interesting Intel board is the SR-2 which is a pain to cool properly. I'd have to water cool it, and invest a fortune in the demn thing, to make it worth the effort. Not To mention that it still would have stability issues, and I'd be forced to go with some sick Lian-Li or MountainMod case.

If someone is interested in how my gaming/folding rig looks:



I will take a closer look at the proper memory and I'll try to find the cooler you suggested. But looking at the list, 54k ain't that bad.

I'm glad to see not everyone is a sheep and some people are capable of critical thinking.
There are lots of guys here using multi socket machines. Check out our DC section, brutis is the team captain (watch him, he's an ogre. )
viewforum.php?f=521

I like the choices in your build, the only thing I would say is stick to that Antec CP psu. It's a signature model in a plain box. I'm not a fan of the Corsair psu's, apart from the cheap wiring I don't like the single rail. There is no protection if you get a short and with these big amperage units that are around they can get very dangerous. You can't isolate your cpu power from everything else. If another component introduces hum (ripple) from a leaky earth for example then your cpu gets it too.
BTW. Welcome to the zone.

[mihapiha]

I'm already folding for a team, and trying to make an effort there.
It's a pretty small team so every PPD takes a big part in our team's folding effort.

The 54k system has not left my mind yet. I could get that for 2.8k €. It's not that cheap but it is in consideration.



The parts I can get from this shop but the Noctua coolers I'd have to order from Germany. 70 € a piece...

800 € more the dual 6174 setup would cost. That's a lot of money...
The third thing in consideration for me is a single 6128 (8-core @ 2GHz) and to wait till the bulldozers come out in summer. I believe Q2 or Q3 they're announced for G34 socket right?

what would you do, if anything?

[AussieFX]

I wasn't suggesting joining the team, there are guys who visit who have no affiliation with the team at all.
I would strongly suggest posting in the F@H section as that's where you will get your answers. tear for example is in the same predicament as you, he doesn't fold for our team either. viewtopic.php?f=521&t=138223

Since BD is a drop in replacement for G34 I would buy everything on your list and have a look at one or two secondhand MC's to tide you over until Bulldozer.
There have even been some great deals on new G34 processors lately.

[wuttz]

i'd get this in addition to a 4P H8QG6-F;
run it caseless plus a C300 SSD, on linux!


tinkerer's delight!

[brutis]

mihapiha, Welcome to the AMDZone!

To save some money you could drop the win7 and run LINUX. The F@H windows client can be ran in WINE.

[AussieFX]

i'd get this in addition to a 4P H8QG6-F;
run it caseless plus a C300 SSD, on linux!


tinkerer's delight!

Wow $450 compared to nearly 700 Euros for a faster cpu. Good find wuttz.

[Pietro sk]

i'd get this in addition to a 4P H8QG6-F;
run it caseless plus a C300 SSD, on linux!


tinkerer's delight!

someday, i´ll kill you

[wuttz]

Wow $450 compared to nearly 700 Euros for a faster cpu. Good find wuttz.

if anyone's interested and need help, just let me know!
i have a lot of time & energy but just no $$$!

someday, i´ll kill you

[Pietro sk]

someday, i´ll kill you

Damn Americans, they have EVERY DAMN THING ALOT CHEAPER (617_ above 950€)
This blows my head up seriously WTH ..

[MU_Engineer]

I'm already folding for a team, and trying to make an effort there.
It's a pretty small team so every PPD takes a big part in our team's folding effort.

The 54k system has not left my mind yet. I could get that for 2.8k €. It's not that cheap but it is in consideration.



The parts I can get from this shop but the Noctua coolers I'd have to order from Germany. 70 € a piece...

800 € more the dual 6174 setup would cost. That's a lot of money...
The third thing in consideration for me is a single 6128 (8-core @ 2GHz) and to wait till the bulldozers come out in summer. I believe Q2 or Q3 they're announced for G34 socket right?

what would you do, if anything?

