build me a bad a$$ cruncher 800-900 budget [Archive]

dave c

09-25-14, 05:27 PM

since ive hit bitcoin gold in the last few days ive set aside 2 btc to build me a new cruncher, that is roughly between 800-900$'s depending on current value of bitcoin so that is my budget
newegg takes payments in btc

i have a case, 750w psu's 500 gig sata hd's
basically i need mobo cpu ram gfx card(s)
with that budget whats the best cruncher u could build

my 2 main crunchers are the amd a8 3800/ati 6550 and my fx 8320 gt430's both of wich have open pcie slots , would i be better off just buying some nice gfx cards for those

John P. Myers

09-26-14, 02:15 AM

would i be better off just buying some nice gfx cards for those
Depends. For the credits, i'd spend the budget on GPUs, but if you feel you're a little too light in the CPU department, you should go that route.

dave c

09-26-14, 02:23 AM

Depends. For the credits, i'd spend the budget on GPUs, but if you feel you're a little too light in the CPU department, you should go that route.
im not really sure the only intels i have to compare either amd against is some core duo's , and well lets just say the core duos are very slow
i wouldnt mind another 8 core machine be it intel or amd but i guess ur right getting some decent gpus wouldnt be to bad of an idea
i would though change the mobo on the fx machine to something with a handfull of pcie slots for future upgrading first , so that would take 150 bucks out of the budget + ram upgrade i dont think 6 gig would cut it anymore
so call it it a 600$ budget for gpus , one for the amd a8 machine , and 1-2 or 3 for the fx machine what would be my best bang for the buck

Sarge104

09-26-14, 11:55 AM

I suggest if you are going to get the AMD chip realize you will have to provide cooling support if you intend to overclock it too much. The Intel chips seem to run a lot cooler but you pay a pretty penny for that.

It also depends on the projects you intend to be on I know Primegrid really loves Intel vice AMD.

dave c

09-26-14, 11:22 PM

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.1867872 ????

this also caught my eye

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboBundleDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.1752012

then add a single gpu for now

dave c

09-27-14, 02:05 AM

haha ifi keep making money like i am over the next few days i may have to up the budget considerably

1x http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813182294&cm_re=opteron-_-13-182-294-_-Product

4x http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819113304&cm_re=g34-_-19-113-304-_-Product

2100$'s + ram and custom case i think that would make one powerfull cpu cruncher

Fire$torm

09-27-14, 02:13 AM

dave c

09-27-14, 02:25 AM

Well if you are really interested in that AMD rig, I'd say don't get the combo package from Newegg. Mainly because of the H100i. It has notorious leak issues new out of the box.

Here is my idea. The 9590 has a $50 premium attached compared to the 9370, which is only 0.3Ghz slower. So save the cash there and spend it on a better CPU cooler. Better cooler = better overclocking @lower noise levels. So....

SuperBiiz: AMD FX-9370 [Retail Packaging] - $209.99 + $5.00 S&H (Link (http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?p=FX-9370BOX&c=fr&pid=bf677f50bc03e0752356cd78563b338a549cf2e3e01464 2fd33b2abd866eb71e&gclid=CMmhuf7UgMECFQsSMwod4moAZg))
Newegg: Asus Sabertooth 990FX R2.0 - $179.99 w/Free S&H (Link (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131877))
NCIX: Swiftech H220X All-in-One Cooler - $136.03 w/Free S&H (Link (http://www.ncixus.com/products/?sku=93547))

http://img.ncixus.com/images/93547_l.jpg

Linus TechTips Video Reviews
Swiftech H220-X All-in-one Liquid Cooler (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pt5_dU-15v8)
Swiftech H220-X CPU Liquid Cooling Kit VS (Original) H220 Comparison (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puBvQtJQ9F0)

thanks have to see if those other stores accept bitcoin if not id have to sell my bitcoins for usd and do a bank transfer , the way things are going im taking a serious look at a dual or quad opteron rig
after my rental fees from renting out mining hardware im making .75 btc profit per day half of wish is going to my medical bill fund and the other half is going towards building a new toy

the opteron rig i posted above would be a pretty serious cpu cruncher and it has 6 pcie slots for further additions of gpus

