The prime-crunching on dedicated hardware FAQ (II) - Page 2

nucleon · 2010-08-10, 00:16

I think what you're after is a pci-express docking bay.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/12840...r_laptops.html

It's an article from 2007, so not sure if anything around today exists. Or if the device in the article is suitable for this.

I've never tried this personally, so your mileage may vary. I'm a fan of self-built desktops.

-- Craig

Mathew · 2010-08-10, 04:05

ewmayer,

This is what I have found

PCI express enclosure Here is the youtube video of it Expressbox1 video

ATI package This company creates just for ATI currently. Here is the youtube of it ViDock2 video

Hopefully this helps

Mathew

frmky · 2010-08-10, 05:26

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mathew Steine

PCI express enclosure Here is the youtube video of it Expressbox1 video

Cool, but wow is it expensive! You can put together a full desktop for that price!

ewmayer · 2010-08-10, 18:56

Thanks for all the links and replies!

OK, so it sounds like there's no reasonable choice but to get a full-sized desktop-style or pedestal system. Given that, next set of questions:

1. Is is cheaper to buy a discount desktop system sans GPU and install a GTX 46* oneself, or are there good reasons to go with a unit having the GPU preinstalled? (If one can get the latter for not terribly more $ than the former, I'd be happy to do that, as my limited free time is precious to me.)

2. What is the most compact format one can get the complete PC+GPU system in? Are there compact rack-mount formats one should consider?

3. I'd like to be able to build and test any GPU code under both Windows and Linux ... should I get a Win7 system (I'd have to also buy and install Visual Studio on that} and do a separate Linux install, or is there a virtual-desktop solution which is simpler to manage in this regard?

Thanks,
-Ernst

xilman · 2010-08-11, 07:48

Quote:

Originally Posted by ewmayer

Thanks for all the links and replies!

OK, so it sounds like there's no reasonable choice but to get a full-sized desktop-style or pedestal system. Given that, next set of questions:

1. Is is cheaper to buy a discount desktop system sans GPU and install a GTX 46* oneself, or are there good reasons to go with a unit having the GPU preinstalled? (If one can get the latter for not terribly more $ than the former, I'd be happy to do that, as my limited free time is precious to me.)

I did exactly that --- purchased an all in one system.

Something to take into account: a beefy GPU will suck a lot of power when under full load. I suggest upgrading the stock power supply unless it's unusually well specified.

Paul

ewmayer · 2010-08-11, 22:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by xilman

I did exactly that --- purchased an all in one system.

Something to take into account: a beefy GPU will suck a lot of power when under full load. I suggest upgrading the stock power supply unless it's unusually well specified.

Paul

So would you recommend a system designed specifically for gamers,or just one with a beefy (400W-plus) power supply?

Since I'm mainly interested in code-dev (as opposed to 24/7 crunching), any chance of renting (we could negotiate a suitable incentives package of furs, gunsand liquor offline) of a guest account on your system?

xilman · 2010-08-12, 06:55

Quote:

Originally Posted by ewmayer

So would you recommend a system designed specifically for gamers,or just one with a beefy (400W-plus) power supply?

Since I'm mainly interested in code-dev (as opposed to 24/7 crunching), any chance of renting (we could negotiate a suitable incentives package of furs, gunsand liquor offline) of a guest account on your system?

I took a gaming system as a base and tweaked it into a HPC machine. It has a 950W PSU which, it safe to say, is comfortably 400W-plus.

Paul

lavalamp · 2010-08-14, 10:38

Quote:

Originally Posted by ewmayer

So would you recommend a system designed specifically for gamers,or just one with a beefy (400W-plus) power supply?

If you get a system with a top of the line graphics card, you can pretty much expect it to draw a full 300W all by itself under load. CPUs also frequently top 100W.

Obviously not all systems will suck the same juice, so you'll have to do a little googling on power draw for the various bits inside that you choose, but if you don't really feel like doing that, you can always go for overkill and get a 1000W PSU.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ewmayer

1. Is is cheaper to buy a discount desktop system sans GPU and install a GTX 46* oneself, or are there good reasons to go with a unit having the GPU preinstalled? (If one can get the latter for not terribly more $ than the former, I'd be happy to do that, as my limited free time is precious to me.)

Don't know about the cost, depends where you buy I guess, but the ease of installing a card is ... well, easy. Just make sure that the power supply has the right connections (6 pin and/or 8 pin PCIe power connectors) before you buy, and be aware that high end cards will normally require TWO power connections.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ewmayer

2. What is the most compact format one can get the complete PC+GPU system in? Are there compact rack-mount formats one should consider?

That will probably be micro-ATX (sometimes written μATX or uATX). It's basically the same as ATX, but with three of the expansion slots missing off the bottom (so it's shorter). You can get smaller cases for these, but they generally aren't designed for cooling above all else, which is probably what you want if you're loading it up with power hungry bits of kit. μATX boards also tend to be a little bit ... crap, they're not designed for performance, so you tend not to get it, though there are rare exceptions of course.

