George's dream build

[heliosh]

Do memory timings play a significant role? Or just clock?

[mackerel]

In my testing, ram timing only makes a minor difference compared to speed. As priority, run as many channels as supported, then balance speed and rank (dual rank is faster than single rank), only then look at timings last.

However, I've recently tried extreme overclocking. If you manually tinker with every sub-timing, I have seen tangible gains from that. The problem is, we're talking about a week of evenings adjusting and testing every little change. I wouldn't recommend it unless you really have far too much time to spare.

[masser]

Originally Posted by Prime95

12V plugs:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/262321746827...%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

picopsu:
http://www.mini-box.com/picoPSU-90

Or you could try the 80W version, but the 4A limit on 12V scared me:
http://www.mini-box.com/picoPSU-80
plus a P4 cable: http://www.mini-box.com/4-Pin-P4-Mini-Power-Cable

Does anyone know where I could get safe 12V plugs, similar to the ones George listed above?

I'm thinking of using the picopsu 120W version for my mini-cluster.

[Prime95]

Originally Posted by masser

Does anyone know where I could get safe 12V plugs, similar to the ones George listed above?

I'm thinking of using the picopsu 120W version for my mini-cluster.

I've not been happy with the 12V plug solution. One, they do not form a tight fit. Two, they leave metal exposed that can short out if the machine is jostled. Three, one "burned up" I believe due to mixing copper wiring with aluminum wiring.

Have you thought about sniping off the barrel connector and splicing the wires directly into some 12V lines from the PSU?

[masser]

I have considered splicing, but worry that sparks will fly if I make a mistake.

The DC barrel jacks disconnect from the pico-psus. Mark Rose had the suggestion below. Is it safe to plug half of a 4+4 into the pico-psu without the 5/2.5 mm barrel connection?

Originally Posted by Mark Rose

For anyone doing these builds, get a power supply with a 4+4 ATX power connector. I'm glad I did. I initially was using three splitters off a single half of the 4+4 connector, and the cable was getting quite warm using 4 i5-6600 65 watt CPUs. It was easily 15°C over ambient measured with an infrared thermometer.

So I ditched one of the splitters and now run two boards each off each half of the 4+4 connector. The pin-out is identical for both halves, and the connectors will mate. Everything stays comfortably cool now.

I've also not felt any heating issues with the 24 pin cables being split 4 ways.

[VictordeHolland]

I just bought a MSI H110M ECO for €28

https://tweakers.net/pricewatch/4742...specificaties/

https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/H110M-ECO.html

and a Crucial SSD MX500 250GB for €36
in the Black Friday/Cyber Monday deals, with the idea to build a small lower power cruncher. I like the idea of turning off unnecessary features that cost power (but I suspect that it doesn't impact power-usage that much). And it has a Intel network-adapter instead of a Realtek/Broadcom that most H110 boards have (Intel drivers are usually better supported in Linux).

Does anybody know what kind of memory (OC) speeds that board supports?

Supports DDR4-2133

But what does this mean then:

DDR4 Boost: Give your DDR4 memory perfect performance

Does that imply overclocking?
Tips for processors? Still the cheapest available quadcore? i5-6400/6500 and/or i5-7400?

[Mark Rose]

Originally Posted by VictordeHolland

I just bought a MSI H110M ECO for €28

https://tweakers.net/pricewatch/4742...specificaties/

https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/H110M-ECO.html

and a Crucial SSD MX500 250GB for €36
in the Black Friday/Cyber Monday deals, with the idea to build a small lower power cruncher. I like the idea of turning off unnecessary features that cost power (but I suspect that it doesn't impact power-usage that much). And it has a Intel network-adapter instead of a Realtek/Broadcom that most H110 boards have (Intel drivers are usually better supported in Linux).

Does anybody know what kind of memory (OC) speeds that board supports?
But what does this mean then:
Does that imply overclocking?
Tips for processors? Still the cheapest available quadcore? i5-6400/6500 and/or i5-7400?

I have a bunch of H110M boards. I doubt you'll be able to do any real memory or cpu overclocking with that board. I would try to find dual-rank DDR4-2133 modules though, as it will make a significant difference (~15% better performance).

As far as CPUs go, this is where that cheap motherboard makes for an expensive system. The compatible 4 core CPUs are double the price of current 4 core CPUs, like the i3-8100.

I have an i5-6600 in all the systems, and they are far too fast for the memory. Instead I disabled turbo boost when all 4 cores are running and applied a good undervolt (I could probably reduce it more but I'm lazy). So I get 4 cores at 3.3 GHz, which still saturates the memory. I lose a couple percentage points of throughput but reduced system power usage by a third (saved 30 watts per system at the wall)

The i5-6500 is probably a better choice, as its default 4 core turbo is 3.3 GHz. You may be able to reduce the voltage still.

I bet the i5-6400 is a bit of a false economy: it only 4 core boosts to 3.1 GHz, but being a slower cpu at the same 65 watt TDP, it's probably a lower quality part that won't undervolt as well.

The i5-7400 also has a 3.3 GHz 4 core turbo and is probably a decent choice.

The i5-7500 is much higher quality silicon will probably undervolt really well, though its base frequency of 3.4 GHz will be faster than optimal.

One more option is the i5-7600T. Its TDP is about 30 watts lower, with a max 4 core turbo of 3.5 GHz. It probably won't sit at that turbo though, due to its lower power limit. You can probably undervolt and cap the turbo boost frequency it to keep its power draw low so it doesn't downclock itself.

Performance wise, all those CPUs will get you about the same throughput because of the memory bandwidth limitation. If you're paying 0.16€/kWh, the savings from having a CPU that undervolts well can be over 40€/year.

My recommendation? Avoid the i5-6400, be sure to get dual ranked memory, and find a good deal on one of the other CPUs mentioned. If you're not comfortable with undervolting, lean towards the i5-7400 or i5-6500 to save money. If you are comfortable, I'd lean towards the i5-6600 or i5-7500 if the price is not much more.

[mackerel]

I'm not aware of the ability to overclock ram on the non-OC chipsets.

Also dual rank at the least implies having 16GB (either 2x8 if you can find it in 2R or 4x4 SR). If this is a dedicated low cost cruncher the ram costs would then be disproportionate compared to the rest of the system.

[Mark Rose]

Originally Posted by mackerel

I'm not aware of the ability to overclock ram on the non-OC chipsets.

Also dual rank at the least implies having 16GB (either 2x8 if you can find it in 2R or 4x4 SR). If this is a dedicated low cost cruncher the ram costs would then be disproportionate compared to the rest of the system.

It's a two slot board, so it would have to be 2x8.

But good point about the RAM cost.

[VictordeHolland]

I can probably buy a second-hand i5-6x00 for about €100
a new 16GB DDR4 (2x 8GB) kit is another €100-120?

MB: 28
SSD: €36
CPU: €100
RAM: €100-120
---------------
That is still <€300

I've got a few powersupplies left (80+ bronze) so that is one thing less to buy. And a small case can be bought later :).

[VictordeHolland]

Originally Posted by VictordeHolland

I can probably buy a second-hand i5-6x00 for about €100
a new 16GB DDR4 (2x 8GB) kit is another €100-120?

I bought a second hand i5-6500 for €106 (the €6 was shipping)
A new 16GB DDR4-3200 set was more expensive at €146.

I ran into trouble installing Ubuntu, the screen output would disappear after the purple screen and the machine would bootloop after 10 seconds. I've temporarly fixed it by using a old dedicated GPU (Nvidia GT9600) instead of the internal Intel GPU inside the i5-6500. I'm guessing some driver or BIOS related issue ????