John P. Myers

09-27-14, 05:12 AM

Performance-PCs accepts Bitcoin too. Here's a link to the cooler: http://www.performance-pcs.com/swiftech-h220-x-dual-120mm-cpu-liquid-cooling-kit.html

dave c

09-27-14, 05:52 AM

Performance-PCs accepts Bitcoin too. Here's a link to the cooler: http://www.performance-pcs.com/swiftech-h220-x-dual-120mm-cpu-liquid-cooling-kit.html

thank jpm my 8320 fx is deffinatly getting one of those , ive since baindaided it by putting it infront of the ac with the side cover off lol.

what are ur guys thoughts on an opteron based crunching machine , i dont think id go all out on that quad machine but maybe a nice lil dual machine if it would kill the fx9xxx or the i7 in cpu crunching power

John P. Myers

09-27-14, 07:01 AM

The only thing from AMD that'll beat an i7 is a dual Opteron. Plus it would be great for wuprop hours :)

dave c

09-27-14, 07:29 AM

the dual opteron is apealing and not bad money wise , have to see how my luck plays out the next few days , i may just end up with that quad opteron

zombie67

09-27-14, 11:59 AM

Do you care about power consumption? Dual amd will consume way more power than an i7, 2x-3x. Long term, that will cost more than you save on hardware purchase.

dave c

09-28-14, 12:00 AM

Do you care about power consumption? Dual amd will consume way more power than an i7, 2x-3x. Long term, that will cost more than you save on hardware purchase.
right no i dont power is free , but i may in the future , but the goal is buidl the most powerfull cruncher i can , i have so many ideas floating around in my head ( everythng form a rack full of xeons to the dual/quad opteron to maybe an fx packed with gpus ) i really need to price out all my options and figure out whats going to be the best bang for the buck

Fire$torm

09-28-14, 07:56 PM

right no i dont power is free , but i may in the future , but the goal is buidl the most powerfull cruncher i can , i have so many ideas floating around in my head ( everythng form a rack full of xeons to the dual/quad opteron to maybe an fx packed with gpus ) i really need to price out all my options and figure out whats going to be the best bang for the buck

Well, Zombie has a really good setup for CPU projects...

dave c

09-29-14, 04:21 AM

Well, Zombie has a really good setup for CPU projects...

build thread?

this is hard so many ways i could go with it , so far ive only managed to purchase water cooling for the current fx machine and a new mobo with multiple pcie 3.0 slots but no gpus yet, though i have been searching for a good deal on a dual or quad opteron , im going to take a look at some dual xeon options as well

zombie67

09-29-14, 10:37 AM

I use used mac minis with 8 thread i7s each. You can get them used for ~$600. They pull about 75w each. Each has a native BOINC client, as well as a windows and linux VM running BOINC as well. So they can crunch any CPU project. They also have either ATI or HD 4000 graphics chips that can also crunch.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/55884901/crunchers.jpg

Fire$torm

09-29-14, 06:47 PM

^^^ That is the most compact farm I've ever laid eyes on ^^^ Just wish they weren't i-puters.... :P (yes, I'm a hater)

dave c

09-30-14, 02:59 AM

^^^ That is the most compact farm I've ever laid eyes on ^^^ Just wish they weren't i-puters.... :P (yes, I'm a hater)

ever since i got my ihone threw work ive been an apple hater as well , but it actually looks like a decent option

John P. Myers

09-30-14, 03:48 PM

ever since i got my ihone threw work ive been an apple hater as well , but it actually looks like a decent option

You can get similar sized computers that aren't Apple. And of course the non-Apple ones offer faster processors with faster on-die graphics. Some may even have GPUs built in. I recall seeing a Zotac Zbox with a GT 640 and a Gigabyte Brix with a GTX 760.

zombie67

09-30-14, 04:54 PM

Yep, other options exist. It's all about the cost of the HW and electricity for me, as they crunch all three OSs. I haven't found anything comparable to date.

