Building a Little Budget Cruncher

[Aux10]

I'm making a little budget cruncher to help stave off my hunger while I wait for the Skylake CPUs. I just sent my order off to New Egg and got these part for $341. What Linux Distro works best for crunching? Last time I tried linux I used Ubuntu and I remember it watering down my GPU credits substantially. Since this is a budget box I don't want to waste my cash on a OS.

Case: Thermaltake Urban S1 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811133257)
CPU: Intel Pentium G3220 Haswell Dual-Core 3.0GHz (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116950)
MOBO: ASRock H97M Anniversary (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157547)
PSU: Corsair CX430 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139026)
GPU: EVGA GTX 750Ti (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814487025)
RAM: Some stuff in my spare parts pile.
HDD: Old junk drive.

Now, what shall I name it? Hmm... :-?

[Ron Shurtz]

Now, what shall I name it? Hmm... :-?

BuddyC (Budget Cruncher)

Cy (Cyborg)

Gizmo

[Fire$torm]

Names: Lil' Aux, Aux-e-5, B.A.L.C (Bad A__ Little Cruncher) >:) or how about "RAMBO"?

Distros: Mint might be a good one. To get the best performing distro, talk to Mumps about compiling your own using Gentoo.

[Duke of Buckingham]

Black Sheep would be a good name. :)

[Mumps]

Names: Lil' Aux, Aux-e-5, B.A.L.C (Bad A__ Little Cruncher) >:) or how about "RAMBO"?

Distros: Mint might be a good one. To get the best performing distro, talk to Mumps about compiling your own using Gentoo.

Nope. Don't talk to Mumps. I've made no efforts to go through a Gentoo build-your-own installation. Have too many hosts to fiddle with finding optimal flags. I just go with the clunky old Ubuntu stock Desktop build. Not as efficient as it could be, but works for most projects that have Linux apps with little effort. Only gets weird with Video drivers. I've had somewhat better luck with nVidia cards than ATI cards at least.

[Shandia]

Black Sheep would be a good name. :)

Black Sheep is always a good name. Easy to see and count. ;-)

[DrPop]

...To get the best performing distro, talk to Mumps about compiling your own using Gentoo.

The guy you want to talk to is Trigggl - provided he has the time these days. The man is a Whiz, I got to watch him remote in and build up a couple Gentoo rigs back in the day... ;)

[Duke of Buckingham]

The guy you want to talk to is Trigggl - provided he has the time these days. The man is a Whiz, I got to watch him remote in and build up a couple Gentoo rigs back in the day... ;)

But the better name is still Black Sheep. :D

[Aux10]

The case came today and I installed the HDD, DVD Drive, and a 120mm front fan which all came from my spare parts bin. Now I under stand I only payed $45 for the case so I guess it comes with the territory but it was the most unfriendly case I've used. The front fan was a pain in the ass to install since the front panel is in the way of two of the 120mm screw holes and there is no way to remove it with out breaking anything. It's not tool-less which was expected but they need to work on their tolerances because some of the mounting points don't quite line up with the screw-holes exactly as they should've requiring me to use a bit of force. It didn't help that one of the tabs that the CD drive rests on was totally bent up throwing off the alignment entirely but I was able to fix that with a pair of pliers. I should also mention the the HDDs don't go flush with the drive cage like you'd expect them to; the back third sticks out. It's a budget case but I'd probably avoid it in the future. The components come tomorrow so I'll have it all together tomorrow night. Photos shall be posted.

[Aux10]

Also the name has been decided: Kuro Chan (Japanese)

Kuro simply means black. Chan is a Japanese honorific (it's similar to a suffix) that is normally used when referring to children, teenage girls/young woman or used as a term of endearment.

[Duke of Buckingham]

Also the name has been decided: Kuro Chan (Japanese)

Kuro simply means black. Chan is a Japanese honorific (it's similar to a suffix) that is normally used when referring to children, teenage girls/young woman or used as a term of endearment.

http://www.theblackinstitute.org/assets/pages/106/tumblr_liqfpfNxmE1qezdspo1_400.jpeg

Go Go Kuro Chan
http://fc04.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2011/185/a/9/cyborg_kuro_chan_by_chadbay-d3kxy5v.jpg
http://fc01.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2013/187/6/e/asagi_kun_and_kuro_chan_by_valenyukarihoshi-d6cbhgv.png

[zombie67]

How many fingers did you cut? ;)

Seriously though, I never add DVDs to a cruncher. I have a single external USB DVD drive that I use for OS installations as needed.

[Aux10]

*snip*
Lol


How many fingers did you cut? ;)

Seriously though, I never add DVDs to a cruncher. I have a single external USB DVD drive that I use for OS installations as needed.

Amazingly my fingers are intact. If there was one thing done right it's the fact they thought to round-out most of the exposed edges. The build is not done so lets not celebrate quite yet.
The only external DVD drive I have uses firewire 400 which is pretty much dead these days. 8-x

[zombie67]

The only external DVD drive I have uses firewire 400 which is pretty much dead these days. 8-x

I am just suggesting that the next time you are going to buy a DVD drive, make it an external USB version instead. And then it will be your last one ever.

