A custom computer

[DAD]

I've been a computer tech, programmer, and engineer my whole left. Back in the days I used to custom build my own machines. As I got older (and richer), I got lazy, and pretty much have just bought Dell, Alienware, or Apple's since 2004.

I'm WAY out of the game as far as knowing what MBs, cases, etc to get to custom build things, but I'd like to start doing it again as 1) you get more for your $$, 2) often better performance, 3) drawback is sometimes less warranty vs a pre built

So, I'd like to ask some of you for help.

* GPUs: Nvidia 590 (for the dual core) - granted each core is slower than some of the other 500s, but in the end I'll end up with more total cores.
* CPU: 4 or 6 core Intel with HT
* RAM: 2-4GB (any more is pointless for a boinc only machine)
* HD: 250-500GB (any more is pointless). I'd probably go SATA vs solid state as they are cheaper
* PS: 750-1000W to handle 2 GPUs
* Mobo: ??? This I'll need some help on - the mobo HAS to have PCIe slots that are spread with at least 2 "slots" in between them. So basically 2 GPUs would take 2 "slots" each with 2 spaces worth of slots in between them. Or if the mobo has 3 PCIe slots, that would work too as I'd just use 2 GPUs and space them out.
* Case: ??? again I'll need help.
* Cooling: CPU Liquid Cooling - probably a Corsair cooler is easiest as it's a easy to install closed system
* DVI "Switch" so I can run 1 cheap LCD off of 4+ computers

[pecosriverm]

Something like this might work.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16813128495

<):)
~o)

Ooo new smilies

[Fire$torm]

If you don't mind the prices you could go with a MB with at least 6 PCI-E x16 slots.

For Intel MBs
6 PCIe slots ---> http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007627%20600041404&IsNodeId=1&bop=And&ShowDeactivatedMark=False&Order=RATING&PageSize=20
7 PCIe slots ---> http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007627+600041405&QksAutoSuggestion=&ShowDeactivatedMark=False&Configurator=&IsNodeId=1&Subcategory=280&description=&hisInDesc=&Ntk=&CFG=&SpeTabStoreType=&AdvancedSearch=1&srchInDesc=
8 PCIe slots ---> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130595

For the money The HAF 932 is a great case ---> http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=40000007&IsNodeId=1&Description=haf%20932&name=Computer%20Cases&Order=BESTMATCH

The 932's bigger brother the HAF X is a sweet setup ---> http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=40000007%20600006304%20600006346&IsNodeId=1&Description=%22haf%20x%22&bop=And&Order=PRICE&PageSize=20

I also like Cooler Master's Cosmos S ---> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119150&Tpk=cosmos

Just some ideas.


Edit: Misread the PCIe part....

Anyhow, EVGA does a good job with double spacing. Same with the mid/high end Gigabyte & MSI boards.
You will still need to be careful as many of the lower end boards have slots that are blocked by other MB components like NB heatsinks, fans or other such larger parts.

I have a HAF 912. Great mid-tower case.

[spingadus]

Here's what I recently bought. I consider this to be a top end build.

CPU:
Intel Core i7-2600K Sandy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115070 ) $314.99

CASE:
COOLER MASTER HAF X RC-942-KKN1 Black Steel/ Plastic ATX Full Tower Computer Case (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119225 ) $179.99

MEMORY:
16GB G.SKILL Sniper Low Voltage Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) (2 sets) (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231461 ) $99.98(total) *44.99 each

MOBO:
ASRock Z68 EXTREME4 GEN3 LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157264 ) $199.99

HD:
Corsair Force Series GT CSSD-F120GBGT-BK 2.5" 120GB SATA III Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233191) $203.99

OS:
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-bit - OEM (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116986 )$99.99

PSU:
CORSAIR Professional Series Gold AX1200 (CMPSU-1200AX) 1200W ATX12V v2.31 / EPS12V v2.92 SLI Certified 80 PLUS GOLD Certified (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139014 ) $279.99

I already own all other components including:

GPU:
EVGA GTX 590 Classified
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130630

COOLING:
corsair h100 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835181017&Tpk=corsair%20h100 )


This was a build meant for a dual 590 system like yours. A solid top rated PSU and great large case for cooling. Ram is cheap, so get minimum 8GB (16GB if you are going to run VM's). The MOBO is future proof Z68 model with usb3.0 and sata 6Gb speeds.

I still haven't bought the 2nd gpu though because my electric bill is higher than I want. Maybe later.

Anyways, hope it helps.

[DAD]

Thank you for all the ideas!! That will let me put together some nice systems over the next few months.