dave c

10-06-14, 07:33 PM

ok i just cashed out all of my btc im going to set aside 1200 bucks out of everything i made to build one toy
ive got a pretty good idea of what im going to do ill get links up in a lil while and see what u guys think

dave c

10-08-14, 02:22 AM

ok heres what ive come up with so far

mobo
Gigabyte-GA-990FXA-UD5-rev 3.0

ram
either 16 or 32 gb
cpu
amd fx 9370 or 9590

gpus
handfull of hd 7970's and possibly a nvida card to throw in the mix

h220-x cpu cooler

and im still undecided on the case , but i know im going to need something with a ton of airflow

hows that rate for a good cruncher ? any changes ?

dave c

10-08-14, 12:55 PM

would u guys make any changes , got the stuff saved in my cart ready to grab it unless somone knows a better gpu or somethign to change

10-08-14, 01:24 PM

I have been an amd fan boy for years....but I'd opt for an Intel processor and MB. They are a lot more efficient and much faster on most projects.

Maxwell

10-08-14, 01:30 PM

dave c

10-08-14, 02:21 PM

I have been an amd fan boy for years....but I'd opt for an Intel processor and MB. They are a lot more efficient and much faster on most projects.

+1.

My i7-950 (4-core, with HT) regularly performs as well or better than my AMD 1090T 6-core. If you're doing much CPU crunching, Intel is the way to go. If you just need the process to run the box and feed some GPUs, AMD will be cheaper.

since im not up on the intel stuff can one of u guys link me to a comparable intel setup cpu/mobo wise? i mean i could go pick out some intel stuff but no real clue on how it would rate compared to the gb ud5 and fx 9xxx, my last dealing with intel stuff is when the p4 first came out
this way i can check out what kind of price difference id be looking at

if i focus just on gpu crunching with it then a fx 6 core would run the 4x hd 7970's , but id still like to have a couple cpu work units running while the gpus are running so id prolly stick with the 8 core and in that case i could just reuse the fx 8320 i currently have

zombie67

10-08-14, 06:45 PM

This is the intel CPU to get: i7-4790K (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819117369)

So you are looking for a mobo with a LGA 1150 socket.

dave c

10-08-14, 10:30 PM

This is the intel CPU to get: i7-4790K (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819117369)

So you are looking for a mobo with a LGA 1150 socket.

ouch that kinda kills the budget lol , though i guess i could do with 3 or 4 cheaper gpus instead of 4x 7970's

zombie67

10-08-14, 11:36 PM

ouch that kinda kills the budget lol , though i guess i could do with 3 or 4 cheaper gpus instead of 4x 7970's

No way are you running 4x 7970's on your AMD mobo. Not gonna fit unless you dangle them and use PCIe data extender cables.

Very very few mobos will actually fit 4x dual-wide GPUs.

aux9o

10-09-14, 08:07 AM

You could do it with http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811353033&nm_mc=KNC-GoogleAdwords-PC&cm_mmc=KNC-GoogleAdwords-PC-_-pla-_-Computer+Cases-_-N82E16811353033&gclid=CNPE6JTEn8ECFUMLMgodcXcAeg

dave c

10-09-14, 08:54 AM

No way are you running 4x 7970's on your AMD mobo. Not gonna fit unless you dangle them and use PCIe data extender cables.

Very very few mobos will actually fit 4x dual-wide GPUs.

the ud5 will do 3 dual slot cards , the 4th was going to be for my a8 machine to replace the on chip 6550

i found one board that will do 4 dual slot cards but it wasnt worth the extra 125$'s

Fire$torm

10-09-14, 03:33 PM

As far as cases go, have a look at the list below. Sorted by price (Low - High).