[Aux10]

Ok everyone Kuro Chan has been built! Here's the electric sex you've been waiting for:

2023

I've installed Linux Mint and getting that Nvidia Driver to install has been a pain in the ass! :mad: (As it always is with Linux) I've made the driver executable verified that it runs but when I terminate the Desktop session or try to CTR-ALT-F1 to the terminal the screen just goes blank every time, no prompt or anything. Not to mention when I try CTR-ALT-F7 it doesn't return to the desktop.

[Mumps]

MINT is basically Debian/Ubuntu under the covers. YMMV, but this worked well for my initial setup. And once I had noveau out of the way, a driver update went cleanly too.

http://askubuntu.com/questions/481414/install-nvidia-driver-instead-nouveau

[Aux10]

Hurray! We just killed the OS!

*edit*
Ok, after a fresh install I was FINALLY able to get the drivers installed and get Boinc to recognize the GPU! Is there any way to utilize the Intel HD Graphics in Linux?

[zombie67]

Hurray! We just killed the OS!

*edit*
Ok, after a fresh install I was FINALLY able to get the drivers installed and get Boinc to recognize the GPU! Is there any way to utilize the Intel HD Graphics in Linux?

Last time I checked, Intel released the GPU driver for only Windows. But that was over a year ago. Try here:

https://software.intel.com/en-us/articles/opencl-drivers

But even if there is a driver now, I am not aware of any BOINC apps for Intel HD on linux. Just windows and mac.

Edit: I take that back. It looks like collatz has one.

http://boinc.thesonntags.com/collatz/apps.php

[Aux10]

Well I installed the Ubuntu Intel driver as well as the lsb-core library and when Boinc starts up it recognizes the Intel GPU through the Intel Open-CL driver but for some reason Collaz won't send me the application. I checked my preferences on the project site to make sure the Intel GPU was selected but Boinc keeps saying that it's not requesting new tasks because it doesn't need any. Also what is the typical runtime for the GPU Grid long application on a GTX 750Ti?

[zombie67]

When you start BOINC, does the event log say you have an intel GPU?

[Aux10]

Thu 02 Apr 2015 11:00:59 PM EDT | | Starting BOINC client version 7.2.42 for x86_64-pc-linux-gnu
Thu 02 Apr 2015 11:00:59 PM EDT | | log flags: file_xfer, sched_ops, task
Thu 02 Apr 2015 11:00:59 PM EDT | | Libraries: libcurl/7.35.0 OpenSSL/1.0.1f zlib/1.2.8 libidn/1.28 librtmp/2.3
Thu 02 Apr 2015 11:00:59 PM EDT | | Data directory: /var/lib/boinc-client
Thu 02 Apr 2015 11:00:59 PM EDT | | CUDA: NVIDIA GPU 0: GeForce GTX 750 Ti (driver version unknown, CUDA version 7.0, compute capability 5.0, 2048MB, 1986MB available, 2082 GFLOPS peak)
Thu 02 Apr 2015 11:00:59 PM EDT | | OpenCL: NVIDIA GPU 0: GeForce GTX 750 Ti (driver version 346.47, device version OpenCL 1.1 CUDA, 2048MB, 1986MB available, 2082 GFLOPS peak)
Thu 02 Apr 2015 11:00:59 PM EDT | | OpenCL CPU: Intel(R) Pentium(R) CPU G3220 @ 3.00GHz (OpenCL driver vendor: Intel(R) Corporation, driver version 1.2.0.43, device version OpenCL 1.2 (Build 43))
Thu 02 Apr 2015 11:00:59 PM EDT | | Host name: Kuro-Chan
Thu 02 Apr 2015 11:00:59 PM EDT | | Processor: 2 GenuineIntel Intel(R) Pentium(R) CPU G3220 @ 3.00GHz [Family 6 Model 60 Stepping 3]
Thu 02 Apr 2015 11:00:59 PM EDT | | Processor features: fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe syscall nx pdpe1gb rdtscp lm constant_tsc arch_perfmon pebs bts rep_good nopl xtopology nonstop_tsc aperfmperf eagerfpu pni pclmulqdq dtes64 monitor ds_cpl vmx est tm2 ssse3 cx16 xtpr pdcm pcid sse4_1 sse4_2 movbe popcnt tsc_deadline_timer xsave rdrand lahf_lm abm arat xsaveopt pln pts dtherm tpr_shadow vnmi flexpriority ept vpid fsgsbase tsc_adjust erms invpcid
Thu 02 Apr 2015 11:00:59 PM EDT | | OS: Linux: 3.13.0-37-generic
Thu 02 Apr 2015 11:00:59 PM EDT | | Memory: 3.81 GB physical, 3.95 GB virtual
Thu 02 Apr 2015 11:00:59 PM EDT | | Disk: 142.16 GB total, 126.94 GB free
Thu 02 Apr 2015 11:00:59 PM EDT | | Local time is UTC -4 hours

[zombie67]

Yeah, there's your problem. Your intel GPU is not seen by BOINC.

