Let's buy GIMPS an Opteron!

[Xyzzy]

I hesitate to post this because I'm worried about the reaction it might get, but I figure let's just toss the idea out there and see what happens...

We all know that Intel and AMD do not give George anything to help him... I have personally called and written them several times with no luck and I know several other people have as well...

Now you all certainly know that I have no clue about math... My skill, and that is using the term loosely, is "making things happen"...

So here we go!

I estimate we can build a single processor Opteron system for around 700 to 800 bux... We could either have it hosted someplace or just send it to George directly... I'm willing to donate the time to assemble and test it... I'm also willing to throw 200 bucks at the fund... I have set up a Paypal fund to do this and everyone who wants to can kick in 5 bux or whatever... It even looks like Paypal works from overseas...

It is important to note that this is completely voluntary... I know George will even come into this thread and say he doesn't think this is necessary, but he's just too nice and you all know it... For all he has done for us this is, IMO, the least we can do for him...

BTW, I was thinking of using the model 140 CPU and that single processor Tyan motherboard... The other parts are just ordinary parts...

I do have a business line here and a VPN endpoint if George decides he doesn't want to pay electricity or that he doesn't have the room for it... In fact, I hope he chooses that route because I'd rather worry about keeping the system up and running so he can spend more time coding! I think it would be nice to also let other distributed computing developers use it too... But obviously, this is his decision, not mine!

Anyways, please let me know your thoughts... And please forgive me if this offends you... I really mean the best by posting this, I promise!

[Xyzzy]

Here is the donation link...

REDACTED

If for some reason this falls through I will, of course, send the mony back to the people who donate... (In fact, I will not accept the funds until we hit our goal!)

In the end I will provide complete documentation of all monies spent...

I know it is hard to trust somebody over the Internet so please do what you are comfortable with...

Thanks for your support!

[Xyzzy]

Originally Posted by Prime95

I don't need to own an Athlon64 or Opteron to some performance work. Someone on this forum could buy an Athlon64, install Linux, and give me SSH access to an account (high speed Internet access required too)

BTW, we have $200 in the fund now... :)

[Xyzzy]

$220...

[Xyzzy]

Here is Crucial's memory page for the Tyan...

http://www.crucial.com/store/listparts.asp?Mfr%2BProductline=Tyan%2B&mfr=Tyan&cat=RAM&model=S2850+Tomcat+K8S&submit=Go

[Xyzzy]

$240...

[Xyzzy]

$250...

Here is the motherboard manual...

http://www.mersenneforum.org/attachm..._s2850_100.pdf

[ewmayer]

Great idea, Mike! I think a few hundred bucks for a bare-bones Opteron development system for George (and perhaps other users, e.g. "Mr. Athlon", a.k.a. Dresdenboy :)) will be money well spent.

[Xyzzy]

$270...

Here is an interesting article about how the Opteron's memory speeds are set...

http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/cpu/display/20030510180321.html

[Xyzzy]

$285...

Here is a neat page...

http://www.x86-64.org/

[Xyzzy]

$335...