Rosewill THOR V2: $129.99 w/Free Shipping (Link (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811147053))

Fractal Design Define XL R2: $139.99 + $14.39 S&H (Link (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811352030))

Cooler Master HAF 932: $149.99 + $9.99 S&H (Link (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119160))

Thermaltake Core V71: $149.99 w/Free Shipping (Before $30 MIR) (Link (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811133244))

Corsair Obsidian 750D: $159.99 w/Free Shipping (Before $20 MIR & $10 off w/Promo Code XPNBT10, ends 10/13) (Link (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811139024))

LIAN LI PC-A75: $169.99 + $9.99 S&H (Link (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811112387))

Cooler Master HAF X: $179.99 W/free Shipping (Before $20 MIR) (Link (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119225&cm_re=haf_x-_-11-119-225-_-Product))

Rosewill Blackhawk-ULTRA: $189.99 + $9.99 S&H (Link (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811147157&cm_re=rosewill_blackhawk-_-11-147-157-_-Product))

-- Other cases to consider --

Rosewill RISE: $89.99 w/Free Shipping (Before $10 MIR) (Link (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811147226))

Phanteks PH-ES614P_BK: $99.99 w/Free Shipping (Link (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811854003))

Rosewill Blackhawk Mid Tower: $89.99 w/Free Shipping (Link (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811147107))

Sarge104

10-09-14, 04:21 PM

If I can offer any advice, if I were you I would seriously consider a full case for your hardware. Speaking from my own experience with dealing with mid sized towers and smaller it is incredibly frustrating to route and maneuver parts and pieces in a smaller case (my hands would scream at you to heed this advice ;) ).

The modest increase in price vrs the ease you will have with cooling and install will be more then worth it. Though I don't know your space situation so this may be a moot point.

dave c

10-09-14, 08:09 PM

As far as cases go, have a look at the list below. Sorted by price (Low - High).

like this one
Rosewill THOR V2

im sticking iwth the amd setup , ud5 and 9590 fx on the way
holding off on gpus right now trying to find the best deal possible on them

John P. Myers

10-09-14, 08:11 PM

since im not up on the intel stuff

You forget AMD uses fake cores. Your 8320 is really only 4 cores. Here's a benchmark comparison though: http://www.cpubenchmark.net/compare.php?cmp[]=1782&cmp[]=2275

Of all processors in existence, including server CPUs, the FX-8320 is ranked as the 130th most powerful. The 4790K is 37th :D

The 36th is an Intel Xeon E5-1650 @ $610. Take the 4790K :nod:

Edit: also the FX-9590 is 45th.

dave c

10-09-14, 08:21 PM

You forget AMD uses fake cores. Your 8320 is really only 4 cores. Here's a benchmark comparison though: http://www.cpubenchmark.net/compare.php?cmp[]=1782&cmp[]=2275

Of all processors in existence, including server CPUs, the FX-8320 is ranked as the 130th most powerful. The 4790K is 37th :D

The 36th is an Intel Xeon E5-1650 @ $610. Take the 4790K :nod:

Edit: also the FX-9590 is 45th.

the money i save on the cpu and mobo is being put to use elsewere i.e gpus so it makes up for it , and yes i blew my budget out of the water lol
also
http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=AMD+FX-9590+Eight-Core

lol u already looked it up u got me with the ninja edit lol

John P. Myers

10-09-14, 08:35 PM

dave c

10-09-14, 08:40 PM

DrPop has one of those Thor V2 cases and seems to like it pretty well. Definitely alot of space for the money with excellent cooling. As for the 9590, glad you aren't paying for electricity :D You did notice the 4790K is ~30% faster thread for thread using less than half the power? Just thought i'd point that out lol

Though saving money on the CPU to spend on GPUs will definitely get you more credits/day.

yeah im glad as well , i just bought 20 antminer s1's power bill would be killer on those. hell id prolly just cringe at the power the new pc is going to use
now i just cant wait till everything arrives and i can get it together and running, when i built the 8320 machine i didnt excepct to build a new pc for some time , but atleast now i can retire the a8 machine and let the wife have it as shes getting sick of the laptop

