Hi guys, I've been reading the news about bigadv going up to 12 threads - I can't imagine how pissed off all you guys with i7 dedicated rigs must be! So now you need 12 threads, is it possible to build a 12 threaded rig on a modest budget? I've not had a major pc upgrade now in about 5 years (still on C2D), and I do a lot of simulation work that requires multi-thread to simulate at a modest speed so I was considering a SB-E rig. I was just wondering, is it worth getting SB-E or going for the 16 threads of the SR-2 based rig? Thoughts?
Errr, I think they are increasing the minimum core requirement from 12 cores to 16 cores. SB-E (when released) with 8 real cores plus 8 hyperthreading giving 16 threads is one way of meeting this new requirement. SR2 with two 6 core (12 thread) CPUs for a total 24 threads is another way to go, or the roumored SR3 (when released) . None of these is going to be cheap, seeing the entry prices of the SB-E 6-core chips. Anyone, like me, who has a couple of 12 thread machines based on the older X58 chipset and 1366 CPUs would have to completely replace motherboard and CPU(s). Not a cheap option at all. If you are starting from scratch and want the cheapest 16 thread entry point then the SB-E is the obvious way to go but I think the SR2 may still have the edge in performance if you watercool and overclock it well. Either way your wallet will be slimmer at the end of the day. With a SR2 it might just float away if you don't weigh it down with something. Look for a significant reduction in PPD from me in the new year. No way I can afford to upgrade my 12 thread machines right now. Anyway, if large numbers of people quickly upgrade to 16 thread machines I can see PG a few months later announcing that 24 cores is the new new minimum, so maybe a bit of future-proofing by going the SR2 route might be a good idea. Realistically the only people really benefiting from this at the end of the day are the hardware manufacturers.
You could go down the second hand route when people start upgrading their SR2's for SR3's, the market should be flush with them then. The other option, which I may go down, is going for a Magny-Cours AMD multi processor server board, either 2P or 4P. Second hand or new the costs are less than the SR2 route and you will keep getting new chips for it for a while. eg: http://www.scan.co.uk/products/asus-kcma-d8-dual-amd-opteron-4100-serverboard x1 http://www.scan.co.uk/products/amd-...ours)-6128-socket-g34-20ghz-l3-12mb-cache-oem x2 http://www.scan.co.uk/products/2gb-...z)-240-pin-ecc-un-buffered-cas-9-9-9-pc-apple x4 7 items - total: £860.66
The cheapest octo-core Xeon will be over $1000 http://www.cpu-world.com/news_2011/2011102701_Prices_of_Xeon_E5-2600-series_CPUs.html
Probably around 80k PPD, but I'm not 100% on that. Plus it will likely change drastically when the new units start flowing.
I think with the release of new CPU's next year that the 16 thread requirement will be for a limited time, and that it will be upped to at least 24 threads before too long .... I'm also guessing that they will aim to keep it such that bigadv stays out of reach of most 'normal' donators by requiring at least a dual socket machine, and a high spec one at that .....
Why would they want that? Surely if they can have the data crunched it's all good news for Stanford? Is there a reasonable price 2p (or even 4p) intel based mobo available? I would like the úber machine to be a good gaming rig as well as a personal workstation. Or is SR-2 the only answer? At least a 4p machine would provide huge amounts of future "proofing" - OC'd the 1st CPU as much as it can go, need more power and have spare cash? throw in another and repeat the processing power that would provide massive amounts of future proofing!
It seems they are 'encouraging' Folders back on to standard smp's because there's a backlog ..... and too many people chasing too few bigadv's. I think the answer will be LGA2011 and SR-X around Mar/Apr
I wonder if that means upping the bonus on regular SMP? hmm .... I did some research on the SR-3 dual socket SB-E, really it's going to cost the same as an SR-2 system - so not exactly on a reasonable budget at all!! Oh well, I'll continue amassing low-end pc's and whacking loads of GPU's in them and thats my way (cheaply) into higher PPD's.