Let's assume your driver is all good. There are still two more hurdles to make it work for BOINC:

1) BIOS: Default is generally set to disable a GPU in the CPU if you have an external GPU in a PCIe slot. The assumption is that the PCIe GPU is better, so use ONLY that. You have to tell the BIOS to use BOTH.

2) Even after #1, the BIOS sometimes requires PROOF that the internal GPU is actually needed. So you have to have monitor connected to the video out, on the mobo. Even if you are not using it. I plug a crap, tiny LCD into that port.

[Aux10]

Ok, I went into the BIOS and changed the Primary GPU from PCIe to Onboard. It started up using the intel GPU but then Mint gave me an error saying it couldn't start the X session and dropped to command line. When I tried startx is gave me an error saying no display found. I then switched the monitor to the GPU and tried again and the X session loaded normally. Problem is the system is now ignoring the onboard ports and Boinc still won't see the Intel GPU.

[zombie67]

I have been through the same crazy, but with windows and OSX. My eventual solutions have been passed on, but may not apply to your linux path. Good luck with that padawan!

[Aux10]

Ok I took a closer look at the Intel drivers page and it looks like the OpenCL driver I got was CPU only. Intel does have a linux OpenCL driver for HD graphics but strangely it's not free. If I want it I have to buy a Intel SDK for $499. (Oh hell no!) I'm looking around but does any one know of any place else I can find a Intel OpenCL GPU driver for Linux?

[Mumps]

Sorry, I have no Intel GPUs (yet) so I haven't lived that quest.

[Aux10]

This is why I'm not a huge fan of linux. If you want to go beyond general use and do things like Boinc projects, it's pretty frustrating work with.

[Mumps]

Well, I got into Linux because it was free and worked pretty well on old hardware out of the box. These new-fangled "GPUs" and "ASICs" just don't belong. :)

I've got enough time fiddling with my Ubuntu installs under my belt, that most of the simple, straightforward, projects are no issue. Even just set up a pile of hosts on dDM, which is the first project needing java. (Simple scripted install once the tips are sussed out of Google.) Learned a bit muddling through that. And just having the GPU's crunching took a lot of trial and error to figure out what normally works well for me. But again, my newest GPU is still many generations behind. Following that page I linked from a brand new fresh install repeatedly worked like a charm for me. After trying to fiddle around with installing the nVidia drivers from the Repository, or even earlier attemps from the nVidia downloads, I was commonly left with a system with no functional X at all. So I've lived through that too many times myself. :)

And, like I said before, Free. With as many hosts as I run, that's important to me. :) TANSTAAFL. :D

[Aux10]

When I used the driver from the repository it made x crash every time I tried to start it. It did though solve the blank terminal problem I had so I was able to install the latest nvidia driver manually and once I did that it fixed it. When it comes to an OS being free, it's only fair if it makes you hate it I guess.

[zombie67]

Ok I took a closer look at the Intel drivers page and it looks like the OpenCL driver I got was CPU only. Intel does have a linux OpenCL driver for HD graphics but strangely it's not free. If I want it I have to buy a Intel SDK for $499. (Oh hell no!) I'm looking around but does any one know of any place else I can find a Intel OpenCL GPU driver for Linux?

Collatz has an app for OpenCL GPU on linux. So I am guessing that some people have it, and crunching using it. Slicker would be able to tell who those people are. If he is willing to share, you could ask those people.

[Aux10]

Well I'm think I'm going to try switching to Ubuntu. I found this (http://arrayfire.com/opencl-on-intel-hd-iris-graphics-on-linux/) which seems like the solution but I keep getting errors about missing libraries, files, and directories. I patched every library error I could but kept getting directory errors during the test phase causing it to utterly fail all test. I decided to try installing it anyway but I messed up the X Server. Since a lot of stuff was written for Ubuntu I'm gonna try installing it on that and see if it works.

[Aux10]

Well switching to Ubuntu did help a lot and made the .utest program actually run but unfortunately it fails all the tests due to directory errors. It seems to be related to some chipset specific directories (drm/i914). Unless anyone knows how to fix this I guess I'm going to have to give up unless I get around to coughing up the cash for a copy of Windows.

[zombie67]

If it's just a cruncher, I am sure one of us can get you a free copy of XP64.

[Aux10]

It's a dedicated cruncher. I have no plans to use it for anything else what so ever. I'm planing to build a new gaming PC when Skylake comes out so it's no where near the power that thing will have. Heck. my current PC is slightly more powerful than this. (and a much bigger energy hog.)

[Duke of Buckingham]

Four LGA-1150 Motherboards Under $60
on http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/asrock-b85m-dgs-asrock-h81m-hds-asus-h81m-e-msi-h91m-e34,review-33170.html

[Aux10]

I FINALLY got the damn thing working! I was able to get a free copy of Windows Server 2008 R2 from Microsoft's Dreamspark education program. It took some tinkering but I was finally able to get Kuro Chan to crunch at full power! :D YAY!