CPU cruncher revisited

[Fire$torm]

Man I'm too slow tonight....

[zombie67]

Ah! I think I found the solution, two even!

As a reminder, the original goal was to build compact, CPU cruncher, that could beat Mac Mini in performance and cost, and also have a fairly small footprint and power requirement. Bonus for HD4000 GPU to add that to the crunching mix. The Mac Mini stats:

$599: i5-2130M (2.5ghz, 2 core/4 thread mobile) + $40 to upgrade RAM (2x4gb newegg)
$799: i7-3615QM (2.3 ghz, 4 core/8 thread mobile) + $75 to upgrade RAM (2x8gb newegg)
$899: i7-3720QM (2.6 ghz, 4 core/8 thread mobile) + $75 to upgrade RAM (2x8gb newegg)

All come with 2x2gb RAM. You'd be crazy to pay Apple to upgrade from the factory.
All come with a 1tb HD, not that it really matters for a cruncher.
All are Height: 1.4 inches (3.6 cm); Width: 7.7 inches (19.7 cm); Depth: 7.7 inches (19.7 cm)


The primary problem is heat, as I discovered with the cooler master small box build. Use an ITX mobo, and heat becomes a real problem. Especially when you can't fit a big after-market heat sink, or when the airflow is constrained, and not blowing directly down on the motherboard. The DIMMs on the ITX form factor really block airflow going horizontally across the board, preventing it from getting to the small stock heat sink.

Many of the small bare-bones HTPC limit you to very low voltage CPUs, mostly atom and AMD equivalents. A few have 1155 sockets, but limit you to very low voltage i3 or i5, like 35w or less. Almost all have fan-less heat sinks, some with heat pipes to the chassis, using the whole box as a radiator. So the best you can get is 4 threads, with an extremely weak CPU. And even then, you are spending $600-700 in components.

Shuttle has two bare-bones solutions with 1155 socket, up to 65w! They solve it with custom heat sinks with fans. That means real 8 thread i7 desktop CPUs.

XH61V, is the older, larger version, which includes room for an optical drive. 9.45" x 7.87" x 2.83", 90w PSU, $200.

DS61 was just announced in November, and not yet available at newegg. I believe the cost will also be ~$200. This is the one that I like. Significantly smaller (7.48" x 6.50" x 1.69"), 90w PSU, about the same size as the mac mini, and no optical drive space. Video of the internals here.

Here is the cost for the match up:

$200 bare bones
$305 i7-3770S
$80 2x8gb SO DIMMs
$80 2.5" 500gb 7200 HD
$15 for a usb wireless adaptor

$680 total. I could squeeze $20-40 out of that, if I chose to. Performance-wise, I think this desktop CPU is going to be a much better cruncher than even the top of the line mobile CPU on the Mac Mini. Of course, this does not count the OS, and all the applications that come with OSX, none of which is pertinent to a dedicated cruncher. Linux is free. Or add $100 for win8 64 bit, if you require windows for your favorite project.

I sent newegg an email asking when they will have the DS61 available.

[John P. Myers]

Thermalright AXP-100 review finally somebody found one

Considering it's size and purpose, it didn't do too badly at all.

[zombie67]

FYI, my mini-beater is up and crunching now. This little thing is sweet! Took all of 5 minutes to add in the CPU, DIMMs, and HD. Even at full throttle, it's not very loud at all. I think this is going to be my path for CPU crunchers going forward. A stack of these, with a couple of big HAF-X for the GPUs.

Edit: And I see that Newegg now has the DS61 for sale, $199: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16856101135

[Fire$torm]

Hey Z,

Forgive me but I'm confused. Which type of setup did you settle on? The pre-assembled units or the ITX DIY systems?

[zombie67]

The DS61, with the list of parts a few posts back.

[E-30]

looks ok but i dont have that kniow of cash floting arund