Mumps

10-09-14, 09:38 PM

Problem is, by the time you've got all those AntMiners and other hardware hooked up, you'll need to get the main power feed to the building upgraded to handle it all! :))

dave c

10-09-14, 09:58 PM

Problem is, by the time you've got all those AntMiners and other hardware hooked up, you'll need to get the main power feed to the building upgraded to handle it all! :))
haha probably luckily i have a 200amp service , just have to rember not to fire up the welder or plasma cutter with all the hardware running

ive had the luck to get involved with a startup crypto company and made huge returns and am still making around .75 btc per day with them without any mining.
so the mining is just a hobby now. Ive found it to be very profitable if u can find the right alt coin to mine
Me and a few friends are taking up this opportunity to launch a new cyrpto coin with the help of that company in the coming few weeks

dave c

10-15-14, 02:00 AM

well i absolutly love these s1's so much quieter and less heat then the bfls , i cant say much for the dell server psu's im using each one is as loud as a small vacum , luckily my breakout board have the ability to control the fan speed in the psu, ive goten them adjusted to the point were 4 running s1's and psus are quiter then a single bfl 60, but still lokking into quiter psu options for hooking up the other 16 s1's
i might also have found a way to use the s1's on bu by unhooking the bitmain control board and controlling the blades with a simple 2$ usb to uart controller , so if it works all those s1 blades from ppl who bought the s1 to s3 upgrade kit that are on ebay for 10-20 bucks would be killer deals

cpu, ram, mobo, cooler should be here on saturday , need to get up off my butt and finally decide on a case and the other odds and ends i need for it , been thinking about doing one of the semi open lexan tech stations for it

FourOh

10-27-14, 07:04 PM

This is the intel CPU to get: i7-4790K (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819117369)

So you are looking for a mobo with a LGA 1150 socket.

I'm looking to rebuild my home cruncher in the next few months... need moar cores!! \m/ I've priced a 6-core Haswell setup, but DAYUM with all new DDR4 and an X99 mobo it's about a $1,000 outlay $-) So LGA 1150 + i7-4790K might be a good 2nd option at about $480 for mobo + cpu.

I guess my concern is that the LGA 1150 Z97 chipset with 4790k has only 16 PCI-e lanes (same as my current FM1 chipset) which I have seen impact performance with dual GPUs on certain projects (Einstein, GPUGrid). I'm reluctant to stay with a platform with only 16 lanes and then load it up with two (or three) fast GPUs. I really don't know how much difference it will make, but I have two FM1 platforms and the single-gpu box always outperforms the dual-gpu even though it has slower CPU & RAM.

Might just have to wait for X99/DDR4 prices to settle in...

John P. Myers

10-27-14, 07:52 PM

You can get Z97 boards with more PCIe lanes, but they cost almost as much (or more) than the CPU itself. Then you're looking at spending close to the same money as you would for a Haswell-E board/CPU to get the same number of lanes. At least with Intel, you get PCIe 3.0. AMD still only supports 2.0 unless you throw in a 3rd party controller (for extra $$) on the motherboard. Quite sad. Of course they finally got 3.0 on the FM2+ chipsets, but wrong socket to be useful. lolAPU. They needed 3.0 on FM3+.

Anyway, just in case you start leaning toward Haswell-E again, the 5930K and 5960K both have 40 lanes, but the 5820K "only" has 28.

And don't forget to add in the extra lanes provided by the Z97 chipset itself (which is an additional 8). Same as X99.

MindCrime

10-31-14, 02:10 PM

what are ur guys thoughts on an opteron based crunching machine
It's been a while since I've used an opteron (socket 939 was the latest), they're very robust processors. I originally had an opteron 140 i think (single core 1.8ghz) oc'd to 2.7ghz+ on air and very cool, (50% oc for nothing). But IMO their strengths don't shine until you have a multi socket board with at least 2 on them. That is where things get expensive though. I bet you could build a very efficient cruncher with them and something like r9 270s or gtx 750 ti. But if you want crunching points per dollar of your budget I would have to say you need to spend more on your GPU and less on cpu, i.e. multiple gpus.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PuGEJcoA3yc You could almost do this with your budget, this would be the best cruncher per dollar per watt IMO.