Even retired I make a good amount of $$ per yer (about 250K USD a year), but I still don't like to "waste" $$$. Which is why Im looking for decently priced things so I can build more PCs total

[DAD]

oh.. what are the benefits for boincing in VMs? Usually VMing an OS causes a performance drop.. does VMing boinc do something to get more credits?

[DrPop]

I completely understand - you need to maximize the crunching $, no matter how many of them there are. If you do the bang for the buck thing, it's better no matter what! ;)

There is no benefit to VMs, as far as I can tell. Only thing would be if you wanted to crunch certain projects that are say, Linux only or whatever. There might be some way to "trick" WuProp with VMs to give you more "boxes" to get points on, etc...but I cant see how any of that would be worth it.

Basically in BOINC, if you're going for points, think of the CPU as a blade server, and the GPUs are the blades. The CPU might crunch a few good WUs, but its main purpose is to feed those blazing fast GPUs.
Now, there are certainly lots of BOINC projects that are still CPU only, so if you're going for breadth as well as depth, then good CPUs are needed too. But, top-end CPUs will not put out near the WUs / dollar as putting that extra $ toward a GPU would.
Hope I'm saying that right...

[DAD]

Oh ya there's one app that requires virtual box for windows and the WU they send is an actual VB disk image that sets up and runs...

but now that I look at it.. I could use VMs into tricking FreeHal to crank out massive WUs

[DAD]

Blah I've been looking at the mobos.. I really hate when u put in more than 1 card all the PCI lanes drop from 16 to 8. I guess for GPU tasks that doesn't matter much, but It'd be nice to find mobos that dont drop the lanes to X8 for a gaming rig :)

My AW machines does that crap.. it only has 2 pcie 2.0 slots, but when 2 gpu cards are added, they drop to X8

[Duke of Buckingham]

Before this thread I thought I could understand english.
http://www.tcmoveis.com.br/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Confused.jpg

[DrPop]

My AW machines does that crap.. it only has 2 pcie 2.0 slots, but when 2 gpu cards are added, they drop to X8

My higher end AMD 890FX board does what you want - it can run 2 PCI-e @ 16x each, and the 3rd PCI-e slot at 4x.
It is chipset dependent. Unfortunately, for all their Sandy Bridge glory, Intel's chipsets are the weakest link in their chain!:p

[DAD]

My higher end AMD 890FX board does what you want - it can run 2 PCI-e @ 16x each, and the 3rd PCI-e slot at 4x.
It is chipset dependent. Unfortunately, for all their Sandy Bridge glory, Intel's chipsets are the weakest link in their chain!:p

Yeah Intel really needs to make chipsets to run 2 PCI-e x16 at once.. for SLI gaming, dropping to x8 isn't a big deal because the SLI cable sends data across it vs the PCI buss... but I still think SLI gaming would be happier with 2X16 anyway

But for BOINC, I don't think it really matters if a card is going x8 or x16... it's not like there's a TON of textures being moved about.. it's more about raw GPU use

[DrPop]

Yeah, that's totally true. I think JPM said once for BOINC that almost every GPU up to a 5970 could in theory be crunching off a 1x PCI-e slot and not really see much "effective" credit drop. :D

[John P. Myers]

Blah I've been looking at the mobos.. I really hate when u put in more than 1 card all the PCI lanes drop from 16 to 8. I guess for GPU tasks that doesn't matter much, but It'd be nice to find mobos that dont drop the lanes to X8 for a gaming rig :)

My AW machines does that crap.. it only has 2 pcie 2.0 slots, but when 2 gpu cards are added, they drop to X8

Tests show that dropping from x16 to x8 only causes a 2% frame rate reduction in games. Not noticeable at all. Of course for BONIC x1 is more than enough.

Edit: the 8 slot PCIe board Firestorm posted at the beginning of this thread will run 2 GPUs at x16 with one in slot 1 and slot 5. I personally own this board as well. Nothing better exists yet for crunchers, and when the i7-2800K is released (i believe in Q1 next year) it'll be a nice upgrade (assuming it turns out to be 6 cores like it should). Also this board is $20 cheaper now than when i bought it :p Also, you will have to have the HAF X case for it. Will not fit in the others. The board has 8 slots, but the first slot starts in the 2nd slot on the back of the case, thus requiring all 9 of the HAF X's slots.

[shralper]

@DAD John and DrPop thanks for clearing up the PCI speeds up for GPU's for me. I'd been worried about this. My mobo has a 16x and 8x and I was worried when I add another GPU that I would loose performance. Makes sense now though. Thanks.

[Mike029]

I feel for ya there Duke. Reading a Dad & Pop conversation had me a little confused too. @-):-/:-/:)):))