Technically, you COULD get a mini-ITX board or similar (these are tiny). You can get mini-ITX boards that support i7 CPUs and have just one expansion slot on them, but they are made for low power and any half decent graphics card would be bigger than the motherboard. It'd be kind of a ridiculous combination.

Here are some mini-ITX i7 boards:
http://www.mini-itx.com/store/?c=68

ewmayer · 2010-08-16, 16:16

Thanks, lavalamp - Paul's gonna set me up with an account on his system once he builds it. That's ideal (at least for starters) since I'm interested in coding and building, not using the hardware for gaming or full-time crunching. (If I lived in a colder climate and needed a space heater, I might be more open to buying the hardware).

Will keep y'all posted on progress once we`re up and running ... will likely warm up on the coding front with some trial-factoring code.

Christenson · 2011-09-03, 04:25

http://arstechnica.com/hardware/news...revolution.ars

Do you suppose P95 could get some time on Blue Gene to test how well it works with P95?

This is a somewhat fatuous article on transactional memory. I'm not sure why the software overhead is so high; it seems to me that it is just a somewhat different implementation of "lock" semantics.

I think you could make it work if you simply guaranteed that every process asking for and using write access got a different value of a locking word...16 bits would suffice unless you are on a massive supercomputer with more than 2^16 threads!

Dubslow · 2011-09-17, 06:38

Man...
Just spent the last hour wikipedia'ing about super computers...
Even 150th place would double the entire GIMPS throughput... (http://www.top500.org/list/2011/06/200)

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
New PC dedicated to Mersenne Prime Search	Taiy	Hardware	12	2018-01-02 15:54
How would you design a CPU/GPU for prime number crunching?	emily	Hardware	4	2012-02-20 18:46
DSP hardware for number crunching?	ixfd64	Hardware	15	2011-08-09 01:11
The prime-crunching on dedicated hardware FAQ	jasonp	Hardware	142	2009-11-15 23:20
Optimal Hardware for Dedicated Crunching Computer	Angular	Hardware	5	2004-01-16 12:37

2010-08-10, 00:16	#12
nucleon Mar 2003 Melbourne 5·103 Posts	I think what you're after is a pci-express docking bay. http://www.pcworld.com/article/12840...r_laptops.html It's an article from 2007, so not sure if anything around today exists. Or if the device in the article is suitable for this. I've never tried this personally, so your mileage may vary. I'm a fan of self-built desktops. -- Craig

2010-08-10, 04:05	#13
Mathew Nov 2009 2·5²·7 Posts	ewmayer, This is what I have found PCI express enclosure Here is the youtube video of it Expressbox1 video ATI package This company creates just for ATI currently. Here is the youtube of it ViDock2 video Hopefully this helps Mathew

2010-08-10, 18:56	#15
ewmayer ∂²ω=0 Sep 2002 República de California 2DEC₁₆ Posts	Thanks for all the links and replies! OK, so it sounds like there's no reasonable choice but to get a full-sized desktop-style or pedestal system. Given that, next set of questions: 1. Is is cheaper to buy a discount desktop system sans GPU and install a GTX 46* oneself, or are there good reasons to go with a unit having the GPU preinstalled? (If one can get the latter for not terribly more $ than the former, I'd be happy to do that, as my limited free time is precious to me.) 2. What is the most compact format one can get the complete PC+GPU system in? Are there compact rack-mount formats one should consider? 3. I'd like to be able to build and test any GPU code under both Windows and Linux ... should I get a Win7 system (I'd have to also buy and install Visual Studio on that} and do a separate Linux install, or is there a virtual-desktop solution which is simpler to manage in this regard? Thanks, -Ernst

2010-08-16, 16:16	#20
ewmayer ∂²ω=0 Sep 2002 República de California 11756₁₀ Posts	Thanks, lavalamp - Paul's gonna set me up with an account on his system once he builds it. That's ideal (at least for starters) since I'm interested in coding and building, not using the hardware for gaming or full-time crunching. (If I lived in a colder climate and needed a space heater, I might be more open to buying the hardware). Will keep y'all posted on progress once we`re up and running ... will likely warm up on the coding front with some trial-factoring code.

2011-09-03, 04:25	#21
Christenson Dec 2010 Monticello 5×359 Posts	http://arstechnica.com/hardware/news...revolution.ars Do you suppose P95 could get some time on Blue Gene to test how well it works with P95? This is a somewhat fatuous article on transactional memory. I'm not sure why the software overhead is so high; it seems to me that it is just a somewhat different implementation of "lock" semantics. I think you could make it work if you simply guaranteed that every process asking for and using write access got a different value of a locking word...16 bits would suffice unless you are on a massive supercomputer with more than 2^16 threads!

2011-09-17, 06:38	#22
Dubslow Basketry That Evening! "Bunslow the Bold" Jun 2011 40<A<43 -89<O<-88 16065₈ Posts	Man... Just spent the last hour wikipedia'ing about super computers... Even 150th place would double the entire GIMPS throughput... (http://www.top500.org/list/2011/06/200)