Mprime 23.5 on Dual Opteron?

optim · 2004-06-21, 05:18

I am thinking about collecting money in order to buy a dual opteron, probably sometime next year. The beast will be crunching for primes 24x7. It will use either Debian Linux with kernel 2.6 or some sort of bsd (freebsd5 or netbsd).

Questions:
1. Is mprime23.5 well optimised for AMD Opteron?
2. Can it work correctly in a dual processor setup?
3. is the freebsd port stable enough? any known issues with freebsd, netbsd and debian (with 2.6 kernel)?
4. any suggestions on case/manufacturer etc? The cost should be $2500-$3000 at a maximum. What is better: a normal tower server box (actually I already own a tower case which accepts eATX, so this is the cheapest solution) or a 1U/2U/whatever racked system (provided it will be possible to find one for less $3000 total including the rack)? Are TYAN motherboards good enough? do u have to suggest any other MB manufacturer?

thanks for reading this,
Optim

SalemTheCat100 · 2004-06-21, 16:36

Quote:

Originally Posted by optim

I am thinking about collecting money in order to buy a dual opteron, probably sometime next year. The beast will be crunching for primes 24x7. It will use either Debian Linux with kernel 2.6 or some sort of bsd (freebsd5 or netbsd).

Questions:
1. Is mprime23.5 well optimised for AMD Opteron?
2. Can it work correctly in a dual processor setup?

thanks for reading this,
Optim

Question #2 - Yes Prime95(mprime) can be run on dual(quad) systems. I am currently running a Dual Opteron system (Windows2000) and have Prime95 running on each processor. Affinity is set to zero(0) and one(1).

Question #1 - Don't hold your breath! Prime95 optimizations are geared to intel. The Opteron has been out over 14 months and there has been no optimized release for it. None , nota, nothing, zip. There have been statments that work is being done, but with ZERO updates and no releases it is just plain lip service.

SALEM

delta_t · 2004-06-21, 23:22

Question 1 - Not specifically for Opterons, but they still run great on them.
Question 2 - Yes.
Question 3 - Yes very stable. I am running it on five dual processor, and two single processor FreeBSD servers. All running 24X7 as servers (and crunching mprime) I should note that these servers are either P2, P3, P4, and Athlon MP's. No Opterons, . . . yet.
Question 4 - Case depends on your needs really (or space in your server area). Rack cases 1U/2U are typically more expensive than standard tower cases. I believe Tyan makes good server motherboards.

optim · 2004-06-23, 01:18

thanks for answering my questions. indeed my space is small and that's a reason for going with a rack... however racks are more expensive and I already have an extendedATX tower , so buying a dual processor systemboard and two Opterons 2xx is the cheapest solution for now. However, I may add more machines in the future. The space is not enough for more towers, but a rack surely helps in this case... Rackmounts in my country cost about 1000 Euros. Are they cheaper in USA?

delta_t · 2004-06-23, 06:30

1000 Euros. I don't think they are that much here in the US. I suppose it does depend on the size of the rack, but you are right standalone could save you a lot of money.

2004-06-21, 23:22	#3
delta_t Nov 2002 Anchorage, AK 3×7×17 Posts	Question 1 - Not specifically for Opterons, but they still run great on them. Question 2 - Yes. Question 3 - Yes very stable. I am running it on five dual processor, and two single processor FreeBSD servers. All running 24X7 as servers (and crunching mprime) I should note that these servers are either P2, P3, P4, and Athlon MP's. No Opterons, . . . yet. Question 4 - Case depends on your needs really (or space in your server area). Rack cases 1U/2U are typically more expensive than standard tower cases. I believe Tyan makes good server motherboards. Last fiddled with by delta_t on 2004-06-21 at 23:24

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2004-06-21, 05:18	#1
optim Nov 2003 European Union 150₈ Posts	Mprime 23.5 on Dual Opteron? I am thinking about collecting money in order to buy a dual opteron, probably sometime next year. The beast will be crunching for primes 24x7. It will use either Debian Linux with kernel 2.6 or some sort of bsd (freebsd5 or netbsd). Questions: 1. Is mprime23.5 well optimised for AMD Opteron? 2. Can it work correctly in a dual processor setup? 3. is the freebsd port stable enough? any known issues with freebsd, netbsd and debian (with 2.6 kernel)? 4. any suggestions on case/manufacturer etc? The cost should be $2500-$3000 at a maximum. What is better: a normal tower server box (actually I already own a tower case which accepts eATX, so this is the cheapest solution) or a 1U/2U/whatever racked system (provided it will be possible to find one for less $3000 total including the rack)? Are TYAN motherboards good enough? do u have to suggest any other MB manufacturer? thanks for reading this, Optim

2004-06-23, 01:18	#4
optim Nov 2003 European Union 2³·13 Posts	thanks for answering my questions. indeed my space is small and that's a reason for going with a rack... however racks are more expensive and I already have an extendedATX tower , so buying a dual processor systemboard and two Opterons 2xx is the cheapest solution for now. However, I may add more machines in the future. The space is not enough for more towers, but a rack surely helps in this case... Rackmounts in my country cost about 1000 Euros. Are they cheaper in USA?

2004-06-23, 06:30	#5
delta_t Nov 2002 Anchorage, AK 3×7×17 Posts	1000 Euros. I don't think they are that much here in the US. I suppose it does depend on the size of the rack, but you are right standalone could save you a lot of money.