My Interlagos woes……

[Bikermatt]

Hey all, sorry for this rambling post I was going to ask for advice but I think I know what I am going to do now. If you are interested in a pair of 6274s skip to the bottom…….

Until two weeks ago I have been running two dual ASUS G34 boards for crunching CPU projects, one with 6172s and the other with 6174s. They perform OK credit wise but do draw more power than I would like. I definitely could have gotten equal performance per dollar with Intel rigs with much less power consumption when I bought the G34 boards but I was hoping when I bought the boards that the Interlagos would be a good upgrade path and that I would be able to get two CPU generations with one motherboard. Yes I know I was banking on AMD being able to launch a good successor to Magny- cours and they did not, anyway more on that below. Other than that they have been rock solid systems on all projects for the last year and a half and I have had no problems with them. My priority is CPU projects, the GPUs are just around to keep the house warm.

Now my dilemma, I was stupid and did not read the reviews and I now also have a pair of 6274s. They run fine except they perform no better than the 6174s. Yes I know if I would have taken the time to read some reviews I could have found that out without spending the money however I was studying for boards and I was busy and had a few too many beers and anyway, it is too late now. Wow, I just thought of all of the different things that last statement could apply to. :p

I would like to add another dual CPU cruncher to my farm. I am currently crunching with just four boxes and would like to keep it that way for ease of management. I have also set a 2KW limit on my crunching and I am at about 1.7KW right now so if I add a new box one of the old boxes has to go.

Right now I am crunching with the twin 6274s, the twin 6174s, a 1090T, and a 2500K. So now I have an extra pair of G34 CPUs with no home and I have a few options. I must say my original intent was to sell the 6172s after upgrading to the 6274s but now that I know the 6274s barely outperform the 6172s I have my dilemma.

I was thinking I could build another dual G34 box around these processors and get rid of the 1090T box. This would be the easiest and quickest option and up my core count by 18. The problem with this is that the CPUs have always been powers hogs for their performance so I hate to sink more money into another G34 platform especially now that it seems like Interlagos is a dud. From what I have read AMD will not be supporting G34 after interlagos so I hate to buy another G34 board at this point.

So I think after typing this long winded post I have decided on option two which is to sell the 6172s or the 6274s and build a dual Intel 5645 system. Or more likely I will just wait for Intel’s next gen twin CPU server boards (1356?) but I think they may not be due out for a few months.

So? Anyone interested in a pair of 6172s or 6274s? I think my best bet would be to sell the 6274s, they are the newest. But if you have two 6172s already you may be interested in a 4 core box so I would consider selling those also. I paid $660 each for the 6274s two weeks ago on newegg which is what they are still going for so make me a decent offer and they are yours. I will also throw in a pair of Dynatron A6 CPU coolers if you need them. I would like to offer them to crunchers here first but if there is no interest I will put them on amazon.

Matt

[DrPop]

Huh. This is really interesting discussion to me. How can the 16 core be so bad? I was guessing it to have maybe 1/3 again the power of an Intel 6 core SB-E. . . For 116W TDP, that doesn't seem unreasonable to me.
What kind of Intel setup are you thinking you could get for similar money, that would put out the same GFLOPS of crunching power?

[Bikermatt]

Huh. This is really interesting discussion to me. How can the 16 core be so bad?

I am not trying to slam AMD, I have been using their processors for years and have upgraded 30 to 40 systems for friends and relatives with AMD CPUs, but from what I have seen so far the current Bulldozers definitely do not perform as promised (by the way I have two for sale:D). They may be better in certain applications but not for crunching that I have found.

On SIMAP the 6174s can turn in around 33 tasks per hour and the Bulldozers turn in around 34. I am rounding here also, the tasks vary slightly in length and credit. The 6174s were making a few hundred points more credit per day on SIMAP then the 6274 Bulldozers.

There may be a difference depending on the project but SIMAP is one of my favorites so I am basing my results on it. After the WCG challenge is over I am going to fire rosetta up and see how they do there but I do not have high hopes at this point.

Right now I am looking at building a twin E5645 system, they are 2.4GHz and draw 80W and should turn in about the same credit as the 6172s and draw 70 less watts. Did I mention I am kind of OCD about the whole power consumption thing?

[DrPop]

Oh, no worries, I didn't take that as you slamming AMD. We all know BD is not what it was supposed to be. Considering over 1/3 of their peeps just got fired, we can see clearly there is a shakeup going on over there. I have built and owned several Intel & AMD setups over the years, whichever is best bang for the buck at the time.

Something has got to be wrong for the old CPUs to be smoking the new ones. Even all the "bad" reviews on BD showed it hanging right in there with the 2600K on super multi threaded stuff, which is what crunching is. So I think something is wrong there. What OS is that rig sporting and how much RAM? Could there be a bottleneck somewhere or maybe a fresh OS install is needed?

So the XEON 6 core saves 35W each, giving 12 threads if you include the hyper threading...hmmm ...I need to go look for some benches. The only issue I see with this is that Intel socket is kinda on its way out too - I mean, aren't the S.B. based XEONs are around the corner...?

[Fire$torm]

So the XEON 6 core saves 35W each, giving 12 threads if you include the hyper threading...hmmm ...I need to go look for some benches. The only issue I see with this is that Intel socket is kinda on its way out too - I mean, aren't the S.B. based XEONs are around the corner...?

But the price?????????

[Mike029]

Great post Matt. :-bd
Looking to reduce power consumption, not lose too much crunching power. Price, Intel more on cpu less on electric bill, AMD less on cpu, bigger electric bill, long term crunching , electric bill wins.=)) Gotcha.

I'm a believer of waiting for the newer tech. When Intel releases the next gen Xeon's the price of the older stock should drop a bit. At least that is what happens on their desktop processors. Not sure on the server side.

I know you were eyeballing those AMD's awhile back DrPop. :D

[Beerdrinker]

Did I mention I am kind of OCD about the whole power consumption thing?

I think that you and I are much alike...!! :p

[Bikermatt]

What OS is that rig sporting and how much RAM? Could there be a bottleneck somewhere or maybe a fresh OS install is needed?

So the XEON 6 core saves 35W each, giving 12 threads if you include the hyper threading...hmmm ...I need to go look for some benches. The only issue I see with this is that Intel socket is kinda on its way out too - I mean, aren't the S.B. based XEONs are around the corner...?

I ran the 6274s and 6174s in both Linux and Win7 with 32 GB of ram on simap. I have two of the twin G34 boards and one system runs Linux and the other Win7. The BDs did much worse in Linux but I have noticed that simap runs better on Win7 so I did most of my comparisons on the Win7 box.

And another point I need to emphasize is that I have only done a comparison on simap. Other projects may do better and I am going to do some rosetta comparisons next week unless I sell them first.

I have not reloaded that Win7 box in a long time so I could try that also. But you are right DrPop, socket 1356 is supposed to be released in Q1 of 2012 and that is literally any day now so my best bet is to wait right now. I will just have to have a late christmas.

[coronicus]

Thank you so much for offering those to the Team first, I only wish i had the money to throw down as i would love to have a cpu cruncher in the house but i think if i put another computer in the kitchen then my wife wont ever cook for me again. =))

[Mike029]

Hey Matt, I was wondering if you'd like to update us on your findings/progress?