If cost is a big issue and you want to do Folding@Home, get an i7 2600K Sandy Bridge and overclock it heavily. Estimates on PPD put a Sandy Bridge running north of 4.5 GHz in the ~40k PPD range, which is between that of a dual Opteron 6136 and a dual Opteron 6168 setup. Here in the U.S. the i7 2600K costs about $320, which judging by how prices run in Europe, would be about €320. That would be considerably less than a single Opteron 6128-based system since you can get an LGA1155 motherboard for a lot less than any G34 motherboard. Like it or not, F@H doesn't really like AMD hardware and the cost advantage of AMD hardware is more or less erased since you have to buy much more of it to compete with Intel hardware, especially when overclocking is involved.

If you want a decent workstation, dual Opterons will be a lot better than a single, highly-overclocked, quad-core Sandy Bridge. You could get a dual G34 board and put in one Opteron 6128, but you should realize that a single Opteron 6128 is not all that fast of a CPU. The clock speed is quite low and you will at best be even with the fastest stock-clocked Phenom II X4s in multithreaded applications and considerably slower in poorly-threaded applications. Phenom II X6s will be faster than a single Opteron 6128 in everything. Now putting two or four of the 6128s on a board makes for a different story in multithreaded performance, but one is not all that fast. Because of that reason, I'd recommend you also take a look at dual C32 setups. A 2.6 GHz six-core Opteron 4180 costs right at $200 and will be much faster than a single 6128. You can also use standard AM2/AM3 desktop heatsinks on C32 systems, which should save you some money versus any of the G34 heatsinks. There will also be Bulldozer-based CPus that go into C32 as well. The only thing you lose with C32 is the ability to eventually have twice the core count, memory capacity, and memory bandwidth compared to Socket G34.

[mihapiha]

Ok guys. I listened to pretty much all advices I got here.
I tested the Core i7 2600k solution vs. the dual Opteron build and I've gotta say they're pretty much even. both get about 40k PPD average with the TPF of around 29 minutes of a P6900 WU. The 2600k was overclocked to 4.5 GHz though to beat the score of the "weak" Opterons. The specs of the Opteron build you should see in my signature.

If you're curious how the workstation looks like:



I've gotten both tested and you can't compare the Core i7 2600k with a workstation Opteron build. The AMD is just so much smoother and more stable. I'm now waiting for the Bulldozer 16-core CPUs to arrive for the socket G34 before I switch CPUs again.

I did use ECC memory, and as you guys can tell I took the advice of the Noctua fans. The folding-farm is dead silent and I'm very very happy with it. Thanks for the help right there.

[Pietro sk]

what coolers ?

[MU_Engineer]

what coolers ?

Those are Noctua U12DO-A3s or U9DO-A3s.

[Pietro sk]

what coolers ?

Those are Noctua U12DO-A3s or U9DO-A3s.

not sure, but fans look like 120 mm ?
/confused/

[MU_Engineer]

not sure, but fans look like 120 mm ?
/confused/

Then those would be UH12DO-A3s, since they have a 120 mm fan. Those are the only G34 coolers with 120 mm fans.

[mihapiha]

The specifications of that rig ar in the signature

[Am486DX100]

Ok guys. I listened to pretty much all advices I got here.
...

I did use ECC memory, and as you guys can tell I took the advice of the Noctua fans. The folding-farm is dead silent and I'm very very happy with it. Thanks for the help right there.

Sorry! They meant well. Just a few details were overlooked. Thank you for the photos!

[Pietro sk]

The specifications of that rig ar in the signature

i apologize , see it now.
what fan speeds are ? what temperatures ? do you use noctua fan speed adapters ? (black , blue )
How about smaller 90 noctuas, infos anybody?

Thanks

I´m asking because i am interested in 2P. But still i have few doubts.

[mihapiha]

@Am486DX100: I'm not sure what you're talking about. All the suggestions I got here were fair and I recognized them as good advice. Personally I then chose on my own of course what I really wanted. But the help I got was perfectly fine and I really appreciate it.


@Pietro sk: I don't know how to keep an eye on me temperature to tell ya the truth. The only monitoring program I tried so far was AIDA64 which shows about 21°C idle on the cores and 29°C load. In the bios I only see the idle temperatures, which are @ 28°C approximately. I figure that the cores are realistically speaking based on the bios around 32 - 35°C idle and about 45°C load.
But if you guys can tell me what program I should use which would be reliable, I'll check again of course...

[Pietro sk]

that´s enough info about temperatures , and do you use these short cables - fan speed reductors ? (middle and right)