Budget BOINC Server Club

Ah, good point... I totally had forgotten about that little tidbit, which complicates things. I was hoping to... I'm starting to think the setup you posted in your thread... The one that already comes in a chassis with power supplies and heatsinks... Is going to be a better idea, even though odds are that X5680's wouldn't be able to be run on them. Obvious question is just how much of a difference in computing power we're talking going from X5680's to L5640's or such.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xeon

 

I assume its just a question of the clock rate, since they are both 6 cores.  I guess it would just be a question of figuring out what is available that you are comfortable pushing.  X5670 at 95W is probably fine, 2.93Ghz versus 2.26.

 

L5640	2.26	12	5.86	1333	60	6	12	Y
L5645	2.4	12	5.86	1333	60	6	12	Y
E5645	2.4	12	5.86	1333	80	6	12	Y
E5649	2.53	12	5.86	1333	80	6	12	Y
X5650	2.66	12	6.4	1333	95	6	12	Y
X5660	2.8	12	6.4	1333	95	6	12	Y
X5670	2.93	12	6.4	1333	95	6	12	Y
X5675	3.06	12	6.4	1333	95	6	12	Y
X5679	3.2	12	6.4	1066	115	6	12	Y
X5680	3.33	12	6.4	1333	130	6	12	Y

I'd be very curious to see what @Tex1954 has to say in addition, as they mentioned that a dual X5680 setup was pulling 385 watts out of the wall, which I suspect wouldn't work too well for a 264.5w power supply... .....I just realized something... I wonder if it would be possible to get those frames/chassis with the motherboards and everything else... And then just re-use the cabling that came with the power supplies, but drop in the larger ones...

Don't see why not, the 250w and 450w SGI PSU's I got are the same size... same connectors...

Actually, the 250W is so good, it will run my 2p setup fine if you don't mind a screaming fan and some hot parts smell... and a voltage droop to 11.1V !!!

LOL!

You can find 2P LGA 1366 servers on Ebay if you look. I picked up this one a little while back for $150 with a supermicro X8DTH-iF. It has dual 700 watt PS. I added a pair of X5670 CPU's and 12 GB of memory. The problem I had was noise and cooling. I solved the noise problem by replacing the 40 mm jet engine fans with quieter 40 mm fans and solved the CPU cooling with some cheapo asetek all in one water coolers. They are running fully loaded at 35C right now. I still haven't figured out how to mount the radiators, but so far so good.

Yeaaah... Screaming fan and hot parts smell.... If it isn't a jet, I don't want that Dear gawds, the droop in that situation you're describing o_O I'd rather have the extra room the 450w has... While they're the same size, is the 450w at least heavier and have more to it?

Hmmm, I might have to keep that in mind as well, although I'd eventually wind up wanting to get a pair of them (simply because I want to do 24 threads of WCG as well as 24 threads of [email protected]). Biggest issue is going to find one that will not only ship to Canada, but not have insane shipping costs associated with it. Definitely love the idea of inexpensive AIO cooling though!

LOL!

Well, I drive into Canada at least once a month when I am on the road... possibilities there? Typically, I go to London, or Mississauga....

I'm guessing THIS is the PSU you are interested in? It's the same one I purchased and use...



EDIT: Woopsy! I only go into Ontario, not Alberta... oh well.... LOL!

Yup, that's the one. I'd jokingly say if you asked nicely, I would suspect that (edited) some of the Ontario guys (end edit) might be up for helping out with forwarding... Stuff.

Yeah, sadly I'm not in the nice core area where all the epic OCN'ers are, but it is nice to see things like the HWBot World tour stop in Montreal absolutely DOMINANTED by us Overclock.net guys

Drive through Buffalo?
BTW - Best Dim Sum at the Emerald Chinese restaurant in Mississauga

I got a good deal on a BNIB 2011 board, so here is my upcoming BOINC 2P rig:

 

Motherboard: ASRock EP2C602-4L/D16 - $155

CPU(s): 2x E5-2670 - $105

Memory: 64 GB Samsung ECC 1333 MHz - $75

GPU(s): TBD

PSU: Seasonic X-760 - $0 Extra PSU from a previous build

Storage: SanDisk SSD Plus 120GB - $40

Case: None; On the MB box for now, but will eventually be moved to a test bench.

Cooling: TBD

Operating System: TBD

Approximate cost: $400-$500  Price pending on what I do for GPUs and cooling.  Could go up quite a bit if I throw some GPUs on the board, and then it might not fit in the club.